Carnival Moon, Page 2

  ***

  By Thursday, Jade had nearly forgotten she was supposed to be going to a werewolf shindig. She was too wrapped up in her illusion spell failing every time she tried it. Paris had insisted they start with something small and relatively harmless so they worked on trying to change Jade’s hair color.

  It turned out that the biggest part of the illusion spell was subtlety, a word Jade technically knew the definition of but wasn’t exactly cozy with. It also turned out that an illusion spell gone wrong tended to make what you were trying to ‘fake’ turn out real.

  Hannah, their oldest and wisest Coven member, said the pink tiger-like streaks in Jade’s brunette hair were going to have to grow out. Given the amount of magic Jade had put in them, even if she tried to bottle-dye it back to normal, the magic would cut through and simply turn pink again. Hannah seemed to find the entire thing rather amusing. Instead of trying to hide them or ignore them, Jade decided to wear them proudly, pulling her hair back into a ponytail that well displayed the bright-fuchsia stripes across the sides and crown of her head. Most of the coven, hesitant around her up until now, were a bit more relaxed. Now they had some proof that although more powerful than most of them, Jade still had to learn magic like everyone else - full of awkward and colorful mistakes.

  It wasn’t until Jade went to work on Thursday and found a box sitting on her desk at Counter-Magic that she even remembered she had someplace to be that evening. The box was covered in brown packing paper, about three feet wide by two feet deep and maybe half a foot tall.

  “What’s this?” she asked, nudging the box with a finger as she took off her coat and put her purse in her filing cabinet.

  Josef, her boss at Counter-Magic, came by at her voice. “Paris dropped that off for you. He said you’d know what it was for?”

  Jade looked down at the nondescript white box which had her name detailed across the address section, along with the general address of the Covenstead. She suddenly clued in, remembering the weres’ promise of an outfit and picked the box up, shaking it bit. Something rattled on the inside, and she wondered if the weres had sent shoes as well as clothing.

  Finding a pair of scissors, Jade sliced along the paper-tape sealed edges and then shook the box a bit to get the lid off. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting. Despite her words to Paris before, maybe they really would send her a pelt. Or maybe it would be like a Cinderella dress - all poofy and flouncy. Maybe there would be rhinestones and glitter. Or dark velvet. It was a winter carnival after all.

  There was a letter tucked inside and Jade pushed it aside in her hurry to take a look at the goods.

  She frowned at the dark cotton that stared up at her. Jade carefully lifted out the fabric and frowned harder. It seemed to be a simple pair of black slacks. She poked back into the box and pulled out a soft cotton long-sleeved shirt, also in black.

  This was werewolf carnival wear?

  There were also some containers in the box, and she examined each one. Unscented soap, unscented deodorant, unscented lotion, unscented shampoo - okay, there was a definite trend here. Jade picked up the envelope she’d originally bypassed and flicked it open with her fingers, pulling out the heavy stationary and reading the typed script.

  Please take care to use only the unscented products and to wear the clothing provided. You may wear light makeup if you prefer. Your shoes are your own choice. You will be provided your carnival mask upon your arrival at 7 sharp. - L

  The ‘L’ was hand signed in a cursive manner, the pen stroke heavy on the page. Jade tossed it all back in the box and resolved to go see Paris about it. Was this some kind of weird werewolf joke? Carnival mask? What exactly had she agreed to here?

  She was pulled out of her thoughts by Josef as he tossed down a sludge covered… something on her desk. It made a loud ‘thwack,’ oozing as it landed.

  “No,” Jade said quickly. “I’m not going back in the sewer.”

  “Sorry, Jade. We’ve got another blockage, probably magic in origin, and since you did so well with the last one…” he trailed off, amusement in his eyes.

  She glared up at him. Jade was still the rookie of Counter-Magic. Despite being more powerful than nearly all witches in the coven, she was woefully under-schooled and had to learn magic from the bottom up. A fact that Josef was gleefully taking advantage of.

  “I’ve got to go to a ball tonight!” she said, waving the envelope in his face. “An honest to God ball.”

  “I’ve heard all about your invite from the weres. Still doesn’t get you out of sewer duty.”

  She groaned, slouching back in her chair, her face screwed up in disgust. “Tell me I don’t need the hip-waders this time.”

  “Good news,” Josef said and Jade perked up a bit. “We’ve got you a full decontamination suit this time.”

  “Awesome,” she deadpanned. It looked like her carnival attire was going to have to wait.