Join me every day at Noon EST for the continuing adventures of the bungling detective, N. Owl, in her quest to bring the mastermind, ~M, to justice!  If you’ve  missed any episodes, you can find them HERE!

I found myself tiptoeing to the door, afraid that any sound I made would catch the attention of the stranger behind it. Then I remembered Cory’s sneeze.

I placed my hand on the door knob and slowly turned it. As the door slightly opened, I could see a brilliant light coming from a small area in the room. Pushing it a bit further, I could see a young girl, sitting on a sofa, with what appeared to be a rather mysterious book in her hands. The light that shined under the door was actually coming from a book!

Could this be ~M at a younger age? No, of course not. Perhaps this was one of ~M’s finest creations. A daughter. Or, maybe it was just one of her young recruits creating a decoy. We’d be so enthralled with the light coming out of the book, we wouldn’t even notice if ~M had come or gone. She truly was magic!

I approached the girl and realized her eyes were closed. She looked to be asleep but I think the light was probably blinding the poor child. I motioned for the others to come in, considering I could see them all gawking by the door. Cory and Fred entered the room, but Mildred didn’t. I motioned again, but she just stood there. She was caught in the glow of the book! I waved my arms frantically at her, trying to break whatever spell she was under. Fred and Cory thought I was having some kind of attack and tried to stop me, until I was able to point to Mildred, who was still staring at the light.

Now all three of us were waving our arms, trying to come between Mildred and the book. When, at last, we were able to break her gaze, she looked somewhat bewildered by what was happening. I told her I would explain later, that right now, we had to keep ahead of ~M or we’d never catch her. I knew I was kidding myself, but hey, someone has to believe it.

We walked back out of the room, deciding to try a few other doors before heading back out to the street for another chance at finding ~M. Closing the door behind us, we stood there for several seconds. Something wasn’t right. I could hear the sounds of girls giggling. Damn! She fooled us good. I ran back to the door, flung it open and…nothing. The room was empty. We had been outsmarted again.

And in the empty room, only the walls heard…

“How did I do, mommy?”

“Great job, Auti! They’ll never find us”

Stay tuned for more from this crime solving wordsmith…

July Writing Prompt – She was magic – Day 11/31

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