CHAPTER FOUR

Warning bells were already going off. I didn’t love the sound of this. “A lawyer?” I asked doubtfully.

“Yes, a lawyer,” Fiona said.

I frowned. “Why do I need a lawyer?”

“I’m not saying you need a lawyer. I’m saying you need a resource and the best resource happens to be a lawyer. Keep up, dear.”

I bit back a groan. I knew already that there was no changing Fiona’s mind when she got like this. “Who is this guy?” I asked. “Is he some stuffy old man who’s going to quote me all kinds of ancient texts or something?”

Fiona laughed. The sound washed over me, bringing me back to bits and pieces of a childhood I barely remembered. “Hardly. His name is Blake Alexander.”

Now Zoe glanced up, her spoon suspended from its prior job of adding something from every dish to her plate. “Really? He’s going to work with Violet? Man, I’m jealous.”

“Blake Alexander?” I repeated, unable to hide my smirk. “What, did he walk off the set of a soap opera? As the Witch Turns, maybe?”

“You think you’re joking, but he’s definitely hot enough,” Zoe said to me. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he was some kind of actor or model or something in another life.”

Fiona sighed.

“What? I’m just saying.” Zoe grabbed a piece of pizza with her free hand and bit into it. I watched the cheese stretch before it finally gave in and broke. “If you’ve got to have someone helping you, I’d vote for him.” She winked. “Especially if you can get some one-on-one time.”

“Hot, huh?” I was still skeptical. “Hot how?”

Zoe dropped her spoon, picked up her phone, and flicked a finger at it before turning it around to show me.

“Oh. Well. Yeah, he is kind of hot.” I took the phone so I could hold it closer. He didn’t look much like a lawyer, at least not how I expected a lawyer to look. Maybe in the witch world it was different. But Blake Alexander had the kind of smoldering good looks that did make him look like a movie star—wavy black hair, five o’clock shadow, espresso-brown eyes. Which is totally a compliment since I love coffee.

“Kind of?” Zoe snorted.

I pointed at my mother. “You. Is this on purpose because you don’t like Todd?” I asked, then turned to Zoe. “Is she trying to set me up with a lawyer?”

“I have no idea,” Zoe said around a mouthful of cheese. “But you gotta admit—he’s hotter than Todd. I mean, Todd’s cute but ...”

“Shut up, Zoe,” I muttered. I was well aware of the shortcomings in my relationship and didn’t need my sister—or my mother—pouring fuel on the fire. Plus Todd was the polar opposite of Blake, with his reddish blond hair and innocent good looks. There was nothing smoldering about him, and I couldn’t deny the smoldering thing was appealing.

My mother rapped her knuckles on the table, shutting us both up. “I’m not trying to set you up with anyone. Your romance choices—poor as they are—are not my concern. I’m simply giving you a resource that you desperately need. And you will use him,” Fiona added. “Am I clear?”

I hesitated. I still wasn’t so sure I wanted to commit to something Fiona suggested without knowing the details.

Zoe watched us, eyes flicking back and forth between our stare down. Finally she said to me, “Go for it, Vi. I mean, I wouldn’t mind hanging with him.”

“Well, if you weren’t dating a mortal,” Fiona said pointedly.

Zoe made a face. “I don’t mean I’m interested in him or anything. Just saying, he’s hot. And Gabe is a great guy, so you can think what you want.”

Zoe had recently started dating one of our local cops, Gabe Merlino. He was a good guy. And I had visions of that turning out very, very badly—mostly because he had no idea he was dating a witch, and I assumed when he found out it might be unexpected and potentially unwelcome.

Plus, my mother was not a fan of witches dating mortals. My dad had been half mortal, and look how that had turned out, as she would say.

“Mmhmm,” Fiona said. “They’re all great.” She turned back to me. “I’ve already worked this out with Blake. Is there a problem?”

There were a lot of problems, but they didn’t necessarily have anything to do with Blake. “I guess not,” I said. “If you really think he can help me.”

“I do,” Fiona said, nodding with satisfaction. “He is just what you need.”

“Is that really his name? Because it really does sound like a name on a soap. Do you have those?” I asked.

“Do I have what?” Fiona snapped.

“Soap operas. You know, like with witch actors?” I blinked innocently at her.

“Totally,” Zoe said. “But it’s not just limited to witches. We have all kinds of creatures in our world, you know.”

My ears perked up. “Really? Like what?”

Zoe shrugged. “Vampires, unicorns, mermaids. My favorite is Oceans of Magic. It has mermaids and mermen and also Minotaurs. Their world is underwater. Want to see?” She grabbed her phone.

“No she doesn’t want to see! The two of you, honestly,” Fiona muttered. “This is serious business and you”—here she jabbed a long purple glitter-covered fingernail at me—“need to start paying attention and taking it as such. The Mazzy Diamond situation is making life very complicated right now, and you, my darling daughter, are right in the thick of that one.”

That was enough to yank me out of my joking mood. “Fine. I am taking it seriously. Jeez.” I frowned and sank lower in my chair, images of pink unicorns and mermaids fading away. I hated being reminded of Mazzy.

Ever since someone had turned her into a puddle of slime—known in witch terms as being “genied”—in my shop, she’d been haunting me. I’d met Mazzy about a month ago when she showed up at my shop as an undercover reporter doing an expose on fraudulent psychic practitioners. She was trying to prove that my crystals weren’t really able to heal people. We had violently disagreed on that point and she’d finally come to see it my way—but unfortunately she’d gotten someone else angry along the way. Angry enough to commit one of the worst witch felonies possible.

I had learned that when someone was genied they were basically doomed—unless the exact person who’d done the deed confessed. And this had to happen before three full moons passed—otherwise, the person was locked in that bottle forever, their soul in a tortured place of limbo.

It sounded awful. Also, I wasn’t sure if Zoe was messing with me about the mermaids and other creatures.

“Blake will be at the meeting tomorrow. I’ll introduce you formally then. He’s very excited about working with you,” Fiona said.

“I’m sure he is. Can’t wait,” I said. I was being a little sarcastic. I still wasn’t sure what to expect from Fiona, but I was kind of enjoying having them around, truth be told, which hadn’t been the case just a few weeks ago. Fiona was a little intense, and I had some reservations about this council business, but aside from that it was nice to have a family again. It had been lonely after Grandma Abby died. My dad had been gone for five years, and she had been all I had left. I really hadn’t ever let myself consider life without her.

Now I had a whole new life, and if nothing else, it was certainly getting interesting.