This Side of Magic

by Debbie Dadey

  “Safe from what?” Luke asked, finally getting up enough nerve to push Mo off his stomach.

  Mo pounced across the room and landed on top of Luke’s desk. “Leery knows. Leery will tell you.”

  “But Mr. Leery isn’t here!” Penny screamed at the cat.

  “He will be. Soon,” Mo said. “Very soon.”

  “How do you know that?” Luke asked. “Mr. Leery said he wouldn’t be home until tomorrow.”

  Mo looked at Luke. The cat’s amber eyes were wide and unblinking.

  “I know. That’s all,” Mo finally said. Then he went back to looking out the window, his tail lashing from side to side, swiping homework papers to the floor.

  The door flew open and Kendall, Luke’s older sister, barged into the room.

  “Haven’t you ever heard of knocking?” Luke asked.

  Kendall’s eyes grew wide. “I’m going to tell Mom and Dad you have a cat in here.”

  “This is not just any cat. It’s Mo,” Penny told her. “We’re taking care of him while Mr. Leery is gone.”

  “Why didn’t Mr. Leery ask me?” Kendall said, clearly hurt. “He likes me better than you.”

  Luke was glad to have the chance to tease his sister. “I guess not.”

  “That’s what you think.” Kendall slammed the door on her way out of Luke’s room.

  Mo sprang off the desk and landed right in front of the bedroom door. “Got to go. Now. I hate doorknobs.”

  Penny stood in front of the door, her hands on her hips, and met Mo’s eyes with a glare of her own. “I’m not opening this door until you spill the beans.”

  “Do you really think that’s a good idea?” Luke said. “I mean, Mo has claws and he’s not afraid to use them.”

  “He wouldn’t dare,” Penny said. She looked at Mo. “Would you?”

  Mo’s claws pricked at the carpet and he growled deep in his chest, but Penny didn’t back down.

  “Okay.” Mo sighed. “You win. No. I would not use your leg as a scratching post. But I do need you to move out of the way. Leery’s back. He must see you. NOW!”

  “How do you know stuff like that?” Luke asked as he grabbed a sweatshirt off the floor and pulled it on.

  “You’ll find out,” Mo said. He swished out the door Penny had just opened.

  The two tiny windows next to Mr. Leery’s front door glowed with light when Penny and Luke banged on the door.

  “We know your cat can talk,” Luke blurted as soon as Mr. Leery opened the door. “Are you some kind of magician?”

  Penny and Luke stepped inside the warmth of the cottage. Mo ran between their legs and jumped up into Mr. Leery’s arms. Penny and Luke didn’t realize a cat could purr as loudly as Mo did when he saw Mr. Leery.

  Mr. Leery’s face was lined with wrinkles deeper than usual. Dark circles underlined his eyes. He held Mo in the crook of his arm and raised his eyebrows at the cat.

  “You agreed to keep your mouth shut until I returned,” Mr. Leery said.

  “I guess I let the cat out of the bag,” Mo admitted.

  For a moment, the cat’s face seemed to dissolve into a look of shame, but then Mo’s whiskers twitched and his tail swished back and forth in an angry frenzy. He leaped out of Mr. Leery’s arms and rushed to the door, peering between Luke’s knees out into the shadows of the yard.

  “Quick. Close the door. NOW!” Mo yowled.

  Mr. Leery pushed Luke aside and slammed the door shut, locking it with a silver bolt. He nudged Penny out of the way and dropped the shades on the windows. Then he turned, his robe billowing out like wings, and rushed to the kitchen. Penny and Luke hurried after him. Mr. Leery peered out the back window into his yard. The shadows from the thick bushes bordering their town seemed thicker, blacker. A gray fog swirled on the ground, searching for something to hide.

  The fur on Mo’s back stood up and his back arched in warning. His tail had puffed up three times its normal size.

  Mr. Leery pressed his nose to the glass, trying to make sense out of the shadows in his backyard, but the ground was shrouded in fog. “Is there a leak? Are we in danger?”

  “Leak? What kind of leak?” Penny asked.

  Luke chimed in. “Danger from what?”

  At the sound of their voices, Mr. Leery jumped straight up and banged his head on the window.

  “Tell us,” Penny told him.

  Mr. Leery rubbed his head and glanced out the window, then looked at Mo. “Do we have time?” he asked the cat.

  Mo paced back and forth across the kitchen table. “At this point, sooner is definitely better than later,” the cat said.

  Mr. Leery snapped the kitchen window shade shut and slumped into a chair. “Sit,” he said. “This is going to take a while.”

  And then he began to tell Luke and Penny a very strange story.

  8

  “This is not a story to be taken lightly,” Mr. Leery said as they sat around the table. “Let me start by telling you about the bushes that border this town.”

  Luke shook his head as if he were shaking spiderwebs from his hair. “Why are you talking about gardening? Who cares about some idiot’s idea of landscaping?”

  Mr. Leery’s face drained of all color. “Those bushes are not there for decoration,” he said.

  “Of course not. Nobody in their right mind would think a web of thorns is pretty,” Penny said. “In fact, they’re an eyesore. Someone should chop them all down.”

  “Are you insane?” the cat shrieked.

  “Hush, Mo,” Mr. Leery said. “They don’t know what they’re saying.”

  Luke jumped up so fast the chair tipped over and crashed to the floor. “You keep talking in riddles,” he shouted. “Either tell us or I’m going home.”

  Mr. Leery righted the chair and gently pulled on Luke’s arm. As soon as Luke sat, Mo jumped in Luke’s lap to keep the boy still.

  “You’re right,” Mr. Leery said. “The truth is that those are no ordinary bushes and they were not planted by any ordinary person. They are a magical weaving placed by the original Keyholders.”

  “The original what?” Penny asked.

  “Key-hold-ers,” Mo repeated for her.

  Mr. Leery placed both of his wrinkled hands on the table and leaned forward, looking first at Penny and then at Luke. “That’s right. Keyholders. Three humans whose duty it is to maintain the border between your world and the world of magic.”

  “Um, could you repeat that?” Luke interrupted. “Only slower? In plain English? So it makes sense?”

  “He’s talking about the three who keep the world of magic from leaking into your backyard,” Mo said.

  “Did you say magic?” Penny asked.

  “They need to clean out their ears,” Mo said to Mr. Leery, taking a swipe at his own with a licked paw.

  Luke ignored the cat. “Are you trying to tell us that there’s another entire world right on the other side of those bushes?” he asked.

  Mr. Leery nodded. “That is why no one ever dares to cross the border. It is forbidden. But there are beings on the other side that desire to break through the border. Keyholders guard the entry-ways between the magic world and the world you’ve always known, keeping all safe from an invasion by forces that would destroy us.”

  “Wait, wait, wait,” Penny said. She held up her hands as if warding off a swarm of bees. “Don’t say another word. There is no such thing as magic except in the fairy tales that parents read to little kids.”

  “Where do you think fairy tales came from?” Mr. Leery asked. “Those same stories are based on tales passed down from generation to generation, told by ancestors who once lived side by side with the magical realm. But as with all things, the relationship soured. And that is never a good thing when one is more powerful than the other. If the border had not been formed, the magical realm would have overpowered this real world, and life as we know it would have ceased to exist.”

  Mr. Leery looked both of them in the eyes before continuing. “Without Keyho
lders, the magic world could invade this world. And that is why I need you. There are creatures that are tired of being banished on the far side of the border. They plan to invade this world and take it as their very own.”

  “So what?” Luke said. “Wouldn’t having flying monkeys and little fairies flitting around be sort of fun?”

  Mr. Leery gasped. “Oh, my my my, no,” he muttered. “Understand this. I speak not of the cute little beings from beddy-bye-time fairy tales. Oh yes, there are those, too. But there are also the big and the powerful and the ferocious. The beings from which monster stories come.”

  “Monsters?” Penny squeaked.

  “You know. Like ogres and trolls and ghouls,” Mo said matter-of-factly.

  Luke gulped. “Um. Maybe we better find one of those Keyholders and make sure they’re doing their job.”

  “I am doing my best,” Mr. Leery said.

  “You?” Penny and Luke gasped at the same time.

  Mr. Leery seemed to deflate like a balloon. “Yes. Me. I am the last Keyholder of three,” he said. “I just returned from the funeral of the next-to-the-last Keyholder. The first died nearly 100 years ago.”

  “What about Mo?” Penny said. “Isn’t he a Keyholder?”

  Mo made a sound as if he were hacking up a hairball the size of Tennessee. “Do I look like a humdrum?” he spat and jumped onto the table.

  “A what?” Penny asked.

  Mr. Leery answered for Mo. “Humdrum is what the magical realm calls those of us that live on this side of the border. Those who possess no extraordinary powers. Keyholders must be born of the humdrums, though they might have ancestral blood from the lands beyond the border. Obviously, Mo is not from this side. He is my link.”

  “Link?” Luke stood up from the table and shook his head, trying to make sense of it all.

  Mr. Leery wearily shook his head. “There is so much to teach. And we have such little time,” he muttered. Then he sat up a bit straighter. “Links are beings from beyond the border that form a special connection to the Keyholders. It’s a bond that lasts a lifetime. Mo is my link. We are inseparable.”

  Luke snorted. “Now I know you’re pulling our legs because you just left Mo for days!”

  “And I wasn’t very happy about it, either,” Mo said with a growl.

  “It couldn’t be helped,” Mr. Leery explained. “These are unusual times, for new Keyholders must be chosen. And that only occurs every two hundred years.”

  “But that would mean that you’re over two hundred years old,” Penny said.

  Mr. Leery nodded. “Actually, I’m two hundred and sixty years old.”

  This time Luke laughed out loud. “You don’t look a day over a hundred!”

  Penny put a hand on Luke’s arm. “He’s not joking.”

  “But we’ve known you all our lives,” Luke argued.

  Mr. Leery nodded. “And I’ve been watching you all of your lives. You are my chosen apprentices.”

  Luke and Penny stared at Mr. Leery as if he’d sprouted wings and was going to fly away.

  Penny shook her head. “That’s too bad because there’s no way I’m going to become some two-hundred-year-old Keynut.”

  “That’s Keyholder,” Luke corrected.

  “Well, you can forget the whole crazy thing. I have things to do—like study for my math test.” She stood, ready to march straight out the front door, but a noise at the window stopped her dead in her tracks.

  Mr. Leery dived across the table and grabbed Penny’s arm.

  “What are you doing?” She tried to pull away, but Mr. Leery dug his bony fingers around her wrist. “Your bracelet. Where is it?” he asked.

  “It’s right here,” Penny said, shaking her arm until the bracelet slipped loose from her shirtsleeve.

  “What about yours?” Mr. Leery asked, turning to Luke and eyeing his bare wrists. “Where is it?”

  Luke stepped back. “Don’t get your underwear tied in a knot,” he said, digging into his pocket and pulling out the silver band with the key dangling from it. “It’s right here.

  “Put it on. Quickly!” Mr. Leery cried out. Then he held out his own wrist so the two friends could see his battered band of silver. A small purple stone was set into the metal.

  “Hey,” Luke said. “That looks just like Mo’s collar.”

  “This is the band of a Keyholder,” Mr. Leery told them. “We are linked by stone and spirit.”

  Penny looked at the key dangling from her bracelet. “You mean, this is the key to a magic land?”

  “Oh, brother,” Mo huffed. “This is not going well.”

  “Hush, Mo,” Mr. Leery said before answering Penny’s question. “That, my dear, is the key to my home. You have much to learn before I can entrust you with magical keys. The band itself is what links Keyholders together. This last bracelet I will give to the last Keyholder apprentice. It is more than just a pretty bauble. The silver was forged beyond the border, cast with magic intended to aid us in our work by protecting us from those that mean us harm. And one of the most important things it does is to protect us from boggarts.”

  “Did you say boogers?” Luke asked.

  “Boggarts,” Mr. Leery repeated, and then explained about the creatures.

  “They’re creatures of magic, scared off by the sounds of bells and the glint of silver. The Queen of Boggarts has strong magic, and she has been getting restless. In fact, I’m not so sure she didn’t have something to do with the death of the second Keyholder, for if ever the Keyholders are defeated she would have free access across the border. I’m convinced she will send a spy to find out if I’ve chosen new apprentices.”

  “Spy?” Luke squeaked.

  “What, exactly, would this boggart spy look like?” Penny asked. “It wouldn’t happen to have blond pigtails, a pink notebook, and live in the biggest house in town, would it?”

  Mr. Leery blinked his eyes in confusion. “Of course not. Boggarts are truly ugly creatures with ears that stick out and knobby knees that make them very clumsy.”

  “That eliminates Natalie,” Luke told Penny. “She doesn’t have big ears. Just a big mouth.”

  “Of course it’s not Natalie,” Mr. Leery said. “But don’t go looking for a creature that sticks out like a sore thumb. Boggarts are chameleons. They change their shape, blending with their environment over time so as not to be noticed. They’re not really good spies; mostly they like to cause trouble and play tricks. Milk curdles when they’re nearby and animals detest them. Important documents just disappear.”

  “Important documents?” Penny repeated. “Like homework?”

  “I suppose so,” Mr. Leery said distractedly. “That’s why I left Mo here with you. It’s painful to be separated from a link, but Mo can detect a boggart spy.”

  “Their smell is atrocious,” Mo said with a nod.

  Penny gasped. Luke fell in a chair.

  “Uh-oh,” Luke said. “I think the boggart spy has already been here.”

  They told Mr. Leery about the kid who kept following them.

  “But Bobby really stuck out,” Luke argued. “Because he was wearing a pink tutu.”

  “Only at first,” Penny added. “The next day he wore clothes identical to what you had on.”

  “Yes, yes,” Mr. Leery said. “That had to be him. Boggarts change as necessary to blend in. He must not have known what to wear at first, but when he saw you he was fast to change.”

  The words were barely out of his mouth when Mr. Leery grabbed Mo and held him up so he could look straight into his link’s face. “Is it true?” he asked. “Has the spy arrived?”

  Mo’s tail swished violently from side to side. “I told you. I keep getting a whiff of a stinking boggart,” the cat said. “It comes and goes. The spy must have slipped through the border, but he hasn’t figured out who Penny and Luke really are. At least, not yet.”

  Mr. Leery tucked Mo under his arm and rushed to the front door. Mr. Leery slid back the silver latch and opened the d
oor just a crack so he could peer into the black night. “He could be getting close. Too close. He must be stopped.”

  Mr. Leery released Mo into the black night. “It all depends on you, Mo. Get him!”

  “No!!!!” Penny screamed. “Mo might get hurt.” She rushed toward the door, but Mr. Leery slammed it shut and flipped the silver latch closed.

  “Aren’t you worried that the boggart might think cats make tasty little snacks?” Luke asked.

  “Cat? What cat?”

  “Um…your cat,” Luke said. “The one you just sent out into the night to do battle with an evil magical creature. That one.”

  “Mo? Oh. No, no, no. I’m not concerned about Mo. If Mo finds that spy, it is the spy who will be in trouble,” Mr. Leery said, but the next words he spoke sent shivers racing up Penny’s and Luke’s spines.

  “But if Mo fails, we all must worry. Every last one of us.”

  9

  Luke jammed his hands over his ears. “What’s making that horrible noise?”

  “Don’t worry,” Mr. Leery told them. “It’s only the boggart.”

  Penny pulled open the shade on a front window. “What if that’s Mo screaming? We should help him.”

  Mr. Leery shook his head. “Mo doesn’t need our help.”

  Another screech came from the front yard. Penny couldn’t take it anymore. She had to help Mo. After all, he was just a defenseless spotted cat. She flung open the door and rushed outside.

  “Wait!” yelled Mr. Leery, but Penny was already in the yard. She rushed to protect Mo, but skidded to a stop.

  An enormous spotted panther held Bobby down on the ground with a massive black paw. Huge white fangs glistened as the panther’s mouth opened wide over Bobby’s neck. The boy squirmed and squealed, “Help me.”

  “Mr. Leery, hurry. A monster is eating Bobby,” Penny screamed.

  Mr. Leery ran out onto the porch. “That’s no monster. That’s Mo.”

  “Mo?” Luke gulped.

  Mo looked up from the boy for just a second, but it was all the time Bobby needed. He jumped up, knocked Mo to the ground, and leaped into a huge tree.