“But she couldn’t, right?” I lean into the phone. “It’s not like he’s listed in the phonebook.”
“No… but remember I mentioned my grandparents on my dad’s side appeared to be familiar with all the bokor’s men?”
I bite my lip and suck back my breath and remember that conversation we had on her neighbor’s front steps. “Oh no.” The words are little more than a breath.
“Yeah,” Luna says. “After pulling the information from my dad’s parents, she went to see the bokor and give him a piece of her mind. That’s how she put it, anyway. I suspect there was yelling, in addition to a lot of crying and begging.”
“And all this happened last night? After you left me?” I ask.
“Yeah.” She drops silent for a count. “Again, I’m sorry about the way I left you.”
“Don’t worry about that right now,” I say. “How is your mom?”
“Not well,” Luna says. “She returned home at an early hour of the morning—sometime between three and three thirty—both heated and flustered. Now, this morning…” She pauses. Sniffles. “She started running a crazy high fever. She’s sweating buckets and mumbling nonsense. I think she’s delirious.”
“Hang tight,” I say and spin in my seat to peer at Miri. “I’m coming over and I’m bringing help.”
“Thank you,” she says. “Please hurry.”
I say goodbye and hang up the phone. Press into the mattress at Miri’s side. She opens her eyes with clear reluctance and gazes up at me.
“Phillip isn’t working today, is he?” I ask.
“No.” Her voice is groggy and crusted with sleep. “We have plans for lunch, later.” She rolls away from me and crushes the covers to her chest. “Much later.”
“You can sleep when you die.” I push at her back and she pretends to snore. “Please,” I plead. “Luna’s mom is sick.”
Miri rolls over and blinks her eyes to a partial focus. “And you want Phillip to help? He’s not a paramedic.”
“He’s the closest thing to a medic that we have in this family,” I retort.
“And if we drag him into too many crazy situations, he may not end up joining our family when all is done.” She rolls away.
“He would never do that. He loves you to the bottom of his heart.” I lie on the bed and curl against her. “Did you ever stop to think that Phillip, being a local boy, could handle the truth about us?”
“I don’t want him to have to handle that,” she says. “The knowledge has brought nothing positive into my life.”
“But isn’t it rather deceitful to not share such information with the man you plan to marry?” I sit up and cross my legs.
“Not if I forsake magick, choosing to leave it out of my life and new family.” She shifts and I know she’s gazing at her covered baby belly.
“And what of your already existing family?” I ask.
“You’ll always be my family. I love you guys. I simply choose to not participate in anything involving magick.” She shoves the covers away and pushes to a sit.
“And what of Mom?” I say. “How will you help her without using magick?”
“Magick is not the answer to all things.” She swings her legs over the side of the bed. “And I will find the non-magickal answer to curing her condition.”
A frown from deep within my gut grabs hold of my expression. I want to push Miri on the subject, pursue the conversation further, but I don’t have time. I need to get to Luna and her mom. I promised. “Then help me do some non-magickal good this morning.” I grab Miri by the shoulders and lean into her. “Luna says her mom is seriously sick. Like delusionally so, and if we can help her… or get her the help she needs…”
Miri bows her head. Yawns. “Fine. We wouldn’t want to ignore someone in physical need of help, would we?”
“No, we wouldn’t!” I bounce off the bed and dash to my bag, snag a clean outfit from my pile of choices. Race for the stairs to the bathroom. “Thank you.” I dash down the stairs and into the bathroom. Wash up and get dressed.
Grandma is in the kitchen making coffee when I reach the main floor.
“I hope you kids didn’t stay up much beyond my departure last night,” she says, handing me the orange juice from the refrigerator. She knows my morning habits.
“Not much.” I pour myself a glass. “We were all pretty tired.”
“And after a fair night’s sleep, I hope you will be more sensible. Drop your dangerous meddling.” She sprinkles sugar into her coffee and stirs.
“Maybe.” I drop a piece of bread into the toaster. Shove the button down, watch the inner wires ignite, and take a large gulp of my juice.
Grandma grumbles. “And are you up and dressed at this hour to maybe meddle in more of the bokor’s business?”
I swallow hard. “No,” I blurt, and it’s not a lie. The bokor is not the reason I am ready to head out the door. Not directly, anyway. “Got plans with Miri and Phillip. Wedding stuff, you know.”
The toast pops up. I snag the piece and take a bite to hide from further questions behind a full mouth.
“What is left to do?” she asks. A likely loaded question if you were to ask Miri. She’s always thinking of something more to fuss over, where the big day is concerned.
“Flowers.”
Grandma and I spin to the sound of Miri’s voice. She moves past us to the refrigerator and extracts a hard-boiled egg.
“Apparently, the flower I requested isn’t in bloom during February, so I need to pick something else.” She peels the egg and sprinkles it with salt. Takes a bite. Swallows. “Phillip will be here soon.” She shifts her attention to me. “Are you ready?”
“Yep. Ready to go.” I tap my heels.
Miri’s gaze returns to Grandma. “How are you feeling?” She places her hand on Grandma’s shoulder. “Did you take your vitamins?”
“I am fine.” Grandma brushes her hand away. “And please don’t treat me like an
