Hedging the Witch: Uncollected Anthology, #10
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About this ebook
An honest politician: far more rare than hedgewitches, at least in Portland, Oregon.
When one such politician asks hedgewitches Holly and Willow to investigate whether his rival employs a magical advantage, Holly’s familiar, Cam, must support Holly through a treacherous investigation…or risk losing her forever.
The first story in a spellbinding new urban fantasy series by the author of the Nikki Ashburne Ghosted stories.
“Hedging the Witch” is part of Uncollected Anthology, Issue 10: Fabulous Familiars.
Called “one of the best writers working today,” Dayle A. Dermatis is the author or coauthor of seven novels and more than a hundred short stories in multiple genres, including the first seven Uncollected Anthology anthologies and the forthcoming urban fantasy novel Ghosted. She is a founding member of the Uncollected Anthology project. A recent transplant to the wild greenscapes of the Pacific Northwest, in her spare time she follows Styx around the country and explores the world, which inspires her writing. To find out where she is today and to sign up for her newsletter (and get free fiction!), check out DayleDermatis.com.
Dayle A. Dermatis
Dayle A. Dermatis is the author or coauthor of many novels (including snarky urban fantasies Ghosted and the forthcoming Shaded and Spectered) and more than a hundred short stories in multiple genres, appearing in such venues as Fiction River, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and DAW Books.Called the mastermind behind the Uncollected Anthology project, she also guest edits anthologies for Fiction River, and her own short fiction has been lauded in many year's best anthologies in erotica, mystery, and horror.She lives in a book- and cat-filled historic English-style cottage in the wild greenscapes of the Pacific Northwest. In her spare time she follows Styx around the country and travels the world, which inspires her writing.To find out where she’s wandered off to (and to get free fiction!), check out DayleDermatis.com and sign up for her newsletter or support her on Patreon.* * *I value honest feedback, and would love to hear your opinion in a review, if you’re so inclined, on your favorite book retailer’s site.* * *For more information:www.dayledermatis.com
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Hedging the Witch - Dayle A. Dermatis
HEDGING THE WITCH
an urban fantasy short story
An honest politician: far more rare than hedgewitches, at least in Portland, Oregon.
When one such politician asks hedgewitches Holly and Willow to investigate whether his rival employs a magical advantage, Holly’s familiar, Cam, must support Holly through a treacherous investigation…or risk losing her forever.
The first story in a spellbinding new urban fantasy series by the author of the Nikki Ashburne Ghosted stories.
Hedging the Witch
is part of Uncollected Anthology, Issue 10: Fabulous Familiars.
HEDGING THE WITCH
I EASED UNDER the front door of the magic shop, a pale grey mist indistinguishable from the tendrils that hung low on this November day of Portland, Oregon, drizzle, and reshaped, solidifying into my most common form, that of a human male.
Willow was working the front counter, which was the usual state of things. Slender as her name suggested, she wore layers of velvet against the day’s chill, in claret and midnight blue, with tea-stained lace peeking from beneath her skirt and at her wrists. Her hair curled around her shoulders, streaks of pale green peeking through the light brown. Her eyes, as she looked up and smiled a greeting, were green, as befitting a hedge witch.
She’s in the back,
Willow told me. I’ll close up.
Also the usual state of things. Holly, her sister, could be as prickly as her name suggested, and was less suited to dealing with customers.
The shop—the ground floor of a purple-and-slate blue Victorian tucked down a side street in the trendy Hawthorne District—bore no sign. Unlike the various pagan and New Age shops in the area, it didn’t cater to the casual dabbler or the tourist. Holly and Willow’s shop was for true magic users.
The house had been in their family since it was built, and the sisters had maintained its Victorian accents, from the dark gingerbread in the corners of the archways between rooms to the pocket doors with their cast and burnished brass fittings. The dark wood floors creaked in places and the colored glass in the dining room built-ins had been re-leaded at least once, and the push-button light switches and lavender glass doorknobs were original.
To the sisters, the house was old. To me, not nearly as much.
Dried herbs, potions, and concoctions—Willow’s talent—and Holly’s amulets and charms filled