Excerpt: A Little Night Magic

She leaned forward, her head tilted slightly to the side, her eyes boring into me. "Do you believe in magic?"
I laughed, but her expression didn't change, so I stopped laughing and straightened up. "Well, I mean... yeah. Like magicians, and people who do, you know, quote-unquote magic, but... you know, it's all tricks and illusions." I paused. She kept staring, so I kept going. "So in the sense that there are people who perform magical illusions, then yeah, I guess I'd say... sure."
She sat back a bit, her eyes running over me suspiciously. "Now, I think you know that's not the kind of magic I'm talking about."
"No," I said, stepping back from her a bit. "I really have no idea what you're talking about."
"Then why are you getting so nervous?"
"Because you're getting so weird," I said.
She eyed me for another moment, then sighed. "Fair enough."
"Okay, then. Enjoy your meal." I headed out from behind the counter toward the mop bucket, where I figured I could finish my work polishing the stupid magic square and by the time I was done, she'd be done, and I could go home and watch movies alone and dream about my waffle cook. Just like every other night.
It wasn't until I splashed the mop down on the magic square that I looked up to see her turned around on the counter stool with her back to her waffles, watching me, her eyes sharp on me as if she was looking for something. I sighed and wrapped one hand tight around the mop handle. She had size on me, but I had a hefty wooden handle and age on my side, and if I could get Ray Skipp to stop patting my butt when I came to take his order, I could handle this woman.
"Look," I said, "you seem really... well, I suppose, nice... and everything, and I don't mean to be rude, but it's been a long day and I'd like to get out of here, so if you could just eat your--"
At that moment, without a word, she pulled something out of her purse and lobbed it at me. On instinct, I moved forward, one hand still on the mop handle, and grabbed it out of the air.
It was a gym sock, filled with some sand-type of substance and tied in a knot in the middle. "Ugh." I pinched the cuff between my fingers and held it up, then looked at her. "Okay. You just busted the bell curve."
And then I sneezed. And I sneezed again. The weird peppery smell from earlier came back stronger, overwhelming my senses, and my eyes watered and I sneezed again.
"Yeah, I thought so," Davina said, and through my sneezing and watery eyes I could see her advancing toward me. "Now don't be alarmed, baby, but you know it had to be done. It wasn't right, them not letting you be what you are."
I stared at her through watering eyes, my sinuses screaming. "What the" --sneeze-- "hell?"
She took the sock from me and I backed up, sneezing again. She tossed it toward the stool where she'd been sitting, a good ten feet away, but still, I couldn't stop sneezing, and I was starting to panic. I stepped back again, and this time, my foot landed on the wet strands of mop, my arms flailing like a cartoon character's. Davina shouted something and ran for me, but gravity won out and I fell, cracking the left side of my face against the magic square. Dazed, I blinked a few times, then saw Davina leaning over me, saying something I couldn't make out, and looking concerned.
"What did you do to me?" I asked, or at least I tried to ask, but my ears were still ringing from the impact, so I'm not sure how it came out.
Then, everything went black.