Page 53 of Her Ghostly Embrace
“These pills—which appear pretty garden variety—have been altered with magic.”
“What?” Gia repeated, her head throbbing anew.
“You didn’t know?” Nico scrubbed a hand over his face. “Melanie?” he called, and a woman popped out from behind a curtain that must have led to another room.
“Yes?” she said.
“Can you examine this for me?” He handed over one of the pills.
“Sure thing.” Melanie grabbed it and disappeared again.
“Those pills can’t have magic,” Gia protested, her sluggish brain doing its best to keep up. “They’re from a human doctor. The prescription gets filled at a regular pharmacy.”
“Prescription? They look like over-the-counter painkillers to me. Do you pick them up yourself?”
“No.” She’d always had people to run errands for her, at her father’s insistence, but that was an image thing. “I know they’re the same shape as other pills, but they’re notthe sameas the over-the-counter stuff. They can’t be.”
Anger flared, and Gia’s head bloomed with pain. Not every pill looked completely unique to the average person. He must be wrong.
Nico studied the remaining pills on the counter, picking them up one at a time. He set one aside. “This one doesn’t seem to have any magic to it, but the others do. Would you mind letting me inspect the rest?”
Gia dumped the pills on the counter. “My family doesn’t know about magic. I’ve only ever been to regular doctors, so I don’t see how there could be magic in any of them.”
“Perhaps the person who fills the prescription messed with them without your family’s knowledge. Most of these are unmagical, but these”—he nudged another pill into a growing pile—“have all been altered.”
“But why are they mixed with non-altered ones?” Even if, say, the doctor or pharmacist was a secret witch, trying to help with magic pills, wouldn’t they all be the same? Gia had never added pills from one bottle into another.
“I don’t know.” Nico’s frown deepened. “I’m sorry to spring this on you, but it’s good you’re here. We’ll figure out what the magic does and get you something else to help your headaches. I’ll be right back.”
Nico disappeared behind the curtain.
“Are you sure your family doesn’t know about magic?” Aurora hissed.
“Yes.” Of course they didn’t know. If Franco knew about magic, he’d have far more power than he did already. “Didn’t Lilly check me for magic? I’d taken a pill within the two weeks.”
“She checked for spells cast onyou. Magic acting on a secondary item alters the item, not you. It wouldn’t have been detectable unless you’d been in the process of taking a pill when she checked.”
Fuck, but before Gia could respond, the curtain shifted, and Nico reappeared, looking grim.
“Melanie did a basic analysis. Something more thorough will take more time, but she can already tell the spell wasn’t meant to enhance the pill’s effects.”
“Meaning what? Explain it to me like I learned about magic yesterday.”
“Yesterday? All right. If someone was trying to help your headaches, they’d cast a spell to increase the painkiller’s effectiveness, but this spell seems to do the opposite.”
“The opposite.” Goddamn, she’d turned into a parrot. Apparently, this was her breaking point.
Nico nodded, nothing but serious. “I’m afraid so. Wherever these pills came from, the person who messed with them was using them to make your headaches worse.”
Gia gripped the counter as dread welled within her. “Could the spell make me black out? Take my memory?”
Nico’s eyes went wide. “No. Witches can’t alter memories. A spell could make you black out, but from what Melanie is picking up, it’s a pain trigger and nothing more.”
Sometimes the pills worked, and sometimes they didn’t. Sometimes her headaches got worse even if she took them.
Gia’s knuckles turned white as she gripped the counterharder. That was why they were mixed. It was a crapshoot. The pills worked enough to keep her taking them. But sometimes, they made her worse. On purpose.
Why would Franco do this to her? Because she couldn’t believe this was a coincidence, or some other malevolent force. Franco must know about magic after all. Something like this didn’t happen under his nose without his knowledge. He was always two steps ahead.
