The Matchmaker & the Coven Read online

  The Matchmaker & the Coven

  Coffeehouse Magic, Volume 1

  E.V. Everest

  Published by E.V. Everest, 2020.

  While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

  THE MATCHMAKER & THE COVEN

  First edition. October 6, 2020.

  Copyright © 2020 E.V. Everest.

  ISBN: 978-1393135975

  Written by E.V. Everest.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  The Matchmaker & the Coven (Coffeehouse Magic, #1)

  A Note from the Author

  If you enjoyed The Matchmaker & the Coven, you’ll love Seven Crowns! Read the first chapter below.

  Further Reading: Seven Crowns

  Hundreds of realms converged at one meeting spot, the Boundary. In the center was a small coffeehouse. From the outside, it looked ordinary enough—cheerful soft blue paint and ivy trailing up one side of the building. A lamp post glowed with the light of a flickering flame, welcoming customers inside. More potted plants surrounded an ancient wooden door, rubbed with the oil of centuries of hands.

  A gaunt girl with pale green skin and a flash of seaweed hair pushed open the door and entered the coffeehouse. Inside, the wooden rafters twinkled with starlight here and there. More ivy trailed behind an enormous copper espresso machine. The air smelled like magic and coffee beans. So, basically, magic twice over.

  The girl was untouched by the warmth and magic of the coffeehouse. Instead, she glumly took her place in line behind a muscular woman covered in hair from head to stiletto. The woman scratched behind her ear and howled.

  The barista, a young seer named Cassandra, nodded. "So, lunar tea?"

  The wolf woman howled once for yes.

  A cheerful young witch with dark brown eyes and cotton candy-colored hair hurried over to help. Her hair was not dyed. It had been this way since her thirteenth birthday, the same day her powers had stabilized. “I’ll get it,” she called.

  "Thanks, Mailey."

  The young witch, Mailey, poured steaming water in a mug and stood on a small stool to reach the glass jar on the highest shelf. The contents glowed like golden moonlight. She teetered on the stool, losing her balance, and dropped the jar.

  Cassandra caught it.

  “Oops,” cried Mailey. “Thanks so much.”

  “Careful,” she hissed. “You remember what happened last time we spilled the moonbeams.”

  Mailey remembered alright. They had each slept for a week solid. Mailey had never had such vivid dreams. Her temporary replacement, a leprechaun, had brought great fortune to the shop during that week. She'd almost been fired. But, luckily, he decided to pursue a career as a traveling hail damage salesman.

  She carefully dipped a long-handled spoon into the jar and scooped out pure moonbeams. She poured them into the cup and stirred twice. The hot water glowed faintly, and the outline of a full moon appeared serenely at the top.

  She handed the beverage to the wolf woman with a smile. "Enjoy, and have a magical day!"

  The pale green teenager stepped up to the counter.

  "Aquatica!” Mailey greeted. “How are you today?"

  Aquatica tried to smile, but a salty tear slid down her cheek. "I'm okay."

  “Is it Faren again? Did he break up with you?”

  She nodded. “I think it’s really over this time. I mean, how can it have even lasted this long? I’m a water nymph, and he’s a pyrotek. We’re opposites. I’m just tired of trying so hard.”

  “I’m so sorry. Do you want me to come and sit with you? We’re pretty slow right now.”

  Aquatica waved away her offer. “No, it’s fine. I just want to go home and be alone. Maybe take a long dip in the river.”

  Mailey nodded.

  An hour later, Mailey was washing dishes and thinking about Aquatica’s situation. Faren was a total hothead. He was always blaming her for stuff she couldn’t control. He was never willing to go to any of the places she liked. They should have broken up ages ago.

  “What’s eating you?” Cassandra asked, eyeing the rag magically drying the plates. It was shining the same one over and over.

  When Mailey noticed, she waved her hand. The rag returned to the sink, and the plate settled noisily in with the others. She leaned against the counter and sighed. “I just feel bad for Aquatica. She deserves somebody better than Faren. I wish I could help her.”

  Her coworker looked at her hard-eyed. "Not again. Not like you helped Finch when he got that really bad break out.”

  Mailey blushed. "It didn't turn out that bad. I mean, his skin was really clear."

  "It was also blue...and amphibious. You turned him into a toad, remember?"

  "A really clear-skinned blue toad," she protested.

  "Remind me again how you got yourself out of that one."

  She grimaced. "I had to kiss him. And, hey," she remembered. “I want that picture back!"

  Cassandra held out her phone and waved it teasingly.

  Mailey tried to grab it but missed. "Hey!"

  "Already backed up to the cloud."

  “This time will be different. I've been really working on my spells. Besides, I know just the guy. A swimmer.”

  “Mhmm. And you can't see any reason why a water nymph and a mortal boy shouldn't go out on a date?”

  “They'll be perfect together,” she sighed. “He goes to my high school. I could totally set them up.”

  “Why do you go to school in the Mortalverse again?”

  Mailey frowned and pointed to a sign that hung by the front door—a list of coffeehouse rules.

  # 3 No dissing other realms.

  Cassandra relented. “Fine. It's just so boring.”

  “We make our own fun.”

  “By meddling in other people’s lives?”

  She shrugged. “Sometimes. In fact,”—a grin spread across her face— “there is a big swim meet tonight at the school. I’ll just finish my shift and go over. It’ll be easy to strike up a conversation after he wins.”

  “How do you know he’s going to win?”

  Mailey’s eyes twinkled with mischief, and her hand glowed ever so slightly.

  “Oh no, you’re not thinking of meddling.”

  “Not meddling, per se. Just a smallish spell. Something to make him reach his full potential. He’s already a really good swimmer. I’m sure he’d win on his own anyway. I’ll just give him little nudge.”

  Several hours later, Mailey’s shift was over. She untied her apron strings and was just about to leave when the sound of whooshing air filled her ears. She turned and saw a vortex of gritty ash-filled smoke swirling around the coffeehouse. Patrons moved hastily backward, coughing and pulling up their shirts to cover their noses and mouths.

  A middle-aged woman appeared in the center of the vortex, and the winds died down. Her hair was wrapped in cloth, and her chest was covered with necklaces. One of which Mailey was sure was made of teeth—hopefully animal teeth. She carried a staff with three shrunken skulls atop it. There was no doubt about this woman’s identity; she was a voodoo priestess from the Boneyard—the realm of voodoo, witch doctors, and talking snakes.

  Mailey’s coworker pointed at the house rules. “No vortexes,” she said in exasperation. “And get in the back of the line.”

  The voodoo priestess locked eyes with her for a moment. Nothing happened. Cassandra rolled her eyes and pointed at the talisman hanging above the mugs. The priestess scowled and shuffled to the back of the line.

  Cassandra looked around.
Ash was beginning to settle on the floor and tables. “Mailey, could you—” she started.

  Reluctantly, Mailey pulled her apron back on and hurried to fetch two brooms. Using her magic, she directed them toward the affected areas. They moved here and there, sweeping, but they kept brushing over customers’ feet and slamming into the walls.

  Cassandra gave her a hard look.

  “Fine,” Mailey muttered. “I’ll do it the old-fashioned way.” She swept the entire coffeehouse, carefully disposing of the ash in the trashcan for hazardous, magical materials. When she was done, she was covered in soot from head to toe and running very late for the swim meet.

  Unfortunately, there was now a line of disgruntled customers at the counter, demanding their drinks be remade. No one wanted to drink cursed ashes. Cassandra shot her a desperate glance. Mailey sighed and started pulling shots from the espresso machine. Several lattes, a hot chocolate, and one herbal tea later, she was finally hanging up her apron. She shouted goodbye to Cassandra before running out the door.

  The Boundary wasn’t very large—roughly twenty square miles or about the size of Manhattan. Of course, it was nothing like Manhattan. There were no skyscrapers or taxicabs here. The town was quite average in looks. Old-fashioned even.

  Passing between the realms wasn’t difficult. The important thing was to know where you were going and how you would return. Portals were not marked in every realm. In many, like the Mortalverse, they remained a carefully guarded secret. If you were careless, you could be trapped in a strange land with no way to return. If you were unlucky, you could land in an ice world and be instantly frozen. Yes, knowledge was key.

  Mailey’s exit was only ten minutes away. She followed the sidewalk until she reached a small park with ancient oak trees. They towered over an old wooden playground. Next to a large metal slide, a sign read, “Entrance to Mortalverse. Warning: No Magic Allowed.” Mailey climbed the stairs and sat down on the slide. She placed her bag in her lap and pushed off with gusto.

  “Whee!” she cried as she soared down the slide. (Shouting in delight was not strictly necessary for inter-realm travel, but some people claimed it stopped your ears from popping.) As she reached the end of the slide, the space around her shimmered like an iridescent bubble. She passed through with a distinct pop and landed in the Mortalverse. Just on the corner of First Street to be more precise.

  In no time, she was hurrying down the sidewalk toward her ordinary high school. The brick building loomed just ahead, but the lights were already on dimmers. She let out a little cry of frustration. The meet had already ended.

  She pushed through the glass doors, hoping maybe the swimmer, Zack, would still be here. She met a group of stragglers in the hallway. They each had wet hair and matching duffel bags with the team mascot, a stingray.

  “Hey!” she called. “Has anyone seen Zack?”

  A boy with shaggy brown hair shook the water from his face and nodded. “Yeah. He was the last one out of the pool. He’s taking the loss pretty hard.”

  Mailey’s face fell. “Oh, no. You lost?”

  “Yeah,” the boy said. “You can probably still catch him in the pool, if you hurry.”

  Mailey rushed down the hallway to the pool’s entrance, careful not to slip on the water the team had left in their wake. When she finally reached the humid pool area, the smell of chlorine filled her nostrils. She found no Zack, just a trail of water leading to the boys’ locker room. She knocked on the door. If he had just gone in, maybe he would hear her. There was no answer. This was useless. He would never hear her through this heavy metal door.

  She bit her lip and made her decision. She cracked the door open, covering her eyes with one hand. “Zack!” she called. “Zack, are you in here?”

  There was no answer.

  Mailey felt a strange tingling, and the hair on her arms lifted. Magic. Someone had used magic in here. She was certain of it.

  “Zack!” she called again.

  There was no answer.

  Mailey was worried. She threw caution to the wind and strode into the boy’s locker room. “Hello!” she called. “Girl in the locker room!” Hopefully, if Zack was here, he was already dressed. What if she was wrong about the magic? And Zack was naked? She would never live down the embarrassment. She would be the school pervert.

  In the distance, she heard a shower running.

  Okay, she thought, maybe he just can’t hear me. It’s not too late to get out of here and pretend this never happened.

  As she stepped backward, a blast of chilly air washed over her. The hair on the nape of her neck rose. Definitely magic. Not the good kind either.

  She followed the wave, passing the showers and creeping toward the locker area. No one was here. She stepped forward to look around, and she felt an icy wind blow her long dress around her calves.

  The lights flickered to darkness, and she held back a scream. Shadows formed around her, and she heard low chanting begin. Mailey tried to move, but she couldn’t cross the circle. She was trapped.

  Five tiny flames sprung up, lighting the darkness around her. Candlelight. The shadows were people—witches, dressed from head to toe in long black dresses and boots. She was surrounded by an entire coven.

  “Um, hello,” she said. “I’m a witch too.”

  “We know,” croaked an ancient crumbling voice. “Why do you interfere with our practice?”

  “I, um, didn’t mean to. I was just checking on my friend, Zack, and—”

  “The mortal has been claimed.”

  “Claimed?” Mailey echoed.

  “He will fetch a great price on the black market.”

  “What?” she sputtered. “But that's not allowed. Witches aren’t allowed to harm mortals.”

  “We’re not in the Boundary anymore, girly. This is the Mortalverse. No such rule exists.”

  In the distance, Mailey heard the shower turn off. Zack, no! she thought frantically. Stay where you are! If he came out right now, he would be taken. She wasn’t sure where, but she knew it wouldn’t be good.

  In the distance, a shower curtain slid open with a rusty screech. A member of the coven stepped backward, like a snake drawn to its prey. In doing so, she broke the circle. Mailey shifted her foot slightly to the left. She could move again!

  She shot back toward the pool, passing the showers on her way, and screamed at the top of her lungs, “Hello! Girl in the locker room!”

  The witches were in pursuit of her now. If she didn’t think of something quick, they would catch her and return for Zack. She hurried through the heavy metal door and out to the pool area, searching desperately for a hiding spot. All she found were metal bleachers with huge gaps between the aluminum seats and footrests. They would make a terrible hiding spot. The locker room door swung open, and she dove behind the bleachers anyway.

  The coven stepped into the pool area and huddled together. As if they were the heads of a hydra, they peered around as one, searching for Mailey. She held her breath and gripped the edge of the bleachers in an attempt to steady her shaking legs.

  Several tense moments passed, and Mailey began to wonder if perhaps they would not find her. Then, the centermost witch pointed a gnarled finger toward the bleachers. Mailey had been spotted.

  Think, Mailey commanded herself. Think!!

  And then she had it. Still covered from head to foot in voodoo ash, she shook herself like a wet dog. Ash lifted into the air, clouding the room. She lifted her now glowing hands and directed the ash toward the other witches. It swirled around them, picking up speed. They screamed obscenities and curses at her—ones she hoped would be contained by the growing vortex.

  It vanished, taking the coven with it, and Mailey was alone in the pool area once more.

  The coven had been sent to the Boneyard—the realm of voodoo, witch doctors, and snake talkers. They would not be happy, but they would be gone for several days, a week if she was lucky. When they returned, she had a sick feeling that they would be looking for
two people.

  The door opened once more, and she flinched. Had she missed a straggler?

  It was Zack, his black hair wet and disheveled and a damp t-shirt draped over his shoulder. He was bare-chested and still in his swim trunks. He ran a hand through his wet hair and gave her a halfhearted smile. “Oh, hey, Mailey, right?”

  She nodded.

  “Thought I heard someone.”

  An entire coven had been seconds away from abducting him to another realm for nefarious purposes, and he “thought” he heard someone. Boys. Out loud, she said, “Yeah, that was me.”

  He sat down on one of the metal benches that had been erected for the meet. “So, what’s up?”

  “I heard about the meet. Bad luck,” she said.

  He frowned and wiped a piece of hair from his eyes. “No luck about it. I screwed up. The scouts were here too. None of them is going to offer me a scholarship, that’s for sure.”

  “You want to swim in college?”

  “Want to? I have to. My parent’s tax business had a couple of rough years. It’s the only way I can afford college.”

  “Both of your parents are accountants?”

  His mouth twitched into the hint of a smile. “Yeah, they met at a conference. Love at first calculation.”

  Mailey beamed. “How romantic.”

  “Anyway, we can’t afford it, and I don’t want to take out loans. My grades are average, outside of math. This is all I’ve got. I have to get my time down.”

  Suddenly, Mailey had the most wonderful idea. “I know someone who could help you.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah! She comes from a long line of swimmers. She can definitely help you get your times down.”

  “That would be... that would be so awesome. Thank you, Mailey.”

  “No problem. How’s Wednesday?”

  He nodded, a smile starting to spread across his face. “I can do Wednesday.”

  “Great! I’ll set it all up.”

  Now all she had to do was make a water nymph and a human boy fall in love AND fend off an entire coven of seasoned witches. No problem. She could do that...somehow.