Read Wicked Brew for Free Online Page B

leaving her alone with their … nonsense … for a second longer than I had to. I just knew they’d have her in an apron with ribbons in her hair by the time I got back. They hadn’t been able to dress us up for years. The opportunity to do it with Annie would be too much for them to ignore.
    “You don’t have to be so mean,” Clove said. “I want to help Annie. That’s not what I was saying.”
    “Then what were you saying?”
    “What if the spell leads us to a dead body?”
    I’d considered the possibility. “Then at least we’ll know.”
    “What if it leads us to a killer?” Clove pressed.
    “Then we’ll beat the crap out of him and run,” I said.
    “What if it leads us to Belinda and we find that she just doesn’t want her daughter anymore?” Clove wasn’t giving up.
    “Then we’ll beat her up, too,” Bay said.
    “Fine,” Clove said. She grabbed two candles from me and stalked to the far side of the bluff. “I just want you to know, when this goes bad – and we all know it will – I told you first.”
    “What makes you think this is going to go bad?” I asked.
    “When have we ever done a spell and had it turn out right?”
    She had a point. Still … . “We’re doing it,” I said.
    “I just want to know why,” Clove said, squaring her shoulders primly.
    “Because I said so.”
    “More and more like Aunt Tillie every day,” Clove muttered.
    “I heard that.”
    “I meant for you to hear it,” Clove said, sinking to the ground in resignation. “Let’s do this. That roast they were putting together back at the inn looked good. I don’t want it to be all dried out by the time we’re done.”
    I rolled my eyes. “When have our mothers ever served a dry roast?”
    “When Bay ran away from home when she was eleven,” Clove said. “They forgot about it while everyone was out looking for her.”
    “I didn’t run away,” Bay protested. “I was … taking a break.”
    “From what?”
    “You people,” Bay said, settling in the spot next to Clove. “I still need a break from you people. I just call it work now.”
    I snorted as I sat down with them. “I don’t know why you would ever need a break from us. Clove is an absolute joy, and I am the queen of all things light and love.”
    Bay stuck out her tongue. “You’re the queen of all things annoying. Clove is right, though. Let’s do this.”
    We joined hands and closed our eyes, concentrating so the candles flared behind us. Bay started whispering first. It didn’t matter what she was saying, just that she was laying down the first thread. Clove followed suit a moment later, leaving me as the last one to jump in.
    The power started to build, three small currents nudging each other and joining. Our powers never become one straight line. It’s more like a wall of small lines holding on to each other. When our mothers join forces, their power lines meld as one. We weren’t adept enough for it. Aunt Tillie always says it’s because we’re dabblers. I think it’s because we’re all too stubborn to hand our power over to something that is bigger than us.
    It didn’t matter now. We all focused intently, pushing the power to lead us to a specific spot as the spell began to grow.
    The sound of approaching feet broke us from our reverie. I scowled as I turned, focusing on my mother and Marnie as they climbed the hill.
    “Why did you have to climb this high?” Marnie complained. “I feel like I’m going to have a heart attack.”
    “You should get more exercise,” Mom chided her.
    “I get tons of exercise,” Marnie countered.
    “Torturing me is not exercise.”
    “It is when you do it right,” Marnie shot back.
    “Why are you guys up here?” I asked. If I didn’t interrupt them, this could go on for hours.
    Mom bit the inside of her lip as she met my angry gaze. “We … um … we … .”
    “We lost Annie,” Marnie admitted.
    I jumped to my feet. “What?”
    “We didn’t mean to,” Mom said. “She was