Shanna Swendson - Don't Hex with Texas

Rod cut him off. “Owen! Later.”

“Oh, right, sorry.”

“We do have something going on that we have to plan for, Granny,” I said.

She entered the room and sat in my desk chair. “Maybe I can help.”

“That’s really not necessary,” Rod said.

She shot him a glare that could have curdled milk. “You lot have my grandchildren mixed up in this.

You’ll not shut me out.”

“You’ve already been very helpful,” Owen said gently. “You gave me perfect directions to find the local magical folk, and they’re going to help us tonight.”

“This all has to do with those strange young men loitering downtown, doesn’t it?”

“Yes,” I said. “And we’ll be getting rid of them soon enough.”

“Good. They have terrible manners.” She stood and said, “Then I suppose I’ll see you all this evening. You’re outnumbered, so you need me. I’ll have Teddy pick me up. I don’t like to drive after dark. Be sure to eat a good dinner.” And then she was gone before any of us could object.

“Now we see where Katie gets it,” Rod observed dryly.

I whirled on him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, would you let yourself be left out of this?”

“Not on your life.”

“I rest my case. How much help might she be?”

“I have no idea. I didn’t know she was magical until a couple of days ago. I just thought she was crazy.”

“She’s got a pretty vast knowledge of folklore and folk magic,” Owen said. “She’s also got a few good protective charms and healing abilities.” I remembered all the nasty herb teas she’d made me drink when I was sick as a child, and now I knew why her miracle cures never worked on me. She must have figured my immunity out, for she gave up on the teas after a few tries.

“It would seem that our magical assets include myself, Mr. Palmer, Mr. Gwaltney, and now Mrs.

Callahan, as well as Sam,” Merlin said.

“We also have Dean on the inside,” Owen added.

“And then Miss Chandler as an immune.”

“Plus my brother Teddy, who’s also immune.”

Merlin raised an eyebrow and said to Owen, “Now I see what you mean about an interesting family tree. And then we have whatever local creatures deign to show up. That’s against how many of them?”

“About two dozen to start with, but a few of them left this morning,” Dean reported.

“Mr. Idris is the only fully qualified wizard of the lot?” Merlin asked.

“As far as I can tell,” Dean replied. “Not that I’m an expert, but the whole group seems to be students.”

“Ah, then it looks as though the odds are in our favor. Shall we convene at the park half an hour before sunset?”

I finally managed to herd the magical cabal out of my office so I could get some work done and so the work of the store could continue. I couldn’t imagine explaining to my dad why I was holed up in my office with a group of strangers during peak operating hours. Owen let out a huge whoosh of breath when they were all gone. “I guess I’m not fired,” he said.

“Yeah, but the question is, will you have to stay after school when this is over?”

“Oh, this is definitely not the last I’ll hear of this. How much trouble I’m in will depend on how things go tonight.”

When I’d finished my work early that afternoon, I said to Owen, “Ready to go bait the hook?”

He sighed heavily. “We might as well.”

“Having second thoughts?”

“Of course, but I can’t think of anything else that would be as effective. I’m sure I’ll be fine. I can take care of myself.”

“Yeah, but we don’t want you wearing yourself out before tonight. I’m worried about you.”

“You are?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Of course I am. Why do you think I’m here in the first place?”

“Saving me from myself, I know.” He sounded almost dejected.

I patted him on the arm. “I mean that in a good way. Do you think I’d have willingly left New York and come back here for just anyone?” That earned me the slightest hint of a smile and an incredibly cute blush.

I’d parked my truck behind the store in the loading area so it wouldn’t be as visible to anyone driving by. As we pulled out onto the road, Owen said, “Let’s go by the square. See if any of them are there.”

There weren’t nearly as many of the visitors wandering the square this afternoon, just a couple of groups. “Drive slowly by them,” he said. Then he turned his face to the truck’s window so he was fully visible.

One of the men in the group did a double take as I drove past, then he got the attention of the others and pointed. “Speed up now,” Owen directed. I gunned the truck to drive away as the group of wannabe wizards took off running after us. I was almost out of their reach when I reached a stoplight that had just turned red. The tires squealed as I slammed on the brakes. It was an intersection with a major highway, so I wasn’t about to try running that light.

The band of wizards had almost reached the truck, and my necklace buzzed to the point that it was painful. “They’re using magic,” I said.

“I know. I’m deflecting it.”

Then they veered off to the side, and I let myself relax. Maybe they’d given up. But then a car roared around the corner of the square, heading toward us.

“Oh great, now they’ve got a car,” I said, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel in worry and impatience. “I can’t run the light.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Well, in about fifteen seconds they’re going to rear-end us unless we find another way to get out of here.”

Just then, the light turned green. A car on the other road screeched to a stop, and the car following rear-ended it. I winced, but this was no time to stop and play good Samaritan. I floored the truck and made the turn onto the main road as fast as I could without losing control, since the old truck didn’t turn on a dime. Then I made the mistake of looking in the rearview mirror. They were still behind us, having squeaked through the light just as it abruptly turned red, skipping the entire yellow stage.

Something told me the light wasn’t exactly on its normal cycle.

My truck could barely get up to highway speed, while they were driving a new sports car. That meant I wasn’t going to be able to outrun them in a typical high-speed car chase. I did, however, have other advantages. I’d grown up in this town and knew its streets like the back of my hand. I turned sharply onto a side street, then made another quick turn. They roared past down the first street, and I turned again, cutting across the neighborhood and back to one of the main cross streets.

“I think someone else is following us,” Owen said in the freakishly calm voice he got in tense situations. I was impressed with the way he didn’t try to apply nonexistent brakes on his side of the cab when I made those fast turns. You’d have thought he was in car chases every day.

“They must have called in backup,” I said, turning sharply onto another side street. And then I had to slam on the brakes as an old lady with a walker made her way slowly across the road to her mailbox.

The bad guys were right behind us and closing in fast.

As soon as the lady was more than halfway across the street, I swerved to the wrong side of the road to go around her and continue down the street. Owen turned in his seat, muttering something in a foreign language, and my necklace nearly jumped off my neck. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“A little diversion,” he said in his calm crisis tone.

I chanced a glance in the rearview mirror and saw the lady still standing at her mailbox. The car following us screeched to a halt, though, and one of the guys jumped out and ran to kneel in front of the car. The lady looked at him for a moment, then shrugged and made her way slowly back across the street. “Let me guess, they think they hit her,” I said.