“When she’s ready, yes. Thirteen is no kind of age to take possession of tools that powerful. Who’s her mentor?”

“She doesn’t have one yet. I’m trying to help her with that. You know anyone who might be interested?”

“Not offhand, but bring it up at the next meeting.”

“I will. Hey.” Pandora slipped off the stool to stand. “Do you think touching that mirror could have…fixed my magic?”

“What do you mean?”

“I got a little mad at Cole and cast a sealing spell on his mouth. And it worked.”

Marigold’s brows shot up. “Has he been silenced for life?”

“Very funny. No. I took it back and he was fine.”

Marigold shrugged. “I’ve never heard of touching another witch’s artifacts having that kind of effect, but Gertrude was a…unique creature. You should talk to Mom about that. Congrats on the working magic, by the way.”

“Thanks. I’ll talk to Mom about it tomorrow. Right now I just want to go home, have a glass of wine and tell Pumpkin all about my day.”

“You live such a full life.”

Pandora flicked a petal at her sister. “Tell my favorite niece I love her. Gotta run. I need to hit the Shop and Save before I go home. I’m almost out of that diet cat food.”

Marigold made a skeptical face. “Didn’t you just put Pumpkin on that diet like three days ago? How are you already out of food?”

“She clawed the bag open in the middle of the night and ate most of it.” Pandora shook her head. “Don’t judge. She gets hangry.”

Marigold laughed. “See you at dinner Saturday?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Pandora said as she headed for the door.

Saturday nights were family dinner night at their mother’s house, which meant Stanhill would be there. He was basically family at this point anyway. Charisma, their other sister, always came too when she was in town. Her job as a life coach meant she traveled a lot, although Nocturne Falls would always be her home. Pandora stopped with her hand on the knob. “Charisma here?”

“Yep.”

“All right, see you then.” Both sisters, her mother and Stanhill? Oh boy. Pandora would get some serious grilling this Saturday. No way her new friendship with Cole wasn’t already a main topic of conversation. The Williamses liked to talk. Especially about each other. It was born out of love and caring, but there was no escaping the family scrutiny.

By the time Pandora got home, she was more than ready for her evening glass of wine and a little snuggle with Pumpkin.

Her cat, however, didn’t meet her at the front door. Instead, Pandora found Pumpkin sitting in front of the sliders, staring at the backyard.

“Nice to see you not sleeping for a change.” Pandora decided to pour her wine first and take it with her into the bedroom. She could drink it while she put her comfies on.

Pumpkin meowed pitifully.

Pandora stared at her cat. “Have you lost that much weight that you suddenly want to go out and run around?”

More meowing, this time with longing.

“All right, keep your panties on, I’m coming.” Pandora opened the slider and Pumpkin shot out. Well, maybe not shot out. Lumbered with haste was a more apt description.

Pandora took her wine into the bedroom and came back five minutes later, hair up, tank top and shorts replacing her work clothes, and joined Pumpkin in the backyard, wine in hand. There was no chance Pumpkin could escape. There was a gate in the wooden fence around Pandora’s property, but that led out to the front of the house and definitely required opposable thumbs.

She took up her spot on the glider and looked around for Pumpkin. Her Royal Fatness was sitting in front of the shed door, pawing at it with no real effort. Still, just the fact that Pumpkin had put in the work to get to the shed was saying something. “What’s in there, Plumpkin?”

The cat ignored her and kept pawing.

Pandora’s witchy senses kicked in. Even if they hadn’t, she still could have guessed what Pumpkin wanted. She sighed, set her wine down and headed toward the rear of the yard. She opened the shed door. “Out, Kaley. Before Pumpkin has a beef-jerky seizure.”

Kaley heaved out a sigh and looked at Pumpkin. “Traitor.”

“You’re the one with the delicious meat products.”

Kaley trudged out. “Please don’t send me home.”

“I have to. But you can come hang out on the porch for a bit if you want.”

The teenager exhaled another sigh that made it seem like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. “Okay.”

They walked back to the porch, Pumpkin at Kaley’s heels in a last-ditch effort to cute some jerky out of her.

Pandora rolled her eyes. “Give it up, Pumpkin. You’re not getting any people food.” She picked up her wine and sat back in the glider. “What’s up?”

Kaley flopped down on the wicker chair and ottoman, her backpack slumped on the floor. “I love my dad, but he can also be a jerk.”

“Kaley, don’t say that. He works hard to take care of you, and I know you don’t agree with him, but he means well. He’s just trying to protect you.”

She slanted her eyes at Pandora. “Great. You like him now, so you’re siding with him.”

“I don’t like him. I mean, I don’t dislike him. Too much. But I’m definitely not romantically interested in him. We’re going to work on the house together. It’s the deal I made with him so you and I can spend more time together. And while I do that, I’m going to work on him too.”