Her eyes misted. “I’ve known Willard all my life.”
“Oh, school friends?”
She cackled one more time. “No, we weren’t school friends. Willard is my brother.”
My jaw fell to the floor. Okay, something else that I didn’t see coming. “Your brother? As in he is actually your brother? Like, you’re related by blood?”
“Hard to believe, is it?”
“No, no,” I argued weakly. “Well, yes, it is, I guess.”
She jabbed her finger in my shoulder. “That’s how I know about Malene.”
“What do you mean?”
Leola looked like she was about to answer, but instead directed her attention to Rufus. “You want to go hunting for a target spell?”
He stopped talking to Willard and whirled around. “Do you know where one may be?”
She smiled like a Cheshire cat. “In fact, I remember there was a whole mess of spells down by the big tree.”
Rufus lifted a brow. “The big tree?”
“Yep. It’s down off Plum Bluff. Not far from here. Want me to take you there?”
His gaze shot to me. “Would you like to come?”
It was the time to tell Rufus something, anything. He didn’t need to keep spinning his wheels.
I’d opened my mouth to let him know that he didn’t have to go when I heard Malene calling my name.
She stood on her front porch. Her hair, instead of being made into a swirl atop her head, was all spiked up. “Clem! You’ve gotta get over here.”
“What?” My gaze darted frantically to Rufus. “Right now?”
“Yes, right now.”
“Y’all go,” I told Rufus. “We’ll catch up later.”
My stomach knotted as I watched him and Leola head out. Willard gave me a pat on the back in goodbye, and I stalked over to Malene’s.
“Hurry,” she said, gesturing to me. “Pick up the pace.”
“I don’t see what the big deal is,” I grumbled, marching up the stairs.
“Oh, you will.”
She ushered me inside. The television’s volume was on one thousand. The voices were so loud that I plugged my ears.
“Sorry,” she murmured, seeing me. “It’s about to be on.”
“What is?”
The screen flickered, and Tuney Sluggs appeared at a press conference.
“Fancy,” I said.
“Just watch,” Malene replied.
