Magic to the Bone Read Free Page A

Portland.
     
     
    But I had sworn off using magic unless necessary. Losing bits of one’s memory will make those sorts of resolutions stick. I wasn’t about to pay the price of Hounding a man who was more annoyance than threat. Still, he deserved a quick, clear signal that he was wasting his time.
     
     
    ‘‘Listen. My social life consists of shredding my junk mail and changing the rat traps in my apartment. It’s working for me so far. Why mess with a good thing?’’
     
     
    Those soft brown eyes weren’t buying it, but he was nice enough not to say so. ‘‘Some other time maybe,’’ he said for me.
     
     
    ‘‘Sure.’’ I started walking again and he came along with me, like I had just told him we were officially long lost best friends.
     
     
    ‘‘Did Mama call you?’’ he asked.
     
     
    ‘‘Why?’’
     
     
    ‘‘I told her Boy needed an ambulance, but she wouldn’t listen to me.’’
     
     
    I didn’t bother asking why again. I jogged the last bit to the restaurant and took the three wooden steps up to the door. Inside was darker than outside, but it was easy to see the lay of things. To the right, ten small tables lined the wall. To the left, another three. Ahead of me, one of Mama’s Boys—the one in his thirties who spoke in single-syllable words—stood behind the bar. The only phone in the place was mounted against the wall next to the kitchen doorway. Boy watched me walk in, looked over my shoulder at Zayvion, and didn’t miss a beat letting go of the gun I knew he kept under the bar. He pulled out a cup instead and dried it with a towel.
     
     
    ‘‘Where’s Mama?’’ I asked.
     
     
    ‘‘Sink,’’ Boy said.
     
     
    I headed to the right, intending to go behind Boy and the bar, and into the kitchen.
     
     
    I stopped cold as the stench of spent magic, oily as hot tar, triggered every Hound instinct I had. Someone had been doing magic, using magic, casting magic, in a big way, right here on this very unmagical side of town. Or someone somewhere else had invoked a hell of a Disbursement spell to Offload that much magical waste into this room.
     
     
    I tried breathing through my mouth. That didn’t make things better, so I put my hand over my mouth and nose. ‘‘Who’s been using magic?’’
     
     
    Boy gave me a sideways look, one that flickered with fear.
     
     
    Mama’s voice boomed from the kitchen, ‘‘Allie, that you?’’ and Boy’s eyes went dead. He shrugged.
     
     
    I pulled my hand away from my mouth. ‘‘Yes. What happened?’’
     
     
    Mama, five foot two and one hundred percent street, shouldered through the kitchen doors, holding the limp body of her youngest Boy, who had turned five about a month ago. ‘‘This,’’ she said. ‘‘This is what happened. He’s not sick from fever. He hasn’t fallen down. He’s a good boy. Goes to school every day. Today, he doesn’t wake up. Magic, Allie. Someone hit him. You find out who. You make them pay.’’
     
     
    Mama hefted Boy up onto the bar, but didn’t let go of him. He’d never been a robust child, but he hadn’t ever looked this pale and thin before. I stepped up and put my hand on his chest and felt the fluttering rhythm of his heart, racing fast, too fast, beneath his soccer T-shirt. I glanced over at Zayvion, the person I trusted the least in the room. He gave me an innocent look, pulled a dollar out of his pocket, and put it on the bar.
     
     
    What do you know, he did have money.
     
     
    Boy, the elder, poured him a cup of coffee. I figured Boy could take care of Zayvion if something went wrong.
     
     
    ‘‘Call an ambulance, Mama. He needs a doctor.’’
     
     
    ‘‘You Hound him first. See who does this to him,’’ she said. ‘‘Then I call a doctor.’’
     
     
    ‘‘Doctor first. Hounding won’t do you or him any good if he’s dead.’’
     
     
    She scowled. I was not the kind of girl who panicked easily, and Mama knew it. And she also knew I