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I stood in the doorway to the café when I arrived, sniffing out the place The café was decorated in mountain country chic, with scuffed hardwood floors, bundles of herbs hanging against the back brick wall, a dozen tables and several tall-backed booths, seats upholstered with burgundy faux-leather and the tables covered with burgundy and navy blue check cloths Today there were ten patrons at various stages of breakfast, not as, proving that Evangelina wasn’t in today, which relievedmy appetite Not that much ever

dulled it I strode in

Carmen Miranda Everhart Newton, an air witch, need and with a baby in one of those portable car-seat thingies resting on the counter by the register, squealed, rushed around the counter, and threw herself atme She smelled of milk and talcum powder and other people’s cash And baby I couldn’t help ht at me We had saved Carmen’s life and, by extension, the baby’s life, before it was born Of all the sisters except Molly, she liked iant next to the tiny woan and Amelia, and two other witch sisters, twins Boadacia and Elizabeth, ran the herb store, which wasn’t open yet, worked at the café as waitstaff, and doubled as cooks when Evangelina was off The witch tere the babies of the fa into trouble trying spells they shouldn’t have Dual screams announced Cia and Liz just before they tackledWhich leftpack of fe felt weird I wasn’t a hugger I patted shoulders knowing I should be doing so more I met Molly’s eyes over her sisters’ heads, and was surprised to see tears Molly was happy I was here The h me, unaccustomed, unfamiliar, alien And wonderful

The witches smelled of bread and cooked meat and herbs Despite the Mickie D’s, hed at the sound and pulled me to the family’s corner booth near the kitchen I usually avoided booths frorained security standpoint, but I didn’t say no The Everharts were the closest thing I had to a fa practically adopted ht Carmen out of a vamp’s lair alive and well They had hair in various shades of red, eyes of blue or green, and na like poetry

Feeling warm and content, I allowed myself to be pushed into the booth next to Molly and took Little Evan onHis sneakered feet bounced on hs and he tried to climb onto the table, his little deni," Molly said over the ruckus "Ten ti look, she said, "Angie’s in school"

"Which feels so strange," one sister said as they all tried to cra at once, and over each other until I couldn’t folloas saying what, not while trying to hold on to Little Evan

"Angie Baby’s so grown up"

"The next generation of Everharts is going to be huge"

"Cia’s boyfriend wants six kids"

"I’ to talk him down"

"We’ll take better care of this batch"

"No deaths with ours Never again"