Page 25 of Upside Down Magic

Excitementbuilt up inside me. “Montelis close enough.Maybeit’s related?Wasit the same kind of upside-down magic issues?”

“Shedidn’t know the exact details.”

Ipondered that. “Ifthe story was common enough that your mom remembers it, there must be a record of it somewhere.”Ipointed at him with my fork. “Ibet you they got something inMontel’sCouncillibrary.”

“Probably,” he agreed.

“Ishould go check it out.Theremight be some details that can help us figure out how they got sick or who did the spell.”Cursesmight not be real, but magical grudges being passed down the family line was totally a thing in the paranormal world.

Wefinished our lunch without any further interruptions, andIreturned to the shop withFluffywhileIanwent to consult with a future client.

“Good, you’re here,”Marksaid the momentIentered the shop. “I’mout.”

Ifelt slightly guilty that he’d been working whileIwas having lunch, butIreminded myself he wasn’t doing it for free.

“Igotta go too, boss,”Alexsaid. “Haveto check onMr.Preston’ssupplies.”

Ianhad approvedAlex’splans forPreston’shome renovation, and to my immense reliefPrestonhadn’t encouragedAlex’sobvious crush on him.Thelast thing we needed was a love square amongDru,Preston,Mark, andAlex.

Hopefullyit’d stay that way.

IsetFluffyfree in the backyard, then refilled her water bowl in the kitchen.Whenit was just her,Iusually allowed her free roam of the first floor.Rufuswas a bit too scary for some of the customers, so he was usually left to wait upstairs or in the backyard.IanandIhad both agreed that with that setup he’d behappier at the cemetery, soIanusually only broughtRufuswhen he was spending the night over.

Takingadvantage of a lull between customers,Idrank another energy drink and sprayed moon water liberally over the floor of the shop and counter, as well as inside the first-floor kitchen, then carefully checked for any latent magic.

Justbecause someone long ago had gotten sick inMontel, it didn’t mean this wasn’t a new nasty spell left on my premises.

Mymagic-detecting spells returned nothing but the familiar feeling of my own magic.Nodark magic, no unknown wards.

Thankgoodness.

I’mnot sure whatI’dhave done if my shop had been the reasonShaneandBrimstone’smagic had gotten messed up.

Ihad just managed to drag myself onto a stool behind the counter, rather than use the floor to recuperate, when the front door opened andDrucame in.

“You’realone.Good.”

Shesat at the counter, andIstretched toward the coffee pot.Itwas right out of reach, soImumbled unhappily asIforced my noodle legs to support my weight and took a hold of it.

Druignored the cup of coffeeIset in front of her, which was very rude of her considering the effort it had taken me to produce it, and leaned in, all expectant.

“Okay, spill.Whathappened?”

“Whatdo you mean?”

“Markcame here, thenAlexwas here, and you weren’t around to make sure they behaved.Somethingtotally happened.Doesit have something to do withBrimstone’smagic being broken?”

“It’snot broken anymore,”Itold her proudly. “Ifixed it.”

“Goyou,” she said in a markedly unimpressed tone. “Whatelse happened then?”

Ileaned in as well. “Shaneshifted and couldn’t shift back.”

Shesat back. “Seriously?”

“Yup.”Ipuffed out my chest. “Ifixed that too.”

“Lookat you, doing your job and everything.”

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