The Problem With Black Magic Read online

  ***

  “Mom, I’m telling you it’s fine. Jay and Mike’s parents said yes already.”

  “And if they all jumped off a bridge…” began Annette.

  Cassie put down her fork, ignoring her dinner of microwaved lasagna. Hunter had taken a few disinterested bites and then ran back to his X-Box, so unfortunately, she had Annette’s undivided attention. “Mom, it’s not jumping off a bridge, it’s going to a coffee convention! We’re going to get to taste exotic blends learn how to make all the new espresso drinks.”

  “And I’m telling you for the last time, you don’t need to learn anymore about coffee, you need to study for the PSATs. Who’s paying for this, anyway?”

  Cassie averted her eyes. She was used to lying to her mother by this point, but this coffee convention story was a whopper, even for her. “The company. They’re paying for the training.”

  “Really?” said her father, looking up from his dinner for the first time. She saw the bulge of his amulet under his shirt, and thanked her lucky stars that her family had agreed to wear her “art project” for a while without too much of a hassle. “A coffee chain is going to pay thousands of dollars for a couple of part-time employees to attend a seminar? Doesn’t sound very cost effective.”

  Cassie licked her lips. They’d all come up with this cover story together; had everyone else’s parents asked this many questions? “Dwight and Khalil are going too, and they’re full time. Also, DG is a really generous company. They give a percentage of their profits to help save the rainforests every year.”

  “Wait a minute,” said Annette, crossing her arms and fixing Cassie with a harsh look. “You said Mike’s parents allowed him to go. Since when does he work at the shop? Isn’t he the rich brat from Aston Court who doesn’t have to work?”

  Could she have screwed this up any more? “He’s starting, he wants to work at DG with the rest of the gang.”

  Her father looked puzzled. “Gang? You have a gang now?”

  Annette brought her plate to the sink and began rinsing dishes angrily. “I’ll tell you what’s going on Jon, it’s that man from last week. She wants to go to this stupid thing so she has an excuse to stay at a hotel with her older boyfriend, and we’ll get to be grandparents nice and early.”

  Cassie blushed fiercely. “Mom! You’re being totally ridiculous!”

  Jon put down his fork and looked at her seriously; always a bad sign. “Cassie, is he going to the convention with you?”

  Cassie stuttered; they had decided to keep as much of the story true as they could for simplicity’s sake, but if she told Annette that Sam was going, that would be the end of it. Annette took her silence as an answer, and pointed at her father. “You see, I told you! I was a high school girl once too.”

  “And I was a high school boy,” said Jon gravely. “And however old that Sam fellow is. No, this time I agree with your mother: you’re staying home.”

  Cassie looked at them, wanting to scream. If she didn’t go to court, Sam’s claim to her would be forfeit, and then the court would deem her their property by default. If they didn’t let her go to the “convention,” she would be taken away and they’d probably never see her again, but she couldn’t tell them that.

  “Please,” she begged, hearing the tears that were beginning to well up in her voice. “Please, let me go to this thing. You don’t know how important this is.”

  Jon and Annette looked at her, then exchanged worried glances. “Why is it so important, Cass?” said her father, getting up from his chair at the dinner table. “You can tell us.”

  “It’s…I…” she stuttered, feeling hot tears run down her cheeks. She went to swear, tripping over her tongue when she remembered that curses were dangerous, and jumped out of her chair in frustration. She ran out of the kitchen and towards her room, where she collapsed on her bed. She tried to think of a new angle, a way to convince her parents that the convention was a good idea, but knew it was futile; the moment Annette had mentioned the prospect of Cassie coming home a pregnant teenager, she knew her parents would consider the trip off the table.

  After a few minutes, there was a soft knock on her door and her father came in. He sat at the foot of her bed and began rubbing her back gently. “Cassie, you know you can tell us, right? Whatever’s going on, we can handle it.”

  No you can’t she thought immediately. In theory, she could tell her parents the truth, but she couldn’t see any possible way it would help. Either they’d try to get her psychiatric help, which wouldn’t get her to court on time, or worse, they could actually believe her— in which case, Annette would probably insist on stomping into court by herself to give demonkind a piece of her mind. It might be a cliché, but it really was safer for her parents if they didn’t know.

  “There’s nothing going on, Dad. I just really wanted to go to this convention, is all.”

  “Well, there will be other conventions. And if anything comes up, tell us— don’t keep it bottled up. We’re here to help.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” Cassie choked out softly.

  It was only later, when her father had left and Cassie had resigned herself to the fact that she was going to have to get herself to court on the sly, that it occurred to her to wonder how Serenus had gotten her measurements for the dress in the first place. Maybe there were some things they were all safer not knowing.