up some dust, change things around. Or maybe you were just going to up and leave. Now I see you sitting here across the table from me like a greedy little fat girl in a skinny girl’s body, and I think that maybe you’re here to sit at your grandma’s right hand after all.”
“What is it about the necklace?” I ask.
She looks over her shoulder and then leans closer to me.
“It’s a powerful charm,” she whispers. “My daddy calls it a Fear Not to Walk Over Evil.”
“What does it do?”
“Sina!” a man’s voice barks from the door.
I jump in my chair and turn to see Doc Buzzard standing there, eyes blazing behind his blue sunglasses.
“Wrap up that girl’s things and get her home,” he says. “And not a word more.”
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“That necklace is the last thing you have of your mother’s,” he says. “Treat it with respect. It’s not some object for old ladies to gossip and buzz about.”
He looks pointedly at Sina when he says this. She wraps up the potion and hands it to me. “Remember, three drops. No more, no less.”
“How much do I owe you?”
“We’ll put it on the Magnolias’ tab,” Doc Buzzard snaps. “Now get on home, little girl. You’ve got no place being here without your grandmother. Trust me. Your own time will come.”
30
The night of the Christmas Ball is clear and cool. Through the window, I can smell the sharp scent of wood smoke. Josie must have lit a fire downstairs. I can hear my grandmother clicking around down below, getting ready to depart for the party. Before getting Sina to cook up the root for me, I was planning on taking a ritual bath with a little love attraction charm (archangel herb, lovers’ incense, and spearmint) mixed in. But now that the agenda has changed, I switch to a hyssop cleanse (four teaspoons of dried hyssop brewed to a dark tea and then poured into the bathwater) to neutralize any competing energy. I light candles (red and white for love) all around the bathroom and bedroom and then soak for a while, chanting:
“Holy hyssop,
cleanse me to the core,
and drive all evil
from my door.”
Later, I get out of the tub and look at myself in the mirror. What would my mom think if she knew I was about to use a spell on someone? Especially when I specifically promised that person that I wouldn’t? It doesn’t matter, though, does it? Because my mom’s not here. She left me and is gone forever. The fact is, I’ll never see her again.
I put on my robe and pour myself a cup of Swamp Brew. Although Sina gave me the gris-gris to slip into Thaddeus’s drink, there’s a lot of prep work to do. I’ve set up my altar exactly the way Sina instructed: I snipped a piece of Thaddeus’s shirt, put out a cup of wine, and placed the piece of paper with his name on it. I chant:
“Although you are free,
belong to me—”
“Um, Alex?”
I whip around. Thaddeus is standing in the doorway holding a bottle of champagne. His face is the color of blank paper. “What are you doing?”
“Uh…” I stand up, knocking over the altar. The wine spills over the candles, causing them to hiss and die out.
“Is that a picture of me?”
“I know this looks really bad.”
“Yeah. It does. It looks extremely, extremely bad.”
I fully expect this to be the moment he tells me I’m a psycho and then runs out. After all, he’s just walked in on me praying to a hoodoo altar with his image on it. That would scare off most guys immediately. To my surprise, though, instead of getting angry or freaked, he just sighs and sits on the bed.
“I was afraid this would happen,” Thaddeus says.
“What?” I say, still stalling. “This is nothing. Not a big deal. I was just fooling around.”
“Here’s the thing, Alex. I said before I couldn’t be with a Magnolia. Then I went ahead and went out with you because you were so cool. I took the risk. I mean, that episode with Madison really messed me up. It’s beyond horrible not knowing whether your feelings are real or not.”
“Is this about Madison?” I ask. “About how you’re still into her?”
“I like you, Alex.”
“Sure,” I say, my eyes filling with tears. “Now that I’ve had a Magnolia makeover.”
“Actually, I’m not even into the new look. I like the old Alex. The weird hippie girl with the great sense of humor, who