Page 11 of Strike It Witch

“… whoa oh-oh-oh,” Ida sang.

“Great song, isn’t it?”

“It’s no “God’s Menu,” but not everyone is Stray Kids.” Ida snapped her fingers and shook her hips. “I was in my forties when this song came out. Dating a stockbroker named Charles Laurent. The relationship didn’t last long.” She stopped dancing and tapped a finger on her lip. “I think I dated him because I was rebelling against my wilder youth.”

“There was a time when you were wilder than you are now?”

“Hard to believe, I know.” She went back to her hip shaking. “Go get dressed while the coffee finishes up. And don’t forget to bring out the brow pencil so you can draw my eyebrows. I can’t get the suckers to go on straight, and the last time I messed them up, people asked me if I was mad at them all day.”

I whisked shut the curtain separating my sleeping area from the rest of the trailer and changed into black jeans and a red top. I smoothed a layer of sunscreen over fair ivory skin I’d inherited from a European father I’d never met and dragged a brush through the dark brown-black hair I’d inherited from my Mexican-American mother. Did my eyes and brows, applied some blush and highlighter, and hunted around for my red lipstick.

“Any offers on the Siete Saguaros yet?” Ida asked, her voice trembling a little.

I sighed. Ida knew I planned to leave Smokethorn as soon as I found someone to take over my mom’s mobile home park. That had always been the plan.

“None worth entertaining. My mom put me in a bind designing this place the way she did. The person who takes over has to be a magical with an affinity for the soilandhas to live on-site.”

“So, an earth magic elemental witch—like you.”

No. Nothing like me. The magical who took over the park would have to be powerful. They’d have to connect with the soil on a deep level, be able to form a symbiotic relationship with the earth here. Something I couldn’t seem to do.

“There are mages who could do the job,” I said.

“A trailer park in a low desert small town isn’t exactly a ripe business opportunity,” Ida said. “I happen to know this place isn’t even making a profit. If it was, you wouldn’t have to take jobs like the one last night.”

I padded barefoot into the kitchen with the brow pencil I kept in my makeup case for Ida. “I would’ve eventually had to shut down the hitchhiker demon even if a member of the city council hadn’t approached you about it. Gnath was a nuisance. Besides, I wrangled a demon favor out of him. I came out ahead.”

“And drained your magic so badly you collapsed.”

“I’m fine. Now, hold still.” I tugged her into the beam of sunlight streaming through my kitchen window and penciled in her brows.

“You’d never have sent Fennel after the demon-grown belladonna if you weren’t worried about money.”

She wasn’t wrong. If it hadn’t been a big payday, I’d never have allowed him to take that risk, no matter how much he’d assured me he could handle it.

“Why don’t you tear down the protections and sell this place to a non-magical? Your mom’s cottage is in great shape. It has a good roof, the paint isn’t sun-bleached, and it’s got that cute little porch swing. It’d fetch a good price in this market even if you didn’t do a thing to improve it.” This time she’d spoke without the tremor in her voice, but there was sadness behind the words.

“What brought this on?” I asked.

“Last nightbrought this on. You’re taking risks you shouldn’t be taking just to keep this place running.”

“Is this about the demon banishment? Or sending Fennel into Limbo?”

“It’s about you intending to go in after him. Fennel can hold his own over there, just like I can. You’d have been dead two seconds after the portal snapped shut, but you were still going through it, weren’t you? Got to do it all on your own.”

“I didn’t do it on my own. You and Fennel were there.”

“Only because we begged you to let us come,” she snapped. “If you’d had your way, you’d have driven the demon to the trees and jumped through the portal on your own to get that blasted belladonna.”

I didn’t know what to say. She’d seen straight through me. If Ida and Fennel hadn’t insisted on being there, I’d have gone alone. And probably died screaming.

“Lilibet Lennox, you pushed yourself to the breaking point last night, and it wasn’t necessary. I’m starting to think you have a death wish.”

My throat itched, tears welling up until I was choked with them. “That’s a hell of a thing to say to me after what happened to Mom.”

“If Lila was here, she’d agree with me.”

I swallowed, strong-armed my tears back into that place deep inside where I kept my pain. “I can’t just abandon the Siete Saguaros to its fate.”

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