Unlike some of the people around town, I wasn’t bothered by the library’s location. I was an avid reader. I could afford the ten dollars for the library card rather than hang out at Books-A-Million. I did love Books-A-Million’s coffee. If the library ever opened a coffee shop, I would never leave. I was blaming my love for books for my giant disaster.
I spent over two hours at the library. Hey, no need to judge now; the first hour, I conducted business, which translated to scaring the hell out of everyone with all my questions. Bob had never mentioned going to the library. I was pretty sure none of these people had ever seen him there. On top of that, they were doing a reading day at the library. The place was packed with moms and little Mini-Mes. The few people who did talk to me said the same thing: stay away, and don’t ask questions.
I was tired, and my cheeks hurt from all my smiling. Trying to look harmless and sweet was a lot harder than I had thought. You have to move slowly, look submissive, and not attract a lot of attention. When you’re five feet eight inches and have plenty of lady lumps, as the Black Eyed Peas described them, it’s hard to blend in. Even with my baseball cap, I managed to draw lots of stares. I gave up after an hour and decided to take advantage of the trip. I checked the mystery aisle and then the fantasy aisle. I needed to do some research on this magic crap.
I was walking on cloud nine. I had books and plenty of time to change before work. The Whale had no AC, and it was still in the eighties and humid for September. I wasn’t complaining too much. I could handle the heat better than the cold. After the short walk back to the parking lot with all my books and movies, I was sweaty and sticky. By the time I reached the Whale, my plans were shattered. Someone had slashed all my tires. Really? Who does that kind of stuff, and especially to a minivan? I could have been a mom with four kids.
Bartholomew had programmed his number into my phone, as well as the Reapers main line. I called the main line, in case he was still asleep. Constantine picked up, no idea how. I was so mad, I didn’t even care to know how he’d done it. I managed to ramble off my disaster without screaming. It was my lucky day. Constantine was bored and had a million questions. After the interrogation was over, he told me to stay put and wait for his buddy to show up. I had to admit, Constantine had connections. In less than twenty-five minutes, a wrecker showed up to fix my tires. Let’s be honest. One tire I could have managed on my own. But all four—that wasn’t fair. Nobody carried four spares in the trunk in case of emergency.
Two very large men got out of the wrecker and went to work. I was impressed with their speed, but it still took them over forty minutes to change all four tires. By the time they were done and I was able to leave, I had less than forty minutes to get to work. No wonder people thought interns sucked. We were never on time for anything. There was a conspiracy against me. That was my story, and I was sticking to it. The only thing productive I did while I waited was practice my third-eye exercises. I focused on the Kidtopia Park across the street. The park was empty. I wanted to avoid being traumatized by the vision. I was definitely not looking at the guys working on the Whale.
It was 4:10 p.m. by the time I made it to Abuelita’s. Abuelita was busy working her magic by the stove. I dropped my keys in their usual place and grabbed my apron. I was still mad.
“Please tell me somebody didn’t actually slash all of your tires.”
My jaw dropped. “How in God’s name do you know that?” Was Abuelita a psychic and nobody had told me?
“Come on, Isis. There are not that many tow-truck companies that a talking cat can do business with. Besides, Reggie is the best in town. Everyone uses him.” She didn’t even look up. If Reggie was in that damn manual, I was going to shoot somebody.
“He might be the best, but he’s not very discreet, by the looks of it.” Reggie was not my favorite person right now.
“Oh, Reggie is very discreet. Unfortunately, everyone knows his radio frequency.” My looked of pure confusion was enough to have Abuelita translate her statement. “It’s like having a police scanner. You just know what places to avoid depending on whether Reggie’s heading that way.”
“That’s totally creepy. Thank you for freaking me out. Next thing, you’ll tell me you chase after ambulances. My boss is a creep.”
Anybody else would have killed me. Abuelita just thought it was funny. “I’m well informed. But seriously, you’ve been on the job two days, and your tires have already gotten slashed. Who did you piss off?” Abuelita was right. I was on a roll.
“Besides those witches, nobody.” Great. The witches were on the offensive against me. Maybe Bartholomew was right. Since I could see the supernatural world now, that made me a target. I was in serious trouble.
“Isis, I told you, watch your back. I hate
