CACTUS LADY

As Tonya got into the car, her roommate was running the engine. “What took you so long?” Lynette pulled onto the road and headed for town.

“The cops wanted to speak to me.”

“About Roberto?”

“My parents. I’m worried they might be mixed up in something bad. I need you to drive me by their house, so I can check something.” She didn’t say, to make sure they aren’t still in the house, dead.

“And Roberto?”

“For all we know they’re together. They were the first ones to start acting strange, but I think this is some kind of epidemic.” Tonya didn’t say a curse that spreads like a disease. Showing magic to Priya had been hard enough. She couldn’t imagine showing it to Lynette, who didn’t respect her.

“I can’t believe you want me to look for them now. Why did you wait until my boyfriend disappeared?”

“Trust me, this will only take a minute. Either the new owners of the house will come to the door or I’ll figure something out.”

“I’m not helping you break in.”

“Fine, I’ll ring the doorbell.” She would only break in if she really had to.

Lynette sighed and goosed the accelerator.

Tonya wanted to reveal more, but she had no idea what anything meant. The jar Tonya had taken from the fridge didn’t square with the helpful aunt she worked for as a teenager. Her aunt was caring and kind, and swore she made her cures from plants and minerals without drawing on dark sources of power. Only a necromancer would use human body parts. Could it really have been her aunt who put it there, or was it planted by someone to get her in trouble with City Council? Mundane law could put you in jail, but the Old Families could erase your memories and strip your powers.

The fiery explosion suggested Aunt Helen was in magical trouble. Was she hiding more skeletons in the closet to go with the pickled hand? Did her parents know?

In minutes, Lynette raced over the bridge and entered the subdivisions north of town, arriving almost too fast for Tonya. She had to know what happened, but she was afraid of knowing. As long as she didn’t find them, she could pretend her parents were alive and well, living in Toronto to visit her sick aunt. Except since that was a lie, Tonya wondered what else they were hiding.

Strange cars sat in the driveway. Lynette pulled up to the curb.

“I’ll wait here while you ring the bell. If you go around the back to break in, I’m going.”

“You can’t leave me here!”

“You’ve been twitchy since you talked to the cops. What are you planning?”

“Nothing, I have a key.” Tonya conveniently failed to mention the locks had been changed.

“Alright, hurry up!”

Tonya got out of the car, curiosity pushing her forward, even as dread slowed her steps.

She tried the door. Locked. She rang the bell and waited.

After four evenly spaced rings, Tonya was ready to give up when a rumple-faced man answered the door. He had a comb-over and a stained undershirt.

“Sorry to bother you. I was wondering if you’ve seen my parents?”

He stared at her, blinked a couple of times before clearing his throat. “We just moved in. We don’t know anybody here.”

“We used to live here. Jim and Barbara?”

He smiled and put his palms together, releasing a cloud of stale cologne. “Such a cute couple. They sold us the house, really wanted us to have it. I haven’t seen them since.” He shrugged his hairy shoulders.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Did they leave a number? Some way to contact them?”

“No. They were in a hurry to get out of the country, but when you see them, tell them Phil says hi.”

Out of the country. Her parents had left the country? Mom was strict, but she would step in front of a charging rhino for Tonya. Her parents avoided magic—and with it, Old Family politics—but abandoning Tonya to face danger alone wasn’t like them. Something made them leave, against their will.

While Lynette drove to the hospital, Tonya called the local police and reported her parents missing, again. Purrell wasn’t from an Old Family so she wouldn’t know how to help. Only an officer briefed by City Hall would.

“Before we check the hospital, I have to visit City Hall,” she told Lynette.

“You must be joking. This is no time to pay your parking tickets!”

“In Loon Lake we do everything through City Hall. It acts as our law court and local police.” She didn’t say magic police.

“What about Roberto?”

“I’ll be fast. You can stay in the car and call the hospital while you’re waiting for me. I’m sure they just kept Roberto for observation. Purrell would have told you if he got hurt.”

“I can’t wait for you.”

“Come on, Lynette. I came with you, so now do something for me. It’ll only take a few minutes.”

“Be fast.”

As they drove through city streets, Tonya wondered who might help a Pure from a disgraced family. Trads and Mods alike called Pures ignorant for denying their magical heritage. It had scandalized both groups when Mom refused to shun Aunt Helen for selling charms to Mundanes. Between her Mom’s Pure, anti-magic upbringing, and Helen’s maverick attitude, all three factions had reasons to reject Tonya.

In high school, Tonya had tried to make Mod friends, but they scorned her lack of magical training. Tonya hated that her father was a Mundane and her mother was a Pure. She wound up with Mundane acquaintances and Mod enemies, but yearned for a best friend she could share her secrets with. The closest she came to real friendship were the summers she worked for Aunt Helen.

They parked in front of City Hall, a pink granite building surrounded by fallow gardens. She hoped to find an ally who could see her issues in shades of gray but in this emergency, she’d take anyone from an Old Family. Tonya pushed through the glass door, her eyes adjusting to filtered light from a skylight in the cupola. The round atrium of City Hall echoed as she crossed the marble floor. By habit, she looked up. A mosaic depicted the top of the Three-Century Ash Tree, encircling the skylight centered in its leaves. A beam of sunlight cast a pretty glow on the stone below her feet.

Behind the reception counter, a lady with long, ash-blonde hair appeared to be scolding a cactus. She was willowy and smiling, wearing a crocheted vest over a long floral dress. It wasn’t until Tonya got close that Tonya noticed her hair was streaked with gray. The lady’s crow’s feet crinkled but her gaze remained on the cactus, even when she began to speak.

“Some of us were wondering how long it would take you to come.” Her voice was clear and passionless, a cold breath blowing from a snow-capped mountain.

“Who?”

“You’re going to have to be brave.”

“Are my parents okay?”

“Helen predicted you would come.”

“How did you . . .”

The lady picked up the plant pot and held it between them, her eyes never leaving the spiny green succulent. “She says your parents are alive and well, but they can’t come back to Loon Lake right now. They can’t even come back to the country.”

“But I need them. Aunt Helen does too.”

The lady smiled and shook her head. “An Entity is rising, and the Trads are losing control. Anyone who can’t use magic will be caught in between.”

“Tell me where they are.” Tonya’s voice cracked, and she struggled to compose herself. She shouldn’t show weakness when she didn’t know if this lady was friend or foe. Delivering a message for someone, she appeared to be in a trance.

“Aunt Helen, is that you?”

“Your parents are well.”

“Give me a phone number, an address . . . I need to talk to them.”

“She warned me you would insist but they must be protected, even from you. If you find them, you will put them in danger.”

Tonya considered the lady behind the counter. Could she be speaking for the enemy? Was this a tactic to put Tonya off the scent?

“Why would Aunt Helen leave me here if it isn’t safe enough for my parents?”

“She predicted that question.”

“And?”

“Helen is working to make sure you never have to know.”

“What do you mean?”

With a cough, the lady’s eyes came back into focus. Her voice turned raspy. “Why am I talking to a plant?” She frowned down her nose at Tonya. “What can I do for you?”

“I need help from the Old Families. There’s some kind of eating disease on campus.”

“Campus? Well, if it’s just at the university . . .” The aging woman smiled, looking less like a fading flower child now than a shark with her bleached teeth.

“My aunt seems to be affected, and my parents have left town.” When she caught the pleased look on the woman’s face, Tonya decided not to mention her own cravings.

“If the disease only affects outsiders, I don’t think the Families need to intervene, do you?” The lady’s eyes sparkled.

Tonya shivered. “Mundanes are getting sick.”

“Good riddance.”

“What?”

“Look at the time!” The lady grabbed her purse. “Be careful.” She swung open a door in the counter, forcing Tonya to hop out of the way. “We don’t want Family secrets blabbed to outsiders, do we?”

Before Tonya could reply, the lady strode off with a strength that belied her previously gentle demeanor.