Halfway Hexed Read Online Free PDF Page A

into this blossom.”
    “Makes sense,” Mindy said. “But we were wondering . . .”
    “Yes?” I asked, nodding encouragement.
    “Is there another way you could make the bird airborne? Not for the public to see, but for us—right now.”
    I cocked my head. “What did you have in mind?” Clear fishing line would be pretty much invisible. I supposed a thin wire could be used, but I didn’t think it would be as good.
    “We were thinking you could do a trick,” Lucy said.
    “A trick?” I echoed.
    Four pairs of eyes stared at me, and I felt my face warm.
    “A magic trick,” Mindy said.
    Uh-oh.
    “Or maybe you’d call it a spell.” Jenna’s voice rang out clear and sharp. An accusation.
    They know! No, they can’t. They suspect. Don’t panic, I thought, panicking. “It’s a chocolate bird,” I said slowly and carefully. “It doesn’t fly.”
    “Couldn’t it levitate? If you helped it?”
    “No, it couldn’t! I’m a pastry chef, not a magician.” My heart thumped in my chest.
    “We want you to try,” Jenna said, taking a step toward me. Lucy moved, too. I stood my ground, refusing to let them back me into a corner.
    “I’m not trying anything. You hired me to do a chocolate sculpture. That’s it.”
    “Look,” Lucy said. “Jenna saw you practicing with a magic wand. And I remember you chanting when you threw that mixture on us—”
    “My brother works at Glenfiddle, and he said you shouted some weird poem before splashing the poison on him,” Mindy said. “Then he passed out. What was in that Tupperware?”
    “Was it blood-based?” Sue asked.
    “Blood?” I asked, wrinkling my nose. Why would they guess there’d been blood in it? Had they done research? I needed to throw them off-track. But how?
    “Witch’s herbs?” Lucy asked.
    This is not good. My mind reeled. I saved lives. I shouldn’t end up in trouble for it after the fact. More evidence—as if I needed any—that life isn’t fair. What would Bryn tell me to do? “Look I really can’t talk about that night.”
    “Are you in league with the devil?” Sue demanded.
    I gasped. “Of course not!” That was going too far. God and I are on good terms.
    “Satan, be gone!” Sue said, taking a menacing step forward. I pushed her away.
    Lucy thrust a small gold cross at me and shouted, “That it may not hear the voice of enchanters casting cunning spells!”
    “Oh God, my lord, smash their teeth—” Mindy said.
    “Smash their—all right, that’s enough. Get out!” I said, pointing to the door.
    “Get her!” Jenna ordered. Then they knocked me down and piled on top of me.
    “The fallen shall not rise,” Sue said.
    “I didn’t fall. I was pushed!” I snapped. We were a mass of scratching fingernails, kicking legs, and tangled hair. I didn’t want to hurt any of them, so I didn’t actually hit anyone with a closed fist. In retrospect, that was a mistake. I should’ve treated them like any killer werewolf or vicious faery that I’d fought the past two weeks. But hindsight is twenty-twenty and foresight is more like twenty-two-hundred.
    With my wrists, ankles, and lips duct-taped, all I could do was glare at them when they picked me up and carried me to the back door.
    I shouted against the tape. It came out sounding something like, “Mm-errrr-mum-hu-mmurma.” Predictably they ignored my garbled protests. I squirmed and struggled until they dropped me, making me bang my butt and left elbow on the tile floor. Scowling and snarling, they picked me back up.
    “Stop moving! You’re only hurting yourself,” Lucy snapped.
    “That chocolate sculpture is really great, by the way. It’s going to make a wonderful focal point for the fund-raiser,” Sue said.
    What the fudge? They were still expecting to use my work? Not if I had anything to say about it. Unfortunately, at the moment I really didn’t, but I shouted against the tape anyway.
    “If you cooperate, maybe you’ll be free in time for the fund-raiser.