“Well, how do you feel about dogs? I can go from furry to naked in 1.3 seconds.”
“Now I remember why I never do this,” Clara said.
“How about you?” Glo asked, turning from the werewolf to me. “You’re the one carrying the stone. Do you have romantic feelings for any of these zombies?”
“Not yet.”
I didn’t have feelings for the zombies, but I was feeling cuddly for someone I couldn’t completely identify. Diesel, maybe. Or possibly Brad Pitt.
We stuck it out for another twenty minutes. There was a lot of hooking up going on, but not for us.
“I think the stone is a dud,” Glo said. “I have better luck on my own.”
“Maybe it’s that the stone finds true love, and our true love isn’t here,” I said. “If it was still the Luxuria Stone inspiring lust, we’d be in the right spot.”
“This is sort of embarrassing, but I had some lust for Wulf today,” Glo said.
“I had lust for Andy Sklar,” Clara said.
Glo chugged her second beer. “Isn’t he the guy who comes in every day and gets a banana muffin?”
“Yeah,” Clara said. “I think he’s cute.”
They looked at me.
“Diesel,” I said. “I have a lot of lust for Diesel.”
They both knew I couldn’t do the deed with Diesel.
“Forbidden fruit,” Clara said.
We left the bar and stepped outside, where the Halloween crazies were parading up and down the sidewalk.
“There are more trolls than usual this year,” Clara said.
I was relatively new to Salem, and I had a hard time telling trolls from ghouls. For that matter, I had a hard time with the whole Halloween obsession. I mean, I like Halloween, but this was Halloween gone gonzo.
“The Exotica Shoppe is open late tonight,” Glo said. “It’s only a block away. Could we check on my frickberry?”
We walked the block to the Exotica Shoppe, and I held tight to my handbag the whole way. I was feeling the responsibility of the stone, thinking I’d done a dumb thing. What if I was attacked by a purse snatcher? What if Anarchy somehow discovered the crystal wasn’t the SALIGIA Stone, and she was out looking for me? What if my absorption of the stone’s power hits critical mass and I find my true love? And now for the really scary part—what if it’s Wulf?
We entered the store and found Nina asleep with her head on the counter next to the register.
“Hello,” Glo said. “Anybody home?”
Nina picked her head up and blinked at us. “I must have dozed off. It’s been slow tonight. Lots of people outside, but no one coming in.”
“Well, we’re here,” Glo said. “Did the frickberry come in?”
“Yes. I have it here with your name on it.” Nina reached under the counter and pulled out a small bag. “Remember not to overdo this. A pinch is all you need.”
“Do you have any arcane cookbooks?” Clara asked.
Nina adjusted her bejeweled princess crown. “I have a couple in the book section in the far corner, behind the Harry Potter wand and feather boa display.”
We all migrated to the book section.
“I could spend the whole night here looking through books,” Glo said. “The Little Book of Pleasant Potions, An Anthology of Sixteenth-Century Witches, How to Brew Your Own Beer, 101 Ways to Use Batwing.”