"People were staring at us when we went to the Other World," Didi said.
"Let's say you're a celebrity. Like Harry Potter in those books," Mom said.
"Harry Potter was in mortal danger from Lord Baltimore for like almost all of those books, right?" Didi asked, looking at me.
"Why are you looking at me?"
"I know you read them all," my sister said.
I didn't say anything.
"You can think of your uncle as Lord Baltimore," Mom said.
"Voldemort, Mom," I said.
"See, it's fun. You always liked to pretend like you were in a movie or a book," Mom said.
Didi laughed. "Or a TV show. I remember you trying to pretend like you were Buffy the vampire slayer, and you did those kicks, and kicked the wall so hard you broke your toe," Didi said.
"Yes, think of yourself as Willow," Mom said.
"Mom, how do you know characters on that show?"
"There's a witch writing on the show. They even had a spell in Visayan once. It didn't mean anything; she just used the language."
"Are there a lot of Filipino witches in California?" Didi asked.
"Maybe six?" Mom said.
"You don't know for sure?" Didi asked.
"One of them reincarnated, and I'm not sure if she came back as a witch or something else. And her kid is that one that time travels, so it's confusing. We don't meet on a regular basis anyway; it makes everyone too nervous," Mom said. "They all talk about the 'No Coven' rule for our kind and 'conspiring for evil' blah, blah, blah."
"You sure we're not evil, right?" Didi asked. "Because everybody seems to be acting like we are evil."
"You passed your trial. You're fine," Mom said. "You know, Evelyn's family can get into serious trouble for not protecting that spell book. It's a big no-no to let someone, especially a mortal someone, get a hold of your book. I can't even imagine how that happened."
"Are you saying that mortal sort of hacked the witch's security system?" Didi asked.
Mom shook her head. "No, I'm saying Evelyn probably forgot to seal the book back up after she used it. Without magic, no one can steal a spell book unless it's unguarded."
I wondered about the App of Spells Mom had put on my phone.
"That's why the app is best," Mom said, almost anticipating what I was thinking. "When your phone shuts down, something in it deactivates the magic. I don't know why everyone else keeps using a silly book. I think they like the drama of it all. I just think it's dusty."
"Speaking of phones," Didi said, picking up her phone. "I'll go ahead and check that security footage."
I peered over my sister's shoulder to see what exactly a magic email looked like, but apparently it looked like a regular email with an attachment of a video file. Nothing exciting.
Didi hit play, but the screen was too small. She went into the bedroom to get her laptop.
When she returned, we watched the video footage.
"This is amazingly clear," I said.
"She enhanced it with her magic," Mom said. "See, she piggybacked on technology for her security system. I don't understand why she didn't do the same thing for her book."
"Here," Didi said, pointing to some movement in the bushes.
I was impressed that Didi had caught that. I hadn't even seen it. We watched as the movement in the bushes continued, and then four figures emerged. As they walked closer to the house, I could tell they were so much younger than I'd anticipated.
"Are those high school kids?" I asked.
"It's hard to tell with the makeup, but it looks like it," Didi said.
We watched as they cut through the fence with bolt cutters, walked up the patio, and opened the sliding glass door.
"She left the sliding glass door unlocked," Mom said. "So flighty. I would have never guessed Trixie's niece would be such a buffoon."
We continued to watch the teens in the house, pawing through Evelyn's things and trying on her clothes.
"Is that her Academy Award?" I asked, squinting to see the detail.
"Reveal," Mom said, and she waved her hand.
The screen on Didi's computer grew larger and even more detailed. Indeed, the kids were taking photos with Evelyn's Oscar.
"What did she win Best Actress for?" Didi asked.
"It was for one of those historic pieces she did in her twenties. Dad loved that movie," I said.
"Oh right," Didi said.
We continued to watch, and I began to wonder if the teenagers had intended to steal the book.
"Do you think they just came to rummage around in her stuff because they're fans?" I asked.
"It's possible," Didi said. "It doesn't look like they're actively searching for anything in particular. The one girl doesn't even seem interested," Didi said, pointing to the taller of the two girls. Actually, it looked as if she was the tallest of all four of the group.
"It's hard to tell them apart," Mom said.
"Yeah," Didi said. "When they start walking around it's easy to get them mixed up. I wish I could number them."
Mom waved her hand, and magically, they were all numbered.
We watched for a few minutes, and Didi sped up the playback.
"Good use of your magic, kid," Mom said.
"No, Mom, I clicked on it with my mouse to make it speed up," Didi said. "It's an extension that lets me play any video in this browser at another speed."
"Very clever," Mom said. "But this is one of those files that plays on your computer. Not in your browser. Your magic made it do that."
"Whoa. That's right," I said.
Didi smiled, and then turned her attention back to the video. "Wait wait wait. Where's number three?"
"I don't know," Didi said. "He's missing."
"Wait," Didi said. "I didn't realize she sent us four different emails. Each of them has a different camera angle. We should play them all at once."
Mom waved her hand again, and I knew she didn't even have to wave her hand, but she wanted us to know she was using magic. It was just a courtesy move.
We began to watch all four of the camera angles at once.
Number three had ducked back into another room.
"What made him go back there?" I asked. "He skipped all the other rooms."
Mom shrugged.
"It's the very last door," Didi said. "Maybe he was just walking to the end of the hallway, and then decided to take a look."
The teenager rummaged through all of the dressers, and then Evelyn's armoire. The armoire lit up, and it revealed what was obviously the spell book.
Mom shook her head. "How could you not take something that was displayed like that? Back in the old days, when we had a spell book on paper, we made it look like a cookbook or grocery list."
The teenager rushed into the other room and showed all of his friends. We watched as they all flipped through it.
Then they all looked up rather suddenly, and rushed for the front door.
"They must've heard something," Didi said.
They struggled with the front door until it unlocked, and all ran down the street.
"Mom, can we follow them down the street?" Didi asked.
Mom raised her eyebrows, nodded, and motioned back to the screen.
Sure enough, we could see the four teenagers running down the twisting Hillside Street toward a car.
"Is that a Tesla?" I asked.
"Looks like it," Didi said.
"Those are some pretty rich kids," Mom said.
The video ended, and the car disappeared.
"Why did it stop?"
"The video ended. I extended it as far as it could go," Mom said.
"I wonder how many houses they broke into to be able to afford that Tesla," I said.
Didi hit rewind on the video. "Mom, can you zoom in on that bumper."
Mom waved her hand.
"Why would anybody put a bumper sticker on a nice car?" I asked.
"Low class," Mom said.
"It's not a bum
per sticker; it's a parking sticker. For Beverly Hills Prep."
"They go to the private school right here?" I asked.
"Looks like it," Didi said.
"Does that mean we're going on a stakeout that doesn't involve peanuts?"
"Absolutely."
Parking was impossible anywhere near the school, so Didi and I had parked a few blocks away and walked to the school's main entrance.
We watched as students began to file out of the school.
"Did you hear a bell?" I asked.
"No," Didi said.
"Maybe rich people don't respond well to bells," I said, "because school is definitely out." I watched as several students in school uniforms ran out to the parking lot.
Didi observed quietly.
"I don't know if we'll be able to figure out which kids are which, with them all dressed the same," I said. "Everybody looks the same."
Just as I said that, one of the four goths we saw on camera exited the building. It was the very tall girl.
"They seem to stick out to me," Didi said.
Despite her uniform, she was wearing black lipstick, and her blue-black hair and pale skin made her stand out even more.
We watched while the tall girl leaned against the wall and waited for someone else to come outside. After a few minutes, the other girl came out, followed by the two guys from last night. Or at the very least, two people who looked a lot like them.
"There they are," Didi said. "I wish I knew their names."
"I've got an idea," I said. When the teenagers had exited the school grounds and stepped onto the sidewalk, I rushed after them.
A young man with gelled hair stood about two yards from the foursome.
"Hey!" I said tapping him on the shoulder. I was a little winded. "Do you know those kids?"
He turned around and looked at me strangely.
"It's okay," I said with a wave of my hand. One of the few magic tricks, or whatever you call them, that I learned was sort of a variation on what my mind considered the Jedi mind trick from Star Wars. Basically, I could give a push to certain weak-minded individuals and they would help me. The kid waited, but I wasn't sure if it was just because I was an older woman, or if it was my magic."You don't have to worry," I said. "You can tell me what you know."
"I'll tell you what I know," he said. "Everyone calls those kids the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."
The kid smiled at his own cleverness. I had to admit, they did kind of look like they signified the end times.
"How about names? You want to give me names," I said, waving my hand again.
"The tall girl's name is Poppy Barbizon. The dude on the right's name is Damien, and the other girl's name is Scarlet. Don't know the other weird dude."
"Cool," I said.
The kid nodded at me and stood there. It occurred to me that he couldn't leave since I'd commanded him to wait. I waved my hand and told him that he could go, and he could forget I ever talked to him. There was no particular reason why I needed him to forget, but I figured it wouldn't hurt.
I went back to Didi and relayed what I found.
"Damien looks like the ringleader," Didi said.
"Was he the one that made a beeline to the back room while everyone else stayed in the living room and main bedroom?"
"I don't know," Didi said. "Try to find out Damien's last name."
I paused. Maybe I'd been wrong. Stalking peanut vendors was a lot less awkward.
"Hurry!" Didi said, "it looks like they're getting ready to leave."
I looked over and saw the foursome were crossing the grass in front of the school. Sheesh. Why not use the sidewalk? I assumed it was some sort of Beverly Hills prep school kid version of rebellion that went along with the black lipstick. Although, black lipstick was cool, while trampling on the lawn that some groundskeeper worked really hard to keep nice was so not.
I rushed over to the nearest kid without even looking to see who it was. "Excuse me," I said.
A young woman who looked like a teenage version of Elle Macpherson, and was just as tall, glanced down at me. "Yes?"
Her teeth were like something out of a toothpaste commercial. I actually found myself tongue-tied and unable to speak, she was so good-looking.
"Are you lost?" the supermodel asked.
It occurred to me that she might actually be a supermodel.
"Do you know the name of that kid over there?" I asked, pointing to Damien. The foursome had paused under a tree. I guess they didn't want to run the risk of tanning.
She looked over at the group of goths and nodded.
"I don't mean to be rude, but why do you want to know?" she asked.
That was part of her to wonder. It took me aback to realize that I'd anticipated her being snobby and stupid just because of her looks. In the moment, I was so horrified at my initial assumption it hadn't even occurred to me to use magic to make her tell me. Instead I did it my old-fashioned mortal way--I lied.
"I know his name's Damien, but I forgot his last name, and I wanted to look him up online," I said.
"Oh," the girl said. "My mom likes to look up my friends online, too. Are you worried he's not good for your daughter because of all the makeup?"
Whoa! She assumed I was somebody's mom. So much for looking young.
"She's only a freshman," I said.
The girl nodded. "You're right to be worried. Not about the makeup, though. I don't like the way he treated Poppy when they broke up. But she still hangs out with him. His last name is March like the month."
"Thanks," I said.
"No problem."
I walked back to Didi.
As I walked by, a red classic convertible car drove past me. It was such a cool car that I turned to admire it. The young woman I just talked to waved hello to the balding, middle-aged man driving the convertible. He pulled up to her at the curb, and she hopped into the car.
"Must be her dad," Didi said, following my gaze.
"I hope so," I said.
"Did you find out his last name?"
"March," I said.
"Damien March," Didi said as she typed the name into her notes.
"They're on the move," I said, noticing that the four of them had gotten up from the tree and were walking in our direction.
An old white panel van with very tinted windows pulled up to the curb not far from the tree.
"That looks menacing," I said.
"It's like a kidnapping van," Didi said.
My thoughts exactly. But the four goths opened up the back doors of the van and hopped inside.
Didi attempted to text herself the license plate number, but the stupid number keys kept giving the wrong letter.
"Stupid, autocorrect!" she said. "Joy, memorize the first three digits."
I mumbled "8QR" over and over again in my head until my sister asked for them.
"Do we try to follow them?
The van turned the corner.
Didi shook her head. "We're parked two blocks away. It's not happening even with the school traffic. We have his name and a license plate number. Not bad for thirty minutes of work."
The two of us walked back to our car. "Does this mean we can charge lunch to the client now?" I asked.
Didi smiled. "It's definitely time for lunch."
"Maybe there's a place all the kids go nearby," I said. "Then we could go to lunch and listen to everything."
"I don't think padding the billing on our first case will be good for our reputation," Didi said.
I sighed. She was right. "But we can just have lunch anyway, right."
Didi smiled. "I am pretty hungry."
We turned the corner and Didi's facial expression changed.
"What's wrong, Deeds?"
"Didn't we park on this street?"
I looked around and spotted the house with the super ugly Cupid fountain and large privacy bushes and nodded yes. "Yeah I made a point to remember that ugly fountain over there. Why?"
"I don't see
our car," Didi said.
Uh-oh. The two of us rushed over to where our car was, as if magically by getting closer we'd be able to see my sister's Toyota suddenly appear behind a BMW.
"This is where we were parked," I said. "I remember because you're really careful not to even have the slightest bit of your wheel in this red part of the curb," I said, pointing to the red-painted curb.
"Oh no!" Didi said with an exhaled sigh. She pointed to a parking sign that I didn't even see earlier. Permit parking only.
"We've only been here for a half-hour. They couldn't just give us a ticket?"
"I think it might have to do with some unpaid parking tickets," Didi said.
That wasn't at all like my sister.
"How many?"
"Four or maybe five. Five, I think."
"Deeds!"
"My mail piled up, and I lost track of time."
Time to call for a ride.
It took the entire rest of the afternoon to pay all of my sister's delinquent parking tickets and get her car out of the impound lot. We didn't get back to the tea shop until just a few minutes before closing at 6 p.m.
"Where have you guys been?" Jason asked.
"Your handsome friend was here to visit you," Alicia said. Alicia, the manager of Good Fortune Tea Shop, had already abandoned her usual uniform of an apron and black shirt to a brightly colored blouse and fresh makeup.
"You look nice," I said.
"Someone has another date," Jason said.
Alicia blushed. "It's just dinner with a friend. You said you could close up right?"
"It's all under control. Enjoy dinner with your friend," Jason said.
She grabbed her purse from behind the counter and left.
"Was she just humming as she left?" Didi asked.
"It's really happening," Jason said. "I'm so excited."
Mom had predicted that she would need a new manager because Alicia was going to fall in love. Jason actually also spotted it in Alicia's tea leaves, and he'd been the person who encouraged Alicia to give her telephone number to the delivery man.
"This is the third time this week they've gone out, and tomorrow's her day off," Jason said.
"There you are!" Mom said, coming in from the kitchen. "Your work friend was here for you. He waited for two hours. Where were you two?"
"My car got towed while we were on the stakeout," Didi said. "Which work friend?"
Potions Eleven: A Paranormal Witch Cozy (Fair Witch Sisters Mysteries Book 2) Page 4