Much Ado About Magic Read online

  I didn’t think much of it. I could see the man walk into a jewelry store just down the street. Pedro and Claudio and I had laughed about the store, imagining who might by the ridiculously overpriced items in the window and what they might do with them. A man buying something for a girlfriend? Not a wife or a daughter, definitely.

  Pedro went inside to pay off the last of the hotel bill, which he hated doing when we were around. It was a funny thing about him. He didn’t mind saying the money spell quietly when we were around, but he didn’t like Claudio and me to see him paying for our things. It embarrassed him somehow.

  “Everything OK?” I asked Pedro when he came back out.

  He shrugged. “Fine,” he said. He was still a little prickly over our conversation in the hotel room, I thought. The guilt over never knowing where the money came from or what the consequences of using it were.

  “I still feel guilty about using the truth spell sometimes,” I said, trying to comfort him.

  “Not every time, though,” said Pedro. “Some people deserve it.”

  “Some people,” I said. But I was thinking about Beatrice Hero and what I had done to her. No one deserved that kind of humiliation.

  “She will forgive you, in time,” said Pedro.

  I shook my head and let out a bitter laugh at that. “Yeah, when hell freezes over,” I said.

  “But even so, there are times when you use it well,” said Pedro, “when people need to be forced to speak the truth.”

  “I suppose,” I said. But I didn’t want to get into an argument about the entire structure of the magic system in our world. The five clans had the spells and they balanced each other. That was the way that it was. If one clan had too much power, that would be what we would really need to worry about.

  “Well, let’s go,” said Claudio. “We don’t want to miss our flight.”

  Although Pedro could simply pay for another one, I thought. If he was willing to take the chance on where the money came from.

  We climbed into the taxi and the driver was preparing to move out of the hotel circle when there was a high-pitched whistle and Pedro put up his hand for the driver to hold.

  In a moment, we saw three policemen, all obviously of the Florentine clan, judging by their muscles and running ability, moving past us.

  I turned and saw the man who had knocked Pedro over coming out of the shop. Startled, he stopped short and was tackled by the policemen. When they let him rise, it was with cuffs on.

  Pedro opened the door and told the driver to wait a moment. He stepped out and I stepped out with him. I knew enough Italian by now to hear the short, balding man complaining that he wasn’t guilty, that he had taken nothing.

  That was when one of the policemen reached into his pocket and pulled out a velvet bag with the stamp of the shop on it.

  “I paid for that,” the man said in Italian.

  “But with what money?” asked the policeman with a broken nose who was the tallest of the three.

  The man’s entire demeanor changed, and he started to visibly shake. He glanced at Pedro and his eyes gleamed. “I stole it!” he said. “I stole it from him! Ask him. He will tell you he remembers me knocking him over. You can look on the video cameras.” He gestured to them, or otherwise I might not have understood what he was talking about. “Have the hotel manager show you the tapes.”

  Pedro walked toward the policemen. He admitted that he had been knocked over and he showed them his wallet, which was empty.

  “You see! I stole cash money! That is all I did!” said the short, balding man.

  “You will sign a statement to this effect?” the policeman asked Pedro in halting English.

  Pedro nodded and we spent the next hour doing just that at the Italian police station. The taxi drove us there and was still waiting for us.

  It was only once we got out of the police station that I saw Pedro pay the taxi driver the full amount for all his time.

  “You didn’t say the spell again since we were in the hotel room,” I pointed out. “So where did you get the money to pay him?” I nodded to the driver, hoping he didn’t speak enough English to tell what I was saying.

  “I slipped it out of my wallet,” said Pedro.

  “But why would you do that?” asked Claudio.

  “Because I had to show them an empty wallet.”

  “But you just got that man arrested. He didn’t steal that money from you at all!” said Claudio. His expression was troubled, though, as he remembered that the man had readily admitted stealing the money.

  “If he hadn’t admitted to stealing the cash,” I said softly, “the policemen would have found out that he’d stolen something far worse. Wouldn’t they, Pedro?”

  “What?” said Claudio.

  Pedro shook his head and firmly kept his lips closed.

  The money spell, I thought.

  It took Claudio almost the whole taxi ride to the airport to figure it out. And when he did, he wasn’t happy. “But you’re a demi clan head. You’re supposed to make sure no one takes the spell, even if it isn’t from you. That man could be doing anything with it.”

  “He could be. But he wore a wedding ring. And his belt had been tightened two notches recently,” said Pedro. “And he dropped this when he ran into me.” Pedro held up a photograph of the short, balding man with a short woman and what looked like nine short children who looked just like him.

  “Still, it’s a spell. It’s wrong to take them.”

  “He’s clanless,” said Pedro. “What else is he to do to feed his family?”

  “But—but—” said Claudio.

  “It would have become a matter for the World Council if I hadn’t stepped in. The man would have faced a lot worse than a couple of years in an Italian prison. His family would never even have known what happened to him.”

  We got to the airport and checked in. Then we had to wait around for a while.

  “School starts in less than thirty hours,” said Claudio mournfully.

  “I like school,” I said. “I’m looking forward to it, in fact.”

  “Says the Paduan,” said Pedro.

  We Paduans were known as being the least truthful people of all, since we had the ability to make people around us say the truth, but we didn’t use the spell on each other, in general. But it was true there were part of school I was looking forward to.

  “I could maybe say something to Leanata,” Claudio volunteered. “About how sorry you are. She can pass it on to Beatrice.”

  “I’m not sorry!” I spluttered. “In fact, she should thank me. I did her a favor. She can move on now with the rest of her life.”

  “Yes. If only you could, as well,” said Pedro.

  I was not interested in Beatrice Hero. Not in the way Pedro and Claudio seemed to think. Any guy who was interested in someone like that would have to have his head examined. I liked girls who were fun and brainless and easy to discard. Because you would have to discard them at some point anyway. You might as well start with the proper expectations. I’d seen my parents’ marriage fall apart and I knew that in the end, you couldn’t depend on anyone but yourself.

  But for the rest of the flight home, I replayed the scene with Beatrice and the truth spell from months ago.

  Beatrice had been mooning over Pedro for weeks. It was so obvious to everyone, it was embarrassing. She was beautiful, like all Heros are, but she wasn’t Pedro’s type. I’m not sure who his type is, actually, because he doesn’t date much, but I suspect she irritated him as much as she irritated me with that smart mouth of hers. He tried to ignore her and anyone else would have gone away and decided to fall in love with someone else. But not her. Oh, no. She was too stubborn.

  It was the last week of school and she was in the cafeteria standing around in the corner, watching Pedro walk by, I grabbed hold of her and before she could ask me what I was doing, I whispered the truth spell so softly no one could hear it.

  “Pedro, Beatrice has something she wants to
say to you.”

  “Maybe it could wait for another time,” said Pedro impatiently.

  “I can’t wait,” said Beatrice. She had this earnest expression on her face, naked with love.

  “Isn’t that the way it always is with girls? They can’t wait. Always hurrying us along,” I said to Pedro.

  He didn’t look like he thought it was funny.

  “And you, Benedick, are like other guys, always saying nothing no matter how many words you use,” said Beatrice.

  I blinked at her, surprised that even with the truth spell on her she could talk smartly like that.

  “It’s Pedro I love,” said Beatrice. “He has nothing in common with me or me with him, but love will not be commanded. It is a bird that flies high and swoops low for its prey and then retreats again with blood dripping from its mouth.”

  What a metaphor that was! Ew!

  “More like a snake,” I said, and made a rude gesture at Pedro.

  He shook his head at me. “Ben, this isn’t the time.”

  “She thinks it’s the time,” I said, waving to Beatrice.

  “I know I am not pleasant company, Pedro. I am too sharp for that,” said Beatrice. “But I will blunt myself for you if you tell me I have a chance.” She put out her hands to Pedro and knelt down in front of him. In front of half the school. It was ridiculous. So over the top. People were laughing out loud.

  But not Pedro. “Ben, can’t you stop her?” he said.

  The spell faded naturally over a few hours, but there was really nothing I could do for her until that happened. She would be telling the bald truth about everything that occurred to her until then.

  I looked around and saw the doors to the cafeteria opening. People were poking their heads in to see what was going on. What had started out as a spectacle for half the school had turned into one for the whole school.

  It should have been sweet payback for me. Beatrice had more than once made me look the fool in classes when she knew the answer and I didn’t. But it wasn’t limited to that. She made it clear how stupid she thought I was whenever we met. She would hardly look at me except to tell me how much she disdained me. I tried to ask her to dance once, but she wouldn’t let me finish the words before she was telling me that I had feet so large she didn’t dare go near them for fear of losing a toe.

  I suspect that everyone at the school had been on the other end of Beatrice’s sharp tongue once or twice.

  “Tell her how you feel,” I said to Pedro. “Then it will be done.”

  She’d be fine. Just a little bruised in her ego, which I was sure she would soon get over. Her ego was bigger than ten other girls, and if it ended up a little smaller than before, we would all breathe easier.

  “Will you spell him, as well?” Beatrice asked, looking at me. “Then it would be fair, equal for male and female.”

  “Equal? What do you know of equal?” I said.

  She glared at me, plenty of her spirit left even after the spell. “If you did a bit more math, you might understand the concept. But first, you must begin with numbers. I recommend the first being number one. And from thence, two. If you need help, perhaps I could assist you when you come to three.” She held up three fingers, and then dropped the other two, leaving only her center finger.

  “Uh—Pedro?” I said.

  He bowed to her formally. “I am grateful for your kindness in showing an interest in me,” said Pedro, using his best language and manners as if he were with the heads of the Arragons. “I will cherish your words today for years.”

  “That means he isn’t interested,” I said.

  Beatrice looked at Pedro and there was a long moment of silence.

  “We are not a match that would last long, I fear,” said Pedro.

  There was a single tear in Beatrice’s eye. It shimmered, and then fell. “You won’t try me, then? Give me a chance to prove that I can be as fierce in love as I am in any other way?”

  Pedro put up his hands. “Oh, I do not think it is a problem of fierceness, Beatrice. No one would deny you the crown in that arena.”

  I smirked at that.

  “But I am not your match. You need a man who is as sharp as you are, one you would not have to change yourself for.”

  “But I would—” Beatrice began.

  Pedro silenced her with a kiss.

  Her eyes went wide. I could see them from my position, just behind him.

  What was he doing?

  “You kiss well. It is a good start,” said Beatrice rather breathlessly.

  “But it is no more than that,” said Pedro. “We are no match, you and I, Beatrice. I must thank you for your offer of your heart and tell you no. I cannot accept it, now or ever.” He shook his head and stepped away.

  Beatrice did not chase after him. She stood there, her back straight as I have never seen anyone under the sway of a truth spell.

  I walked away from her, more than a little unnerved. When I caught up to Pedro, he said, “I do not like this. You should not use your magic that way.”

  “What do you mean? It was time for the truth,” I said.

  “Benedick, you will not admit that you were jealous? That you had a personal interest in this particular truth being told?”

  “You are hinting that I like her myself? Pedro, I can assure you that you were never farther from the truth.”

  “Oh? And you know the truth so well, do you?”

  “Better than most, I think,” I said.

  He shook his head. “I think you will live to regret this day’s work, Benedick.”

  I shook my head. “She needs to see herself clearly. I just held a mirror up to her.”

  “Perhaps you need a mirror for yourself,” said Pedro. But he didn’t offer to be it.

  Chapter 3: Bee

  I went out of the bathroom and back down to my locker, where Margaret and Ursula were waiting for me. I hadn’t seen them much this summer. I’d been avoiding just about everyone who had seen what happened last year with Benedick’s truth spell.

  “Hey, you look nice,” said Margaret.

  I made a face.

  “What?” she said.

  “Ursula?” I lifted my arms and turned for proper viewing. “Do you want to comment, too?”

  Ursula looked at me warily. “No,” she said. “I don’t think I do.”

  “I think it’s great that you’re over him,” said Margaret. “After all, he’s going to be back today. You’ll have to see him.”

  I rolled my eyes. The whole reason I hadn’t been using the beauty spell all summer was because I wanted to make sure Pedro didn’t think I was still interested. On the other hand, maybe it was just as well that Leanata had made me use it again, because this way, I didn’t look like I’d been pining over him, either.

  “There’s going to be a morning assembly with him,” said Margaret. “And Benedick and Claudio.”

  “They spent a summer abroad on Pedro’s money and they’re being treated like returning soldiers or something,” I pointed out. “Don’t you think that’s going a bit overboard?”

  “The school wants to promote the program for next summer. They want everyone to see what a success it was. The clans want it, too. They want to make sure the international ties between clans are still strong, and this is a good way to do it,” said Margaret.

  “Three demi-heads gone all summer, though? I know we’re only a small town, but doesn’t anyone wonder about the problems it might have created here?” I asked lightly. Not that there weren’t substitute demi-heads to take over their places. But from what I’d seen of John Arrogan, for example, I wondered how happy they would be about giving the positions back.

  “You’re really all right about seeing Pedro again?” asked Ursula.

  I waved a hand. “I’m fine,” I said.

  “And what about Benedick?” said Margaret. “Last time we talked about him, I thought you were ready to tear his face off.”

  “Only to be helpful,” I said, smiling. “Becaus
e he would look better that way, don’t you think? How else will he ever catch a woman? Certainly not with that face.”

  “He’s not that bad,” said Ursula.

  “Oh, is he not? He’s as bad as a bruise. As bad as a monkey’s backside. He looks like his face is inside out, though perhaps that is from too many years battling with the Florentines.” I was proud of myself for this speech. It was witty and it sounded like the old me, sharp and fearless.

  “Be careful,” Ursula warned me. “If you talk about him like that, everyone is going to think that you’re still mad at him.”

  “Mad at him? Why should I be mad at him? I should thank him. He saved me from a terrible mistake. I should bless his name and offer him my love for his service to me,” I said.

  Margaret stared at me.

  Ursula began to choke.

  Perhaps I had gone a little too far at that. “Well, I am not mad at him. It’s all forgotten now.”

  “If you say so,” said Ursula, looking at me rather too closely.

  There was a loud honking noise outside. We all turned and saw a huge yellow Hummer driving right up to the front door of the school, over the grass and onto the sidewalk. Everyone pulled back but me, nervous that Benedick was going to drive right through the glass. But I knew better. Ben was all bluster and no bite. He was smoke and mirrors, the kind of guy who would use magic to make a point, and then run away from the consequences.

  So I was the only one who was still right up against the glass.

  “Bee!” Margaret called to me.

  I ignored her. Ben looked through the front window of the Hummer at me. Our eyes met and there was just a hint of recoil in his eyes.

  Did he feel regret, then, for using his truth spell on me? For humiliating me in front of the whole school?

  I didn’t believe it. More likely he was just worried about what I would say to him. And he should be.

  It was Pedro’s Hummer. He was the one with the money to buy a car like that for show. But Pedro didn’t like driving. He left that to Benedick.