Almost Midnight (20 page)

“Are you implying that someone here did this?”

“It would appear that way,” she stated, realizing her dilemma. Their next question would probably be for her to identify the person responsible for the horseshit.

Miranda was not a tattler. Nope.

“I am tired of these childish games,” a different judge spoke up and she held out her finger, giving it a good wiggle. The dung on Miranda's shoes and on the floor vanished.

“Who is responsible for this act?” the witch asked. “They will pay for this with a ten-point deduction.”

Just ten?
Surely, equine dung came with a higher consequence? “I … I'm afraid I didn't see the spell being placed.” That was the truth.

“Do you suspect someone guilty of this crime?” another judge spoke up.

Miranda could feel Tabitha's and Sienna's gazes on her. Were they afraid? They should be. “I … I can't really say.”

“Can't or won't?” the woman questioned.

Miranda's gaze shifted to the audience, where she saw her mom sitting in the second row. She was nodding her head as if telling Miranda to spill her guts.

Her hesitation provoked another judge to speak up. “This is silly. Your silence will cost you ten points. Now tell us and let's get moving.”

Just tell them,
a voice whispered inside her head. The two witches deserved it, but to do so went against her moral compass.

She opened her mouth to do just that, but when she did, she saw who sat behind her mom. Kylie, a light blonde who was … as perfect on the outside as she was on the inside. Sweet as apple pie. And Della, with her almost-black hair and dark eyes, eyes that barely slanted upward, that hinted at her half-Asian heritage. No one would call Della sweet. Not to her face anyway. And yes, in truth, Della could be a tad standoffish, and feisty, but it was mostly an act. Miranda couldn't have a more loyal friend. Both of them were … her support team. Her best friends. Two girls she looked up to, admired.

What would they do?

The answer resounded back with clarity.

 

Chapter Three

Miranda would stand her moral ground. “I will take the deduction in points,” she said, decision made, but her fury again rising.

“So be it,” another judge said and slammed her gavel down on the wooden French farm table.

Miranda refused to look at Tabitha for fear she'd lose it and send her own horseshit spell the girl's way.

Not only was the witch getting off without being punished, Miranda was being punished for her actions.

Not that she was throwing in the towel on winning. It simply meant she would have to work harder. It meant she'd have to pull off each and every spell without one hiccup.

Could she do it?

*   *   *

A tiny drop of sweat collected between Miranda's boobs.

“Sienna Banker.” The name of the eighteenth contestant was called. The order in which they were to perform was decided by random drawings. That meant the only ones left were Miranda and Tabitha.

It only added to Miranda's pressure.

She stood on wobbly knees, watching the B with an itch move in front of the table. The girl extended her hand, her pinky twitching. The spell spilled from her lips. “Apples to apples…”

Miranda purposely tried to not listen to the spell.

Part of her problem in competitions was simply repeating bad spells. She'd managed to change the apple into an orange twice in her dressing room. She had the spell down, she didn't need to screw with it.

“Oh, orange of mine,” the girl continued.

No. No. No. Do not listen.
Miranda cupped her hands at her sides and mentally hummed the “Yankee Doodle” song. She'd picked up that song and the act of humming when nervous from her dad. Her gaze cut to the audience for a second. Not that she expected him to be out there. For some reason, even when he was in town, he never attended the competitions.

Applause erupted from the audience.

Miranda stood stoic at the girl's success. She wished no one failure, but their victory added to her problem. Another drop of sweat crawled down her cleavage.

Suddenly, a dark mood, the same one that had appeared when she'd studied the storm, whispered across Miranda's soul. She shot Tabitha a frown.

The girl stood frowning in return, looking uncomfortable in her own skin. Was Tabitha doing this to Miranda? She didn't appear to be casting a mood spell.

But it had to be her, didn't it?

“Tabitha Evans,” the judge spoke up.

Friggin' great. Miranda was going to be last. Swallowing down a lump of fear, she mentally went back to humming.
Yankee Doodle went to …

Tabitha stepped up to the table where a fresh apple had just been placed. She repeated a few words, twitched her pinky, and a perfectly round, juicy-looking orange appeared.

Her orange was removed. Another apple took center table.

“Miranda Kane.” Her name set a gang of butterflies loose in her stomach.

She stepped up to the table, now closer to the audience. Her mom's face stood out. Then Kylie's and Della's.
You two are going to Paris with me
.

Raising her arm, she recited her spell. “Apple, oh apple, fruit of the tree. Grant me this spell, I place upon thee. An apple no more, an orange you shall be.”

When the piece of fruit didn't transform immediately, murmurs of defeat could be heard from the crowd. Time held its breath.

A second before accepting her failure, a light cloud of magical fog appeared hovering over the table. The apple disappeared and an orange, a bright, perfectly round orange, proudly took its place.

A light applause echoed from the crowd. The tickle of victory filled her chest. One down, two to go.

*   *   *

Given a five-minute break before the second part of the competition, Miranda ignored the increasing sense of lurking danger and darted off the stage. She refused to let Tabitha's silly hex distract her. Determined, she hurried back to her room to study the competition brochure and hopefully discover what the next spell entailed. If she worked quickly, she might even fit in one practice.

Face it. If she wanted to win, she could use a little practice.

She shut her door, ran to the small table where the brochure had been left unread. The small print seemed to try to push in her brain at the same time. Damn dyslexia. Closing her eyes, she tried to concentrate.
One line at a time. One line at a time.

Opening her eyes, she moved down to the second paragraph and ran her finger under the line she needed to read:
The second spell will be altering …

The door to her dressing room shot open, slamming against the wall. Turning, she glared at the intruder, certain it would be her mom, probably to yell at her about the horseshit.

Not her mom. But the horseshit maker herself.

“Stop it!” Tabitha seethed.

“Stop what?” Miranda asked.

“You know what,” she accused in a serious voice. She walked off, slamming the door so hard Miranda's eardrums flinched.

“No, I don't know, bitch,” Miranda muttered in a sneer. Then, determined to focus on the competition, she pushed all curiosity about Tabitha's little tantrum into a mental vault, and stared back at the brochure.

The second spell will be altering live DNA. Each contestant must transform a feline into another animal—the animal of the contestant's choice.

A smile lit up Miranda face. What had she done for karma to smile down on her like this? Of course, she could only hope the judges meant it when they said the animal was the contestant's choice. Odds were, most of the witches would take the conventional route and go with a dog or rabbit.

She bit down on her lip and did a little victory dance. She'd never been accused of being conventional. It was then she saw her reflection in the mirror. No streaks in her hair. She looked content. Maybe those streaks didn't define her after all. Did that mean Perry didn't define her either? There was only one way to find out. Go to Paris. Find answers.

She looked back at the brochure. Confidence made the air taste sweeter. She was no stranger to altering DNA. This happened to be the spell she'd once attempted, failed at miserably, but had finally conquered.

All that practicing, week after week, had left that spell tattooed on her brain. She could only hope she got this feline turned and turned back before trouble arose. But again, the judges docked you for not completing a spell, not for being skunked.

The three-minute warning bell dinged. She moved to leave. Only this time, she looked down and up before she stepped out. Noting the hallway was crap-free, with poise giving her steps some pep, she headed back to the stage.

*   *   *

Miranda found her place with the other girls forming a circle center stage. Flanked by a set of identical twins, whom she'd run across in several competitions, she offered them each a nod. Candy and Sandy Gleason were tall blondes who'd both won more competitions than they lost.

One of the judges stood up to address the crowd. “No animals will be harmed in the competition. All felines have been blessed, and a superior spell has been placed on them so in ten minutes, no matter what their state of being is, they will be turned back into cats.”

Miranda had expected nothing less from the council, especially since two years ago, the Wicca council had been sued by the Wicca-affiliated Animal Rights Association because a frog had accidentally been left as a prince longer than he'd agreed.

Miranda looked up and saw Tabitha standing directly across from her. The girl scowled. Miranda ignored her and the lurking feeling of danger Tabitha had obviously brought on.

Sienna's name was called first. Miranda sighed with relief. The only thing she hated more than going last was going first.

A large black cat appeared on the table. It raised its paw and let out a slow meow. Sienna closed her eyes, raised her hand, her pinky twitching. She started her spell. “Cat to dog. Man's best friend…”

Miranda purposely stopped listening, not wanting her words to influence her spell. The cat vanished … or half-vanished. The creature standing proudly was part gray poodle part black feline.

Murmurs erupted in the audience. The judges started whispering amongst themselves. The voice of the group stood up. “You have accomplished your task, but with defects. You get only fifty percent of your points.”

Sienna nodded, lifted her pinky, and changed her creature back into the cat. When the girl moved back into the circle, Miranda saw the sheen of disappointment in her eyes. Miranda didn't particularly like Sienna, but having been in her shoes so many times, she felt her pain.

Ten more girls were called forward to cast their spell. Only three got the whole one hundred points. Six had simply failed altogether. Miranda felt the blow for each and every one of them, too.

Hence one of the reasons Miranda hated competitions. Winning felt good, watching others not win always stung a little.

“Miranda Kane.”

Hearing her name fill the silent auditorium had her earlier confidence leaking from her pores. She stepped forward. Taking a deep breath that filled her chest to the brim, she held out her arm and began … “Cat, oh feline friend of mine, find your true colors of black and white, turn to creature that lurks at night—one that no one dares to anger thee, or skunked they will be.” One twitch of the pinky and the thought ran amuck in her head.
It's in the bag. In the bag.

The cloud of magic surrounded the black cat. Then faded. Miranda's breath hitched when she saw what she'd done.
Oh, shit!

 

Chapter Four

There, on the table, sat a burlap bag. In it, something wiggled and rolled. Soft growling noises came from the cloth sack.

Voices of confusion arose. Stepping forward, praying her only screwup had been invoking the bag, Miranda loosened the string. The room fell quiet. Not even the air stirred. A black pointed nose appeared, and then the beautiful black-and-white skunk emerged in all his glory. It pranced the length of the table and then back. Then turning away from the judges, it raised its tail.

Soft laughter pushed away the silence.

“Change it back. Now!” one of the council insisted.

Reciting the reverse spell, the skunk returned to feline form. Miranda waited to hear if her bag would cost her any points. With her ten-point deduction for not tattling, she really needed to ace this one.

The unhappy-looking judges whispered amongst themselves.

Even the air Miranda breathed quivered with nervousness.

Finally, the head priestess leaned forward and locked gazes with Miranda. “You accomplished your task, and while the bag was extra, we vote not to deduct points.”

Miranda held her exhilaration in check, but heard a loud victory whistle coming from the audience. Her gaze cut to the crowd and she saw Della standing up, one fist pumped in the air, and a huge best-friend smile on her face. Kylie sat beside her, tugging at her shirttail, as if trying to let her know that cheering wasn't common practice at Wicca competitions.

“Please, no outbursts,” said the ol' biddy judge, staring into the audience.

Silence filled the room. Miranda, not at all upset at Della, bit her lip to stop from smiling. But Della had just earned herself a big hug. Sure, the vamp claimed she didn't like hugs, but Miranda knew better.

“Tabitha Evans,” a judge announced, moving the competition along.

The name of her nemesis brought Miranda back to the present.

Tabitha shot Miranda a scowl as she moved forward. Right then, it occurred to Miranda what Tabitha might have meant by “Stop it.” Did she think Miranda was creating the mood spell? If so, that meant that Tabitha hadn't set it. Was real shit, not just horse crap, about to hit the fan?

No, Miranda seriously doubted it.