Read Spell Struck for Free Online

the smoke. How typical of Kali to ignore Rule Number Four: no fires until dark. She must have charmed Papo good. And used up more of his precious matches. The Earth would probably stop rotating if he broke down and bought some.
    Through the sliding glass door, I spotted Magdalena on the cement patio, hunched over the little hibachi, her satchel at her feet. Her hands were stuffed into knitted fingerless gloves, and her dingy flea-market coat billowed around her ankles. She lifted the cooker's lid. Onion and cheap beef stew scents sluiced in through the drafty windows. My stomach gurgled.
    Kali slunk in like a cat and stole the sweet spot in front of the fire. "Good school?"
    Salem's face popped into my mind. "It's mellow. You should try it some time."
    "No thanks." She shivered and hugged herself. She had thrown her thrift-store down jacket over her looking-for-work outfit: a white button-down shirt, short gray skirt over wooly black tights, and boots with rundown heels.
    "Find any work?"
    "Not yet, but I will."
    I remembered June. "Well, keep your eye out for a Yorkie named Artemis. She's gone AWOL."
    "Is there a reward?"
    I shrugged. I hadn't thought to ask.
    Night descended quickly. We gathered in a half-circle around the fire and silently ate Magdalena's stringy stew. Kali and I huddled on our bedrolls. Magdalena and Papo sat in folding chairs from the back of the van, their legs and laps encased in old blankets. A stout pillar candle from the dollar store provided extra light.
    Magdalena stared into the flames. "The grimoire is near. I can feel it."
    I cloaked my expression so she wouldn't detect my scowl. Papo and Magdalena sought out fellow treasure hunters, then surfed their conversations for clues to the next big score. The grimoire sounded like one more dream to chase — a dangerous dream, if the Roma were involved.
    "What would you do if you found it?" Kali asked.
    Magdalena's crow eyes glittered with imagined fortune. "What do you think?" Her fingertips danced against her thumb as if she could already feel the hundred-dollar bills. "I'd use the spells to make everyone who ever lied to me suffer as I have suffered." Her eyes narrowed into slits. "Then I'd return to Romania and find my daughter."
    "She's dead, old woman. I keep telling you," Papo said.
    "No!" Magdalena stood so quickly the blanket fell to her feet. "You lie! They all lied — the cops, the hospital…"
    "Irina was in the car."
    "No. Only my husband was in the car."
    Papo stabbed his finger at Magdalena's scuffed satchel. "The police gave you her valise!"
    "It doesn't prove anything." Magdalena clutched the bag to her chest. "It was Tuesday. He said he was sending Irina away on Wednesday. That's why we had to do it on Tuesday."
    My skin crawled. "Do what?"
    Magdalena ignored me.
    "Where was he sending Irina?" Kali asked.
    "To Romania, where we had adopted her. He said Irina had been in the orphanage too long. She'd never be normal. We had to send her back. I refused." Magdalena jutted her chin at Papo. "Irina wasn't supposed to be in the car. Not on Tuesday."
    "It wasn't my fault he lied to you. How was I to know?"
    Suspicion tiptoed through my brain. "What caused the crash?"
    Magdalena glared at Papo.
    Chills tingled my arms. Papo sabotaged the car. They colluded to kill Magdalena's husband. I clutched my fists to stop the shudder threatening to ripple through me. My brain careened back to the day I had first met Magdalena. I spotted Kali on the steps of the Asian Art Museum. Dark energy swirled around the old woman sitting beside her. I started to skitter away, but Kali spied me and called out. I didn't want her to think I was a coward, so I crossed the street and joined her.
    "This is Magdalena. She reads palms."
    "Show me your hand, boy."
    I slid my hands behind my back and laced my fingers together.
    "Afraid of an old woman, dearie?" Magdalena's voice rose with the taunt.
    Kali blinked at me, her expression fathomless.
    Reluctantly, I presented