Magic and Mayhem: When You Witch Upon A Star (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read Online Free PDF Page A

spotted the sign I’d been looking for. “Finally! The real exit!” Amazingly, it was a mere five miles from my impromptu trip through the flea market.
    Even though I loved road trips, I was ready for this one to be over. Nothing sounded more inviting than checking into the hotel room I had booked and taking a hot shower. Feeling human again was a top priority. Everything else could wait. I planned to wait until morning before checking out the town and looking for a short-term apartment lease. I already had some good leads, thanks to the internet.
    Compared to Chicago, housing costs in West Virginia were ridiculously cheap. That meant my savings would be enough to cover my living expenses without having to find a full-time job. Working part-time would allow me to concentrate on my cryptozoology work as I scoped out the area for my very own real live Shifter.

Chapter Five
     
    T he Evergreen Motel was one of those nostalgic remnants of an age gone by, and that’s putting it nicely. In fact, it was a seafoam-green and pink nightmare from the early 1960s. Rows of the fugly A-frame units encircled the parking lot.
    I picked up the keys to my room and went to work unloading my bags.
    “Hey lady, what’s your parrot’s name?” a little blonde boy asked while he pushed his toy truck along the pastel roadway his sister was diligently drawing on the sidewalk with colored chalk.
    “Tiago.”
    “Can he talk?” the boy asked.
    “Can I pet him?” the little girl added.
    “He likes to talk and he also sings. But I’m afraid he says some very naughty words and he bites. He really doesn’t like strangers. It’s probably better to leave him be.”
    The girl peeked under my vehicle, squinting to make sense of something she spotted. “Why do you have a raccoon stuck under your truck?”
    “Raccoon? Really?” Lowering myself to my hands and knees, I peered under the front end of the Suburban. Tears welled up in my eyes when I saw a limp ringed tail.
    “Oh my God! I hit a raccoon!” I felt horrible. I’d never killed anything before.
    I rubbed the tears away and had just prepared myself for the grisly task of having to pry its lifeless little body from the frame, when suddenly the tail twitched. “It’s alive!”
    Without hesitating, I removed my sweater and placed it on the pavement under the animal. I probably should have worried about getting bitten or clawed, but I didn’t. Time was of the essence. Reaching up under the frame, I felt the animal’s limbs and body until I understood how it was wedged in place.
    Ever so gently I pried the unconscious raccoon free, wrapped him in the sweater, and rushed him into my room.
    After putting him on the bed, I googled the number to a local veterinarian, but they only offered to euthanize the poor creature. “Now what? I know you’re alive, little guy. I have to try.”
    Tiago sang “Doctor, Doctor, Give Me the News.”
    “Not now, Robert Palmer.” I gently pulled on the raccoon’s paws, hoping for some sort of reflex to kick in and give a sign of life. His arms were limp at first, but suddenly they jerked. A deep purring sound rose from his little chest. “I just wish I knew a magic spell that could help in this situation.”
    An idea sprang to mind. “I wonder…” I scrambled through my bags until I found exactly what I was looking for—my new training wand. “It can’t hurt to try.” As per the instructions, I twisted the knob on the base until the wand came to life, buzzing with a high-frequency vibration.
    On the bed, the nearly-roadkill raccoon rested on his back, all four legs spread wide. “Be cured!” I commanded, touching him with the buzzing phallic wand.
    “I’m such a pathetic witch, even if I am just a novice in training. I don’t know a single spell, Tiago.” I shook the wand hoping for something to happen. Nada. I dangled it over the raccoon, praying it would send healing energy, positive karma, good juju, or something into him. Finally, I