Read Jinx for Free Online Page B

small smile played across her lavender lips. “You certainly know how to clear a room, Bella.”
    “Don’t worry,” I said, trying to ignore the slick, greasy feel of mayonnaise on my hands. “I’ll clean it up and pay for the rug. I know it must be expensive.”
    Joanne waved her hand. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve been dying to get a new one anyway. Now, I have the perfect excuse. There’s a bathroom down the hall. Go get yourself cleaned up. And try to do something with your hair, will you? It looks all nappy and frizzy. I’ll get one of the housekeepers to take care of this.”
    “Are you sure? About the rug, I mean—”
    “Go!” Joanne pointed her manicured nail toward the door. “Berkley has a hundred rugs like this one. He won’t miss it, I promise.”
    Well, I’d offered. That was all I could do. This wasn’t the first rug I’d ruined, and it wouldn’t be the last. In fact, there were several locations in the greater Bigtime area where I was no longer welcome because I’d caused so many catastrophes. Just last week, I’d been barred for life from Jewel’s Jewel Emporium. I’d obliterated not one, not two, but three diamond-solitaire pendants. It is very, very hard to break diamonds, but somehow, I’d found a way to reduce them all to powder. With my bare hands.
    I followed Joanne’s directions as best I could. Down the hall might as well have been in another state as big as the mansion was. It took me ten minutes to find the bathroom, which could have housed a whale. Everything sparkled. It was so clean and white and sterile I doubted anything in the room had ever been used. I ran the tub-sized sink full of hot, soapy water, stripped off my white shirt, and scrubbed it. Despite the soaked-in globs of mayonnaise, the fabric came clean almost immediately. That was another strange thing about my luck. Sometimes, it was actually good, a blessing instead of just a jinx.
    As for my hair, well, until Berkley or some other tycoon started making super—and I mean really, really super —strength conditioner, I’d just have to live with it. And so would Joanne.
    I rummaged around in the tall cabinets until I found a hair dryer. I plugged it in one of the wall outlets, far, far from the sink and bathtub so I wouldn’t tempt fate and electrocute myself. Or blow every fuse in the mansion. Using the hot, steady blast from the hair dryer, I got most of the moisture out of my shirt. Fifteen minutes later, I was ready to face the world again.
    I headed back toward the library, admiring the rooms and furnishings I passed. Many of them were familiar to me. Johnny and I used to have a ball playing hide-and-seek in the mansion, while Berkley entertained Bobby and James. Sometimes, it took us hours to find each other. Once, Johnny hid so well Berkley had to get his staff to help me look for him so we could go home. We finally found Johnny asleep in a bedroom closet—
    POP!
    I stopped, wondering at the strange sound. It reminded me of cereal snapping when you poured cold milk on it. For a moment, I wondered if I’d imagined the noise. And why. I didn’t particularly like cereal.
    POP!
    POP!
    POP!
    The sound came again and again, louder every time, and I knew I wasn’t daydreaming. The pops! emanated from a salon a few feet ahead. I crept up to the doorway and peered inside. It was one of Berkley’s viewing rooms, where he kept his paintings and statues and other expensive, important works of art. Cushioned chairs and low couches scattered throughout the area invited people to sit and stare at everything. Night had already fallen outside, but white footlights highlighted the art against the dark walls. I’d spent many hours in this room and others like it, trying to draw and paint and sketch as well as the masters.
    POP!
    A man appeared in front of a particularly abstract Picasso, where there had only been empty space a moment before. He wore a formfitting leather suit so blue it was almost black. The