Hand-Me-Down Magic #2 Read online

  “Your turn, Alma,” Del said with a big birthday-girl grin. And because Del was the birthday girl, Alma couldn’t possibly refuse.

  5

  Madame Alma

  -Del-

  “How do you do it?” Alma asked. She might have been scared, but she was curious too. And if Del knew anything, it was that a curious cousin was an excellent thing.

  “I just look at it, close my eyes, and when I open them again, there’s an image in the ball!” Del said. She couldn’t stop rubbing her new crystal ball. It was the best present she’d ever gotten. She wished she knew how to thank Alma for it.

  “That doesn’t sound so scary,” Alma said.

  “It’s not scary at all!” Del said.

  “It really works?” Alma said.

  “You saw it work!” Del said. Sometimes Del and Alma disagreed about things like magic, but today Alma wouldn’t be able to argue with Madame Del. She had told so many fortunes perfectly!

  Alma stepped closer to the ball. Then closer again. Still, she was frowning. Del didn’t want her to be frowning or scared or shy or nervous. Finally, she thought of one thing that might help.

  “How about you tell my fortune?” Del said. “I hereby declare you Madame Alma.”

  Alma grinned. “Madame Alma? Really?” she said.

  “Absolutely!” Del said. She curtseyed to Madame Alma, and Madame Alma curtseyed back. Suddenly, Alma wasn’t scared Alma anymore. She was Madame Alma, magnificent fortune-teller. And Del would find her some customers. All their guests might have left, but 86 ½ Twenty-Third Avenue was always filled with family.

  “I need some practice before I tell a birthday fortune,” Madame Alma said.

  “Good idea,” Del said. She wanted the best birthday fortune she could get, after all. “Wait right here.”

  Del ran through the building. She found Abuelita in her kitchen and her father on their fire escape where he liked to read sometimes. Finally, Del found Titi Clara on the stoop, about to walk to her own building a few doors down. “You have to come with me,” she told each of them. “It’s very important.” She led them all to Abuelita’s living room, where the crystal ball and Madame Alma were both sitting on the floor.

  “Abuelita, Madame Alma would like to tell your fortune,” Del said. Abuelita gave a serious nod and sat down across from Madame Alma. Del handed over the crystal ball. She put Madame Alma’s hands on its cool surface. “Close your eyes,” she said, and Madame Alma did. “Open them again,” Del said.

  “I have to make my magical noise first,” Madame Alma said.

  Del beamed. Finally, her cousin understood magic!

  Madame Alma took a big breath and blew it out in a long, magical sigh. Then she made a humming noise. Then whistled three little notes and waved her fingers around. Del was impressed.

  At last, Madame Alma opened her eyes. She looked long and hard at the crystal ball. She tilted her head one way, and then the other. She stood up, so that she could see the top of the crystal ball. She lifted the ball up so she could look at the bottom.

  “I see a crystal ball,” Madame Alma said.

  “But what do you see inside?” Del asked.

  Madame Alma shook the ball. She turned it over and over in her hands. She held it up to the light.

  “Aha!” Madame Alma said. “I see it!”

  Del knew her cousin had some magic inside her. They were cousins, after all! And magic ran in their family. She couldn’t wait to hear what magical fortunes Madame Alma would reveal.

  6

  Something Black and Fuzzy

  -Alma-

  Madame Alma had hoped the fortunes would be very clear, but it wasn’t exactly the way Del had described. She didn’t see much in the crystal ball. Mostly just colors and almost-shapes. She guessed it was her job to figure out what those fortunes were supposed to be.

  She looked at Abuelita’s hopeful face, then back at her crystal ball. She saw some yellow light. Kind of like the moon. “I see the moon,” Madame Alma declared. “A very beautiful moon.”

  “¡Que lindo!” Abuelita said. Alma knew Abuelita loved the moon. Sometimes she painted pictures of it, and sometimes she sat under it at night, and sometimes she told the family stories about all the magical things the moon could do. “An evening in the moonlight. I can’t wait.”

  “Who’s next?” Madame Alma asked.

  “I’ll go,” Tío Victor said. Del’s father was always brave.

  Madame Alma closed her eyes and hummed and wiggled her fingers. She looked deep into the crystal ball. She saw something blue and shiny. She tried to think about what the shape might be. It was sort of rectangular, she thought. Maybe a car? “I see a blue car!” she declared.

  “A new one?” Tío Victor asked. He was smiling. Del’s family car was white and very old. He was always complaining about it.

  “Yes,” Madame Alma said. “A new blue car.”

  “Well, that’s great news!” he said. Madame Alma was liking this more and more! She had delivered two wonderful fortunes. She couldn’t wait for them to come true.

  When Titi Clara sat in front of her, Madame Alma was pretty sure she saw red. “A dozen red roses!” she said. Titi Clara looked very pleased with this. “I’ve never gotten flowers from someone before,” she said. “And I do love roses!”

  For Evie’s fortune, Madame Alma looked long and hard. She didn’t see any colors or shapes. Just her own face reflected back at her. “A . . . mirror?” Madame Alma said.

  “Titi Rosa’s mirror?” Evie asked. She put her hand over her heart.

  “I think so. Yes,” Alma said.

  “Titi Rosa is going to give me her amazing mirror!” Evie squealed with delight.

  Finally, it was Del’s turn to have her fortune told.

  Madame Alma hesitated for a moment. It was a very big responsibility to tell the birthday girl’s fortune, and she didn’t want to mess it up. Plus, she wasn’t sure exactly what she was seeing in there. Sometimes it seemed like she wasn’t seeing much at all.

  Still, Madame Alma leaned over the crystal ball. She closed her eyes as tight as she could. She hummed very loudly. She whistled and wiggled her fingers and, she was pretty sure, finally managed to wiggle her eyebrows and ears too. She opened her eyes and lifted the crystal ball up in the air. She put it down, very gently. She waved her hands above it and picked it up one more time.

  “I see . . . ,” she said. But she didn’t see anything. “I see . . .” But still, there was nothing in there. Not even a speck of light or a hint of a shape. “I see . . . black?”

  “Black?” Del asked.

  Madame Alma tried again. It wasn’t just black, she thought. It was sort of blurry. Or fuzzy? Yes. Black and fuzzy. “I see something black and fuzzy,” Madame Alma said.

  “Black and fuzzy,” Del repeated.

  “Maybe . . . a dog? Or . . . I don’t know . . . a cat?”

  “A cat?” Del asked. “You see a black cat?”

  “Yes,” Madame Alma said. She wanted to sound sure. She wanted to be a good fortune-teller for her cousin.

  Del’s face got very serious. And very pale.

  “You love animals,” Alma said.

  “A black cat is bad luck,” Del said. “The worst kind of luck. Everyone knows that. It’s why they’re around at Halloween. Because they’re scary. And I know it’s true because last year Cassie saw a black cat, and that same day she broke her leg playing soccer even though she was the best soccer player in school.”

  “Oh!” Alma said. “Oh no! I must have been wrong. It’s probably a black dog. Or a black raccoon. Or, I don’t know, a black boa?”

  “No,” Del said. “You said a black cat. A very unlucky black cat on my birthday.”

  “I’m sorry!” Alma said. “I’m sure I’m wrong! None of my fortunes have come true yet. Yours all came true right away. I’m not good at this the way you are.”

  Del looked a little less nervous. “That’s true,” she said.

  “You h
ave nothing to be afraid of,” Alma said.

  Del nodded. She didn’t look sure, though. She looked scared. And Alma wasn’t used to Del being the scared one. She didn’t like it. She didn’t like it one bit.

  7

  A Full Moon

  -Del-

  Del wasn’t in the mood for a backyard slumber party anymore.

  “We saw a black kitten out there yesterday,” she said. “I need to stay away from all black cats.”

  “You’re afraid of that kitten?” Alma asked. She’d never heard of Del being afraid of anything at all.

  “I’m not afraid,” Del said. “I’m just being careful because of my fortune. I can’t let a black cat cross my path. I need to just sleep in my own bed. And stay inside tomorrow. And the next day. And probably forever.”

  “You were so excited about your backyard slumber party,” Alma said. “Let’s at least give it a try.”

  Del wanted to say no, but Alma was giving her big worried eyes, and Evie was pulling on her arm, and Del had always wanted to have a sleepover in the backyard. This might be her only chance. And besides, Alma was right. None of Madame Alma’s fortunes had come true the way Del’s had. Maybe it would be okay.

  Alma, Del, and Evie walked out to the backyard. Alma had secretly set up the tents while Del was saying goodbye to all her guests. One tent was for Abuelita, and the other was for the cousins. In the cousin tent, Alma had laid out three sleeping bags and three pillows and all the cozy blankets she could find at 86 ½ Twenty-Third Avenue. And best of all, Alma had decorated the tent with streamers and balloons and a big shiny banner that said Happy Birthday! on it.

  “Oh, wow,” Del said. “This is so cool. How did you do this? It’s . . .”

  “Magical!” Alma finished Del’s sentence with Del’s favorite word. But Del wasn’t so sure she wanted to hear that word right now.

  “And I brought out cupcakes!” Evie announced way too loudly. Abuelita had already said no when they asked if they could eat cupcakes out in the tent before bed.

  “Shhhhh,” Del and Alma said together. But Evie couldn’t keep a secret.

  “Look!” Evie said. She had one of Abuelita’s cozy blankets around her shoulders. She opened up the blanket to show the box of leftover cupcakes she’d been hiding underneath.

  Del smiled. Maybe everything really would be fine! Maybe there was no such thing as a bad fortune! Maybe Madame Alma hadn’t seen a black cat after all! Their tent was so pretty. Those cupcakes looked even better now than they had at the party. Alma had brought out her mother’s phone and was playing music to dance to. It was everything a slumber party was supposed to be.

  But before Del could take even one bite of cupcake, they heard a sound.

  “Oh no!” Abuelita cried.

  Del, Alma, and Evie ran out of their tent. “What’s wrong?” Del asked when they got to Abuelita’s tent. Everything seemed normal. There was a sleeping bag and a pillow and her own stash of cupcakes, in spite of her rules.

  “What is it?” Alma asked.

  Abuelita pointed up. All three girls tilted their heads to follow her finger. She was pointing at a big, gaping hole in the tent. A hole so big that when you looked up, you could see the full moon in the sky.

  “Well, that’s sort of pretty,” Alma said.

  “Can we stay in this tent instead?” Evie asked. “This is so cool!”

  “The moon,” Del said, her voice a little shaky. “Just like your fortune said.” Del had been hoping maybe Madame Alma wasn’t so good at telling fortunes. But here was Abuelita underneath the moon, just like Madame Alma had predicted.

  And then it started to rain. Within moments, everything in the tent was soaking wet.

  “Oh no!” Abuelita said. “This isn’t what I expected when you told my fortune!”

  Del looked at Alma. “This isn’t a very good fortune at all,” she said.

  Before she finished her sentence, Del heard a little purring sound. A cat. Maybe a kitten. Maybe a little black kitten. She ran straight inside the house and all the way upstairs, and refused to come back downstairs no matter how many cupcakes Evie offered her or how many times Alma said the fortune was probably wrong.

  Del was pretty sure she wouldn’t be leaving the house ever again.

  8

  Look Out Below

  -Alma-

  In the morning, Alma found Del and Tío Victor on the front stoop. Del and her dad liked to sit out there in the mornings. This morning, they looked like they were watching something. Tío Victor’s white car was parked right in front of the building, but they weren’t watching that. A few women on the corner were in an argument about where to get coffee, but Alma didn’t think they were watching that. Next door, a painter was painting the shutters on their neighbor’s building. But that’s not what they were watching either.

  Del and Tío Victor were watching something across the street, in the playground. Alma squinted. It was Evie, chasing squirrels and laughing. Del was pretty sure she could hear her chattering away at them, too, telling them all her secrets. Evie could find the fun in absolutely anything.

  Del and her father were both holding forks. The leftover cupcakes were sitting between them.

  “Cake for breakfast?” Alma said. She’d never had anything but breakfast food for breakfast. Her mother sometimes made breakfast for dinner, though, and she loved that. Maybe she would love this, too?

  “We always do it the day after birthdays,” Del said.

  “Take a fork,” Tío Victor said. “Taste a few.”

  Alma happily did. It turned out all flavors of cupcake tasted even better in the morning.

  “Do you feel better today?” Alma asked Del.

  “She’s on the lookout for cats,” Tío Victor said. “I promised her there wouldn’t be any out on a busy street in the morning.” That seemed true to Alma.

  “Abuelita’s fortune came true last night, so mine probably will too,” Del said.

  “That was just a coincidence,” Alma said. She was pretty sure this was right. After all, she hadn’t predicted a rainstorm, just the moon.

  “You really think so?” Del asked. She took an extra-big bite of cupcake. Del wouldn’t admit to being scared, but Alma had never seen Del so frightened. In fact, she’d never really seen her scared at all. But if Del was the scared one, that meant Alma would have to be the brave one. She took a deep breath.

  “I really think so,” Alma said. “We should do something fun today. To make up for last night. We could even invite a bunch of people over again. Or do something silly. Wear our costumes to the store. Or sing a song in the middle of the street. Or tell fortunes with the crystal ball for everyone at the playground.” Alma looked at Del. She wanted Del to look brave and happy and unscared again. She thought maybe the corners of Del’s mouth were turning up. She thought maybe her eyes were starting to sparkle with excitement. She thought maybe Del wasn’t looking for a black cat anymore.

  “That does sound fun . . . ,” Del said.

  But before Del could agree to a plan for the day, they heard the painter next door shout “Watch out below!” He had dropped his can of paint. Alma, Del, and Tío Victor ran to the side of the building and didn’t get hurt.

  “That was lucky!” Alma said. “See? Everything’s fine. You don’t have to worry about a bad fortune! I’m not a talented fortune-teller like you.”

  Alma was absolutely positively sure this was true. Everything was fine. She wasn’t very good at magic or fortunes. She was just regular old Alma. And now she’d be able to go back to being shy, nervous Alma, and Del could go back to being brave, daring, and delightful Del, and all would be right at 86 ½ Twenty-Third Avenue.

  Except.

  Del was pointing at something.

  She was pointing at her family’s white car.

  But it wasn’t white anymore. The can of blue paint had splattered all over the car. Big splashes of blue covered the whole thing.

  “A blue car,” Del said. “Just like
your fortune said.”

  9

  Closed Eyes

  -Del-

  As if it wasn’t bad enough that Del’s father’s car was now blue, someone else was watching the whole scene.

  Someone very scary.

  The same black kitten from yesterday. It was dipping its paw into the blue paint, running away, then doing it again. It looked like it was trying to understand the paint, just like it had done with the water in the birdbath. It was quite the curious scientist. Maybe Del would have thought it was cute, once. But now it just seemed strange and scary and wrong. Why was this kitten everywhere all the time? Why wouldn’t it leave them alone? And why didn’t it act like the other stray cats in the neighborhood?

  Little blue paw prints were taking over the sidewalk and street in front of Del’s house, and they made Del even more scared. She ran inside and hid behind Abuelita’s biggest, softest armchair. She was pretty sure a black cat couldn’t find her back there. She didn’t want that strange little kitten coming anywhere near her. It was dangerous! And bad! And who knew what would happen if she didn’t hide from it! If Cassie could break her leg from seeing a black cat, Del would probably go through even worse because of her black cat fortune! It just wasn’t safe to do anything at all.

  Still, it wasn’t very fun to hide behind a chair all day. Del called out for Alma.

  “Are you okay?” Alma asked when she found her behind the chair.

  “Right now I am,” Del said. “As long as that cat doesn’t find me, I’ll be fine. But I’m bored.”

  “I’ve never seen a cat at the playground,” Alma said. “Why don’t we go over there?”

  “I can’t go back outside!” Del said. “Every time I go outside, that scary kitten finds me!”

  “You’ve barely been outside,” Alma said.

  “Well, when I was outside, the kitten found me,” Del said. She crossed her arms over her chest. She could be stubborn when she needed to be. And if she was going to avoid that black cat, she’d have to be very stubborn.