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

told me a geas was voluntary. So, if he’s under one, then he took it intentionally, which, again, means there’s something a little stranger than ordinary about him, isn’t there?”
    “ You don’t have to know you’re doing it,” Francis said. “You can be tricked into it. Plenty of people are. Dimwitted people.”
    Bailey frowned at her. That didn’t sound like Aiden. And this all seemed a bit like they were reaching.
    She knew she shouldn’t have tried, but she did it anyway. She opened her mind to the two of them, and tried to glean something from the surface, but all she got was a quiet, psychic stillness; the mental equivalent of the gentle lapping of ocean waves against the beach and the wind over the rocks of the cliff face.
    “ Now, none of that,” Francis said sharply.
    Chloe didn’t say anything, but she did look momentarily pained. Bailey’s guilt was immediate. But it didn’t get rid of her growing frustration. It just wasn’t fair that they kept so much from her. She’d kept their secrets, and they were hard to keep. Whether they know that difficulty or not, she deserved answers some of the time—when they concerned her directly. She had to work with Aiden on a daily basis.
    If she’d known the subject was about to change, she would have let it go, and bid them a good day. However, it was, it seemed, a bit late for that.
    “ Now that’s out of the way,” Francis said archly, “there’s the other matter.”
    Bailey frowned, confused. “What’s that?”
    Chloe bunched her eyebrows together, and sighed. “We know about the spell you took,” she said quietly.
    Cold fear ran through Bailey’s stomach. How had they known? Well that was a still question to ask; magic, obviously, of some kind.
    “ Did it work for you?” Francis asked, though she sounded more accusatory than curious.
    Bailey feared speaking, so she just shook her head slowly.
    “ How do you know?” Francis pressed.
    Well, for that Bailey had no answer. “I… don’t?”
    Chloe drew Bailey to one of the four chairs that graced one corner of the attic, very near the chest that contained the spell book. “We really need to know all the details, Bailey,” she said softly, kindly, but with some firmness. “It’s important.”
    So, they knew she had messed with the book, then, but didn’t know which spell she’d taken. Or, they did and wanted her to admit it. There was simply no way to know, so instead she opted for total honesty. Even if it was because she was in trouble, it was at least nice to not hide anything for a moment.
    “ I took a reveal spell,” she said. “Page… four hundred seventy three? I think. Or close to it. To reveal a person’s intentions—voluntarily,” she added quickly when Francis scoffed. Bailey’s very first lesson had been on the dangers of violating a person’s free will. “I figured it was like a nudge, instead of… I don’t know, a compulsion.”
    “ Good Lord,” Francis groaned.
    Chloe was more patient, at least. “Okay. And, what happened when you did the spell.”
    “ Nothing,” Bailey said. Except, that wasn’t quite true. “Well, when I finished, it got a little windy. I was in my room, and had the window open because of all the smoke—”
    “ That spell,” Francis sighed. “The Egyptian Fire of Revelation.” She shook her head. “Chloe, deal with this. I’ll make sure Aria isn’t bouncing off the walls.” She took the opportunity to scoff once more before she left.
    Chloe watched her go, and then sighed. “The wind picked up the ashes, right?” She asked.
    Bailey nodded. “I didn’t realize at first… but there was no mess afterward, so… is that just how it works?”
    “ I can’t explain how it works,” Chloe said, still gentle, “because you’re not supposed to know yet. We talked about this before, Bailey.”
    “ No,” Bailey said. “We didn’t talk about it, the three of you told me. And you didn’t give me any explanations. I need to