Wicked sorceress Cora must ruin someone's life before her eighteenth birthday or lose her magic forever, a task made tricky when she falls for her chosen victim.
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Cora Emerson is a magical misfortune who just can't get the hang of being a wicked...
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They decorated the gym, until they'd run out of both decorations and wall space. Eva, tapping her chin, stepped back to admire their work. It was underwhelming, a hodgepodge of Halloween décor thrown up in an illogical manner.
Cora was uncertain a silhouette of a witch stirring a one-legged cauldron would stay put with the way it sagged from its dreadful tape job, but she had already upset Eva once today, so she kept her lips zipped tight.
Eva squinted, canting her head to one side. "It isn't so bad. We could have used the ladder." The janitor hadn't shown up with it. "What do you think?" She turned, her glasses sliding down her pert nose, which she pushed up with one finger. "I'd give it at least a five on the George scale."
The silence lolled, while Cora searched for the right words that wouldn't hurt her feelings. She would have given their decorating a one on the Emerson scale.
"I think it looks great." It was her second lie of the day and could earn her a pat on the back from Willow.
Eva furrowed her brow. "Let's get out of here then. My parents will kill me if I miss curfew."
They grabbed the empty bags and the tape on their way out. "Oh, drat, my pumpkin." Cora had forgotten she hadn't found a spot for it. She was about to go back but thought twice. "I'm sure it'll be all right." In truth, she doubted it would last a day, but it wasn't like she hadn't stolen it.
Eva hurried ahead. "Wait for me at the front. I left my stuff in Ms. Brindle's class."
Cora waited for her at the front door, picking at a loose string on the sleeve of her coat. When several minutes had passed, she peeked down the hall. No Eva in sight. Where could she be? Her cell phone buzzed. Thinking it might've been Eva, Cora fetched it from her coat pocket, but it was only an Email announcing the latest sales at Brimwell Plaza.
She tucked her phone away as Eva appeared, powerwalking down the lobby. "Sorry about that," she said. "I ran into the janitor. Can you believe he forgot about us?"
Cora wasn't surprised. "In this school, yeah I totally can."
"So, Crumbs and Crumble?" Eva buttoned her coat to her neck.
Cora nodded. "You know it. Crumbs and Crumble."
Although it was a little after five PM, the sun had already gone down for the day. Cora pulled up the collar of her coat against the evening breeze. A dog jumped and barked at them from behind its gate. An impatient driver slammed down on their horn.
People went back and forth across Wicks Road, a central road, those early coming home from work and those out for an evening stroll, arm in arm with lovers and friends or being half-dragged by furry companions. The familiar sounds of Thorne Point met them as they walked down 5th street which ran across Wicks, as Cora had earlier, past the house where there was one missing pumpkin.
