Page 54 of Dream House
I set down the milk and dart after her—through the laundry room and into the hall.
“What are you doing?” I hiss whisper as she approaches Maisy’s bedroom door.
She stands outside it and throws the lone blueberry into my daughter’s room.
“Pen, what the hell are you doing?!” I’m not whispering anymore.
She turns to me, blinking those wide amber eyes like she can’t believe I’m asking. “You throw a blueberry through the door of your enemy to confuse them.”
My mouth falls open. “Well,I’mconfused!”
With a flick of her wrists, she brushes her long fingers through the air. “See? It works.”
I gape at her. “Maisy’s not your enemy. She’sfour.”
“Oh, I know that.” Pen bats a hand in my direction. “This spell is more about helping me transform negative energy than anything else. But if finding blueberries in her room keeps Maisy from listening in on private conversations, I’ll take that too.”
“Did you just sayblueberries?As in plural?”
Pen tilts her chin and jiggles her shoulder with theatrical innocence. “I might have done this spell a few times.”
My eyelids stutter. “Here?”
Again, the shoulder jiggle. “Once or twice.”
“What the hell for?”
“Well.” Pen runs a hand over her head scarf. “In addition to mortifying me just now, Maisy took one of my attraction charms from my purse and unbundled it.”
Even though her voice is calm, Pen’s eyebrows arch in a way that makes me think of heat lightning.
“When was this?” I ask, my face going hot.
“On Tuesday.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
She shrugs. “I handled it.”
“By throwing fruit into my daughter’s bedroom?”
“Among other things,” Again, her theatrical innocence makes me nervous.
“What other things?”
Pen presses her lips together. “I just put a protection spell on my purse and made an offering to Hermes.”
“Oh.” Okay, that’s not so bad. “So, no animal sacrifices in Maisy’s room or anything.”
She glares daggers. “That’s not funny. You know I’d never hurt an animal.”
“I’m just teasing,” I say. “You know. Transforming energy.”
Pen snorts. But then her eyes flick guiltily toward Maisy’s bed. “Just... don’t be surprised if you find a comfrey root bundle under Maisy’s mattress when you change her sheets.”
“Pen!”
She spins on her heel and sashays back toward the kitchen, laughing over her shoulder. The kettle pipes into a whistle as soon as we enter, and I have to say, Pen might know what she’s doing because it seems like everyone’s moved on from thePen wants to lie down in Livy’s gardenrevelation.
