Witch Is When Life Got Complicated by Adele Abbott Read Free Book Online

time in Candlefield would be a relaxing break. This conversation was getting me nowhere. Maybe I’d get more sense out of Pearl. I found her in the tea room.
    “Hi, Jill.” She gave me a mini-wave.
    “What’s up between you and Amber?”
    “Don’t mention her name to me!”
    It just kept getting better.
    “Do you want to tell me what’s happened between you two?”
    “No.”
    “Okay, where are the keys to the tea room?”
    “Sorry?”
    “The keys, Pearl. Where are they?”
    “Here.” She fished them out of her pocket.
    “Come with me.”
    “I can’t leave the tea room.”
    “Come with me. NOW!”
    I locked the door, and ushered her through to the cake shop.
    “Who’s manning the tea room?” Amber said when she saw Pearl.
    “It’s closed,” I said. “And it’s going to remain closed until you two tell me what is going on, and we get it sorted.”
    “But—”
    “You can’t—”
    “Watch me. Now, both of you sit down there.”
    “She’s worse than Grandma,” Pearl said under her breath. Her sister nodded.
    At least I’d got them to agree on something, even if it was only that I was the most horrible person in Candlefield.
    “We’ll be losing money,” Pearl said, without making eye contact.
    “Then you’d better get this thing sorted out right now. Understand?”
    “But—”
    “Understand?”
    They both nodded.
    “Good. First things first. Tell me what’s going on.”
    It took some time to get the full story because the twins continued to bicker and to dispute each other’s take on events.
    “Okay.” I’d heard enough. “Let me see if I’ve got this straight. Someone has stolen the Candlefield Cup.”
    “The vampires,” Amber said.
    “It was not! The werewolves took it,” Pearl insisted.
    “Enough! Let’s just say that person or persons unknown stole it. The vampires blame the werewolves and vice versa. Do I have that right so far?”
    They both nodded.
    “And this cup is for an annual competition held between werewolves and vampires? Is that correct?”
    They nodded again.
    “What exactly is the competition?”
    Another ten minutes later, and I wished I hadn’t asked. The game, BoundBall, sounded like some weird combination of rounders, football and hockey. Good luck to anyone trying to understand those rules. Apparently, the vampires and werewolves had separate leagues. The winning team from those two leagues played against each other for the Candlefield Cup.
    “You two squabbling over this is just silly. I know that your boyfriends—”
    “Fiancé,” Amber corrected me.
    “I know they’re on separate sides of this dispute, but you two are witches. You should keep out of it, and apologise to one another right now.”
    “Apologise?” they said in unison, as though I’d asked them to cut off a leg.
    “Right now.”
    They stared at one another, then at me, then at each other again.
    “On three,” I said. “One, two, three.”
    “Sorry.”
    “Sorry.”
    Rather half-hearted, but we’d got there in the end.
    “Will you investigate who stole the cup, Jill?” Pearl asked.
    “Please.” Amber nodded.
    “I’m not sure I should be sticking my nose into Candlefield business.”
    “Please, Jill!”
    “Please!”
    “I’ll see. We should get back to work.”
    The twins took turns to take me through my training.
    “I’m not really worse than Grandma, am I?” I said.
    “Course you’re not,” Pearl said. “We were just upset. You’re nothing like Grandma.”
    “That’s good.”
    “You are a bit bossy though.” She smiled.
     
    “I’m never going to remember all of these combinations.” I stared at the list of coffees.
    “You’ll be fine. One of us will be here with you all of the time. We’ll see to the drinks. You’ll just need to serve the cakes.”
    “Serve the cakes.” I could do that.
    “And take the money.”
    “Take the money.” I wasn’t great with maths, but I could do that.
    “And clear tables.”
    When was I going to do