“Skulking around Constance Graves’s house?” she offered.

“Skulking is an ugly word.”

“What about breaking in? How do you feel about those words?”

“Those are terrible words. Just terrible.”

“Are you looking for something that will help Nora? I heard she’d been arrested.”

I frowned. Once again, I couldn’t help but think this girl knew far too much about things she probably shouldn’t. “Not arrested, no. They’re questioning her.”

She nodded. “And, again, you think there’s something in Constance’s house that could help prove Nora’s innocence?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Definitely not.”

“Why do you have a flashlight, then?”

I looked down at the torch in my hand as though it had just appeared there.

“And why do you even need a flashlight? Can’t you just cast a spell so an orb of light will follow you around?”

I blinked at her. An orb of light?

“Or a cloud of sparks? Or a flame that rests in the palm of your hand?” She smiled. “That would be super cool.”

“No, not super cool. Ridiculous. That all is ridiculous.” I could actually do the flame in the hand thing, and it was very cool. But no. Just no. This was not happening. Besides, I’d had enough of fires lately. “Nixie, I’m not sure what you’ve heard, but I think you’ve been misinformed.”

“Oh, I haven’t heard anything. Other than from Liz. And she’s not exactly an unbiased source. You and your aunts have the town locked down. Whenever I try to get anyone to say anything about the Warren women and the help they provide”—she put air quotes around the word help—“nobody seems to know what I’m talking about. Or, at least, they act that way.”

I frowned. “Right.” I didn’t want to have to spell the girl, especially given my difficulties as of late, but this was bad. She obviously knew a lot. Again, too much. And I had things to do tonight. But could I really risk that kind of enchantment with my magic behaving so unpredictably?

“You’re thinking about wiping my memory, aren’t you?”

My eyes widened. “What? Wipe your memory? That’s crazy,” I stammered. “How would I even do something like that?”

“Don’t bother. You’d be wasting your time. Nora’s already tried it. Several times. It doesn’t work. I’m immune.”

Apparently, my aunt still had a few secrets up her sleeve. “You’re immune?”

“Yeah, I come from a long line of witch hunters. I’m not proud, if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m actually, like, super ashamed. But what can you do? You can’t pick your family. Anyway, the point is, I don’t think your magic works on me.”

“I’m sorry, but I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Right.” The girl gave me an exaggerated wink. “So how are you planning to get in?” she asked, eyeing the house. “That thing you were doing with your fingers obviously wasn’t working.”

I stared at the girl a moment longer, then said, “Well, if I was hypothetically breaking in, I guess I’d have to smash a window or something.”