Spells: A Bayou Magic Novel, стр. 49

“Keep them safe,” I whisper to her. “I’ll be back.”

I retrieve my book of spells, the one that’s been handed down to me for generations, and carry it down the stairs and into the library.

There is no better place to hide a book than amongst hundreds of other books.

I climb the ladder and clear a row of leather-bound fiction novels from the shelf, push on a panel, and grin when I see the hiding space open. I push my grimoire inside, then return the novels to their places, covering it up.

I ease my way down the ladder and head back up the stairs, where I see the girls haven’t even moved. Tarot yawns in greeting, then spins in a circle and falls fast asleep.

I slip back between the covers and kiss the baby’s head. Millie shifts and smiles at me in the glow of the one candle I lit when I awoke.

“Are you all right, beloved?”

“Of course. I was just checking on something.”

She closes her eyes. Did you hide it?

I smile. Millicent and I don’t have secrets. Yes. In the library.

Good.

I brush my thumb across her forehead and lie awake for a long while, watching them both sleep dreamlessly.

I wake slowly with the dream still at the forefront of my mind. I remember almost everything from my previous lifetimes, but this is a new revelation. I check on Millie, who’s sleeping soundly next to me.

With the moon almost full, I don’t need any additional light to see as I ease out of bed and pull on some shorts.

Sanguine is curled up at the foot of the bed and opens one eye.

“Keep her safe,” I whisper as I silently walk out of the room and downstairs to the library.

I flip on the light and stare up. The bookshelves are full of books. In my dream, I’d climbed up to the second shelf from the top.

“Let’s give it a try,” I murmur and roll the ladder to the right place, then climb. When I reach the right row, I start pulling down books. I quickly flip through them to make sure nothing has been stashed between the pages and then let them fall to the rug below. But when I’ve uncovered the entire shelf, there is no panel.

“Damn.”

I know the dream was real. Maybe this room was remodeled since then, and the book I hid is long gone. I sigh and rub my hand over my face, and then pound my fist on the shelf in frustration.

A panel shifts.

Holy shit, it was painted over.

I push on it, and the panel opens. Inside is my grimoire.

I pull it out and descend the ladder, then sit in one of the chairs and open the cover.

1821 is written at the top of the page. I know that I was not born during that time, but my great-grandmother was. At least, my great-grandmother from that particular lifetime.

And she left this to me.

“What are you doing?” Millie asks from the doorway. Her eyes are heavy with sleep as she surveys the pile of books on the floor. “Rearranging?”

I lift my hand, and all of the books return to their places on the shelf.

“Well, isn’t that handy? Can you clean the whole house like that? It’ll save some time.”

I smile as she pads into the room and sits in the chair next to mine.

“Is that mine?”

“No, it’s mine.”

She frowns. “I didn’t know you had a book of shadows.”

“Neither did I until about thirty minutes ago.” I tell her about the dream, and coming down here to look. “It’s always a bit jarring when I discover something new.”

“You can’t possibly remember every single moment,” she points out. “It makes sense that things come back to you here and there. That’s a beautiful grimoire.”

“My great-grandmother wrote it. Well, Lucien’s great-grandmother from a hundred years ago anyway.”

“And she gave it to you?”

“Yes, before she passed away. I was close to her. Learned a lot from her. Miss Sophia reminds me of her in many ways. She was patient and seemed to know everything. I always wondered how she literally knows all of the answers.”

“Because she’d lived a full life, and you were a young boy,” Millie says with a gentle smile. “I think it’s lovely that you were close to her.”

“I know there might be stuff in here that can help us.” I offer her an apologetic grin. “I know, more reading.”

“It will be fascinating,” she says. “This is priceless, Lucien. You should think about putting a spell on it so it can’t be stolen or destroyed.”

“I already considered that. I’ll do it in the morning.”

I set the book on the side table and reach for my wife, then pull her into my lap. She drags her fingertips down my cheek before offering me her sweet lips. With my mouth pressed to hers, I snap my fingers, and the lights go out.

“I wonder what it’s like,” I murmur as my lips trail down her neck, “to have sex in a library.”

“I think we’re about to find out.”

* * *

“I wonder what Miss Sophia wants to talk about,” Millie says the next morning as we buckle our seatbelts and leave the house. “I hate it when she’s vague. It could literally be anything.”

“If it was an emergency, she would have said so,” I remind her and kiss her hand. “Before we head out to the bayou, I need to stop and talk to Cash.”

“Okay.”

One of the things I love most about Millicent is how easygoing she is. Not much ruffles her feathers. She’s openminded and patient, two things I admire.

I make a turn and park in front of the police station, but rather that having to go inside, I see Cash waiting on the front steps.

“I have the newest bloodstone for you,” he says and passes it to me. “I don’t think you’ll find anything different from the others, but it doesn’t hurt to look.”

“Agreed.” I nod. “What else do we know?”

“The victim’s throat was cut. There was