Believe the Magic Read online

  Maybe Sam and Quentin were invisible.

  “Took you long enough.”

  “Why don’t you guys tell me anything?” I shouted mentally. Almost did it out loud. But getting picked up by the mouse patrol would not have been amusing. “Am I invisible now?”

  “Watch out! You shouldn’t just stand there in the middle of the walkway, have some respect for cripe’s sake.”

  “Someone want to tell me what a cripe was? And while you’re at it, how the heck do I become invisible? Someone? Anyone? Are you out there?”

  All I could see was a sea of people. And no one looked familiar.

  “Well, lookee here. A pretty girl with a frown. Can’t have that happen in a nice place like Disneyland, can we boys?”

  Oh God. I didn’t like the looks of the boys who fanned out around their leader, a skinny Hispanic who stood in front of me with his hands on his hips. I had no way out.

  My initial thought was this was a group of thugs who preyed on tourists. Then I saw the beads. Just like mine, two crystal looking round gems on a length of rawhide. Magic. He had magic. And if he had any sort of skill, he could probably read my mind, perhaps had heard my little mental conversation with Sam and…I was in trouble.

  “You look lost, princess. D’ya wanna head up to the top of Cinderella’s castle and see if we can find our own magic?”

  “I don’t think so, buster.” I stepped back. I wasn’t going anywhere with him. Wouldn’t have under any condition. His hair didn’t appear to have been washed in days, maybe weeks. He wore what had probably once been a white tank top, and it was two sizes too small for his scrawny body. His jeans were nearly black, again, likely from lack of laundering rather than the color the manufacturer intended. Head to toe, there was zero appealing about this guy.

  And there were…one, two, three, four of them. Another one had a necklace, too. And they got uglier and dirtier as I counted down the line. It was little ole me with limited magic versus the gang-looking magic squad.

  With little left to hope for I clicked my heels together twice. I wish I were invisible, I wish I were invisible.

  “Sheeeeet. Where’d she go?” One of them gasped.

  “Why didn’t you grab her before she had a chance to get away?” another asked.

  Duh. And thank goodness. Thank you, Dorothy. Maybe I didn’t have ruby red shoes, but that was all right. I glanced down. I still could see myself okay.

  I realized I was still in the clothes I’d worn to the dump. And in this California heat, all these layers weren’t making me feel any better about the way I probably smelled. Well, at least walking around invisible could be fun. I imagined people turning around and sniffing, “Who farted?”

  “Now I know you’re the woman for me.” I knew that voice. And couldn’t deny those hands that slipped so easily around my waist. And I’d known the guy less than a day. My morals were slipping. Bad.

  “Tie me to you or something. This is ridiculous.”

  “I saw you try to pick up those men.”

  “Oh, yeah, luckily I managed to find the invisible switch and fake them out.”

  “You really shouldn’t do that.”

  “They really shouldn’t have tried to scare a lone woman. You should have heard what they were suggesting.”

  “They’re magic too. Bad guys.”

  “Why didn’t they disappear?”

  “They know better. It’s not a good idea to do it plain sight. Tends to freak people out.”

  “Why are we here, anyway?” I glanced over my shoulder. Still couldn’t see him. “How’d you find me?”

  “I never left. And after you went invisible I just stayed tuned in to your thoughts and well, your smell.”

  I lifted a foot. “Do you think it’s my shoes?”

  “It’s our clothes.”

  “What do we do for lodging, clothes, a shower?” Good Lord I was not going to go without a shower.

  “Sam makes those arrangements. Some sort of deal with the other magic people. It’s like a world within a world. You’re not going to believe it.”

  His voice still held a little awe. “You haven’t been doing this long, have you?”

  “About a year.”

  “Where’s Sam now?”

  “Hunting Mr. B. He’s supposed to be here. Big meeting of magic tonight. At the castle.”

  “With all these people here?”

  “It’s not like we sit around and do tricks. It’ll be discussions, advancements, and who’s doing what.” Great. Stuffy boardroom chat. Just what I wanted.

  He got real quiet. I glanced around, half my brain realizing he’d gone and shut up for good reason. With the other half I watched some kids twirl around on a nearby ride. I wished I was five again and the biggest worry I had was the length of the line in front of my favorite ride.

  “Move.” Quentin pushed up against me. Uh, move how? Ok, I’m not mentally five anymore. Is it possible for your mental voice to go into falsetto? Mine did.

  Quentin stepped in front of me and reached back for my hand. I didn’t think we should be going to first base yet, but considering the circumstance I didn’t not want to hold his hand. Getting lost would mean danger.

  He pulled me into a jungle-like recess next to a little log cabin. From the sounds, it was wheels and chains and grease that occupied it. “What?”

  He covered his mouth with mine when I started to talk. Darn near swallowed my words and my tongue in one motion. I really had no choice. I whipped my arms around his neck and hung on. He hadn’t meant it to be anything more than diversion. His garbled thoughts were on me and the thugs walking by. But then—then…well, let’s just say I wasn’t sure what turned me on more, his racy thoughts or prolific tongue.

  He was really good at kissing. Usually I could take or leave the making out part. Hmm. Not with Quentin. Shame this wasn’t the place or time.

  “Release invisible now.”

  “How do I do that?” I mumbled against his lips.

  “How’d you disappear?”

  “Pretended I was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.”

  He muttered something. I was probably lucky I didn’t hear it. “Then do it again.”

  I opened my eyes. It was definitely Quen standing in front of me. We were still half lip-locked. Well, it could be worse. Then I realized his green eyes were laughing at me.

  “What?”

  “Say ‘you can see me’.”

  “You can see me?” I asked.

  “There. You did it.”

  I stepped back and looked down. “Yeah, I can see me. And you.”

  He just shook his head. I started to leave the much too cozy little hideaway. “Wait.” He stopped me.

  I pivoted. He mussed my hair. “Now you look like you’ve been making out.”

  “But I was.”

  He closed his eyes. And counted to five.

  What? It wasn’t good enough I had kissed him back, but I had to look the part?

  “Now,” he hissed in my ear, “we pretend we’re normal.”

  “Hey, you got your necklace back.” I hadn’t seen him since we landed. “How’d that happen?”

  “Sam had it with him—well, it’s really his. He’s strong enough to use everyone else’s gems to do tricks. I need my own.”

  “I thought he didn’t trust you.” We were walking with the crowd now, although I bet we were an unlikely pair of tourists.

  “He doesn’t, but figures I wouldn’t desert you or try to take you with me.”

  With narrowed eyes I cast a sidelong glance. “You wouldn’t, would you?”

  “No.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “Right now? The water slide. It’ll do for a temporary shower.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  He wasn’t. I might have been less soaked if I’d have just jumped into the blue tinted pool. At least I wasn’t wearing a white t-shirt. That would have been disastrous.

  “Food, clothes. Especially dry clothe
s would be nice about now.” I glanced around the exit to the ride. “They should have Q-tip dispensers here.”

  “And I supposed you have a quarter.”

  I patted my pockets. “Nope.”

  “Then be glad there isn’t one. You got a watch?”

  I glanced at my water soaked Timex. “It’s almost seven.”

  “Then we need to go meet Sam.”

  I hadn’t thought it was cold, but the heavy, damp clothes sure made the seventy degrees a bit chilly. “Quen, please tell me we’ll get something decent to wear before this lovely meeting.”

  “Oh, sure. You didn’t figure it out? Remember the prime rib example?”

  I glared at him with one eyebrow hiked to the sky. “That was food. I’m talking clothes. Jeans, shirt. Dry underwear.”

  “Yep. Think of what I said about you wanting prime rib.”

  “That it would be taking something from someone else?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  This wasn’t making sense. “I don’t want someone else’s clothes.” I could just imagine my clothes being suddenly swapped with the woman who stood next to me. Not!

  “Not someone else’s. Yours. You have clean clothes hanging in the closet at home, right?”

  “How many thousand miles away is that?”

  Quentin reached over and fondled my beads and finished with a chuck to the chin. “Ella. You are panicking. Stop. Don’t do it here, it’ll leave you, uh, naked for an instant. And personally, I’d rather see that for myself in private.”

  I slugged him. Then sighed. “How am I doing this?”

  “You are going to envision your closet, choose an outfit and then picture yourself in the clean clothes. The same way you pictured the remote smashing me in the face.”

  I chewed my bottom lip. I thought I got it. “Where?”

  “Go in the women’s bathroom. Preferably one that’s empty or has an empty stall.”

  As if finding a moment of privacy was going to happen at Disneyland. There’d probably be a fifteen minute wait at any bathroom.

  “Fine, then, go anywhere,” he responded when I pointed that out. “Someplace secret, where you’re not going to be real obvious walking out wearing something different than what you had on going in.”

  I smiled. Up ahead was the stage where Snow White and her Seven Dwarves were dancing about in a larger than life forest. “Dressing room?”

  “Hey, pretty good.”

  Cha-ching. I got credit for something. Yee-haw. “Should I go invisible?”

  “No, I told you you’re not supposed to do that in public.” So much for feeling good about myself.

  “Just pretend you know what you’re doing.”

  Three steps in, there was someone designed to keep out people like me. “Hey, what are you doing back here?”

  So I screamed and pointed over the big, burly man’s shoulder. And disappeared. As in invisible and around the corner. I bet Quentin would have been proud of me.

  I didn’t really trust this magic to hide my bare butt. So I was being choosy. The dressing rooms weren’t locked. Why in the heck did Snow White’s have a big silly star on it and the dwarfs all have knee high doorknobs?

  Eventually, I found one that looked like it was nothing but storage and ducked in behind a tri-color block tower. The gems burned my throat. My pulse was their rhythm. I closed my eyes and saw my closet. Jeans were on the shelf. Next, a long sleeve blue tee. Dry bra…should I get the purple lace one with the matching panties? I passed over it and went for functional. Same with the socks and underwear. Okay, let’s see what there is to this.

  I clicked my heels for good measure. It was like a dry whirlwind settling over me as I imagined myself undressing and redressing in the new clothes.

  When the breeze died down, I collapsed. Delayed jet lag? Overwhelming desire to fall asleep and wake up to find it was all a dream?

  “I told you magic like that would drain you.”

  I clutched my hands over my chest in case the shirt wasn’t there. “Quen, what are you doing here? And where are you?”

  “Standing next to the pervert who followed you in here.”

  I slapped my hand over my mouth to keep myself from screaming, then felt to make sure I did have clothes on. Sweat, the cold kind, dripped past my Downy fresh cotton bra and slid down my stomach. Another drop trickled down my back. “Did you— Were you… Did he…?”

  “Yeah. Was worth it.”

  “Where is he?” I’d given up trying to communicate mentally. Took too much energy. I was trying to grasp the fact some asshole had seen me naked.

  “I’ve got him. He’s not going anywhere,” Quentin reassured. At least he didn’t make any more comments about my state of undress.

  I slumped against the half-open trunk of satin gowns. “This really bites.”

  “I can take my clothes off if you want to be on the same level.”

  “No.” But I had to laugh at the sharp intake of breath that came from the vicinity of Quentin’s voice.

  “So what do we do with the peeping Tom?”

  “I say we dress him in the Cinderella suit and send him on his way,” I said, already laughing at the visual.

  “He’d just switch back.” Quentin snorted. “But not without getting naked.”

  “I’ll pass on witnessing that.”

  There was a hand at my waist. I jumped out of my skin and clothes both. Well, not literally. His breath was hot against my cheek. Still, I froze, fearful my senses deceived me and it was yet another visitor to the room.

  His teeth snagged my earlobe and pulled, tenderly. My body reacted way too easily. I sighed and reached out for him.

  “You gonna just stick her right here with me watching, man? Untie me, I don’t wanna see nothin’ like that, man.” A whiny voice with a heavy accent drifted from the corner. A chair rocked with no one in it. At least no one visible.

  “What did you do to your prisoner?” I leaned my forehead against Quentin’s chest.

  His hand slid up under my hair and grazed my hairline. I flinched as a shiver raced down my spine.

  “What?” Quentin jumped back. The hand didn’t move.

  Oh God, Oh God, there’s someone else. Should I scream? I bit my lip. He was trying to untie the necklace. I couldn’t feel the tell-tale cold blade of metal. Without another thought I spun and jammed my knee upward.

  Thump, bump, crash.

  Satin and silk flipped through the air. The lid to the crate I’d been leaning on crashed closed. I heard a low moan.

  Chills shook my body. Quentin, in full color, stood beside me. I don’t think he was any less shocked than I was. Oh damn, oh damn, oh damn.

  His voice was low and serious. “Ella, listen to me. Now you know. Now you realize why I followed you, right? Seeing you without clothes was nice, but that wasn’t what I was looking for. The creep must have been there, motionless the whole time.”

  “Get me out of here,” I cried, leaning onto his shoulder. “Find Sam and take me home.”

  “Ella, I hate to tell you this.”

  “What?” I wasn’t going to be able to stomach any more surprises.

  “You won’t be going home. Ever.”

  Chapter Five

  I didn’t care that I was behaving like a spoiled brat. So I jumped up and down and shed a tear or two.

  “Sam, you can’t mean it. I have to go home. My job, my car, my stuff!”

  “You have nothing of real value.”

  “Speak for yourself. I worked hard to get those things.”

  “You’ll get more.”

  “I want those.”

  Sam kicked back on the park bench and tapped his fingers along the seat. He’d obviously been through this drill before. Quentin’s pained look must be from his memory of the day he got the news his life would never be the same. “Is that how you stock your antique store? Lure us out here and then clean out our apartments? I’ve got cash in there. The necklace my grandmother left me. You can’t replace t
hings like that.”

  Sam held out a fist. “Go on,” he prodded. “Take it.”

  I shoved out my hand. There it was, shiny gold in the waning light. “Oh.”

  “How’d you do that?” I asked him.

  “Substituted something for it.” He squinted up at me and motioned Quentin over. I imagined a slug from the wetlands crawling through my jewelry box. Wonderful.

  “Any other things you can’t live without?”

  “Money? Food? How are we going to survive with nothing?”

  Sam handed over a money clip to each of us. Quentin whistled under his breath. But he didn’t hesitate to pocket it.

  “I can’t take this.” I waved it in front of his face.

  “You’ll need it. You must take it.”

  “It’s not mine.”

  “It is now.” Sam pushed past me and started toward the center of the park.

  I jogged up beside him. “At least tell me you didn’t get it by doing someone wrong. You didn’t steal it?”

  “I didn’t steal it,” Sam muttered. “What do you take me for?”

  I fingered the folded wad of bills shoved into my front pocket. The antique business must be doing pretty good. Or he was really Uncle Sam.

  Sam stopped me outside the castle and checked the gems, and tightened the knot. Quentin had filled him in on my quick change act and the following caper. Sam was not amused.

  “Bergestein didn’t show,” Sam noted. I thought what I’d witnessed so far was pretty out there. No, nothing I’d already seen compared to this freak show.

  We were at this big meeting Sam had mentioned. This was like settling into an assembly of representatives of every planet in the universe and beyond. My guess was that magic had other uses, such as altering one’s appearance. I glanced at octopus man next to me. What did he need two extra arms for anyway? And how the hell did he get into Disneyland looking like that?

  And what was up with the woman who looked like a purple Raggedy Ann doll? Still, I think it was the ones who looked totally normal that worried me the most. A gray-haired grandma sat next to a librarian looking middle-aged woman, complete with brown skirt and Hush Puppy shoes. Then there was the fat man whose beer belly stuck out against his dirty white shirt. Tufts of matted hair protruded from the pits and the neckline of the tank top. And he carried a cigar. He belonged outside some corner gas station in the hills of Kentucky.