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‘You have seen where I work, right? And I seem to remember doing reiki on you…’
‘Yeah, but that’s different.’ She waved as Katie came down the stairs.
‘What’s different?’
‘Believing in ghosts and stuff compared to reiki and complementary herbs and teas.’
‘You used to play with the pixies with me when we were kids,’ Katie pointed out as she shrugged on her coat.
‘Yeah, fun childish make-believe. Are we off?’
‘Sure.’ Katie rolled her eyes at Aiden behind Mia’s back. ‘Night, Aiden.’
‘Goodnight. Have a good evening, both.’
He shut the door behind them and headed back into the shop to gather up his things. He paused by the large forest painting and eyed it suspiciously. It looked incredibly normal and ordinary and not the least bit magical. Too normal. Back in the spring he would have fallen for the act. ‘Come on, out with it.’ He rapped the frame a couple of times. ‘We both know you’re up to something. You might as well make it easy on yourself and admit it, unless you want me to let the scrubbing brush loose again.’
The leaves in the painting shivered and moved, then out popped a flying baby, who happily zipped around the glossy oil glade. Aiden watched, partly amazed and partly horrified as the baby turned to face him and drew out a bow and arrow and sighted it at him. He wasn’t quick enough to duck and the arrow poofed from the painting to hit his chest, leaving a mark in powdered pigment.
‘Oh haha, very funny.’
The baby – which he now realised was a cupid – laughed silently at him, giggling so hard that it doubled over and ended up doing forward rolls in mid-air.
‘Oh, bother off,’ Aiden grumbled and went back to cleaning. He and Mia were just friends. If the painting was clever enough to send silly messages, it should be smart enough to know what was really happening. Which was nothing. He clenched his teeth, attempting to ignore the fierce itching over his shoulder.
Katie laughed when Mia jumped and grabbed her arm. ‘OhmyGoddidyouseethat?!’
‘It looked like a fox to me.’
‘That’s what you said the last time,’ Mia hissed.
‘Well, it did. I’m sure there’s more than one fox in the whole of Hudsbury. I thought you wanted to do this?’
‘I did. I do. Rayenne said this was really good. But I’m starting to wonder if her idea of good is the same as mine.’
‘It’s a ghost tour. What did you expect?’
‘More funny and less scary. More… Scary Movie satire and less… you know… real!’
‘Do you want to go home?’
‘No.’ Mia shook her head. ‘But I might be regretting not trying harder to convince Phe to come with us.’
‘Why?’
‘Because she’s better at stuff like this.’
‘What stuff?’
‘Paranormal, witchy-woo stuff.’
‘I thought you didn’t believe in “witchy-woo stuff” and magic?’ Katie teased, her tone light but an odd look on her face.
‘Well maybe I should have!’ Mia squeaked. ‘This is much scarier than I’d expected.’
‘Would you mind being quiet please? I’m trying to listen to the tour,’ a man she didn’t recognise asked.
‘Sorry.’
