Desperate for a distraction from my own idiocy, I headed up to my flat for a shower. On the way, I plugged in my phone to let it charge.
Once I was clean and dressed, I returned to my phone and turned it on. Immediately, it began to buzz with messages and missed calls. What the heck had happened while we were gone?
I pulled up the missed calls and noticed that they were all from Charlie, with whom I’d exchanged numbers before he’d left the barbecue. I called him back, and he immediately picked up.
“Your house is ornery again,” he said without preamble.
“What?” Disappointment surged through me. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that it booted us right out. Popped the floorboards under our feet until we left.”
“Oh, no,” I cried. “I swear, I didn’t know that would happen.”
“I know, I know. It’s not your fault. But the house was moody. Too moody to work in, especially for Lee and Carlos. Worst-case scenario for me is getting drenched. For them…”
He let the sentence trail off because it was easy enough for me to fill in the blanks with how the house could seriously injure the guys fiddling with the electricity and climbing around on the roof.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and squeezed my eyes shut. Damn it. Everything had been fine the day of the barbecue. Plenty of people had walked through and told me how lovely it was. So what was different?
“I’ll try to figure out what’s going on with the house,” I said. “But will you please, please come back tomorrow? I’ll go in first to make sure it’s safe.”
He sighed. “I’ll see what I can do about the guys. It’ll take some convincing, but I think I can have them there at nine.”
“I’ll have pastries and coffee from Margot’s. Anything they like. Just text me. It’ll be the spread of the century.”
“Better than that barbecue?” He laughed.
“Yes. Even better.”
He chuckled. “We’ll be there.”
“Thank you so much.” I rang off, then went downstairs to see Rafe.
He was just letting himself back in. “The guys didn’t do any work that I could tell.”
“I know. I just got off the phone with Charlie. Apparently, the house made them very unwelcome.”
He frowned. “It was fine when I was up there. A bit moodier than the other day, but not terrible. No popping floorboards.”
“That’s not what the guys said.” Worry tugged at my heart. What if I couldn’t get them back in tomorrow? We couldn’t afford this setback.
“Ah.” His expression cleared as he thought of something. “The house probably wants you there when strangers are around. You were there the whole party, and everything was fine.”
“You think so?”
“I know so. You make everything better, and the house knows it.”
You make everything better. The words rang in my head. Had he really just said that?
From the faint color on his cheekbones and the way he was looking away—yes. And he hadn’t just been talking about the house.
“Ah, I’m going to get to bed,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Early morning tomorrow.”
“Sure. Thanks for the help.”
He nodded and headed off, then turned back to me. “Actually, I should be thanking you. Today was…unexpected.”
I grinned. “Tomorrow will be even better.”
“Don’t be focusing on the curse, now,” he said. “We need to finish that house.”
“I know, I know.” And he was right.
As I went up to bed, I typed out a text to Aria. Now that I had the seeds and some dirt from the stone circle, I had almost everything I needed to break the curse. I just needed a bit of her help. We sorted out a plan, and I was asleep almost before my head hit the pillow.
The next morning, I was out of the house before dawn. I dropped the dirt and seeds by Aria’s house, an adorable little cottage right on the coast within walking distance of town. Her familiar, Boris the badger, lay asleep in the bushes, a half-finished donut by his paw.
Someone had a big night. Poa sniffed disdainfully.
“As if you haven’t done the same.”
I always finish my donuts.
I laughed, then knocked. Aria opened the door, a cup of coffee in her hand and a man’s large T-shirt acting as her dressing gown. Her hair was pulled up in a messy knot, and she had a happy glow on her face. Behind her, a shirtless man was flipping pancakes on the stove. He waved at me, and I waved back, then looked at Aria with raised eyebrows. “No wonder you look like you’re in such a good mood.”
“Callan makes the absolute best pumpkin pancakes in the world. Want to come in and have some?”
“Wish I could, but no time.” I nodded down to Boris, whose little feet stuck out from underneath the bush. “I’m sure he’d be interested, though.”
Aria scowled down at him. “Absolutely not. That little heathen stole the entire box of donuts that was meant for this morning.”
Ah, that explains the unfinished donut. I could hear the respect in Poa’s voice.
I shook my head and looked back at Aria. “Pumpkin pancakes sound like a better deal, anyway.”
“You’re right about that.” She grinned. “Coffee to go?”
“No, thanks. I’m headed into town to get bribery coffee and pastries from Margot’s. I want to be the contractors’ favorite client.”
“Uh-oh, did something go wrong?” I explained what had happened, and she nodded. “I agree with Rafe. It’ll be better if you’re there.”
“Here’s hoping.” I turned to go, then watched in shock as Poa sauntered into the cottage and straight up to the man with the spatula. “And what do you think you’re doing?”
She looked back at me. Getting breakfast. Will you tell him I like a lot of milk in my coffee?
“You weren’t invited.”
Aria grinned. “It’s fine. The invitation was for both of you.”
Poa stuck out her tongue at me, and I glared. “She likes her coffee black.”
Poa hissed.
“It’s all right, cat,” Callan said. “I know you take a lot of cream.”
“How can you possibly know that?” I asked.
“She’s a cat.”
“Okay, good point. I’m out of here before this goes further off the rails.”
Aria took the bag of dirt and seeds from me. “I’ll see what I can do about getting these to bloom ASAP. Check back with me tonight.”
“Thank you. Lifesaver.”
We said our goodbyes, and I headed into town. My first stop was the Aurora Coven headquarters, where I tested my ability to open the locked door without a key. It worked, which still shocked me. I texted Emma to let her know, then went up to the workshop to consult one of the curse-breaking books I’d seen before. I already had an idea about how I would do it, but I wanted to confirm something.
I got lucky and found the info on the first try, along with some supplies that would come in handy. I texted Emma to ask permission before taking the vial of fire suppression powder, and once I had it, I was on my way to Margot’s. The whole stop at the coven took less than twenty minutes, and I was out of Margot’s even quicker, loaded down with goodies for the guys.