‘I wasn’t...’ Effie shrugged, then put away the pocket dictionary she’d produced the way Crocodile Dundee might a knife. ‘Another time.’
There was a rattle and a clatter from the back of the shop, and then some choice swearing. Momentarily, the green velvet curtain along the rear wall swung aside, revealing Uncle Oswald, who was peering over an old book, halfway throughconcocting some sort of potion out of what seemed to be tea leaves. And was that a bag of guinea pig straw bedding?
The sham never ended with this man. Bonnie was offended to think that they shared a branch of the family tree.
Oswald’s oversized emerald ring glinted in the dim light as he gestured sardonically at them. ‘Oh good. It’s the whole posse. Is it about that Bastet cat statue? Because I don’t do refunds.’
‘It’s over, Uncle Oswald,’ snapped Bonnie. ‘You’reover. You’ve done enough damage. We want you out.’
Uncle Oswald snorted, amused. ‘Damage indeed. I took your little business from abject failure to profitable enterprise in mere weeks! You certainly didn’t seem to mind bespelling your friends and loved ones if it meant you could buy a new purse or get that silly car of yours detailed.’
‘I didn’t...’ Bonnie had been about to sayknow, but that wasn’t true. She’d been just as much a part of this as Oswald had. But just because you’d done a bad thing didn’t mean you had to keep doing it. It was better to see the error of your ways than double down on a bad decision out of stubbornness.
‘Of course you didn’t.’ Uncle Oswald regarded her over his tiny spectacles. ‘So, what’s the plan here? Are you going to bat your eyelashes at me and have me do your bidding? Or maybe your sister will present me with a petition?’
‘Petitions can be very effective.’ Effie tugged meaningfully at the sleeve of her cardigan. Beneath its woollen edge, the green marks on her wrist glowed. The book Uncle Oswald was poring over clapped shut on his hands, then flew off out the front door, which the crystal-shopping tourist had failed to close properly.
‘Hey!’ he howled. ‘I was using that!’
‘It was overdue.’ Effie’s voice was as clear as Bonnie had ever heard it. Turned out her sis had sass. ‘You can borrow it again once you’ve returned any other outstanding books.’
‘Which will never happen,’ snapped Bonnie, so harshly that her throat burned. ‘Because you’re leaving. Now.’
Uncle Oswald’s moustache twitched with scorn.
‘You can’t bully me out of my own town! After all,youwere complicit.’ He jabbed a finger at Bonnie, that awful emerald flashing as though it contained lightning.
Bonnie folded her arms, flinching at the fervent heat of her wrists against her ribcage. It was a feeling she hadn’t had since childhood.
She didn’t dare break Oswald’s gaze, but she knew, just knew that beneath the tattoos on her wrists, the ones that she’d commissioned as a teen to cover up her magic, her skin glowed lavender.
The static in the air heightened. Now even the fake taxidermied animals on the walls were rocking mohawks.
Oswald snorted. ‘Your housekeeping spells don’t scare me. Please don’t vacuum me to death!’ he pleaded mockingly.
Bonnie unfolded her arms, staring down at her hands. They glimmered with violet light. Her pink-tipped fingernails flashed and gleamed, growing hot with the strength of the magic she’d kept deep within her for so long. She was more than a pretty face. More than a social butterfly. She wasmore than she appeared.
In a movement so deft she’d recount it a thousand times over breakfasts to come, she bent and whipped off one of her sparkling heels. Then she flung it with all of her might at Uncle Oswald. Its sharp heel, helped along by a crackle of magic, pinioned his chunky-knit scarf to the wall behind him. Uncle Oswald whimpered.
‘Holy shit,’ whispered Theo to Effie. ‘Your sister is like if Carrie Bradshaw and Bruce Willis inDie Hardhad a magical baby.’
‘She’s pretty great,’ Effie whispered back.
Even sans heels, Bonnie felt ten feet tall.
‘Taunt my magic again and the other shoe will aim for a more sensitive bit,’ she snapped. ‘Out.’
Uncle Oswald swallowed, then lunged forward. He grabbed one of the potion jars next to him, gave it a quick shake, then lobbed it in their direction. Its glass container shattered as it hit the hardwood floors, erupting in a sudsy foam that hissed and seethed. A solid splash hit the Bluetooth speaker hidden behind the record player, cutting Enya short mid-vocalization (thank goddess for that).
Effie grabbed her sister’s hand, pulling Bonnie back to safety.
Bonnie sniffed. A familiar lemony scent filled the air. ‘It smells like...’
‘Lemon sherbet.’ Theo gingerly prodded the foam with the handle of the $300 broom, then did the same with his finger. His skin, fortunately, did not dissolve. ‘It’s just cleaning solution and detergent.’
Of course it was. Like everything Uncle Oswald touched, the whole thing was a pretence.
‘Thatfraud!’ Effie’s eyes were wide with disbelief. ‘Wait, where’d he go?’
