Free Shake Your Green Thing: Supernatural Witch Cozy Mystery (Harper “Foxxy” Beck Series Book 2) by Raven Snow

greet people?”
    “Oh,” I said lamely. “It’s you.”
    “Yes, well, in light of Cherry’s... accident, we’ve decided to switch the bios with something that’ll take each contestant a little longer to complete— so we can stretch it to be the same length without her.”
    “Tactful,” I said.
    She ignored me. “We’re having a non-magical talent contest. Very short, just a couple minutes of demonstration of something you do well. The call time’s still at seven.”
    I glanced at the antique clock on the wall in horror. “That’s in an hour! I don’t have time to come up with a talent by then.”
    A voice said something that I couldn’t make out, calling her attention away. “Perhaps you could break into a tax-paying citizen’s home. You’re good at that,” she said coolly, disconnecting the call with a decisive click.
                  Wincing, I wondered when that little stunt was going to come back to bite me. Just as soon as she didn’t need me, probably.
    I got up, my body aching beneath me. Wyatt had just paused in between calls out in the hall and raised an eyebrow at me. Weighing the pros and cons about lying to him about where I was going, I twisted my face into an unflattering expression.
    He probably wouldn't buy it.
    "Melanie's calling in the troops for the performance tonight."
    He blocked my way when I would've slid past him. "You should be in bed." His eyes were clouded over like a frozen sky.
    "And give Melanie another reason to press charges— besides the fact that she hates me? Don't think so." I tried to perk up for Wyatt's sake. "Besides, the killer is likely connected to the contest. Being there ups my chances of running into him."
    The conversation went downhill from there, while Wyatt's temper went through the roof. If he'd been a bull, I would've been the red blanket waved in front of his snorting nostrils. For the most part, I just stood there and took the yelling like a crowbar to the head— which it felt like. At the end of it, Wyatt was out of breath, and I was walking out the door, headed to do whatever I wanted. I was the one who was poisoned, after all.
    "Be careful, alright? I'll be there as soon as I can." He said softly before the door shut between us.
    The bug was reluctant to start, and I feared for a moment that I was going to have to ask Wyatt for a lift. That would've ruined my pointed exit. Plus, he probably would've given me a lift back to his house instead of to the stage.
    Breathing a sigh of relief as the car finally sputtered to life, I headed toward the center of town. With each second that went by, I got a little wearier. My mouth was dry and my skin overheated. As much as it killed me to admit it, Wyatt was probably right about staying in bed. But I didn't want to spend what could be my last couple of days lying down; I wanted to fight for my life.
    Melanie gave me such a look upon my arrival that I was sure it would've killed a lesser mammal. She didn't say anything, though, leaving me to get dressed slowly in the dressing room they'd given me.
    The doors to Cherry and Belinda's dressing rooms were securely shut with the lights off, like someone was trying to hide them from notice. One look at the other contestants' faces told me that someone was unsuccessful. The girls looked fearful, some were grieving, and almost all of them were thinking of dropping out.
    "I need the prize money," one of the witches said to her shorter friend. "Otherwise, I'd be gone."
    The friend nodded. "It's been a rough year all around. Without the publicity, my tour bus company will go under."
    The atmosphere was so depressing, I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. If I didn't do something soon, I'd keel over.
    Turning to Penny, who was decked out in bright pink that was not flattering, I asked, "Didn't you and your husband move out of town recently?"
    She looked up from tying her shoe laces, blinking in the harsh light. "Oh— yes. To a farm just outside the