Page 66 of Last Witch Attempt
Mom’s eyes slitted in Aunt Tillie’s direction. “What did you do?”
“Don’t worry about it.” Aunt Tillie held up her hands. Mom had released her, so she could back toward the door that led to the family living quarters. “I’ve got everything under control.”
“Oh, we’ve heard that before,” I complained. “I’m not falling for it this time.”
“Nobody is,” Mom said. “I want to know what you did.”
“There was a time,” Aunt Tillie wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. Now that I know what’s going on, I’ll fix things.”
“How?” I challenged. “If you take back the spell, Mrs. Little will revert to that smelly creature hiding under the blanket. She’s been her normal self, and that’s actually a good thing.”
“I don’t have to undo the spell.” Aunt Tillie waved her hand. “It’s just a little glitch. I handle little glitches all the time. I’ll handle this one.”
“Wait.” I took a step to intercept her, but she was deceptively fast for her age and outstretched me.
“I’ve got this, Bay,” she assured me. “You have nothing to worry about.” With that, she was gone.
“This is not good,” Mom complained.
“I know,” Landon agreed. “I can still smell Bay from over here.”
I ignored him and focused on Mom. “She’s hiding something.”
“Oh, you think?” Mom gave me an incredulous look. “She’s relieved she’s not going insane, but she had no idea this was happening.”
“Which means she has no idea how to fix it,” I guessed.
“We’re in trouble,” Mom said. “Worse trouble than normal. How are we going to explain this to the Feds?”
I looked to Landon for help and found him sniffing Mom’s bread dough. “Seriously?” I shook my head. “You need to either embrace your inner chubby dude or start moderating your portions.”
“You’re not very supportive, Bay,” he complained.
“I have real problems to deal with.” I looked in the direction Aunt Tillie had disappeared. “Something tells me things are going to get worse before they get better.”
“Yes,” Mom agreed on a heavy exhale. “You’re right.”
16
SIXTEEN
Aunt Tillie’s absence at breakfast didn’t go unnoticed. Steve believed she was feeling poorly. One look at Spencer told me he felt otherwise, but he kept his opinion to himself.
“I hope she’s going to be okay,” Steve said. “I would hate to think that she’s upset about this. It’s probably just a vitamin imbalance.”
“We’ve actually deduced that she’s doing it on purpose,” Landon replied, choosing his words carefully. “That’s what she likes to do.”
“Oh.” Steve nodded. “When people get older, they act out at times because they’re looking for attention. I’m sure that’s what it is.”
“Yes,” I agreed dryly. “You should bring that up when you see her.” I glanced at Landon’s plate. He’d opted for one egg, a quarter of his normal hash browns, and three slices of bacon. It was a refreshing sight, despite his attitude. “How you doing, champ?”
“Don’t push me, Bay.” Landon looked morose. “I’m in mourning.”
“I don’t want to say ‘I told you so’ but?—”
“Then don’t.”
I shot a surreptitious look to Mom, who appeared caught between laughing and growling. Her mood matched mine. “Sorry.” I patted his arm. “What’s on the agenda for you guys today?”
