spies and spells 01 - spies and spells

by Kappes, Tonya

  “You look tired,” Lilith brushed past me, whispering in my ear as I made my way down the counter of The Brew filling the coffee cups of the last of the morning breakfast rush.

  “I am.” I groaned thinking about the ritual Auntie Meme and her little circle of friends performed on me. “Why haven’t you had your Witchy Hour yet?” I asked.

  “Who knows?” She shrugged. She patted her finger under my eyes. “You should put on your Mystic Couture lips. It’ll give you a little pop to your pooped.”

  “I don’t have it anymore,” I grumbled, swiping the dirty dishes from customers who had just left and sliding the tip in the front of my apron. If I would’ve known my life’s journey had to do with Mick, I would’ve kept the makeup because God knew it was the only time I was probably ever going to get my hands on the pricey stuff.

  “What?” Lilith’s head jerked, almost snapping off her shoulders. “What did you do with it?” Lilith faced me with crossed arms, leaning her hip against the counter’s edge. “I would have taken it if you didn’t want it.”

  “Long story, but it’s back at the Mystic Couture warehouse.” There was no way I was going to tell her how I saw the informant get shot and that was how Mick got the wound on his side.

  “Crap.” She brushed her hand down her black hair, batting down any static electricity. There was concern in her eyes. “I found the address on my floor. It must’ve fallen out of the box.” She shrugged. “Now they won’t know where the package goes.” Her lips smashed together in an awkward way.

  “Address?” My heart stopped; my witchy sense kicked in. I grabbed her arm, coming nose to nose with her. “What address?”

  As far as I knew, the package was supposed to be dropped off by the informant to Mick. Why would there be an address in there?

  “Ouch.” Lilith curled her nose, jerking away from me. “That makeup has made you nuts.” She twirled her finger around her ear. “Nuts!” she yelled backing away.

  “What’s going on out here?” Auntie Meme appeared through the pass way, her black hair dusted with flour, a scowl on her face.

  “Nothing.” I smiled and went back to wiping down the counter, eyeballing Lilith when she walked in front of me. “I want the address,” I mouthed to her.

  “Fine.” She rolled her eyes like I was bothering her when she was the one who had stolen the package from me.

  The bell over the diner door dinged.

  Mick.

  His ruggedly handsome looks took my breath away, or it could’ve been the fact that the realization of me helping him hit me. Nah. It was him. The black t-shirt fit perfectly, drawing my eyes down in a triangle from his broad shoulders to his slim waist. His shirt was neatly tucked into his blue jeans. He had shaved the five o’clock shadow and his black hair was neatly gelled to the side, leaving a hint of a widow’s peak. His blue eyes bore into me with a silent expectation.

  My mouth opened to start to greet him, as we did all the customers, he was one exception, then I stopped. My head tilted, my eyes closed and I waited for the inner earthquake to rattle and roll inside me.

  Nothing.

  “Are you okay?” Auntie Meme popped her head out of the kitchen pass through. Her red hair was sticking up like a porcupine. She looked over my shoulder to Mick, then back to me, cocked a brow and disappeared back into the kitchen.

  “Actually.” I smiled when I realized there was not a shake or tremor. “I’m great.”

  “No inner demons?” Auntie Meme questioned as though she knew what I had been going through, but didn’t say anything. It would be just like her to make me figure things out on my own. I would have appreciated a warning. After all, she was supposed to be my Guardian.

  “None.” There was a joy inside me. I wasn’t sure if it was not having the earthquake or if it was the fact I felt like I had my life’s journey, trying to figure it out, but I had control now.

  There was a sense of satisfaction knowing I was beginning my path and I no longer wondered what that path was. Hopefully, Mick was just a piece of my journey and not the whole journey.

  I threw the towel in the sink behind me, rubbed my hands down my apron and untied it, sticking it under the counter with my clutch. There were only six customers finishing up their breakfast and Lilith could handle them. If not, too bad. She was going to have to deal with it.

  I filled two mugs of coffee and took them over to the table by the window where Mick sat down. He had a file in front of him, like the one Burt had on his desk.

  “Here is a cup of coffee.” I set it down in front of him and held mine in my hands, trying to keep the nerves from showing. Those had not gone away.

  I couldn’t tell him that he was somehow connected to why I was put on this earth as a witch.

  “Good morning. We can start with that.” He gave a courteous closed lip smile.

  “Good morning.” I eased myself into the seat across from him. The red sparkly vinyl chair swooshed as the air seeped out.

  “Do you have your paperwork Burt asked you to fill out?” he asked, reminding me of the papers I had completely forgotten about. “I told him I was meeting you this morning to discuss the case and he gave me the file to go over with you. If you have your paperwork ready, we’d like to run your background check and get a jump on the case since we have limited time with Tawny Fawn’s permission to infiltrate.”

  “Oh, yeah,” I lied. They were still in Vinnie and not even filled out. I got up. “They are in my clutch.”

  I hurried over to the counter and grabbed my clutch. All of his big words like infiltrate left me a little on edge, making it more real how I was involved in something I clearly knew nothing about.

  With a snap of my finger, the papers were there and all filled out, neatly folded in my purse. I took them out and looked at them.

  “Isn’t it cute you playing cop girlfriend and all?” Lilith nudged me with her hip, a tray piled with dirty dishes in her hands.

  “How did you know?” I glared at her.

  “Mom and Auntie Meme asked me to look in on him and I found out all sorts of stuff.” She looked at Mick and back at me. “I’m not going to tell them because they would move up back to a Coven in the sweep of a broom and I’m not willing to do that. So whatever it is that you need from him to get on with your journey without him, do it.” Her long lashes drew down her cheeks, casting a shadow.

  “Then snap those pretty painted fingernails of yours and give me the address,” I insisted, my back to Mick.

  “Why?” Her lips pursed suspiciously. “What does the address have to do with him?”

  “The address.” My eyes narrowed, giving her the look.

  “Fine.” She put the tray down, raised her hand in the air, snapping her fingers a couple times.

  “Stop it,” I growled and smacked her hands out of the air. I lowered my eyes, gripping my clutch. “I don’t want him to know I’m a witch.” I warned her.

  “In every sense of the word.” Lilith cocked a brow, turning on her toes and headed in the opposite direction of me. “I’ll give it to you later then,” she called over her shoulder.

  I walked back over to Mick. I didn’t have to worry about him paying attention to Lilith and me because his head was buried in the file.

  “Here are my papers.” I slid them across the table after I sat back down, and placed my clutch in my lap.

  He took the papers in his hand, looking them over before he glanced up at me.

  Auntie Meme walked up with a plate of biscuits and gravy in her hands, setting it down on the table.

  “Thank you.” I could already feel the warming effects on my soul.

  “Not for you, dear.” Auntie Meme gave me a squint, and pushed the plate in front of Mick. “It’s special for you.”

  “This smells wonderful.” Mick didn’t need any coaxing to dig in.

  “Wait!” I jumped. My senses told me Auntie Meme didn’t give him the straight and narrow version of the savory meal; she gave him a little oomph. But of
what?

  “Maggie, please let Mick enjoy his breakfast.” Auntie Meme winked and sashayed back to the kitchen, happy with her plotting ways.

  “This is good,” Mick muttered with a mouthful of food in his mouth.

  “Yeah, I bet it is,” I said blankly trying not to even think about the special ingredients Auntie Meme had conjured up.

  “What is your story, Maggie Park?” he asked rousing fear and uncertainty deep within me. The way he said my name was a breath of fresh air, lifting my soul.

  I tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear and gulped, watching him sop up the last of the gravy with the last remaining piece of biscuit.

  “What do you mean?” I asked, ending in an anxious little cough. I picked up my cup and took a sip.

  He slid back in his seat and rested his elbow on the back of the chair, sitting a little cockeyed. His voice low, “Not only did this place not show up on SKUL’s computer system, but your fancy little car,” he shrugged, “isn’t registered either. How do you explain these things? I just don’t think someone as shady as you can or should work for the government. Especially in sensitive cases such as this one and I’m beyond dumbfounded as to why Burt thinks you can help. I mean,” he rambled, “I get that you are a girl and you wear makeup and you’re even pretty, but SKUL material?”

  “Did you say I was pretty?” I asked forgetting every other word out of his mouth, leaning forward to hear his response.

  “Yeah.” He laughed and shook his head. “I have no idea why I would say that.”

  “I do,” I whispered, looking over at the kitchen pass through where Auntie Meme was giving me the thumbs up.

  “Pretty doesn’t qualify you for a spy gig and with no formal training.” He shook his head with a look of disgust on his face. “I get it. You know makeup.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked.

  “The assignment.”

  “I don’t even know what the assignment is.”

  “You are going to become a Mystic Couture consultant. It’s where you host the parties and sell the makeup.” He took a piece of paper out of the file and handed it to me. “We need you on the inside so you can get me or another qualified agent in to look around.”

  There were some names on there with contact information. It was printed on Mystic Couture stationary and signed by Ms. Mystic Couture herself, Tawny Fawn.

  “This is a real invitation?” My jaw dropped. I had seen this piece of paper on the Google websites, but never in person. It was better than getting the golden ticket from Willy Wonka. “With my name on it?”

  “Yes. Ms. Fawn knows we believe there is something fishy going on inside so she has given us an in for only two weeks. That is why you need to go in there and act like you know Mystic Couture inside and out.” He handed me another piece of paper.

  “There is a meeting tonight that you are expected to go to. All the consultants get together and they get little rewards for something like biggest sales of the month or something. But you are going to get invited to be in the luxury group called Platinum.”

  “Platinum?” The sound of it made my mouth water.

  “Yes. It’s the exclusive group who sell the most Mystic Couture products and make the most money. They sell Mystic Couture internationally. That is where we think the link is.”

  “What link?” I asked another question, this time feeling a little stupid.

  He scooted up on the edge of his seat and leaned forward, “We think there is an international drug smuggling ring running through Mystic Couture. When I went to meet the man at the park, he was supposed to drop off the package for me.”

  “And I screwed that up.” I sucked in a deep breath. “And on a dare.”

  “A dare?” he asked, adjusting himself back in the chair.

  “Nothing.” I waved it off. “How do you expect me to. . .” I stopped myself from sounding stupid. “I can do this. I can get in and look around. Besides, you’re right. I can sell makeup to anyone.” With a little help from my magic. I sat back and ran my finger around the rim of my mug.

  “It’s settled. But I still need you to answer a question for me.”

  “What is that?” I folded the invitation in half.

  “How is it that your car isn’t registered and it has a registration sticker on it?” Mick was observant. Too observant.

  “Really?” I pulled back, rubbing the edge of my nose, reaching into my bag, retrieving the paperwork I needed. “Because I have the paperwork for Vin,” ahem, I cleared my throat. “For my car here.”

  There was no way Mick or anyone at SKUL could know about Vinnie or my real background, which they wouldn’t believe anyway. Witches, familiars, potions and anything dealing with the paranormal were in the movies, television shows, and fiction novels to the mortals.

  “You keep your registration in your purse?” His brow lifted. “Not to mention, I got the surveillance tape of the night I got shot and you are nowhere on the tape. No where.” He folded his hands on the table. “How do you explain that?”

  “I was wearing all black,” I said as if he was going to buy it.

  “That’s your explanation?”

  I nodded.

  “That is what you are going to stick with?”

  I nodded again.

  “So when I find out the truth about what is going on around here, and I will, you are still going to stick with the black outfit story?” he asked using his cop skills on me.

  “Yes.” I laughed. “I’ve nothing to hide. I work at my family’s diner as a waitress and now as your partner.”

  “Whoa!” He held his hands in the air. “I don’t need a partner. You are just on this one case as a sales consultant. That’s it.” He closed the file and dragged it toward him. “This is not a partnership. A partnership is about two agents who put their lives on the line for each other and. . .”

  “So me taking you to the emergency room the other day doesn’t constitute me sticking my neck out for you?” I asked, knowing I had him exactly where I wanted him.

  “You happened to be at the right place at the right time. That’s all.”

  “Tell me how your side is today?” I asked knowing the potion Auntie Meme gave him had totally cleared him up.

  “It’s practically gone,” he murmured. “I admit, whatever home remedy your aunt gave me, worked. Hands down, but as an agent, you are no agent. No partner. Got it?” He stood up and threw a dollar on the table.

  “Got it,” I sassed, grabbed the dollar and watched him walk out the door.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Are you and your boyfriend going out tonight?” Auntie Meme asked as I took the condiment carrier to each table, filling up the containers right after the diner closed for the day.

  “I’m not sure what we are doing.” I didn’t like her calling him my boyfriend. “Besides, we’ve only been on a couple dates. Not getting married.”

  “It seems like it would be more serious than that if the Witchy Hour happened. I mean,” she paused looking through the pass through. “Something big is happening between you two in order for the worlds to collide.” Her eyes cast over me.

  “It’s nothing.” I jumped, realizing I had let the sugar container overflow. The quicker I did the job with SKUL, the quicker I could say goodbye to Mick and under the watchful eye of my family.

  “Hmm.” Auntie Meme disappeared into the kitchen, not buying what I was trying to sell her.

  “So what does this whole Guardian thing entail?” I asked wondering if she was able to read my thoughts or know where I was going to be.

  “If you have questions about the family or about the two worlds, I’ll be able to answer those,” she called from the back.

  “Not like you keeping tabs on me, right?”

  She burst out of the pass through, her hair sticking out all over the place like a crinoline gone wrong.

  “Tabs?” She examined my face like she was trying to get a good readout on what I was thinking.

&nb
sp; “I don’t know.” I gulped hoping not to give too much away. “It just seems like you and Mom are trying to keep tabs on me. With the whole necklace thing and telling Abram to put the new circuits in Vinnie. You know I’m an adult.”

  “Of course we do. But in our little world, we have to take care of each other. We are not a normal family. Vinnie is the only one who can help you in tight situations. You were always the social one between you and Lilith. You couldn’t wait to go to the school dances, get your license, have a boyfriend.” She wiggled her brows and smiled. “That was how Vinnie was born. In our world the familiar picks us. We were as shocked as you that a car was your familiar. And a little circuit here and there isn’t going to hurt. He needed to be able to communicate with you without you blatantly using your magic to summon him.”

  She was right. Every time before now that I’d needed Vinnie to come get me, I would just wave my hand and he’d be there.

  “Well,” I looked over at her, flipping my hair out of my face. “I’m not telling Mick about our little family secret. So when he comes to the house, you don’t say a word or act like a witch.”

  Auntie Meme used her finger and thumb like a zipper cross her lips before ducking back into the kitchen.

  I knew Mick would never be able to tell them how I was actually involved with him and now they knew not to let him in on any witchy things. Hopefully I was covered in both worlds. But the fact still bothered me how the Witchy Hour had to do with Mick’s world and my world. I was only doing this one assignment for SKUL so how did that mean I was destined. Destined for what? Mom was destined to make the herbs for potions. Auntie Meme was destined to be a cook and open a diner. Lilith had not had her Witchy Hour. But me? SKUL? Mick Jasper? What was my true life’s journey?

  “Seriously.” I gripped Vinnie’s leather seats, letting him do all the driving. “What does Mick and SKUL have to do with my life’s journey?”

  “I don’t know, but I don’t trust him.” Vinnie snapped. “I mean, the job seems to check out, but the snooping around about where you come from is bothering me.”

  “Do I sense a hint of jealousy?” I laughed.