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MERCURY IN RETROGRADE
Magical Midlife in Retrograde Book 4
BY J.B. ASPEN

BLURB

It’s Halloween at the Phoenix Inn and along with the magical tricks and treats comes murder. 

I’m Mercury Rodgers and at forty-five I won a magical Inn. Okay, so, it’s full of ghosts, the plumbing keeps breaking, and my hotel manager hates me—but it’s mine!

Now it’s Halloween and I have a hotel full of supernatural guests intent on tricks-or-treats—and did I mention I think my cat might be magical too? Oh, and then there’s the murder…

Guess finding out you’re a witch isn’t all it’s cracked up to be!

Get ready for some magic! as Halloween, mayhem, and murder, come to the Phoenix Inn.

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MERCURY IN RETROGRADE
Magical Midlife in Retrograde Book 4
BY J.B. ASPEN

Excerpt

“Drawing Down Information.” Beth’s voice read over my shoulder.

“Beth!” I jumped. “Stop doing that.” I ran a hand over my hair, trying to get it to lose some of the static but even with my hair smoothed down I was unable to shake the apprehension.

Beth gave me a bright smile and continued reading. “To bring that which you desire closer. Draw deep on your power and hold the image of what you desire in your heart. Hum through your nose while saying these words three times: I draw thee to me, as you turn in a circle sunwise.”

“What’s sunwise?”

“Clockwise. In contrast to widdershins or counterclockwise. In spells it’s usually used to generate, rather than to dissipate.”

“Excellent brain work, Beth.” I started to give her a high five but pulled it when I realized that since she was a ghost it would just go right through her hand. “Well, that seems simple enough. Picture what you want, say the word, and turn in a circle.” I frowned. “But if it’s so simple, why did it give me the heebie-jeebies when I looked at it? Maybe it’s too simple.” I’d been burned before by assuming spells were all they seemed. Or that the book would give me all the information I needed. “Wait, is that a note in the margin?” I tried to make out the faded chicken scratch. “Can you read that?”

Beth leaned closer. “Let me see.” I shivered and shifted away from her coldness. “It says, be careful what you witch for.”

A prickle ran down my spine. “Witch for? Shouldn’t it be wish?”

Beth shrugged.

“Well, it’s a spell to bring me what I desire and I know what that is. At last I can do something.” I rubbed my hands together. “Time to get my witch on.”

I gave Beth a cheeky grin but she didn’t even smile back. Oh well. Sometimes I wondered if it was simply the impermeability of being a ghost that had her missing my jokes, or if she’d always been a little out of touch. It couldn’t possibly be my sense of humor, could it?

With chalk and a candle in hand, I headed to the area in front of the fireplace. I swear the deer gave me the stink eye but as usual I ignored his glassy unmoving stare. Mr. Yow had settled down in his favorite chair and he gave me a sleepy blink as I slid him farther away to make more room.

When I’d first tried reaching for the magic that now lived inside me, it was like using a muscle I never even knew I had. I’d grown up thinking I was just like every other mundane on the face of the planet and that magic only existed in fairy tales and on the big screen. Someone had blocked my magic over forty years ago when I was just a child, but Beth had helped me break that spell. Now I could find the golden glow inside me easily.

The only thing was, I usually had something physical to pour it into. I’d used yarn and string to crochet my way out of trouble several times using simple string magic—children’s magic. But this was a real spell using mental focus. If you asked Mrs. Haversham, even on a good day I wasn’t all that focused, let alone a day with a ghost looking over my shoulder and my little sister’s fate resting in my hands.

Doing my best to ignore the judgy look from the stuffed deer overhead I sketched out a quick chalk circle on the rug. This seemed like a pretty small spell so I didn’t worry too much about the formalities. A quickie circle, a candle lit in the middle, and a short invocation to the four directions for some protection and I was ready.

My magic came to my call, the golden glow rising from my center. Not sure what to do with it as it poured through me and into my palms, I did my best to focus on the mental image of my sister in my head.

The problem was, the image kept changing.

Images of the lost little red-haired girl from my nightmares came first. She clung to my hand as we ran through a burning forest. “Don’t lose me, Mur-kee!”

But it had been over forty years. Wouldn’t she be a grown woman now? I lost the image of the little girl as my brain spun with questions. What would she look like? Did she still have bright red hair like my oldest daughter, Sarah? Images of my two daughters away at college flooded my mind and the power surged. No, Mercury! Don’t think about the girls, think about Venus. I’d be seeing the girls soon anyway at Thanksgiving at my mom’s house.

Maybe instead of Venus I needed to think about the Heart of the Phoenix?

What was the Heart of the Phoenix anyway? Was it an item or a concept? Thaddeus Dalton hadn’t been at his best when he’d hissed the words at me. I guess I should be grateful I’d understood him at all. Dalton had said: Ask the Heart of the Phoenix. Whatever it was, would it help me find Venus?

All these thoughts swirled through my head forming a chaotic mess of questions. My magic surged, rising through and out. It formed a bubble around me, filling it with golden mist. The magic took over and without thinking, I turned clockwise and started humming words through my nose.

“I draw thee to me. I draw thee to me. I draw thee to me.”

Pressure built up inside the bubble. I struggled for air, trying my best to hold an image, any image, of Venus in my head, but it was all so confusing. Venus, Thanksgiving, Mom, the girls. The woods where I’d seen terrible things. Dead men, zombies…No! I struggled to focus. Redheaded adult, desperate little girl, danger, disaster.

The mist around me went purple, then Bang! All the magic I’d conjured burst into a cloud of smoke.

Yow dove under the sofa and Beth disappeared with a shriek.

The vice holding my lungs released. I sucked in a big breath of smoke, finally able to breathe. Coughing and gasping, my eyes tearing up, I broke through my chalk circle, the protections I’d set fracturing as I ran to a window and shoved it open. The last of the magic escaped out into the fresh air with the smoke.

“I don’t think that did anything.” Waving my hands I tried to get as much of the stinky stuff outside as possible. The last of the purple smoke became dust and settled into my hair, face, and clothes. I tried to shake it off but it was almost sticky. “Great! Now I need to take a shower.”

The rotary phone on the desk began to ring, the little light in the plastic button of line 1 glowing urgently. Then line 2 lit up. Then line 3.

I felt suddenly dizzy. Phone calls at the Phoenix were rare. Three at once? That couldn’t be coincidence.

Mr. Yow stuck his little face out from under the couch.

“Holy cannoli, Mr. Yow, what have I done?”

About Author J.B. Aspen…

Links to J.B.’s websites, blogs, books, #ad etc.:

website: https://jessicaaspen.com/pwf/

Amazon Author Page:
https://amazon.com/author/j_b_aspen

Facebook Page:
 https://www.facebook.com/JBAspen

Happy Reading!