Read Hexed for Free Online

daughter. All our people know her.”
    Jim nodded to her with a solemn look. My stomach lurched. I felt like throwing up. “Mother . . .”
    She nodded to Jim, as if sharing a grave secret. “And she’s a good cook, too.”
    Jim leaned a little toward her, his face deadly serious. “I’m sure she is.”
    My mother smiled, as if he’d given her a diamond. “Best match. Of all the girls, mine is best match.”
    Aaaaa! “Mother! There is something wrong with him. He’s magic-sick.”
    My mother stood up on her toes and peered at Jim’s eyes. For a long moment they were eye to eye, my short mother and tall, muscular Jim, and then she switched to Indonesian.
    “Let him go.”
    “No.” I shook my head.
    “He is strong. Very good in the body. But you must find another one.”
    “I don’t want another one! I want him.”
    “He’s dying.”
    “I have to save him. Please help me. Please.”
    My mother bit her lip and pointed at the chair. “Sit.”
    Jim sat. She leaned over and pulled his right eye open with her fingers, examining the iris. “Something is eating his soul.”
    “I figured that out. But I can’t see it.”
    Mother sighed. “I can’t see it either. Until we see it, we can’t do anything about it. We need Keong Emas.”
    The Golden Snail. My heart dropped. My legs gave out and I landed on the couch. The only place we could get a golden snail would be in Underground Atlanta. It used to be a shopping district in Five Points, where all the big buildings stood before the Shift. The Underground started out as a big train depot in the mid-1800s with shops, banks, and even saloons, but eventually the city had to build viaducts over the railroad tracks for the car traffic. The viaducts ran together until a good portion of the train tracks, the shops, and the depot were underground. Before the Shift, it used to be full of little bars and shops. Once the magic hit, the shop owners fled and the black market moved in. The mob-sponsored traders had burrowed deep, cutting tunnels running from their shops right into the ruined Five Points and Unicorn Lane, where the magic ran wild and no sane cop would follow them. Now the Underground was a place where you could buy anything if you were desperate enough.
    “Is there any other way?”
    My mother shook her head. “Don’t even think about it. You can’t go to the Underground.”
    I exhaled, blinking. “We don’t have any choice.”
    My mother made a short cutting motion with her hand. “No!”
    “Yes. We need to buy the snail.”
    My mother drew herself to her full height. I stood up and did the same.
    “No, and that’s final.”
    “You can’t keep me from doing it.”
    “I am your mother!”
    Jim opened his mouth. “Mengapa?”
    Oh my gods.
    He spoke Indonesian.
    My mother’s eyes went wide and for a second she looked like a furious cat. “He speaks Indonesian!”
    “I know!”
    “Why didn’t you tell me he speaks Indonesian? This is a thing I need to know!”
    I waved my arms. “I didn’t know!”
    “What do you mean, you didn’t know? You just said you knew.”
    “I meant I didn’t know that he did and then he did and I went ‘I know!’ because I was surprised.”
    “Ladies!” Jim barked, standing up.
    We both looked at him.
    “You’re speaking so fast, I can’t understand,” he said. “Why does Dali need to go to the Underground?”
    “You explain it to him,” my mother said. “I will make tea.” She went into the kitchen.
    I pointed at the chair. “Sit.”
    He sat and lowered his voice. “What happened to your mother’s accent?”
    “We’re past that now,” I whispered to him. “Her little Asian lady act is just for show. She has a master’s in chemistry from Princeton.”
    Jim blinked.
    “Well, where did you think I got my brains?”
    Jim shook his head. “Explain the Underground thing.”
    I sighed. “How much did you understand? And since when do you speak Indonesian?”
    “I’ve got the idea that something