Maudlin's Mayhem (Bewitching Bedlam #2)(33)

“Right. That I knew.”

Dirt Magic was a slapdash form of Old World hexing—real Baba Yaga–level curses that could easily travel down through families. Though it was often seen as a poor man’s magical system, the realities were that Dirt Magic was complex and utilized a wide variety of roots. It required precision in weaving the roots to produce the required effect. Dirt Magic had a lot in common with Voudou, and sometimes, the practice of one led right into the practice of the other.

“You have to find the object that brought it into the house. Dirt Magic always requires an anchor. I think you’ll find the hex came in attached to something, and that something most likely has a glamour over it so that you can’t spot it. That’s all I can tell you for now, but I’ll try to find out more.”

As he hung up, I turned to Sandy. “Crap. Somebody’s using Dirt Magic on me.”

Sandy stared at me. “Dirt Magic? That can be nasty juju. The practitioners usually don’t worry about backlash because by the time they cast spells like that, they’re powerful enough to deflect most retaliation from their enemies.” She nodded at the fire in the fireplace. “You should put that out. You know how much Dirt Magic likes fire. And you run fire, love.”

I ran fire, Sandy ran air magic, and Fata had run water magic. Together, we had mustered up enough earth magic to form a balanced arena. But fire fueled a lot of hexes, and my own fire was probably stoking the flames.

“Crap. That means I should restrain my magic as much as I can until I find what’s anchoring the spell, because any spark of fire could trigger something else to happen.”

“Were you using flame before the accident in the parking lot?”

I thought back. “No, but I’ve been thinking about the night I found Bubba, and I was running flame strong that night. And I’ve been ticked off right and left, which strengthens the fire. In fact, I recently came to the conclusion that I need to start chilling out more because the flames seem to be building and I don’t want them to get out of hand.”

Sandy snapped her fingers. “Dirt Magic often goes hand in hand with Voudou. And who do we know who used Voudou?”

I frowned, trying to go through the miles-long mental checklist of magical friends in my circle. “I don’t think I know anybody.”

“Oh, yes, you do. But she’s not part of the magical society here on Bedlam. Maddy, we do know someone who was a Voudou priestess. Essie Vanderbilt. Remember, she’s the granddaughter of Marie Laveau.”

Crap. I had totally spaced that fact. “You don’t think Essie’s after me again?”

“You’re now the High Priestess of the coven, and she no longer has her fingers in the pie because Linda is in the Witches’ Protection Program.” Sandy suddenly stopped talking, her fingers on her lips.

Linda had been the High Priestess until recently. She and her daughter—whom Essie had essentially held hostage—were now in the Witches’ Protection Program. Even though we understood why Linda had done what she had, the fact was she compromised both the Moonrise Coven and the entire community of Bedlam by allowing Essie to influence her. Essie didn’t appreciate our interference, nor did she appreciate my refusal to play ball with her.

Sandy looked around till she found a notepad and scribbled out a note.



You think maybe the house is bugged?



I frowned. I hadn’t even thought of that possibility. I don’t know, I wrote.

Just then, Thornton came in. He stared at us, a puzzled look on his face. “Is something wrong?”

I flashed Sandy a warning look. “Not really, Thornton. We just… Would you bring us a couple bottles of water, please?”

He excused himself and, a moment later, returned with our water. I glanced at them, making sure the seals hadn’t been broken, and then handed them to him.

“If you could open these, please? With Sandy’s burn and my sprained thumb, we have a bit of an issue with lids right now.”

“Sure thing, Maddy.” He twisted open the caps, then excused himself again and shut the door behind him.

I felt a bout of paranoia growing. The thought that Essie might have cast a hex on me was scary enough, but what if she had somehow bugged my house? I held out my notepad, scribbling another sentence.



Do you know if Essie can work Dirt Magic as well as Voudou? I need to talk to Auntie Tautau. She could tell what’s wrong, I’m certain of it. But she was gone when I stopped there this morning.



Sandy took a long pull on the bottle, then motioned for me to follow her. We traipsed into the backyard, shutting the kitchen door behind us. I had bought a picnic table and benches once the snow had melted, and now we wandered over to sit under one of the apple trees, ignoring the chill.

“All right,” Sandy said. “I wouldn’t put it past Essie to learn all she could about that. Most vampires don’t bother with magic, but the fact is, Essie will do whatever it takes to protect her seat on the throne, and she knows better than to trust you. She knows she can’t manipulate you. And we know she wants to establish more than just her penny ante kingdom here.”

“But why now? What set it off? I feel like there’s more to this issue than just Essie suddenly deciding to make a move. Something isn’t clicking for me. I feel like I don’t have all the pieces to the puzzle.” I sorted through everything I could think of that had happened since my account got hacked.