Page 3 of Jingle Spells

Delilah frowned. “It’s very simple to adjust the spell for altitude, if you just . . . You know what, no. I’m not doing Spell 101 with you. Get out of my shower and go home.”

“Cut me some slack.” Scarlett yanked a towel off the rack and tried to dry herself off. “I’m having a hell of a day. I’ve been all over this hotel looking for you. I’ve blundered into at least two close encounters of the infidelity kind, then a poor chap nearly opened his jugular when he saw me behind him in the shaving mirror. And⁠—”

“None of which explains why you’re wet.”

“And . . . I’m getting to that . . . a Belgian woman was trying to enjoy a relaxing bubble bath when I was suddenly in the tub with her. Which made her, shall we say, rather the opposite of relaxed. In fact, we should probably get going because I’m pretty sure she’s summoning the authorities as we speak.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“We need you at home, Del.”

“I’m busy. Go handle it yourself.”

“Haven’t you seen my texts?”

“I assumed it was obvious that I’m ignoring your texts, Scar.”

“But I used the little police-car-light emoji! Everybody knows to always respond to the police-car-light emoji! Why haven’t you texted me back?”

“Oh ho.” Delilah rolled her eyes at her sister’s obvious hypocrisy. “You don’t like being ghosted, eh? Well, little sister, I’ve only been ignoring you for a few weeks. Imagine what it’s like to be ignored for ten years.”

“Ah.” Scarlett gave up on the towel, dropping it by her feet. “I’m still not forgiven, I see. Okay. And when does the statute of limitations run out, exactly?”

“Um, not sure. Check back around 2035.”

“Sis . . .” Scarlett reached out to take her sister’s hands. “We need you. We—hang on a second, where’s Luna? Isn’t she traveling with you? What, does she have her own room?”

“No, Luna is . . .” Delilah jerked her hands away. “Well, in fact I don’t know where Luna is.”

“What the hell? Why not?”

Del just shrugged. “Haven’t spoken.”

“Did you have a fight with our baby sister? Cripes, Del, who fights with Luna? Picking a fight with Luna is like picking a fight with one of those adorable pink salamanders with the . . .” Scarlett put her hands atop her head and wiggled her fingers. “One of those . . . what the hell are they called . . .”

“Axolotls, dum dum. And it wasn’t a fight, we just went separate ways. Look, when I agreed to travel with her, I thought I was going to see the world. Like, the whole world. Not just witch covens. But all Luna wants to do is study. Her last idea was us going to New York City, which sounded great until I found out we were going to spend the whole time in the damn subway tunnels! If I go New York, I want to . . . I don’t even know. I want to see Hamilton or whatever.”

Scarlett made a face. “Hamilton is so 2016. People aren’t still into Hamilton.”

“Well whatever! What are people into?”

“I don’t know . . . the new version of Cabaret, I guess?”

Now it was Delilah’s turn to make a face. “Cabaret? Again?”

“Never stops being relevant, unfortunately. Look, Del, I don’t have time for Broadway recaps, okay? The hotel needs you. Oak Haven needs you. And⁠—”

“I told you, I’m not interested.”

“Mama needs you.”

Delilah met her sister’s eyes. “I’m sorry to hear that. But I worked that reservation desk for ten years, while everybody around me got to run around and live their lives and get into all kinds of mischief. It’s my turn now.”

“Listen—”

“No, I won’t hear it.” Delilah turned away, gazing at herself in the bathroom mirror. “I mean, just look at me. I got old behind that desk.”

“You’re not old.” Scarlett gingerly moved closer, standing beside her sister, the two of them framed in the too-bright neon light of the hotel bathroom. “You can’t be happy out here on your own, Del. Come on. I mean . . . Tokyo?”