Ghost in the Spell, page 1
GHOST IN THE SPELL
Grimoires of a Middle-aged Witch Book 5
RENEE GEORGE
Barkside of the Moon Press
Ghost in the Spell
Grimoires of a Middle-aged Witch Book 5
Copyright © 2023 by Renee George
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the copyright holder.
Any trademarks, service marks, product names or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement by the author of this work.
This is a work of fiction. All characters and storylines in this book are inspired only by the author’s imagination. The characters are based solely in fiction and are in no relation inspired by anyone bearing the same name or names. Any similarities to real persons, situations, or incidents is purely coincidental.
Publisher: Barkside of the Moon Press
Print ISBN: 978-1-947177-47-5
CONTENTS
Paranormal Mysteries & Romances
Acknowledgments
Blurb
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Sense and Scent Ability
You’ve Got Tail
About the Author
PARANORMAL MYSTERIES & ROMANCES
BY RENEE GEORGE
Grimoires of a Middle-aged Witch
Earth Spells Are Easy (Book 1)
Spell On Fire (Book 2)
When the Spells Blows (Book 3)
Spell Over Troubled Water (Book 4)
Ghost in the Spell (Book 5)
Peculiar Mysteries & Romances
You’ve Got Tail (Book 1)
My Furry Valentine (Book 2)
Thank You For Not Shifting (Book 3)
My Hairy Halloween (Book 4)
In the Midnight Howl (Book 5)
Furred Lines (Book 6)
My Wolfy Wedding (Book 7)
Who Let The Wolves Out? (Book 8)
My Thanksgiving Faux Paw (Book 9)
Nora Black Midlife Psychic Mysteries
Sense & Scent Ability (Book 1)
For Whom the Smell Tolls (Book 2)
War of the Noses (Book 3)
Aroma With A View (Book 4)
Spice and Prejudice (Book 5)
Age of Inno-Scents (Book 6)
Aroma Holiday (Book 7)
Witchin’ Impossible Paranormal Mysteries
Witchin’ Impossible (Book 1)
Rogue Coven (Book 2)
Familiar Protocol (Booke 3)
Mr & Mrs. Shift (Book 4)
Barkside of the Moon Paranormal Mysteries
Pit Perfect Murder (Book 1)
Murder & The Money Pit (Book 2)
The Pit List Murders (Book 3)
Pit & Miss Murder (Book 4)
The Prune Pit Murder (Book 5)
Two Pits and A Little Murder (Book 6)
Pits and Pieces of Murder (Book 7)
Hex Drive
Hex Me, Baby, One More Time (Book 1)
Oops, I Hexed It Again (Book 2)
I Want Your Hex (Book 3)
Hex Me With Your Best Shot (Book 4)
Hex Me All Night Long (Book 5)
Madder Than Hell
Gone With The Minion (Book 1)
Devil On A Hot Tin Roof (Book 2)
A Street Car Named Demonic (Book 3)
For Robbin & Robyn
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I have to thank the usual people for helping me get to the end of this book.
First, Robbin Clubb and Robyn Peterman, my critique partners, know just when to kick my ass when I need it! Thank you, Lindas!
Second, to the readers and my Rebels, without you all, what would be the point? I am so happy and blessed to have you guys in my corner!
Third, thank you, Mitra! You know why.
Forth but not least, coffee. Thank you, strong black coffee, for giving me the energy to bring this baby home. You are the miracle in my life.
Fifth, my newly discovered muse-kickstarter, Beethoven! I wore my headphones non-stop, and I wouldn’t have been able to focus without you, maestro!
Being a forty-something divorcee with a college-bound teenage son is a freaking cakewalk compared to wielding my unruly magic.
Did I mention that my newly discovered sister wants to kill me?
After a hellish week spent with older-than-dirt archdruids and a few new enemies, I’m ready to get home so I can hug my kid and sleep in my own bed. But nope, that's not how my crazy magical mid-life works. My spirit magic has been triggered, and a ghost's cryptic message gives me more bad news. Something worse than my psycho sister might be after me. Awesome.
It's Battle Royale time. I'm so over selfish magical creatures trying to steal my powers and my life. I’ll need the help of all my tru-craft guardians if I stand a chance against my supernatural foes. But first, I’ll have to get into the spirit of my new element before the spirit gets into me.
Literally.
CHAPTER 1
Beware the father.
The ominous warning haunted me. What had the bronze lady meant?
Whatever it had been, I couldn't get those three words out of my head.
They ranked right up there with three other terrible words, Well-played, sister.
When Bogmall had whispered that sentence in my head, I’d nearly crapped myself. It couldn’t be true, could it? Could the blonde hexen-bitch really be my sister? I didn't want to believe it, but something inside me knew it wasn’t a lie. Bogmall and I were tied to each other, and not just in the mortal enemy kind of way.
She had connected telepathically with me during the nero-craft test at Iron Grove. The test that should’ve killed me.
Poor, poor, Iris. Always one step behind me, she’d cooed. Just like the day we were born.
We were born. Could she really be my sister? My twin? Had our mother given her up for adoption as well? It seemed too awful to consider. And while her revelatory words had thrown me for a loop, she hadn’t stopped there.
Always the favorite, she’d added. Always the one that had to be saved no matter the cost. But not anymore. I have my own magic now, and I will have what rightfully should’ve been mine in the first place. And the minute you take your last breath, that’s when I will take you, and I will rot your relationships with everyone and everything that you love.
The way she’d looked at Keir had made my stomach turn. She had been coming for me with an obsessive fervor for months, and she wasn’t done with me yet. Not by a long shot. I’d been on the defense when it came to the hexen-bitch, spending all my time countering her moves, but not anymore. It was time to go on the offense. I would track her down to the ends of the earth and destroy her with my bare hands if it meant keeping my friends and family safe from harm.
Keir planned to research the crap out of Bogmall’s history when we got home. If anyone could find out her origin story, it was my bookworm boyfriend. For now, getting back to Southill Village, to my house, to my kid, and to my own bed was priority number one. After the grueling elemental tests, my body hurt as much as my brain, and I needed a couple of days to recover before I went to war.
The car ride home from Iron Grove had been somber. I’d nestled Goldie, the poor goldfish from my ignis-craft test, in the backseat between our bags. Bob, my big cuddly, chonky-chonky, sat in my lap the entire time instead of disappearing like he usually did. Since he didn’t talk, I wasn’t sure where he went when he wasn’t with me, but I was ever so grateful that he managed to show up whenever I needed him the most.
Keir and Linda, my violent gnome whom I adored, had both told me Bob was an imp, a witch’s familiar, and more to the point, my familiar. However, it turned out that not every tru-craft witch had one. It was something I’d meant to talk to Thomas about, but from the moment I’d met the man in person at Iron Grove, chaos had reigned. Not his fault, mind you, but circumstances hadn’t allowed us much room for shop talk.
Bob appeared in the guise of a giant orange and white cat with a bobbed tail. He weighed at least thirty pounds, but it was thirty pounds of pure love. Since a circle, the symbol for spirit element, appeared on the cover of my Grimoire, Bob had not left my side. Which meant my cortisol levels had to be through the roof. Bob only showed up when I was stressed out or in danger.
I guess finding out I had a psychopathic sister, a new element, and a puzzling warning from a ghost lady was enough to keep Bob nearby. On top of that, and maybe the most distressing, Linda was still missing. I was pretty freaked out that she hadn’t returned to me since the fight with the snotgurgle, a monster as gross as its name.
After Keir and I had freed Linda from the troll, the last thing I'd said to her was run. The fact that she hadn't run back to the Iron Grove compound concerned me. She’d had several chunks of her body missing when she’d burrowed into the ground and made her escape. Zev had used his djinn powers to scan the area where she’d disappeared and found nothing.
I prayed that she'd made it back to Southill Village and that she’d be home by the time I arrived.
Instead, I was greeted by Evan Callahan, my ex-husband. Not the person I wanted to see.
“What are you doing here?” I held Goldie’s fishbowl in my arms.
Evan’s face registered surprise. His curly blond hair and dimples gave his face a boyish charm. “Is that a goldfish?” His voice was incredulous.
“Winner winner, chicken dinner.” I brushed past him into the living room but left the door open for Keir. He was getting our bags out of the back of the car. I narrowed my gaze at my former husband. “You still haven’t answered my question.”
The couch had a pillow and a rumpled quilt on the cushions. Good. Evan hadn’t been sleeping in my bed. I had been half-afraid I’d have to de-ex-ify my awesomely comfy mattress with the rest of my white sage stash.
My ex-husband looks chagrined. “I don't know, Iris. I just thought it'd be nice to spend a couple of days with my son.”
I looked around the living room. “I don’t see Michael anywhere, so…?” I let the question hang.
“It's Friday. A school day, Iris.” Evan shrugged. “I made him breakfast and sent him on his way.”
“That still doesn't answer the mystery of why you’re still here,”
“Someone should be here.”
I swear I nearly gave myself whiplash the way I spun around at him. “Are you sure that’s the road you want to travel?”
His eyes widened, and his hands went up. “Absolutely not.”
Keir came in with my luggage. “I’ll take this back to your room,” he said as he passed between Evan and me.
Evan arched a brow at Keir as he walked down the hall. “I guess it’s getting serious, huh?”
I sighed. “It’s serious.”
“Like marriage serious?”
“Evan.” I shook my head. “My personal life is none of your business.”
“We share a son.”
“Who’s practically an adult.” I set Goldie on the coffee table and threw my purse onto the couch. “Besides, Michael likes Keir.”
Evan shrugged. “So he says.”
“See.” I rolled my hand at him. “All is well. Go back to St. Louis.”
“I can’t.”
I will not set my ex-husband on fire became my new mantra. “I thought Adam asked you to marry him. Did you blow it already?”
“No.” He sucked his teeth. “I didn’t blow it. We’re still engaged.”
“Congrats.” I sat down next to my purse. “I’m happy for you.” I couldn’t muster the feeling behind the words, but the fact that I had said them had to count for something.
“Thank you.” Evan ran his hand over his soft curls and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to start a fight.”
“Could’ve fooled me,” I muttered as I tapped Goldie’s bowl. The little goldfish swished its tail at me. I was going to have to get a real fish tank and food for her. Or was it him? Later, I would Google how to sex a goldfish.
Evan pretended he didn’t hear me. “I only stayed because I’m worried about Michael.”
I pivoted my gaze from the fish to my ex. “Why?”
“He has been acting…strange.” He shook his head. “Distant. Like he’s keeping secrets. Secrets that are eating away at him.”
“You mean, like catching his father cheating on his mom?”
“Low blow, Iris.”
“Hah. You’re not the injured party, Evan.” I waved a hand at him dismissively. “So don’t play the victim.”
It was his turn to sigh. “Can we agree to talk about Michael without getting personal?”
I was through caring about what had or hadn’t happened to end our marriage. Besides, if Evan hadn’t fallen in love with someone else, my life with Keir would be very different. At the heart of the matter, I was happier now with Keir than I’d ever been with Evan. Still, I was too exhausted for this conversation, and I fantasized about the floor opening and swallowing Evan whole.
“What are your concerns?”
“He’s been…distant. Secretive. And, well, two nights ago, he was shouting for someone to stop and to not hurt her, whoever her is. When I checked on him, he was thrashing around in his sleep. And when I woke him up, he was shaking.” Evan peered at me. “Shaking. I think something happened to him, but he won’t talk to me.”
My heart squeezed. Michael had witnessed a wraith trying to kill me more than once. Had that been the catalyst for his nightmare?
I rubbed my temples. “I’ll talk to him.”
“We,” Evan gestured between us, “should talk to him together.”
Keir came out of the bedroom. “Everything okay?”
Hardly, I thought. Aloud, I said, “Yes, fine.” I gestured to my ex. “He’s worried about Michael.”
Keir’s brow furrowed. “Anything I can help with?”
“No.” I shook my head. “We’re good.” I was eager to find out if Linda had returned, so I gave him another way he could help me. “Can you check on the garden?”
“I’ll do it now,” Keir replied.
I couldn’t tell Evan about my tru-craft powers. I might have trusted him once, but those days were long gone. Still, as Michael’s father, he deserved some kind of explanation. I gave him half a truth. “Maybe it has something to do with his girlfriend.”
Evan’s eyes widened. “He has a girlfriend?”
Keir arched his brow at me on his way out but didn’t get involved.
“He did,” I said. “Sort of. A cheerleader. He saw her for a little while. Then her mother abruptly moved the two of them out of town. I think he’s heartbroken.” It wasn’t a complete lie. Michael really liked Maddie. And her mother, once I’d exercised a diabolical spirit out of her, had packed up her daughter and left town.
“I suppose that could be it.” He looked relieved, and it dawned on me that this wasn’t a typical Evan move. He really had been worried about Michael.
Until he’d been caught in his web of lies and deceit, he’d been a good dad and, for all appearances, a good husband. I sometimes forgot that. On top of that, he’d been making a real effort to mend his and Michael’s relationship, and I didn’t want to hinder their progress. I might want Evan out of my life, but I didn’t want him out of our son’s.
“I’ll talk to him.” I gave him a sympathetic look. “I promise I’ll keep you up to date, and if he’s having a really rough time, I’ll talk to him about starting therapy again.”
“Only if he wants to,” Evan emphasized. “I don’t want him to feel as if we think he’s too fragile to handle a breakup.” He narrowed his gaze at me. “Do you think he loved her?”
I shrugged. “She moved shortly after I even knew she existed. But you know how it is at that age. Everything seems so…. Major.”
“Isn’t that the truth?” Evan chuckled. “My first heartbreak felt like the end of the world.”
“Exactly,” I told him. “So, he’s probably just going through normal teenage stuff.” I hoped I was correct.
Finally, Evan nodded. “You’re probably right. It sort of felt like two steps backward this week, and I got a little paranoid.”
“I get it,” I told him. “But he’s going to be okay.”
“Okay.” He shrugged, looking somewhat relieved. “I’ll go home tonight. I just want to see Michael one more time before I go.”
I stifled a groan. Michael wouldn’t be home for four more hours, and I didn’t have time to babysit my ex. I had more important things on my plate, like finding a missing gnome and stopping a psycho sibling. On top of that, my anima-magic had been triggered, and I had no idea what disaster would follow once it was activated.
