Allure (The Hoodoo Apprentice #2) (Entangled Teen) by Lea Nolan

“Why don’t you get Cooper to come over and drive me to the mall? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind hanging out with an older, more experienced girl for awhile.”
    Oh no she didn’t. My fingers ball into a fist, yearning to wipe that smirk off her older, more experienced, magenta lips. But instead, I breathe deep, straighten my fingers, and manage to smile back. “Sorry, he’s busy with my brother today.”
    Her brow arches, hoisting her silver eyebrow ring upward. “You’ve got a brother? Is he hot?”
    I choke a little, unaccustomed to thinking about Jack in those terms. “I guess.”
    She scoffs. “So that’s a giant no. But I shouldn’t be surprised if he’s related to you.” Chuckling, she whips out her iPhone. “That’s okay. You’d be surprised at how easy it is to meet guys.”
    Leaning toward her, I keep my voice low so Miss Delia can’t hear. “Like the guy in the black car? I bet your great-gran would love to meet him.”
    She quirks her brow. “How did you—” She cuts herself off, then plasters a big, fat, fake smile on her lips. Leaning toward me, she narrows her gaze. “Don’t even think about snitching to the old lady. If I want to hitchhike into town, that’s my business, not yours. Or hers. Trust me. You don’t know what I’m capable of. And you don’t want to find out.”
    “Hitchhiking? Do you realize how stupid that is?” I snort, completely unimpressed by her tough-girl routine. I’ve fought demon dogs and broken a flesh-eating curse; Taneea Branson’s feeble threats don’t even come close.
    Her eyes narrow and her nostrils flare. “Listen, you little suck-up. You think that just because you pluck a few weeds in this garden that makes you something special around here. You’re nothing . Just the hired help.”
    I square my shoulders, bolstered by the fact that Miss Delia chose me. “I’m not nothing.” I almost add that I’m not even hired, that I work for free, but somehow I sense that will only undercut my position.
    “Maybe so. But she’s my great-grandmother. And no matter what she’s promised you, blood is thicker than water.” She sits back and crosses her arms. Her lips bend as if she’s just realized she’s held the trump card all along.
    Maybe she has. Family is, after all, my bottom line, too. But even though she’s struck a chord, I won’t give her the satisfaction of backing down.
    I set my hands on my hips. “Then you don’t know her very well because Miss Delia makes her own decisions, for her own reasons.”
    “Uh-huh. We’ll see. Until then, why don’t get back to picking weeds.” She snickers as she pushes off her chair and strides into the house, slamming the screen door.
    Ignoring her, I walk back down the path to join Miss Delia. She’s staring at the trimmed bearberry bush from under the wide brim of her straw hat. “You cut an awful lot of that plant. Too much in my estimation.”
    Biting my lip, I glance at what’s left of the evergreen dotted with tiny pink, pear-shaped flowers that smell like green tea. “You think?”
    She levels her gaze at me. “I wouldn’t have said anything if I didn’t.”
    “It was overgrown, so I cut it back. Was that okay?”
    She narrows her lid over her good eye. “I suppose so. Though I don’t generally like taking more than I need at any one time.”
    Which explains why the garden is so, shall we say, abundant. But she needn’t worry, because after I grind some of the bearberry into a powder for her, I’ll be using every last leaf for a special tea I’m planning to brew to help boost my energy and make conjuring a lot easier.
    I just can’t let Miss Delia know. At least not yet.
    She hates shortcuts. Knowing her, this tea of mine will definitely qualify as one, but after the simple Protective Shield left me as drained as an empty bathtub, I can’t imagine what’ll happen when I conjure something really big. Say for instance, a spell to save Cooper’s soul.
    So rather than wait to be