Chapter 1
Most seventeen-year old teenagers look forward to the end of the school year. Summer typically meant staying up all night with friends, pool parties, getting high, drinking and casual sex, if they’re lucky.
The end of the school year for Grace Weatherly only meant having to spend more time in the house with her suicidal mother and abusive father. She didn’t have friends to distract her. Her one friend, Angela Drysdale had been her next-door neighbor for years. But she moved away. Her only devoted friend was Chance, her German Shepherd dog.
If it weren’t for the love of her dog, she would have run away from the oppressive house in which she lived with her parents, long ago. Chance was the only one that showed her unconditional love every day. The only bright light in her day when she came home; always at the door as if he could sense her arrival. Chance was her savior. Her best buddy.
She looked forward to the day she graduates from high school, so she can move out on her own to start her life independently.
~~~
On the last day of Grace’s junior year at Shiner high school, the bus dropped her off at the corner of Avenue D and East 10th Street, by Welhausen Park. She was on her way to her part time job at Wicked East Book store. Her plan for the day was to help Esmerelda, also known as Melda, the store’s proprietor, with inventory for a couple of hours, then head home to her best buddy.
When she stepped off the bus, a crow started screeching so loud she thought it was right above her head. Her shoulders raised to her ears and she tightened the hold on her back pack. The crow was looking right at her with its beady black eyes. It was sitting in the old oak tree that was in desperate need of trimming.
“Go away, bird.”
“Caw, caw.”
Grace kept walking but watched the bird over her shoulder to make sure it didn’t attack her head. The crow didn’t fly away, but it didn’t attack her either. It merely watched her walk.
By the time Grace reached the bookstore, the crow perched on the hand-made sign above the store’s roof line. It sat exactly above the “W” in “Wicked East Books.”
“What the hell bird,” she said.
The crow looked at her and ruffled its shiny black feathers in answer.
“Whatever. Don’t think I’m going to feed you or anything.”
The chimes above the door jingle and Melda lifts her head up from her book. “Hey, hon. How was your last day of school?”
The musky scent of patchouli hits Grace instantly as she walks in. Elvira, the black kitty cat jumps off the counter to greet Grace and rubs up against her leg.
“Hi Melda. Good, I guess. I’m thinking of signing up for some summer classes. Unless, you think you could use me more here. Maybe I could do both.” Grace smiled as she laid her head and crossed arms on the glass case filled with crystals and other magical goods.
“Possibly. With summertime, comes tourists. Hopefully, we’ll have some shoppers that come by here before or after they visit the brewery.”
“Can we find a spell in one of your books over there to make that happen?” Grace skipped over to the shelf where Melda displayed the witchy books.
“No, I think we’ll count on marketing and advertising before we resort to witchcraft to bring in customers,” she said giving Grace the side eye. “Speaking of which, have you thought about what you’ll do after you graduate next year? I’m not trying to be nosy or pushy, but I think it’s important to start considering career.” Melda knows that Grace lacks guidance from her parents.
To be continued…