Cold Burn of Magic(15)

“You need to get out of here, Lila,” Mo said. “Right now.”

“What? Why? Why are you freaking out?”

“You don’t know who these kids are? You didn’t recognize him?” He stabbed his finger toward Devon.

I shook my head. Now wasn’t the time to tell him that Devon had looked familiar but that I hadn’t been able to place him.

Mo snorted like he didn’t believe me. “Well, it doesn’t matter. What does is that you killed a couple of guys.”

Sad to say, nothing I hadn’t done before. Although I bit my lip to keep from telling him that. He knew it anyway, and he wouldn’t appreciate my sarcasm.

“Not only that, but you put yourself smack-dab in the middle of some Family feud or assassination or whatever you want to call it. You know what that means.”

I shivered. It was bad enough when a member of a Family killed someone working for another Family, even if it was in self-defense. But when someone like me, a nobody who didn’t belong to one of the Families, took out a couple of their guys . . . Well, there could be consequences. Some very serious, nasty, and unpleasant consequences—for me.

“You need to leave,” Mo snapped. “Now, Lila. Please, please leave.”

I frowned. Mo never, ever said please. Even if he was facing down a lochness that was about to rip him limb from limb, he was still more likely to try to wheedle, cajole, and con the creature out of one of its tentacles rather than plead for his life.

Mo started muttering under his breath. “Can’t believe this happened . . . just trying to make a few bucks . . . didn’t think he’d actually come here . . . Serena would kill me for this . . .”

He paced back and forth, but I seized on to the last thing he’d said.

“Why would Mom be upset about this?”

Mo stopped pacing, and his head snapped up. “What are you still doing here? Go. Go!”

He grabbed my shoulders, spun me around, and marched me toward the front entrance. Mo didn’t have a Talent for strength, but he was no lightweight, either. All I could do was go where he pushed me.

We reached the front doors, and Mo yanked one of them open. He would have shoved me right on outside if I hadn’t reached out and latched on to the door frame, smearing blood as I did. Even then, he still gave me a nudge, but I wasn’t budging. Not until I got some answers.

“What’s going on?”

“I’ll give you the rest of your money later, if that’s what you’re worried about. I promise. I’ll even pay you double. Triple, if you want. Think of it as a bonus. For leaving. Right now.”

I blinked. Mo never, ever gave me a bonus, much less tripled anything. That was even more shocking than him asking me nicely to do something. What had him so rattled that he’d be willing to part with so much cash just to get rid of me? Yeah, a couple of Family members getting attacked in his shop wasn’t exactly good for business, but it wasn’t all that uncommon, either. People got mugged, robbed, and beaten on the streets practically every day in Cloudburst Falls, thanks to all of the mob feuds. Not to mention everyone out to fleece the tourists, and how riled up and out of control the tourists themselves could get when they’d had a few too many mimosas with their never-ending stacks of pancakes.

“But—”

“Just go, okay?” Mo said. “Give me a chance to fix this. I’ll text you later. Just go home and then go to school in the morning like everything’s normal, okay? Can you do that for me, Lila? Please?”


There was that baffling please again. Twice in two minutes. Mo must be really shaken up, which only made me that much more suspicious about what was really going on and who those kids were. But before I could ask him again, he reached over, plucked my hand off the door frame, and gave me another nudge, one that sent me staggering outside.

“Hey!”

I whirled around, but Mo was quicker. He shut the door behind me, then locked it.

“Tomorrow!” he called out through the glass that separated us. “I’ll text you tomorrow!”

Then he flipped the sign on the door over to CLOSED and drew down the shades, blocking my view of him and Devon and Felix still inside. A few seconds later, the flashing neon sign outside the store went dark as well.

I raised my hand to pound on the glass, when faint murmurs caught my ear, and I saw some furtive movements out of the corner of my eye. I glanced to my left and realized that some of the tourists were staring at me, their hands held up over their mouths as they whispered. At first, I wondered why they’d be so interested in me, but then I looked down. I’d forgotten about the blood that had spattered all over my T-shirt and cargo pants.

I grimaced and cradled my backpack in my arms in front of me, trying to hide as much of the blood as I could, along with the money in my hand. The whispers grew louder, and I saw one of the tourists—the same woman I’d sat next to on the trolley—pull her camera out of her purse.

Maybe Mo was right about my leaving.

So I turned away from the tourists, put my head down, and walked away from the Razzle Dazzle as fast as I could.





CHAPTER FIVE


I made it out of the square and slipped onto one of the side streets. I kept my backpack in front of me and my head down the whole walk home. I didn’t dare take a trolley. Not now.