Mulberry Wands by Kater Cheek Page B

came out from a door in the
back of the shack. She had long gray hair in a braid and a faded
pink dress. She leaned on a cane as she walked, not as if she was
using it to help her, but as if she was pressing the ground into
submission with each step. She glared at Paul, and the wrinkles
around her black eyes shifted from distrust to animosity.
    “Senorita,” she said, beckoning Susan with
the hand not holding the cane.
    Paul took the flowerpots and nodded to say
he’d wait for her. When Susan turned her back, he glared at the old
woman, warning her not to meddle. He had an owl at his back, and
even if he and the owls didn’t like each other, the owls were on
his side.
    Susan glanced over her shoulder at him and he
quickly tried to look friendly.
    When Susan came back, Paul opened the
umbrella again so he could walk to the car without fading. He tried
to read her expression, but he couldn’t hold the umbrella and the
flowerpots and navigate the cluttered courtyard without looking
where he was going. “What did she say to you?” he asked, casually
he hoped.
    “She said you’re not human, that you look
like a human, but that you’re one of the owl people and that
everyone knows owls are trouble. I was trying to pretend I didn’t
know it, that for once I just got lucky and met someone attractive
who liked me just for me, but now that she said that, I can’t
pretend anymore.”
    Paul laughed as though he thought it was a
joke, though his laugh sounded forced even to himself. “What a
bunch of—”
    “Paul, stop.” She put her palm up. “Don’t
lie. Please. I like you, but if you start lying it’s going to spoil
everything. I already knew you weren’t a normal human.”
    There went his cover. Somehow he’d blown it,
and now he was going to go back to the light in disgrace. “What
gave it away?”
    “I Googled you and found nothing. That was my
first clue. Then I looked around further: Facebook, LinkedIn,
Twitter, Pinterest, even MySpace, and found nothing.”
    He had no idea what she was talking
about.
    “And then I figured, well, maybe he’s just
not into that. But then I did a little more searching, and still
found nothing, except for one guy with your name who disappeared
when he got his draft notice.”
    “That’s, um, that’s true.” How did she find
that?
    “You applied for a phone line and got an
apartment, with no work experience and no records.”
    “You found that too?”
    “I work for a private investigator. Brian
showed me how to find all kinds of stuff. He was kind of curious
too, especially when you suddenly got a job at a company which
usually requires a background check.”
    Paul meant to deny, deny, deny, but she’d
already freaked him out with how much information she’d found about
him. “I, um, I kind of magicked my way into that.”
    She nodded. “Your supervisor had a faint
taint about him, so I knew he’d been ensorcelled.”
    Paul’s jaw dropped.
    “But Carlos didn’t,” she said. “He was
totally clean. I figured any building owner who’s willing to take a
renter with no credit, no security deposit and waiving the first
month of rent had to be ensorcelled out of half his soul, but he
just said you were old friends and that he owed you a lot. He
talked you up. He’s a good wingman.”
    “Wingman?”
    “You know, a friend who tries to help you get
laid. It’s not going to work though, because I know you were just
flirting with me because you want something. That hurts. That hurts
a lot. No one likes to be used.” She had a bead of sweat along her
nose from standing in the sun. The light shone in her eyes, making
them look very green. Very green, and very unhappy. “I’ve already
figured out what you want has to do with me being a mage, from
those clumsy questions you asked me. It’s been a great lesson on
how not to be an investigator.” She unlocked her car door and got
in. She’d left the window rolled halfway down, and as soon as she
was sitting, she