Diggin up crones, p.1
Diggin' Up Crones, page 1
Copyright © 2026 by Amanda M. Lee
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DIGGIN’ UP CRONES
A SPELLS ANGELS COZY MYSTERY BOOKS 13-15
AMANDA M. LEE
WINCHESTERSHAW PUBLICATIONS
CONTENTS
Crone It Down
1. One
2. Two
3. Three
4. Four
5. Five
6. Six
7. Seven
8. Eight
9. Nine
10. Ten
11. Eleven
12. Twelve
13. Thirteen
14. Fourteen
15. Fifteen
16. Sixteen
17. Seventeen
18. Eighteen
19. Nineteen
20. Twenty
21. Twenty-One
22. Twenty-Two
23. Twenty-Three
24. Twenty-Four
25. Twenty-Five
26. Twenty-Six
27. Twenty-Seven
28. Twenty-Eight
29. Twenty-Nine
Crone Sweet Crone
Prologue
1. One
2. Two
3. Three
4. Four
5. Five
6. Six
7. Seven
8. Eight
9. Nine
10. Ten
11. Eleven
12. Twelve
13. Thirteen
14. Fourteen
15. Fifteen
16. Sixteen
17. Seventeen
18. Eighteen
19. Nineteen
20. Twenty
21. Twenty-One
22. Twenty-Two
23. Twenty-Three
24. Twenty-Four
25. Twenty-Five
26. Twenty-Six
27. Twenty-Seven
28. Twenty-Eight
Crone of Thorns
1. One
2. Two
3. Three
4. Four
5. Five
6. Six
7. Seven
8. Eight
9. Nine
10. Ten
11. Eleven
12. Twelve
13. Thirteen
14. Fourteen
15. Fifteen
16. Sixteen
17. Seventeen
18. Eighteen
19. Nineteen
20. Twenty
21. Twenty-One
22. Twenty-Two
23. Twenty-Three
24. Twenty-Four
25. Twenty-Five
26. Twenty-Six
27. Twenty-Seven
28. Twenty-Eight
29. Twenty-Nine
Mailing List
About the Author
Books by Amanda M. Lee
Books by Lily Harper Hart
Books By Avery Kane
1
ONE
Icould hear them.
They were almost cooing.
If we hadn’t been hunting monsters, I would’ve found the noise soothing.
I, Scout Randall, almost never got unnerved. Today was an exception.
“What’s that noise?” Marissa Martin, my least favorite co-worker, asked. Whenever she went out on a job with me it went poorly. For her. She was never close to death or anything—at least mostly—but she did somehow end up filthy and with dead … whatever … in her hair. She seemed determined to make sure that didn’t happen this time.
“Sounds like owls,” Andrea replied. She was my mother, although our relationship was new. At one time she’d been a hands-on mother. That had gone out the window when my family had hidden me in the system to keep me safe from those hunting me.
I was a pixie witch. Heck, now I was the apex pixie. Apparently my coming into power had been foretold and my enemies had been desperate to keep it from happening. It was too late now. I was powerful, and it wasn’t just my mouth fueling me. Andrea and my father Rick had found me months ago. Our relationship, cool at first, had been thawing, just like the Hawthorne Hollow winter.
“Makes sense that it sounds like owls,” Rick offered. He and Andrea had been volunteering as backup whenever I was sent on a job. It was their way of bonding. They were good in a fight—unlike Marissa—so I didn’t mind. “They’re basically owl people, right?”
It took me a moment to realize the question was directed at me. “That’s what was described,” I confirmed. “Apparently they’re really big owls.”
“The size of people?” Andrea’s eyes were wide.
“That’s the information Rooster gave me,” I confirmed, referring to my boss, Rooster Tremaine. When he’d handed over the assignment first thing this morning, he’d said that hikers in the area had been chased by four six-foot-tall owls. I’d found the story fascinating. The look on Andrea’s face suggested she felt otherwise. “Is something wrong?”
“No,” Andrea replied, a little too quickly, shaking her head. “I’m … fine.”
My eyebrows moved toward one another and I waited.
“She’s afraid of birds,” Rick volunteered.
Andrea made a protesting sound. “I am not afraid of birds. Why would you say that?”
“Because you’re afraid of birds.” Rick was matter of fact. “I don’t know why you’re adverse to admitting it.”
“I am not afraid of birds,” Andrea replied for my benefit. She looked annoyed. “He’s making that up.”
Her response suggested she was lying. I smiled all the same. “Okay.”
Andrea blinked and studied me closely, as if debating whether or not I believed her. “I’m not.”
I flicked a look to Rick, who was amused.
“Birds freak her out,” he said. “Once, when we were in Florida, a flock of seagulls attacked when she was eating chips near the water.”
It was impossible to miss the shudder that ran through Andrea.
“That was a minor incident,” she assured me, although her voice quaked.
“Then there was the time a flamingo stalked her in Tampa.” Rick looked nostalgic. “It followed us everywhere when we were trying to find a seer.”
“Why were you looking for a seer?” I asked
“We were looking for you,” he explained. “We regretted losing you even though we went out of our way to hide you. Our people warned us that once we hid you we wouldn’t be able to find you until you were able to find us. We needed to be able to see you, even if we couldn’t be near you. We thought maybe an outsider could help and we’d heard about a woman in Florida.”
“Obviously she couldn’t help.”
He shrugged. “We went to a lot of seers before we decided to come up here. We knew you’d end up in Hawthorne Hollow. So we came here and waited because, well, because it was our only option.”
I smiled at him. “You found me,” I reminded him.
“We’re all together now.” He forced a smile that didn’t touch his eyes. “Your mother is desperately afraid of birds.”
“I’m not afraid,” Andrea insisted. “You make me sound weak.”
“Sorry.” Rick held up his hands in a placating manner. “I’m not trying to upset you. I’m just trying to make Scout understand.”
“It’s okay,” I assured Andrea. “I’m not a big fan of birds either.”
Andrea perked up. “Do they creep you out?”
“Sometimes.” I shrugged. “I don’t like when they stare. Canada geese are gross. They poop everywhere. I think swans are my least favorite.”
“Swans?” Marissa scoffed. “Swans are the most beautiful of all birds.”
“They’re aggressive,” I countered. “One time, Evan and I were kayaking around Belle Isle in Detroit. This was before he became a vampire, of course.” I loved telling stories about my best friend. Sure, the few years he was a vampire sucked, but now things were back as they should be. He was still technically a vampire, but now he had his soul and he could walk in the daytime. Other than a few odd eating habits, he was the Evan I’d always loved.
He was a badass in his own right now, too. We were a fearsome twosome. When you added Gunner Stratton, my live-in love who happened to be a shifter, we were a force to be reckoned with.
“What happened?” Rick prodded, realizing I’d become lost in thought.
“We were having a good time. A few drinks might’ve been involved.” I shrugged. They were my parents, but they hadn’t raised me. I couldn’t feel embarrassed about things like that.
Rick smirked. “I think we know you drink,” he said. “We have seen you at the Rusty Cauldron.”
“We were having a good time when we heard what sounded like a helicopter. The swan came out of nowhere. It went at Evan as if it were going to kill him.”
“What did Evan do?”
“He screamed like a twelve-year-old seeing a really big spider.” I couldn’t stop smiling at the memory. “Maybe we should go kayaking this year.”
“Sounds fun.” Andrea beamed at me. “Maybe we can go as a group.”
“I don’t like kayaking,” Marissa announced. “Just for the record.”
I gave her some serious side eye. “I’ll keep that in mind.” My eyes returned to the trees as th e cooing resumed. “Could they be sleeping?”
“I don’t know anything about them,” Rick replied. “I’d never even heard the word until Rooster said it.”
“Strix,” I said. “They’re called Strix. Strixes when plural.”
“Have you fought them before?” Andrea was all business now. “How dangerous are they?”
“I’ve never faced off with them,” I replied. “A few of my team members in Detroit got sent to Port Huron once for a nest. They said they were vicious and surprisingly smart for what they are.”
“What are they?” Marissa demanded. She looked impatient. I couldn’t blame her. Whenever we were out together, something terrible happened to her.
I shrugged. “They’re more bird than human, but they can strategize,” I replied. “They originated in Greece. They tend to move in groups, and they mate for life. They can be yoked by certain magical beings and used as soldiers.”
Rick stood straighter. “What sort of magical beings?”
I could already tell where his mind was going. It had been a quiet few weeks since the new lamia apex and my former colleague Bonnie Jenkins had been trapped on another plane after she’d tried to chase me in the past to make sure I wouldn’t get to this point in the present. It hadn’t worked—thankfully—but everybody had been dreading her return. It was inevitable.
“I don’t think it’s Bonnie,” I assured him. “When she returns, we’ll know.”
“Maybe she can’t make it back.” Andrea sounded hopeful. “She’s trapped on a plane with only an entrance, not an exit. She could be trapped there forever.”
From our perspective, that would be the preferable outcome. “The other lamia will find a way to get her if this goes on too long,” I argued.
“Why?” Andrea shook her head. “They don’t want her as their leader.”
“They don’t, but they don’t want to lose access to the apex powers forever. They’ll mount a rescue operation—which will double as an assassination—and it’s possible they’ll be overpowered. Bonnie will be back, and just as strong as ever. Maybe even stronger now that she’s figured out how to keep the magic from ripping her apart from the inside.”
Andrea looked appalled. “That’s a depressing outlook.”
“I’m a realist. I’m looking at Bonnie’s current predicament as a good way to regroup and come up with a plan to kill her when she gets back. We need to get another lamia in place before that.”
“Because the apex has to be replaced,” Rick said.
“Plus, we don’t want a jerk becoming the new apex,” I agreed. It was something I’d been talking about with my friend Poet Parker. She was a big muckety muck in the paranormal world these days. She had more knowledge of lamia goings on than I did, but we both agreed that since the lamia world had become a repressive patriarchy, Bonnie’s replacement would have to be female. We were still struggling to figure out who would replace her. Poet had a good friend, Raven DeMarco, who was a female lamia, but she didn’t want the job.
“We have time,” I said, shaking myself out of my reverie. “Bonnie will return, but it won’t be easy for her to figure a way back, so we have time. We don’t have to panic right this second.”
Andrea didn’t look convinced, but she nodded. “Okay, what do we know about these creatures?”
“We know they attack humans. They rip their throats out. Much like owls in the wild, they’re vicious hunters.”
“But no bodies have been reported,” Rick said. “These creatures have been here for some time, but no one has died.”
“That we know of,” I countered. “We haven’t found a body but that doesn’t mean there’s not one out here. It’s spring. The hiking season is just beginning. Maybe the strixes hibernated for the winter.” I cocked my head. “Do owls hibernate?”
“Owls don’t hibernate,” Rick replied. “Some migrate to warmer climates in winter. They can hear prey even when it’s under snow. They have a special ear design.”
I shot him a dubious look. “How do you know that?”
He shrugged. “I read up on them when you were getting the assignment from Rooster. I figured it couldn’t hurt to know a few things about owls because strixes are new to all of us.”
He was a practical guy. I liked that about him. “Okay, well—”
“Hold up.” Marissa raised her hand to quiet me. “Perhaps you shouldn’t be the one coming up with the plan this time. Maybe I should.”
On the face of it, the idea was absurd. She wasn’t a strategist. Despite that, giving her power in this particular instance didn’t seem like the worst idea ever. This way she wouldn’t be able to complain that I was out to get her. “Sure,” I said. “How do you want to do it?”
“You should move to that clearing.” Marissa pointed to a small opening in the trees. It wasn’t very big, and the strixes could drop from above to surround me.
“And then what?” I asked.
“You’re the bait,” she replied testily. “When they go after you, we’ll move in behind them to take them out.”
“We’re not doing that,” Rick countered. “Scout will be vulnerable.”
“Well, I’m not going to be the bait.” Marissa turned shrill. “I told Rooster I will no longer be the bait. I’m done.”
“It’s fine,” I told Rick. “I’ll be the bait.”
He reached out to stop me, but I was already beyond him. I strode to the middle of the clearing. From this vantage point, I could get a better look at the trees above. Sure enough, there were four very big birds pressed to the trunks, glaring at me.
I cocked my head as I studied them. They were huge and vicious looking. They were also beautiful and terrifying. “You guys are … interesting.”
They didn’t speak. I wasn’t certain they had the ability. The way they tilted their heads and looked at one another, however, told me they were communicating.
They shuffled along their branches, their noises becoming more aggressive.
“Listen—” I raised a finger to start chiding them. It was too late. They were swooping down from the higher branches and heading straight for me.
I might’ve been the bait, but I also was a weapon. The strixes were coming in as a group, spaced apart and ready to destroy me. I reacted without thinking, throwing up a wall of magic that protected me from their talons and beaks. Then I did something on pure instinct and threw up a jamming curse.
The strixes, which had been communicating with one another on a different level, lost their spatial awareness and scattered backward, away from me. I aimed my magic at the one heading for Rick and exploded it. Then I did the same for the one going after Andrea. She had raised her arm to protect her face and looked shocked when she peered out from under it and found nothing but feathers drifting in the air.
When I turned to save Marissa, I found her standing in the exact spot I’d left her, a terrified look on her face. One of the two remaining strixes was heading straight for her.
I flung a spell at the strix but missed. Desperate, I scrambled forward and tried again.
It was as if it were happening in slow motion. The strix was almost on top of Marissa. I sucked in a breath just as the magic caught the strix. Marissa screamed and shoved at the creature. Her magic was mild to the point of almost uselessness in most of our fights.
