Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 67614 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67614 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
“Thanks, Percy.”
“Oh, Breena. The wife and I set some of our own spells on that wool while we harvested and cleaned it. Added some extra magic to it.”
“I love that. The more magic, the better. Thank you.”
I wave at Percy as I start my car, pull away from his little farm, and head back into town. I have one more stop to make before I can go home and continue weaving today.
After parking outside Lucy’s apothecary, I walk inside and immediately smile. I love this store so much. The shelves are lined with pots and bottles full of salves, lotions, tinctures, and oils. There’s a whole wall of shelves lined with gallon-sized jars full of dried herbs and plants so people can buy them in bulk for their magical workings.
And Lucy is behind the counter, crushing and mixing something with a mortar and pestle.
“Good morning,” she greets with a smile as I walk over. “I’m just about ready.”
“Is Lorelei here?”
“Yep, she’s in the kitchen, boiling some water.”
“Great, I’ll go out and get the first bag of wool.”
I turn to walk back outside and crash right into a hard chest.
“I’ll get the wool,” Jonas says with a kind smile as he holds my shoulders firmly, helping me regain my balance. “How are you today, Breena?”
“I’m doing well. How are you, Jonas?”
He smiles again, but I see the worry in his eyes. “I’m doing just as well. Is the car unlocked?”
“It is.”
He nods and sets off to fetch the wool, and I turn to Lucy.
“He’s not as well as he wants us all to believe.”
She sighs and looks at the empty doorway where her husband just was. “I know. He’s worried, Breena. Now that we know about the timeline to lift the curse, he gets more anxious with each day that passes, worried that we won’t get it done in time.”
“We will.” My voice is more confident than I feel. “It’s all going to be okay.”
“I hope you’re right. Okay, this is crushed as much as I can get it. It’ll make a great purple color for the wool.”
“Oh, I’m so excited.” Jonas walks in carrying two bushels of wool and moves past us to the kitchen.
Lucy waves down her employee, Delia. “We’ll be in the kitchen if you need anything.”
“I’ve got this handled, boss,” Delia replies with a wink. “Hi, Breena.”
“Hey, you. Is that the new arnica salve?”
“Lucy just finished pouring it last night,” Delia confirms.
“I’ll buy one on my way out.” I follow Lucy to the kitchen where Jonas has already spread one bag of wool on the table. Lorelei minds the huge stockpot on the stove.
“I never thought I’d be a woman who dyes wool by hand,” she says by way of greeting. “But here we are, doing it like the olden days. Right, Jonas?”
“Well, sort of,” he replies. “We didn’t have an electric stove for the kettle, or—”
“I get it,” Lorelei interrupts, holding up a hand. “I mean no disrespect when I say this, but I’m so glad I was born in this century.”
Jonas laughs as he kisses Lucy’s head. “No offense taken. I’ll help Delia out front while you ladies handle this. There’s not enough room back here for all of us.”
“Thank you,” Lucy says to him and then turns to us. “Okay, we have supplies to make red, purple, green, blue, and black.”
“That’s perfect. Wait, do we have yellow?”
“Yes,” Lucy confirms, looking around. “Sorry. Yellow, too.”
“I can work with this. I also have some gold thread coming in. With the other magical baubles everyone has promised to embellish with, I can make this a really beautiful tapestry.”
“I’m so glad you know how to do this,” Lorelei says. “I brought extra seaweed for the green.”
“The green is important,” I reply. “There will be a lot of trees in the image.”
“I can always get more seaweed if we need it,” she adds.
“Okay, ladies, let’s get to work,” Lucy says.
“This is incredible.”
I glance up from the loom at the sound of Giles’s voice and offer him a smile.
“It’s been done this way for thousands of years. Okay, hundreds, at least.” I grab another handful of green wool and begin feeding it into the loom. The teeth brush it into a soft, smooth bunch. From here, I’ll feed it into a spinner to make it into yarn.
It’s a whole lengthy process that has to happen before I can even start weaving the tapestry.
“This is going to take forever,” I warn Giles. “Like, I hope it’s finished by Samhain this fall. I know it has to be, but it’s such a painstakingly slow process. What if I just can’t do it? I have a business to run and bills to pay on top of this. Even with everyone’s help, it’s a lot.”
“First of all, I don’t want you to worry about bills, Breena.”