MIDNIGHT MAGIC - ch 6

MIDNIGHT MAGIC – ch 6

Julie

(*)(*)(*)

Mia sat next to Julie, her hands in her lap, then turned to face her friend and asked, “Jules, you have me a bit confused. You said that you closed your bank account and put all your money in a safety deposit box which you closed when you ran. But then, you said you used the ATM and emptied your account. Which is it? Did I misunderstand?”

Julie took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “Sorry for the confusion, Mia. I should have explained this better. I was just in such a middled hurry to tell you everything.” She reached to grab her friend’s hand. “I had a bank account of my own before I met Tony. When I moved in with him, he suggested I close it, and we combine his and mine. I really didn’t want to do that, so I put most of what I had in the safety box and handed him the rest. The next day, we went to his bank and deposited what I gave him in his account and placed my name on it. Then he handed me a bank card. “For emergencies,” he said.”

“Wait, you telling me that you left him with nothing?”

This time, Julie smiled. “Well, Mia, if he’s going to find me and beat me, I might as well make it worth his while. But, when I checked the balance before my withdrawal, most of what was in the account was mine. I have no idea where he was putting his share of the money. I gave him two thousand dollars. I took out what I could, at various ATMs. Once I got to the airport here, I took the rest. I know he’s going to be looking for me and with the people his family knows, it won’t be long until he finds me. I wanted to have some money for the baby. Just in case.”

Mia hugged her friend, smiled, and remarked, “Jules, you always did manage to amaze me. You’re going to be fine Tomorrow, we’ll visit the bank and put the money in my account. I’ll arrange for you to have your own bank card. Once this nightmare is over, we can open your own account and transfer the money. He can’t touch it if it’s in my name.”

“Girls,” Finola finally interrupted, “let’s go upstairs and begin. Mia, your parents will be here shortly and once they arrive, I’ll call Ian and his family.” She looked at Julie and said with humor and a sparkle in her eyes, “Oh, my, Julie, this is going to be fun. I am more than happy that you’re here.”

The young woman opened her mouth to reply but Mia nudged her. Julie kept silent.

Mia and Julie, now sat on the small settee near what Mia deemed Finola’s worktable. Midnight sat silently, licking her front paws, then wiping her face, delighted at the tuna snack she’d just eaten. “Julie,” Finola asked as she pointed to the young woman’s luggage, “do you mind?”

Instinctively, and yet not understanding, Julie knew Finola needed to find things that had belonged to her former fiancé. “Not at all, Aintin. Please, find whatever you need.”

Finola, with her knowing touch and witch’s intuition, pulled out what seemed to be an old t-shirt. “Mo stor (my dear), is this the shirt you mentioned earlier?”

Julie nodded her head. Finola draped the shirt over her arm, then walked to a large dressing mirror.

Holding up the shirt, Finola stared into the mirror and chanted:

“Mirror, my friend, reveal to me

Whom I might deem my enemy.

Share his thoughts with mine, but not mine with him.

Make his image clear, while keeping my image dim.

Mirror, my friend, this I need to see.

So, I desire it; so, mote it be.”

Julie’s mouth hung slightly open. She’d suspected that witches existed and yet, here she was sitting in a room with one who was, at that moment, practicing magic. “Practicing?” Julie thought to herself. “Hell, she’s not practicing, she’s performing it!”

Within seconds, the mirror began filling with a thin layer of smoke. Julie was riveted in her seat. She watched as the image cleared and in stunned silence saw her former fiancé ranting and raving to his brother as he angrily paced a room. “Fred! I’m telling you; I’m going to find her and when I do, she’ll be begging me to come home. By the time I get through with her, no man in his right mind will want her.”

“Tony,” she heard his brother speak, “what about the baby?”

“I don’t give a damn about that thing. We’ll give it away.” Then he smiled but his face was filled with pure evil. “That is if the thing even survives the birth.”

They saw Tony pick up his cell phone and listened as the call connected. “Yeah, hey, Uncle Marco. I need a favor. Yeah, it’s a big one. I need to find somebody. Good, her name is Julie Hammond. I’ll fax you what information I have. Yeah, thanks.”

He disconnected the call, looked at his brother. “Fred, it’s all taken care of. He’ll find her. Then we go.”

The mirror clouded again, then went dark before it returned to a normal dressing mirror.

Mia looked at Julie, whose face was stark white with fear.

“Let’s go downstairs, I think we all need some calming tea.”

As they left the room, Midnight screeched, “If that bumble-head sets one big toe anywhere near her, I’ll rip him apart. I can you know! Just let me at him!”

Mia laughed as she mumbled, “That’s my cat. You’re not nearly as big as he is. He could step on you, but we really appreciate your enthusiasm.”

As they entered the kitchen, there was a knock on the door.

Finola opened it to greet her nephews and their families. Brian said, “Auntie, look who I found heading this way.”

Although Julie’s body still shook with fright, she found some comfort in the faces of her new family.