Page 42 of Sugar, Spice, and Magical Midlife

The troll had the nerve to follow us as he whipped out a t-shirt that said ‘Magical Roma’ on the front. “Souvenir shirt,signora?”

Ugh. I reached into my purse and squeezed my wand. “No. Not a damn thing,” I growled.

The troll’s eyes widened, then narrowed as he stuck out his tongue.

Ignoring him, I pulled Des along as we crossed the street to the restaurant.

I ordered Des’s pizza, gluten-free crust with three olives on each slice. The waiter looked at me like I was crazy, but he nodded his agreement and then took the rest of our ordersbefore disappearing. I mentally calculated how much money I had left over from Ric’s vault while looking over the menu prices, but they were all in Italian. Ugh. I hoped I didn’t max out my credit card on this trip.

Just as I’d feared, the pizza olives weren’t arranged properly. Des sucked in a breath when he saw it, but Ethyl and I quickly rearranged the olives to his liking, and he happily ate his pizza without complaints. The seafood linguini was the best I’d ever eaten, and the buttery, parmesan sauce was sublime. Goddess, I could get used to eating authentic Italian food.

I’d been hoping the food and glass of wine would ease my headache, but if anything it was worse. Not even a migraine spell worked, though my healing spells worked better on others than they did on myself. It wasn’t like I could ask Ethyl to conduct the spell. With my luck, she’d make my head three times the size. So I suffered in silence, hoping a hot shower and a good sleep would cure it.

Afterward, we bought gelatos and walked around the square, window shopping while also avoiding the multitude of pygmy trolls selling selfie sticks. Most everyone’s auras were on full display except for Des and me, whose auras were barely visible thanks to my masking spell. Ethyl’s aura was bright for a witch who was always mixing up her spells. As usual, Des and I got our fair share of funny looks and snide comments. I didn’t care. Our auras could’ve eclipsed theirs.

Puffy perched on Des’s shoulder, pretending to be coy while stealing licks from his cone. I would’ve been annoyed, except Puffy entertained Des and always found a way of getting my son to come out of his shell. Besides, my migraine had eased up, so I was in a better mood. Perhaps I just needed a bit of food and relaxation. I kept checking my phone, very aware that we were close to going over an hour, though I shouldn’t have cared about Antonio’s curfew. I was starting to regret staying at his place. Ihonestly didn’t think sharing a bathroom with satyrs was much better than staying in a gnome-infested hostel. I’d gladly trade gnome droppings for goat pubes.

“So what’s our plan?” Ethyl asked before taking a long lick of her ice cream cone. I noted how between each lick she sent coy looks to a group of rough-looking wolf-shifters with faint auras who were loitering on the corner.

I grabbed her shoulder and faced her away from the shifters, forcing her to stare into a souvenir shop’s display of shrunken skeleton heads, phallic-shaped crystals, and chocolate. Yeah, we witches were weird. Des was sitting on a nearby bench with Puffy. The dragon now had complete possession of Des’s gelato, smearing the confection between his paws while dripping half of the gelato on his round belly.

“I guess I’ll go to the Tribunal tomorrow and make an appeal,” I answered.

She looked over her shoulder, then spoke in a hushed whisper. “You can’t just walk into the Tribunal.”

“I know that,” I said while keeping one eye on my son, “but I’m sure there’s a way to request an appointment.”

“Maybe Antonio knows how to find it,” she said.

“No.” Alarm bells went off in my head at the mention of our host’s name, and I couldn’t shake a foreboding feeling that we shouldn’t trust him. “We don’t want him to know our business.”

“I have a friend who works at the Tribunal,” she said with a smile as one of the wolf-shifters broke from the pack and approached us. “Tomorrow, I’ll see if I can pull some strings.”

“Thank you, Ethyl,” I said, grabbing my friend’s hand. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Then I turned to the shifter and whispered a repulsion spell just as he reached our sidewalk.

He gave Ethyl a disgusted look and spun on his heel, marching back toward his friends.

Ethyl let out a gasp of indignation, then shook her head. “I’m worried about you, Luci.” She squeezed my hand. “Going up against a succubus is dangerous.”

“I have no choice.” My shoulders fell with the admission. “The succubus is already after me.” Emotion tightened my throat. “Listen, if you want to return home, I understand.”

“Are you kidding?” She arched back, looking at me as if I’d insulted her. “And leave you and Des to fend for yourselves in Italy?”

Too choked up to speak, I wrapped my arm around her as we walked toward Des. I held a hand down to him, and the three of us walked back toward Antonio’s.

No sooner had we turned the corner down the alleyway that led to his house than I heard footsteps echo behind us. I looked over my shoulder to see two hooded figures gaining on us, their heads hung low, their hands jutted in their pockets.

Ethyl tensed beside me. “Do you see them?”

I nodded as I reached into my purse and clutched my wand. “Hang on.”

Ethyl stumbled when they let out a sharp whistle. “Maybe we should see what they want,” she suggested.

“Are you crazy?” I hissed, a chill sweeping up my spine. I knew to listen to my gut as they closed the distance between us. I whispered an invisibility spell, securing us in a translucent cocoon that shielded us from their view. The strangers swore, spinning around while looking for us. Iknewthey’d been following us, but why?

Once we reached the safety of the walls of Antonio’s yard, I quietly closed the latch on the gate and then breathed a sigh of relief. I whispered a spell to remove the invisibility bubble while sharing a knowing look with Ethyl. Des was serenely smiling, scratching Puffy’s chin. He had no idea we’d been so close to danger. No wonder Antonio didn’t want us going out.I wondered if those hooded figures were pickpockets, or if they were following us for a more sinister reason.

Chapter Nine

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