“You know what?” she said, “I have a dragon pig that likes to hunt demons. Maybe I’ll just go get him and have him shove this spawn thing back down that hole.”
“You could try it.”
“But?”
“Demon spawn are sticky. I don’t think you’d like your dragon pig stuck to Klex for all of eternity.”
They glared at each other for almost a minute before I got tired of it. “Give me the turnip.”
She tossed it to me. I grabbed the tea in my bag.
It was a token I’d picked up from one of our town witches, Jule. She traded in magic spells and infused her tea with a little kick of the supernatural kind, usually just gentle blends for good luck, happiness, health, and comfort, which was in keeping with Ordinary’s rules.
The tea was little dried flower petals and leaves all wrapped up in a delicate silk bag. I’d ordered the Awake and Aware tea before. It always had one side effect for me.
It made me want to dance.
Hopefully, it would do the same for Klex over there. But just to be sure, I incanted a little spell activator.
“Twinkle, twinkle, little spell,” I whisper-sang, “send this demon back to Hell, with this turnip and this tea, make a magic lock and key. Twinkle, twinkle, little spell, please be strong and do not fail.”
I tore open the tea and rubbed it on the turnip.
“Myra?” Delaney said. “Hurry.”
There were more blobs in the vortex, dozens of them pushing and shoving to get up out of the hole.
“Come to think of it,” Bathin mused as the pile of ooze fought to break into our world, “all demon spawn like candy.”
“Delaney?” Ryder called out. “Could I see you, please? Now?”
From the tone of his voice, the kid was done playing with the friendly police officer. Also, there was another car turning into the park. And a school bus.
Time wasn’t running out. It was gone.
Chapter 6
The unicorn trottedup beside me and turned over her hoof like it was a hand. If she weren’t a magical creature, that motion would have been impossible. She bent it in a “gimme” gesture. “Turnip.”
“I’m not giving you the turnip,” I said.
“Delaney?” Ryder called again, trying to sound casual and friendly, but not quite covering the panic straining his voice.
“Go,” I told Delaney. “I got this.”
She didn’t even hesitate before jogging down the hill to the parking lot.
The rattle of the bus engine turned off, and the chatter of kids, a lot of kids, filled the air.
I heard Ryder raise his voice to tell them he was going to give them a quick rundown on the rules of the park.
I had seconds to take care of this.
“Give. It. To. Me,” the unicorn said again.
“Don’t,” Bathin said. “You sang the spell, you used the tea. Just throw the turnip at Klex and let magic do the rest.”
“Magic can’t do everything,” Xtelle argued.
