Free spies and spells 01 - spies and spells by tonya kappes Page A

half-rabbit, half-dog animal. Another spell gone bad because of me.
    “I don’t know what is going on,” I bellowed with a whine in my tone. “First I see this guy three times.” I stopped and then started. “Two guys three times. Then I got this earthquake feeling in my body all three times.” I flopped my hand in the air from my wrist. “My spells with one of the guys are off. I just don’t know what is wrong with me.” I rubbed my forehead. “I think I’m going to be sick.” I held in my gag reflex and put my hand over my mouth.
    “Spells are not something to mess with. One wrong syllable, one wrong snap, or twitch and everything we have ever done to blend in will go away in a flash. Then where would we be?” Her eyes darted between my sister and me. “We would have to start over.” She snapped the collar from my bowl.
    She tossed it into the air and clapped her hands. The collar exploded into shimmery sliver glitter, floating down perfectly on the bouquet, giving the flowers a sparkle.
    Mom had a natural gift of turning evil into good, and clearly the collar was filled with evil. I never went to her because Auntie Meme had always been more understanding.
    “Now.” Mom let out a heavy sigh and dusted off her hands. She went back to eating as though nothing had just happened. My appetite was shot. “Why would someone want to give you a cat collar?” She took a sip of soup off her spoon, her pinky elegantly cocked.
    Abram stuck his nose in the back door. “Is it okay to come back in? The bike looks fine.” He gestured over his shoulder to the garage.
    Squawk! Gilbert swooped into the room, perching itself on Lilith’s shoulder. Riule growled.
    “Yes.” I waved him in. “I’m sure someone had me mixed up with someone else about the collar.”
    “No.” Abram took his seat, shaking his head, taking another bite of his bread. He spoke with a full mouth, “He described—”
    “So,” I spoke in a loud tone cutting Abram and his big mouth off. “How is my Vinnie’s operating system?”
    “It needs new tires.” Abram’s shoulders bounced up and down as he chuckled to himself. Vinnie would be so mad if he knew Abram referred to him as it .
    “I haven’t changed the tires in a while.” Abram hunched over his soup bowl, not looking at anyone. “Since we have this rain, I want to make sure you are safe in that old car.”
    “Are we supposed to have bad weather?” Lilith asked, covering up her part in the collar problem.
    “No.” Mom snapped. She knew better. She kept an eye on the weather since she took such great care of her flowers and plants. Not to mention her herb garden.
    I pushed the bowl of soup away from me and pulled my mini-loaf apart. The thought of the informant coming to my house, finding me, sent goose bumps all over my body, even my neck. It didn’t take a witch instinct to know something was wrong. Way wrong.

 
     
    Chapter Eight
     
    “What was that about?” Lilith and I retreated to my room after we had cleaned up from dinner and let Auntie Meme get ready for her Spell Circle to come over and do their weekly cleanse.
    “What?” I pretended not to know, pulling my clothes off and replacing them with a black turtleneck and black yoga pants, and pulling my hair up into a high ponytail.
    I had to get the package out of my house before something really went wrong. The informant really wanted me to know he knew he had been turned into a cat, otherwise, why would he have sent me the collar? There was no way I was going to give Mick the package. The informant knew where I lived. I was going to get the package back to him. He obviously meant business and Mom was right. There was no way I was going to put my family in danger over overpriced makeup or whatever was going on between Mystic Couture and SKUL.
    My family had a good gig going in Louisville with the diner and I wasn’t going to be the one to take us down.
    If Mick threatened to shut down The Brew, I’d have to let