Free Seeing Magic (The Queen of the Night Series Book 1) by Laura Emmons

brother before I met you, but I didn’t know who he was back then. Before we met at the airport, I’d never seen a vision about you.”
    “Why is that, do you think?”
    “I have no clue.”
    “Huh. So, you want to pick the next song on the jukebox?”
    “Okay,” he smiled.
    ***
    After lunch, we went to the local cinema for a matinee. It was playing a recently released action flick and we were still marveling at the stunts when we reached the public library. Evan handed over Fiona’s library card. I headed straight for the mystery novel section. After I checked out as many whodunits as they’d allow, we went home. I’d done a great deal of walking, so I took a nap before dinner. Later, as I settled down in the easy chair with my new mystery book, I decided this had been the best day of my summer. For a few hours, Evan had treated me like a friend, not like an obligation to Fiona.

 
    Chapter Seven
    The Secret Room
    On Sunday afternoon I got my chance. The store closed early, at 4 PM, and Cassie and I had just finished shutting down the register. While helping to escort a couple of last minute customers to the stairwell, I saw light streaming through a narrow opening between the Chinese sliding panels. Unable to stop myself, I went over and peeked inside the secret room, tiptoeing with my cane and spying around the edge of the panel.
    Even more shocking than the wares for sale was what existed at the opposite end of the room.
    The merchandise itself seemed surreal. Huge cauldrons were on display all around. Each one was shaped like a ball that had had its top cut off, with little feet at the bottom, a lipped rim around the opening, and a handle. They came available in many sizes and were made of copper, pewter and cast iron. A large one sat near the center of the room made of enameled cast iron. It was advertised as a ten gallon cauldron. Pillar candles were displayed around the room in an assortment of colors. A glass case on one side of the room housed a collection of athames, or ritual daggers, which I found quite disturbing. The variety of these special knives ranged from the most plain to the most elaborately carved. In here were crystal balls and real, old tarot cards, not the tourist-type cards sold in the book shop. They weren’t glossy, baseball-themed or astrological sign-themed decks, but huge cards that looked like aged parchment. It was obvious what was sold in this room: witchcraft.
    Although the merchandise was fantastical, the area directly across from me, up against the windows, took my attention first. It was set up as what I could only describe as a doctor’s office. On a large examining table sat a small girl. She looked to be about Corey’s age, but seemed to be in a lot of pain and had Corey’s greenish complexion from the airplane. This was probably why the woman standing nervously next to her was holding a plastic bucket. Aside from being sick, the little girl was adorable. She had long, honey-colored waves of hair pulled back in pig-tails and big, brown eyes that were fixed on her mother’s face. Her mother looked deeply concerned but held the bucket bravely at the ready. Fiona stood on the opposite side of the table to me and appeared very much like a doctor. She wore a white lab coat and had a stethoscope around her neck. She listened to the little girls breathing sounds by placing it on her back.
    It occurred to me I should back soundlessly out of the doorway and mind my own business, since I clearly had no right to spy on the girl or her mother. As I tried to step backward, my left ankle buckled. I swung the cane out to my right to try and compensate for the loss of balance. In slow motion, I saw the catastrophe unfold. The cane struck the edge of the closest sliding panel. It bowed inwards, striking a stack of copper cauldrons. They tipped over and spilled onto the floor in waves of cacophonic sound. One of them struck a ladder perched against a high shelving unit in the corner of