“Dinna touch the crystals, lass,” Dervish warned her as she drew near.
“Oh, I know,” she reassured him. “My aunt made very sure that I knew how to proceed whenever I was near one of these.”
“I have this one here because it needs to be repaired,” he explained. “The problem is, I dinna know anyone who can repair it.”
“What seems to be the trouble?” Felicity wanted to know as she gave it a cursory glance, the look on her face clearly suggesting an expert’s knowledge.
“It keeps taking me to Siberia,” he explained with a trace of irritation.
“It probably just needs to be recalibrated to the universal destinations setting,” she told him. “I’d start with the ruby, then the sapphire, and then the emerald, instead of the other way around.”
“How do ye know such things?” he inquired shrewdly.
“Easy,” she answered with a smirk. “I’ve done it before.”
“So, wot is a slip of a girl not even old enough to be outside the Veil alone doing learning how to repair broken Unveiling fountains?”
“Well, since my aunt was the only one available to take care of me, she had to bring me with her wherever she went,” said Felicity. “One of the places she went frequently in search of parts for her inventions was Mundane London. You’d be amazed how many parts in her gadgets start out as non-magical items. Non-imbued items can be more easily impregnated with the specific energy one wishes it to have.”
“I remember thot crazy old witch who lived up on the hill inventing things who finally went loony. I remember when they took her to the insane institution last year. Of course, I dinna know she was yer aunt at the time. I am sorry to hear of yer loss.”
“Unfortunately, yes, they did take her away,” Felicity said with a sigh. “She pushed the wrong button on one of her experiments, I’m afraid. I’m going to have to get myself a flat now that I’m not at the Academie any longer, for I’m certain the degree of toxicity in our home has not reached a tolerable background level.”
“She’s made quite a few useful tools over the years,” Dervish said as he placed a hand thoughtfully on his chin. “Perhaps ye are another one of them.”
“Me, a tool?” Felicity scoffed. “That’s silly.”
“I’ll set ye to working on thot machine someday, I ken, but not until I’ve seen more evidence thot ye can do the job.”
“There’s no job I can’t do,” Felicity scoffed.
“Good, then thot must mean ye are ready to go in there and greet Lancelot Jones.”
“Well, almost no job,” she amended with a smirk. “Him, I don’t know about. Too many unknown factors.”
“Then it should prove a challenge for ye,” Dervish chuckled.
“I accept your challenge, sir,” she giggled. “I’ll have Lancelot Jones eating out of the palm of my hand in no time.”
“I wouldna go as far as thot,” he said sternly. “Remember, he’s supposed to be teaching ye how to be an adult.”
“What’s there to know about that?” asked Felicity with a chuckle.
“Ye’ll have to ask him, lass,” Dervish chuckled as well. “Let’s go.”
The pair of them lifted their wands and wandered through a vast array of halls, glancing down each one briefly as they went. Finally, at the farthest end, they stepped into a living room of sorts, and beyond that, a small kitchen.
Lancelot Jones was ensconced halfway inside of the cupboard beneath the sink, aiming his wand at some errant pipes. “Sealant!” he said, and the pipes immediately stopped dripping.
“So ye finally decided to fix the sink, I see, and quite a few other things around here as well,” Dervish chuckled. “Perhaps I should have gotten ye an assistant before now, if this is to be the result of it.”
Lancelot ducked and pulled himself free of the cabinet, then used the sink to wash his hands, casting another spell to dry them. He wore a bland expression and did not look at either of the new arrivals.
“Ye remember Miss Felicity Lake, I trust?” Dervish prompted with a gleam in his eyes.
Glancing at Felicity with feigned disinterest, he replied. “Yes, of course. The last time we met, I believe you turned my wand into a toad.”
“Well, if you don’t aim it at me again, we shouldn’t have a problem,” she informed him with a saucy twitch to her lips.
“Indeed,” he replied with a slightly raised brow. He stepped closer as he waved his hands about in a wide arc. “Well, Miss Lake, as you may have seen, there are still many things in the Museum that need to be properly archived. It’s a bit late this evening to begin, of course, so perhaps you’ll want to start fresh tomorrow? I’ll see you at nine sharp.”
“Well, all right then,” she agreed, feeling somewhat deflated by the brisk dismissal. “Dervish, can you direct me to a good place to get a flat?”
“I’ll take ye to the perfect one,” he said. “It’s right next door to my niece’s, and they’ve been looking for a tenant for quite a while.”
“You needn’t do it, Dervish,” said Lancelot quietly. “I could take her there, if you like. She is, after all, entrusted to me.”
“Maybe the next time,” said Dervish with a knowing smirk. “I think ye have been working hard enough already today, Lance. Get yerself some rest.”
“All right,” Lancelot agreed with a great reluctance. “Tomorrow, then.”
“Good night, Master Jones,” said Felicity politely.
“Sweet dreams,” he replied, finally looking into her eyes. The last thing Felicity saw before Dervish popped her away was a smile that warmed her from head to toe.
Damn, that wizard was a handsome man! She was quite sure it was going to be difficult to work beside him each day, if a brief meeting left her in such a state. Tonight, her sweetest dreams would definitely be of him.
THIRTEEN
“Ah, Miss Felicity Lake, yes, I have heard of you,” said Master Kirkpatrick as she and Dervish stood before the kind but effusive landlord. “It is rare for a young woman to stand up to her betters, to be sure, but even rarer to see her and that man become friends. Perhaps you’d care to explain how you have come to my door together?”
“Master Jones has just taken Miss Lake as his protégé for the next six years,” Dervish explained. “We thought under his careful direction the lass might better learn to mend her meddlesome ways. However, now that she’s finished her schooling, she is in want of a place to stay.”
“Should she not better have gone to stay with Jones in the usual way?” he asked curiously.
“Master Jones has no female to lend an air of propriety, should he have brought her home with him,” Dervish pointed out, smirking. “I don’t believe Felicity is quite ready to surrender all of her maidenly modesty.”
“Dervish!” she gasped, blushing.
“Besides which,” the man continued, completely unrepentant, “Lance is often plagued by unwelcome encounters with unsavory beings, from which I prefer to shield her until she is ready. I feel Miss Lake may need to undergo a bit more training in defense before meeting up with any of them.”
“A wise idea, sir,” Kirkpatrick agreed. “At least while staying here she will have the protection of the town’s shielding. Master Jones’s desire to live out in the wilds can do her no favors at this point, I fear.”
“My thoughts precisely,” Dervish agreed. “And I believe, sir, that ye still have that flat to let?”
“Indeed, yes,” he said, nodding. “Have no concerns, Miss Lake, the place is yours. Dervish and I can settle your terms.”
“I thank you, sir,” said Felicity with a grateful smile.
“Why don’t we have Penelope Ann come and bring her there now?” Dervish suggested. “My niece has often expressed the opinion that Felicity Lake is a lovely young woman. I’m sure she’ll be excited to learn she had become her newest neighbor.”
“Of course I have brought nothing with me here, since everything I own is in my aunt’s home,” Felicity added, blu
shing. “And nothing that is currently in there is important enough to risk going after.”
“Yes, Miss Lake, I understand,” he said with sympathy. “But have no fear, the rooms have furnishings enough for one night at the least, and I’m certain we’ll be able to acquire more in short order. Run along now, dear. I’ve just sent a summons to Miss Gilwalter, and she’ll soon have reached the front door. Welcome to your new home.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Felicity with a slight bob as she hurried to the sound of a knock and threw the door open wide. The familiar young woman on the other side gave a squeal of delight as they hugged each other.
“Isn’t it wonderful, Felicity?” said the school librarian happily. “I hoped to see you again soon, but I never expected this! Now we can be the best of friends, and I shall never have to restrain our interactions again!”
“Indeed, yes,” Felicity agreed, following enthusiastically as she led her across the commons and to a particular door. “And we shall dispense with all the formality, too. From now on I shall simply call you Penelope.”
“That will be wonderful,” she said, grinning.
They stepped inside the door, and Felicity made the happy discovery that despite the place looking cramped from the outside, the rooms within were elegant and comfortable, and magic had obviously been used to increase them in size.
“Oh, I never expected such a place!” she said excitedly. “I can hardly believe it’s all mine!”
“We shall have to decorate it and populate it with a few nice things, of course,” said her friend. “But I wouldn’t worry about it, you’ve got plenty of time.”
“Yes, but I suppose I’m stuck with just this couch for the night,” Felicity replied, eyeing the piece of furniture dubiously.
Penelope chuckled as she looked at it too. “Oh, I don’t think it’s quite so bad,” she commented, flicking her wand at the thing so that it transformed from old and uncomfortable into a plush, modern design. “That should do for now, until we’ve found you the real thing.”
“Penelope, don’t waste your spells on me,” she grumbled. “I could have done that myself.”
“Nonsense, you would have done no such thing,” she scolded. “Someone must see to your comforting, since you’re much too stubborn to do it properly. Now, if I were you I’d get some sleep. You’re going to need all of your energy for tomorrow. Don’t forget, Lancelet Jones is waiting.”
“Don’t remind me,” she said, sighing.
“Do I detect a note of distress in your tone?” Penelope wanted to know.
“He barely spoke to me when he received me just now,” Felicity complained. “If that’s how he intends to begin, I don’t know how we’re going to get on at all.”
“Definitely smitten, then, my dear,” she chuckled. “You mark my words.”
“Don’t be silly,” said Felicity, blushing. “There’s no way Master Lancelot Jones would be interested in me. No, I’m sure that his only interest will be that of a mentor to his new charge. But don’t worry, I’m resigned to that being the case. His grumpy greetings and bouts of silence won’t frighten me.”
“Very well, then let us go over to my rooms and I’ll feed you something,” she suggested. “I know you can’t have brought along any food either, so tonight you will dine with me. However, once my particular friend arrives, we’ll have to call it a night, if you take my meaning.”
Felicity chuckled. “I believe I do, Miss Penelope. It must be wonderful, having such a one as he.”
“Don’t worry,” she grinned. “I’m sure it won’t be too long before you also find your Prince Charming.”
“Oh no, I’m in no hurry,” she shrugged. “I’m actually looking forward to experiencing a little time on my own.”
FOURTEEN
The next morning Felicity awoke with a start, and realized with a sinking feeling that she had no timepiece to inform her when she should leave for work. She bit off two of her fingernails worrying about it as she flew, and she was highly likely to bite off a third by the time she reached the little watch shop just down the street from her new home.
She had to wait for the owner to flip the sign at precisely nine before she could buy anything, so she hurriedly picked out a small hour-glass on a necklace, and then she used her wand to quickly make her way to the museum, biting her bottom lip the whole way there.
“You’re late, Felicity,” Lancelot said with a raised brow as she hurried down the long stretch of bookshelves towards the other end, where he stood waiting for her. “It’s not something I would have expected, coming from you.”
“When I woke, I realized there was no timekeeper to tell me when to get here, so I went and got something to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” she explained as she used her wand to cross the remaining distance and began to walk briskly beside him. She pulled on the chain of her necklace and briefly showed him her hourglass.
“Good thinking,” he conceded as he patted her on a shoulder. “Come, my dear, I’ll show you the first task that desperately needs to be tackled.”
When Lancelot’s hand gently slid down her back and around her elbow to turn her in the right direction, it was almost as though an electric shock passed between them. Felicity had to hold her breath to keep from gasping in surprise.
She really needed to stop having such a strong reaction every time Lance came near her, Felicity thought. When she went home tonight, she would try not to think of him at all—though she doubted that would work. But there had to be something she could do to stem the tide of emotions he was evoking in her now, if she could only figure out what might work.
As the two of them traversed down one long row until it came to another intersection, and then another, they walked in an amiable silence. Lance dropped his hand at one point, but when they made another turn, he put it back again.
“Here we are at last. The unfiled section,” he said as they came to a stop beside what amounted to a solid wall of books. “I thought for today I’d just start you out on the books, since there are so many of them.”
“That, Master Jones, is a gross understatement,” Felicity pointed out.
Lancelot eyed the mountain of books with a dubious look, then shrugged. “I’ve been amassing them quite regularly for years. It’s no surprise there are so many. You need not look so overwhelmed, Felicity, I promise you I don’t expect this task to be finished by tomorrow.”
Felicity blushed under his scrutiny, which was now directed at her. The wizard seemed to have read the expression on her face like an open book, yet at that moment his own face showed no discernible emotion at all.
“Very well, then,” she said with all the bravado she could muster. “Show me how your system is set up, and we’ll go from there.”
“There’s no real system to it, other than alpha-numerical, my dear. I simply put them in order by title, so I could find them again later,” he said with a shrug. “There were just so many of them I had no time to get creative.”
“Master Jones, you must be joking. There is always time to get creative,” Felicity admonished him. “We ought to reorder them into types as well as spellings. It would be much quicker.”
“And you’re not at all daunted by that idea, I take it?” Lancelot asked with a smirk.
“Should I be?”
“With that pile, most definitely,” he said, eyeing it again with disdain. “I know I’ve never gotten around to doing it.”
“Well, that’s why you need an assistant, sir,” she reminded him. “Don’t you worry, I’ll have this place whipped into shape in no time.”
“All right, but mind you stay in this section, and don’t go wandering about the place till I’ve shown you the danger zones,” he said. “And while you do that, I’ll go make us some lunch. I’ve a feeling you didn’t remember to pack that, either.”
Felicity shrugged in response. She had already started to pile some of the books into alphabetical order with rapid flicks of her wand.
Lance
lot watched her for a moment, and speculated on how well she might do in a duel with such excellent hand to eye coordination. And, considering the line of work she’d just entered into, those were skills she was certain to need. He fully intended to begin training her fighting skills, but not until she was more familiar with the museum first.
“I’ll see you later, then,” he said dryly, and slowly walked back the way they had come.
Felicity was startled to discover three hours had gone by when he returned with a tray of food. She smiled in thanks as Lance conjured a couple of chairs and a small table for the two of them to use.
“Normally I like to have lunch in the break room, but you seemed like you were so intent on your little chore that I decided not to disturb you,” he said as they ate their sandwiches. “You did hear me when I mentioned this job doesn’t need to be done by tomorrow, I trust?”
“Yes, I heard you,” she said with a blush. “I just seem to get my focus on doing something, and it takes off whether I want it to or not. I think it’s the inventor in me.”
“I thought the inventor in your family was your Aunt Beatrix,” he chuckled.
“Well, yes,” said Felicity with a smile. “But she did raise me, you know?”
“Yes, so I had heard.”
“Believe me, Lance, she definitely rubbed off,” Felicity assured him. “I invent things all the time.”
FIFTEEN
A bit later in the afternoon, Lancelot disturbed Felicity and her book pile a second time. She glanced at him inquisitively when he arrived, and he said, “I've another task I need some help with, if you can manage to tear yourself away from here.”
Smirking wryly, Felicity replied, “I can try.”
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