spies and spells 01 - spies and spells by tonya kappes Page B

Maggie. We have cleansing night.” Vinnie reminded me of the weekly cleansing ceremony Mom and Auntie Meme do at the beginning of every week. No wonder Auntie Meme was out. “Auntie Meme is already suspicious and knows something is really going on,” Vinnie warned how Auntie Meme wasn’t too accepting of excuses, especially since we were off work by three p.m.
    “Crap.” With the chase and the damn cat, I had let the time slip by me. “I guess I’m going to have to face him,” I groaned.
    Vinnie pulled into the next available spot, leaving one behind us.
    “You didn’t have to make it so easy for him.” I sucked in a deep breath, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear. I watched Mick get out of the car. He slammed the door. There was a stalking, purposeful intent in his walk.
    He knocked on the window and motioned for me to roll it down. I didn’t have to. Vinnie did it for me.
    “Do you want to tell me who you are?” He stood a foot away, legs planted a few inches apart, his arms crossed in front of him.
    “I’m Maggie Park. I work at my family’s diner, The Brew. That’s it.” I smiled, trying to diffuse the situation.
    Don’t use magic, don’t use magic. I could hear Auntie Meme’s voice in my head.
    Mick scanned the area around us before his attention was brought back to me.
    “Can you explain what happened back there?”
    “Back where?” I asked dumbfounded.
    “Now you’re going to play dumb again, like you didn’t take my package, but suddenly show up at the office saying you had the package? Which is it Maggie? If that is your real name.” His jaw tensed.
    “I’m not sure what happened. All I know is that I left you and someone was following us. In fact,” I kept my hands on the wheel and looked up at him. “They corralled us in that parking lot and trapped us.”
    “Us?” Mick bent down, peeking into the car.
    I gulped.
    “Me and Vinnie.” I rubbed my hand over the dashboard. “I named my car Vinnie. You don’t have a name for your car?”
    I glanced back at his mauve-colored junker. There were some lighter spots on the old jalopy, like sunspots.
    “The Caprice?” He shook his head. “No.”
    “Well, I love my car and I named it. That’s not weird.” Verm, beedom, Mentally I chanted the words in my head and waved my hand in the air, casting a little memory loss spell for good measure. “Now what was it you wanted to ask me about?”
    “The package.” He squeezed his eyes together and gave his head a little shake. He swallowed. His voice was raspy as he repeated, “The package. Bring it to the station or I’ll be back at your work.”
    “Fine.” I rolled the window up. Vinnie peeled out of the parking spot, leaving Mick in the middle of the road with a perplexed look on his face.

 
     
    Chapter Seven
     
    “Shit.” I huffed sitting in Vinnie at the curb at the street entrance of Belgravia Court. Our house was the first one on the courtyard and I could see Mom standing at the window with the curtain slightly pulled open. My spirit could feel her disappointment.
    I was late. And I was going to get the twenty-question interrogation of why I was late. The only time I had been late was due to witchery. This time was no different.
    She stepped back from the window; the curtain swayed until it came to a stop. I shook my head and took a look around me. Mick and the other cars didn’t seem to be there. Vinnie had shut down. The neighbors weren’t outside. They were probably still drying out from the rainfall from overnight.
    The tree-lined courtyard was beautiful this time of year. The summer colors popped of oranges, greens, yellows, and reds. We were lucky to have all the seasons in Kentucky.
    I stood on the concrete front porch and noticed the summer decorations Mom had arranged in perfect order since I had left this morning. My comment about Mrs. Hubbard must’ve gotten to her. Mom had planted real flowers in the window boxes. The garden row on each side of our