Accidental Magic (Myrtlewood Mysteries, #1)

by Iris Beaglehole

However, like many people who look up and suddenly realize it's a full moon, Galderall had been busy, distracted by life.

She hadn't noticed the sand running out in her own hourglass until a short time before it happened.

As her eyes adjusted to the new light source, she realised that it was some sort of mirror – a reflection of her. It breathed when she did and turned its head in time with her, but this woman was wild and confident, clad in intricate dusky lace with beautiful tattoos of botanical plants up her arms. Rosemary stared at the woman in the mirror, who was both her and not her. The woman stared back, so strong and confident. Rosemary felt a deep tug, as if the woman she was staring at was the long-lost part of her she’d been searching for, imprisoned in the glass, or perhaps a future self, waiting to unfurl like a wild blossom. Another light flickered up ahead, and the reflection dispersed like smoke.

“I don’t know. I’m unfamiliar with fireball lore and etiquette.”

It had been a common pattern in Rosemary’s life that the things she wanted moved out of her grasp just as she thought she could reach them.

Fate had made up its mind for her.

“I think I’m starting to get used to Myrtlewood, with all this paranormal-normalness,”

Think not too much on the past. Dwell not too much on the future. The answer is in the present.

“Granny said pastels were what happened when colours gave up the will to live.”

Why does life have to always get in the way of dreams? she lamented.