Convicted Witch: Jagged Grove Book 1 by Willow Monroe

ask.
    “Sither.”
    I shake my head blankly.
    “He’s a lower wizard here in town.”
    “A...lower wizard? What does that mean?”
    “It’s like a felony with guns back in the States. He got mad at the city council and sank all of the boats in the harbor one day last year, and got probation basically forever. He’s not allowed to practice magic anymore, but he still does sometimes. I’ve seen him.” His eyes flick to Angelo. “Nothing big, though. Mostly, he just lights the bonfire at the solstice celebrations.”
    I don’t think Blakely is telling the whole truth, but I see in Angelo’s eyes that he’s letting the information slide.
    Our server is a gangly young man who looks like he might still be in high school, but Angelo is still mad at me and doesn’t introduce us. His name tag says Tonio, and when he deposits a stack of menus and asks for our drink orders, his voice is soft even though his wizard energy glows brightly.
    I smile when he taps the table three times and my iced tea appears in front of me without his ever leaving the table.
    “We’ll all have the special,” Blakely announces before I’ve even reached for the menu. Then he turns to us. “The special here is always Pork Florentine, and it’s amazing. Chef Callone stuffs it with spinach, roasted peppers and cheese.” He’s practically swooning.
    “I’m glad I’m not a vegetarian,” I mutter, annoyed at his ordering for me.
    “Even if you were, this meal would change your mind,” he snaps back.
    I don’t bother explaining that if I were a vegetarian I’d never try it.
    Tonio doesn’t perform the same trick with the food as he did with our drinks, much to my disappointment. All I want to do now is get this meal over with, find my new home, and go to bed.
    Angelo looks like he’s ready to get rid of me, too. The tension between us doesn’t go unnoticed by Bilda, who keeps staring at me curiously but doesn’t say anything.
    We listen to Angelo and Blakely chatter about town happenings, and I learn that Wisp is in charge of every interesting thing that happens around here. I’ve met girls like her before - she’s evidently the town’s favorite socialite.
    I also find out that Jagged Grove is much older than I first thought, because Blakely remembers things that happened as much as a hundred years ago.
    “Wait a minute,” I say. “Are you saying that this place is that old? That our government had the technology to create a town in another dimension before the Great Depression?”
    Blakely laughs like I’m joking. “Not exactly. The technology was private back then, owned by a man named Cassius Clove. He was a warlock, but he was also a great scientist who thought that people like us needed our own place. He created it for any of us who came to him and needed help. The government didn’t take over until...when, Angelo? The fifties?”
    Angelo nods.
    I turn on him. Things aren’t adding up. “But you said that you helped populate this place. That you had been here since the beginning.”
    He looks at his plate. “Cassius Clove was my father.”
    That couldn’t be right. It was still a long time ago, before Angelo was born. Unless he was a warlock, too - they could live for hundreds of years, just like witches.
    I haven’t gotten a single magical vibe from him, though. Not once. No hint of the musky sweet peachiness of his warlock magic. “You’re cloaked.”
    He doesn’t answer me.
    Blakely does, though. He’s delighted to fill me in, ignoring the daggers in Angelo’s eyes. “Of course he is! It wouldn’t do for most of these people to know he’s the most powerful warlock living. He gets it from his father. Also, he’s shy.”
    My mind is racing. A warlock can trace magic back to its source, no matter where in the world it is. Witches can, too, but we aren’t as good at it. “For some reason, you zeroed in on Bilda. And me.”
    “I only do my job, Trinket. It doesn’t matter.”
    “How patriotic of you.”