Page 66 of Enchanted to Meet You

“We don’t actually know yet,” he said. “But we do think whatever is going to happen, it will be during the full moon on Thursday.”

“Makes sense.” Esther was nibbling the chocolate sides off her candy bar and leaving a gooey mess of caramel and peanuts in her fingers. “So, during the Tricentennial Ball, when everyone is at the village square.”

“Exactly.”

“And I personally think you might be right about this Harvest Princess thing,” Jessica said. “I find Mrs. Hopkins’s plan of selecting nine girls for it a little suspicious.”

“But we don’t know anything for sure,” Derrick hurried to say.

Esther squinted up at him through her glasses. “Sagittarius,” she said, pointing at him. “Am I right? On the cusp of Capricorn?” When he only gaped at her, she nodded. “Yeah. Definitely a workaholic who likes to keep the peace.”

Jessica burst out laughing. “Uh-oh, Mr. Winters. She’s got your number.”

Derrick couldn’t believe it. Hewasa Sagittarius, but born just before Christmas. His mother had always complained it was difficult to find him two gifts, one for his birthday and one for Christmas, and so every year he’d received only one from her, though it had always been a big, absurdly impractical one.

He’d never complained, however, because he’d wanted to keep the peace between his separated parents.

Esther had been absolutely right... not that he believed in any of that astrological crap.

“Very funny,” he said to Jessica. “Listen, Esther, this is serious. We have no way of knowing what to expect. We simply have to be alert. And you, especially, have to be careful. I don’t want you going out by yourself after dark. I understand that spooky stuff is your, uh, jam, but that wolf could be the least terrifying thing to come after you in the next few days.”

She looked just as she had the night before: absolutely thrilled. “Cool!”

“No, not cool.” May the Goddess give him patience. “I’m serious. Halloween is the day after the full moon, and is traditionally believed to be when spirits roam the earth, looking to avenge their death. So in addition to dealing with the rift and the threat from any living beings who might be on the side of the demons, we’ve also got to be wary of that, as well.”

“Oh, no worries, Mr. Winters.” Esther pulled her homework from her backpack. “I’ve got it covered. I’ve written all about it in this letter to the mayor.”

“The mayor?” The Goddess clearly wasn’t listening to his pleas. “I don’t see how that’s—”

“It’s complicated, but I’m pretty sure the mayor can help with our demons.”

Derrick didn’t want to be the one to break it to her that only Esther herself—with the aid of Jessica—could rid her town of its demon problem, especially when the kid was looking down at her letter, her brow slightly creased—the first sign of real anxiety she’d shown so far.

“I’m just not sure how to get this to her,” she went on. “If I mail it, it won’t get there in time. And if I ask my mom to give it to her—because the mayor and my mom are friends—she’s going to want to know what it is. But I don’t want my parents to know about this stuff. They...” Her brow creased even more. “They don’t know about my magic, and I don’t want to tell them. It would only worry them.”

Jessica’s voice was warm as she stretched her hand out across her desk. “I feel the same way about my parents, so I understand. Give the letter to me. I know the mayor’s wife. I’ll make sure she gets it.”

Esther brightened with relief, all the lines gone from her face. “That would be great.” She laid the letter in Jess’s hand. “Thanks.”

Derrick was about to say something—what, he hardly knew. Maybe,I don’t think a letter is going to work—when Pye, tired of all of this conversation, leaped from Derrick’s feet to the windowsill. The cat was obviously intent on going outside for a prowl just as the sun was beginning to set.

“No!” Jessica cried, springing from her chair. She lunged to grab hold of Pye’s sleek black body, but the cat moved too quickly for her. His paws were on the sill, poised to push himself out of the window, when the entire office shook—from the floor to the ceiling—as if from a small tremor beneath the earth. Samples of candles and crystals tinkled on the shelves above their heads, and piles of stock—fortunately mostly only colorful clothing, still in plastic wrapping—came tumbling down upon their heads.

But that wasn’t all that fell. The office window came crashing closed with a bang, trapping a very startled Pye inside. The cat jumped from the sill to crouch at Jessica’s feet beneath her desk, his back arched in indignation.

Derrick—who’d gripped the sides of the doorframe in which he’d been standing at the first sign of what he’d assumed was an earthquake—sprang across the desk to reach the window. Because just as the frame had come crashing down, he could have sworn he’d glimpsed a shimmer of light behind the glass. The glow of a flashlight belonging to some teenagers, performing a pre-Halloween prank?

Or the eyes of the demon who was behind what Derrick now realized wasn’t an earthquake or prank at all, but a concentrated effort to trap them inside, and then destroy them?

But when he got to the window, he saw nothing outside exceptthe parking lot behind the store. There was no one there—pranksters, demons, or otherwise.

“Are you all right?” he turned to ask the women as they both pushed clothing from their laps. “Are either of you hurt?”

“I’m fine.” Jessica had dug Pye out from beneath her desk and was stroking the affronted creature. “Esther?”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Esther picked a piece of fuzz from her lips that a cashmere shawl had left behind as it fell on her. “I didn’t mean to slam the window down so hard. I just wanted to make sure the cat didn’t get out.”

Derrick stared. “Wait...youdid that?”