Familiarity Breeds Witchcraft Read Online Free Page B

movie date for nights like these when they, solitary practitioners of two different kinds, didn’t celebrate the esbats. Instead, they spent the time together in their favorite way: on the computer.
    The response pinged onto her screen a few seconds later.
    FeistyFox95: Sure. Which one? I’m up for anything.
    Settling in, Gemma pulled up her queue and started listing off the options.

Chapter 4
    ENID LEFT FOR the esbat as the sun set. In the time since she’d gone to prepare for the evening’s outing, Gemma and FeistyFox95 had already watched a short movie—an indie flick that had been uploaded by one of their favorite TV show personalities.
    When Fox received a message regarding her work, she temporarily went AFK—away from keyboard—to handle the issue, leaving Gemma awaiting her return.
    She tried not to pine in Fox’s absence.
    For a little while, she rested her chin on her knuckles, gazing at Fox’s icon in the chat app. Fox was beautiful in every way possible, from mohawk to piercings and her perfect lipstick. Most people as gorgeous as Fox—she was a model, for cauldron’s sake!—wouldn’t give Gemma the time of day, much less become her best friend.
    Things were different on the internet. Gemma’s avatar was of Bronson’s baleful eyes when he was begging for a bite of bacon (one of the very few things that Bronson considered worthy of waking up for). Bronson was as adorable as Fox was beautiful.
    In the digital world, Gemma and Fox were sort of equals.
    She sighed and turned off the app so she wouldn’t be compelled to stare at Fox’s picture the whole time she was gone. Her tablet gave a cheery sing-song throb in her magical senses, as though to celebrate the rest on its processor.
    Gemma distracted herself from Fox’s absence by watching from the attic as Enid stepped out the front gate and joined the stream of people heading toward the Leif farm. Among the group she saw Garrett Blank helping his oh-so-pregnant partner Rowan waddle along the street; he seemed right at home with all the witches, though he hadn’t known until just a few months earlier that they even existed, and she envied him his ability to adapt to his new situation.
    It was easy to understand why Garrett had so quickly become an irreplaceable member of the coven, though. He was such a nice guy. Relentlessly supportive. Funny to boot.
    If Rowan left Secret Hallow again, Gemma wouldn’t just be losing one of her real life best friends. She would lose Garrett, too. He’d already shown himself to be a cool person who liked to help out and she considered him an asset to the coven despite the fact he had no magical power.
    She had to figure out a way to keep the little family in the village.
    Gemma moved to sit next to the computer closest to the window and watched until the last of the group disappeared from sight. She continued to stare outside, chin in hand, as darkness fell over the street beyond the house. The breeze died out as the sun disappeared and the room began warming up as the waning moon rose.
    As the brilliant sliver of silver light backlit the ruins of a castle on the nearby bluff, she shook off her doldrums and turned her attention to her equipment.
    Just turning her gaze onto her various components made her mind fill with the sparkling joy of the technology that loved her.
    The feeling was mutual.
    Gemma could network this PC with her more powerful tower whenever she wanted so she could work while enjoying the fresh air at the open window. The temperature in the attic sometimes became too stifling for her to concentrate on the task at hand, like now. Problem was, she tended to stare out the window and waste time, as she’d just been doing. The world outside could be too much of a distraction, too.
    Bronson often shared the long bench she’d placed before this workstation with her. Considering how difficult she found getting up to be once he’d pinned her down, maybe she should work from the window computer more.