First Frost by Liz DeJesus Page A

the book, are you?”
    “I have to leave it here. It’s the only place I know where it’ll be safe. If I take it with me, who knows what could happen to it.”
    “Can you tell me where it is? I really don’t want to touch it,” Ming said.
    “It’s in my mom’s room.”
    “Good to know.”
    They finished their breakfast, and Bianca headed to the museum. Most of the time there would be a line of people at the entrance waiting to go inside. But on that Wednesday morning…it was completely deserted. Bianca sighed, unlocked the doors and got everything ready for the day. Once she took her post behind the gift shop counter, she called Ming and asked if the repairman had arrived yet.
    “Yeah, he’s here. Got here about five minutes ago,” Ming replied.
    “Okay. Tell him I’ll be there soon. I’ll leave as soon as you get here,” Bianca said.
    “You want me to leave him alone in the house?” Ming whispered.
    “If he meant any harm, the wards Mom placed on the house wouldn’t have let him walk in. Trust me, it’ll be okay. Just tell him you’re going out and that I’ll be there soon.”
    “Okay…if you say so.” Bianca could hear the hesitation in Ming’s voice. Once more she reassured her that everything would be okay.
    “See you later,” Bianca said.
    “Bye.”
    Twenty minutes later, Ming appeared.
    “Wow. This place is dead,” Ming said as she took in her surroundings.
    “Yeah, word spreads real quickly around here. Anyway I’m gonna go home and make sure everything is okay with the repairman,” Bianca said.
    “Okay.”
    “Does he…you know…does he seem nice to you?” Bianca fidgeted with her car keys.
    “Oh. My. God. He was super cute, and yeah, he seemed nice and polite. Very professional looking,” Ming replied.
    “Cool. I’ll see you later.” She waved at Ming and walked away.
    Bianca drove back home and found the repairman outside by his black pickup truck unloading supplies and materials he needed to fix the window.
    “Hi,” Bianca said as she approached.
    “Hello, you must be Bianca.” He set down his toolbox and extended his free hand to her.
    She shook his hand and smiled. Ming was right; he was very cute. He had dark blond hair, chocolate brown eyes and dimples. He looked like the sort of man that liked to spend all of his free time outdoors, which was a stark contrast to Bianca, who loved nothing more than to be in her room, drawing or reading a book.
    “I’m Don Carlson, and I’ll be fixing your window today,” he said and then flashed her a smile.
    “Great. Do I need to do anything?”
    “We’ll, if you wanna stick around that’s up to you. I do need you to sign some papers before I get started, and then once I’m finished, I’ll need you to sign some more paperwork. But other than that I’m good to go,” Don said.
    “Okay, I’m going to stay here in the house. I have some reading to catch up on anyway,” she said.
    “Cool.”
    “How long should this take?”
    “A few hours give or take. I have to replace some of the frame and put in the new glass.”
    Bianca nodded. “Sounds good to me. Do you need any help carrying stuff in?”
    “Nah, I’m good. Thanks, though.”
    Bianca nodded and went inside the house. She asked Don if he wanted anything to drink as he set his stuff up in the living room. He politely declined. Bianca then retrieved the spell book from its new hiding place and sat on a stool in the kitchen.
    She sighed as she looked out the window. It was a glorious day. The sky was a perfect light blue. Ivory white clouds that slowly drifted from one end of the sky to the other. It was a great day to sit on the hammock with a glass of lemonade and read the collection of short stories she’d borrowed from Ming a few months ago. It was a shame that she had to spend it with her nose buried in an evil spell book that gave her more questions than answers.
    Bianca gasped.
    I found it.

    “All done,” Don said. He had been working quietly for