Magical Misfire Read Online Free

said, his voice dry as a martini.
    “A pretty tongue you have, sharp as a blade,” she said, leaning close to him. “Have a care, love, or you’ll find yourself haunted.”
    “Not likely. My property’s warded with stronger magic than you could overcome.”
    “Bryn, don’t be rude.”
    Her eyes narrowed. “So you think you’re a wizard, too, do you? What sort, then?”
    “Celestial,” he said.
    “A stargazer?” she asked, then shook her head slowly. “You don’t look it. You’ve the look of water about you. Shiny as a—” She paused scrutinizing him and then me. “My girl, where do your people come from?”
    “I’m from Texas, born and bred. But my momma’s family’s from New York and Great Britain a ways back. My daddy’s from Scotland or thereabouts, or so I’m told.”
    She studied me, taking a deep breath so her big bosom wobbled in her low-cut dress. “You’ve done a spell you said. What manner of spell?”
    My furtive glance darted to either side and over my shoulder before I loosened the purse strings. I rolled the opening down an inch, and the wild-haired head of Jenna Reitgarten popped up.
    “Help!” she wailed.
    “Oops,” I squeaked, clapping the top together and cinching it closed.
    “Lucky stars above,” Sally said with a throaty laugh. “The genuine article. Tell me your name again.”
    “It’s Tammy Jo. Do you think you can help me?”
    “It was the spring of hope,” Bryn murmured, frowning at my eagerness.
    “Call me Sal. We’ll help each other,” Sally said.
    “It was the winter of despair,” Bryn added.
    I beamed at Sally then turned to Bryn. “Don’t be negative,” I said, giving his arm a pinch. “Call it the winter of hope. And the Christmas of relief!”
    “I would,” Bryn said. “But somehow that’s never the way the story goes.”

2
    “On the whole, I don’t believe corsets are proper adventure attire.” I twisted, trying to stop the corset’s bones from poking me. The shifting worsened things and I had to stop and stand up straight, which made me feel dizzy. Sally had sent us on a mission. But it turns out I can’t walk very fast when my torso’s in a straitjacket. So annoying.
    “Are you all right?” Bryn asked.
    “As right as I can be in underwear that could double as a torture device,” I said, huffy. We passed a worn building that housed a flea market antique store.
    Sally had sent us to steal sea creatures from a fountain, and a bunch of questions kept swishing through my brain. How did they survive away from the ocean? What did they eat? If the owner used chemicals to treat the water, did it make them sick?
    Sally had said we’d need to use a spell to attract them. “Why would fish be drawn to magic?”
    “They wouldn’t be,” Bryn said.
    “You’re saying Sal lied?”
    “I know it’s hard to imagine. A prostitute who lies, alert the media.”
    “Sometimes you sound just like your dad,” I said, frowning. Lennox Lyons was the most sarcastic person I’d ever met. “If I poured some sugar water over you, I could make lemonade.”
    “Great. We’ll have something to drink in jail.”
    It should’ve been a sobering thought, but instead of worrying me it made me giggle.
    “It must be this way,” I said. “I know Mercutio was having fun on the Strand with all those people feeding and admiring him, but I’m surprised he didn’t come with us.”
    “He recognizes a fool’s errand when he sees one.”
    “Are you saying my cat’s smarter than us?”
    “Yes.”
    That made me laugh again.
    “Is this right?” I mumbled, straining to see the street sign. To say the house was a faded beauty was putting it mildly. Paint peeled off the walls and backyard weeds grew taller than me. Several of the downstairs windows were boarded up.
    “Yes, this is Postoffice Street. In Sally O’Shea’s time, this was the red-light district.”
    “Oh,” I said. A few months back, I hadn’t known what a red-light district was, but apparently