Page 94 of Castings & Curses

The pitcher hit the table with a thud and I tried to turn my face toward the house.

Eric wrapped his big hand over the base of my neck and pulled me toward him. My forehead crashed into his chest.

“I don’t know what’s going through that pretty head of yours, but by your blush, I’m guessing it's dirty. For the record, I’m in.”

Liv and Sarina came running up to us. “Look what we can do!”

I expected them to turn and show off one of those hand slap games, or try picking each other up.

“Mommy, watch!” Liv moved her hands as if she were throwing something. Nothing happened.

“It stopped working.”

“Mine didn’t. Look what I can do,” Sarina said. She opened her mouth, exposing her teeth, and then she hissed like a big cat. And like a big cat, her mouth was full of some seriously long teeth. She bit them together and pulled her puff ball ponytails back. “And look at my ears!”

Her ears had elongated and were tipped with fine dark fur with tufts.

She shook, and smiled. The teeth and the ears were gone.

By now, I was pinching my mouth closed with my lips sucked in and clamped between my perfectly normal teeth. I didn’t look at Eric, but I could hear the breath rushing in and out of his nose. I could only imagine he had the same wide-eyed, oh-shit look on his face.

Liv scrunched up her face and pouted, curling her hands into tiny fists and stomping on the ground. “Not fair, my trick worked. It did.”

“It’s okay,” Sarina said encouragingly. “Try it again.”

“I wish it works this time.” Liv held her breath and tossed her hand again.

Sparkles twinkled and caught the light, or were they sparks and my child had just thrown cinders?

Eric’s hand scooped the air in front of Liv’s magic. He held his large palm open to me.

“Glitter,” he said.

I let out a breath, good, not sparks.

“It’s fairy dust!” Liv explained.

I pressed my face together, trying to hold my composure. “That’s, wow. Okay. Let’s not show these cool new tricks to anyone else today, okay?” I managed to say. I didn’t think I was making the right decision, but sitting down and explaining what was happening in the middle of everyone here didn’t seem like the best timing.

“Yeah, let’s keep this a secret. Don’t show off for anybody else.”

“But I just figured out how to do it,” Sarina whined.

“How?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.

“We were playing, and I was a fairy and needed sparkles, and then Sarina was pretending to be a cat, and it happened.”

Eric groaned behind me. I glanced back, and he had his hand in his hair, pulling his head back as he walked in a tight circle.

“Yeah, I think, just don’t let anyone see you do that.”

“Okay guys, this is us. We need to head out.” Ash called out from somewhere by the kiddie pool. He had his cell phone in his hand and held it up in the air. “We’ve got a call, let’s go!”

Eric caught my arm.

I turned to look at him. And he kissed me. “I guess we have some things to talk about when I get back.”

“We certainly do. Go.” I gave him a light shove.

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