by Savannah Mae
“And, you got me? My name?” Naomi asked.
I chimed in. “So, let me get this straight; you called your ex-girlfriend to apologize for being a jerk-”
“I’m not a jerk. I just… I wasn’t ready… Why am I explaining myself to you?” Ben sighed.
“Anyway, yes, you are a jerk. Sometimes. But, back to what I was saying - you called tattoo girl and-” I started.
Naomi interrupted. “Tattoo girl? She has tattoos?”
Miss Maita threw her hands in the air. “Will you people focus? No, she doesn’t have tattoos; he does! Who cares?”
I think I heard Naomi’s heart drop to the floor.
Ben squirmed uncomfortably, not at all pleased I’d outed him to his mother. “Thanks, best friend.”
“Sorry, but why did you get that girl involved?”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “I didn’t plan on telling her, but when she mentioned her uncle, I got the feeling her family didn’t like what he’d done to people, so I asked some questions.”
I looked at Miss Maita. “Did you ask her if Miss Maita was her aunt?”
Miss Maita opened her mouth to speak, then stopped herself.
“Anyway,” Ben groaned, “she told me her parents fell for his get rich quick scheme too, and they were about to lose everything.”
Now, he had my attention!
He continued, “The only thing was, they found out how he’d fooled them into signing papers. It was the old bait and switch. They confronted him and called the sheriff’s office.”
Sheriff Boss nodded, adding, “You see, the timing is what got me. First, Zephyr’s wife starts calling and dropping by, then Ben is all over me about what Zephyr is up to, then-”
“Don’t tell me.” Calliope stopped him. “Maita contacted you.”
“Your mind reading thing is really annoying,” Miss Maita quipped. “Yeah, I called him, but only because I felt bad for the kids. They had no idea what they were getting themselves into and knowing you all like I do, I knew you’d let Melanie sink before teaching her to swim. Heck, she didn’t even know she had any abilities. She thought she was going crazy.”
“You called the sheriff to help us?” I wanted to hug her.
“When you walked into the bar, it was like deja vu. You look just like her. I don’t know, maybe I’m getting a soft spot in my old age, but Astrid was always good to me, so I couldn’t let her kid walk into a dangerous situation without intervening.”
Lyra grumbled from the other side of the room. “I call bologna on that. You know you never were a good liar, Maita. You knew she was in danger long before she went to see you. Otherwise, why would you have sent your goon squad of vultures to follow her every move?”
Ben clapped his hands together. “You did that? Dang! I thought they were an omen of some kind. I researched it online and found all sorts of strange stories about vultures preying on people.”
Lyra scoffed. “Those dumb birds don’t know what they’re doing. They were perfectly fine until the Willis family decided to make them their mascots. Now, all they do is fly around and sit on top of live wires. How many of them have you lost because of that?”
Miss Maita ignored Lyra’s question. “They are smart birds. They do as they’re told.”
Calliope laughed. “Did you tell that big one to take a nosedive into the side of Abracajava? Because that’s exactly what it did. You know how disgusting it is to have to clean up after suicidal vultures?”
“They’re not suicidal. That was an accident,” Miss Maita answered. To me and Ben she said, “That was a fluke. I had a vision. I got distracted.”
Lyra laughed. “What you’re telling us is now you also have some kind of mind control? That’s a riot! The last I checked, your clan was a bunch of hacks. You couldn’t fall into a hole unless someone pushed you into it. We all know your spells don’t work. Nothing you claim to be able to do is real. Your family built their cow pie empire of lies, trickery and playing to the sympathies of unsuspecting folks, like the Abneys.”
Miss Maita batted her long, fake eyelashes at me, saying, “And, that monstrosity you call a makeover is what? A good luck charm? Something to ward off evil spirits?”
I took offense to that. “Hey, why are you insulting me?” I’d forgotten I’d let them do their handiwork on me. Thankfully, they were much better cooks than they were stylists, otherwise I’d have no use for them at all.
Ben couldn’t resist adding his two cents. “So, it’s official; Melanie is slightly out of her mind and no one will lose their homes.”
A sigh of relief was in order, but first we needed a hug - a group hug. Who would have thought that would ever be possible?
From Savannah Mae
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