spies and spells 02 - betting off dead Read Online Free Page B

Vinnie’s manual switch because he wasn’t going to be happy that I was going to see Mick. “Vinnie, I’m going to SKUL headquarters.”
    “I don’t find that sentence a bit musing, Maggie.” Vinnie’s distaste for SKUL and all things related started back on that fateful night I’d played Truth or Spell with Lilith while we were having a drink at The Derby after work one day.
    I lost the dare so I had to put a cat spell on the man of Lilith’s choice. That man just so happened to be Mick Jasper. Only. . .I put the spell on the wrong man. Mick had seen it all and when I cast the mind-erasing spell on him, it didn’t work. In fact none of my spells worked on Mick and that’s when my Witchy Hour came. And that’s how I knew my life’s journey was based around Mick and SKUL.
    A life’s journey I’d questioned up until this morning when Mick showed up on the sidewalk in front of The Brew. It’d been a couple of months since I’d heard from him and I figured it had been an anomaly and the Witchy Hour had it wrong. But maybe not.
    “I wasn’t trying to amuse you, Vinnie.” I mimicked his static voice. “I’m serious. You can either drive me to SKUL headquarters or I can flip on the manual.”
    Vinnie roared his engine and I held on figuring him to be so mad that he was going to take off. Boy was I wrong. His tires rolled at a snail’s pace just to piss me off. Just to piss him off, I pulled the visor down and took my Mystic Couture lipstick out of my clutch and applied it very slowly over my lips.
    “Mick really loved this color last time I wore it.” My lips made the suction sound as I patted them together to matte the gloss. “And my hair.” I shook my head side-to-side as it magically styled into long loose curls down my back. “Perfect. Oh.” I lifted my hand in the air. “Just a quick wardrobe change.” I circled my hand in the air and settled into the tightest pair of leather slacks and deep v-neck sweater.
    “I do not think so.” Vinnie quipped. “You do not go out looking like that or I’ll have to send a message to your mom. Plus, you have to wear the necklace.” The red stone pendant I had hooked on the gearshift glowed.
    “I’ll make you a deal.” It was time to get down to business. “You are my familiar. Technically, you have to do what I tell you to do. I understand you are here to keep me safe. But I also believe that you are keeping me from figuring out my life’s journey.”
    “What’s this deal you are talking about?” Vinnie never liked it when I reminded him that it was me who was in charge, not him, as he liked to think.
    “I’ll keep on being the same old, same dressing Maggie Park and not decide to take the bus or even have Mick pick me up if I need to, if you continue to keep me safe and do what I say, like drive me to SKUL like a normal car.” It was plain and simple. “Do the job you were meant to do, not because you are jealous of Mick Jasper.” I stuck my finger in the air and explained, “Who by the way has no interest in me the way you think.”
    “I think I know how to make an emotional read out.” Vinnie’s screen lit up with lights. They did a wave before the lights made a graph. “As you can see, this was Mick’s emotional chart from the night you tried and failed, I might add, to make him a cat” his voice snide, “to his emotional chart during the last investigation you assisted SKUL in, all the way to this morning when he saw you in front of The Brew.”
    There was an obvious climb when we first met, a lull over the past couple of months, and a spike this morning.
    “You just had to bring up the failed part didn’t you?” I asked and snapped my fingers to change my outfit into a pair of khaki skinny pants tapered at the ankles, a black turtleneck fitted sweater and a pair of black sensible flats. I kept my hair the same because I kind of liked the loose curls.
    “Because he makes you lose your marbles when you’re around him which