Free A Witching Well of Magic: A Cozy Mystery (Witchy Women of Coven Grove Book 2) by Constance Barker Page A

busy soon,” she warned them. “Don’t let me get swamped down here on my own.”
    Chloe and Francis assured her they would not—Chloe patiently, Francis with something a little sarcastic. “Aria’s perfectly capable of handling a full house,” Francis explained on the walk up the stairs, “she has this little trick for guessing the next order. Minor divination stuff. She just hates being alone, is all.”
    Bailey wondered exactly what that ‘trick’ was, and whether Aria could teach it to her. She didn’t ask, though. When the door was closed, and Chloe had her arms folded in concern, and Francis with her hands impatiently on her hips, she wasted no time. The ladies looked irritated enough already; even Chloe, though her expression was less sour than Francis’.
    “ First,” Bailey said, “Trevor and Gloria have been asking a lot of questions about me, and Martha, and, I think, possibly the three of you. Do you think Martha might have told them about us? Before she came here, I mean? Gloria did ask about whether there was another cave, back before…” it was still difficult to say it, “…everything that happened.”
    Francis and Chloe both pursed lips, and made their respective shows of being thoughtful. Francis scowled into a middle distance, while Chloe chewed her lip, very much like Bailey tended to when she was deep in thought. After a moment, they glanced at one another.
    “ The caves have a way of keeping themselves safe,” Chloe said finally.
    “ And the Coven, as well,” Francis added. “I wouldn’t worry about those two. Plenty of people have come sniffing around here looking for answers and left empty handed.”
    “ Agreed,” Chloe said. “Though I’m glad you brought it to us. Where did you hear about this?”
    “ Dad quit the paper because they wanted him to do more… I don’t know, expose type work on me,” Bailey said. “He seemed upset.”
    Francis didn’t seem particularly moved by that, but Chloe winced. “I’m sorry, Bailey,” she said. “I know all this would be easier if he knew about you. And probably for your friends as well.”
    “ We’ve all been there,” Francis said, not entirely unsympathetic, but a little scolding all the same. That, though, Bailey knew, was just her way. She’d have sounded the same relaying a recipe for bread. “You get used to it after a while.”
    Bailey didn’t want to get used to keeping secrets, but for now she moved on. If they weren’t concerned with Trevor and Gloria’s digging around on them, then probably she didn’t have to be either. There was still the matter of Aiden, though.
    “ The other thing,” she said carefully, “has to do with Aiden.”
    “ What’s happened?” Chloe asked.
    Francis narrowed her eyes. “Handsome men aren’t the exception to the rule, young lady.”
    “ What?” Bailey stared at Francis.
    “ Francis,” Chloe chided the woman, and turned back to Bailey. “Go on. What about him?”
    “ Well, he seems sort of… different.” She related his probing questions, and the general feeling she got from him, and neither Chloe nor Francis seemed terribly concerned. Then, she got to the part where she’d been unable to read his mind.
    Both women were quiet for a long moment.
    Finally, Francis spoke—just as Chloe was about to. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. “Some people are just like that. Can’t read ‘em. Spells slip right off some people as well, it’s just a fact of life; quirk of nature. Nothing to waste time worrying about.”
    “ Alright,” Bailey said uncertainly. “Its just that—”
    “ Francis is right,” Chloe said. “Sometimes people are just naturally defended from magic. It happens. Or he could be under some kind of spell, like a geas. We can’t read anything that’s been bound like that. It’s part of the magic of it; so they can’t give a secret away even to someone who can read it from their mind.”
    “ I understand that,” Bailey said, “but you