Page 52 of Two’s A Charm

CHARM OFFENSIVE

Bonnie

Effie grabbed Bonnie’s wrist and pulled her towards the stairwell.

She didn’t stop until they reached the landing, and the two of them stood there in the dim illumination of the stippled Moroccan lamps, surrounded by Mom’s aura paintings.

The ugliness of the Uncle Oswald painting, as always, set the hairs on Bonnie’s neck to attention – but mostly because now she wondered if that’s what her own aura looked like.

Ugly and dank. Marred by the way she’d leapt at Uncle Oswald’s business plan to make some quick cash, and at the chance to prove to Effie that her own magic skills were equal.

And look how that had turned out. She’d proven the opposite: that she was hasty and untalented and sloppy.

She could’ve tried to perfect the individual recipes in the grimoire, but she’d been determined to launch the new range of cocktails as quickly as possible to take advantage of Uncle Oswald’s promised kickback.

She could’ve stopped serving them once she realized they were having effects beyond losing interest in dream interpretation or astral projection.

And let’s face it – she’d known for a while now.

But admitting it would have meant that she’d messed up. Yet again.

But now she had no choice but to come clean.

‘Effie, it’s all my fault,’ she blurted, getting out the words as fast as she could.

‘Uncle Oswald came to me with these hexed drink recipes that were meant to steer people away from their influencer-created New Age woes and encourage them to shop at his place instead. He paid me every time they bought something.’

‘I see,’ said Effie. Bonnie could just tell she wanted to say something about the electrical box, but to her credit, Effie kept her mouth shut.

‘But I messed up the recipe. Or the recipe was wrong to begin with. I don’t know.

Everyone’s losing their minds. I called the newspaper, and apparently Madame Destinée keeps forgetting to write her horoscopes.

Dierdre from Second-Hand Magic has turned into a sceptic.

Freddie Noonan is excited about fake grass.

And Sabine...how could she forget Mom? ’

Her voice hitched as she said this, for it had been the final straw. The one thing that had set her conscience screaming.

Turning a nervous gaze on Effie, Bonnie took a deep breath. ‘Can you...turn them back?’

Effie’s eyes were narrowed behind her glasses, but to Bonnie’s relief she didn’t start yelling. Which, honestly, Bonnie deserved.

But how she did respond was arguably worse.

In a small, hurt voice, Effie whispered, ‘Why didn’t you just ask me for help?’

Bonnie burst into tears. How was she meant to explain to Effie that she’d been trying so hard to be a proper adult, one that Mom would be proud of, and Effie too? That she was more scared of Effie’s judgement than anything else, because Effie was all that she had left?

Slowly and awkwardly, Effie wrapped Bonnie in a hug. ‘I know I haven’t been here for you the way you needed. I’m sorry, Bonnie. You messed up. Really and truly messed up. But it shouldn’t have taken Tessa begging me to come down here to see that you needed help.’

Something damp fell upon Bonnie’s shoulder, startling her. Was that a tear? Was Effie crying as well?

Bonnie drew back, gently touching her sister’s face. That thoughtful face whose seriousness was partly Bonnie’s fault.

‘I’m sorry, too,’ Bonnie said. ‘I’ve been awful. I was just trying to prove to you that I could do this. That you could just be you and that you didn’t have to try to replace Mom.’

Effie reached up to touch the painting that represented Mom’s own aura. ‘No one could replace Mom.’

Bonnie nodded tearily. Her sister was right, of course.

‘You know I don’t do magic on people,’ said Effie slowly. ‘It’s too risky. There are too many variables, and you never know how things might backfire.’

‘Things are definitely backfiring,’ came Theo’s voice from behind them. ‘It’s a zoo out there.’

Scrunching her eyes closed, Effie gathered herself, then turned to face Theo, who was regarding them with a mix of curiosity and alarm.

‘But you’re okay?’ said Effie.

He did look somewhat mussed, as though he’d had to fight his way over to them. His hair was more tousled than usual, and his shirt was creased.

‘I’m okay, but I would really love to know what’s going on out there. Because even by city standards, it’s wild.’

‘It’s magic,’ said Bonnie.

‘Bonnie!’ snapped Effie.

‘Magic gone wrong,’ added Bonnie.

‘ Bonnie! ’ snapped Effie again.

‘What? You think he’s trustworthy, right? Or you wouldn’t be dating him.’

Effie turned bright red. So did Theo.

‘You’re taking all of this quite well,’ Bonnie told Theo.

Theo made a so-so gesture with his hand. ‘I’m definitely a bit freaked out. But I’ve had some time to come to terms with this whole Chalmers sisters thing.’

Effie groaned. ‘But we work so hard to keep our magic under wraps.’

‘Really?’ Theo said. ‘What with the whole weird uncle with a New Age shop, Bonnie’s habit of setting stuff on fire, your uncanny ability to produce a requested book in seconds, and the weird green light that’s always emanating from you whenever you’re feeling emotional.’

‘I don’t get emotional,’ snapped Effie.

‘She absolutely does,’ said Bonnie. ‘I put her bookmark back in the wrong spot once and she put a glamour on my eyebrows that made them looked overplucked for six months . I had to take my yearbook photos with a hat on. It’s one of my most painful memories.’

Effie, who’d been staring once more at Mom’s aura self-portrait, clicked her fingers. ‘That’s it. Memories. Mom had a spell that might work. When you had nightmares and you needed to forget them. She’d bring Bobby over to help. I was thinking about it just the other night when I...’

She trailed off, letting Theo twine his fingers through hers.

Bonnie scrunched up her face, thinking. That was right. She’d forgotten all about that. By design, apparently.

‘But Bobby’s not here,’ she said. ‘He’s off with Kirsty.’ She could hear the pang in her own voice.

Effie shook her head. ‘The spell doesn’t require Bobby specifically. Just an unmagical person. I’d take Tessa, but—’

‘But she sacrificed herself to the memory spell to make you finally believe her?’ pointed out Bonnie. ‘Friend of the year over here.’

‘Like you can talk. You threw Bobby to the she-wolves.’

‘One she-wolf,’ corrected Bonnie. ‘And not by choice. I didn’t know that all this was going to happen. I was just trying to be entrepreneurial.’

‘How about me?’ interjected Theo – quite gallantly, Bonnie had to admit. ‘I’m unmagical. Bonnie can handle things here and make sure no one forgets their own head, and I’ll come with you to the library.’

Bonnie shook her head. ‘This is my mess. I’m coming too.’

There was a clatter downstairs, followed by an unnerving amount of laughing and jostling. Glass tinkled against the walls, and chairs rattled as they were upended. The sweet aroma of freshly spilled Memory Lane liquor wafted upstairs.

Either zombies had invaded, or...

‘Bonnie, hon!’ cried Clark from downstairs. ‘I could really use some backup down here! Your Trivia Night people are really pushing their luck!’

‘Oh shit, they’ve breached the bar,’ said Bonnie. ‘Come on. Especially you, Theo. You can be the brawn.’

‘Glad to hear my GOMAD diet wasn’t for nothing,’ said Theo.

With Theo and Effie in tow, Bonnie clattered down the stairs to a group of would-be quizmasters, who’d taken it upon themselves to mix their own versions of Uncle Oswald’s cocktails.

Everywhere she looked, she could see purple-tinged mouths and lilac-stained fingers.

Had the patrons’ obsession with Memory Lane reached tipping point, or had she made a bad batch?

Whatever the case, this had to end now.

‘Did you forget you weren’t supposed to be back here, Gladys?’ she said, shooing the elderly woman back to the floor of the bar.

‘Just like you forgot to restock the hand towels,’ snapped Gladys, retreating behind an overturned table, where she started fighting Willamina for a half-empty purple pitcher.

‘I’ve never seen anything like this!’ shouted Theo, protecting Effie with an angled arm.

‘This is why I prefer the library!’ Effie shouted back.

Bonnie caught sight of Alana crouched in the corner, hiding from a group of students howling like werewolves, looking very confused and rather perturbed.

‘Alana, babe,’ she called over the ruckus, ‘I need your help!’

Alana shook her head. ‘You always need my help.’

All right, so this was true. She changed tack. ‘Do it for Tessa. Believe me, she needs it.’

This got Alana’s attention. ‘What’s going on? It’s like a full-moon situation or something.’

Or something was right.

‘Tessa’s being really strange – pretending that she doesn’t even know who I am. But I never pegged her as the cold-shoulder ghosting type. That’s more...’

Bonnie sighed. ‘Go on.’

‘Your thing.’

Bonnie took a deep breath. ‘I know. I’m trying to make it right. All of it. Effie has a plan to fix it, but she and I have to leave for a bit. Can you manage the bar for me until I’m back?’

Alana looked around in panic, combing her fingers through her hair as she tried to come to terms with what she was seeing. ‘How am I meant to manage this? It’s like a wrestling match. Is everyone on drugs?’

‘Clark can help,’ said Bonnie, pointing at poor Clark, who was extracting a small bottle of Memory Lane out of the hands of Dierdre from Second-Hand Magic.

‘I’m second-guessing this job!’ shouted Clark. ‘No offence, hon.’

‘None taken!’ yelled Bonnie, who didn’t blame him at all. Even she’d prefer to be studying for a PhD right now.

‘Use the soda water guns,’ called Effie, between cupped hands. ‘They’re pretty high pressure.’

‘Set off the sprinklers if you have to,’ added Bonnie. ‘They’re really sensitive.’

Taking a deep breath, Bonnie grabbed Effie’s hand, then pulled her outside.

‘Whatever you have planned, hurry!’ came Alana’s voice over the thronging crowd.

Heart pounding, Bonnie pulled open the door to her Cadillac.

‘Hurry’s my middle name,’ she muttered as she revved the engine.