Magician's Muse (6 page)

Thorn glared at Penny-Love, then at me, then back at her.

“What favor?” she asked through gritted teeth.

“Take me to Jacques.”

Penny-Love and Thorn reached a temporary alliance. Tomorrow after school, Thorn would work her “Finding Mojo,” as Pen called it, to find Jacques. In return, Penny-Love vowed never to speak of Thorn’s skill to anyone.

But could the Gossip Queen of Sheridan High keep a secret?

Doubtful. Still, their temporary truce was better than a knock-’em-down, hair-pulling, blood-spilling fight.

After their contract was signed, Thorn tucked it safely into her pocket and went home. A short while later, Penny-Love left too, blaming family obligations. I felt restless. It was almost lunch time, but I was too anxious about Dominic to eat. I wasn’t sure what to do. I’d planned to spend the day going all “shopoholic” with Penny-Love at the mall, and now all I could think about was Dominic. What was he doing right now? What if he’d left without telling me? I had to see him, make sure he was okay. I’d just grabbed my coat when I heard the roar of a car’s engine.

“Nona!” I would have recognized the sound of her clunker car anywhere.

The door banged behind me as I hurried outside, almost crying with relief at the sight of my grandmother—and not only because I missed her. Since recovering from a serious illness, Nona was more energetic and sharper than ever. She’d know how to make Dominic stay.

Nona burst out of her car like a brisk wind, opening her arms to me. “There’s my favorite girl!” She smelled of peppermint and peach shampoo.

I hugged her tight. “I’m so glad you’re back!”

“It’s good to be home,” she said, stroking my hair lightly from my face.

“Wait till I tell you what’s happened …” I started to say, at the same time that she exclaimed, “I have amazing news to tell you!”

We both laughed, and I told her to go first.

“Well, you know I went to San Francisco for business,” she said, lifting a suitcase from the car trunk. I reached out to help her. “And it turned out to be not just a business trip.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, following her into the house.

Nona draped her knitted purple scarf across a worn leather chair. “I met a brilliant, witty, wonderful man.” A blush softened her sun-wrinkled cheeks. “His name’s Roger Aimsley, and he’s the owner of Heart Lights, a very successful online dating service. Much higher profile than my little business. He surprised me with a proposal.”

“Proposal? You’re getting married again?” I groaned. Nona had been married too many times already, twice to the same man. This did
not
sound good.

“Not marriage, although who knows what the future will bring? This is about a different kind of union—one that will change my future.”

Memo to self: no more weekend trips for Nona. “I don’t understand,” I said.

My grandmother shook out of her coat and draped it over the back of the rocking chair. Her green eyes sparkled and her hands moved as she went on excitedly, “I didn’t answer him yet. I told him I needed to talk it over with you and Penny-Love.”

“Why Pen?”

“She’s part of my business now. Roger has offered me a partnership, combining our businesses.”

I listened to her explain the many benefits of merging Soul-Mate Matches with Heart Lights. But she didn’t want to rush into anything, she insisted, and planned to consult astrology charts and tarot cards before signing any papers. She was practically dancing as she talked, and sparkling in a way I hadn’t seen in a long time. I hated to ruin her moment with my far-from-good news.

Still, it had to be done.

I gathered my thoughts, trying to come up with the easiest way to spring the bad news on her. Finally, I just spit it all out, starting with the phone call from Mrs. DeMarco this morning and finishing with the PI and Dominic. Her quick change of expression showed that she’d suspected Dominic’s violent secret and grasped the seriousness of his situation.

“Dominic says he’s leaving,” I finished sadly.

“Rubbish!” She shook her silvery-brown head. “He doesn’t mean it.”

“Yes, he does! He thinks leaving is the way to stay out of jail and protect us from any trouble, too.”

“That boy can be danged mule-headed.”

“Tell me about it.” I sighed. “How can we help him if he won’t let us?”

“Call in the troops.”

“Troops?”

“My angel cards and spirit guides.” Nona squeezed my hand gently. “Don’t worry, Sabine. Dominic isn’t going anywhere.”

She sounded so positive. I wanted to believe her, but my gut feeling tightened like a noose and all I could taste was fear.

* * *

A half hour later, Nona headed to the barn to talk to Dominic. She didn’t invite me to come along. Instead, she told me to stay close to the phones in case she got an important call. From the way she said “important,” I guessed she meant Roger Aimsley (or, as I’d mentally nick-named him, Mr. Heart Lights).

He didn’t call, but my cell went off four times—and when I checked Caller ID I nearly threw the phone down.
Jade again.
Why did she keep calling? She’d shown she didn’t want to be my friend or my sister. I definitely did
not
want to talk to her.

I deleted her messages.

Retreating to my room, I sought inner calm by burning incense and pulling my latest embroidery project from my craft bag. Several of my Christmas gifts would be handmade. I’d already personalized pillow cases in shimmering hues for my parents and was almost finished with a set for Nona. For my twin sisters, I strung tiny alphabet letter beads into dainty ankle bracelets. Amy and Ashley appreciated our tradition of homemade gifts—it was much better than gift certificates or random items that usually needed to be exchanged.

I already had two perfectly good sisters.

I did
not
need another one.

I stabbed the needle into my finger three times before shoving it all back into my craft bag. Crossing the room to the attic window, which offered an amazing view of Nona’s farm, I pressed my face against the glass and peered down at the barn. Would Dominic still be here for Christmas? Was he inside with Nona right now? What were they saying?

I turned from the window. Stressing over Dominic was only making me crazy. I needed to keep busy, to distract myself. Jumbled wrapping paper, boxes, and bags were spread across my bed. There were only a few names left on my Christmas list. After crossing Jade’s name out with heavy black “hate you forever” lines, I decided to do something extra special for my
real
sisters.

At ten years old, Amy and Ashley already had such distinct personalities that people couldn’t tell at first glance that they were identical twins. Glamtastic Ashley sparkled in her style and musicality. She wrote songs and loved discovering new talent to add to her playlists. So it only took me a few minutes to go online and order songs from a new R&B artist for her.

But book butterfly (not bookworm!) Amy’s biggest passion was collecting vintage girl-series books like Nancy Drew and Judy Bolton mysteries. Her collection was getting so large it was hard to find something she didn’t already have. I surfed online sites and got lucky, finding a rare book—
All About Collecting Girls’ Series Books
—by John Axe. As I clicked “buy” online, my IM flashed an incoming message.

It was Jade. Again. What was her problem? She’d made it clear she couldn’t stand me. Why couldn’t she just let things drop?

The message box popped on my screen:

Wkg on prob. Need 2 talk. Urgent!

“I have enough problems of my own, thank you very much,” I murmured sarcastically. “Not interested in yours.”

I deleted the message.

As I returned to surfing online, I kept expecting another message from Jade. But there weren’t any, which was good, I assured myself. As Dominic said, just because we were sisters didn’t make us friends.

I’d hoped to get Dominic’s thoughts on Jade at dinner, but he didn’t show up. I nearly stormed out to his loft to force him to talk to me. But Nona warned me to give him space, that he needed time to think. Although Nona didn’t seem worried, I lay awake long into the night with a deep gut fear that I’d wake up tomorrow and find Dominic gone.

I finally sank into a sound sleep, and it was so deep that I slept in late and had to rush getting ready for school. I’d only taken a few bites of muffin when a car honked from outside. Chewing fast, I grabbed my backpack and almost flew down the steps.

But I stopped at the sound of a horse’s whinny and peered off into the pasture, to see Dominic brushing down Rio. Thank god he was still here! He turned and looked right at me, lifting his arm to wave. I lifted my arm, too. I couldn’t see his expression, but I knew our wave was like a promise. When I returned home from school, Dominic would be waiting. For me.

Smiling, I hurried into Penny-Love’s car.

Penny-Love was wearing all black: snug black jeans, a black aviator jacket over a lacy midnight-black blouse, and an onyx beaded bracelet. Her curly red hair was pulled back severely in a braid and even though the sun wasn’t out, she wore dark sunglasses.

“Do you like my spy look?”

“So that’s what the black is about,” I said with a wry smile. “I thought Thorn’s Goth style had rubbed off on you.”

“Oh, puh-leese! Like that would ever happen! But since Thorn and I are going to find Jacques later, I didn’t want anyone to recognize me.”

“Embarrassed about being seen with Thorn?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” She touched her burgundy-painted nails to her chest in mock indignation. “We may have to follow Jacques, you know, like in action movies. This is my incognito look. You, on the other hand, look like crap. Some makeup would fix your puffy eyes. Are you sick or something?”

“Good morning to you, too. If you must know, I had trouble sleeping.”

“Too bad.” She nodded absent-mindedly as she slowed for a stop sign. Her gaze drifted off to ogle a group of guys cruising by. Knowing Pen, she was already lining up someone to take Jacques’ place.

By the time we reached school, Pen had spilled all the latest gossip: a football player caught his mom making out with his coach; some kids were busted for dealing drugs on campus; and cheerleading friends Kaitlyn and Catelyn were feuding … again.

It was surreal to be sitting in class, half-listening to teachers and trying to manage ordinary conversation when all I could think about was Dominic. I found myself floating out of my own body, the conscious part of me hovering ghostlike over my physical self. It was calming to rise above it all, detached, without any real emotions. I watched myself, surprised that the blond girl could smile and talk so casually with friends like the world wasn’t slipping off its axis. Penny-Love was right about my puffy eyes, but otherwise you’d never know anything was wrong.

Sabine Rose performed her school role very well.

At lunch break I moved on autopilot, heading as usual to the computer room, which had become my retreat since breaking up with Josh. As I crossed a busy hall intersection, bodies rushing all directions, I nearly ran into Manny DeVries handing out flyers.

Manny looked wickedly hot as usual, a cross between a pirate and a surfer with his sleek black dreads, pierced eyebrow, and leather sandals. Rain or icy chill, Manny always wore his trademark sandals. He was the editor of our school newspaper, the
Sheridan Shout-Out
, and I worked as his copyeditor.

“Hey, Beany!” he called to me.

I cringed at the nickname. Would he ever learn to say my actual name?

“What are you doing?” I asked, eyeing the thick stacks of paper he was carrying.

“Spreading my news,” he said with a devilish grin. “Take a bunch and pass them out.”

“Sorry, not now.” I started to walk past, but he’d already shoved papers into my hands. And since few people had the fortitude to refuse Manny, I gave in and started helping him.

When I’d started at Sheridan High this fall, my plan was to fit in without standing out, and aim for mid-popularity status. I’d joined the newspaper staff as a way to keep in touch behind the scenes and found a friend in Manny DeVries—a handsome, dark-skinned guy with wild dreads and an outspoken, brazen attitude. Despite our differences, or maybe because of them, we worked well together. I was quiet; he was loud. I was polite; he was bossy and rude. I avoided crowds; his charismatic personality drew crowds like fans flocking to a rock star.