“I’m glad to have you, Octavia,” I said, not entirely truthfully. “You’ve helped me in a lot of ways. Remember that you got Tanya off my back? And now she seems to be in love with Calvin. So she won’t be pestering me anymore. I know you’d feel better if you could get a job, and maybe something will come up. In the meantime, you’re fine here. We’ll think of something.”

“I called my brother in New Orleans,” she said to my astonishment. I hadn’t even known she had a living brother. “He says the insurance company has decided to give me a payment. It’s not much, considering I lost almost everything, but it’ll be enough to buy a good secondhand car. There won’t be anything there for me to go back to, though. I’m not going to rebuild, and there aren’t too many places I could afford on my own.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I wish there was something I could do about it, Octavia. Make things better for you.”

“You’ve already made things better for me,” she said. “I’m grateful.”

“Oh, please,” I said miserably. “Don’t. Thank Amelia.”

“All I know how to do is magic,” Octavia said. “I was so glad to help you out with Tanya. Does she seem to remember?”

“No,” I said. “I don’t think she remembers anything about Calvin bringing her over here, or the spell casting. I’ll never be her favorite person, but at least she’s not trying to make my life miserable anymore.”

Tanya had been sent to sabotage me by a woman named Sandra Pelt, who bore me a grudge. Since Calvin had clearly taken a shine to Tanya, Amelia and Octavia had worked a little magic on her to cut her free from Sandra’s influence. Tanya still seemed abrasive, but that was just her nature, I figured.