Karma's Shift (Magical Midlife in Mystic Hollow Book 2) - Lacey Andersen (black female authors .TXT) 📗

Carol smiled. “You were never stupid, Emma.”

“You guys had to have been laughing at me at least a tiny bit in high school,” I said.

“Never!” Deva exclaimed.

And, strangely, it made me feel a little better.

“If we could’ve told you, we would have,” Carol reassured me.

“But now you’re not getting rid of me,” I said with a grin.

“Never!” They all said at the same time.

We kept going slowly toward the gate, but we didn’t have to even roll down the window before the gate opened and Carol drove on through. I realized as we entered that the hedge wasn’t just around the gate but around the entire property. It ran into the woods, or maybe around the woods as far as I could see on either side of the car. It explained why I’d never seen the house before. The thing was in no way, shape, or form visible from the road.

Around a couple more bends, the view opened with the ocean stretching on forever in the distance. The gigantic house was framed by trees and the insane view. In front of the house, a woman sat on a gold blanket reading. She looked like she’d come from a bygone age in a long white dress that had a high collar and sleeves that went down to her elbow, but even though it was conservative in most aspects it was nipped in at the waist, highlighting how tiny it was, and how curvaceous she was. The kicker was the way the skirt, which had a load of embroidery detail on it, was fanned out over the grass. All of that, combined with the way her hair was curled and pinned up, a few stray pieces waving in the breeze, made her breathtaking. She almost looked Edwardian with the dress and the way her hair was styled. I felt like someone should be painting her, she looked so picturesque.

We pulled onto a graveled area and parked. I felt insanely underdressed if this was how they rolled in the coven. She looked up as we walked past, but I was the only one who turned and waved at the beautiful woman. She winked at me, but didn’t wave back, so at least she wasn’t rude. I tugged on my flowy Rolling Stones t-shirt and pulled it down, so it covered more of my waist, not that it was a crop top or anything, but it only just met the waistband of my jeans, which now seemed like such a bad choice. I should have gone with a dress or something. I mean witches were always usually depicted that way, right? Although none of the witches I knew dressed like that, even now. Deva was in pants and a shirt, while Beth was in jeans and a t-shirt like me, though they looked nicer quality than mine. Carol was the only one in a skirt, but I knew that was just because she liked skirts, I mean, she wore mostly skirts and dresses so it would have been weird for her to show up in pants.

Deva knocked on the front door using the gigantic knocker and just like the gate, the door opened. A woman was heading toward the door as we walked into the big, cheery entryway. She was as opposite from the lady on the front lawn as she could’ve been. She wore a long, breezy, slightly wrinkled, tie-dyed dress with flowers woven into her hair and seemed to float, or glide, more than walk. Well, at least I didn’t feel quite as underdressed anymore.

“Come in, please,” the woman said. “I’m Hildy, and I’m a crystal witch, unusual I know but we’re really just a subset of earth witches.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder as though she’d just told us she was a unicorn, but since I had no idea what she was going on about, she just looked like any old horse to me. That was a little unfair, she didn’t look like a horse, she was beautiful, just like the woman on the front lawn, but something about her personality made me feel a little sour toward her. She cleared her throat after clearly not getting the reaction she wanted and said, “Now, the gate wouldn’t have opened if you all weren’t some sort of witch.” She looked at us with eyes sharper than her boho-hippy dress would’ve made her out to be. “I know you ladies.” Hildy turned toward me, pinning me with her gaze as she seemed to assess me. “But you’re new.”

I nodded. “Yes, ma’am, I’ve only recently come into my, uh, powers.”

She hummed and turned toward a big set of double doors that stood open. On the other side, two younger-looking witches wearing jeans and tees pointed their fingers at ping pong balls, which bounced into little plastic red cups. “Are they playing beer pong?” I asked with a laugh.

Hildy turned and smiled indulgently. “It helps our younger members practice their precision magic while still having fun. Follow me, please.”

We walked through another room and a woman stood from a plush chair beside a mirror where another young witch studied herself. She snapped her fingers, and her outfit went from a casual cotton dress to a long, formal ball gown.

Hildy held out her hand and waved at the woman who had been observing the clothes changing. “Khat, would you care to join us?”

The older woman nodded as she looked our group over. “Of course. Deva, Carol, Beth, lovely to see you again.” She walked toward us, but again it was more like she glided toward us, just like Hildy had.

“Tea, ladies?” Hildy asked.

No joke, a teapot, cups, saucers, a sugar bowl, and a little jug filled with milk came trotting out of a cabinet and over to the table where they floated up onto the wood surface before settling down like a cat in a sunbeam. If I didn’t know better, I would think I was in