‘Things are definitely backfiring,’ came Theo’s voice from behind them. ‘It’s a zoo out there.’
Scrunching her eyes closed, Effie gathered herself, then turned to face Theo, who was regarding them with a mix of curiosity and alarm.
‘But you’re okay?’ said Effie.
He did look somewhat mussed, as though he’d had to fight his way over to them. His hair was more tousled than usual, and his shirt was creased.
‘I’m okay, but I would really love to know what’s going on out there. Because even by city standards, it’s wild.’
‘It’s magic,’ said Bonnie.
‘Bonnie!’ snapped Effie.
‘Magic gone wrong,’ added Bonnie.
‘Bonnie!’ snapped Effie again.
‘What? You think he’s trustworthy, right? Or you wouldn’t be dating him.’
Effie turned bright red. So did Theo.
‘You’re taking all of this quite well,’ Bonnie told Theo.
Theo made a so-so gesture with his hand. ‘I’m definitely abit freaked out. But I’ve had some time to come to terms with this whole Chalmers sisters thing.’
Effie groaned. ‘But we work so hard to keep our magic under wraps.’
‘Really?’ Theo said. ‘What with the whole weird uncle with a New Age shop, Bonnie’s habit of setting stuff on fire, your uncanny ability to produce a requested book in seconds, and the weird green light that’s always emanating from you whenever you’re feeling emotional.’
‘I don’t get emotional,’ snapped Effie.
‘She absolutely does,’ said Bonnie. ‘I put her bookmark back in the wrong spot once and she put a glamour on my eyebrows that made them looked overplucked forsix months. I had to take my yearbook photos with a hat on. It’s one of my most painful memories.’
Effie, who’d been staring once more at Mom’s aura self-portrait, clicked her fingers. ‘That’s it. Memories. Mom had a spell that might work. When you had nightmares and you needed to forget them. She’d bring Bobby over to help. I was thinking about it just the other night when I...’
She trailed off, letting Theo twine his fingers through hers.
Bonnie scrunched up her face, thinking. That was right. She’d forgotten all about that. By design, apparently.
‘But Bobby’s not here,’ she said. ‘He’s off with Kirsty.’ She could hear the pang in her own voice.
Effie shook her head. ‘The spell doesn’t require Bobby specifically. Just an unmagical person. I’d take Tessa, but—’
‘But she sacrificed herself to the memory spell to make you finally believe her?’ pointed out Bonnie. ‘Friend of the year over here.’
‘Like you can talk. You threw Bobby to the she-wolves.’
‘One she-wolf,’ corrected Bonnie. ‘And not by choice. I didn’t know that all this was going to happen. I was just trying to be entrepreneurial.’
‘How about me?’ interjected Theo – quite gallantly, Bonniehad to admit. ‘I’m unmagical. Bonnie can handle things here and make sure no one forgets their own head, and I’ll come with you to the library.’
Bonnie shook her head. ‘This is my mess. I’m coming too.’
There was a clatter downstairs, followed by an unnerving amount of laughing and jostling. Glass tinkled against the walls, and chairs rattled as they were upended. The sweet aroma of freshly spilled Memory Lane liquor wafted upstairs.
Either zombies had invaded, or...
‘Bonnie, hon!’ cried Clark from downstairs. ‘I could really use some backup down here! Your Trivia Night people are really pushing their luck!’
