The Magical Match

by E. D. Baker

  “You’ll see,” Olot said with a grin.

  “I need to warm up,” Cory told Blue. “Would you mind getting me something to eat?”

  “Sure. I’m looking forward to trying some myself. Goblins love meat as much as ogres do. It’s one of the few things we have in common. When you finish your warm-up, I’ll be sitting right over there,” Blue said, pointing just past the stage where her drums were waiting.

  Although the other band members had already practiced, they started warming up with Cory. When she felt she was ready, she grabbed a quick bite from the food Blue had brought, then returned to her drums.

  The goblins gathered around the stage, talking and eating, when it looked as if the band was about to begin. When no one introduced Zephyr, Olot shrugged, and they started the concert anyway. They played the songs that the bride and groom had chosen, starting with “Owl Goes A-Hunting.” After that they played “Storm-Chased Maid,” “Shooting Stars,” and “Dusk in the Meadow.”

  The goblins really seemed to enjoy the nature-based songs, dancing at times and hooting and cheering when each one was over. Cory wasn’t sure how they’d react to the song that she’d titled simply “Love Song,” but then, she wasn’t sure how goblins would react to anything. When the band started to play it, the entire clearing went quiet. After the first few bars, the goblins stood with their heads tilted as if that might help them hear it. Because Cory had yet to play the song on her drums, she started out hesitant at first, but the song built on itself, and her drumming became stronger and more confident. As she sang the lyrics along with her bandmates, the words seemed to gain a strength of their own.

  Cory was so caught up in her music that she didn’t notice when the goblins began to sway with their eyes glazed over and their mouths partly open. No one moved when it finally ended, but Cory could have sworn she heard a hum of power that quickly faded away. A few heartbeats later, every goblin with a partner turned to his or her loved one and embraced. Blue jumped onto the stage to hug Cory, Olot plucked Chancy from the audience, Skippy hugged his two girlfriends, and Daisy grabbed hold of Perky and kissed him. The song touched even those who didn’t have a partner. Tears coursed down Cheeble’s cheeks as he smiled.

  Delphinium and Wilburton were standing near the stage, holding each other, when Cory’s mother turned to her and said, “That was so beautiful! Perhaps I should have gone to your concerts after all.”

  CHAPTER

  13

  Four days later, Cory was thinking about how nice it was to be home and back to her routine, when Orville knocked on her office door. “Miss Daisy and Miss Marjorie are here to see you,” he said. “Would you like me to serve tea on the terrace?”

  “That would be lovely, Orville. Thank you,” Cory replied as she set down her ink stick. Ever since she got home from her mother’s wedding, she had immersed herself in making matches. Visions were coming to her frequently now, and she felt as if she had to make up for the time she’d lost in the goblin warren. Keeping busy also helped her set aside the nastier memories of her visit there. Being kidnapped had been bad enough. Seeing her mother covered in black glop had been even worse.

  Although Blue had been very affectionate since their return home, she hadn’t seen much of him. When he wasn’t at work, he was busy studying for his Culprit Interrogator test, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t watching out for her. Even though he knew that she had been kidnapped because of her mother’s goblin wedding, a once-in-a-lifetime event, he was worried about Cory’s security. The day after returning home he had insisted that they hire two more ogres to watch over her. Now no one could get on the property without an ogre interrogation. Visits from angry fairies had stopped completely. Although Cory was happy about that, she wasn’t happy that she couldn’t step outside without at least one ogre tailing her.

  She looked around as she left her office and started down the hallway. Their first day there, the ogres, Cran and Andrue, had tried to follow her around inside the house. She had put an end to that immediately by threatening to terminate their employment. They’d agreed that if they did their job right, no one could sneak into the house anyway, so they took turns patrolling the grounds when Macks wasn’t making his rounds with Shimmer.

  Cory stepped onto the terrace and found her friends seated at the table. Andrue was already there, standing in the shadows.

  “Cory!” Marjorie cried. “How are you? Daisy has been telling me that you’ve had quite an adventure.”

  “I guess you could call it that,” Cory said, taking a seat at the table. “But my mother is married and that’s all that counts now.”

  “And you have goblin relatives,” said Marjorie. “Who would have thought your mother would marry a goblin. Do you know how they met?”

  “It was at court, I believe,” Cory said. Although she had told Marjorie that she was a Cupid before learning that she shouldn’t tell anyone, her friend hadn’t believed her. She wasn’t about to tell her again.

  “We heard something interesting today,” Daisy was saying as Orville stepped out the door, carrying a tray. He set down a plate of tiny sandwiches, then poured cups of tea for each of them.

  As soon as the putti was gone, Daisy opened her mouth to continue, but Marjorie leaned forward and whispered, “Did you know that someone is standing in the shadows, watching us?” Shielding her hand with her body, she pointed to her left.

  “I do know that,” Cory whispered back. “That’s my bodyguard Andrue. He’s an ogre and he’s supposed to be there.”

  “You have a bodyguard?” Daisy said in a regular voice. “I mean, I knew about Macks, but … You still have Macks, don’t you? He’s such a nice guy and I’d hate to think that you fired him just because he broke some furniture at your birthday party.”

  “I didn’t fire Macks,” said Cory. “He’s still here. In fact, the new guards are friends of his and they all get along very well.”

  “You have more than one new one?” Daisy said, turning to look around. “Why, are you under attack or something?”

  “No,” Cory said with a laugh. “I have two new bodyguards because Blue is being overprotective. So, what was this interesting thing you heard today?”

  “Well,” Daisy began, “I met Marjorie for lunch because she’s lending me some of the books she’s written that are already out of print and she brought them with her. We were sitting in Perfect Pastry when we heard the women at the next table talking. Apparently, there’s a young woman calling herself the Little Match Girl who has started making matches. She guarantees that people will fall in love with the person of their choosing. You have to pay her first, then you go to her house, she serves you both a meal, you listen to soft music, and you fall in love. The women were saying that the Little Match Girl has a one hundred percent success rate. Can you believe it?”

  “It sounds pretty amazing,” said Cory.

  “I think she’s either a Cupid or a witch with great magical powers,” said Marjorie. “That is, if Cupids are really real.”

  Cory thought that her friend might be giving her a strange look, then decided that she’d imagined it.

  “I’m considering taking my new boyfriend to see the Little Match Girl,” said Daisy. “His name is Kurt Strong and he has the dreamiest eyes. It’s been so long since I felt like I was in love. Maybe it’s time for the real thing.”

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Cory told her. “You can’t just pick a person and make him love you. Real love doesn’t work that way.”

  Daisy set down her teacup so hard that tea sloshed onto the table. “I didn’t come here for you to tell me that it was a dumb idea. You’re my friend. You’re supposed to be encouraging. You’ve found the love of your life. Well, I haven’t and I’m getting tired of looking. I think it’s about time I met my true love, even if I have to make it happen! Come on, Marjorie, coming here was a mistake!”

  “I’m sorry, Daisy,” Cory said as her friend stood up and grabbed her bag of books. “I though
t you wanted my opinion. I’m not going to tell you to do something if I think it’s wrong for you.”

  “Well, you don’t have to be so negative!” Daisy said, and flounced off the terrace.

  “I’ll see you later,” Marjorie told Cory. “I’d better go calm her down.”

  And then Marjorie was gone, hurrying down the steps and around the side of the house.

  “That didn’t go very well,” Cory said as she got to her feet.

  Andrue stepped out of the shadows to pull back her chair. “Hey, if anybody would know about love, it’s you. You told her the truth, which is what a good friend does.”

  “Do you know who I am?” Cory asked him.

  Andrue nodded. “Macks told me and Cran. He said we needed to know so we would do our jobs right. He said that you’re the real deal and we should guard you with our lives. Don’t worry. We’re not going to tell anyone. Macks knows we’re good at keeping secrets.”

  “I just wish he had talked to me first. I don’t know how much of a secret it is if everybody knows,” said Cory. “Do you have any idea where he is now? I want to ask him who else he’s told.”

  “He’s with the dragon. They were up front on patrol when your friends came. I hope I didn’t get Macks in trouble, miss.”

  Cory sighed. “Not at all. I know he means only the best. Thank you for telling me the truth.”

  She thought about what she would say to Macks while she walked around the side of the house with Andrue following ten paces behind. Although she’d prefer not to have Andrue there for her conversation with Macks, she couldn’t very well tell him to stop following her. After all, he was just doing his job.

  When Cory reached the front yard, she didn’t see Macks anywhere, but she did see Daisy and Marjorie waiting for a pedal-bus. Hoping to prompt a vision, she thought about Daisy and tried to see her true love, but no other face appeared.

  “Are you okay? The way you’re staring into space made me think you were having some sort of seizure.”

  Cory turned toward the voice and saw Poppy, the fairy who lived next door. “I was just thinking about something,” Cory told her. “How are you today?”

  “Fine and dandy,” Poppy said. She eyed Andrue, who had hung back but was obviously following Cory. “You sure have a lot of ogres hanging around. Can we talk in front of him?”

  “Of course,” Cory replied. “What did you want to talk about?” She had nothing to say to the girl, but she didn’t want to be rude to a neighbor.

  “Word is going around that someone calling herself the ‘Little Match Girl’ is making matches between couples and the matches really work. She does it with one date and they fall in love every time. If I were looking for a match, should I go to her or you?”

  “I don’t know this person, so I have no idea what her abilities might be, but I’m not taking on clients for money anymore,” said Cory. “I really can’t help you.”

  “I can pay you whatever you’re asking,” Poppy told her.

  “Sorry, but it isn’t a matter of payment,” Cory said.

  “Uh-huh,” said Poppy. “I get it. You only help your friends. See you around!”

  Cory shook her head as Poppy walked off. This was the second time that she had asked Cory about matchmaking. Either the girl had a memory like a sieve or she was up to something.

  When Cory went to bed that night, she was feeling uneasy. Macks had seemed hurt when she asked him not to tell anyone else who she was, almost as if she’d accused him of something terrible. She really wanted to help Daisy, but didn’t know how without telling her that she was Cupid and that she would help her if she could. And the more she thought about Poppy and her questions, the more she was certain that the girl was planning something unpleasant. For a moment, she almost missed being back in the goblins’ warren, where all she’d had to worry about were the goblins’ ceremonies and finishing her song.

  Shimmer was out patrolling the grounds with Macks, so Cory went to sleep without hearing the sounds of the little dragon grumbling and shifting in her bed on the floor. Only a few hours after falling asleep, Cory woke to the feel of something cold wrapped around her neck. She struck out, but her hands met cold air. When she touched her throat, the coldness was still there. She wasn’t aware of what she was doing when her hands began to glow and give off a heat of their own. Suddenly, the cold was gone, and Cory sat up, rubbing her throat.

  She looked around the room, trying to see her assailant. Instead, she saw a shifting in the shadows as something came toward her again. Cory reached to turn on the fairy light, but it refused to turn on. “What do you want?” she cried as she fumbled in her nightstand. “Who sent you?”

  Something scratched on the door that opened onto her balcony.

  “Cory!” wailed the ghost. It drifted closer and was reaching for her again when her hand closed on the squirt gun that Orville had left for her. The ghost was only a few feet away when she squirted lemon juice at him. He shivered as if shaking off a fly, then kept coming.

  Cory squirmed out of bed on the opposite side and ran to the balcony door. Something cold brushed the back of her neck as she yanked the door open. “You can’t escape me,” cried the ghost.

  The little dragon ran into the room. “Shimmer, get him!” Cory cried, pointing at the ghost.

  Tail lashing, the dragon pounced, passing right through the figure to the other side. The ghost laughed and came after Cory again, but Shimmer spun around, opened her mouth, and flamed.

  “Use your inside flame!” Cory shouted.

  Although the flame shrank, it was still enough to heat the ghost. Wailing, the ghost fled out the window into the night.

  “Miss Cory, are you all right?” Cran hollered as he threw open the door and ran into the room.

  Orville, Creampuff, and two other putti were right behind him, holding squirt guns. “I smelled a ghost again!” cried Creampuff. Sniffing, the little chef followed her nose to the balcony door.

  “There was a ghost here, but Shimmer chased it away,” said Cory. “The squirt gun you gave me didn’t work, Orville.”

  “Maybe the lemon juice needs to be fresh,” he said, scratching his bald head. “I did fill that squirt gun last week.”

  “Whatever the case, I want Shimmer in here with me when I go to sleep,” said Cory. “At least until we find out why a ghost keeps visiting me and I can make it stop.”

  CHAPTER

  14

  Macks borrowed Lionel’s solar car to drive Cory and Laudine to the New Town Semi-Annual Witches’ Trade Show the next morning. “The show is ‘For Trade Only,’ which means that only witches are allowed in,” said Laudine. “I can get you in as my guest, Cory, although it is a little unusual.”

  “Uh, what about me?” asked Macks. “I’m supposed to stay with Cory to protect her. Can’t I be your other guest?”

  “I’m afraid not, Macks. We’re really not supposed to take non-witches to the trade shows. I’m actually pushing the limit by taking in one. I could never get away with taking two.”

  “Then how will I keep her safe?” Macks asked, looking worried.

  “Leave that up to me,” said Laudine. “No one will bother her while I’m around. Now, if you’ll excuse us, Cory and I have some confidential matters to discuss.”

  Laudine reached into her purse and took out a small bottle. She uncorked it, revealing a stick with a circle on the end. Holding the circle to her lips, she blew a bubble that continued to grow even after she held it at arm’s length. As the bubble got bigger, it engulfed Cory and Laudine, shimmering around them with all the colors of the rainbow. Suddenly, Cory could no longer hear sounds coming from outside the bubble.

  “There,” said the witch. “Now no one can hear us. I’m not as concerned about Macks as I am about someone who might use a spell to listen in. This will distort the sound and the image. I wanted to tell you that I sent Zarinda Scard a ticket to the show with a note that she should come early today. We’ll have to look for her as well
as Darkin Flay.”

  “Thank you, Laudine!” said Cory. “I’m sure I would have found them eventually, but you’re making it much easier.”

  “I’m glad I’m able to help,” Laudine replied. “So many people think only of themselves. It’s about time people started helping one another, especially when it comes to true love. Now tell me, did something happen at your house last night? I wasn’t able to sleep and was getting a cup of warm milk when I saw the lights go on in some upstairs windows.”

  “It was another ghost, although it might have been the same one. I hate to admit it, but they look and sound the same to me. I have yet to find out what they want or who sent them.”

  “I bet the faction I told you about is behind it,” said Laudine. “They often use ghosts to frighten people. I’ve heard they even have them on retainer. They’re probably after you because someone has seen us together. They’re working hard to get me to step down. I wouldn’t put it past them to go after my friends.”

  “Have they sent ghosts to your house, too?” asked Cory.

  “Once,” Laudine told her. “But I frightened it so badly that they never sent another.”

  “Some friends stopped by yesterday to tell me about a girl who calls herself the Little Match Girl,” said Cory. “Have you heard about her?”

  “I have, actually,” Laudine replied. “I plan to visit her to see if she’s using unlicensed magic.”

  “Just like you thought I was when I first moved into Grandfather’s,” Cory said.

  Laudine gave her a rueful smile. “I’m afraid so. I’m still sorry I went after you like that.”

  Cory shrugged. “And I’m sorry that we have to keep it a secret that I’m Cupid. It’s making a lot of things difficult. If you wouldn’t mind, when you go see the Little Match Girl, I’d like to go with you. Something about her doesn’t sound quite right.”

  “I think everything about her doesn’t sound right!” said Laudine. “Of course you can go. Maybe you’ll see something that I won’t.”