Dime Store Magic

case and don't need a lawyer. Now, if you'd like those directions again-'

'While his refusal to surrender a DNA sample may seem advantageous, let me assure you, it doesn't eliminate the problem. Gabriel Sandford is an excellent lawyer. He'll find a way around this, likely by bribing a medical laboratory to provide phony test results.'

'And willingness to bribe officials makes one an excellent lawyer?'

'Yes.'

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. How could I answer that?

Cortez continued, 'If he does attempt such a maneuver, I will insist that the court supervise the testing.' He returned to his papers. 'Now, I've prepared a list of steps we should take to-'

Savannah walked into the kitchen and stopped short, assessing Cortez and his accoutrements.

'What's with the salesman?' she asked. Then she looked Cortez in the face. She didn't even blink, only tightened her mouth. 'What do you want, sorcerer?'

'I prefer Lucas,' he said, extending a hand. 'Lucas Cortez. I'm representing Paige.'

'Repres-' Savannah looked at me. 'Where'd you find him?'

'The yellow pages,' I said. 'Under 'U.' For unsolicited, uninvited, and unwanted. He's not my lawyer.'

Savannah sized Cortez up. 'Good, 'cause if you want a sorcerer lawyer, you can do much better than this.'

'I'm sure you can,' Cortez said. 'However, since I am the only one who's here, perhaps I can be of some assistance.'

'You can't,' I said. 'Now, if you've forgotten the way to the door-'

'Hold on,' Savannah said. 'He's pretty young, so he's probably cheap. Maybe he'll do until we can get someone better.'

'My services are extremely reasonable and will be agreed upon in advance,' Cortez said. 'While it may seem at this point as if Nast doesn't have a case-'

'Who's Nast?' Savannah asked.

'He means Leah,' I said, shooting Cortez a 'don't argue' glare. 'It's O'Donnell, not Nast.'

'My mistake,' Cortez said without missing a beat. 'As I was saying, Leah has not withdrawn her petition for custody and shows no signs of doing so. Therefore we must assume that she plans to pursue that endeavor. Thwarting her efforts must be our primary purpose. To that end, I have drawn up a list of steps.'

'The twelve-step program for un-demonizing my life?'

'No, there are only seven steps, but if you see the need for more, we can discuss making the additions.'

'Uh-huh.'

'Who cares about lists?' Savannah said. 'All we have to do is kill Leah.'

'I'm glad to see you're taking such a keen interest in this, Savannah,' he said. 'However, we must proceed in a logical, methodical manner, which, unfortunately, precludes running out and murdering anyone. Perhaps we should begin by going over the list I prepared for you. Step one: arrange to have your homework brought to the house by a teacher or student known to both you and Paige. Step two-'

'He's kidding, right?' Savannah said.

'It doesn't matter,' I said. 'I'm not hiring you, Cortez.'

'I really do prefer Lucas.'

'And I'd prefer you found your way to my front door. Now. I don't know you and I don't trust you. You might very well be what you say you are. But how do I prove that? How do I know Sandford didn't send you here? Hey, Paige's lawyer quit, let's send her one of ours, see if she notices.'

'I don't work for Gabriel Sandford or anyone else.'

I shook my head. 'Sorry, no sale. You're a sorcerer. No matter how hard up you were for a job, I can't believe you'd offer to work for a witch.'

'I have no quarrel with witches. The limitations of your powers are hereditary. I'm sure you endeavor to use them to their full potential.'

I stiffened. 'Get out of my house or I will show you the limitations of my powers.'

'You need help. My help. Both as legal counsel and added protection for both you and Savannah. My spell- casting is not outstanding, but it is proficient enough.'

'As is mine. I don't need your protection, sorcerer. If I need help, I can get it from my Coven.'

'Ah, yes. The Coven.'

Something in his voice, a nuance, an inflection snapped the last restraint on my temper.

'Get the hell out of my house, sorcerer.'

He gathered his papers. 'I understand you've had a difficult day. While we must go over this list soon, it's not necessary to do so immediately. My advice would be to rest. If you'll allow me to listen to your telephone messages, I can return calls from the media, after which we can review this list-'

I grabbed the paper from his hands and ripped it in two.

'If that makes you feel better, by all means, go ahead.' he said. 'I have copies. I'll leave you a new one. Please add any concerns that may have escaped my-'

'I am not going through any list. You are not my lawyer. Want to know when I'd hire a sorcerer to represent me? Ten minutes after being hit by a transport and declared a vegetable. Until then, scram.'

'Scram?' His eyebrows rose an eighth of an inch.

'Leave. Go. Get lost. Beat it. Take your pick. Just take it with you.'

He nodded and returned to his writing.

'Listen,' I said. 'Maybe I'm not making myself clear-'

'You are.' He finished his note, then put the papers into his satchel and laid a card on the table. 'In the event that you reconsider-or experience an unfortunate collision with a large trucking conveyance-I can be reached at my cell number.'

I waited until he was gone, then cast fresh lock spells at all the doors and vowed never again to answer the bell. At least not for a few days.

After Cortez left, Savannah decided to watch TV, so I slipped downstairs for some spell-casting. After what happened last night I could hardly let my neighbors catch me sneaking into the woods to cast spells. The forest is my preferred location for spell practice. Not only does nature provide peace and solitude, but something about the very primordiality of it seems to provide an energy of its own. From the earliest times, shamans and spell-casters have trekked into the forest or the desert or the tundra to reconnect with their powers. We need to. I can't explain it any better than that.

My mother taught me to spell-cast out-of-doors. Yet, as strongly as she believed in it, she was never able to impose that belief on the Coven. For several generations now the Coven has taught its children to practice indoors, preferably in a locked room with no windows. By forcing neophytes into locked rooms, it seems to me that they reinforce the idea that we are doing something wrong, something shameful.

That idea is also reinforced in neophytes by the way the Coven handles their first menses ceremony. First menses marks the passage into true witchhood, when a witch comes into her full powers. A witch's abilities increase automatically, but she must also undergo a ceremony on the eighth day, which fully releases her powers. Skip the ceremony and you forever forfeit that extra power. The Coven's stance on this was that if a mother wished her daughter to go through the ceremony, she had to find the ingredients, study the rituals, and perform them herself. Understandably, few did. My mother had performed it for me, though, and when the time came, I would do the same for Savannah.

I headed down to the basement. It's a large, unfinished single room that stretches the length of the bungalow. The far corner, under Savannah's bedroom, was the spot she'd staked out for her art studio. So far, I'd only thrown down an area rug for it, but eventually I planned to finish it into a separate room for her.

I won't say I understand Savannah's art. Her dark-themed paintings and cartoons tend toward the macabre. When her choice of theme began to worry me last fall, I talked to Jeremy Danvers, the werewolf Pack Alpha, who's the only artist I know. He looked at her work and told me not to worry about it. In that, I trust his judgment, and I appreciate the encouragement and help he's been giving Savannah.

This past year has probably been a nightmare for Savannah, and she's been so strong about it that sometimes that very strength worries me. Perhaps here, on canvases covered with angry splotches of crimson and black, she finds an outlet for her pain and, if so, then I must not interfere, however strong the temptation.