The Toil and Trouble Trilogy, Book One

by Val St. Crowe

  * * *

  The last time I saw my mother—the last time she was my mother—she didn’t give me any reason to think that anything was wrong. She was going to dinner with my father. She was dressed in a long red dress. She had on a fur coat that my father had given her. Her dark hair was pulled into an elegant bun. Diamonds sparkled at her ears. I remember the smell of her perfume as she gave me a hug and kissed my forehead.

  She and my father were dropping me off at Nonna’s house for the evening.

  She whispered to me, “Be a good Olivia bug.”

  I rolled my eyes at her. “Mom, don’t call me Olivia bug anymore. I’m too old for that.”

  She squeezed me tighter. “I love you.”

  “Me too,” I said, and I wriggled out of her grasp.

  Those were the last words I said to my mother. “Me too.”

  I look like something out of a slasher movie when I meet Brice in the parking lot outside the theater. I’m covered in blood. My hair is falling out of my ponytail. Nonna is sitting in my car. Neither of us has said much to each other. I know it’s not safe for us to stay in our house.

  “Jesus, Olivia,” says Brice.

  “I didn’t do it,” I say hollowly. “I didn’t kill him.”

  “Good,” he says.

  I shake my head. “Not good. Nonna and I have to hide. He’s after us. Can you make us some charms? Something to alter our appearance?” I offer him some blank charms.

  He takes them and blue sparks fly from his fingers. “They’ll only work until midnight, Olivia.”

  “I know,” I say. I haven’t had a chance to think. I just know I have to get Nonna someplace safe. If I can do that, maybe then I can think of something else. “We need to run somewhere. But we need money. I don’t...”

  “Don’t you have money? I thought you were selling my charms like hotcakes.”

  “The money’s in the safe at the deli. I don’t have it.” Wait. The charms that Brice gave me to break into the jail still work. They’ll work until midnight. I could use that to get inside to get money. But Nonna...

  I go to the car and open the door. I hand Nonna one of the charms that Brice made.

  “What do you expect me to do with this?” she demands. “And I don’t like that you’re still associating with this boy.”

  “Brice makes charms without the virus,” I say. “He’s benedetta, like you.”

  “There are no male benedette,” she says. I think she’s just being a pain because of everything that’s happened to her. It’s her defense mechanism.

  “Put it on,” I say. “And stop picking on Brice. It’s not his fault this happened to him, okay?”

  She looks up at me. Maybe it’s because I’m bloody and determined, but she gets a meek look on her face. She slips the charm over her head. Immediately, Nonna winks out and another woman is in her place. This woman is tall and blonde, with Nordic cheekbones and long fingernails. Nonna stretches her now youthful hands out in front of her. “Oh,” she says. “Oh my.” She smiles at Brice. “Well, maybe this isn’t so bad.”

  I have to grin a little myself. “Nonna, how would you like to go see Macbeth?”

  She wrinkles her flawless brow at me.

  “You’ll be safe in the audience. And I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  Brice looks concerned. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m going to get the money out of the deli. And then I’m going to get Nonna someplace safe. And then...” And then I have to stop my father. But how I’m going to do that, I really don’t know.

  “Be careful, Olivia,” says Brice. He reaches out for my hand.

  I shy away. “I’ve got blood—”

  Brice takes my hand firmly and pulls me close. “Be careful,” he says. And then he kisses me. I slam my eyes shut against the kiss. It’s so sweet and wonderful to be close to Brice. So different from all the horror I’ve seen today.

  “Olivia Ann Calabrese!” my grandmother exclaims.

  I pull away from Brice. “Okay, Nonna,” I say. “So maybe I do like him like that.”