Funny Tragic Crazy Magic (Tragic Magic Book 1) by Sheena Boekweg Read Free Book Online Page A

mentioned this outside artistic activity to her. I’m sure
Giara has read or will read it. Maybe I should go back to the beginning and
tell Giara not to worry.
    Done.
    Sometimes
I wonder what would have happened if I stopped at this point. If, as soon as I
suspected Joe could do runes, I took the life insurance money and moved
somewhere warm, and I could just start over, maybe find a job in a library, or
as a hand model.
    Because
I’d still have hands, that’s for sure.
    Anyway.
After I stood under the hand dryers in the girl’s room for all of third period,
and then reapplied my transformation runes, I went on as if it were just
a normal day. I ate lunch with Megan, passed a math test, and flirted with some
of my friends…
    I
didn’t even have to avoid Joe. He just wasn’t there. He didn’t wait for me at
my car, and he didn’t show up at my house that night or the next morning. In
that time away from him, I kind of lied to myself. I told myself there was so
much I didn’t know. There was an Instinct at the school the day before, so who
was to say whoever sent that spy in Erica’s body couldn’t send another one: a
Rune this time, to blow up the boy’s bathroom to rid the world of ick.
     I
wore a vintage pantsuit to school that next day. I don’t know why that matters,
but I thought I’d throw in that little detail. Anyway, Joe didn’t show up. Not
for second period. Not after school. I started to worry about him, and so on my
way home I decided to stop by his house.
    I
guess I’m not that good at avoiding.
    The
sad thing is... I wasn’t scared. Not of him, not of what could, and did,
happen. Does that make any sense?
    I
knocked on his door, and his mom opened it. Ms. P. had long light brown hair
pinned up in a half ponytail. She wore sweat pants around the house, only
cooked food from a box, yet somehow always smelled like vanilla. She had
beautiful hazel eyes and freckles across her nose. At home, she didn’t wear
much makeup, and it made her look younger somehow. She never looked old enough
to be Joe’s mother, yet there was so much of her in Joe’s features.
    She
smiled when she saw me. “Ms. Alvarez, how can I help you?”
    I
looked over to the house number. The white truck was in the driveway, and I
knew this was where I dropped Joe off.
    “I’m
looking for Joe.”
    Her
smile fell when I said Joe’s name, “He’s in his room, but he isn’t feeling well
enough for visitors today.”
    “Oh,”
I said. “Okay.”
    I
started walking out to my car when I heard Joe’s voice inside. “Mom, I think my
fever broke. I feel just fine.”
    I
tucked my hair behind my ears and held my hand on the car door handle.
    “Riz,
wait,” he called out to me.
    I
turned. “What’d you call me?”
    “Riz.
I made it up. Larissa is kind of a mouthful--you know what I mean--to say. You
like it?”
    Riz.
It sounded like a tough girl name, not like the sissy pearl-wearing Larissa I
had been pretending to be. It felt like kind of a fresh start, a new name for a
new beginning.
    “I
like it,” I said.
    Joe
stood in his doorway in a loose pair of cotton pajama pants and a plain white
shirt. His disheveled hair reminded me of the way Fee’s hair always looked like
in the morning. Short, but kind of all over the place.
    He
smiled at me, and I smiled back. It was so comfortable, being with the boy who
would destroy my life.
    “I
gotta go.” I said gesturing toward my car.
    “You
just got here. Come on in.” He nodded his head gesturing toward the door, “Hey
mom, we got any food? I’m starving.”
    He
turned into his house and left the door open. I just stood there wondering if I
should go in. If Joe could do runes, then I should avoid him or report him.
That would have been the smart thing to do.
    Being
smart, though, meant I’d have to go home and be all by myself. I looked down at
the ground and walked after him.
    The
house smelled like paint. Every room was a different vibrant color: the front
room a