Witch's Bell Book One

vicinity of the counter. The voice sounded female, old, and about as threatening as a kitten in a cage.
    Shaking her head slightly, Ebony walked out towards the counter, finally loosening her grip on the book when she got a sight of the woman – an old dear in a light coat, a sweet little hat, and beige granny-shoes.
    Ebony sucked in her lips, and tried for a smile. 'Sorry,' she said flicking her eyes to the door, about to tell the woman that the shop was closed. But Ebony stopped. The shop-sign had been turned to open, and the door was quite clearly unbolted from the inside.
    Rather than jumping to the conclusion that the woman had broken in from the skylight above, then bolted downstairs to unlock the door and turn around the sign – as if to mess with Ebony's mind – Ebony simply shook her head.
    Harry.
    Even though Ebony didn't have any magic at the moment, Harry still had plenty. More than enough to shift around the things in his store. He would have opened the door and turned the sign over, probably as a punishment for Ebony for being so absent in the past week.
    Ebony tried to smile at the dear old lady, while keeping the curse she wanted to hurl at Harry very silent indeed. 'How can I help you?'
    'Oh no, you can't help me,' the old woman said with a sweet chuckle. 'But I can help you.'
    Ebony tried to still look polite, but her face squeezed with confusion. 'Sorry?'
    'I'm here to help you.'
    'Ah... I don't think I need any help,' Ebony cursed Harry louder and louder in her mind. Not only did he leave the shop open at nine o'clock at night, but he let in a nutter.
    'I'm from the Church of Wanting,' said the woman, pulling out a pamphlet from a pocket and depositing it on the counter.
    Ebony just sighed. Well this was great. Now she'd have to find a polite way of telling the lady she wasn't interested, and sending the old-timer out into the night – probably to trip over in the dark, or get mugged.
    'The Church of Wanting is an ancient sect,' the woman started to get rolling like a boulder down a hill.
    Really, ancient? Ebony wondered to herself. She'd never heard of it.
    'We believe that the Creator gave man one single gift, and one single curse – wanting.'
    'Wanting?' Ebony repeated, not because she wanted the conversation to go on, just because the entire concept seemed incongruous. Sects like this were always about blind faith and complete devotion.
    'Yes. To want is a gift, and yet it is a curse.'
    'I don't get it. If it is simultaneously a curse and a gift, wouldn't it just cancel itself out?' Ebony asked, her magical knowledge coming to the forefront. She may have lost her actual ability to sense and conjure up magic, but that didn't mean she'd forgotten about the Lore. And if you cursed and blessed the same thing, at the same time, with the same power – then they both canceled each other out.
    The woman put up a gloved hand and nodded sagely, as if she got this question all the time. 'It is a curse when you do not know what you want and a blessing when you do.'
    Once again, Ebony had no interest at all in keeping this conversation going. She wasn't in the mood to be proselytized to. But there was something about the odd way this woman was describing things, that irked Ebony. 'That's not the usual way people see it,' Ebony's face tightened as if she were having a hard time explaining something simple to a child. 'Surely it’s a blessing when you get what you want and a curse when you don't get what you want.'
    'Oh no, dear,' the woman shook her head emphatically. 'That's just silly. Because sometimes you get you want, and realize you don't want it. In which case, what you wanted wasn't what you really wanted, so getting what you wanted was a curse.'
    Ebony shook her head, not following the complex explanation. 'Okay, say I want this lollipop,' Ebony reached over and grabbed at a blue lollipop from her bowl. 'I've got it now, and I'm feeling pretty good about it – which is a blessing.'
    The woman shook her head. 'It's all in the pamphlet. But really dear, its knowing what you want that's important. The getting of it is the second step. It's the knowledge that's the blessing.'
    Ebony just sighed, suddenly feeling tired from her day, her week, and her general condition. She didn't want to have this conversation now, especially when the woman was quite obviously mistaken. Trying to convince her of it, however, would be impossible. 'Look, thank you for your time,' Ebony tried for a concerted smile,