Witch Twins Series

by Adele Griffin

  But it was what she had done to Fluffy, that made Claire feel most ashamed.

  Why had she blurted that rude remark about Fluffy’s cowgirl pantsuit? Crumbs, she hadn’t meant to! It was only that Justin had been teasing her too much. When Claire was around Melody, she did not like to feel childish and uncool. The way a big brother or a too-colorfully dressed stepmother could make her feel.

  Maybe that’s what Luna had meant when she’d said Melody brought out the worst in her.

  “Do you think Fluffy truly accepted my apology?” Claire had asked Luna as they settled down for bed.

  “Actually, I think you need to do better than apologise,” Luna had answered in her frostiest, thirteen-minutes-older-sister voice. “That was an awful thing to say to our not-even-wicked stepmother, Clairsie.”

  Warthogs and waffle irons! thought Claire. Why did Luna have to make her feel even more miserable? But in her heart, Claire knew her twin was right.

  All night, Claire shifted and kicked the covers. How could she make it up to Fluffy? What could she do that was better than saying sorry?

  By the next morning, Claire had come up with a plan. She would use her salamander trick to go spy on Fluffy. Then maybe she could learn some kind of special gift to get her. A Good Samaritan gift. That would be even better than a regular apology.

  As soon as she finished her breakfast of Oaty-oats cereal and blueberries, Claire telephoned Melody.

  “What time is it?” Melody yawned.

  “Early. Listen, Melody, I can’t come to the set today,” said Claire.

  “But we’re shooting the kidnapping scene! And there’s only three days left until the movie’s done!” wailed Melody. “I thought we could spend every day together until I have to go back home.”

  “Me, too,” said Claire, “but something urgent came up.” Over the phone, Claire could sense Melody’s disappointment. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Promise.”

  She clicked off. Although it was too-too-too fun to be friends with a celebrity, a tiny corner of Claire figured that she would be, oh, just a pinch relieved when Melody’s movie was finished. It took a lot of energy to be Melody Malady’s only friend in the whole world.

  Claire looked at her wristwatch. She did not have a lot of time. She needed to catch the morning bus to Chestnut Condominiums, pronto.

  She quickly showered and dressed and—careful not to wake Luna—flipped through their Little Book of Shadows and memorized the spell. In the kitchen, she carefully spooned the necessary spices into three separate paper twist packets. She did not want to mess up anything.

  The dew was soft on the grass and the sun was shining bright but not hot by the time Claire hopped off the local bus and trekked the quarter mile to Chestnut Condominiums, where her father and Fluffy lived. She was relieved to see that the morning paper was still folded on the doorstep.

  Standing on the welcome mat, Claire glanced right and left, unwrapped and sprinkled the spices over her head, then chanted:

  “Cumin, cardamom, coriander,

  Eye of spying salamander,

  Animalia kingdom, Amphibia class,

  Wriggling webbed toes, touch the grass.”

  She closed her eyes and let the spell do its work.

  First came a chill in her blood. Then a shrinking in her ears, throat, and legs, which was soon followed by a lengthening in her tail-bone.

  When she opened her bulging eyes, the transformation was complete.

  Claire the bottle-green, ruby-eyed, three-inch-long salamander scurried up the side of the wall.

  For a few minutes, Claire-the-salamander perched unblinking and basking in the sun’s warmth until her father opened the front door. When he bent to retrieve the paper, Claire scurried inside.

  In the kitchen, Fluffy was already awake and ready for work. She was slumped at the kitchen table, drinking tea. She was talking, but Claire could not understand a word.

  “Mmmmm mmmm mmmm!” said Fluffy.

  Claire could feel in her feet and tail the tremors of Fluffy’s voice. What was she saying?

  Then Claire remembered. Salamanders don’t have ears!

  Oh, no! How will I be able to eavesdrop, Claire thought, and how can I find out what kind of special gift to get Fluffy, if I can’t even hear what she says?

  Claire slithered up the leg of Fluffy’s chair and leaped onto her suit jacket that was draped over the chair back. She arranged herself between a gold and silver dragonfly pin and a pink pineapple pin. She curled her tail prettily. At least Claire-the-salamander-pin was a perfect disguise, hiding right out in the open with Fluffy’s other jewelry!

  When Fluffy stood and slid on her suit jacket, she was still talking.

  “Mmm hmmm rmmm.” Fluffy frowned and pointed to her feet and shook her head at Claire’s father.

  “Hmm mmmrrrmrrr,” said Claire’s father. He seemed troubled as he wagged his head back at her.

  But Claire could not figure out why Fluffy was so upset. She looked okay from Claire’s view, perched high on her jacket lapel and partly concealed by a wave of Fluffy’s hair (that smelled nice, like spearmint chewing gum).

  As Fluffy and her father walked out to the car, Claire dug in her clawless toes and kept still. She hoped that she blended in with the rest of Fluffy’s colorful accessories. She did not need her father’s observant newspaper reporter’s eye singling her out.

  Except for the vibration of Fluffy’s weary sighing, the car ride into Philadelphia was smooth. Claire stared out the window and tried not to think about eating the tiny but very yummy-looking fruit fly that had landed on the window glass.

  Hold off until you can eat real food, she told herself. Fruit flies probably aren’t fruit-flavored.

  When they got to Center City, her father dropped off Fluffy with a kiss.

  Claire enjoyed riding the elevator with Fluffy, up-up-up to the forty-fourth floor where the magazine offices of Philadelphia Now! were located.

  “Rrr-rrr-rrr!” Fluffy called to the receptionist, who waved.

  As she moved down the halls, Fluffy stopped and chatted with her other coworkers.

  This is fun, Claire thought. If only I could hear what was going on!

  Fluffy made herself a cup of tea in the employee kitchen and went into her office. She turned on her computer and her desk lamp. Then she eased herself into her desk chair. Claire watched intently as Fluffy took out a piece of notepaper and wrote:

  marshmallows

  soy butter

  pickles

  pistachio bread

  bedroom slippers, size 10 double extra wide

  Aha! Claire thought.

  Then Fluffy put down her pen and pulled off her suit jacket. Claire’s tail curled tight around the pineapple pin for balance as Fluffy tossed the jacket on a coat hook above a filing cabinet.

  “Mmmm!” Suddenly, Fluffy stood up from her chair and glanced at her watch. “‘Mrrmrmr rrmrrmr.” She hurried from the office, shutting the door.

  Claire’s small salamander heart was beating fast. No time to lose.

  She dropped off Fluffy’s jacket, landing on all fours on the filing cabinet.

  Quickly, to undo the spell, Claire closed her eyes and imagined that she was looking into a mirror.

  Brown hair, warm-blooded smile, six freckles on the tip of her nose.

  In the next moment, Claire-the-salamander was transformed back to Claire-the-girl again.

  She slid off the filing cabinet and pocketed Fluffy’s list. Now to sneak out of here. She made a couple of wrong turns before she found the receptionist area.

  “Hey, you!” called the receptionist.

  Oh, no. Caught! Claire turned. “Yes?”

  “Are you Coffee Bean’s delivery kid?”

  “Uh, that’s right,” Claire answered with a gulp.

  “Come here, then.”

  Reluctantly, Claire approached his desk.

  “Get me a large iced vanilla coffee.” The receptionist thrust some money into Claire’s h
and. “And fast!”

  Bewildered, Claire nodded, took the money, and dashed to the elevator just as it pinged and the door opened.

  Once safe outside, she sprinted the nine blocks home.

  Luckily, her mom was at work, and nobody else was there to ask questions. In her bedroom, Claire shook out her savings from her shoebox bank. She had been planning to buy herself some voice and dance lessons, in order to polish her movie-star qualities.

  “But now I have a better investment, right, Horty?”

  Her kitten yawned, uninterested. Still holding a grudge, Claire figured.

  After one bus stop to the grocery store, Claire used her savings to buy the items on Fluffy’s list. Marshmallows, soy butter, pickles, pistachio bread. She also bought some catnip for Edith and Hortense.

  The Bed & Beauty store was a few blocks over. Claire had a little trouble finding double extra-wide, size-ten slippers. But there was one more pair left in the back.

  Claire had more trouble saying farewell to the rest of her money.

  She even remembered the receptionist’s vanilla iced coffee, since Coffee Bean was right across the street from Fluffy’s work building. The line was long, though, and the cup was hard to balance in one hand.

  Weighted with bags, Claire returned to the Philadelphia Now! offices.

  She was starting to feel very hot.

  And sweaty. And tired. And a little depressed.

  Fluffy probably wasn’t even mad about the cowgirl remark, thought Claire. Why had she gone and spent her whole morning and all her money on this gigantic apology?

  On the forty-fourth floor, Claire smacked down the drink in front of the receptionist. “Your change is my tip,” she told him.

  Then she marched down the hall to Fluffy’s office and opened the door without knocking.

  “Claire? What are you doin’ here, sugar?” Fluffy’s voice was friendly.

  Aha! Luna had been wrong! Fluffy was not upset with her, after all!

  Claire dropped her bags.

  “I got you some special food,” she said, “because I felt bad about what I said last night about your cowgirl clothes.”

  Then Claire dropped down onto the carpet and burst into tears. All her celebrity-lesson money, gone!

  “Aw, I know you didn’t mean what you said last night.” Fluffy stood and walked over from her desk. She eased herself down on the carpet to sit next to Claire. “You shouldn’t have taken such trouble and expense,” Fluffy soothed.

  Which only made Claire cry harder. She really shouldn’t have!

  Fluffy peeped in the bags. “Oh, golly. My favorite foods. You even got me a pair of slippers?” She shook her head wonderingly. “You must be a mind reader. I was just telling your daddy this morning how my feet had stretched out of my old pair. I think carrying this extra weight has kinda widened ’em out.” She patted the bump that was Ubiquitous. “But how did you know?”

  “I had a hunch.” Claire sniffled. She wished she could stop crying. It did not seem very noble.

  “Claire, sugar, I hope you don’t feel like you gotta treat me like a guest, and buy me a present every time you think you’ve said the wrong thing. I’m family now.”

  “I know,” said Claire, but she realized that she did not exactly know.

  Fluffy still looked concerned. “’Cause I can be teased and tease back, same as you. Okay?”

  “Okay,” sniffled Claire. Teasing Fluffy. That would be weird.

  “But I gotta also say, since you went and did it, I think your gifts are awful nice.” Fluffy placed a hand on each of Claire’s shoulders. Claire looked up into Fluffy’s wide eyes. “You want to know why?”

  “Why?” Claire sniffled again.

  “Well, let me tell you, I have been havin’ just a terrible thundercloud morning! And nothing is better when you’re having a thundercloud morning than to feel some unexpected sunshine. Which is what you are today, Claire. Unexpected sunshine.”

  And Fluffy leaned over and hugged her, hard.

  Crumbs, thought Claire, wiping her eyes on Fluffy’s jacket lapel where Claire-the-salamander had perched only a couple of hours ago. It was kind of nice to be somebody’s unexpected sunshine.

  It made Claire feel shiny and golden, but not in a celebrity way. In a special Claire-ish way which she figured was maybe just as good.

  8

  Timbugtu to the Rescue

  MELODY MALADY’S MOVIE WAS nearly finished.

  “Tomorrow they’re filming the parachuting scene,” Justin informed Luna, Claire, and their mother while they were gathered at the table for dinner. “It’s gonna be the best part of Double Delight. And the only reason to see it, in my book.”

  “Melody gets to parachute off a ledge onto a trampoline,” Claire explained. “Of course, you won’t see the ledge and trampoline in the movie. It’ll look like she used her secret moon-jumping boots. It’s gonna be extra-extra-cool!”

  “Sounds spectacular,” said their mother.

  “I won’t be there,” said Luna, wiping her mouth with her napkin. “Dolores and I have better plans. We’re going to see the Philadelphia Rare Flower Show. Mr. G is taking us.”

  “That also sounds spectacular, Luna,” said their mother.

  “Ugh!” said Justin.

  “Boring!” said Claire.

  They made faces at each other.

  Luna did not care. She was just happy that she and Dolores weren’t spending the day chipping for rock samples. Dolores was a little too nuts for rocks, Luna had decided. She wanted to win that science fair in Bethesda like crazy. She talked about it all the time.

  Maybe too much of the time.

  Luna really liked rocks, too, but lately she had realized that she didn’t love-love-love them. She was happy enough with her windowsill rock garden. She was not even sure that she wanted to be a geologist anymore.

  The other night, she had watched a television documentary about lighthouses, and now she thought she might make a good lighthouse keeper. That would be a romantic job. She liked to picture a midnight sea and a cleft-chinned captain, his ship saved by Luna’s brave and steadfast light!

  But Luna had decided not to tell Dolores that she didn’t care so much about rocks any more. Dolores might take it too personally.

  The next morning, Justin, Luna, and Claire made their last trip to Pine Street to the Double Delight set. Justin strutted ahead.

  “See-ya, wouldn’t wanna be-ya,” he called, and shot off.

  “Even when Justin is at his worst, tease wise, he’s nicer to us than Melody is to Dolores,” Luna said. “It’s strange. Melody is so sweet to everyone else, but not to her own sister.”

  “Well, you have to admit,” said Claire, “Dolores is a freak from Planet Bleak.”

  “I think Dolores is great. I’ll be sad when she goes home,” said Luna.

  “I’ll be sad when Melody leaves,” said Claire. “It’s not every day I get to be best friends with a movie star.”

  Luna did not answer. She thought that she was Claire’s best friend. But maybe being a twin didn’t automatically make you a best. After all, Melody and Dolores weren’t best friends. They weren’t even friendly.

  Still, Claire’s words left Luna feeling blue.

  Pine Street was bustling with activity by the time they arrived.

  “Check out that truck!” Justin shouted. He ran to inspect the bright red fire truck parked at the end of the street. The firemen were there to make sure that Melody’s jumps observed safety regulations.

  “Hi, girls!” Melody had raced from her trailer to Luna and Claire. She was wearing thick parachute gear and her silver moon-jumping boots. Her hair had been pre-messed and her face was pre-smudged. She looked funny. But she did not seem to mind.

  “For the first time, the makeup people made me look worse instead of better,” she said. “I wish it could be like that more often.”

  For a moment, Luna saw a wistful shadow pull over Melody’s face. Only for a moment, though.
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br />   “Hey Melody” said Claire. “Can we look at the fire truck?”

  “Sure!” Melody’s dimpled smile flashed. “Let’s go!”

  “Where’s Dolores?” asked Luna. Usually Dolores was right there waiting for her, so that they could make a quick getaway. Dolores did not like to spend a second longer than she had to on her sister’s movie set.

  “She’s off sulking,” Melody said over her shoulder, “because Dad can’t take you two to the Rare Flower Show. He wants to watch my jumps instead, to make sure they go smooth.”

  “Oh.” Luna was disappointed. But she bet Dolores was even sadder. She had been looking forward to the Flower Show.

  Luna pushed through the crowd, searching for Dolores. She checked the trailer. She checked the wardrobe department. She checked the back lot where the crew hung out.

  Dolores was nowhere.

  Then Willa called, “Places!” and “Quiet on the set!”

  Claire and Justin had found a good place to observe the action, standing on the flatbed of the fire truck. Claire signaled for Luna to join them.

  After one more scan for Dolores, Luna hoisted herself reluctantly into the truck.

  “Action!” called Willa.

  Everyone’s eyes were trained on Melody as she jumped off a wooden ledge that had been specially constructed for the stunt. Her parachute popped and bloomed open as she landed with a bounce on the trampoline, then another bounce onto the street for her final close-up.

  Each time, it looked perfect. But not perfect enough for Willa.

  “Take two!” she called. “Take three! Take four! Take five!”

  By the sixth take, Melody seemed weary.

  “Look happy after you land, Melody,” Willa suggested. “Say something like, ‘Hooray!’ okay?”

  “Okay,” said Melody tiredly.

  Movies even take the fun out of fun, thought Luna.

  Then Luna spied Mr. G sitting in a chair next to Willa. He was leaning forward, craning his neck to watch Melody. “Excellent jumping, Mellie,” he called.

  “Crumbs, Dolores might be lost,” Luna muttered to Claire, “and all anyone cares about is Melody’s jumps.”