White Witch, Black Curse

I held nothing against him for leaving. He hadn't betrayed me by walking away, and he wasn't a coward for not sticking around. I'd made a very large mistake by getting shunned, and it wasn't his responsibility to fix it. I didn't expect him to wait for me until I did. He hadn't said he would. He was rightfully ticked at me for screwing up. If anything, I'd betrayed him, breaking his trust when I told him I could keep everything under control.

"Rache, what does this one do?" Jenks said as he messed around with the last charm I'd left on the counter.

Finding my keys in my bag, I came closer. "That one detects strong magic," I said, pointing out the rune scratched on it.

"I thought that's what that one does," he said as I wedged it on my key ring beside my original bad-mojo, or rather, lethal-amulet, detector.

"This one detects lethal magic," I explained, flipping the original earth-magic amulet and letting it drop. "The one from my dad detects strong magic, and since all lethal magic is strong, it will do the same thing. I'm hoping it won't set off the security systems at the mall, like the lethal amulet does, since they're both ley line based. I'm going to take them shopping and see which works best."

"Gotcha," he said, nodding.

"My dad made it," I said, feeling closer to him as I dropped my keys back in my bag. The charm was over twelve years old, but because it had never been used, it was still good. Better than batteries. "You want some coffee?" I asked.

Jenks nodded, and a chorus of pixy shouts pulled him into the air. I wasn't surprised when the front bell rang. The pixies were better than a security system.

"I'll get it," Jenks said, darting away, but before I could do more than get the coffee grounds out, he was back. "It's a delivery service," he said, slipping a thin trace of silver pixy dust as he came back in. "You need to sign for something. I can't do it. It's for you."

A pang of fear slipped into me, and vanished. I'd been shunned. It could be anything.

"Don't be a baby," Jenks said, instinctively knowing my warning flags had been tripped. "Do you have any idea of the penalty for sending a bad charm through the mail? Besides, it's from Trent."

"Really?" Interested now, I flicked on the coffeemaker and followed him out. A bewildered human was standing on my doorstep in the light from the sign overhead. The door, gaping open, was letting out the heat, and pixies were darting in and out on dares.

"Stop it! Enough!" I called, waving them back inside. "What's wrong with you?" I said loudly as I took the pen and signed for a thickly padded envelope. "You all act like you were born in a stump."

"It was a flower box, Ms. Morgan," one of Jenks's kids said merrily, perched on my shoulder, out of the cold night and nestled in my hair.

"Whatever," I muttered, smiling at the confused man and taking the package. "Everyone inside?" I asked, and when I got off a round of counting up to fifty-something, I shut the door.

A good dozen of Jenks's kids braved the chill of the kitchen, curiosity winning out over comfort, and they all wove in and out before me in a nightmare of silk and high-pitched voices that scraped along the inside of my eyelids. It wasn't until Jenks made that awful screech with his wings that they quit. Nervousness hit me as I tossed the manila-wrapped package on my spot at the table to deal with later. I'd wait until Ivy got home so she could pick me up off the floor when the joke charm Trent had sent me exploded in my face.

Arm around my middle, I got my Vampiric Charms mug out of the cupboard. I hadn't had a good cup of coffee in a week. Not since the last one at Junior's. I wanted another one, but was afraid to go back. Not that I remembered what it was, anyway. Cinnamon something.

Jenks buzzed close, then away. "You going to open it?" he prompted as he hovered over the table. "It's got bumps inside."

I licked my lips and looked askance at him. "You open it."

"And get blasted by whatever nasty elf charm he put in there?" he said. "No way!"

"Elf charm?" I turned around, curious. Crossing the kitchen, I dug my keys out of my bag, watching the heavy-magic amulet glow a faint red. The lethal one was quiet, though. Interested, I waved the pixies off it. It wasn't lethal…but still.

"Open it, Rache! Tink's tampons!"

The coffeemaker finished with a hissing gurgle, and enduring the complaints of twenty-some pixies, I smiled and poured myself a cup. I took a careful sip as I brought it to the table, frowning. Maybe I could get some raspberry syrup to put in it the next time I was at the store.

Pixies clustered on my shoulders, shoving each other as I used my ceremonial knife, still out on the counter, to cut the brown envelope open. Not looking inside, I angled the envelope and cautiously shook whatever it was out and away from me.