Spellspam by Alma Alexander

Author:Alma Alexander
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Magic, Done
ISBN: 9780060839604
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2009-02-09T05:00:00+00:00

2.

ZOË’S FOOT SLAMMED ON the brake, and the car bucked like a rabbit; someone behind them honked impatiently.

“What?” Terry said, aghast, turning around to face Thea. “What on earth are you talking about?”

“There’s all kinds of strange things going on in that house,” Thea said, sounding a little defensive. “And—well—he has the know-how. And he controls that place. I don’t see how anything involving the Nexus could have happened without his knowledge, at the very least. But there’s more than that. Corey’s been inside that house.”

“Corey?” Terry said blankly.

Zoë lifted her gaze for a moment to meet Thea’s eyes in the rearview mirror. Her eyebrow was raised. “Corey? Your Corey? The trickster Corey? He’s here? You’ve seen him?”

“No,” Thea said grudgingly. “But I was talking to Beltran at breakfast…he said he’s got this tutor, and the guy left the house as soon as he got wind that I’d be there this summer. Beltran called the man Wiley, Cary Wiley…”

“That’s pretty thin…,” Zoë began, but Thea interrupted.

“Yes, but then the professor mentioned this tutor again, this morning,” she said. “And something he said…he said that he thought this Wiley guy might have left because he acquired…what he thought might be spellspam problems. The professor said, remember, something about feathers popping up? Just nod…” Terry did, keeping his mouth shut. “And that’s when it clicked—Cary, Corey, Wiley, trickster, it all fit, and the last time I saw him he was having trouble keeping the raven feathers from popping up where he didn’t want them, and it…had nothing to do with spellspam…. It was probably my fault.” She gulped, and then plowed on. “And the professor seemed awfully cavalier about that—a tutor with feathers on his face? Surely someone like Professor de los Reyes could have seen through a Corey disguise? And then there’s the guitar music…”

“What guitar music?” Terry asked.

“Last night. When you came out of your room, you know, when you thought you heard something?”

“When I saw you in the hallway, yeah, what about it?”

“I had heard something, too,” Thea said. “That was why I was there. And there was something…strange going on in the bathroom. Even for that house.”

“Thea,” Zoë said, “stop. I think I need a triple espresso before you start on any more of this. I need a caffeine buzz for any of it to make any sense whatsoever. Help me keep an eye out for parking spots…”

“We can’t be anywhere near the place yet, and anyway, Aunt Zoë, what’s with the car? Wouldn’t it have been easier for you to ’port?”

Zoë was shaking her head. “Where’s your sense of adventure?” she said. “I don’t know the city, and if I just used ’ports to get from one place to another, how would I ever get to know it?”

“That is a one-way street, I think,” Terry said diffidently as Zoë started to turn.

“Oops,” she said, swerving back into the street she had been on. “Next one, I think.”

“You just get lost,” Thea said.

“I know,” said Zoë, flashing her a quick grin in the rearview mirror.

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