Nora was vigorously grinding something with her oversized mortar and pestle, while her older sister watched disapprovingly.

“Brynn, darling, there you are,” Izzy said, dragging her gaze from Nora. “Maybe you can talk some sense into her.”

I chuckled weakly. “I suppose there’s a first time for everything, but what exactly is it I’m supposed to provide sense about?”

“Your aunt here decided to cast a spell on the entire town today.”

I blinked a few times. “Oh, wow.”

Nora closed her eyes. “You make it sound like I brought a plague of locusts to Evenfall, which I would like to point out I did not do, even though I am completely capable of such a feat, and the town deserves it for turning on me.”

It was good to see my aunt’s ego hadn’t been affected by all the stress. “So, what exactly did you do?”

Nora folded one arm across her waist and lightly scratched the back of her neck with her other hand. “A harmless spell, really. No one will give it a second thought given the time of year.”

Time of year? I gasped. “That was you? You gave everyone an itchy nose?! Why? Why did you do that?”

“I did not give everyone an itchy nose,” Nora said grumpily. “Only the ones who told lies.”

I looked from Nora to Izzy and back to Nora again. “That’s bad. You’re a bad witch. The powers that be are going to get you.”

“You see?” Izzy said. “She’s half your age, and she knows what a foolish thing it was for you to do.”

“She is hardly half my age,” Nora said with a scoff. “And so far, I’m still standing. We are Warren witches, don’t forget, and my cause was just. There will be no consequences.”

“Even if you’re right, a spell like that? One that effects the entire town? There are a million different ways it could have gone wrong.”

“Well, it didn’t,” Nora said matter-of-factly. “You have underestimated me once again.”

“What did you do with it though?” I asked, jumping at the sound of something small scurrying in the terra-cotta pots behind me.

“I went into town and talked to a few people.”

This was just getting worse and worse. “I’m afraid to ask but how did that go?”

Nora groaned. “Let’s just say people can be infuriating. A lot of them refused to answer my questions. They simply walked away. I think I showed remarkable restraint in not striking them down where they stood.”

I could picture Nora walking right up to people and asking them if they had killed Constance Graves. I mean, surely she had been more subtle than that, but the effect had probably been the same.

“But I did find out some useful tidbits.”

“Such as?”

“I learned that Theo of yours at the bookstore was playing cards with Constance’s sister at the time of the murder.”

“I could have told you that. What else did you get?”