Hex on the Beach (The Magic & Mixology Mystery Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

tight, and there was a light clink as the two halves snapped into place. As Mimsey stepped backward, my fingers played with the charm, getting used to the feel of a full heart on the end of my necklace.
    To my surprise, the charm glowed warm, almost hot.
    “Do you feel it?” Mimsey whispered.
    I nodded. “What’s happening?” I didn’t want to pull my fingers from the charm. A warm sensation filled me from the inside out, starting deep in my soul and radiating to the tips of my fingers and the ends of my toes until even my scalp tingled with warmth.
    “The spell is locking into place,” Mimsey said. “That feeling will only last a few moments.”
    “If—and this is still a big if —I believe you two, then why didn’t you give this to me sooner?” I looked between the sisters.
    Mimsey sucked in a breath while Trinket glanced at the floor.
    “What is it?” I pressed.
    “The curse,” Mimsey whispered, her voice so soft I had to lean in to hear her.
    “What curse?”
    “We mustn’t speak of it here.” Trinket clasped her hands together. “We’ve done our job, sister. We’ve determined that she is, in fact, the next Mixologist. We’ve enacted her Protection. Now we must leave. Lily, are you coming with us?”
    “The way you’re asking, it doesn’t feel like I have a choice,” I said.
    “Without you, dear, our entire culture is endangered. Already, it’s begun,” Mimsey said. “It’s begun, dear.”
    “What’s begun?” I looked at Jesse, not sure I liked where this was headed.
    I was plenty happy with my non-dangerous marketing life, to be completely honest. Witches and nonsense—it was too much. I hadn’t had time to process anything, yet there I was, standing with two women who were certifiably bonkers and talking about witches as if such a thing actually existed. I really did need a vacation.
    “I think I’m staying right here,” I said. “I’ll look for a new job, wake up tomorrow, and realize all of this was a dream.”
    “I’m afraid not,” Mimsey said. “Please, consider coming with us.”
    “Or don’t,” Trinket added. “It doesn’t matter. You’ll come with us whether you want to or not.”
    I narrowed my eyes. “Do I have a choice or not?”
    “You do ,” Mimsey said as Trinket snapped, “You don’t .”
    “And how do you plan on making me come with you?” I crossed my arms, feeling a surge of confidence as I surveyed the two old ladies, one tall and slender, the other short and pudgy. Surely I could outrun these two women.
    Trinket, however, must have thought otherwise. She raised a hand, muttered something, and snapped her fingers. All at once, every single tap behind the bar turned on, flooding the counter, the floor, the drains with beer. All sorts of liquor bottles flew into the air, clanking into one another. I ducked, barely missing a bottle of vodka flying past my head. The bottle of liquor met a sharp ending as it crashed into the wall, the heavy glass cracking and depositing its contents on the floor.
    Trinket murmured something else, and a ribbon of fire shot up as the vodka hit the floor, surrounding the woman but somehow not burning her. I stood, my mouth agape, my heart racing, as Trinket stared back at me. With the flames dancing around her figure, she looked more like the devil than a witch.
    “Stop it, stop it!” Mimsey shouted, snapping her fingers. She spoke a few sentences too quickly for me to catch, waving her arms as if directing a world-famous orchestra.
    The taps shut off, the bottles returned to their shelves, and the flames disappeared just as quickly as they’d come. Even the counter was spotless, no sign of the war that’d just erupted.
    “Sorry about that, dear.” Mimsey shuffled over to Jesse, who was dripping with alcohol. His drenched clothes were the only remaining sign of the disaster flying through the bar seconds before. “Now, Trinket, we’re going to have to use a Memory Magnet on him. Do you know how much paperwork