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  THE WITCH’S MIND

  Book Nine of the One Part Witch Series

  IRIS KINCAID

  THE WITCH’S MIND

  Copyright 2018 by Iris Kincaid

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  Cover design by Mariah Sinclair

  Editing by Valorie Clifton

  ISBN – 13: 978-1723331039

  ISBN – 10: 1723331031

  Dedicated to my niece, Sarah Murray, who read all nine books in the series before publication. She was always my first and best reader and most invaluable critic.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Best Supporting Actress. That’s a very real, legit Oscar. It’s as real an Oscar as Best Director or Best Picture. And yet . . . it doesn’t quite have the same exalted, incontrovertible status of Best Actress. A supporting actress will constantly be asked in interviews, “What was it like to work with the real star?” They’ll answer with gracious humility and genuine admiration. Often, they are as ardent admirers of the star as are the reporters and adoring fans.

  But each person is the center of their own universe. It has often been said that we are each the star of our own movie. Why, then, did Ruby Townsend continually feel relegated to the role of supporting actress in her own life?

  It was, for the most part, an unremarkable, utterly ordinary life lived in close proximity to people who were leading the most extraordinary lives imaginable. She was the assistant to Doctor Harold Svenson, a gifted transplant physician who, for the last several years, had risen to the challenge of a lifetime. He had taken a wide variety of organs from a deceased and awesomely powerful witch, Lilith Hazelwood, and transplanted them into eight young women who were suffering extreme disabilities, and some were even facing early deaths.

  The operations had restored every one of them to blooming health and infused each with a generous share of the witch’s powers. Ruby had watched in awe as each young transplant heir developed distinctive and jaw-dropping powers including superhuman physical strength, clairvoyance, mind reading, X-ray vision, and the ability to command obedience, to mention a few.

  Ruby was one of the few people in their artsy beach town of Oyster Cove who was privileged to be in on the secret of the transplant witches. And she did, indeed, feel privileged. Even though it wasn’t her destiny to live a life as remarkable as these newly minted witches enjoyed, she was honored to be regarded as their friend, happy to assist in their adjustment to their new circumstances in any way possible and devoted to maintaining the secrecy of their transformations.

  Of course, her own very ordinary and average life stood out in even more stark contrast compared to her new friends. She was indeed the supporting actress. And most of the time, she was thoroughly resigned to the role and not at all unhappy. Except for a few points on which her life could have used an upgrade.

  One was her love life. Ruby had dated a small handful of boyfriends, but none of them was of the head-over-heels, I’ve finally found my soulmate type of coupling. Instead, Ruby was always left with the feeling that she had met a young man’s bare minimum of girlfriend requirements, and quite frankly, he was tired of searching. Sort of like apartment hunting for several weeks and then settling for the place that has no balcony, only one bathroom, and ugly carpeting. But the hunt is too exhausting, and this one will do until you can gather your strength and hunt for something better next year.

  It was a harsh comparison, but after the relationships were over, Ruby often felt as if she had been a placeholder while her temporary significant other had been waiting for his real leading lady to come along. In one case, she went out with a man for two months, shortly after he had broken up with another young woman. It seemed promising enough until he broke down one night and confessed that he couldn’t figure out how to get over his ex.

  But then they reunited, and he didn’t have to. Problem solved. Except for Ruby’s increasing tendency to view herself as a minor character in the backdrop of other people’s great love stories. All the transplant witches had been lucky in love.

  One by one, Ruby watched as they each discovered that once in a lifetime match that left them feeling like the happiest woman on the planet. It warmed her heart to see it. She didn’t begrudge them a thing. It felt so right. Special people deserve special love. For average, ordinary, not so special people, it’s more of a crapshoot. Maybe yes, or maybe never.

  There was a new addition to the local population who had driven home this point in irrefutable fashion. His name was Griffin Wynter, heir to the Wynter Hotels and Spas, with a dozen prestigious properties scattered all over the globe. His father had died several months earlier and this thirty-two-year-old was now in full command of the family business.

  Wealth was not the end of his blessings. He was a specimen of male beauty the likes of which Oyster Cove had never seen. He may not have had a career in front of the camera, but he epitomized what it meant to be a leading man in life. Ruby had crossed his path on a just a few occasions and couldn’t help but notice how every single woman between the ages of eighteen and fifty in his proximity seemed to be angling for an encounter, like Cinderella’s sisters leaping in line to try on that glass slipper.

  He was his own living, breathing freelance episode of The Bachelor. It didn’t pain Ruby to readily acknowledge that men like this were far out of her league. Not to mention, it seemed a bit undignified to be competing against the multitudes for one man’s attention. Especially when she couldn’t be sure that he was worth fighting for. His wealth was an attraction for most, but it set off a few alarm bells for Ruby.

  The Wynter family had purchased a large block of property that included some old and decaying apartment buildings right on the waterfront. The salty sea air can be very hard on buildings, and these had been worn down for lack of proper maintenance. The elder Mr. Wynter had plans to install another one of his signature hotels, as well as a number of luxury condos. His plans were being eyed with much anxiety by many Oyster Cove residents. It didn’t sound as if it was anything they could afford.

  And although from what Ruby could tell, the project was begun by the deceased patriarch, his son was plowing full-steam ahead with the demolition plans. As someone who enjoyed her own rent-controlled apartment, Ruby felt great sympathy toward the displaced tenants. No, she wasn’t at all interested in this man. Which was fortunate. He would obviously wind up with a woman who was his match in status and looks.

  As for Ruby, she would settle one day for a very ordinary guy. And being ordinary herself, she wouldn’t hold that against him.

  A more pressing concern was that of Ruby’s uncertain future as far as employment and career were concerned. She wouldn’t trade her supporting role as Dr. Svenson’s assistant for anything. She’d enjoyed a front-row seat to magic and miracles. However, Dr. Svenson was approaching retirement age and Lilith Hazelwood’s remains were a small fraction of their original quantity. It was a grand experiment that would soon come to an end.

  Ruby and Dr. Svenson would sometimes speculate about what to do with the remaining parts of Lilith Hazelwood. Her brain was obviously not a transplant organ. Her skull was of no use, but Dr. Svenson thought it should be preserved nonetheless. Her clipped fingernails were a testament to Dr. Svenson’s determination to salvage every conceivable remnant of the witch’s remains, no matter how seemingly useless.

  He sometimes joked that he would fashion the clipped nails into a necklace and wear them like Alaskan hunters wore their bears’ tooth trophies.

  “It can’t be a trophy because you didn’t kill her,” Ruby would always protest.

 
; And good thing, because whoever did kill her would soon rue the day. It was well known in the very small circle of individuals who were in the know about Lilith Hazelwood that the witch’s ghost was very much conscious, active, and hell-bent on revenge for an untimely death that could only have been the result of the dark arts. Lilith’s spirit was relentless in its quest for vengeance, and Ruby could only shudder at the unavoidable moment when Lilith was finally able to exact her revenge.

  *****

  This weekend, both of her shortcomings were going to be rubbed in her face big-time. Her extended family of relatives was throwing a 100th birthday party for Emma, her great-aunt. One hundred is a pretty big deal. In fact, they had made a point of contacting The Today Show so that Emma would get her special birthday wishes straight from Al Roker.

  It had been a while since Ruby had seen so many of her relatives. She had an absentee father, and her mother had died shortly after she was born. So, she had spent time living with one household of relatives after another, but never for more than a few years with each. She was like a shared burden that no one wanted to take full responsibility for.

  So, she knew them all, but she didn’t have an especially close attachment to any of them in particular. They were her relatives, though she didn’t necessarily think of them as family—that designation, she was increasingly using for the small close-knit group of Dr. Svenson and his transplant witches.

  Ruby’s relatives were an especially distinguished group of successful heavy hitters. There were CEOs, judges, tech moguls, and PhDs. As an assistant, she truly was regarded as the slacker of the family. And she had been foolish enough to voice her concerns about what direction her life would take after Dr. Svenson retired. That and her single status were enough to elicit a mountain of irritating pity and advice.

  “Twenty-eight years old. That’s a little bit too old to be going back to school. But you need some kind of training, no? It’s a very tough job market out there and you need to start making some plans before your doctor retires.”

  “Yeah. You’re only going to get unemployment benefits for six months. You don’t want to wait that long before getting your act together because you probably don’t have much in the way of savings, do you? You really have to take some responsibility for what happens next.”

  They exuded the unspoken fear that, heaven forbid, Ruby should ever have to rely on her relatives for money or assistance or housing in a time of need. Yes, they encouraged her independence and success, but she always suspected that it was due to their own dread of ever being asked to lend her a hand.

  Not that Ruby would have considered it. She treasured her independence. The distance between Oyster Cove and upstate New York gave her the room to breathe, to live without comparison to her superstar relatives, to live without criticism or condescension or pity. In Oyster Cove, and from Dr. Svenson and her witch friends, she had experienced true appreciation. No one made her feel lacking in ambition or lacking in talent.

  “It’s also going to be pretty difficult to get married at your age, without really bringing something to the table. You want a man who’s successful, going places. He’s gonna be looking for a woman who’s doing the same.”

  Oh, how did a celebration of Aunt Emma’s hundredth birthday turn into a makeover ambush for Ruby? Thankfully, she had a wedding reception to attend the following day, which was the perfect reason to cut her weekend short.

  It was a bit distressing to see how frail her great-aunt was, although her condition had been similar for the past ten years. She was pleased and touched by the celebration but clearly tired. It was, in all likelihood, going to be her last birthday.

  Behind her back, plans were already made to put her affairs in order and to make sure that she was kept as comfortable as possible at the very end. A lot of her young family members expressed that it would be a relief when her pain pills and her illnesses were finally at an end. Ruby could not agree. She had always had an especially keen fear of death, although she was embarrassed to admit it. It was just a fact of life that all mature adults should just accept. But it nevertheless filled her with anxiety and nightmares.

  It was the nothingness of death that frightened her, the probability that all meaningful existence was extinguished, like a match blown out by a strong gust of wind. Even tales of Lilith Hazelwood’s spirit couldn’t completely comfort her. It just wasn’t something that she was able to experience directly. Though she would never accuse anyone of lying, the ghost of Lilith had the feel of urban myth and fanciful imagination. Who was to say whether her spirit really existed?

  Ruby was relieved that Emma didn’t seem to share her own apprehensions. She seemed well aware that this was her last hurrah and was just grateful for the gathering of relatives, the fifteen seconds of fame afforded her by Al Roker, and a slice of lemon cake. Ruby gave her a tender kiss on the forehead and a squeeze of the hand as they said their final goodbyes. It was an emotionally exhausting visit, and she couldn’t wait to get back to Oyster Cove and her true family.

  She thought that she’d left early enough the next day to avoid the heavy traffic. And she had. But heavy traffic is slow traffic, and there’s a certain safety in that. Thirty miles an hour leads to a lot of frustration but very few deadly crashes. But this morning, the traffic was clear enough to encourage cars to zip along at eighty to ninety miles an hour and to bob and weave among the insufferably slow law-abiding cars.

  But the combination of bobbing and weaving, the ridiculous speeds, and a cellphone-distracted driver brought Ruby into the path of the slow-motion nightmare of a head-on collision. She only had just under two seconds to see it coming and no time to avoid it. The last thought that screamed through her mind was, “Why was I only a bit player? This would never happen to the leading lady.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Dr. Svenson had two lovely daughters, both in their forties now, with some adorable kids of their own. But in the last few years, it felt as if his family had expanded tenfold. He had developed a delightful bond with his eight transplant patients, and their health and accomplishments filled him with a quiet pride. One of them - beautiful Lorna with a talent for love spells - had even been the means of getting together with his wife, Melody, for which he would be forever grateful.

  In addition, each of them had found an exceptional young man who further added to the doctor’s stimulating and invigorating society. He loved to discuss the news of the day with Gillian Swan’s husband Vaughn, an investigative reporter, or Mayor Wanda Macomber’s husband, Jeremy. And whenever he felt like an evening of chess or ping-pong, he and Melody would head over to Gemma Keating’s family and enjoy a game night with superstrong Gemma, husband Roland, and little Dax.

  And then there was Ruby. At first, all he noticed was her eager competence. Then after the grand Lilith Hazelwood project began, he was filled with gratitude for her cooperation and ability to keep a secret. What he was doing was not strictly legal. In fact, not at all legal. She understood the importance of it and the life or death consequences that were in their hands.

  Ruby and the doctor were able to share the joy of the miraculous recoveries of the transplant beneficiaries. She became the doctor’s true and best confidant about all the mind-blowing developments. No, more than a confidant. She was every bit as much a daughter to him as the others. She was truly like family and had spent several holiday meals with him and his daughters’ families.

  And Dr. Svenson had anticipated a pleasurable dance with Ruby and all of his other young friends on the occasion of one of them getting married. Martine Cadet had once spent two years in a wheelchair, and it was truly a joy for all of her friends to watch her walk down the aisle.

  But it was on the occasion of the wedding reception that Dr. Svenson received the worst phone call of his life. Ruby had been in a traumatic car accident, and the level of brain damage looked irreparable. In that moment, he couldn’t even share the news with Ruby’s friends. To shatter such an occasion with this devastation
– he knew it was the last thing that Ruby would want.

  Rushing over to the hospital, the thought of losing her almost had the doctor gasping for breath. He had to exert a deep self-control to rein in his thoughts and discipline. What to do? How to save her? He must save her.

  But Dr. Svenson’s wife Melody couldn’t keep the sad news to herself. Within hours, Ruby’s friends had piled into the waiting room. And by then, the doctor had formulated a plan of action and he needed their help for it to work.

  “Her brain damage is extreme. Under normal circumstances, I would offer no hope. I can’t help but wonder if the brain tissue in the neural pathways from Lilith Hazelwood can be implanted into Ruby’s brain and if they might repair the damage. Her body parts have never been rejected by any of you. They have shown themselves to be supremely adaptive.”

  “Can you do that?”

  “No. I’m not a brain surgeon. The best brain surgeon in the world lives in Switzerland. I’m going to call him right now, and Wanda, I need you with me. You’re going to speak to him and compel him to get on the next plane over here. After surgery, Lorna will make him forget that he was ever here or that he ever performed an operation. After all, it is rather experimental, and by that, I mean illegal. But I think you all must know it is our only hope.”

  The doctor let them into her room. Ruby was attached to a multitude of machines, and she looked so helpless. It was a conspicuous and painful role reversal. Ruby was the one who had always waited tirelessly and excitedly for the new transplant witch to wake up from her operation. Now it was her own recovery that was in question.

  The others could only wait and pray and take as much comfort as possible in what they had witnessed of the healing powers of Lilith Hazelwood’s body. Surely, it was not too much to ask for to pray for one more miracle.