"Okay, Jasper. Here we go!"
Oh, joy. She tilted the suitcase so it would roll, which meant he lost his footing. He scrambled to keep upright as they b.u.mped over the doorsill and sailed down the hall.
When they got to the stairs, she b.u.mped him down a couple of steps and then must have taken pity on him, because she picked up the suitcase and carried it the rest of the way.
"I hope you appreciate this, Jasper." She was puffing by the time they reached the street. "And I have to say, you"re heavier than you look."
That"s because muscle weighs more than fat. Of all the things he missed about being a man, being able to talk back ranked right near the top. Being able to walk along the street instead of being rolled down an uneven sidewalk in a hot pink suitcase was up in the top ten, too. By the time the air coming through the zipper became decidedly warmer and he could smell coffee, he calculated that his eyeb.a.l.l.s had been jolted out of their sockets.
He heard Anica"s voice laced with frustration, and then a door closed and the suitcase was unzipped. The fluorescent lights temporarily blinded him. He was aware of footsteps walking away, and then a door opened and closed. As his eyes adjusted he found himself alone in a storeroom surrounded by floor-to-ceiling shelves packed with boxes.
Most of the boxes had been slit open and the contents were spilling out onto the floor. It seemed like a strange and wasteful way to handle inventory. When he crawled out of the suitcase to nose around, the spilled sugar made the footing gritty and unpleasant.
Something wasn"t right. Walking across the grit to the door leading into the coffee shop, he could hear Anica and Lily on the other side.
Lily sounded worried. "You"re sure no money is missing?"
"There was nothing to steal," Anica said. "I"d taken the money out of the cash register when I closed up yesterday afternoon."
"You need to call the police."
"There was no sign of forced entry, Lily."
"Then it could be one of your employees."
"You know what caused it as much as I do. All the evidence you need is spray-painted on the mirror."
Jasper couldn"t stand the suspense. By wedging his paw under the door and applying some pressure to the opposite side, he could feel the latch start to give. Good thing he"d worked out at the gym every day. Pulling harder, he tripped the latch. Once the door was cracked he had no trouble pushing his way through it.
Instead of being covered with grit, the floor on the other side was gooey. He picked up his paws in distaste. But he wanted to see the mirror, the one that was fastened to the wall behind the counter. Hoping Anica and Lily didn"t notice him, he crept along the baseboard until he was on the other side of the shop, but he was still too low to get a good look at the mirror. Shortness sucked.
He stopped next to his table, the one he"d staked out when he used to come into Wicked Brew. He"d thought it was such a clever name for a coffee shop when he"d first heard it. Now the name jangled in his brain like a fire alarm.
Jumping up on the table, he got his first good look at the trashed coffee shop. Coffee beans, ground coffee, and chocolate syrup coated the counter and a good part of the floor. Napkins had been shredded and added to the mix, until it looked like someone had intended to tar and feather the place.
He gazed at the message sprayed in whipped cream on the mirror. Whoever had written it had a talent for calligraphy and an ear for rhyme.
SHOP UNGUARDED, HAPPINESS FOUND. WE CAME IN AND MESSED AROUND!.
Lily had her back to Jasper as she gazed at the mirror, hands on her hips, legs braced apart. "You think this is the work of teenage fairies, don"t you?"
Jasper had a tough time picturing gay teenagers vandalizing a coffee shop.
"I"m sure it is." Anica"s posture mirrored Lily"s. Looking at their body language no one would doubt they were sisters, despite one being blond and the other brunette. "Those magical kids have too much energy and too much time on their hands. A coffee shop run by a witch who seems to have forgotten to activate her protection spell would have been irresistible to them."
Oh, that kind of fairy. Jasper was even more alarmed. Just when he was beginning to adjust to the presence of witches, he was slapped with the knowledge that fairies also were real and capable of wrecking a midtown Chicago coffee shop.
"Messy little b.u.g.g.e.rs," Lily said. "I wish they"d made themselves a few cups of espresso and left. Why did they have to do all this?"
"Because it was fun. I don"t think they"re malicious, really. They probably a.s.sumed I could put it back together in no time."
"This isn"t an instant fix, not even using a wand. I think they slit every single box in the storeroom."
Anica nodded. "Pretty much. The thing is, either I close down for the day . . . or longer, considering I"ll have to reorder supplies. Or, if you"ll-"
"Oh, Anica."
"Okay, never mind."
Lily groaned. "I"ll do it, but you know what happens to me after a vigorous magical workout."
"Can"t you take a sleeping potion or something?" "I"ve tried that and nothing works. I think I"m essentially allergic to wand magic. My system goes on tilt and that"s the end of sleep for at least twelve hours."
"Then forget I asked."
"No, no. I can"t leave you in this condition." Reaching over her shoulder she pulled her wand out of a pocket in her backpack as if unsheathing a sword. "Since you can"t put a protective shield around yourself, you might want to step outside. I"d shield you, but that"ll take more time and energy."
Yikes! Don"t forget the cat! Jasper let out a plaintive yowl.
Both sisters spun toward him.
"Jasper, you"re supposed to be in the storeroom." Anica walked over, her shoes making sucking noises in the glop.
"Just take him outside with you," Lily said. "That way I can handle the storeroom as soon as I"m finished here."
"Thanks, Lil." Anica picked up Jasper, made her way to the front door, and unlocked it. "Oh, and don"t forget to fog the windows before you start."
"Don"t I always fog the windows?"
"No. There was that time you had the wild party in the department store window, and-"
"Anica."
"What?"
"Let"s remember why we"re dealing with this, shall we?"
"You"re right. Sorry." Anica tucked Jasper inside the folds of her black cape and stepped into the cold morning air.
"I don"t know which is worse," she muttered, apparently to Jasper since he was the only one who could hear her. "Being trashed by a roving band of teenage fairies looking for thrills, or being obligated to my sister. d.a.m.n it to Hades, why did I have to cast that spell?"
Jasper vowed he was not going to feel sorry for her. He was absolutely not. Never, ever. Except . . . for now.
Chapter 8.
Anica deeply appreciated what Lily had done for her. She truly did. But she paid for it by listening to her sister gloat for at least an hour afterward. Lily had to gloat subtly, because Anica had opened the shop on schedule and was busy serving customers, one of whom was her sister, taking full advantage of the free espresso Anica offered.
Caffeine seemed like the last thing Lily needed, but Anica wasn"t about to deny her what she asked for, not after walking into her shop and finding it spotless. She"d locked Jasper in the tidy storeroom, making sure the door was truly locked and not just closed. He"d be fine there sleeping in the suitcase until the morning rush was over.
Her employees could handle the business after that, and she wasn"t worried about more visits from fairies. Besides cleaning the place from top to bottom and replacing all the supplies, Lily had restored the protection spells that would keep Wicked Brew safe from both magical and nonmagical break-ins.
Anica realized that her apartment protection spell probably wasn"t working, either, but she couldn"t bring herself to ask Lily to fix that, too. Lily was already bouncing off the walls in reaction to the magic she"d done so far. Another protection spell would put her on ma.s.sive overload and increase Anica"s debt exponentially. Anica already owed her sister a lot. And Lily reminded her of it every five seconds.
"Hey, sis." Lily motioned her over. "What say you and me do lunch later and maybe go shopping? We haven"t shopped together in ages."
Anica recognized the attempt to create more of a bond between them, which she"d welcome under different circ.u.mstances. "Nice idea, but I can"t."
"Why not? You have good help around here. You can leave the shop for a while."
Until that moment, Anica had forgotten the other side effect of Lily doing major magic. She couldn"t hold thoughts in her head for more than ten minutes. Anica lowered her voice. "Jasper, my new cat. Remember?"
"Oh, right, right. Jasper. I forgot about him."
"He drank that special stuff this morning. I don"t know how it might affect him."
Lily glanced around at the bustling shop. "Oh yeah!" She looked up at Anica. "I"m getting s.p.a.cey, huh?"
Anica nodded.
"Oh, well." Lily stood and grabbed her backpack. "Think I"ll hit the department stores by myself. I could use some new clothes."
Guaranteed she"d max out her credit card. Anica couldn"t stand by and let that happen when it was her fault Lily was in this condition. "Hey, come home with me instead. I"m almost ready to leave."
"What"ll we do at your place?"
Anica thought fast. It had to be something active, something Lily loved to do. Anica knew in her heart what it had to be, the area where she"d always been weak and Lily was strong. "I want you to try teaching me to dance . . . again."
"That didn"t go very well back in high school. You stomped off in a huff."
"I promise not to stomp off this time, and I"d really like to learn."
Lily got a devilish gleam in her brown eyes. "How about salsa?"
Anica tried not to wince at the image of her attempting salsa. She was so bad at dancing. "Sure, if that"s what you want to teach me."
Lily grinned. "It most definitely is. I"m smokin" when it comes to salsa."
"And I"m not."
"I know." Lily looked smug. "This role reversal is working for me, sis. When can we leave?"
"Give me five minutes to make sure Todd and Sally are on top of everything around here. Then I"ll go get . . . the suitcase, and we"ll leave."
"What suitcase?"
Anica spoke in an undertone. "The one with the cat in it."
"Oh, that"s right! I keep forgetting about that."
Anica envied Lily her forgetfulness. Anica was afraid that even after Jasper changed back into a man-and he would, because she was determined to make that happen-this incident would haunt her forever.
Jasper wanted to do nothing but sleep, but that didn"t seem to be his destiny. First he was carted back to the apartment in the suitcase, and n.o.body could sleep through that jolting experience. They made one stop, and from the smell of the place and the rustling of thin plastic, he identified it as the cleaner"s. At least he"d have clothes to wear when he transformed.
Back in the apartment with both sisters, he endured a whirlwind of cleaning conducted mostly by Anica. She wouldn"t let Lily help by using the wand, which made sense if working magic made Lily hyper. Consequently Anica hauled out the vacuum, which was the signal for Jasper and Orion to dive under the bed, where they had a hiss-off.
Fortunately Orion didn"t try to chase Jasper out from under the bed, which seemed like the only spot to hide from the monster vacuum. Jasper tried reasoning with himself that it was only a vacuum cleaner, a tool he"d used himself a million times. But he"d been a lot bigger then. And he hadn"t had a tail that could be sucked right into that roaring machine.
He and Orion seemed to bond over their mutual fear of the vacuum cleaner. Jasper was relieved that they"d reached detente. He"d hate to have to fight Orion and avoid the vacuum at the same time. A cat could only handle so much stress, especially when he was desperate for a nap.
As a man, Jasper had never been a napper, and yet that seemed to be all he could think about as a cat. He wanted that cozy corner of the sofa where he"d started his snooze earlier that day, before the whole suitcase trip, fairy vandalism and magical restoration deal had interrupted his shut-eye time.
Finally the vacuum noise stopped, and he ventured out just as a Gloria Estefan tune blasted from Anica"s CD player in the living room. Orion stayed under the bed. Maybe the orange tabby didn"t care for Gloria, but Jasper had always kind of liked her music.
He crept down the hallway and peered into the living room, where Lily was putting on a salsa demonstration that nearly set fire to the carpet. Jasper recognized the s.e.xiness displayed by Lily during the dance, but he was more interested in Anica, who stood in the kitchen doorway, gazing at her sister with obvious envy.
He hadn"t known Anica long enough to find out if she liked to dance. It didn"t really matter, because now that she"d hexed him they were so over. He had no reason to be curious about the dancing habits of a woman he had no intention of dating ever again. He should just find a cozy spot somewhere and take that nap he"d been promising himself.
Instead he settled down right where he was and watched to see what would happen next.
"This isn"t the best alb.u.m for dancing," Lily said. "But it"ll be okay for starters. Next time I"ll bring some of mine."
"I don"t think the music matters when you"re as uncoordinated as I am," Anica said.
"Of course it does! Everything matters." Lily stopped dancing and glanced down at her sweat suit. "Even the clothes matter. Let"s go see what we can find in your closet."
"That"s way too much trouble. I don"t want to change clothes for this."
"Come on, come on." Lily beckoned to her sister as she started toward the hall. She paused as she spotted Jasper. "Looks like somebody came out from under the bed."
"It"s been about five hours since he drank the potion, Lily. Don"t you think we should see some sort of change in him by now?"
"I don"t know. I"ll take a closer look." Lily crouched down next to Jasper and peered at him. "Sorry, sis. He"s still very much a cat."
Anica came to stand beside her. "I know, but I wish we"d see something that shows he"s changing back into a guy."
"Too bad you don"t have cable. We could test him by putting him in front of ESPN with a bowl of beer and a package of Cheez-Its."
Jasper hissed his disapproval.
Anica laughed softly. "I don"t think he appreciates your stereotyping him like that."
"Oh, bite me, Jasper."