Samhain (Matilda Kavanagh Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

down.”
    “Mrrrow,” Artie said as he sat back, cleaning his paw.
    “Yeah, I know. Wolves aren’t cats, they’re dogs,” I said around the mouthful of noodles. “But I don’t think she’d appreciate a bone.”
    Artemis stopped grooming to look at me, blinking his wide, golden eyes.
    “It was a joke,” I said, stabbing into the container with the chopsticks. I popped the tab on my soda, and the fizzle filled the silence in the apartment. “But still, it might not be a bad idea to slip her something. Maybe a calming draught or something.”
    Artie made a noise as I took a sip of the soda, the carbonation tickling my nose.
    “I know,” I said with a sigh. I set the can on the counter again and went back to my leftovers. “The last time one of my potions was slipped to a Were, I almost got killed. I’m not really gonna do it.”
    But it was fun to think about.
     

Chapter 3
    I was barefoot in my kitchen, standing on my counter and digging through cabinets, while two copper pots boiled away on the stove. I sneezed violently, banging my head on a shelf as I tried to extract myself from the cupboard.
    “Gods, I really gotta dust up here sometime.” I rubbed the back of my head with one hand and gripped the canister I had been searching for with the other.
    Artemis was sitting close enough to me to wrap his fluffy black tail around my ankles, and I nearly killed myself jumping down, trying not to knock him over as I did so.
    “Oh, you’re fine, Your Majesty, you’re not in the way or anything.” I flicked a finger at him, a spark of power catching his pointy ear. He spat and hissed at me before jumping to the far counter, away from me and my stove. “Jerkface.”
    I unscrewed the lid of the canister, exposing the white powdered marjoram. I shook the canister gently, trying to gauge just how much was inside. I wasn’t sure it was enough to fill all of my orders. Digging through my drawers, I found my set of ceramic measuring spoons. I scooped out the appropriate amount of the powder, which was essential for potions of protection against jinxes. On the last spoonful, I heard the spoon scraping the bottom of the canister; I would be lucky to get one more batch out of it.
    Poking at the potion with my big ceramic spoon, I shifted the bamboo shoots around. It looked like I was making some kind of noodle soup, but it definitely didn’t smell like noodle soup. Between the steam from the anti-jinx solution, the healing potion, and the anti-love potion next to it, my hair was starting to kink. I touched the stack of orders on the counter lovingly. I hadn’t had that many standing orders in a very long time. I pushed open the kitchen window, letting the steam out and breathing in the fresh air. Artemis promptly jumped onto the sill, his tail falling out of the window as he sat and stared at the cityscape.
    “All right, let’s get these puppies bottled,” I said, earning an ear flick from the smush-faced cat. “Whatever, dude.”
    I grabbed three bottles with each hand from the cabinet and set them as gently as possible on the tiled countertop. I was just filling the third bottle with the anti-jinx solution when I heard a knock at the door. I checked the clock: one o’clock in the morning. Not too late, but not too early either. The last time I’d opened the door to an unexpected caller, it had been a troll whose greed had nearly cost me my life. Staring at the stack of orders and the promise of twenty-five hundred dollars on the horizon, I knew I didn’t need any more business just then. But the fear of running out of money always plagued me, and I couldn’t ignore the second knock.
    I set the eyedropper I was using to portion out the potion on a folded napkin, and wiped my hands on a tea towel before going to the door. Though it was technically the middle of my day, I’d already changed into my pajamas to stay in for the rest of the night. My baggy flannel bottoms were ragged at the cuffs, and my oversized,