Free Tragic Magic by Laura Childs

big sister’s apron strings.”
    “Strangling him,” added Carmela.
    Once the table was cleared, Carmela and Ava laid out the plans for Medusa Manor.
    “When you said plans ,” said Ava, “I thought you meant ideas and stuff. Concepts. But these are real roll-’em-out blueprints.”
    Carmela nodded, then dug into her bag for the rest of the papers Olivia had given her. “I’ve got the concept and creative plans, too,” she told Ava, fanning out a thick stack of papers.
    Ava took a sip of wine, then began sifting through the loose papers. “Oh, hey. A memo regarding set decoration ideas for the Haunted Library and the Morgue of Madness. Yup, we’re gonna need that.”
    Carmela shuffled through papers, too. “Here’s a list of stuff Melody bought at an auction over in Jeanerette. Two tufted leather chairs, a baroque mirror, two oil paintings, a library table. Sounds like some of the stuff I saw today.”
    “You went over there?” asked Ava.
    “Took a quick tour and jotted down a few notes,” said Carmela. “I wanted to have some idea of what we had to work with.”
    “Coffins, for one thing,” said Ava.
    “Plus witches’ masks, a canopy bed like we talked about . . . listen, that basement’s absolutely stuffed with props.”
    “Really,” murmured Ava. “So it is mostly decorating, just like you said. Move some furniture around, figure out themes for the different rooms, add the haunted touches.”

    “Except,” said Carmela, “we have to do it all rather quickly. That horror convention I told you about . . .”
    “DiscordaCon.”
    “Yeah,” said Carmela. “That takes place in three weeks.”
    Ava let loose a low whistle. “So we gotta hustle. Get the fun-house mirrors and flickering skulls in perfect working order.”
    “That’s right,” said Carmela. “And we have to figure out special effects and get cracking on that, too. Then plan to move furniture starting next week. Maybe hire a couple of professional furniture movers so we don’t break our backs. I know Jekyl can give us some names.”
    “Sounds good,” said Ava.
    “You know,” said Carmela, tapping her pen against a blueprint, “this place is controlled by a computer program. There are apparently lights, sound effects, and special-effects projections. I noticed some of the equipment today in one of the upstairs bedrooms.”
    Ava groaned loudly and touched the back of her hand to her forehead. “Just shoot me now, cher . Because I am totally phobic when it comes to computers. Computers, iPods, BlackBerrys, those things all hate me.”
    “No way,” said Carmela. “Besides, how could you be phobic about computers? You have your entire store inventory on computer.”
    “Lot of help that is,” grumped Ava. “It’s all I can do to turn on that vile machine and figure out if I’ve got one shrunken head or an entire case of saint candles.”
    Carmela patted Ava’s hand. “You’ll be fine. In fact, I’ll talk to whoever installed the stuff and put them in charge of getting everything else online.”
    “I did see something about computers,” said Ava. She shuffled through a stack of papers and pulled out a couple of loose pages. “Here it is. Company called Byte Head.”
    “Is there a person’s name, too?”
    “Tate,” said Ava. “Tate Mackie.”

    “So he’s the guy,” said Carmela. “Excellent. Another problem almost solved.”
    “So what now?” asked Ava.
    “Before we do anything,” said Carmela, “we should go back over there. Like I said, I made notes today. But we should put our heads together and figure out what we have to work with, finalize our major room themes, and make a list of what props we need to buy.”
    “You mean go over to Medusa Manor,” said Ava. She suddenly didn’t look too sure of herself. “When?”
    Carmela glanced at her watch. “Well, you have to work all day tomorrow. And I have to work tomorrow. So . . .” She raised her eyebrows.
    Ava finished her sentence. “So we