Rags to Witches

by Colleen Cross

  “Even if it worked, how long would it last?” Rocco glanced sideways at his burly bodyguards, who seemed more absorbed by the menu than any potential danger. I wondered if they were the same men who had protected Carla. If so, their inattention was definitely part of the problem.

  “I think we can find a permanent solution.” I was anything but certain, but something inside of me just wanted to say whatever would make Rocco feel better.

  The server approached our table with drinks. She was a wisp of a girl who looked barely out of high school. Her tray hand shook visibly as she placed our drinks on the table.

  Rocco smiled and waited for her to leave. Once she was out of earshot he leaned across the table and spoke in a low voice. “You sure about this, Cen? It could be dangerous.”

  “As long as you’ve got our backs while we get everything in place, it should be fine. We’ll take care of Bones so you can get back to taking care of business.” I squeezed his hand. The element of danger just seemed to strengthen my feelings for him. Rocco was a known quantity, and we could build a comfortable life together. So what if he had an unconventional job? I was pretty unconventional too.

  I was a witch, after all.

  Maybe I should just forget about Tyler. As Westwick Corners’ sheriff, he followed rules and regulations. My family broke them. He represented order, and we were chaos. I would just create trouble for him.

  Rocco, on the other hand, was an outcast just like me. We shared common ground, and nothing my family did could ever hurt his reputation.

  He patted my hand and smiled.

  I smiled back.

  I jumped as something crashed across the bar. The crash was followed by breaking glass. I turned towards the noise just in time to see the server collapsed in a heap beside the bar. She had collided with another server, who fell into the obese bartender behind the bar. He hit the glass shelves behind him, and the whole thing toppled like dominoes.

  “What the—” Rocco jumped to his feet. He looked uncertain of whether to help and potentially attract attention, or make himself scarce.

  “Something just happened.” My hand flew to my chest.

  “No kidding.”

  “No, I mean something just happened to me.” The loud noise had jolted me to awareness.

  I eyed Rocco, who suddenly wasn’t so attractive anymore. He just looked like a larger grown-up version of my high school schoolmate. His muscled torso had morphed into a stocky man with a slight beer belly.

  I blurted it out before thinking. “I think Aunt Pearl put an attraction spell on us.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “This thing that we’re feeling for each other, it’s not real. The spell was broken by that loud crash.” The spell had a safety mechanism to ensure that those under its power were released in potentially dangerous situations. The loud crash had restored our senses, or at least mine.

  Rocco frowned. “Of course it’s real.” A look of uncertainty flashed across his face. “You’re telling me you’re faking your feelings for me?”

  “No—I mean, it wasn’t really my feelings in the first place. I like you, Rocco. Just not in that way.” I realized in shock that I had essentially agreed to a supernatural hit while under the influence of Aunt Pearl’s spell. All I wanted to do right now was confront her and give her a piece of my mind.

  But I had given Rocco my word.

  A promise I couldn’t keep.

  Rocco looked hurt. He turned away, confused.

  “It’s just me, Rocco. Can’t you feel the difference between your thoughts for me a moment ago and now?”

  He shook his head. “I still want to take you—” He frowned. “That’s weird. I forgot what I was going to say.”

  “The spell’s worn off. I’m sorry, but I can’t get involved in your criminal activities. We’ll get Carla’s killer all right, but it won’t be with witchcraft.” I was already fuzzy on what I had actually promised, but maybe Rocco was too.

  “You’ve got to help me, Cen. Bones’ thugs are tailing me, just waiting for the chance to knock me off.”

  “I’m sure we can place a protection spell on you. I’ll talk to Aunt Pearl.” One thing still puzzled me. “You inherit Carla’s estate, but what happens if you die? Who’s next in line?”

  Rocco paused. “Her husband.”

  My mouth dropped open.

  “Bones Battilana.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Rocco gave me a confused stare.

  “What I mean is—isn’t he already first in line? The husband comes before a child or a grandchild, no matter how recent the marriage. If that’s the case, he doesn’t have any reason to kill you. He’s already going to inherit everything.”

  Rocco’s shocked expression told me I was right. Something else was going on, and I intended to find out what.

  I was also furious at my aunt. Because of her spell, I had essentially promised to knock off a mobster. It was dangerous, illegal, and life shortening.

  But a promise was a promise, and I always kept my word.

  I just had to find another way to do it.

  Chapter 14

  Rocco’s fortunes had changed dramatically in the ten years since I had last seen him. Maybe his character had too.

  I refocused on Rocco’s story. I was still amazed at the Racatellis’ vast real estate holdings, of which the Hotel Babylon was apparently just a small part. The family holdings had to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

  I cut to the chase. “How exactly does the Racatelli business earn a living?”

  “If I told you I’d have to kill you.” Rocco smiled for the first time. “Seriously, though, you don’t need to worry about any of that.”

  “I’m not kidding, Rocco. I can’t help you unless you tell me everything.” As I leaned forward, I realized that I was functioning exactly as Aunt Pearl had intended. I had fallen into her trap, hook, line, and sinker.

  Rocco sipped his drink. “Grandma edged out the competition. Not with fear or violence, but by paying higher wages and bonuses. The employees were very loyal to her. It’s not that she won the best properties. She didn’t. Instead, she took lousy properties and made then into winners with lots of hard work. Bones didn’t like that. He wanted the best for himself. But it wasn’t just that. Bones didn’t like being bested by Carla.”

  “Because she’s a woman?”

  Rocco shrugged. “I think so. It got worse once she became his wife. I don’t know. Grandma told me it was just a marriage of convenience for her, but I guess Bones saw things differently.”

  My mouth dropped open. “She was using him?”

  “Why not? He was using her, too. They both wanted something from their ‘arrangement’.” Rocco made quote marks with his fingers. “Grandma just wanted something casual.”

  It never occurred to me that gray-haired seniors like Carla or Aunt Pearl had flings, or got married to people they weren’t in love with. “You make it sound so sordid.”

  “You sound like a seventy-year-old. You need a little Las Vegas to loosen you up.”

  I glared at Rocco, angry that he made such snap judgments about me. “I’m fine the way I am, thank you.”

  “Grandma was just a bit of a free spirit. She really just wanted a hook-up. Bones is the one that insisted on marriage.”

  I gasped. That certainly wasn’t the Carla I remembered, but then again, I hadn’t seen her since I was a teenager.

  “But she did end up marrying him. Why the sudden change?” Spouses or significant others were usually suspect number one, but the couples involved were usually much younger.

  “Grandma thought it would stop the violence from escalating. Give him what he wanted. At least, let him think that. She made him sign a pre-nup, though. She worried that Bones was only marrying her to wrest control of our holdings.”

  “Like this hotel?” Lots of people probably wanted to hone in on the Racatelli racket. I was surprised that Bones had still gone ahead with the
wedding if there was a pre-nup. On the other hand, I didn’t know all the legal details. Maybe Bones still stood to gain something, even with the pre-nup. It seemed that Rocco benefited from Carla’s death more than anyone. If he could hold onto it, that is.

  Rocco nodded, his eyes moist with tears. “That, and a few other things. Grandma later got cold feet and tried to back out of the wedding, but Bones threatened her. So she went through with it. But she left everything to me.”

  “That hardly sounds like true love to me.” I suddenly felt very sorry for Rocco. Criminal or not, he just had his whole family stolen from him. Pre-nup or not, Bones had obviously been after something other than Carla’s affections.

  “Where is Bones? Have you seen him?”

  “I avoid him whenever possible,” Rocco said. “He’ll be at the funeral of course—playing the grieving husband.”

  “That’s awkward.”

  Rocco nodded slowly. “Whoever did this is gonna pay. But that will have to wait till after the funeral.”

  A waiter brought martinis for Rocco, me, and the two tough guys at the next table, though we hadn’t ordered anything. The last thing I needed or wanted was more alcohol.

  Rocco reached across the table and touched my hand. “About the funeral—I’ll see you there tomorrow?”

  I nodded, not knowing what else to say. Despite the organized crime rumors that had always surrounded the family, I never suspected that Carla had any involvement. Now my interest was piqued. I wanted to bolt from my seat and sprint upstairs to find everything I could about the Racatelli family, their secret lives, and untimely deaths.

  The funeral had taken on a new meaning for me, and I wanted to do whatever I could to help Rocco. Whatever his job now, he was still the same boy I had grown up with. Even criminals loved their grandmas, and no one deserved to be taken out by a cold-blooded killer. Besides, I had never been to a mob funeral.

  I flashed back to Tyler’s warning. As long as I was careful, everything would be fine.

  I smiled at Rocco as I sipped my drink. “I’ll be there.”

  Chapter 15

  “All’s fair in love and war,” Aunt Pearl said. “But we can probably boost Rocco’s odds a little.”

  I had returned to the suite to find Mom passed out, Christophe cooking something in the kitchen, and Aunt Pearl staring intently at the TV. It was some sort of championship poker tournament.

  I crossed my arms and stood in front of the television, blocking her view. “You’re wasting your time with your crazy spells. Whatever you did to Rocco and me is undone now.”

  “Whatever are you talking about? I never did a thing.” Aunt Pearl waved her hand in dismissal. “Now get out of the way so I don’t miss any of the action. I think somebody’s about to go all in and blow it.”

  I turned and faced the screen. Three men and a woman stared intently at their cards. It was duller than a slow motion replay of a golf tournament. I grabbed the remote and shut the TV off.

  “Hey! I was watching that.” Aunt Pearl tried to grab the remote from me, but I held it just out of reach.

  “It’s one thing to kidnap me, but putting me under a spell and putting my life in danger? That’s not okay, Aunt Pearl. Luckily the spell broke.” If I was in the middle of a turf war, I at least wanted my wits about me.

  “You used your undo spell? Nice work!” She immediately brightened. “See, all you had to do was apply yourself.”

  “I didn’t do anything. The spell wore off by itself because it wasn’t strong enough. In any event, I won’t stand for your matchmaking and meddling.” I placed the remote on the coffee table.

  Aunt Pearl stuck out her lower lip in a pout. “I was only trying to help, Cen. You’ve been so grumpy since you canceled your wedding that I thought I could spice up your life a bit. You don’t have to be so ungrateful about it.”

  Just like Aunt Pearl to remind me of my almost-wedding to Brayden Banks, who had sold me down the river to line his own pockets. Money seemed to be at the root of all evil in the world. Carla’s wealth had also been her downfall.

  “I am not ungrateful, and I have enough spice—” I had said too much.

  Aunt Pearl rolled her eyes as she grabbed the remote and turned the TV back on. “Could have fooled me.”

  “You never should have placed that spell on Rocco and me. Now I’ve promised him something I can’t deliver.” I told her about Rocco’s mistaken belief that he was Carla’s heir. “He knows about the marriage, of course, but he said that Bones signed a pre-nup.”

  Aunt Pearl laughed. “Bones would never sign anything like that. But it’s not really a big deal. We’ll figure something out.”

  “But how—Rocco’s about to lose his livelihood. And Bones has just gained a whole new business empire.” I recounted Rocco’s version of Carla’s romance—if you could call it that—and the forced marriage. “Rocco told me that the police are treating Carla’s death as an accident.”

  “That’s not possible,” Aunt Pearl said.

  “What about Bones? Do you think he killed her?”

  “What about him?” Aunt Pearl’s face darkened. “Never mind. We’ll talk about that later.”

  Something in my aunt’s voice told me not to press further, but I did anyway. “Carla must’ve had tons of enemies, considering her line of work. Even Rocco had a motive.”

  “Not Rocco.” Aunt Pearl shook her head. “Rocco loved his grandma. You’re right about other people wanting her dead, though. I just wish we had gotten here sooner. When things started escalating, she begged me for help. But I was too late.” A solitary tear ran down her cheek.

  I plopped down beside my aunt on the sofa and squeezed her shoulders. Aunt Pearl had always been a pillar of strength to me, despite her small stature. Now she just seemed tiny and vulnerable.

  “Please tell me that you’re not a mobster too.” I felt like I didn’t really even know my aunt anymore, and I couldn’t handle any more secrets. Especially anything that involved trigger-happy gangsters. We were way too involved in other people’s business. Ruthless people, who would stop at nothing to get rid of us if we got in the way.

  She pulled away. “Of course I’m not. But I am a friend of Carla’s. With or without you, I’ll do anything protect Rocco. And avenge Carla’s death. Now, are you in or not?”

  “Of course I’m in.” I sighed. Aunt Pearl had strung me along like a violin, and I had no choice but to play.

  Chapter 16

  It couldn’t have been a hotter day for a funeral. We stood on the asphalt driveway, a few feet away from the massive Racatelli mausoleum that dwarfed the other cemetery plots. A dozen or so guests stood in somber silence as we waited for the funeral to get underway.

  I turned to Aunt Pearl. “Will Bones be at the funeral? I don’t see him.”

  She shrugged. “Who knows?”

  He certainly had a motive to kill Carla, even with the pre-nup in place. With Carla gone, he had one less competitor. Even so, I couldn’t imagine that Carla’s own husband would miss the funeral, but Bones was nowhere to be seen.

  Maybe he was already on the run, despite the police claim that Carla’s death was an accident. Or maybe he was already dipping his toes into the Racatelli empire waters while Rocco’s attention was focused on the funeral.

  “Tell me when you see him,” I said.

  Aunt Pearl stood beside me, but she might as well have been a million miles away. Maybe it was the hot sun, or maybe she was pre-occupied with memories of Carla. I tapped her arm.

  “Huh?”

  “When you see Bones, point him out to me, okay?” The funeral procession was behind schedule, and I was roasting in the hundred-degree heat. The black woolen dress Aunt Pearl had conjured up for me was heavy and unbreathable. My legs were imprisoned in heavy black stockings and too-small pumps, also courtesy of Aunt Pearl. As usual, her wardrobe choices were meant to simultaneously punish and incentivize me to improve my own witchcraft skills. In typical Aunt Pearl fashion, the mediu
m was the message. Her wardrobe choice of wool in the desert was designed to make me feel the heat.

  “Keep your voice down, Cendrine.” Aunt Pearl’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t say his name or you’ll attract too much attention.”

  The gravity of the situation suddenly hit me. I was at a real-life mob funeral. But maybe my excitement at experiencing a real-life Sopranos was misplaced. We could easily get caught in the crossfire of Mafia family warfare.

  “Maybe we shouldn’t have come to the funeral after all,” I said. “What if something happens?” The more I thought about it, the less sense it made for any of us to attend a funeral and be surrounded by known criminals. “What if those wise guys from the lobby come to pay their respects?”

  Aunt Pearl shrugged. “All the more reason for us to attend. Rocco needs more than bodyguards. He needs a shield of magic if he’s going to survive the day.”

  She squeezed my arm in reassurance. “Everything will be fine, Cen. Just relax. We have to be here. Carla was practically family.”

  I turned to Mom, who looked cool and elegant in a sleeveless black linen dress that ended just below her knees. It was simple, elegant, and far better suited to the Las Vegas climate than my woolen number. “I barely knew Carla Racatelli when she lived in Westwick Corners. She didn’t miss me when she moved away ten years ago. She certainly won’t notice me missing from her funeral.”

  “Maybe not, but your presence will make a big difference to Rocco, knowing he has your support.” Mom patted my hand.

  Rocco. I had promised I would be at the funeral, but he had so much else on his mind that he’d probably already forgotten about me. If Aunt Pearl’s spell was broken for me, surely it was for him too. In some weird way, that disappointed me.

  “Why does Rocco even need my support? I haven’t seen or talked to him in years.”

  My pulse quickened as I remembered his hand on mine. I was strangely attracted to him on a physical level, though my brain told me he was all wrong for me. Maybe the spell wasn’t completely gone after all.