Trouble in Taco Town by Jordan Castillo Price

Author:Jordan Castillo Price
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JCP Books LLC
Published: 2019-09-04T16:00:00+00:00

9

YURI

I was off my game—stupid with lust, and my protective instinct in overdrive—when the adobe-covered panel popped open. Dixon’s first impulse, naturally, was to lunge toward it. And mine, just as naturally, was to grab a handful of his jacket and rein him in.

“A secret door!” he chortled. “I’ll bet there’s treasure inside. Gold nuggets. Or gold doubloons. Or a golden antique tortilla press!”

I held back a sigh and considered letting him go before his running in place kicked up a dust cloud. Where else would the key piece of Spellcraft be hidden, if not within the main attraction itself? Besides, this was no dangerous metropolis—it was Taco Town. Then again, considering the tomato bloodbath, we couldn’t be too careful. I moved Dixon out of the way… “Hey!” …and had a look.

It was dim inside the Taco, with the only light filtering in through the doorway and the small holes made by the crested carrion titmice. It took my eyes a moment to adjust—but when they did, the sight of a clown looming in the shadows purged all traces of the excitement we’d stirred up with our kisses…until I realized it was just a mannequin. An ugly clown-painted mannequin holding a sign that read, Welcome to Taco Fest.

In all, the narrow space was about the size of my truck, and it was crammed full of painted plywood. Dixon crowded in behind me with a gasp. “Oh wow, I always wondered where neighborhood carnivals went when they weren’t being carnied.”

Of course he did.

We searched through the plywood for Spellcraft, picking up splinters in our hair and clothing, and a particularly annoying shard in my thumb. Dixon was even willing to search the clown. But we turned up nothing.

“Maybe there’s no Spellcraft to find,” he said. “Maybe there’s just something in Taco Town’s water that makes it look all sparkly.”

He was reaching, and we both knew it. The town was crackling with volshebstvo. And if there was malicious work to be Uncrafted, Dixon was the man to do it. “Dixon—it is obvious the titmouses didn’t pick Taco Town at random. Just like the tomatoes didn’t randomly explode.” I had hoped to spare him, but maybe it was for the best he got a good look in the cold light of day at what his uncle had left behind…or the dim light leaking through the holes in the Big Taco. I drew out my paints and said, “I would never Craft something new to change another man’s magic. But I am willing to try to expose it.”

Dixon’s breath caught in the way it did whenever I opened my paintbox. Sometimes I thought he was more excited to see me open that box than he was when I opened my fly. This was not necessarily a bad thing. People are attracted to each other for many reasons. It might as well be a reason that can’t fade as surely as looks eventually will.

I drew a bottle of water from his knapsack and a small,

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