Free The Witches of Merribay (The Seaforth Chronicles) by B.J. Smash

c'mon,” I heard my aunt Cora saying. My eyes were just so heavy that I couldn't open them.
    Ice -cold water was spritzed over my face and solved the problem. I sat up to see Aunt Cora holding a water bottle.
    “My , oh my. You're a hard one to wake up this morning,” she said.
    “What time is it?” I said , rubbing the dusty feeling from my eyes.
    “Ten o'clock in the morning . I let you sleep in but we better get a move on if we're to make it to the book sale. I don't want all the good books to disappear.” She gave my face another squirt of ice water.
    “Looks like the two of you had a nice time last night , by the looks of this garbage bag. Why, it's filled with feathers! Don't let your grandmother see that you've destroyed her good feather pillows,” she said.
    Looking around the room, I recalled the night before and the pillow fight. Zinnia's room had been cleared of any feathers and looked immaculate. When did that happen? She must have cleared them by herself.
    “Where is Zinnia?”  I asked.
    “Oh, she's up and gone already. Must have had an early date set with Becky.”
    Confused, I rubbed my head . “I'm a light sleeper. I wonder why I never heard her go?”
    “You weren't much of a light sleeper this morning . It's taken me ten minutes to wake you up. I almost called an ambulance. Now, get ready. We have no time to waste,” she said, scurrying out of the room.
    I couldn't imagine how I'd slept through the morning . First of all, I was normally an early riser, and secondly, I was a light sleeper. I suppose it didn't matter, but I still felt tired.
    Aunt Cora returned to the room, tossed some cloth es on me, and held her hand out to pull me up from the floor.
    “I'll be ready in fifteen minutes , Aunt Cora. Just wait downstairs. I need a quick shower and I'll be down.”
    She left , and I looked around the room. I didn't know what I was looking for until I saw it sitting on the dresser. My teacup. Zinnia had made me mint tea, and that was the last thing I remembered.
    Before I took my next breath, I'd figured it out . She had put something in there to put me to sleep. And by gosh, it had worked.
     
    ***
     
    Rummaging through old and used books would normally be my type of thing. I enjoyed reading. Today, however, it became a nuisance. We arrived to the sidewalk sale of books; there were thousands of books to be bought.
    Aunt Cora looked as though she'd walked through the gates of heaven and seen St. Peter himself sitting on a silver -lined cloud. She could not wipe the smile from her cherubic face. She already had a basketful of romance books, which I'm sure to her seemed like finding diamonds in the rough. After sorting through a pile, she continued on to another table.
    For appearance ’s sake, I glanced through the books right alongside of her.
    “Isn't this fun?” she asked.
    “Yup ,” I replied.
    I briefly took the time to walk to the end of the sidewalk to glance out to the bay , and sure enough, Magella's boat floated calmly on the water. I suppose that was a good sign. I hurried back before my aunt would miss me.
    Walking around , I happened to see a familiar face. It was Becky's mom, and right beside her was Becky. Zinnia was nowhere to be seen. I approached them with a smile, said hello, and exchanged pleasantries. Then Becky's mom turned to say hello to someone else.
    Just as I opened my mouth to ask where Zinnia was, Becky said, “So, where is Zin these days? I haven't seen her in a week.”
    I contemplated telling her the truth, and that if she hadn't seen my sister for a week, then my sister had been lying of her whereabouts. Every time Zinnia left the house, she said she was headed to Becky's. My aunt complained of her leaving the café during work hours to go see Becky. But instead, I just said, “Oh, has it been that long?'
    “Yeah , I haven't seen her since last Friday. And she hasn't even called me.”
    “I suppose she's been busy at the café,” I lied.
    “Every time I