She never wanted to inherit, but being trapped in an altered body on a magical property has its perks. The 24-hour guard.

In a flash of agony, Adrea knew her Aunt Neadra was dead. Waking in hospital was strange enough, but having her colouring changed to that of her dead relative was a little hard to take.

Adrea called the authorities to let them know her aunt had been murdered and made the three-hour trip to get to her aunt’s home.

Shockingly, things get out of control from there. She is arrested, questioned and released back to Ritual Space, where she has to seal the breach in the wards with her own blood.

Officer Hyl Luning is assigned to watch her, but he had better be quick, because she has an agenda that even she isn’t sure of.

Excerpt:

Adrea worked to stock the shelves with the recently dried herbs that she had painstakingly prepared. The bell over the door chimed with perky insistence.

Adrea screwed a smile on her face and descended from the ladder. “Good morning, what can I get for you?”

When Adrea got a look at her client, she winced.

“It is that bad?” The woman’s voice warbled from beneath skin turned toad green.

Adrea tilted her head. “Do you have any of the original substance?”

The woman reached into her purse. “I bought it near the old quarter.”

Adrea opened it and sniffed, jerking her head back at the pungent odour. “Okay, that is an easy fix.”

She gathered a bowl and got back on the ladder. With quick and economical movements, she gathered the ingredients for the salve that would restore the woman’s skin.

Worts and weeds went into the bowl in quantities that she carefully measured after eight years of working in Foxes Tea and Herb Shop.

The bowl was polished wood, and scrubbing them out and oiling the work bowls was one of her evening duties. It was a neutral substance and would not alter the effects of the herbs.

When she had collected what she needed and returned to the counter, she picked up a glass pestle and ground the herbs into a fine powder.

“Does it smell?” Her client looked nervous.

“Like peppermint and chamomile.” Adrea reached for some of the essential oils, and she mixed them in.

When the paste was mixed, Adrea grabbed a spoonful of the neutral face-cream base and mixed it all together before scraping every bit of the cream into a small screw-top container.

“That will be fifty dollars. Take it next door to Leda and give her the prescription.”

The woman nodded eagerly and handed over the cash.

Adrea got her the change and slipped the small container into a paper bag before writing a prescription with the details of the ingredients. “Leda, next door to the left. Express Enchantments. She will have you out the door in a few minutes.”

The woman nodded and clutched the bag to her chest as she nearly sprinted out the door.

Adrea shook her head and sighed. That was a rough one, but folks tended to get what they paid for in some of those old-quarter shops.

The bell rang again, and she looked up. She didn’t need to ask; with a bit of flair, she measured out a series of herbs and set water to boil.

The elderly woman took a seat in the teashop portion of the space and leaned over, “You are looking cheerful today, Adrea.”

“I am always cheerful when you are here, Miss Crathmore.”

“You know I have told you to call me Milly.”

“I know.” She winked. “And I have told you not to call me cheerful; it makes me look less than serious.”

She poured the water into the pot containing her herb selection and set the pot and a teacup on a tray with a small container of honey and a spoon.

She carried the tea over to Miss Crathmore. Her high school teacher was looking spry for a woman in her nineties.

The tray was settled, and Adrea was heading back to the counter when agony ripped through her. She might have screamed, she tried to scream, but pinpoints of fire assaulted her body.