Page 102 of Upside Down Magic

“Familyheirloom?”Iventured.

“Oh, yes.Frommy mother’s side of the family!Idon’t have much contact with them, but from time to timeIget lovely surprises like this.”

“Whatwas the name of the family, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Boucher.Theywere originally from here, you know, but they moved away a long way back.”

Probablyright after their coven leader got busted by theCouncil.

“Ineed to, uh, do something with the vase,”Isaid. “Doyou mind?”

Forthe first time since he’d moved in,Normanfrowned in my presence. “Whatkind of thing?Thisvase is priceless.”

Howto explain the world of paranormals, magic spells, and how this vase was almost a hundred percent causing people’s magic to go haywire in a sentence or two?

“Dude, that thing is cursed,”Alexblurted.

Normanblinked at the vase. “Cursed?”

“Thebad juju can be felt from the other side of the city,”Aprilchirped. “CanItouch it?I’venever touched something so evil.”

“E-evil?”Normansputtered.Heheld the vase away from his body. “Idid think it seemed a little…off.”

“Justthe vase, not everything else here?”Dorseysnapped. “Whatis wrong with you, boy?”

Normanopened his mouth but no words came out.

“Don’tmindDorsey,”Isaid. “Crankyold women gotta get their thrills by demeaning others.”

“Hey!”

Wyattlaughed.

“Oh, shut up,Wyatt.You’reonly here because they couldn’t find anyone else,”Dorseysaid.

Hesneered. “Ivolunteered, old hag.Betyou had to buy your way in.”

“That’senough, children.”Iclapped my hands to make my point.Everyoneturned to me, andIpointed at the floor in front of me. “Norman, place the vase here, please.I’mgoing to do a spell to cleanse the vase.Don’tworry, nothing bad will happen to it.”

Normanhesitated. “Aspell?”

“Yup.YouknowI’ma witch, right?”Ithumbed toward the wall connecting our shops.Therewas more than one way to peel an apple, and he didn’t need to knowIwas talking about spirit mages rather than human practitioners.Someonewould have to clue him in at some point about the paranormal world, though—if his family had been part of the coven, he probably had some paranormal blood in him.Fornow, it was better to keep things simple.

“I…Iguess so.”

“Iknow people think witches are all burning sage and sleeping with crystals, but there is real power in what we do.Yousaid it yourself—the vase gives you bad vibes.”

Hisgaze flicked from me to the vase. “Itdoes feel uncomfortable being around it.”

Ibeamed. “Solet’s cleanse it so you can put it on display and not make visitors uncomfortable, okay?”

Heblinked again, then seemed to come to a decision. “O-okay.Yes.Yes, okay.”Heput the vase on the floor and stepped back, wringing his hands. “Youwon’t break it or anything, right?”

“Ofcourse not.”Havingto de-spell a hundred broken pottery pieces would be an absolute nightmare.

Iscooted forward untilIwas sitting by the vase, the waves of evil, dark magic almost too much to bear.Ihadn’t brought a second spray bottle with me, andIdidn’t want to waste any more time and haveNormanchange his mind about allowing the spell, soIdipped my hands in the potion then wrapped my fingers around the vase.

Ahiss escaped me.

---