“Get off her, or I will blow your head off.” Abuelita had enunciated each one of her words. She radiated cold energy that I could feel from behind. I wasn’t sure what was more frightening: Abuelita’s voice or the sound of the shotgun as she reloaded. Oh God, please don’t let her use it, or I was a goner.
“This isn’t your fight, vieja. You don’t want to get involved,” a female voice I hadn’t heard before said from my left, with a patronizing tone.
“Funny, you’re in my parking lot. You know the rules. This is neutral ground. You want to try this again?” Abuelita had moved into my line of vision. She was an avenging angel, shotgun at the ready, a pair of knives by her side, and a bat tied to her apron behind her.
Without a word, the assault was over, and I was dropped to the ground. Abuelita moved slowly to cover me. I was flat on the ground, and everything hurt. I raised my head just in time to see the Whale blow up. Those psychopaths blew up my minivan, Hollywood style. Stunt coordinators would had died for that shot. The Whale was engulfed in flames, the windows were shattered, and the frame looked as if it had collapsed into itself. I rolled over to stare at Abuelita. Her mouth was wide open in shock.
“I think it would be safer if I stopped working here.” I didn’t want Abuelita getting hurt because of me.
“Isis, please. We’re not going to let some skinny witches run us off. Besides, family doesn’t turn on one another when things get tough.” Abuelita looked down at me and winked. For an orphan, I had gotten a huge family in a very short time. This was probably how those Chia Pets developed.
“Thank you.” I hurt too much to say anything else.
“No need for thanks, but let’s get you inside. The police will be here soon, and we have some explaining to do. Don’t say a word. I’ll handle it. I’ll take you home once they’re gone.”
All I could do was nod. Everything was throbbing. She grabbed me by the arm and took me inside.
Chapter 15
By the time the cops left Abuelita’s, it was way past ten. I wasn’t sure what Abuelita was saying; it all sounded muffled to me. Every once in a while, they all turned toward me, Abuelita motioned for me to confirm something, and I did. I was a good little soldier when it came to following instructions, at least when the police were involved. Two cops took our statements while hot Smith watched the burning Whale. I saw him from the window, and he still had a fabulous behind.
Reggie was at the scene before the cops were gone. I wasn’t sure how he knew. Maybe Abuelita had a panic button somewhere to call him. I had a horrible habit of making emotional attachments to things, especially things given to me. Watching the Whale hauled away, I felt as if I had let my godmother down. How was I going to explain this to her? She knew when I was lying, even over the phone. My poor Whale. It broke my heart.
I didn’t remember when Abuelita brought me home. My body was on autopilot. I walked into the loft before I realized where I was.
“Holy crap, what happened to you?” Bartholomew was on his feet, running toward me before he finished his sentence. He cleared the room and walked me over to the couch. I dropped down like a sack of potatoes. Absolutely no grace on that dismount. I dropped my head on the armrest. It hurt so bad everywhere. “Constantine, hurry,” Bartholomew yelled across the room.
“Ouch. Please tell me you ran over a tree.” It took Constantine less than a minute to cross the room and land on the couch. He, on the other hand, made everything look smooth.
“Sorry, Yoda. Got jumped from behind by our friendly neighborhood witches,” I muttered, my head on the little cushion on the couch. I had no idea when the cushion had appeared under my head. “Oh and those bitches.”
“The witches?”
“Yeah, that too. Thanks, Bart. Those things blew up the Whale.” I tried to get up, but everything hurt.
“You mean the Whale looks worse than you? Now, that’s a horrible mental image.” Bartholomew sounded traumatized.
“Why didn’t you put them to sleep instead of letting them beat you?” Constantine sounded mad.
“Put them to sleep? How? With my Jedi mind powers?” When pushed to the limit, my anger takes over.
“If you want to call it that. Every intern gets the power to knock people out. The stronger you are, the longer the spell. Please tell me you read the manual.” Constantine was inches from my face. I closed my eyes and felt my cheeks warming up. “Isis, you are going to get yourself killed if you don’t take this seriously.” Now Constantine was mad. I hated that stupid manual.
“Why didn’t you make an audiobook instead? It would make great listening material during your torture sessions.” I was whining. How sad. “Besides, it’s not as if I have that much free time here.”
“Those are excuses. The result is the same—you look like a plane just used you as a landing zone.” I didn’t know it was possible, but I was sure Constantine took a deep breath to calm himself down. His eyes were glowing red, and he looked as if he were growing in size.
“I’m sorry; you’re right. How do I make this power thing work?” When in Rome, resign to their will.
“Each intern’s manifestation is different. You’re mixing your gifts with Death’s blessing. It’s our way to avoid unnecessary killing and keep humanity in the dark. Teck had darts that he injected with his own compound.” Constantine tried to calm down. His eyes stopped glowing, and he looked his normal size.
“Great. I’m not an alchemist. I barely passed chemistry. I’m a musician, remember?” Maybe I had picked the wrong career
