The Conjuring Glass by Brian Knight

Author:Brian Knight [Knight, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JournalStone Publishing

Chapter 12

Vanishing Act

Penny rode home alone that night; Zoe’s grandma was in her usual foul mood and wouldn’t let her spend the night. She replayed the scene in the park after Tovar had vanished, and in the dark interior of Susan’s store. After sending Zoe home, Susan had told her some very startling things. Penny was glad Zoe wasn’t there to hear them. They were revelations she had to consider on her own before she shared them with anyone, even her best friend.

“I know what you’re thinking, Penny.” Susan held up her hand to stop Penny’s denial before she could voice it. “I don’t know who he is, not for sure anyway, but I know who you think he is.”

Susan turned away then, looking through her shop window at the now empty town park.

She’s watching for him, Penny thought. She’s afraid he’ll come back.

When Susan seemed satisfied that no one was watching, she turned back to Penny. “He’s not the first Red Magician to come here. I think there’s a family of them, but it has been a long time. They used to come to town with the carnival during Harvest Days every year, and usually left with it. The last time one decided to stay … it didn’t turn out well.”

“What do you mean?” Penny could sense the conversation hovering somewhere near the heart of the mystery she wanted badly to solve.

Her mystery.

“He’s not your father,” Susan said, “and even if he was I’d tell you to stay away from him.”

Penny felt her face blush red in fresh anger. “What’s so wrong with me wanting to find my dad? Mom wouldn’t ever talk about him, and I guess you’re in her corner! What did he do that was so bad?”

Susan regarded her for a moment, her face a picture of indecision. Her eyes flicked to Zoe, who sat huddled in the furthest chair from Penny and Susan, her eyes fixed on the hands folded in her lap.

When her eyes found Penny again, the indecision was gone, replaced with a grim and hard resolve.

“Zoe, are you coming over tonight?” She asked this without taking her eyes from Penny. She no longer looked angry, only tired.

“No,” Zoe said, her voice no more than a whisper. She sounded as if she would rather be anywhere in the world at that moment. “Grandma wants me home for chores.”

“You better get home then,” Susan said. Then she did look at Zoe, and her expression was kinder, less forbidding. It was the Susan they both knew and loved, not the angry stranger who dragged them inside after Tovar The Red’s show. “You’re welcome to come over tomorrow, if it’s okay with your grandma.”

As always, Susan’s face darkened a little at the mention of Zoe’s grandma. They were both town women, and Susan knew her well enough to dislike her even though she never spoke a single word against her in either Penny or Zoe’s presence.

Zoe relaxed a little and rose from her seat. “Okay. Goodbye.”

A few seconds later she was out the door and sprinting down the emptying sidewalk for her home.

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