Page 144 of The Blue Moon Café & 24-Hour Occult Emporium

Talula’s memory sparked.

“Like calls to like,” Talula and her watercolor self recited at the same time.

“Haven’t you learned anything from that cookbook?” The other Talula chuckled. “The world is only as separate from you as you want it to be.”

Talula searched for the power that tore her to pieces. She stopped thinking of herself as a twig in a wildfire. Instead, she let herself be flame.

The Volta’s power seeped into the cracks it had ripped apart, knitting her back together. Splintered molecules melded themselves whole with blue-tinged fire. Atoms cooled and kept on spinning, spurred on in a symphony of magic.

“Good job.” Talula felt a faint ruffle of her hair. “But now it’s time for you to leave.”

Talula felt herself being pulled out of the peaceful blue.

“I’ll see you soon,” her reflection murmured.

Then Talula woke up.

35

The first thing Talula noticed was the state of her mouth. It was dry and sour and tasted like something had died in it.

The second was the walls of her bedroom—the house had turned them a stunning morning-glory blue.

The third was that Talula’s bedroom was not empty. It was packed.

Elegba paced by her window. Anna snuggled in Emilio’s lap on an ottoman. Mrs. Bochart snored in the window seat. Kiki had folded themself into a spare chair. Even Luis, the fire chief, was reading the paper on top of a kitchen stool. Simon was on her bed, over Talula’s ankles. Then she caught a whiff of pomegranate and shea butter on her left. Talula turned her head. Dahlia was perched on her nightstand, scribbling in a notebook. She had bags under her eyes, and her hair looked a good deal past its prime wash day.

She was the best thing Talula had ever seen.

“Hi,” Talula said, her voice a wisp.

Dahlia dropped her notebook and screamed, “She’s awake!” before throwing herself into the crook of Talula’s neck. Dahlia sobbed with abandon. Talula felt hands on her shoulders, her knees, her toes.

“Your mother will tan my hide when she comes back; I can’t believe you’d do something so stupid!” Mrs. Bochart scolded.

“Tan your hide? She’s going to turn me into a toy for spoiled mortal children!” Simon whined. He snuggled up to Talula’s free shoulder to mutter, “I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”

“This whole thing was far too dramatic, even for me.” Kiki rolled their eyes.

“I’m so mad at you for saving me!” Dahlia wailed.

“She saved everyone,” Anna said.

“Give the hero some breathing room.” Elegba chuckled.

“What—” Talula coughed on her rusty voice. Dahlia offered her a glass of water, and she sipped gratefully. “What happened? What day is it?”

“It’s Monday,” Elegba said.

“You’ve been out for a few days,” Anna explained. “We’ve all been taking shifts to keep an eye on you. But good news! You saved the town, and everyone got out of the fairgrounds thanks to our fire alarm.”

Talula could have melted with relief. Before Damien arrived at the café, Talula had decided that telling a few trusted people the truth was better than letting the whole town explode. So she’d sent a message to a group chat with Emilio, Anna, and Dahlia. The message explained that Talula was a sorceress and needed them to create a false fire alarm to evacuate the town and save them all from evildoers.

“If I’d gotten that text from anyone else, I would have thought it was a Halloween prank.” Emilio shook his head. “But then Simon started bossing us around, and I thought, ‘Yup, that tracks.’ ”

Simon covered his face with a bashful paw.

“We had to loop in Luis, though, because…well, we had to do a tiny bit of arson to make the fire alarm convincing.” Anna gave a sardonic smile to the retired fire chief. “Safe, supervised arson.”