Shanna Swendson - Don't Hex with Texas

Sam folded his arms across his chest and his wings against his back. “Hmmph. Just don’t get cocky, kid. One rogue wizard is enough.”

“I don’t think I’m in any danger of being drunk with power. I’m actually kind of exhausted.”

“We do have to stop this guy,” I put in, hoping to steer this conversation back to the reason we were here in the first place. “Our local wizard is even worse than Idris in a way, since I don’t think we ever caught Idris using magic to actually commit a crime. Idris’s spells may be on the darker side ethically, and he may encourage others to do bad things, but we’ve never seen him use magic to steal, have we?”

“He doesn’t have to if he can get other people to do the dirty work for him,” Owen said. “He’s probably charging a commission.”

“So, we’ll stay on the case,” Sam said. “I’ll keep an eye on the place, see when the glass comes back, and make sure nobody else tries to take advantage of the situation. You two get out of here before anyone sees you.”

“And before my parents realize we’re not there,” I added.

The next morning, I got up early enough to try doing something with my hair other than the usual ponytail. It had grown past my shoulders, and it didn’t seem to want to do anything other than lie lifelessly against my head. I even went all-out and put on a bit of makeup. Owen might have caught me off guard the day before, but I wanted to show him that I hadn’t let myself slide completely. I knew it was a bad idea to even think of getting back together with him. We had to keep our relationship strictly business, but I’d want to look nice for a business relationship, as well. At least, that’s what I told myself as I put on some lip gloss.

I got downstairs to find Owen already sitting at the kitchen table, sharing a newspaper with my dad while silently drinking coffee. Mom was cooking an elaborate breakfast. She jabbered on while the men more or less ignored her. Every so often, Dad would pass a newspaper section on to Owen. From what I could tell, nothing in what Mom was chattering about had anything to do with any suspicions about where we’d been the night before.

“Katie!” Dad greeted me as I entered the kitchen. Owen looked up at me and flashed me a smile. He was fully dressed, complete with contact lenses.

“Good morning, everyone.” I headed straight to the coffeepot to pour myself a cup before I took a seat at the table next to Owen.

“Why don’t you take the day off to spend with your friend?” Dad suggested. “You’ve been working harder than you ought to, considering I haven’t been paying you a real salary other than room and board and spending money. Besides, it’s Saturday, and we’re only open half a day, anyway. Someone comes in all the way from New York, you should spend time with him.” I took that to mean that Dad thoroughly approved of Owen.

“Well, okay, twist my arm,” I said. “Though I’m not sure what we’ll come up with to do. We saw all the local sights yesterday. Both of them.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something,” Mom said.

“I know what we could do today,” I said. “Maybe we could get a tour of the courthouse. It’s got some really interesting architecture, and there’s that little museum of Cobb County justice.”

“That sounds like fun,” Owen said, catching my eyes and giving me the slightest of nods to show he knew that I really didn’t have that warped a definition of fun. “I think the courthouse square is definitely worth checking out. And then I’d like to explore some of the surrounding countryside. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much open space.”

“I’ll pack you a picnic lunch!” Mom chirped. “Oh, Frank, doesn’t that sound romantic?” Dad just rustled his newspaper as he turned the page and folded it over again.

It did sound romantic, but I forced myself not to get my hopes up. So far, romance didn’t seem to have entered Owen’s mind. “Speaking of romance,” I said, “did Dean come over last night?”

“Why would he do that?” Mom asked.

“I saw him and Sherri in the Dairy Queen having one of their knockdown, drag-outs. Usually he comes crawling home after one of those because she kicks him out. I wonder where he slept last night if he didn’t come here.”

“Stop saying such things about your brother. His marriage may be a bit rocky, but it’s nothing for you to gossip about. Now, give me a few minutes, and I’ll have a picnic all packed for you two. Just don’t stay out too late. Tonight’s the big family dinner, and you’ll want to get back in time to get cleaned up and changed. I’m sure Owen would like to see you in something other than jeans. Surely you don’t dress like that in New York.”

“In New York I don’t have a job that involves moving around bags of fertilizer and cattle feed,” I muttered. I glanced over at Owen, and he looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel from trying to hold back his amusement. I rolled my eyes at him, and he went into a coughing fit that sounded suspiciously like laughter.

When we were safely out of the house with a picnic basket that could have fed an entire scout troop, I said, “It was so much easier at your folks’ house.”

“For you, maybe.”

“Oh, don’t start that. Yeah, you got a lecture or two, and they’re not exactly cuddly, but they weren’t that bad. At least we didn’t have to try to hide or cover up anything.”

“That’s because they already know everything, and I do mean everything. There’s no point in hiding anything from them.”

“Well, compared to my family, they’re sane.”

“I’ll give you that one.” This time, it was my turn to fight a smile. He was thawing ever so slightly, getting back to his old self in his more relaxed moments.

We went straight to the courthouse square, with the pretense of taking that tour we’d mentioned. The local police department must have used up every piece of crime scene tape they had to seal off most of the storefronts on the square. All the windows were back in place, and a crowd had gathered around the perimeter of the taped-off area.

I led Owen through the crowd to where one of the local deputies was trying to keep the crowd back.

I’d gone to high school with him and had seen him around town since I’d been back. “Hey, Jason!” I called out. “What happened here?”

He grinned as he pushed back his hat and wiped the sweat off his forehead. “Damnedest thing—oh, sorry, didn’t mean to curse in front of you. Anyway, most of these stores were robbed overnight, very select things taken, no sign of forced entry.”

“Really? What kind of stuff was stolen?”

“Oh, the kind of stuff you’d take if you had five free minutes in a store—and a criminal mind, of course. Some jewelry from the jewelry store. Not the really good stuff, because that was locked up, but a few of the pieces they had on display. Some of their china. A few of the more expensive knickknacks from the pharmacy’s gift shop, that kind of thing. They didn’t seem to be after drugs, and they didn’t even take the over-the-counter stuff that can be made into crystal meth, which is what we see in most drugstore robberies these days.”

“Wow, that’s amazing,” I said. “Thanks for the scoop.”

He tipped his hat to me. “Any time, Katie.”

“So, there we are,” I said as Owen and I wove our way back out of the crowd. “It’s almost like this whole correspondence course is on how to use magic to get rich quick.”

He scanned the crowd. “I bet our culprit is here right now. They say a criminal always returns to the scene of the crime. Someone who’s pleased with himself for doing something so clever wouldn’t be able to resist watching the aftermath.”