The Dark Glamour (666 Park Avenue 2)

perfectly smooth band with bevelled edges, but she would also once have sworn that it was covered in ancient carvings. Lynne and Malcolm had both recognized it on sight, and Dee had noticed something strange about it before she had even known for sure that witches were real. Jane felt certain the ring would vouch for her among people who knew magic, even if she couldn’t exactly say why.
    Misty nodded curtly, her right hand returning to rest on the top of the counter, and Jane relaxed a little. ‘Well, any friend of Dee’s is more than welcome to come browse anytime, but I get the feeling that you’re looking for something a little more specific.’ She glanced at the punk-haired girl, who didn’t look up or indicate that she was paying any attention to them at all.
    But then,
Jane thought,
isn’t that exactly how an eavesdropper would act?
Fortunately, she had spent enough time in the shop to know that there was a simple solution to the problem. ‘I think you keep what I’m here for in the back room,’ she announced casually, and Misty smiled in apparent satisfaction.
    ‘Things are a little disorganized in there right now,’ she answered, swishing towards the curtain divider in a cloud of curling hair and gypsy skirts. ‘I’ll show you where to look.’
    Jane followed, her mind full of her previous trips to the shop’s tiny back section. It had the same worn red carpet as the front of the store, but instead of the attractive displays of crystals, candles, and silver jewellery that cluttered the main selling floor, every inch of the wall space in the back was devoted to books. There was a small triangular table in one corner, and a few sturdy wooden chairs that reminded Jane of extra pieces from a public school. She had come here with Dee and Harris and learned to use her magic deliberately for the first time, back when it had been a cool new secret and she hadn’t realized just how scared she should have been. She sighed a little at the memory, and Misty spun to face her.
    ‘Seven hells, Jane,’ she half whispered. ‘Dee said it worked, but this is amazing!’ She stepped a little closer, examining Ella’s face. Her scrutiny bordered on intrusive, but Jane reminded herself that her curiosity was natural – and she was entitled to it, and more, after all of the help she had given. ‘I thought for sure there would be something to recognize,’ Misty murmured. ‘Something around the eyes, maybe. But even when I know it’s you, I can’t tell.’
    ‘Neither can anyone else so far,’ Jane confirmed. ‘You found exactly the spell I needed.’
    Misty’s un-glossed lips pressed into a smile. ‘Something tells me that my reward for such good work is another try at a wild-goose chase.’
    Jane blushed a little. ‘Dee and I were talking about the next few steps of the plan,’ she admitted, ‘and she did suggest that you might be able to help me plan ahead, spell-wise.’
    ‘Of course I can,’ Misty agreed amiably, pouring tea from a cast-iron pot into a waxed paper cup. She folded out the handles and passed it to Jane. ‘But that’s not why you’re here.’
    Jane sat heavily in one of the wooden chairs. It was a little lower than she remembered, and she was a lot taller, so she had to spend a few seconds wobbling and trying not to spill her tea. ‘Things are just a little out of control already,’ she admitted, ‘and while I’ve made all this progress in just a few days, I feel like I’m getting dragged along. And then I go home and realize that I’m still so, so far away from getting back to a safe, normal, happy life. Besides,’ she added guiltily, sipping her tea, ‘on top of all of it I’ve got a hangover. So.’
    ‘You sound like you could use more than a couple of “Blessed be’s”,’ Misty agreed wryly. ‘I’d offer to spike your tea, but your aura’s not exactly calling out for hair of the dog. What you need, my dear, is a project.’
    ‘I really just came for a spell,’ Jane pointed out hesitantly.
    Ignoring her feeble protest, Misty poked her head around the black curtain divider into the shop’s front room. Apparently satisfied that no one was stealing or waiting for help, she returned her full attention to Jane. ‘In that case, there’ll be a project for each of us. I’ll look up your spell, and you’ll read these.’ She pulled a stack of loosely bound manuscripts from a high shelf.
    When she set them on the table, Jane knew at once whose cramped,