Sorceress, Interrupted - By A. J. Menden Page 0,30
be gentle with you.”
Putting the key in the slot, I turned it. Music started playing—from that accursed monkey cartoon, the children singing about minding your manners. I groaned and randomly hit buttons until it was silenced. Glancing in the backseat showed a child safety seat and a few toys. “This Mom-mobile is definitely incognito,” I said to myself. “Now let’s go find Cyrus.”
Marshaling my memories of watching other people drive, I mimicked what I’d seen. I managed to pull out of the parking space without hitting anything, but just barely, making me realize that it would be a miracle if I made it to my final destination in one piece. A miracle or magic. I was good with magic. Maybe I should stick to that.
“Follow that car,” I said to Lainey’s silver vehicle in Italian, and we were off, hot on Cyrus’s heels.
As I pulled up next to Cyrus’s black GTO, I couldn’t have been more surprised to discover our final destination: a dusty baseball field on the outskirts of town. It might have been my imagination, but I swear Lainey’s car sighed in relief when I turned it off. Magic and technology are not friends. I guess that makes Cyrus’s skills that much more impressive.
As I stepped out into the worn parking lot, the thin stiletto heels of my boots sank into the dirt and caught on the gravel. Sighing, I gritted my teeth and whispered in Italian, changing clothes from my sexy dress and boots into slim jeans and a simple blue tank top with an American flag. After all, baseball is America’s pastime, right? Might as well dress the part. I whispered a few more words and erased the wards off my arms. Weird henna tattoos would definitely make me stand out, and I highly doubted anyone would be coming at me here.
Adding simple thong sandals—what they call flip-flops now—I looked like any other female spectator at the game. Except for one touch, I noted as another mom-type passed by. I conjured up a pair of sunglasses to complete the look.
Where I was trying to fit in, Cyrus seemed to be going out of his way to look like a scary ex-criminal. Instead of joining the others sitting on the benches or on fold-up chairs, he was standing way off to the side, by himself. He still wore his leather jacket, which he easily could have left in the car, and biker boots. It was as if he was intentionally trying to keep people away from him. Given the looks and whispers he was getting, it seemed only a matter of time before someone called the cops.
Slinging my thumbs into the belt loops of my jeans, I wandered over to him, taking care to smile and nod at the moms I passed. Maybe if they saw me with him, they would assume I was someone’s rebellious older sister with my scary boyfriend. At least that way I wouldn’t be bailing or breaking Cyrus out of jail at the end of this.
I called out as I approached, “I hope you realize you look like a creepy kidnapper or something.”
“What the hell are you doing h—?” He turned, and the words died on his lips. His mouth actually hung open while his gaze raked up and down my body. I just waited for him to take it all in, not bothering to adjust my casual position. In all the years I’ve known him, I’ve never seen Cyrus give me more than a passing glance. He’d looked all right, but always a quick scan before going back to his card game, drink, pool game, or whatever he was doing at the bar. He’d never looked more than once. He was actually looking twice now.
I played it cool, like it really didn’t matter to me what he thought, but my pulse couldn’t help but jump. I waited for him to finish, and when his eyes met mine again, I said, “What?”
He shook his head. “Nothing.” A smile played at his lips.
“What? You’re looking at me weird. There’s got to be something.”
He actually looked again, and my pulse jumped again in reaction. It’s just because he usually ignores me, I reminded myself. That’s all it could be. It’s Cyrus, for God’s sake!
“I’m not saying anything,” he said. “Anything that comes out of my mouth is just going to get me in deep.”
“You’re already in deep, so you might as well come out with it.”
He shook his head, still wearing that strange smile.