Read Hex on the Beach (The Magic & Mixology Mystery Series Book 1) for Free Online Page A

silence, alternating between watching each other and looking at the floor.
    Eventually, I looked up. “Shall we?”
    Mimsey burst into tears, startling Trinket and I so much so that we both flinched.
    “What’s wrong?” I asked.
    “It’s just…” Mimsey rushed forward, tucking her guinea pig onto her shoulder. She brushed a stray hair from my face. “It’s you . My beautiful niece.” Her lips parted as she surveyed my face. “We’ve waited so long to see you.”
    My insides warmed, and to my dismay, the unfamiliar prick of tears in my eyes startled me. I hadn’t cried in years . There’d been nobody to comfort me and, therefore, no reason to cry.
    But her gentle touch, the kindness in her eyes… I started wondering. Maybe my mother is still alive. Out there. Looking for me. I pushed away my tears, hid my excitement, and set my zillion and one burning questions on the back burner for now.
    “Oh, cut the crap,” Trinket said. “This meeting has enough gooiness to make a… what do you call it, those sticky candies you humans make over a bonfire?”
    “S’more?” I said.
    “Yes. So sweet it’s making me sick to my stomach.” Trinket shook her head.
    “Is that you?” Jesse leaned over the bar, squinting in my direction as he interrupted the conversation. “Is that you, Lily? Why do you look funny?”
    “You don’t look funny.” Mimsey patted my arm. “Not really.”
    “Hey—” I started to argue.
    “That’s our cue,” Mimsey said. “Off to The Isle!”

Chapter 4
     
    “You couldn’t have snapped your fingers to get us there or something?” I asked, shifting uncomfortably in the bus seat. “My rear end is very , very sore.”
    “I’m a firm believer in doing things the long way at least once before we go taking shortcuts,” Mimsey said. “Otherwise, you don’t appreciate the shortcut half as much.”
    “This is a very long anti-shortcut,” I mumbled.
    We’d been riding through Minnesota for the last five hours. We caught the last bus out of the Cities and rode straight north for ages. I glanced out the window, noting the surroundings that had changed from the concrete of downtown Minneapolis to sprawling suburbia, with all its manicured lawns, residential homes, and children running about as school let out.
    Now as the sun set, I tried to find a comfortable spot in my seat. Despite my aching body, I couldn’t ignore the beauty of the North Shore. Greenery spanned as far as the eye could see—treetops stretched around the curling edges of Lake Superior while bushes, shrubbery, and grass lined the sides of the highways, making every turn in the road a luxurious sight.
    All of this lush greenery was new for me. I’d grown up in this state, and I’d even gone camping once or twice. However, my dad had never been a proponent of father/daughter trips, which meant that most of my childhood had been in the Cities, surrounded by small patches of green, the type that grew between the cracks on the sidewalk. This, up here, was new territory.
    “It’s beautiful,” I said. “So much life up here.”
    Mimsey shivered. “I think it’s rather chilly. I’m not used to it.”
    “Don’t you live on The Isle?” I asked. “If it’s up here, you should be used to it.”
    “The Isle has a different climate,” Mimsey said. “You’ll see. We’ll be at the launch in thirty minutes.”
    Thirty minutes. Thirty minutes until I’m officially signing over my foreseeable future to these ladies claiming to be my aunts. I must be going nuts.
    Thirty minutes later, however, the tingle of excitement was undeniable. I’d never embarked on such an adventure. I’d gone to school, enrolled in enough extracurricular activities to get into college, then I’d garnered a job like a good girl. I certainly wasn’t unique. I certainly wasn’t special. But it was fun for a change to believe I might be different.
    “Stop daydreaming, girl.” Trinket snapped her fingers. “Take this.”
    I extended a