by Martha Carr
“I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think.” Laura headed toward the table, eyeing the plate of waffles in front of Nickie.
Nickie sat back in her chair and gestured for her big sister to take a stab at it. Laura grabbed the fork and took a bite. “Emily, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said around the mouthful. “This is delicious.”
“Yeah, I know, but that’s not the problem.”
Laura blinked at her. “What’s the problem?”
“The problem is I put cinnamon and cardamom and a little bit of vanilla in the batter. Plus the new—oh. Crap.” She spun around and reached out for the spice rack, jerking it toward her this time so the line of bottles flew in the opposite direction.
Laura took another bite, then handed the fork to Nickie and headed for the hot pot of coffee by the fridge. She stirred in two teaspoons of sugar as Emily still groaned in frustration. “So what happened?” Laura put the spoon down on the serving tray and lifted the mug to her lips.
“I grabbed the wrong bottle,” Emily muttered. She slammed her hands on the counter and hunched her shoulders.
“Was it mint?” Nickie jammed another bite of waffle into her mouth.
“No. I meant to grab the honey powder. The hyssop’s next to it.”
“And hyssop tastes like mint?” Laura blew across the top of her coffee as she sat at the round table next to Nickie.
“It does to me.” Emily shook her head, turned around, and leaned back against the counter. “Sorry. You don’t have to keep eating that just to make me feel better.”
Nickie snorted. “I’m not gonna eat something I don’t like.” More waffle went right into her mouth. “I think you’re onto something with the hyssop waffles.” She shrugged.
“Yeah, well, now I’m gonna make them the right way. Laura, you want real waffles?”
“Sure.”
Emily spun around and started whipping up new batter, paying more attention to which bottles she snatched from her rack.
“So.” Nickie pushed her empty plate away and ran a hand through her hair. “What do you think about your ring?”
Laura eyed her over the rim of her mug and took a long, slow sip of coffee. “I dunno. What do you think about yours?”
“She’s trying to ask you if your ring’s done any magic yet,” Emily said, tossing a hand over her shoulder without turning from the counter.
“That happened to you guys too?” Laura set her coffee down and watched her sisters’ reactions. They nodded. “Yeah. Mine activated my…uh, just an accommodation charm I set up in my closet.” Nickie raised an eyebrow. “I just wanted to make a little extra space, but I didn’t touch anything or cast a single spell. The ring glowed a little, and I got, well, a lot more room than I expected.”
“Huh.” Nickie smirked. “Em, I think I might have the most powerful ring.”
Emily threw her head back to groan up at the ceiling. “Of course you do! Jeez, Nick, this isn’t ‘one ring to rule them all.’ It’s not a flipping competition.”
The middle Hadstrom sister chuckled and sat back in her chair. But she widened her eyes at Laura and pointed her thumb toward Emily, who’d clearly woken up on the wrong side of the bed.
“Okay, I’ll bite. What do you mean by ‘most powerful’?” Laura asked.
“Well, yours activated a charm. Angry Chef over here had, what? A blast of air come out of hers, I guess.” On cue, Speed waddled into the kitchen, his collar tags jingling as he puffed and snorted their way. “To clear away this guy’s blast of air.”
“Gross.” Laura leaned in her chair and scratched the bulldog behind the ears. He slumped to his belly on the floor, back legs splayed out like a leaping frog. “What about your ring?”
Nickie waved her hand. “Mine knocked over the futon.”
“Futon…” Laura frowned. “In the Clubhouse?”
Both sisters said, “Yep,” at the same time.
“When were you guys in the Clubhouse?”
“Last night. We couldn’t sleep—”
“You couldn’t sleep.” Emily pointed a batter-smeared spatula at the kitchen table without turning around.
“Neither could you with Mr. McStinky here as a footwarmer.” Speed licked his jowls and grunted. “We didn’t wanna be loud and wake you up.”
Laura cupped the coffee mug in her hands, letting it warm her up. “You wouldn’t have. I was trying to figure out why my ring was using magic on its own.” Both her sisters burst out laughing, and Laura glanced between them with a clueless smile. “Why is that funny?”
“We called it,” Emily said, opening the waffle-maker next to the stove. “We just thought it would take a little longer. You were pretty convincing with your whole ‘long day, I just need sleep’ spiel.”
“I was actually tired, okay? I was just putting a few things away before bed, then the ring acted up. I couldn’t go to sleep without trying to figure it out first.”
“Did you?” Nickie folded her arms.
“No. Nothing. As far as I can tell, unless I’m wearing the thing, it’s just a super-hard piece of jewelry.”
The new batch of waffle batter sizzled on the griddle as Emily poured it into each of the four round molds. “That’s a good thing, right? Means the rings only work if we’re wearing them.”
Nickie chuckled. “Why would anyone else be wearing our family rings?”
“I dunno. People steal all kinds of things for no apparent reason. Creatures too.” With the spatula, Emily scraped the rest of the batter out of the bowl and evenly onto the molds. “Remember that striped neon scarf Jeremy gave me for Christmas last year?”
“Yeah, that thing was awful.” Nickie and Laura shared a knowing glance.
“I know. It was perfect.” Emily closed the waffle-maker and turned around. “That got stolen. I’m pretty sure a gorlek took it. Haven’t seen one of those since…middle school, probably.”
Laura almost sprayed coffee all over the table. “Why do you think that?”
Emily spread her arms. “What else leaves feathers and slime? The thing left a trail all over my dresser.”
“Huh.” That was definitely Inez. Now I’m gonna have to find that scarf! Laura took a slow sip. “Maybe it’s a good idea to keep the rings on all the time, then, right? I never saw Dad without his.”
“Yeah, that was weird. I didn’t even notice he wasn’t wearing it ‘til he opened that box last night.” Nickie shrugged. “I can keep it on all the time. Sure.”
“I can try,” Emily said. “Chef makes Evaline take off her wedding ring on the line. But the rock on that thing’s almost as big as her hand. As long as this one doesn’t mess with my work, then yeah. I can keep it on.”
“Cool.” Laura sipped her coffee and watched her youngest sister pry her perfect, fancy waffles out of the waffle-maker and onto two plates.
“Want any more?” Emily asked Nickie.
“I’m stuffed.”
Emily shrugged and brought both plates to the table. “Looks like you get the real batch.” She slid one plate across the table toward Laura. “I swear, if these don’t taste the way they’re supposed to I’m gonna break something.”
“Whoa.” Nickie and Laura shared another glance. “You okay?”
“Yep.” Emily slathered butter over her waffles before passing the butter dish to Laura. She drizzled syrup on them, thumped the container onto the table, and froze. “Maybe.” Emily sighed. “Got a text this morning that I’m moving to a different station today. And of course no one’s gonna tell me if I’m moving ‘cause I qualify for legumier expertise or ‘cause I screwed something up and Ben just wants me out of his space.” Pressing her lips together, she attacked the first waffle with her fork.
“Do you think you screwed something up?” Nickie asked.
“No. I’ve done everything perfectly. Ben literally told me, ‘Not bad’ last week. But now I don’t know what to think. I put freakin’ hyssop in waffles.”
“Emily.” Laura wai
ted for her youngest sister to look up. “They’re moving you to another station so you can keep climbing the ladder, okay? Trust me. You’ve worked too hard and put too much into this to leave room for mistakes. You’re incredibly talented. This is what you do.”
Emily blinked at her, then all the rigidity melted out of her body, and she smiled her first real smile since that text. “Hey. You’re right.”
“Of course I am.”
“Thank you.”
“Always. That’s what we’re here for. Now, I have a few errands to run this morning. Gotta check out a couple…theories.”
“Ooh. What kind of theories?” Nickie wiggled in her chair.
“You know…” Laura glanced at the ceiling and shrugged. “Artifact stuff.” Like specifically what I did with that dagger at the Greenbelt yesterday.
“Did you really think she’d give you a real answer?” Emily asked through a mouthful of waffle.
Nickie snorted. “Not really. You never know.”
“I’ll see you guys later.” Laura stood and grabbed her coffee. “Hey, if you see anything weird today, something that feels kind of off, or whatever, let me know, okay?”
Emily squinted at her. “Does the way you’re being all vague and weird right now count?”
“Ha, ha. No. But I’m serious about calling me. Even if it’s like, I dunno, a shimmery thing in the air, even. I’m…working on another project. I could use a few extra pair of eyes is all.” Laura waited for her sisters to shrug and nod, then she smiled and headed back upstairs.
“Wait, you didn’t even touch your waffles. I made them perfect!”
“Oh.” Laura looked over her shoulder and wrinkled her nose at Emily. “Yeah, I don’t wanna eat whatever you were feeling when you made those. Not after the hyssop thing.”
Nickie laughed, and Emily rolled her eyes before digging into her breakfast—and Laura’s.
I definitely don’t need to be angry or nervous when I go talk to Carl about that dagger. That’s for sure.
10
By the time Laura got to her room, the coffee had warmed her enough the zip-up hoodie had to come off. She draped it over her dresser and stepped into her reliquary. “Doesn’t matter how much I wanna have this little chat with Carl. Bad idea to leave the house without feeding the beasts first.”
Egbert the billynordle didn’t stir once through feeding time, even with the squawking, grunting, flapping, shuffling, and snorting of the dozen other creatures in her magically expanded closet. She chanced peering into Inez’s pen for Emily’s stolen scarf. The snail-like gorlek let out a loud, warning hiss. Inez was the size of Laura’s torso with a back lined in fluttering yellow feathers and a razor beak sharp enough to take off her hand.
“Okay, okay. I hear ya loud and clear.” Laura dumped half a gallon of raw, chopped liver into the pen and stuck the bucket in the sink next to it. “Eat up. Calm down. I’ll come back later.”
Inez oozed toward the stinking meat. Her bright-yellow beak opened, and a screeching chortle burbled from her throat.
Laura side-eyed the creature. “You sound like a hyena and a velociraptor screaming at each other.” She smiled anyway to see the gorlek munching away at the liver. “I’m serious, though. If you don’t adjust your attitude, Inez, I won’t think twice about a heavy dose of valerian root in your dinner. Whatever you did with Emily’s scarf, I’m gonna find it.”
Inez snorted, blowing a few soggy chunks of liver against the pen wall.
“Yeah, yeah. You talk a big game.”
When she had everyone else fed, she told all the creatures to behave until she got back. “And after I get back too. Yeah, Bindo. Yeah, I know. I never leave without a hug.”
A purple-and-blue-striped kybbie nudged his ridiculously soft nose into Laura’s side. She wrapped her arms around the creature’s neck. For a cross between a miniature zebra and a terrifyingly large wolf cub with two tails, the kybbie was nothing more than a giant bundle of affection. Bindo let out a few gooselike honks of appreciation, then Laura released him and whispered, “I really do have to go. Make sure everybody’s doing what they’re supposed to, okay?”
With a final pat on the creature’s head, Laura exited her walk-in museum. She changed into shorts and a t-shirt and tucked her wand into her back pocket. She peered at the silver artifact on her thumb. “And I still don’t quite trust you yet,” she told the odd ring, and then headed out to have a conversation she didn’t want to have.
She pulled up in front of Hopkins Antiques half an hour later. The bell on the door jingled when she stepped into the semi-dark front room filled with the widest range of antique baubles, furniture, décor, and fixtures she’d ever seen in one place. You name it, Carl Hopkins had it. He was the guy Laura came to for magical artifacts when she couldn’t seem to whip up something useful on her own.
“‘Morning, Laura.” She glanced at the counter in the back but only saw a chipped teacup with tendrils of steam rising into the air. Carl popped his head up from behind the counter and stood. “How you doin’?”
Laura headed toward the counter. “I’m fine, thanks. Just have a few questions for you, if you’re not busy.”
He spread his arms, took an exaggerated, sweeping glance of his empty shop, and chuckled. “I think I can spare a few minutes for ‘the’ Laura Hadstrom.”
Laura suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. “Thanks.”
Carl lifted the chipped teacup to his lips and took a long, slow sip. “You look a little worried.”
“Not worried.” She leaned her forearm on the counter. “Just curious. That dagger definitely worked.”
“Excellent.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought, too. As a divining rod, it’s perfect. And it got me through the wards I’d been trying to slip past for weeks.”
Carl lowered his teacup and frowned. “You didn’t mention anything about wards.”
“I know.” Laura dipped her head. “I didn’t want to put the cart before the horse, you know? It wasn’t until the dagger did its thing I knew for sure there were wards. And, well, I think the dagger did a little something else…unexpected.”
“Hmm. What happened?”
“I’m not sure. But I have a hunch. I think.” Laura sighed and shook her head. “That dagger found the wards and got me through them. Would it have been able to open up, say, other binding spells?”
The antiques dealer scratched his chin. “Possibly. It depends on what the binding spells were and how they were being used.”
Laura scrunched up her nose. “What if they were being used as a sort of prison-cell lock?”
Carl licked his lips and leaned over the counter. “You got me interested, Laura, but I think I need a few more details.”
“Right.” She drummed her fingers on the counter, and the silver ring on her thumb winked in the light. “Do you know anything about a Gorafrex stowaway on this ship?”
Carl stared at her way too long, then he blinked and straightened. “I’ve heard the story, yeah. Gorafrex were witch-hunters. The one that got on this ship was supposed to have been sealed away. Beyond that, Laura, I can’t tell you anything. There may be other wizards and witches that know more, but honestly, I think the information’s been all but forgotten. Tends to happen with eternal prisoners.”
“Yeah, I need a little more than that.” Laura closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I think that dagger is more than just a divining rod. Or I helped it become something else. I dunno. I’m pretty sure I let the magical cat out of the bag.”
“The Gorafrex.” The shop owner let out a low whistle and rubbed his chin. “That would be a sour pickle, wouldn’t it?”
Laura snorted. “That’s not even the worst part. My little run-in with the Gorafrex, if that’s what this is, happened before I found out last night that my sisters and I are next in the magical bloodline of this thing’s jailers. Protecting wizards and witches all over Earth from the thing that shouldn’t have gotten on this ship in the first place.
And I let it out.” A bitter laugh escaped her.
“All right, now. Don’t go beatin’ yourself up over this just yet.” Carl sniffed and took another sip of tea.
“Nope. I haven’t gone that far down the rabbit hole. But if there’s anything else you can tell me about the Gorafrex, I would really appreciate it, ‘cause I need to figure out how to put this thing back where it belongs.”
“Agreed. I’m not sure I can point you to anyone with more to say. Especially since you’re part of the family meant to keep this thing where it belongs.” Carl’s brow furrowed and he held up a finger. “You know what? I might have something in the back. Not a how-to, by any means, but it may steer you in the right direction. Just a minute, okay? Lucinda has Sundays off, so it’s just me rootin’ around through things back here.”
“No problem.”
“Just give us a shout if a customer shows up.”
Laura turned to survey the overwhelming assortment of trinkets inside Hopkins Antiques, but she couldn’t clear her mind enough to focus on any of them. Thankfully, Carl took less time to find what he wanted than expected.
“Okay. It’s not complete by any means, but this might have something.” He dropped a giant book onto the counter with a puff of dust.
“What is it?”
“Something like a manifest. Obviously, it’s outdated. And there’s no possible way to account for everyone riding this thing nowadays. But…” He gingerly opened the cover, which had softened so much even with the preservation charm it bent like paper in the man’s hand. “It should have an account of all the original races that boarded the first time, way back when. We might find something in here.”
“About the Gorafrex?”
Carl shook his head. “Not if it was a stowaway, right?”
“Oh…duh.”
“I think the best bet is to look for someone in here who might have more in-depth knowledge of the Gorafrex itself or how to put it back, as you so succinctly put it.”
Laura looked up to find him smirking at her. She gave him a dry smile and they both returned their attention to the manifest. “Maybe even someone who’s been here from the very beginning,” Carl said. “If it was witches’ magic that locked the Gorafrex up the first time, that’s likely what’ll have to happen again. Not that there are any witches or wizards still living now who were there that day, but there’s no shortage of immortals on this ship.”