Page 44 of No Charm Done

Luna didn’t wait for him to finish monologuing. She conjured a hawk the size of a small car, with talons like butcher knives. Its wings spread wide enough to cast a shadow over the street.

And then it fell over.

Not dramatically. Not with a cry. It simply pitched forward and hit the pavement with a dull, undignified thump, lying there like a winter coat heaped on the ground.

Glowing letters shimmered into the air, hovering at an awkward angle: BAD REQUEST—MAGIC ANOMALY DETECTED—PLEASE STAND BY

“Oh come on,” Luna groaned, “for fuck’s sake, seriously?!”

Scarlett swore under her breath but forged ahead anyway. She raised both hands, jaw clenched, and focused her energies to summon a deadly cobra.

Which dutifully appeared. And was the size of a teacup.

The tiny serpent coiled itself neatly on the cobblestones, lifted its minuscule head, and emitted an aggravated squeak.

Suddenly a new message blinked into existence, overlapping the first: CASTR BETA ERROR—UNSTABLE OUTPUT

The magicians stared, then laughed. Not sinister villain-style laughter this time. No, they emitted great, genuine guffaws. The lead magician had to wipe away a tear. “Is this a joke?”

Luna glanced at the porch. She saw Elias go white and take an involuntary step backward. Don’t be afraid, she wanted to cry out, I won’t let them take you.

But the magicians composed themselves and advanced on the porch, their boots crunching over stone. Meanwhile, the in-air error messages multiplied, drifting lazily through the air like confetti no one had asked for.

PLEASE STAND BY

MAGIC ANOMALY DETECTED

PLEASE STAND BY

Kelly’s hands trembled as she tried to stabilize the portals, the edges of them shuddering, refusing to hold.

Then Delilah stepped forward. She didn’t rush, and unlike her younger sisters she didn’t swear. She simply raised one finger, precise as punctuation.

The air went still as something vast and wet tore its way into existence. A giant octopus reared up behind the magicians, its slick bulk reaching the height of the Williams Hardware sign, its thick tentacles slapping against the pavement.

On the porch, the Earls erupted.

“Well I’ll be damned,” Eleven crowed. “That’s a beauty.”

“Now that’s a proper monster,” Ten agreed.

The right-most magician shrieked and fell over, landing directly into a portal Kelly wrenched open beneath him at the last possible second.

Two tentacles lashed out, wrapping the other two magicians around the torso with terrifying efficiency. The men barely had time to shout before the creature flung them bodily into the same waiting portal.

Kelly snapped her fingers and the portal sealed shut with a final, satisfied thump. The error messages winked out of existence, and the street fell abruptly silent.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Nine said, lowering his pistol. “Kelly, that was beautiful.”

She exhaled, long and shaky. “Let’s never do that again.”

Delilah made a gentle shooing motion at her monster. “Thank you,” she murmured, and the octopus dissolved gently into mist, tentacles slipping away like a receding tide.

Eleven was grinning so hard his weathered face looked like it might crack. “Hey, girls,” he called out to the sisters. “Nicely done over there!”

“Now hang on a minute.” Scarlett folded her arms across her chest and stared at the empty space where the octopus had been. “Why did your spell work when Luna’s just keeled over and mine squeaked?”

Delilah shrugged. “Maybe because I practice, unlike you ding-dongs.”