A Little Night Magic Page 0,4

a bite of her waffles, and closed her eyes. "Mmmm."

I smiled; I loved seeing people eat Tobias's waffles for the first time. "He's pretty good, huh?"

The metal kitchen door swung open, and Tobias came out. He sidled up next to me at the counter and bumped my hip with his, nudging me toward the door.

I straightened up. "All right. That's it. Go home. You're driving me nuts."

He took me by the elbow, pulled me aside, and said, "You go home."

"I need to finish mopping."

"I can mop."

I gently pulled my elbow from his grip. "You want me to not be mad at you anymore? Stop hovering. I'm not twelve. I can close by myself."

He looked at Davina, then back to me. "Fine, just ... be careful, okay?"

"Yeah, whatever. Good night."

He let out a sigh, headed to the door, and finally left. I walked back over to the counter and leaned against the wall, then looked up to find Davina watching me in a way that made me kind of wish I hadn't sent Tobias home so quick.

She put her fork down. "Tell me something, baby. Do you believe in magic?"

I took a moment to adjust to the conversational whiplash, then said, "What? You mean like, magicians? Illusionists?"

"No." Her eyes were wide and, now that I got a good look, just a bit crazy. Not that I wasn't used to a fair amount of crazy - I'd lived in Nodaway my whole life, you wouldn't believe the bell curve we had on insanity here - but at that moment, it was making me a little uncomfortable.

"I need to mop." I headed out from behind the counter toward the mop bucket, where I figured I could finish my work and by the time I was done, she'd be done.

I finished mopping under the tables, then crossed back toward the booths and the magic square, figuring it couldn't hurt to wish this woman would finish up quickly and go. I glanced over to make sure she wasn't watching me.

She was. She had turned around on the stool, her back to the counter, her eyes sharp on me as if she was searching me for something. It was creepy. I wrapped one hand tight around the mop handle. She had size on me, but I had a hefty industrial mop and youth on my side.

"It's getting late," I said. "Why don't you just finish up and we can both get out of here?"

At that moment, without a word, she pulled something out of her purse and lobbed it at me. On instinct, I moved forward, one hand still on the mop handle, and grabbed it out of the air; it was an old gym sock, filled with some sand-type of substance and tied in a knot in the middle.

"Ugh." I pinched the cuff between my fingers and held it up and away from me, then looked at her. "Okay. You just busted the bell curve."

And then I sneezed. And I sneezed again. The weird peppery smell from earlier came back stronger, overwhelming my senses, and my eyes watered and I sneezed again.

"Yeah, I thought so," Davina said, and through my sneezing and watery eyes I could see her advancing toward me. "Now don't be alarmed, but you know it had to be done. It wasn't right, them not letting you be what you are."

I stared at her through watering eyes, my sinuses screaming. "What I am?" I sniffed and tried to blink away the discomfort in my eyes. "What am I?"

She stopped about a foot away from me, and angled her head, amazement in her smiling eyes as she watched me. "Why, you're magic."

"No, I'm not. I'm a wait - achoo! - waitress." The sharpness in my sinuses intensified, and I shook my head, trying to rid myself of it all, but it only got worse.

"Oh, you're much more than that, Olivia," she said, and took the sock from me. I backed away from her, sneezing again. She tossed it toward the stool where she'd been sitting, a good ten feet away, but still, I couldn't stop sneezing, and I was starting to panic. I stepped back again, and this time, my foot landed on the wet strands of mop and I lost my balance. I pulled at the mop handle, accidentally whapping myself in the face with it as my arms flailed like a cartoon character's. Davina shouted something and ran for me, but gravity won out and I fell, cracking the back of