Alexa let her lips curl around the Latin words as she wrapped up her morning ritual. The language never mattered so much as the intent, but there was something about the ancient tongue that seemed more potent than plain English. And these days, she needed potent. She needed that extra boost to get her through the day.

​

The incense smoke rose from the altar, the ambrosial aromas of herbs and oils swirling through her senses and seeping into her spirit. Her fingers deftly rolled the carefully selected crystals in her palm. She channeled their energies, feeling the smooth, cool texture of their surfaces. Behind her closed eyelids, she envisioned her chakras aligning and strengthening, ensuring that her intent was fully manifested as she did every morning.

​

“I am strong,” she chanted. “I am confident. I am joyful and whole.”

​

Beneath her feet, several grandfather clocks chimed on their hourly cue. That was Alexa’s sign to finish or she’d be late for work. She opened her eyes to take in the dull gray light slanting through her bedroom window. This cool January morning was full of promise. That’s what she told herself every day, whether she believed it or not.

​

Taking one last, deep breath, she set her crystals upon the table by the window, positioning them perfectly as they had been before the ritual. With a few extra invocations, she closed the rituals and snuffed out the glowing tips of the incense sticks with her wetted fingers. Miss Macy, her landlord, wouldn’t allow an open flame in the apartment Alexa rented, but incense was never questioned. The old lady liked the way it fumigated her antique shop, so it wouldn’t smell like dust and mothballs.

​

The studio apartment above the shop along Johnson Avenue wasn’t much. She couldn’t cook there, she couldn’t light her favorite candles, and she couldn’t own a pet like her friends, Krystal and Valerie. But it was enough. All she needed was her bed, her dresser where all her rituals were held, and her small collection of books about the craft she had been studying all her life. The floor beneath her woven rag rug squeaked in response to her hurried footsteps, and the faucet in the bathroom across the hall didn’t always spew out hot water, but it was home. For now.

​

Alexa inspected her hair in the small framed mirror next to the window, smoothing the stray hairs in her blonde curls until they were just right. A quick adjustment to her cardigan, a bit of twist to her skirt to make the flowery patterns face forward, and she looked ready to take on whatever that day had to throw at her. Still, she didn’t turn away just yet. Alexa checked everything a few more times. Her hair, her makeup, the way her clothes hung on her petite frame, for any twisted strap in her heels, or underwear lines bulging through her blouse. Blue eyes searched for anything out of place, anything that might suggest she was ill-prepared for those challenges.

​

In the end, she knew there was little she could do to truly be ready. And yet, she continued to try. After securing her tiny sachet of crystals in her skirt pockets and grabbing her designer purse from the floor, she hurried toward the door. She was almost there when she realized she had almost forgotten something. Her heels made a loud thud on the floor as she stopped dead in her tracks and spun to the modest fish tank in the corner of the room.

​

“Sorry, Mr. Fish,” she said as she rushed for the food container. “I expect you need breakfast just as much as I do.”

​

The orange goldfish wiggled its way to the top and chomped at the flakes Alexa sprinkled into the bowl. Miss Macy might not have wanted her to have pets in the apartment, but like the incense, she found a loophole in the agreement to suit her. Life would have been even more lonely than it already was if she didn’t have Mr. Fish.

​

Alexa smiled and resumed course out of her room and down the stairs into the antique shop. The entire first floor of the old building was packed from wall to wall with knickknacks and donated heirlooms. Rusted farm equipment, vintage furniture, oil paintings, marble sculptures, chipped dishware, carved statues, beaten steamer chests, fragile dresses, and every other sort of trinket imaginable found its temporary home in Miss Macy’s Antiques.

​

The incense had done its job again and Alexa could hardly detect the scent of aged wood and musty upholstery. Picking her way through the darkened labyrinth, Alexa passed some of her favorite pieces. An onyx statue of a cat with topaz eyes, one of the many grandfather clocks featuring a wide-eyed owl perched upon its top, a blue velvet wingback chair that needed more stuffing. Her slender hands brushed each of them as she walked by, feeling their texture and individual energies. Her mouth tugged into a new smile at the memories they must have carried with them into this shop.

​

She exited out the back way and bypassed her yellow Volkswagen bug, since the coffeeshop was just a few blocks away. Though it was still cold and her toes would be nearly frozen by the time she got there, Alexa could never resist the journey.

​

Much of Goldcrest Cove was still asleep. The crowds that were drawn in by the holiday season had died away, leaving the town to its locals once more. Snow mounded on the few cars parked along the curb and coated the streets in a fine, unbroken sheet of white. The trees that bloomed in spring were bare and tall, multi-armed skeletons reaching to the overcast sky. And yet, Alexa could somehow sense spring in the air. Tomorrow would be Imbolc, the halfway point between winter and spring. It was a day of hope for those in the past. A day to remember that the hard times were almost over and the sun would shine warm again.

​

They didn’t need those kinds of assurances now, but the traditions always gave Alexa something to look forward to. Something to hope for.

​

She neared the coffeeshop and found its lights casting a welcoming glow onto the sidewalk. Another reason to smile. The blast of aromatic heat hit her face as she swung open the door, a clear sign that Krystal was in an excellent mood this morning. The place would have been freezing otherwise. The cheerful ring of the bell above the frame echoed through the shop, bouncing off the distressed wood floor and brick walls. The chairs were still turned over and sitting atop the tables. Krystal hadn’t been there long.

​

Her best friend’s long coat hung on the rack near the counter and an empty ceramic mug styled with leaves and vines sat on the counter by the register.

​

“Krystal?” Alexa called out.

​

“Back here!” shouted the owner of Perfect Books and Brews.

​

Tossing aside her own coat and purse, Alexa skipped to the hallway that led to the bathrooms and offices. She found Krystal Hayden – soon to be Krystal Daniels – sitting at her desk, turning over reports and pages lined with numbers and figures.

​

“You know that’s my job,” Alexa said teasingly with a hand propped on her hip.

​

Krystal delicately pushed aside a long strand of her bangs from her eyes. “I know,” she mumbled absently. “I’m just checking it all over.”

​

A slight rush of panic swept through Alexa. There shouldn’t have been anything wrong with the reports or the finances for the store. She had gone to school for accounting and would have known if any calculation was off. Nothing was amiss. They were actually doing fairly well after the big holiday rush. Why would Krystal have any reason to doubt her? Then again, maybe there was every reason to question Alexa’s competency. They had before.

​

“Does it seem like the traffic’s been down lately?” Krystal asked, turning her dark eyes up to her friend standing in the doorway.

​

Alexa shook her head and shrugged. “I don’t think so… It’s probably just the wind down after the rush. You know how it gets this time of the year.”

​

Resigned to that excuse, Krystal stood and sighed. “I guess. It just gets me a little worried when we seem a little less busy.” She shook out the wrinkles on her boho skirt to make the rippling folds drop down to her ankles. Alexa always admired Krystal’s earthy style, from her flowing cotton blouses with bell sleeves to her patch work skirts and dresses. If she didn’t love bright colors so much, she might have copied her. She wanted to be like Krystal in almost every other way. She always had since they were kids.

​

Alexa gave her longtime friend a sympathetic smile. “We’re the only coffeeshop in town. We’re never going to go out of business, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

​

The bell over the door jingled and the two girls looked to one another skeptically.

​

“Valerie?” they called in unison.

​

“What?” By the snappy tone, they knew it must have been her. And, as usual, she was not in a happy mood. Mornings were never her thing.

​

Alexa and Krystal quickened their steps down the hall to see the third co-owner of the coffeeshop sling her khaki jacket over the hook of the coat rack near the counter.

​

“You’re never here this early,” Krystal remarked.

​

Alexa examined her friend, but found no dark circles under her glittering green eyes. Neither did she look like she had just crawled out of bed. Once, Valerie had been running so late that she didn’t even bother to change out of her pajamas. But today, she was dressed in her usual attire. Jeans and some rock band t-shirt that Alexa hadn’t heard about. The amethyst pendant hung around her neck, neutralizing all the woman’s negative energy that couldn’t be contained.

Valerie pulled down her black mug from the shelf where all the customized mugs were stored. “Yeah, well… Caleb’s been keeping me on a bit of an exact schedule. The man wakes up so early in the morning that it’s hard not to get woken up about the same time. Might as well get up too, you know?”

​

A devilish look came over Krystal, the one that a year ago would have never made an appearance. Devin Daniels, the newest cop on the Goldcrest Cove police force and Krystal’s fiancé, was bringing out the more playful, easygoing side of her every day. “I’ve found it’s a little hard to go back to sleep after my man wakes up too.”

​

Valerie didn’t even blush as she pulled back her dark hair into a ponytail. The burgundy streaks popped in the light. “There’s that too,” she replied wryly. “Goddess, Caleb can be a real beast in the bed.”

​

Alexa giggled, glorying in this talk of sex and boyfriends – or in Krystal’s case, a fiancé. The transformation in her friends over the last six months had been nothing short of magical. If love and Twin Flames could do that for them, then it gave Alexa hope for her own future.

​

“Maybe because he is a beast?” Krystal offered.

​

Valerie waved away the sly comment about her boyfriend being a werewolf. “Oh, that’s hardly it.” Another wave of her hand toward the espresso machine on the far counter made it whirl to life. “Has anyone had their coffee yet?”

Alexa pranced behind the counter and snatched up her own mug, the most vibrant one on the shelf with its purple and pink fairy designs glazed into the sides. “Not yet.”

​

“Girl, you don’t need coffee!” Krystal joked. “You’ve got enough energy to run half of this town.” Using her own magic, she turned and made every last chair in the coffeeshop rise from the tables and turn over. A unanimous clatter shook the floor as they all dropped into place at the same time. It was a good thing no non-magic folk were out on the streets yet, or they might have seen the whole thing.

​

“And with coffee, I could run it all!” Alexa replied, holding up her mug as if to toast to the very idea.

​

The other two witches laughed as they all went to brewing their favorite drinks. A chai tea latte for Krystal, a mocha for Valerie, and a macchiato for Alexa. They had been together ever since they were children. They learned the craft of magic together, they struggled through life’s challenges together, and they started this business together.

​

Through deaths in the family, through drama, through trials that no non-magic folk could possibly understand, they had always stuck together like sisters. Most recently, they defeated a demon, a necromancer, and a serial killer under the influence of a charm. A twinge of guilt struck at Alexa’s heart for that infraction, which she knew she would pay dearly for in the future. All evil would be paid back to her seven-fold eventually. But despite it all, they never faltered. Never shied from the fight, and reaped some worthwhile rewards. All except for Alexa, that is.

​

Krystal and Valerie had found their Twin Flames, their fateful lovers for eternity. Getting into a relationship with a human and a werewolf was controversial enough to tear families apart. And yet, they were as tight as ever. Maybe even tighter. It gave Alexa the impression that nothing could keep them from being friends. What was best was that they were happy. Both of them. Alexa strived every day to be happy for them in return. They’d found love and connection. That’s what the Mother Goddess wanted for all of them, and one day it would be Alexa’s turn. She had to cling to that hope or she’d lose it for sure.

​

Seeing them so happy, seeing the coffeeshop thrive and prosper, seeing their town once again blossom into a beautiful place of joy, it all made Alexa’s heart burst. She never wanted any of that to change. With maybe one exception.

​​

(End of Excerpt)