The kid that I didn't know whipped out his cell phone. "We should record this for the cops," he said.
"No, that's okay," I said, turning around and sprinting for Didi's car.
"What happened? You don't have the book," Didi said as I jumped into the passenger seat.
The three kids starting walking toward the car.
"Drive!" I yelled to my sister.
I stared into the dessert case at Jerry's Deli while we waited for the hostess to seat us. Listen, I get that some people deal with their problems in other ways, but those people don't fully appreciate the healing powers of strawberry shortcake. Not to mention, we'd skipped both lunch and dinner. Today was a disaster.
"If they go to the cops, we can show them the surveillance footage," I said to my sister. I could tell from the worried look on her face that she'd been rattled by my less than optimal stolen item recovery skills.
"But that's the whole reason Evelyn hired us," Didi said. "She doesn't want anyone to know about the book."
Of course, the moment we were talking about what we didn't want anyone to know, the hostess came to seat us. We ceased our convo while she led us to our booth and remained quiet until after she'd left again.
"Those kids won't go to the police. They're thieves."
"You're right. I just don't like being spotted. It makes things a little messier now."
"And from the looks of it, Damien is the one who's keeping the book. I just don't understand why my magic didn't work. You'd think if we came from such a long line of powerfully evil magic, it would at the very least be something that would work. Why does my magic work like an off-brand cell phone charger cable?"
Didi shrugged. "We need to talk to Mom about that."
We ordered two matzo ball soups and a strawberry shortcake to split, and then did some old fashioned research on our phones. We retraced our steps on Google maps to figure out the exact address of where we were parked.
We found the addresses of both houses just as the food arrived.
"I'll do a reverse lookup when we get home," Didi said.
"And I'll do a tally of the hours we've put in so far," I said, wanting to make up for blowing our cover and criticizing her driving.
"Cool," Didi said. "We can visit the scene of the crime tomorrow, too."
I knew Didi had forgiven me. Being sisters doesn't mean you never have to say you're sorry, it means you do it with different words.
Conversation quieted down as we enjoyed our soup and strawberry shortcake. We were super hungry from having skipped dinner. It was after eleven.
"Oh no!" Didi said as we fought over the last few bites of the shortcake.
"What?" I asked, not taking my eye off the cake. It wasn't above my sister to try and distract me from nabbing that last strawberry.
Didi held up her finger and checked something on her phone. "The peanut case. It's due tomorrow."
"Can we postpone?"
"We got them by referral, and their firm has sent us ten cases. We can't afford to do a bad job," Didi said, typing into her phone.
"What time do we have to be awake?" I asked.
"We need to be in Downtown LA no later than six."
"But the traffic," I said, knowing that meant we'd be leaving majorly early.
"They have good coffee there," Didi said.
"Food can relieve the stress of some problems, but it can't replace sleep."
Secret
Traffic in Los Angeles is so bad during business hours that it's not even worth taking the freeway some days. We wound up on Sixth Street heading back to Beverly Hills.
I drove so Didi could write our peanut vendor report on the way home. Thank goodness we were able to get everything we needed in one trip.
"I kind of feel bad about that guy," I said to my sister.
"Nothing's going to happen to him. They're just going to send a cease and desist letter."
"He was just using the bags because his vendor gave him a bunch of them."
"I know, but it pays the bills," Didi said, putting down her phone.
"Is it finished?" I asked.
"Done, and those pictures were great, by the way. You're really good at fieldwork."
I enjoyed the compliment, but I didn't think it was all that impressive. "All I did was pretend to be a social media obsessed foodie and snapped a ton of pictures while he was looking."
"You even had him slowly put the peanuts into the bag while you videotaped it," she said.
"Did you see how I looped it?"
"It did make a pretty cool gif. I think the client will like that."
"You sent it looped? That was a joke."
"They like that kind of thing. It keeps the reports from being too boring," Didi said.
"The case was more fun than I thought it would be," I said. A surge of optimism spread through me. Although, it could've also been the five coffees I drank.
I pulled into the parking garage across from the Good Fortune using the keycard Mom had given me to make the arm go up. "I think these cards Mom gave us might be magic."
"I always thought there was something suspicious about how they worked in any garage, but I thought one of Mom's client who had ties to the city might have granted Mom a special favor."
"But you used it anyway!" I said, pulling into a spot close to the elevator. My sister has always been a stickler when it comes to rules.
"You know, Joy, I'm not always perfect, and you're not always a screw-up."
"Glad that's settled," I joked.
"You know what I mean," she said. "You're always making jokes about yourself. Stop putting yourself down."
"I'm being funny."
My sister raised her eyebrow.
I held up my hands. "All right," I said, not wanting to get into a heavy discussion.
We took the elevator to the street exit and jaywalked across Beverly to the shop.
I scanned the sidewalk for a certain handsome cheese shop worker named Matt that I hadn't seen in a little while, but no luck. We'd flirted a little since I'd moved back here, but nothing much had come of it.
But when we got into the shop someone was waiting for Didi.
"Thomas!" Didi said. Anyone else would've passed off her tone of voice as merely surprised to see someone, but I knew my sister well. She was excited to see Thomas even if she wouldn't admit it to herself.
"I was worried I was going to miss you again," he said.
"We had to go downtown to do an on-site investigation," she said.
"The peanut thing?" he asked.
"Yeah, we cracked the case wide open," Didi said.
"You always get your man," Thomas joked.
"Yes, my sister sure does," I said, waggling my eyebrows.
Didi elbowed me and then suggested Thomas join her at a table on the other side of the room..
I liked Thomas. Sure, there was the whole, maybe he's kind of a muscle for the mob thing that Didi didn't approve of, but couples could work through problems, couldn't they?
"The private tea room is open," Mom offered.
"This table's fine," Didi said, taking a table by the wall, instead of the window, which was less crowded but still very public. My sister and her good choices. She would probably be single forever.
"He's very handsome," Alicia said, speeding by me with a pot of tea for table five. It seemed like everyone, except for Didi, thought she and Thomas would make a nice couple.
I grabbed a bagel and a Diet Coke from behind the counter and waved to my sister that I was going to The Cove or the office, depending on how you looked at it.
Jason followed me.
"Can I come?" he asked.
I nodded.
It always amazed me that Alicia never seemed to be bothered by the amount of time that everyone spent in the barren office that was the gateway to The Cove.
"So anything going on with your witchcraft case you want to talk about?" Jason asked once we were inside.
"We got an address, found the
kids, and spotted the book," I said.
"Cool," he said.
"How's the tea leaf reading?" I asked.
"Good. Mostly people asking about their love lives, and I find that I've got to sort of stretch the truth. Some older ladies are worried about their kids and grandkids. Mostly, they want to talk. It feels like I'm a therapist, which is great. I always wanted to be one, but all of my credits are legal and business courses. It would've been like starting from scratch to get another degree. And then there are all those ethical concerns. With this, I can just say what I think and there's no threat of malpractice."
It was great to see Jason without the purple blob of death surrounding him. It'd faded completely as he decided to stay here and work with Mom.
"So how are things going with Alicia and the delivery guy?"
He leaned forward, eager to share all the news. Jason and I gossiped for a few minutes and then Didi and Mom came in.
"You're already done talking to Thomas?" I asked.
"He wanted to get an update about our caseload to see if we wanted new work," Didi said.
"He didn't come here twice to do that," Jason said.
I agreed with him. Thomas could've done that over the phone.
"Oh good. You're home," Fred said, trotting into the room and heading toward Didi, but before he got there, Olivia swooped in from the wall and landed on Didi's shoulder.
"Go away, you pesky creature," Fred hissed at Olivia.
"Fred!" Didi scolded. "No hissing at Olivia."
Fred let out a pitiful meow. "My love, do not let that bird come between us."
I didn't even have to translate.
"Don't give me any sob story," Didi said. "You know Olivia's my familiar. Now play nice."
Fred jumped onto the arm of the armchair closest to Didi and sat down.
Olivia hooted something into her ear. "What you mean?" Didi asked. Didi listened some more, her expression growing concerned.
"What did she say?" I asked.
"I don't know how that could be," Didi said.
"Seriously, Deeds, what's going on?"
"It has to do with the spell book, doesn't it?" Mom said. "Someone's using it."
"How do you know?" Didi asked.
"I can feel it," Mom replied.
"Can they do that?" I asked. "Can regular people use spells like that? Because I can barely get my magic to work, and I'm allegedly from a long line of powerful witches."
"Not allegedly," Mom said. "And they shouldn't be able to do anything. It's very rare for mortals to have magic. Or even be able to tap into it."
"What about me?" Jason asked.
"You're very unusual. That's why Fate brought you to us," Mom said.
Jason smiled. "I always knew I was above the fray."
"Okay, so how does this work?" Didi asked.
"Yeah, because my magic did not work on them last night. Are they like warlocks or something?"
Mom laughed. "Warlocks."
I was confused.
"Warlocks aren't a thing?" I asked.
"It's like how they used to call female comedians comediennes," Mom said. "Now everyone's just a comedian or a standup comic. Nobody says comedienne anymore. They're witches, or, if they're descended from a particular lineage, they're wizards. But they're never called warlocks."
"Good to know," Jason said.
I turned to him. "How is it good to know?"
"One never wants to make that type of gaffe at a party," he replied.
"Exactly," Mom agreed.
"Okay, but that still doesn't explain why Joy's magic didn't work last night," Didi said.
"How did it not work?" Mom asked.
"It was kind of like how when Evelyn tried to get Jason to leave the private tea room the other day, her push didn't work at all. I tried to get them to hand me the spell book, and they looked at me like I was a weirdo trying to make them do something they didn't want to do," I said.
"So that's what that was. I thought she was just a snob," Jason said.
"She's definitely a snob," Didi agreed.
I nodded.
"So they've either been given a token of protection or earned one like Jason," Mom said.
"A token of protection. I didn't know I had that, but I love how it sounds," Jason said.
"You earned yours by being a conduit for the trial," Mom said. "But that's the only trial in years that I know of."
"Could it be they didn't tell you?" I asked.
"Well, it's not that they don't tell me as much as I sort of opted out of their communications," Mom said.
"Like spam?" Jason asked.
"Exactly. I get too much information with all of my clients to keep track of their Western witch gossip," Mom said.
"Uh Mom," Didi said. "Is some of that 'gossip' stuff like updates on our evil great uncle who might want to suck our magic from us?"
Mom gave Didi a look. "I'll sense him coming. Their warnings would be way too late."
That wasn't reassuring.
"Okay, I'm going to not think about that right now," Didi said. "Mom, could it be possible that you spam-filtered out the information that would show how these kids got a token of protection?"
"Some magical being, good or evil, could have gifted it to them in exchange for their service," Mom said.
"I'm so glad I earned mine through the trial. I'd hate to be in service to anybody," Jason said.
I shared a quick look with Mom and Didi. None of us cared to mention the part where Jason was training to run Mom's tea shop.
"I doubt that any person with good magic would encourage them to steal a spell book," Didi said. "So what does it mean to be in service to evil?"
Mom frowned. "That might not be so good. We really need to get that book back before they figure out a backdoor into its magic."
"What backdoor?" I asked, my stomach sinking.
Wind swept across my face, and I clutched the sofa to keep myself from passing out. Even though this had happened several times before, I still wasn't completely used to the experience. The room went dark and cold. My body felt as if it were plummeting toward the ground after falling out of an airplane.
When the lights came up, there they were. Themis, Death, and my dad.
"Hey kiddos!" Dad said.
We jumped up to give him a big hug. Dad's a ghost, by the way. It's a long story, but he and Kevin always got along even after Dad found out Kevin's regular job was Grim Reaper-ing. Kev helped Dad stay on this side of The Veil to be with Mom.
Death, aka Kevin, held his arms out for hugs, too. We both hugged him so he wouldn't feel left out.
Themis waved hello as she sat suspended in the air as if on an invisible throne. I'd only met her a few times, but I could tell she wasn't the hugging type.
"Now that the pleasantries are taken care of, let's deal with the unpleasant," she said.
"Right," Kevin agreed.
Dad nodded.
I knew the unpleasant part had to do with the case.
"Right," Kevin said again, stalling.
"I believe this is more your realm," Themis said to Kevin.
"Well, I deal with souls, not corpses. The former is the magnificent essence of humanity. The latter is leftover matter that smells pretty bad and creeps me out."
I glanced over to see what Jason thought of this talk, but I'd forgotten he wasn't seeing any of this. When our fairy godparents arrive, mortals freeze. It's like time stops or rather, slows down so much that it seems stopped.
Thinking about that distracted me, but Didi stayed on point. "Kevin, why are you talking about corpses?"
"Somebody's digging up corpses at Hollywood Forever Cemetery."
"And what does that have to do with us?" I asked.
Didi nodded in agreement.
Themis exhaled impatiently. "Witches and the like are sensing black magic vibrations in this area. This is not a common occurrence and neither is two half-mortal, twin witches coming into magic heralding from a dark yet power
ful history."
"Not dark," Mom said. "Just different. Better."
Themis held up her hand as if to say she understood. "It's their perspective, not mine."
Mom's expression eased, and Didi jumped in. "I don't understand why they think we're responsible for digging up dead bodies. It's gross, and it doesn't make any sense."
Didi and I waited for someone to explain to us what was going on, but nobody seemed to want to broach the subject.
"What I've heard around the pub," Dad said, breaking the silence, "is that if you're having trouble tapping into magic, you can somehow tap into the magic of another line of witches if you have a portion of the remains of one of their deceased."
"Eww," I said.
Dad nodded in agreement.
"No one from our line would tap into some other line of witches," Mom said.
"Of course not," Themis said.
"But a bunch of goths who stole Evelyn's book of spells might," Didi said.
"Evelyn who?" Themis asked.
Didi and I traded a look. We were supposed to keep her case confidential.
"She's a client of ours, but we're supposed to be discreet and not let anyone--especially anyone in the magic community--know about it," Didi said.
"Uh, you kind of just did," Kevin said.
"Well, we don't know which Evelyn," Dad said.
"Evelyn who?" Themis asked again.
Didi and I both hesitated to answer, which took a bit of courage. The air of authority that Themis carried, being one of the Oracles of Delphi (Didi googled her), made her pretty darn intimidating.
"We can't reveal--" Didi started.
"Evelyn Carson Barber," Mom said.
"Mom!" Didi said.
"This is family. You don't have to keep secrets from family," Mom said.
"The actress!" Kevin said. "How did I not know she was a witch?"
"Her family isn't that prominent," Themis replied. "And now they've left their Book of Spells unguarded." Themis shook her head, tutting her tongue in a disapproving manner.
"Okay, that information is confidential," Didi said.
"You're sacrificing your reputation for hers," Themis said.
"The truth will come out," Didi said.
"You ought to hurry," Themis said. "I've lived a long time. People often confuse what they hear first with the truth. And they are not easily dissuaded."
Potions Eleven: A Paranormal Witch Cozy (Fair Witch Sisters Mysteries Book 2) Page 6