Brrr. I should've checked the weather before leaving. The night was unseasonably chilly. The walk from the office to Deva's cafe wasn't strenuous, but I was freezing now.
Beth was back there, finishing paperwork and sending out invoices. That woman was incredible. When I'd run a business with my ex, I'd handled all of the paperwork, employees, payroll, and day-to-day stuff, but my ex had done the rest. With Beth, we switched off. I trusted her as much as I trusted myself with numbers, which was saying a lot.
It also meant that when I needed a night off, I could have one. Daniel was busy talking to his mysterious library connection about Karma. I had nothing better to do than slink off to Deva’s for some of her amazing cooking, and her even more amazing company.
The back door to Deva's Delights was open a crack, which was the norm in the evenings to help cool the kitchen. As I slipped inside, Deva looked up from the pot she was stirring and smiled.
Oh, good. It was so much warmer in here.
I couldn’t hear her over the bustle of the busy kitchen as they got dinner out to their packed dining room, but her lips moved to her sous chef, Lucas, then he nodded, and I hoped that meant we'd have a little time together. One thing about Deva was she rarely took a real break from the cafe. She would, however, make sure to take small breaks any time we needed her.
“Come on,” she said as she hurried over. I followed to her little office off of the kitchen, but not before she stopped beside one of the junior chefs, Noah. “I’ll have the ham and mashed potatoes.” She looked at me.
“I’ll have the same,” I said. "Sounds good."
“Also bring a couple of pieces of whatever dessert is selling the least,” Deva told him with a wink.
He smiled. Noah was a nice kid and one of the new staff members. What was more, he was a wolf shifter. We’d struggled a bit with the wolves when I'd first come to Mystic Hollow. Now they all seemed to be doing better. Not only were they all working or going to school, but they were also cleaning up the pack lands too. Deva hiring Noah had definitely been a risk, but one that was paying off.
She opened her tiny office door and waved me in, like the office was something spectacular. It wasn't. It was small and cramped, with a desk that barely fit between the walls. The walls were lined with shelves that were filled with books, herbs, and trinkets. A small window at the back of the office was so covered in dust and grime that the light wouldn't penetrate during the day.
We settled into the chairs with groans, both of us tired after our long days, then grinned at each other when we realized what we’d done. Before we could even get into all the chaos of our lives, Noah arrived, dropping off all four of our plates with all the skill of an experienced waiter. Without needing to be told, he closed the door behind him.
I eyed a beautiful bouquet of wildflowers on her desk, then turned my gaze to Deva so I could arch one eyebrow. “Those are nice.”
She grinned and adjusted one of the stems. “Marquis.” She cleared her throat and arched one eyebrow at me, changing the subject with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. “What’s going on?”
“A lot,” I said, taking a bite of my mashed potatoes and moaning at the buttery goodness. “Since it’s long, tell me about your day first.”
She shook her head. “Our delivery came without a single egg or piece of chicken. Not a single one. I had to scramble to change the menu, and we bought as many eggs as we could from the grocery store down the road to make the rest of the dishes work.”
As the food hit my belly, I relaxed. “I bet no one minded.”
Both because her food was delicious and magical.
She smiled. “No, luckily, there weren’t any complaints but if these problems keep up, there will be.”
She listed how many things had gone wrong recently, in between bites of her meal, while I let the calming effect of her cooking wash over me.
The list was long and included broken kitchen equipment, spoiled food, and a shortage of ingredients. The staff was overworked, and it was a complete miracle none of the customers had revolted.
It was a lot to take in, and it was clear that Deva was overwhelmed.
When she finished, I set down my fork, even while eyeing the cheesecake Noah had left on the desk between us. “Deva, I know it’s been hard around here lately, but you’re doing an amazing job. You have a real gift. Your food not only tastes incredible, but it makes a person feel incredible. You should be very proud of what you’re doing here and focus on everything that’s going well too. This place isn't a disaster, despite all the hurdles you've been having.”
She smiled and pushed her dinner plate away, drawing her cheesecake closer. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right. Thanks for talking me off the ledge again." She forked up a big bite of gooey cheesecake. "Now, you want to update me on the Karma situation?”
“Is that what we’re calling it now?" I chuckled and picked up my dessert plate.
She took a bite of her cake and waited with eyebrows raised.
It took most of our dessert for me to explain. She provided a captive audience for my day's tale, laughing and gasping when appropriate. By the time I finished, we were both finished with our cakes and stared at each other in silence. I didn’t know what else to say. I was worried and tried my best not to read too much into her expression.
She looked worried too. “Here’s the thing. I'd hoped all this stuff about the old Karma coming for you was a misunderstanding, but it sounds like there’s something here.” My gut twisted, but she continued, “However, I have a connection that might help us figure out what’s going on.”
“A connection?” I asked, feeling dumb.
She nodded. “She’s a librarian charged with protecting some of the more dangerous works in a secret area of the library.”
Seriously? “Why haven’t we used her before?”
Deva shook her head. “The librarian, she's seriously awful. Most of the time it’s easier to figure out things ourselves than have to deal with her when we're not even sure she can help. There’s so little known about Karma, so she might be our best bet.”
Okay, I could deal with an awful woman if it got us some answers to our questions.
Deva stood. “Let me see if my sous chef can handle things without me for a little longer. Lord knows I’ve covered for him enough times.”
She headed out to the kitchen, and I gathered our plates and took them to the dishwasher. As I walked away, a popping noise behind me made me whirl. I watched as the shelf containing the clean pots and pans broke off of the wall. What followed next was a cacophony of sounds like gunshots, if the guns were shooting panes of glass, until dead silence followed.
I turned to stare at the kitchen staff, who stood in frozen silence, staring at me as if I’d lost my mind. “The sh-shelf broke,” I stammered. "I didn't touch it, I swear."
Deva turned to Noah. “Add having a new shelf installed to my to-do list.” He rushed off to do it. She turned to another staff member I didn't know. "Please gather the pots and pans and pieces of broken shelf off the ground." Finally, she turned to Lucas, her sous chef. "I'm sorry, but I need to leave."
He easily could've gotten angry at her for taking off right now, but he looked completely unbothered as he nodded and went back to cooking. "I'll handle it."
Deva took off her apron and hung it by the back door, then called to me over her shoulder. “Come on, we have work to do.”
Thank the stars for Deva, she always knew what to do.
We headed to my car and then drove to the library, but Deva had me park in the back toward the woods. It was kind of eerie in the rear of the lot in the evening with no other cars around. One lone lamppost illuminated our car while the darkness crowded us from all directions. Maybe that was my fear talking. Ever since the vision of someone coming for my powers, the world had felt a lot less safe.
Deva headed out of the car, and I followed. “Follow my lead, and don’t let her get to you," she said softly as we walked across the lot. "This woman is our only chance at accessing these books, but she’s also the kind of person who deserves to get her butt kicked. She’ll try anything she can to get a reaction out of us. Don’t take the bait.”
“Ignore the needling witch, I can do that,” I said, flashing her a nervous smile.
We got to the back of the building and stepped into the shadows of the trees. For a moment, I squinted into the darkness, trying to spot something that wasn’t there, and then Deva reached out and touched the wall. A door appeared out of thin air.
I gaped while she pulled it open with ease.
“How did you do that?” I asked. I’d been to this library a million times as a kid. I'd played all around the outside too as a child, but I’d never seen this door. Come to think of it, I’d never seen a door appear out of thin air at all.
Deva looked at me and grinned. “Magic. Now, head down the stairs, I’ll be right behind you.”
Okie dokie. I headed down a set of narrow, strange stairs. Sconces with flickering lights chased away most of the darkness, but I still ran my hand along the brick wall, not willing to hurt myself on stairs after all of my dangerous adventures today.
The stairs finally ended, and I looked around. In front of me sat a small, unoccupied desk with a big book on top, with shelves of ancient-looking books behind.
The smell of dust and old books was overwhelming. I looked at Deva, who nodded her head. “This is the secret section of the library.”
My heart beat a little faster as I stepped closer to a book on the desk. I reached out and touched the cover, and a tingling sensation went up my arm. I looked around, surprised at how big the room was.
The walls were lined with bookshelves, and in the center of the room was a large wooden table with four chairs, two of them occupied.
No, not just two people. Two specific people: Daniel and a woman. He looked completely focused on the book in front of him, but the woman’s attention was entirely on him. I wasn't normally a jealous person, but the woman looked like a model straight out of a bra commercial. Okay, okay, she wasn’t in her bra. Not exactly, but she had the tightest white blouse I’d ever seen, with a short skirt that looked painted on. Her blonde hair was pulled up at her nape, with two pencils sticking out of it, and she wore dark-rimmed glasses that looked absolutely fake. What was more, she looked at Daniel like the only thing she wanted in life was to take a bite out of him.
It was like she'd watched a couple of librarian pornos and had done her best to emulate them.
To say I wasn’t happy with the situation was an understatement.
Deva cleared her throat behind me, and they both jumped. Daniel's gaze swung to us, and his eyes widened. He jerked up out of his seat, then stepped away from the other woman.
I almost had to laugh, and if I hadn't been so green I might have. He stood there staring like he had no idea how to handle this situation. Which sort of bothered me, because he seemed a little bit guilty, but I couldn't be sure. He could've simply been startled. No, I didn’t like finding him anywhere near this woman, but at this point, I trusted him. There was no reason not to trust him, though his suspicious behavior wasn’t helping.
“W-we found something,” Daniel said, his voice a little off as he grabbed the book on the table and hurried toward me. He kissed me on the head, pulled me close, and shoved the book in my face all at once.
The librarian didn’t look the least bit happy. “Ah, is this the famous Emily?”
“Emma,” Daniel corrected her, sounding irritated.
“Emma,” she stretched out my name as though she tasted it. “You look older than I pictured.”
“She’s younger than me,” Daniel said, a protective gruffness filling his voice.
“Hmm.” She acted untroubled. “She doesn’t look it.”
I didn’t look at the book in front of me, instead, I sized her up and down. “What’s your name?”
“Mari,” she said with a smile.
I returned her smile. “It’s strange, I’ve never, ever heard of you before.”
Her face turned sour so fast it was almost comical, but she recovered quickly. “Well, I heard all about your triumphant return to town as Karma, after your failed marriage, and failed business, of course. What does it feel like to return to Mystic Hollow on your hands and knees?”
I laughed. “My life's amazing. How about yours?”
Again, she looked enraged.
“Daniel, does this book have the info we need?” Deva asked, her voice cold as she pointed at the book in his hand.
He nodded. “It’s the only one with information about Karma.”
Deva flashed her teeth. “Then, we’re going to check this one out. Mari, it was nice to see you. I’m glad we got a chance to visit this dark and lonely part of town.”
Mari looked angry again, but then her expression changed. She sauntered up to our group and put a hand on Daniel’s arm, “Babe, if you want to stay and read the book here, I can help you with it.”
He shook her hand off. “No, thanks. I think I’ll read it with my girlfriend.” He turned to look at me. “Are you ready?”
I nodded, seething. The instinct to call my powers to deal with this witch was tempting, but I sighed and pushed the temptation away. For some reason, this didn’t feel like a situation for karma yet.
We all headed up the stairs and Mari called after us. “Deva, you may have the book for seven days. After that, the librarians come looking for you.”
I laughed when we reached the outside. “That was scary.”
Deva gave me a look. “Actually, the librarians are far more frightening than you might imagine, but we’ll have the book back in time, so no worries.”
Interesting. Okay. “All right, should we meet at my place to read it?”
They both agreed, but then I turned to walk with Deva, and Daniel looked a bit hurt. I wanted to tell him I wasn’t mad at him, that I didn’t like the woman, but we were okay. The thing was, I didn’t feel that way, not entirely. I was having a hard day, so I didn't want to take something out on him that was all in my head. Instead of touching down on the subject, I said, “We’ll talk later, okay?” I tried to force a smile, but he didn’t believe it.
Daniel was a great guy who never did anything wrong. I needed a few minutes in a car with Deva to forget the woman who'd thrown herself at Daniel. The woman he'd been alone with. Basically, I needed to find a way to ignore my unreasonable feelings. No doubt they were entirely due to my ex cheating on me. I wasn't about to drag that toxic garbage into my new awesome relationship.
Unfortunately for me, we lived in a small town, so I needed to recover ridiculously fast or look like a total nutcase, a jealous nutcase to a man who deserved so much better than this.