Page 8 of Upside Down Magic

Ichoked on my own saliva. “One-fifty?”

“Gottasupport local talent.Allorganic fiber, good for the environment.”

Ilicked my lips and forced myself to walk past the top to the back of the shop. “Ibrought you breakfast.”

“SoIsee.”Shemoved the pile of clothes aside and took the coffee from me, a knowing look in her eyes. “What’swrong?”

Myfirst impulse was to deny the accusation that anything was wrong, but that was a habitIwas trying hard to break. “Areyou feeling okay?”

“Me?” she asked in surprise. “Sure.”

“Areyour horns”—Ipointed at the top of my head, then waggled my fingers—“and everything working as they should?”

Hereyebrows rose until they were nearly touching her dark tight curls, today held back by a series of small bright-red clasps. “Myhorns?”

“They’reworking as intended, right?”

Abit of a pointed horn peeked between the clasps, andIlet out a sigh of relief. “Phew.Good.”

Shedrummed her bright-red nails on the counter and took another sip of coffee. “What’sgoing on,Hope?”

“Haveyou ever heard of a paranormal’s powers going weird?”

“Weirdhow?”

“Weirdas in, not working correctly.”Aftera fast deliberation with myself,Idecided to come clean.Drucould be counted on to keepBrimstone’ssecret, and she had been involved in the paranormal community a lot longer thanI.Shemight’ve heard of a similar case. “Brimstone’spowers are acting out of whack.”Ileaned in closer. “Hethought it was my potions.”

Drusnorted, andIfelt a little hurt.

“Oh, stop that,” she said at my pout. “It’sprobably one of his enemies or another fire-starter messing with him.”

“Butdoesn’t it seem a bit overboard?”Icouldn’t help the worry in my voice. “Whoevermade the spell or potion had to be really powerful, and it’s dark magic for sure.Thatkind of thing must’ve cost a fortune.Ifthey wanted to mess with him, there are cheaper and easier ways to do it.”

“Idon’t know,” she said in a philosophical tone, her gaze growing distant, “there’s a lot of enjoyment to be gained in seeing an enemy go down a slow spiral of doom.Thatkind of thing is priceless.”

Shewas totally thinking aboutPreston, her ex-boyfriend, again. “Sure, but what ifIcan’t fix it?WhatifIcan’t reverse the spell messing with his magic?”

Drusnapped out of her fantasy and grabbed the muffin. “Ibet it’ll disappear on its own.Thatkind of magic should be temporary, right?”

“Iguess,”Isaid, unconvinced. “Butwhat if it isn’t?”

“ThenI’msure you’ll figure it out.It’snot like he’s lost all magic, has he?”

“No, he’s just producing ice instead of fire.”

Shelaughed. “Serveshim right.”

“Comenow,”Isaid, slightly affronted forBrimstone, “he’s been a great worker.”

“Hey, you can start that ice cream line now.”

Igrinned, then wiped the expression off my face and scowled. “That’snot funny.”

Morelaughter. “Yeah, it totally is.”

“Okay, it’s a little funny.”Isobered. “WhatifIcan’t fix it and he reports me to theCouncil?”

“Getreal, he’s not going to report you to theCouncil.Thatman would rather jump into a vat of acid than touch official channels.”

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