The Mayhem Sisters by Lauren Quick Page A

don’t see why not. There’s been a healer with her all night, who’s with her now. Normally, we wouldn’t let anyone see a patient, but the poor woman has no one.”
    “May I ask her name?”
    “Sure, it’s Clarissa Taylor. Right this way.” The healer showed her to a small room with a bed surrounded by curtains. Another healer stood and nodded to Vivi. She walked quietly out of the room, only to return a few seconds later with a small glass vase for the flowers.
    “We’ll be right outside if you need us.”
    “One more thing. Did the registry happen to mention what her persuasion is?”
    “Yes, it did. Fascinatingly enough, the witch is an empath. But I guess it didn’t help her stop whoever did this.”
    Vivi sat in a chair next to the bed. The witch lay on white sheets and was propped up on pillows, her long gray hair fanned out around her shoulders. Her skin was papery and had a gray tinge. Both of her wrists were covered in gauze.
    This was a talented witch with a strong persuasion . Empaths intuitively felt another witch’s or wizard’s true feelings and emotions. While she sat with the witch, Vivi pulled out her notebook and recorded the details of what she had just learned. Having no family and living in an isolated area of town made the witch a perfect target, but it was strange that she had been unable to sense deception from her attacker, especially being empathic. The attacker must have hid his true nature well, and that didn’t bode well for her catching him.
     

7
    A fter her early visit to the healer ward, a mix of feelings battled inside her—sadness, anger, and frustration. But a new desire was rising to the top of the heap of emotions: resolve. She wanted to get this guy. Vivi opened the shop on time and enjoyed an onslaught of eager customers before Pepper arrived after taking a well-deserved morning off.
    Once her assistant was settled, Vivi darted out for her lunch break, but she had no intention of eating. Having not gathered much information from the injured witch, save her name and persuasion , Vivi realized her vision was the key, and the only other witch who could help her was Esmeralda. Now all she had to do was find the elusive seer, and she knew just where to go—The Evil Queen.
    Technically, the owner of the clairvoyant shop, Scarlet Card, wasn’t evil, nor was she a queen, but the name she chose suited her perfectly. Crisp leaves skidded across the sidewalk as Vivi hurried down Main Street and cut across to a narrow alley. The rich smoky scent of autumn hung in the air. This was usually her favorite time of year—the harvest time, a time for reaping what had been sown all summer, a time of reward and relaxation.
    Not this year.
    Vivi pushed open the door to The Evil Queen and was immediately enveloped into a lush room filled with flickering candles. Velvet fabrics draped every surface, pillows crowded chaise lounges, and spicy-scented incense curled upward, pooling on the ceiling in smoky wafts. Wooden shelves were filled with worn-edged tarot decks hundreds of years old, crystal balls of all sizes, and stacks of porcelain teacups littered every nook and cranny. Vivi got a little shiver of excitement, seeing all the traditional tools of the fortune-telling trade displayed in the shop.
    A striking woman with a long sheet of cherry red hair that hung past her waist pushed through a beaded curtain from the back room. “I knew you would come see me sooner or later,” Scarlet said, slinking up to the counter like a lynx. Dark kohl rimmed her almond-shaped eyes.
    Vivi should have told Honora before coming here, but she needed help fast and didn’t have time to be picky. Scarlet and Honora had been best friends all through Haven Academy. They had been like sisters, sharing every secret, dreaming of their futures, before their wild ways got them into trouble and their friendship ended in a full-blown fight. Over the years, Vivi had seen less and less of Scarlet, who’d once been