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Ripley stopped her cruiser and watched Nell unpack her car The sun had gone down, and with the cold snap that had slapped the island with a wicked northeast punch, any tourists were snuggled into the hotel sipping hot drinks

Most of the natives would be sensibly settled in front of the television or finishing up dinner She was looking forward to engaging in both those activities herself

But she hadn&039;tshe&039;d co a very late start or a really early one," Ripley called out

Nell hefted the box and hunched inside the fleece-lined jacket she&039;d mail-ordered from the mainland "A second start The book club that Mia runs is back froht"

"Oh, yeah" Ripley got out of the car She earing an ancient and well-loved boht ball cap had been replaced by one of plain black wool "Need a hand?"

"I wouldn&039;t turn one down" Happy that she sensed no lingering aniestured with her elbow to the second box "Refresh?"

"Not a chance"

"Don&039;t like to read?"

"No, I like to read, I just don&039;t like groups Groups are made up of members," she explained "And o"

"People you know," Nell pointed out

"Which gives roup&039;s a bunch of hens who&039;ll spend aswhatever book they used as an excuse to get out of the house for the evening"

"How do you know that if you don&039;t belong to the club?"

"Let&039;s just say I have a sixth sense about these things"

"All right" Nell adjusted the balance of her box as they walked toward the rear entrance Despite the weather, Mia&039;s salvia hung on, as red and sassy as July "Is that why you don&039;t accept the Craft? Because it&039;s like joining a group?"

"That would be reason enough Added to that, I don&039;t like being told I have to fall in line with so that started three hundred years before I was born"

A blast of wind blew her ponytail into a thick, dark whip She ignored it, and the cold fingers that tried to sneak under her jacket "I figure whatever needs to be dealt with can and should be dealt ithout cackling over a cauldron, and I don&039;t like having people wondering if I&039; a pointy black hat"

"I can&039;t argue with the first two reasons" Nell opened the door, stepped into the welcome warmth "But the second two don&039;t hold I&039;ve never once heard Mia cackle, over a cauldron or otherwise, and I&039;ve never seen anyone look at her as if they expected her to jump on a broom"

"Wouldn&039;t surprise me if she did" Ripley strode into the main store, nodded at Lulu "Lu"

"Rip" Lulu continued setting up the folding chairs "Joining us tonight?"

"Are they holding the Ice Capades in hell?"

"Not that I&039;ve heard" She sniffed the air "Do I serbread?"

"Got it in one," Nell told her "Is there any special way you want the refreshments set up?"

"You&039;re the expert there Mia&039;s upstairs yet If she doesn&039;t like the way you&039;ve done it, she&039;ll tell you"

Nell carried the box to the table that was already waiting She&039;d made some pricks in Lulu&039;s shell, but had yet to crack all the way through It was, she ade

"Do you think I can stay for some of the discussion?"

Lulu peered narrowly over the tops of her glasses "You read the book?"

Da the scent would sweeten her chances "Well, no I didn&039;t know about the club until last week, and-"

"A person&039;s got an hour a day that can be put to reading I don&039;t care how busy they are"

"Oh, stop being such a bitch, Lulu"

Nell&039;s jaw dropped at Ripley&039;s co look she risked showed her Lulu&039;s reaction was a happy grin

"I can&039;t It goes down to the bone You can stay if this one stays" She jerked a thu out with a bunch of fe ho shouldn&039;t be Besides, I haven&039;t had my dinner"

"Cafe&039;s open another ten ood today And it&039;ll do you good to spend some time with females Explore your inner woman"

Ripley snorted But the idea of the soup-in fact, any food that she wasn&039;t obliged to fix herself-held tremendous appeal "My inner woman doesn&039;t need any exploration She&039;s lean and mean But I&039;ll check out the soup"

She sauntered toward the steps "I ht stay for the first twenty minutes," she called back "But if I do, I want first crack at that gingerbread"

"Lulu?" Nell arranged star-shaped cookies on a glass plate

"What?"

"I&039;ll call you a bitch if it&039;ll help bring us closer as people willing to explore our inner woave a snort of her own "You&039;ve got a quick ht and you keep your word That goes a ith erbread"

Lulu walked over, picked up a slice "I&039;ll be the judge of that See that you read October&039;s book before the next discussion"

Nell&039;s dimples flickered "I will"

Upstairs, Ripley annoyed Peg by de

"I&039;ve got a date, so if you don&039;t finish this before my time&039;s up, you&039;ll just have to wash the bowl yourself"

"I can dump it in the sink the sa Giveout with Mick Bur in and having a video festival We&039;re watching Scream One, Two, and Three"

"Very sexy If you want to take off, I won&039;t snitch to Mia"

Peg didn&039;t hesitate "Thanks" She whipped off her apron "I&039; the fact that the cafe was empty, Ripley settled down to enjoy her soup in blissful solitude Nothing could have spoiled her pleasurethe click of Mia&039;s heels on the floor barely one ?"

"I cut her loose Hot date"

"I don&039;t appreciate you giving my employees permission to leave early The cafe doesn&039;t close for another four minutes, and it&039;s part of her job description to clean the case, counters, and kitchen after that ti, so you can kick ued, Ripley continued to spoon up soup as she studied Mia

It was a rare event to see the cool Ms Devlin heated up, and jittery She isting the chain of the amulet she wore around her neck, continued to worry it as she strode over to the display counter and hissed

"There are health regulations about cleanliness in food services Since you were so generous to Peg, you can da&039;s eye," Ripley uilt that threatened to spoil her appetite "What bug crawled up your butt?"

"I have a business to run here, and it takescocky, which is your specialty"

"Oh, get fucked, Mia It&039;ll improve your hu isn&039;t my answer to every whim and itch"

"You want to play the ice an du herself even as the hot color in Mia&039;s face drained "Sorry Out of line Way out of line"

"Forget it"

"When I sucker punch so for a fight In fact, I&039;ll not only apologize, I&039;ll ask you what&039;s wrong"

"What the hell do you care?"

"Normally, I don&039;t But normally I don&039;t see you spooked What&039;s the deal?"

They&039;d been friends once, and good ones As close as any sisters Because of that it was harder for Mia to sit, to open up, than it would have been if Ripley had been a stranger

But the es She sat across froaze "There&039;s blood on the moon"

"Oh, for-"

Before Ripley could finish, Mia&039;s hand shot out, gripped her wrist "Trouble, bad trouble is coh to be sure I wouldn&039;t say it, wouldn&039;t tell you, of all people, unless I was sure"

"And you knoell enough to knohat I think of portents and o up her spine

"It&039;s co, before the first snow I&039;m sure of that, too, but I can&039;t see what it is, or where it co it"

It disturbed Ripley when Mia&039;s eyes went that deep, that dark It seemed you could see a thousand years in them "Any trouble comes to the island, Zack and I will handle it"

"It&039;ll take more Ripley, Zack loves Nell and you love him They&039;re at the center of this I feel it If you don&039;t flex, soain I can&039;t do whatever needs to be done alone, and Nell isn&039;t ready yet"

"I can&039;t help you that way"

"Won&039;t"

"Can&039;t or won&039;t co"

"Yes, it does," Mia said as she got to her feet There wasn&039;t teht There eariness "Deny what you are, lose what you are I sincerely hope you don&039;t regret it"

Mia went downstairs to greet her book club and deal with the business at hand

Alone, Ripley rested her chin on her fist It was a guilt trip, that was all When Mia wasn&039;t shooting out spiteful little darts, she heaped on layers of sticky guilt Ripley wasn&039;t falling for it If there was a red haze over theto do with her

She would leave the omens and portents to Mia since she enjoyed them so ht, shouldn&039;t have put herself in a position where Mia could try to pin her All they did was annoy each other It had been that way for more than a decade

But not always

They&039;d been friends, next to inseparable friends, until they&039;d teetered on the cusp of adulthood Ripley remembered her mother had called the, and maybe that was the problee when people grew up, natural for childhood friends to drift apart Not that she and Mia had drifted, she admitted It had been more like a sword slash down the center of their friendship Abrupt and violent

But she&039;d had the right to go her oay She&039;d been right to go her oay And she wasn&039;t going back now just because Mia was jittery over soht and trouble was coations of the law, and not with spellbinding

She had put away her childish things, the toys and the tools she had no further interest in That had been sensible, mature When people looked at her now, they saw Ripley Todd, deputy, a dependable, responsible woman who did her job; they didn&039;t see some flaky island priestess ould brew them a potion to beef up their sex lives

Irritated because even her thoughts sounded defensive and nasty, she gathered up her dishes and took the at her to oblige her to rinse the dishes, load them in the dishwasher, scrub out the sink

That, she decided, paid her debt

She could hear the voices, all fe back froathered She could smell the incense Mia lit, a scent for protection Ripley snuck out the back A fleet of steamrollers couldn&039;t have pushed her forward and into that noisy clutch of women now

Just outside the back door she saw the fat black candle burning, a charaze was drawn up

The waning globe of the moon was shrouded in a thin and bloody mist