Page 101 of The Magic We Made

I’m guessing those charges will be dropped if the girls are forthcoming enough about Haley.

Which is fine. Haley’s the one the cops seem to really want, anyway.

Jackie’s with the girls now, taking their statements about Haley.Unlike the other girls,Haleyisn’t suffering from malnutrition, exposure, and various parasitic infections. That’s because she spent the summer in a generator-powered luxury tent, with a cookstove, mini fridge, and laptop with Wi-Fi, committing extortion. Troy and his buddies found this tent—along with other evidence of criminal activity, including one girl who was tied to a tree the entire time—not far from the Seat.

That’s another reason why Haley went directly to jail: she’s being charged with a lot more serious stuff than her followers. Some of the charges I overheard Jackie mention include racketeering, forced labor, wire fraud, assault, kidnapping, and attempted murder. Of me.

“You’re lucky,” Jackie told me, “that you got away with just a few bruised ribs. We found an entire manifesto in Haley’s tent that laid out her plan to kidnap you and extort your grandmother. She’s been planning this for months.”

Great. Good to know.

“And what she intended to do to you if your grandmother didn’t pay your ransom was a lot worse than blowing some weed into your face. You’re lucky that this area is so prone to earthquakes, because if that one hadn’t interrupted her right when it did, you’d be dead... or at least dismembered.”

In the meantime, the ER doc won’t let me leave.

“Datura stramoniumis a serious poison,” she keeps saying. “We’re going to keep you here until we’re sure it’s all out of your system and there’s no allergic reaction.”

I already told her I’ve been poisoned with this weed and its many various cousins before, and it’s no big deal.

But this isn’t the right thing to say in the West Harbor Hospital ER, since it only results in the doc suggesting that maybe I, likethe girls, need a consult with Psych and Social Services, since I seem to enjoy ingesting toxic weeds so much. It’s only thanks to Frankie that they haven’t taken me straight upstairs for a psych hold.

“He’s joking,” she told the ER doc. “Don’t worry; I can vouch for him. He’s sane... ish.”

The ER doc didn’t look very reassured by this. And frankly, neither am I. Francesca has been quiet since our rescue.Tooquiet. Quiet enough that I almost wish theywouldadmit me, since at least that way I’d be in a private room with limited visitors and could get to the bottom of whatever it is that’s bothering her.

But down here in the ER, there’s apparently no limit on the amount of guests who are allowed in—at least when it comes to the Giovannis. I overheard the doctor trying to tell Frankie’s family they could only come in two at a time, and only at the top of the hour for five minutes until actual hospital visiting hours begin at seven AM.

But Mrs. Giovanni simply sniffed and said, “We’ll stay as long as we like. That’s my daughter you’ve got in there!”

But she didn’t mean Frankie. She meant Frankie’s little sister, Cat.

“I still don’t understand what you were doing there, Caterina,” her mother keeps saying.

Cat’s in the bed next to mine, also receiving fluids. Unlike the other girls, she’s suffering from rope burns in addition to malnutrition and exposure.

That’s right. The girl they found tied to a tree is Frankie’s little sister.

“I told you,” Cat says for what has to be the hundredth time. “I was undercover.”

“Aswhat?”Mark demands. He’s here, too, along with his wife Dina, sister Angelina, brother-in-law Troy, and their two daughters, both of whom are passed out in a nearby visitor’s chair, since it’s three in the morning.

The doctor said I’m supposed to be resting. But that’s a little difficult with the entire Giovanni clan clustered around the bed next to mine. They’re watching Cat as she attempts to polish off a trayful of leftovers from Sunday Gravy that her mother brought over, even though both the doctors and Frankie warned her that too much food too fast could hurt her.

This only served to insult Mama Giovanni, however, who sniffed and said, “Too much of my food has never harmed anyone.”

“Don’t even think about it,” the doc said when she saw me eyeing the eggplant parmesan in the container in front of Cat. “You’re on fluids only until I’m sure that poison is out of you. And you need to sleep.Now.”

That’s when she pulled the curtain, blocking my view of Frankie, her family, and her little sister’s food tray.

I can still smell Mrs. Giovanni’s food though... and hear every word the family says.

“I told you, I’m writing a piece forThe West Harbor Dailyon the influx of witch covens to this area,” Cat is explaining to her brother. “I figured the best way to get the full story was to join one—”

“So you picked the one that’s acult?” Dina cries. “Why didn’t you come to me? I could have steered you to a nice, supportive coven that doesn’t extort money from its members or try to kidnap people.”

“Because that wouldn’t make a good story.” Cat sounds exasperated. “Besides, I didn’t know it was a cult when I joined. Andby the time I figured it out, I had too much good dirt on it to quit. Do you have any idea how competitive it is out there for journalists, especially female journalists? I gotta do whatever I have to in order to get my own byline.”

“DoesTheWest Harbor Dailyevenpay their reporters to go undercover?” Angie asks snidely.