Page 31 of Upside Down Magic

“Notthe exact one, no.”Itried to remember the knowledgeIhad gathered here and there about the coven, mostly fromVicky. “Theyoperated maybe at end of the nineteenth century.”

“Itshouldn’t be too hard to find,” he said happily. “Anythingelse?”

“Oh, canIalso get whatever you’ve got on magical sicknesses?”

TEN

Davepointedtoward the reading tables and told us to wait.

“Niceplace,”Iancommented, somehow looking in place among the stuffed, dusty rows of shelves.

“Itis.Alwaysempty too.Davegets really bored.It’stoo bad this place isn’t inOlmedaor public.Bethe’d love to join theChristmasevent.”

Iansmiled and ran a hand down my arm. “Ibet he would.”

Ileaned into his touch and sighed happily. “IwishGrandmacould’ve met you.”Notthe first timeI’dtold him this.

“Iknow.AtleastI’vemet her spellbook, yes?”

Iblushed at the memory of me formally introducingIantoGrandma’sspellbook.Anyoneelse would’ve thought it stupid, butIanhad taken it very seriously. “Itwas the right thing to do.”

Ina world full of change and magical chaos,Grandma’sspellbook remained my rock.Itwas a source of joy and security, and whileGrandmamight be long gone,Iknew she had left part of herself in those pages.

Therattling of wheels caught our attention.Davepushed a library cart up to us with several volumes and folders stacked on top.

“Herewe go,” he said, patting the top of the pile. “Olmeda-related cases for a thirty-year period at the end of the nineteenth century.It’smostly lists that point to other cases, so let me know which one when you find what you’re looking for.Ifit’s not there, we can broaden the search.”

“Thankyou,”Itold him sincerely.

Hebeamed at me, then pointed at a selection of tomes. “Theseare some books on recorded paranormal illnesses.Iwasn’t sure which way you wanted to go, soIbrought ones that cover things in general.Ifyou want to go into more detail, just let me knowI’llgo into the back.”

Wherethey kept the more advanced stuff, available only to higher levels in the witch hierarchy, whichInow belonged to thanks to theTeaCauldron.Ithanked him again.

“AsIsaid,” he continued happily, “just let me know if you need anything more in-depth.I’llleave you to it.”

IanandIdecided to divide and conquer.Hesnapped a pair of gloves on and took the first folder of magical cases, andItook the first book on magical illnesses.Ifyou ask me,Itotally drew the short end of the stick.Checkingout old magical delinquency was a lot more fun than reading long, meandering write-ups on sick paranormals and the possible causes, but we each had our specialty.

Still,Ileaned over to peer over his arm.Thepapers in the folder were yellowed with age and handwritten in old cursive.

Mary Thomas, est. 1857, hexing neighbor. O-148

“Name, birth year, accusation and…case number?”Iguessed aloud.

Ianmade a sound of assent.

Thelist of names and offenses continued steadily down the page, with the occasional paragraph of notes.Thecases changed first letter often, which probably denoted the town they had been apprehended in.

“That’sa lot of magical delinquency.”Seeingthese lists, it was a wonder we’d remained a secret from the humans for this long.

“Itseems mostly nuisance items,”Iansaid, turning to another page. “Hexes, curses, stealing.Thingswe wouldn’t worry about now.”

“Theyknew better about curses back then too,”Isaid.

“Butthey still had to check.”

“Goodpoint.”Imulled on that for a moment. “Isuppose now most of that has moved on to the bounty hunters and the underground market.”

“I’msure there was a healthy underground market back then, too,”Iansaid dryly.

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