From Dead to Worse

Amelia’s spells had always been in Latin, or at least a primitive form of it (she’d told me that), but I thought Octavia was more diverse. She was speaking something that sounded entirely different.
    I’d been very nervous about this ritual, but it turned out to be pretty boring unless you were one of the participants. I wished I could open the windows to get the smell of the smoke out of the house, and I was glad Amelia had thought to take the batteries out of the smoke detectors. Tanya was clearly feeling something, but I wasn’t sure it was the removal of the Pelt effect.
    “Tanya Grissom,” Octavia said, “yank the roots of evil out of your soul and remove yourself from the influence of those who would use you for evil ends.” Octavia made several gestures over Tanya while holding a curious item that looked awfully like a human bone wound around with a vine. I tried not to wonder where she’d gotten the bone.
    Tanya squealed beneath her gag, and her back arched alarmingly. Then she relaxed.
    Amelia made a gesture, and Calvin bent over to untie the red bandanna that had made Tanya look like a small bandit. He pulled another handkerchief, a clean white one, out of Tanya’s mouth. She’d definitely been abducted with affection and consideration.
    “I can’t believe you’re doing this to me!” Tanya shrieked the second her mouth would work. “I can’t believe you kidnapped me like a caveman, you big jerk!” If her hands had been free, Calvin would have taken a pummeling. “And what the hell is up with this smoke? Sookie, are you trying to burn your house down? Hey, woman, would you get that crap out of my face?” Tanya batted at the vine-wrapped bone with her bound hands.
    “I’m Octavia Fant.”
    “Well, goody, Octavia Fant. Get me out of these ropes!” Octavia and Amelia exchanged glances.
    Tanya appealed to me. “Sookie, tell these nuts to let me go! Calvin, I was halfway interested in you before you tied me up and dumped me here! What did you think you were doing?”
    “Saving your life,” Calvin said. “You ain’t gonna run now, are you? We got some talking to do.”
    “Okay,” Tanya said slowly, as she realized (I could hear her) that something serious was afoot. “What’s all this about?”
    “Sandra Pelt,” I said.
    “Yeah, I know Sandra. What about her?”
    “What’s your connection?” Amelia asked.
    “What’s your interest, Amy?” Tanya countered.
    “Amelia,” I corrected, sitting on the big ottoman in front of Tanya. “And you need to answer this question.”
    Tanya gave me a sharp look—she had a repertoire of them— and said, “I used to have a cousin who was adopted by the Pelts, and Sandra was my cousin’s adopted sister.”
    “Do you have a close friendship with Sandra?” I said.
    “No, not especially. I haven’t seen her in a while.”
    “You didn’t make a bargain with her recently?”
    “No, Sandra and I don’t see each other too much.”
    “What do you think of her?” Octavia asked.
    “I think she’s a double-barreled bitch. But I sort of admire her,” Tanya said. “If Sandra wants something, she goes after it.” She shrugged. “She’s kind of extreme for my taste.”
    “So if she told you to ruin someone’s life, you wouldn’t do it?” Octavia was eyeing Tanya intently.
    “I got better fish to fry than that,” Tanya said. “She can go around ruining lives on her own, if she wants to do it so bad.”
    “You wouldn’t be a part of that?”
    “No,” Tanya said. She was sincere, I could tell. In fact, she was beginning to get anxious at our line of questioning. “Ah, have I done something bad to somebody?”
    “I think you got in a little over your head,” Calvin said. “These nice ladies have intervened. Amelia and Miss Octavia are, ah, wise women. And you know Sookie already.”
    “Yeah, I know Sookie.” Tanya gave me a sour look. “She won’t make friends with me no matter what I do.”
    Well, yeah, I didn’t want you close enough to stab me in the back, I thought, but I didn’t say anything.
    “Tanya, you’ve taken my sister-in-law shopping a little too much lately,” I said.
    Tanya burst into laughter. “Too much retail therapy for the pregnant bride?” she said. But then she looked puzzled. “Yeah, it does seem like we went to the mall in Monroe too many times for my checkbook. Where’d I get the money? I don’t even like shopping that much. Why’d I do that?”
    “You’re not going to do it