Wrapping Up

by A. A. Albright

  The bat fluttered to my shoulder. ‘Maybe he’s stuck at work. I’m sure he’ll get home on time.’

  ‘He’s not at work. I stopped into the Water Bowl after my date was over. Lady said that Max asked for tonight off.’ I stood up and moved to the fridge. ‘Never mind. How about we have a snack? What would you fancy? Mince pies? Sherry trifle?’

  ‘Ha ha! You know exactly what I want.’

  I smiled at him, pulling out some mango and slicing it. I didn’t actually want anything to eat myself. I just needed a distraction from staring at the clock.

  Ever since Winter Solstice, Max had been so busy I’d barely seen him. And when I did manage to get a moment with him, he seemed like he couldn’t wait to get away. Whilst I could think of quite a lot of annoying habits of mine, none of them were new. If Max was annoyed with me, then the reason had to be serious.

  As I slid the plate of fruit across to Dizzy, Wolfie came bounding down the stairs. ‘Oh,’ he said, looking disappointed. ‘I thought you might be Max. He promised he’d be back by midnight.’ The dog’s eyes strayed to the clock. ‘What time does that say, Wanda?’

  I sighed. ‘It says midnight is twenty minutes away, Wolfie. I’m sure he’ll be back on time. Hey, did he tell you where he was going?’

  ‘No.’ The wolfhound shook his head. ‘He’s been sneaking off a lot lately. And he’s being funny with me all the time. Not funny ha ha, either.’

  ‘You too?’ I bent down and cuddled him. ‘Oh, Wolfie, that’s just not like Max, is it? I hope there’s nothing wrong with him.’

  Just when I thought I couldn’t feel more miserable, I heard Max’s key in the door. Wolfie, Dizzy and I rushed to meet him. As he entered the hall, he did a double take. ‘Em, hi everybody.’

  ’Max!’ Wolfie jumped up on him, licking his face. ‘Where were you, Max? Are you okay, Max? I missed you, Max!’

  He snuggled into the dog’s neck. ‘Missed you too. Sorry I’m so late.’ He looked me up and down. ‘You look nice. New dress?’

  I bit my lip, looking down at my dress. It was black, sparkly and slinky, and yeah, it was new.

  ‘It must have been for your latest date with Gabriel, then, was it?’ Max went on.

  Good Gretel, I was going to chew all the skin off my lip. I walked into the living room and sat on the couch. ‘I went to dinner with him and his dad.’

  Max’s eyes turned round as he followed me in. ‘At that creepy mansion? But you said you hated that place.’

  ‘Yeah.’ My hand went to my necklace, and I rolled the sun around in my fingers. ‘At that creepy mansion. And I do hate that place. His dad made pasta for me tonight – with what tasted like a tin of tomatoes poured over the top. And he gave me some plain white bread to go with it. Oh, and a glass of water, because he said he wasn’t sure if his alcohol was vegan or not. It was ... yeah. It was painful. And that’s kind of what I’ve been wanting to talk to you about for the last couple of days. Max–’

  He put a hand to my arm. ‘Wait. I want to say something to you, first. I know I’m being rude, interrupting you and everything. But if I don’t say it now, I never will.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Wanda, it’s about Winter Solstice. Well, about the Masked Ball, anyway. It’s ... it’s about something that happened under the mistletoe.’

  I sat back, gulping and looking away from him. This was it – the reason why he was being so strange. He’d seen me with Will Berry, and now he thought I was a two-timing witch and he hated my guts. I mean, I suppose I couldn’t blame him. I kind of hated my own guts too, at the moment – and for far too many reasons to count.

  ‘Max, I can explain. It was just ... it was ...’

  ‘What?’ His nose wrinkled up. ‘Why would you have to explain anything? Did you see us?’

  ‘See ... us?’

  ‘Yeah,’ he said with a groan. ‘Us. Me and Emily Caulfield. Oh, God.’ He hung his head. ‘It was so awkward, Wanda. She was dancing with me, and then all of a sudden I noticed we were under the mistletoe. I tried to get out of there, but she spotted it, and she swooped in, all lips and tongue and ...’ He shuddered. ‘I mean, I had to kiss her back, didn’t I? It was mistletoe. And there were lots of people around us, too. I couldn’t embarrass the poor girl by pushing her off me. And afterwards she seemed to think we were some sort of couple or something. I’ve met up with her twice since then, and every time I go to see her I mean to tell her I’m not interested. But she’s so sweet. And so nice. And so lovely. And ... and I don’t want to hurt her. What am I going to do, Wanda? I’ve been afraid to tell you because I know you’ll think I’m a giant twat for leading her on. But I didn’t mean to. I don’t know what to do.’

  He sat back, shaking his head and sighing. ‘So that’s it,’ he said. ‘I’m somehow going out with a girl I don’t even fancy because I’m too much of a coward to give her the push. Do you hate me now?’

  For a moment I didn’t know quite what to say. I mean, I felt relieved, I guess. The thought of Max hating me had been eating away at me ever since the Masked Ball. But I also felt confused.

  ‘I could never hate you, you big galumph.’ I kissed his cheek. ‘But I don’t really understand. What’s so wrong with Emily, anyway? She’s pretty. Really pretty. Are you sure you don’t like her back and you’re just too stubborn to see it?’ I grabbed his arm and threw it over my shoulder, snuggling into him. ‘And, y’know, there are other things to consider. Like the apple tart, Max. Won’t you please think of the apple tart?’

  He wiggled away from me. ‘Get off me, you ravenous monster! The apple tart is good. The ice cream is amazing. The chocolate …’ A spot of drool seemed about to escape from his mouth. ‘The chocolate is out of this world. But I’ve kissed her, Wanda. I even kissed her again, after that first time, just to be sure. And now I am sure. Yeah, she’s pretty. Yeah, I like her. And yeah, she’s been giving me all the food I can eat over the last couple of days. But when she kisses me, there’s nothing there. She’s not the one, Wanda. She’s just not.’

  ‘Oh.’ Dizzy and Wolfie had arrived on the couch by then, so I trailed my fingers through the dog’s fur while the bat curled up on my lap. ‘Well ... we’re young, aren’t we? I’m twenty-one, you’re twenty-two. We don’t need to worry about finding the one just yet. Do we?’

  He moved closer to me again. ‘Suppose not,’ he said, throwing his arm back over my shoulder. ‘So does that mean Gabriel’s not the one?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ I said sadly. ‘That’s just one of a million things I’m trying to figure out right now. Max ... I want to tell you some things. I want you to understand why ...’

  I never did get to finish what I was trying to say, because Max, Dizzy and Wolfie all jumped up and went to the window.

  ‘Did you see that?’ Max’s eyes were wide with wonder.

  ‘I saw it,’ Dizzy said.

  ‘Me too,’ Wolfie confirmed. ‘Who was that man? Why did he have all those reindeer? I want to chase those reindeer.’

  I ran to the window, staring out. A large sleigh was streaking away from the house, trails of glitter in its wake as it flew up in to the sky. A man in a red suit sat at the reins, shouting, ‘On, Comet. On, Cupid!’

  I blinked. ‘That wasn’t ... that couldn’t have been ... could it?’

  Max looked at me, his dark brown eyes shining with excitement. ‘Unless we’re having some sort of mass hallucination, I think it was.’ He glanced at the Christmas tree. ‘And there’s an extra present under there. That small gold box with the green ribbon. That was not there before.’ He picked it up. ‘Do you want to open it, or shall I?’

  I stared at the box. I was just about to tell Max that he should be the one to open it, when my phone began to ring. Lassie’s number was flashing on my screen. ‘Hang on a minute,’ I said. ‘I’d better answer this first.’

  24. Seeing is Believing

  ‘I don’t know what we’re going to do!’ Lassie cried when I answered the phone. ‘They’ve all gone, Wanda.’

&
nbsp; ‘What are you talking about? What’s all gone?’

  I heard some muffled words, and then Agatha came on the phone. ‘I’m sorry, Wanda. I know you were planning to celebrate Christmas with Max, but I think there might be another mystery for you to solve. Lassie and I ... we had a little surprise lined up. A lot of special presents that were set to go out tonight. Can you come over to my house? Max can come too, of course. He already knows what we’re doing here.’

  ‘I’ll be there in a minute,’ I said, hanging up the phone. ‘Max ... I’ve got to go to Agatha’s. Fancy coming along?’

  He looked longingly at the box in his hand.

  ‘You can take your new toy with you,’ I told him.

  He grinned like a child, slipped his free hand into mine, and I clicked my fingers and took us on our way.

  ≈

  Agatha lived in a town house on Warren Lane. It was small but pretty, with a living room full of books and shelves lined with archaeological artefacts. Or at least, that’s how it used to be. When Max and I arrived, the living room was ten times its normal size.

  ‘I ...um ... I had a lot of extra things to fit in, just lately, so I did a bigger on the inside spell,’ Agatha said. ‘But now it seems they’ve all been stolen.’

  ‘They?’ I asked.

  Agatha and Lassie shared a guilty look.

  ‘Oh, just tell her,’ said Max. ‘You want her to help you, don’t you?’

  Agatha took a seat in an enormous armchair, and held her hands on her lap. ‘I commissioned Lassie to design and manufacture some new Pendants of Privilege,’ she explained. ‘Except they weren’t the big, ugly things of old. They were beautiful rings, brooches, and some smaller pendants for those who might want them. They were going to be permanent issues to every supernatural in Ireland. I wanted to make sure that I did at least one good thing before the election is called. But when we came here tonight to do the spell to send them to everyone’s house, they were already gone.’

  Lassie grunted. It seemed she had grown too angry for words.

  ‘I tried to keep it below the radar,’ Agatha went on. ‘I didn’t even buy any new Admitaz – the green stone that gives the pendants their magic. We had hundreds of pendants in the Wyrd Court, so I gave them to Lassie and she removed the stones, broke them up, melted down the metal ... she did an amazing job on a shoestring budget, and somehow managed to make the jewellery look better than I could have thought possible. I’d come up with a spell that would send it to every house at the same time. I mean, it hadn’t worked so far, but I was sure I’d get it to work tonight. Or I would have if some ne’er-do-well hadn’t ruined it all. I can give you a list of people who might have been slimy enough to steal them. Needless to say, I have quite a few enemies in the Wyrd Court. I can’t think of how any of them might have found out, but clearly someone did.’

  ‘Okay.’ I nodded. ‘Make a list and I’ll go chat with them. Hey, was this new jewellery wrapped, by any chance?’

  ‘Yes,’ Agatha said. ‘In gold paper, with green ribbon. A nod to the old Pendant of Privilege. Why?’

  Max’s eyes lit up. ‘Because we just saw frickin’ Santa! That’s why!’ He held out his hand. ‘Recognise this?’

  Lassie and Agatha looked at the present, then looked at each other, then finally looked at Max.

  ‘That’s definitely one of ours,’ said Agatha. ‘But I don’t understand how you have it.’

  ‘Because it’s the most wonderful time of the year,’ I replied. ‘It’s like Max just said – we saw frickin’ Santa. And let me tell you, Agatha – seeing is believing. Go on, Maxie – open it up.’

  He didn’t need to be told twice.

  When Max opened the little gold box, my heart swelled. There it was, finally. A small, elegant ring, one that would be his for all time. He could come and go as he wished. Everyone could.

  ‘Santa delivered that?’ Lassie looked just as excited as her cousin. ‘Santa? I knew he was real.’ She smiled at Agatha. ‘Come on – we need to go and see if the rest of them got delivered by the man in red. And I think we should check under my tree first.’

  ≈

  A short while later, Max and I were back at home, sitting by our tree. Lassie had already phoned to say that she found her own present waiting at her flat, and since then our phones had been lighting up with messages from friends all over Ireland.

  ‘I can’t believe Agatha got Lassie to do this,’ I said as Max slipped the ring on his finger. ‘It’s the most amazing Christmas present in the world.’

  Max’s smile was still wide and happy, but it was becoming a little less beaming than mine. ‘Yeah. As long as it lasts, it is. Hey ... why do you think Santa delivered these?’

  I’d been thinking about that, and I’d come to a conclusion – a conclusion that I was incredibly reluctant to say aloud. ‘I ... em ... well … Agatha is amazing at a lot of things. But her magic isn’t the strongest I’ve ever seen. A spell of that magnitude – sending all those presents out at the same time, all over the country – that would take an enormous amount of power. I think maybe her spell wasn’t going to work, and Santa decided to step in. But don’t tell her I said that! If she ever asks why you think the big man did it, say ... say that you have no idea why. I mean, it’s only a guess, after all.’

  We admired the ring for a while longer, before beginning our unwrapping. And there was a lot to unwrap. If I thought I’d gone overboard with presents for Max, I needn’t have worried. By the end of it all, I had so many new sweaters, pyjamas, slippers, perfumes, chocolates ... but better than all of that, he’d bought me a broom polishing kit. Hmm. It almost seemed as if he knew my dad was making me a new broom for Winter Solstice.

  Dizzy got an enormous crate of mango, while Wolfie got treats, balls, and a nice checked winter coat. When Max came to the last present in his pile, he smiled at me. ‘Yet another from you. Okay, so the box is kind of small. And it feels wooden ...’ He opened it, and his smile stretched wider.

  It was a wooden stationery box, about the size of a cigar case. Inside, there was a line of silver pens. ‘Thanks, Wanda. This is brill. No one ever gets me pens. They think I already have enough. But you can never have enough, can you?’

  I pointed to the first pen in the row. ‘Pull it out,’ I said.

  With a bemused expression on his face, he grabbed the pen and pulled. As he did, the box doubled, then tripled, then quadrupled in size. More and more compartments opened out, and thumbtacks and paperclips glistened, while blank sheets of paper and envelopes sat waiting patiently for their words.

  Max blinked. ‘It ... but ... how is it magic? I’m not magic.’

  ‘It’s wizard tech,’ I said. ‘You don’t have to be magic. Pull out the first item on the far right of each compartment, and another compartment opens. Each one bigger than the last. And when you close it all, it goes back to being a light, handy stationery box all over again.’

  He stared down at the paperclips. ‘There are at least a hundred different sizes here,’ he gasped before pulling me close. ‘Wanda, this is the best present I ever got.’

  25. A Weredog Christmas Carol

  As Max and I strolled arm-in-arm along Eile Street, I felt like I was living inside a snow globe. The white, fluffy flakes had settled on the ground, and they were still falling as we walked. Lights were strung up everywhere, shining brightly, making the snowy street sparkle. Through many of the windows, I could see the perfect picture of Christmas within – families serving up lunch or pulling crackers, while children played with their toys.

  ‘I can’t believe it’s snowing,’ said Max, his breath sending a plume of vapour into the air. He hadn’t worn a scarf since Solstice, and whilst I couldn’t say I blamed him, I was worried that he might be cold. ‘It never snows at Christmas.’

  I pulled him closer, hoping my warmth spell would rub off on him. ‘Not usually. But this has been a pretty special year. And I have the feeling that things are only going to get better.’

 
He looked down at me, smiling. ‘Y’know, I’m kind of starting to believe that they might. Hey, can you smell that?’

  I took a sniff. We had just turned onto Madra Lane, and the Water Bowl was beckoning us, sending the smells of delicious food wafting our way.

  ‘I am so looking forward to tasting a weredog Christmas lunch,’ I said as we rushed inside. ‘Wow.’ I paused as I shrugged off my coat. ‘There are a lot of people here.’

  The bar was closed to customers for the day, and a long table had been laid out for family and friends. People milled around, eating canapés and guzzling champagne. Brand new rings, bracelets, and necklaces twinkled, reflecting the many coloured lights that decorated the room.

  There was a nativity scene, a Christmas tree, a family of plastic snow men, snow women and snow children, a giant inflatable Santa swaying in the air ... There was an entire table dedicated to snow globes, a train set whizzing around what looked like Santa’s workshop, and ... well, let’s just say there were even more decorations than at mine and Max’s and leave it at that.

  Just as I was preparing to gush about how wonderful it all was, loud singing hit my ears. A woman was walking towards us, singing a carol at the top of her lungs. Well, actually, singing a lot of carols, with all of the words jumbled up. She wore a necklace made of tinsel, and had a sprig of mistletoe attached to a tiara atop her head. Before she could sing right in our faces, Lady stood in the way. Her light-red hair was dusted with glitter, and she wore a sparkling red dress and heels.

  ‘This is my mother, Carol,’ said Lady. ‘She likes to sing Christmas songs, but you’ve probably already figured that much out. Also, she’s had six glasses of buck’s fizz.’ She gave Max a tense smile. ‘So. Max. Welcome.’ She turned to her mother. ‘Mam, this is Max and Wanda. Rover and I told you about them, remember?’

  Carol stopped singing, but I suspected the intermission would be brief. ‘Oh. You’re Max. Max who has the new girlfriend. And what’s wrong with my Lady, might I ask you? Look at her. She’s beautiful.’