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  Life’s a Witch

  (The Summer Sisters Witch Cozy Mystery, Book 2)

  Copyright 2018 A.M. King (S. A. Richards)

  All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  Life's A Witch (The Summer Sisters Witch Cozy Mystery, #2)

  Life’s a Witch

  Prologue

  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

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Thanks to my Father above for every blessing.

  Life’s a Witch

  (The Summer Sisters Witch Cozy Mystery, Book 2)

  Being a witch is a lot more complicated than it looks.

  Febe’s just getting used to her magical powers and needs to pass a few tests before she is fully licensed to practice magic without restrictions. But after the murder of someone close to her, she becomes the prime suspect.

  Can she clear her name in time and find the real killer—with a little help from magic?

  There’s a little magic in all of us

  -Author Unknown

  Prologue

  “With this broom, I sweep away all negativity that comes my way.”- Anonymous

  - Febe’s favorite quote of the day

  Febe Summer glanced in horror at the note that was left on the front porch. It was evening at the Summer Victorian Mansion in Blackshore Bay where she’d been staying with her three aunties, her late mother’s sisters. She’d been there since losing her job in the city, the break up with her fiancé, and the loss of her apartment. She could no longer afford the rent in Toronto without a steady paycheck so moving back to Blackshore Bay had been a blessing—or was that a curse? Earlier that week, Febe had helped the cops in solving a murder involving a gossip tabloid reporter who’d been found dead on the roadside.

  The family gathered in the grand dining room to discuss the message in the strange note.

  Better practice your magic spells.

  You’re going to need them soon.

  One by one,

  the Summer sisters will soon be gone.

  Aunt Eartha looked stunned as the women of the Summer family gathered together in the grand dining room after tea time.

  “Who could have sent this?” Aunt Eartha asked.

  “I don’t know,” Febe replied, dazed. Her heart throbbed in her chest. She’d only just found out she had magical blood flowing through her veins. Prior to that, she’d just been an ordinary girl struggling to make ends meet and keep her head together while working in a toxic, competitive office environment in the city.

  “Here, let me see this,” Aunt Vanity said, snapping her vanity mirror shut and shoving it in her handbag. Her aunt took up the spell book that was lying on the coffee table and flipped through the pages.

  “What are you doing?” Febe asked.

  “I’m going to look up a reveal spell. To reveal the sender. Every living being has their energies on everything they do or use.” She then took the parchment sheet of paper from Febe and whispered an incantation and asked the sender to be revealed.

  The sisters waited in patience. A whirl of wind circulated around them. Febe felt a chill and goosebumps surfaced on her skin.

  Nothing happened.

  The tension in the air was palpable as each sister looked at each other.

  Was her Aunt Vanity losing her magical touch?

  Frustrated Aunt Vanity tried again and asked the spirits of the universe to intervene and reveal the sender of the message. She spread her fingers across the paper, feeling the ink.

  Still, nothing happened.

  “Crap, it’s blocked,” Aunt Vanity finally said.

  “Silly woman, of course it’s blocked,” Aunt Trixie said, rolling her eyes. “Whoever did that has enough power to do away with witches, so of course they could use a simple blocking spell. Silly.”

  “Witch, please. Who are you calling silly? You want to see something silly? Look in the mirror.”

  “Ladies! Please,” Aunt Eartha interjected.

  Febe frowned. She was getting worried now. Did someone follow Febe home? Was it someone from the police department? Did the cops suspect they were magical folks? In the town of Blackshore Bay, witchcraft and anything magic was forbidden. In fact, it was a magic free zone. If anyone was caught using their witching skills, they’d be toast. Like, literally. There was a Council of Witches, an organization that co-existed with regular governmental agencies in the Blackshore Bay area, that “normals” were not aware of. Even the Council disagreed with practicing magic unless it was absolutely necessary to save the life of human or magical folk. Magic was not to be practiced for self-serving purposes.

  “I bet you it was Mr. Dawes from down the street,” Aunt Trixie said. “He’s been acting strange ever since your mama, my dear sweet sister, passed away.”

  “He’s been acting strange?” Febe queried.

  “Yes, you know: strange. Don’t you see he’s always peeking out from behind the blinds whenever any of us enters or leaves the premise. He takes neighbourhood watch to a whole new level.”

  “More like nosyhood watch. That man is so nosy, it’s not even funny,” Aunt Vanity chimed in. Well, at least the sisters could agree on something.

  “But what makes you think he suspects us?” Febe swallowed hard. Everything had been strange since moving back to Blackshore Bay, not to mention she’d found out her black cat Ebony could talk. And now they had the neighbor, Mr. Dawes, watching their every move?

  “Ever since your mama’s mysterious death on the bay, he’s been hovering around the house as if he suspects something.”

  “Or someone,” Aunt Vanity added. She went back into her handbag and pulled out her vanity mirror. Febe was certain someone had put a hex on her aunt so that she would always be glued to her compact mirror, always fixing herself up, worrying if a strand of hair was out of place. Aunt Vanity was a gentleman’s lady. She never shied away from men. And she was proud of it, too. She boasted she had a date almost every other week. Which was more than Febe could say about her twenty-five year old self.

  “Great. Isn’t there a way we could use a spell to...?”

  “No, honey. You know the rules of witching. Oh, right, you’re still getting used to being a mage. Well, anyway, you’re forbidden from using magic for personal gain.”

  “What about personal safety?”

  “We’re good in this old Victorian house of ours,” Aunt Vanity continued, admiring herself in the mirror. “Your mama put a protection spell around the bricks to protect all who enter and dwell in this old place. She was advanced like that. God rest her soul.”

  Febe’s heart squeezed in her chest. She really missed her mother. “Mom must have been advanced. I heard most spells only last five minutes or so. At least that’s what I’ve been reading in the Spell Book.”

&
nbsp; “That’s true, darling. Anything longer is an advanced spell. Only certain witches are capable of that.”

  Aunt Eartha came back into the living room and looked at the note again, her brows furrowed.

  “What is it, Aunt Eartha?”

  “This doesn’t look good at all. Remember we discussed about seven witches in the Summer family having to bind together when the evil hunter returns at the next blue moon.”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, I did receive a yellow notice from the Council of Witches.”

  “When were you going to tell us darling elder sister?” Aunt Trixie said, her hands on her hips.

  “I didn’t want to alarm any of you until I have further information. I will be meeting with the ministry tomorrow.”

  “What exactly does a yellow notice mean?” Febe interjected.

  “It means we need to be vigilant because word from the other realm suggests an attack may be imminent.”

  Febe’s eyes widened in shock. Okay, great. Now it was time to panic.

  “Not to worry though,” Aunt Eartha continued.

  “Not to worry? Are you serious, Auntie?”

  “It’s not the first time we’ve been given notice.”

  “The girl is right, Eartha. This is serious! The last time we received a yellow notice, our dear sister, Katlynn,...well, she passed away in that horrible accident.”

  Febe felt her heart explode in her chest. She was living and working in Toronto at the time when she got word that her mom had passed away last year. She’d been traumatized by that tragic loss. She loved her mother dearly, though she didn’t get to spend as much time with her in the past few years as she’d liked, since she had been juggling two jobs in the city, fighting to make ends meet while paying off her massive student loan debt. But the news had struck her full force.

  “I had no idea you received a warning that something was about to happen before Mom passed away.”

  “Yes, we did, darling. But as I said before, we’re one of the very few magical bloodlines left in Blackshore Bay. Since the days of Salem things were never the same, though we’ve come a long way since then. Anyway, the Blue Moon is the time when the energy forces of the earth strengthen and so will our power. That time will ensure another century of magic in our family. However, the evil hunter wants to put a stop to that. His power is great, but it will take the power of seven to take him on if he tries to stop us at the Witches Renewal of Energy during the Blue Moon phase.”

  “But we’d need seven of us in one family. There’s only five. You, Aunt Trixie, Aunt Vanity, my sister Janvier and now me since I’ve come of age recently. Marsha hasn’t come of age yet.”

  “But we can try to override that somehow. We’re working on getting her around to it.”

  “She hasn’t really spoken to the family in ages,” Febe said, dejected. Talk about a major barrier. “And even if she does come along for the ride, assuming she won’t disown us when we tell her we’re really a family of witches, that still makes only six Summer witches. We need seven, right?”

  Aunt Eartha was silent for a moment. “You’re right,” she said softly. “We’ll have to try to use the power of six of us. It’s still better than the five energy forces. We just need to keep ourselves safe. The evil hunter and his demons have been known to slide into the souls of humans and cause them to do despicable things.”

  “Yeah, like throw your mama into the river. I know it was no accident. She was the only Summer sister who didn’t know how to swim. That man drowned her. Crazy old man telling the cops he was trying to save her but she drowned. He was probably keeping her underwater as long as he could until the cops got there.”

  “Do you know who it was?” Febe asked.

  “Some old man. Cops said it was an accident and he wasn’t a suspect. But I’m willing to bet it was one of the evil hunter followers.”

  Febe heaved a sigh as she held onto the piece of paper her aunt handed back to her. This would mean she’d really have to watch her back from now on. She didn’t know who to trust.

  Chapter 1

  “Once you go witch, you never switch.”

  - Author Unknown

  Thirteen Rules of Witching

  Honor the Goddess and her Divine power

  Do Good

  Think Good (Where your thoughts go, your energy flows)

  Cherish every moment you live

  Learn from your mistakes, don’t feel burned by them. Failure is the best teacher

  Use your magical powers and knowledge to heal and help others

  Honor the magic in the world: life, love, nature

  Treat your body well, it’s the most magical thing you’ll ever own

  Treat others well, not by the way they may treat us. How you make others feel says a lot about you.

  Master your craft

  Master your self

  Practice magic within the guidelines of the Council of Witches

  Practice self-love every day. It is not vanity, it’s sanity. You cannot give to others what you don’t have for yourself.

  The next morning, Febe made her way into the Summer Café. It was her turn to open up the place. The sun blazed down on this fall morning as the fallen orange and yellow leaves decorated the ground. The water from the lake lapped against the shoreline while the birds chirped in the distance. This was so different from waking up to the sound of sirens and mufflers in the big city. Not to mention the air was cleaner in Blackshore Bay. The town was a welcome change, although a little strange. She still couldn’t get over the fact that the supernatural co-existed with humans in the town as if it were no big thing. Not to mention, she had to watch her back because demons lurked in the background, oftentimes taking over the soul of a mortal. She shivered at the thought.

  Then again, it wasn’t that much different from the city, was it? She was sure that some of her former co-workers must have been possessed.

  Febe glared at the screen of the iPod on the countertop cradled in the dock of the sound system. The icon in the shape of a slice of pie on the dash was blank.

  No Wi-Fi.

  Oh great. It was as if someone placed a glitch spell on the device this morning. She wondered if it was her cheeky witch ghost Aunt Hex.

  “Aunt Hex is that you?” Febe called out into the ether. The other night, her Aunt Trixie said she received a message from the other realm that Aunt Hex would be visiting them soon. She often came every few years as she had special privilege from the other side.

  Febe sometimes wished her mother would appear to her from beyond so that at least she could tell her she loved her one more time. It was only after her mother passed that she realized she probably didn’t say it often enough. Sometimes we take things for granted when the ones we love are around. We don’t ever think they’d not be there one day.

  She sighed deeply and tried to get the iPod to play music. It was the first thing they did at the Summer Café to get things going and create a mood for the customers. Not to mention, it made things easier when setting up the tables for their first customers of the day.

  Still nothing happened when she tapped on the music icon on the screen.

  Febe felt a slight chill for a moment but then it vanished. She glanced around and no one was there.

  Again, she sighed deeply. Maybe the iPod wasn’t working because of a human glitch and had nothing to do with her ghost auntie.

  The café was about to open. She’d already started warming up the grill, checked the till and placed the chairs on the floor and all she had to do now was turn on the music before the rest of the team arrived. It was a ritual, part of their tradition. It was part of the Summer Café atmosphere. A dose of music to get the patrons – and the early morning staff – started for the day. It was what they were known for.

  Maybe this would be a good time to test drive her magical powers on her own. Outside of her lessons.

  She closed her eyes and started to focus. Commanding the good spirits to circle around her. Th
inking of positive thoughts.

  Rule number 3: Think good. Where your thoughts go, your energies flow.

  Wi-Fi.

  It’s only energy, right? Those humans were really catching up to witches now with their digitally-aided magic. She reminded herself that Wi-Fi gave off electromagnetic radiation in the low gigahertz frequency. That was all it was. Radio waves.

  Well, she’s got this. She could do this with her eyes closed.

  Witches powers operated on a gigahertz frequency beyond this world.

  She signaled her energies to play the song list.

  Rule number 6 of the 13 Rules of Witching. Use your magical powers and knowledge to heal and help others.

  Okay, in her books, people really needed this dose of escape and happiness so she was using it to help them start a good day before they head to work. That was healthy wasn’t it?

  “Commanderio play the song list.”

  Nothing.

  She frowned.

  Okay, Madam Techer told her to focus. Concentrate. Believe she could do it. Believing with energy was a positive force that often triggered the magic to work.

  Faith.

  Trouble was, did she have faith in herself? This whole witching thing was so new to her. She really still couldn’t believe the family kept this dark secret from her all these years. They were from a long line of witches dating back to the 1600s. Imagine that.

  Okay, now what was that spell?

  She didn’t have time to go through the entire spell book but she remembered what Madam Techer told her about witches working in technology and creating spells under the guise of “codes.” Now which spell did they use?

  “I command you to play the morning play list. Thank you.”

  Always be thankful, she’d read. Gratitude opened the door to abundance.

  She felt a wave of energy circle around her and flow through her. Her limbs felt slightly tingly. She sucked in a deep breath as if it took a lot of effort to breathe deeply now.

  She couldn’t believe it. The Wi-Fi signal was still missing, but somehow the iPod powered on.