Page 44 of The Blue Moon Café & 24-Hour Occult Emporium

Heart pounding, Talula approached the portal. Her shoulders pulled nearly up to her ears, her spine stiff. Blue tendrils flicked at her teasingly. Talula had the strangest sense that the Volta was laughing at her rigidity. She took a breath and let her shoulders relax. Finally, she let her magic reach out to the Volta. A whisper of That’s better flowed through her.

“To Pompeii,” she murmured to herself. The Volta became a smear of blue-tinged images until it stilled. It showed Talula ancient relics, where tourists snapped photos, guides strode confidently through ruins, and an errant breeze tossed a paper map over stone pathways.

“Very good.” Simon nodded. “Michail, are you ready?”

Michail clip-clopped to the blue membrane of the Volta. He reached out his fingers to the bustling scene, trembling.

It had been like this once, Talula thought, far away from herself, as she watched visitors ambling through Pompeii’s streets. Full of people and noise and color. Until it wasn’t…Talula ached, thinking of that ancient city ending in ash and fear.

Suddenly, the blue-tinged world of tourists and relics disappeared. Instead, Talula stared straight into the gaping maw of an active volcano. Lava rippled and spat, hurtling its raw red glow against the blue of the Volta’s membrane.

Michail gasped, snatching his fingers away.

“Talula, focus!” Simon growled.

Pompeii, please! Her mind shouted. But the Volta merely changed the view of the volcano, showing Talula the red rivers of lava carving through trees. Talula’s mind was a feedback loop of panic.

“To Pompeii!” Simon shouted.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Michail clutching his pocket watch.

To Linh. Talula pressed the thought into the Volta. To Linh, PLEASE!

In a blink, the scenery changed. They were staring at the back of a man, his black hair stuck out in all directions as if he’d been electrocuted. He sat on a bench in a quiet corner of the ruins, his legs swinging. Over his shoulder, Talula could see he was staring at a picture on his phone—it was a selfie of a sheepishly smiling Michail.

Michail gasped. “That’s him. That’s my Linh!”

“Can you focus long enough for Michail to get through the portal?” Simon asked Talula, barely containing his anger.

“It’s safe.” Talula swallowed. “The Volta gets it now…we had a misunderstanding. I was distracted.”

Simon’s eyes flashed darkly.

“Thank you, thank you.” Michail practically galloped into the Volta, the barrier warping around him like ripples in a pond. Talula watched Linh whip around, his face breaking out into a toothy grin. Right as they reached for each other, Talula broke her connection to the Volta. They deserve a little privacy.

Talula turned to face Simon. Her heart sunk. Rage simmered in his eyes.

“Home,” he seethed. “Now.”

Talula sat on her living room couch, while Simon stood on the ottoman in front of her, nearly eye to eye. They’d stewed in silence until finally Simon asked, “Do you want to be a sorceress?”

Talula jolted, taken aback. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

“Are you sure?” Simon asked. “Because I haven’t seen a young woman working to master her extraordinary powers. Instead, I’ve seen a distracted, undisciplined little girl playing at magic with no thought to the consequences of her actions. Michail was a second away from an excruciating death. Because you were distracted. Again.”

Talula winced, but his criticism churned in her gut like a bad meal.

“So I must ask you, Talula, only daughter of the most powerful magic-worker in millennia, heir to the guardianship of the Volta, Do you want to be a sorceress?”

Shame warmed her cheeks. “Yes.”

“Then you must let go of your human distractions.”

Talula shook her head. “But Simon, we need to be a part of the human world if the Blue Moon is going to keep up its cover. Plus, I’m not like my mom; I’m half human! I need human things like food and bike rides—”

“Dahlia.” Simon stared levelly at Talula. “You must let go of Dahlia.”

Now Talula’s cheeks were really on fire. “I don’t have Dahlia.”