Page 87 of Upside Down Magic

Thewoman appeared unimpressed. “Doyou now?”

“Yup.”

“Goaway,Avery,”Dorseygrumbled. “You’renot part of girls’ night out.”

“That’svery rude of you,Ms.Dorsey,”Isaid.

“Youstick to your friends,I’llstick with mine.”

“Hear, hear,” the other woman said, raising her pink drink in salute.

“There’snothing wrong with mixing it up some days,”Isaid. “It’sgood for the soul, you know.”

“Mysoul is dead, soIwouldn’t know,” the second woman said.Theyboth burst into laughter.

“I’msure we can make a transplant.Youknow, like livers?Theygrow back and all that.”

Thewoman made a face. “Gross.”

“Nogross, no gain.”Iturned back toDorseyand leaned down. “Ineed your help with the thing.”

Dorseyturned to her friend. “Shemeans the spell making people sick.”

Iclosed my eyes and counted to two.Iwould’ve usually made it ten, but we were on a tight schedule here. “Ifyou don’t want to get sick yourself,Isuggest you come with me and help me stop it.”

Dorseystudied me closely, then took a sip of her own pink drink. “Youneed me?”

“Yes.Andno blackmail,”Iwarned.Rufussuddenly nosed his way between us and let out a low growl.

“Getthat demon dog away from me,”Dorseyscreeched, scraping her chair back.

“Don’tworry, he only eats bad people who refuse to help.”IpattedRufus’shead. “Don’tyou,Rufus?”

Rufussnarled, showing all his very impressive teeth.

“Lordalmighty, fine,”Dorseygrumbled, picking up her purse and standing. “Butit better not take long.”

Istraightened. “Itwill take as long as it takes,Ms.Dorsey.”

“Ugh.Ican’t with you.”Shemade shooing gestures with her hands. “C’mon, let’s go.Whatare we waiting for?”

Wewalked out ofRena’s, andIsentAlexa text, letting him knowI’dprocuredDorseyand to meet us at theSUV.

“Weneed to make one stop,”ItoldDorsey, veering toward the web of narrowed streets extending from the two main ones.Rufus’spresence meant the crowd parted easily, even those already drunk.

“Why?”Dorseyasked. “Ithought we were in a hurry.”

“Won’ttake a minute.”

Dorseymumbled something about kidnapping her under false pretenses but trotted after me andRufus.Ittook us no time to get to theCrawler, andIwas delighted for once to seeMarkwas in his usual bouncer spot outside, checking people’sIDsand paranormal types.

“Sheand he can enter,”Marksaid, pointing atDorsey, thenRufus. “You’restill out of luck.”

SillyCrawlerand its silly no-witches policy.Thedoor opened to let a patron out, andIpeered wistfully into the inside of the pub.Itlooked cozy and like a great place to have some drinks and karaoke with friends.

Myattention returned toMark. “Areyou feeling okay?Notsick at all?”

Hecurled his trunk-thick arms. “Strongas an ox.”

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