by Kali Harper
“Funny how that works. If we go through the door, where does it go?”
“To Fairmount Square.”
“Where?”
“It doesn’t exist in your world,” then, reading my thoughts, he added, “For the last time, we aren’t in another dimension. This world is parallel to our own.”
“Dimension.”
“Only if you can’t understand it. Everything in Fairmount holds the same qualities as any other location in Emberdale. Same thing goes for towns all across the country.”
“Sounds boring.” Every town having the same layout? It sounded almost as bad as living in a development where all the townhomes were exactly the same.
“And convenient. It allows you to find what you’re looking for quickly, from food and cafes to whatever else you might need.”
“Except for here.”
“Fairmount is linked to every town, but it’s a one-way street. You can come to Fairmount and leave the same way you arrived, but you can’t go from Fairmont to another city.”
“Hence the broomsticks.”
“Yes.”
“So if we go into the square, what are the chances of finding someone to report Morpheus’ disappearance to?”
“Banishment,” Sammy corrected me, “and there’s only one way to find out.”
With Sammy at my side and Lucy rambling to herself in the back room, I pushed through the door of the shop and hoped wherever I ended up didn’t include a patrol car or an empty cell.
Walking out of The Magician’s Closet was almost like walking into a strange fantasy world. Cobblestone streets spanned as far as I could see, each one dotted with shops of every size, shape, and color. Even the sky looked different with its tranquil blues and way-too-white clouds.
“What is this place?”
“Fairmount Square,” Sammy said, having been here before and not at all surprised with our surroundings. “This is what a world outside of humans looks like.”
“Meaning magic.”
“So they filter the air and place a calming lens over their establishment. There are worse things they could do with such magic.”
After seeing what had happened to Morpheus, I couldn’t imagine what Sammy considered worse. Glancing up and down the old walkways, Fairmount certainly looked like a place I could live, even with its fake sky and static-smelling air.
Nestled on the middle of a hill, The Magician’s Closet sat directly next to what I could only assume was their library and the same place the books hovering in Morpheus’ place had come from. Beyond that, there was a lovely flower shop with a large glass window on the front and an older woman handing out flowers to anyone who walked by. Her smile reminded me of Maggie’s whenever she passed out free samples at one of our festivals.
“Is that a waterfall?” I couldn’t see it, but the sound of rushing water drew my attention away from a man in a trench coat who happened to be hobbling down the street. Strange. Then again, after living in Emberdale for so long, it wasn’t the worst thing I’d seen.
“A fountain,” Sammy explained, delving into my mind before continuing. “Stop putting everyone under a microscope. It isn’t your job.”
“No, our job’s to find help,” I told him.
Yet, here we sat, ogling at whoever walked by. Aside from the other woman and the man with a limp, the streets were bare. Even the shop windows on the other side of the street were too tinted for me to see through let alone read the signs above them to know what they were.
“Astrid?” Of all the voices in this town I could’ve heard, Lance was the last I expected. “What’re you doing here?” he asked, stepping in front of me with a warm smile on his face. “I thought I heard rumblings in town about you going through a portal, but Morpheus’ place? So, how’d you do?”
Looking to Sammy, I asked, “What am I supposed to do now?”
“Tell him the truth.” Sammy excused himself, walking to the section of sidewalk next door before sprawling out in the sun.
“I… I haven’t started yet,” I admitted, forcing myself to meet his gaze.
He wore the same kind expression as before, the calm breeze tussling his brown curls enough for him to comb a hand through them. A pair of thin-rimmed glasses fit his face perfectly, dimples included.
It was strange seeing him outside his office or Every Last Crumb where he’d gone to check on me once I let the entire town know I was working on Maggie’s recipes. He never volunteered to try anything I made, though, and for good reason. That would have to change once I got all the kinks worked out. Still, I’d only seen him without his blazer a handful of times, and seeing him in casual attire? This was a first! In fact, he looked almost normal, though I was pretty sure he was wearing a crisp shirt under the navy blue jacket of his.
“Nervous?” he asked, drawing me from my thoughts. “You’ll do great. You’re already doing better than I’d done when I first came to get my broom.”
“You have a broom?” I’d never seen him use it. Then again, I’d never seen Maggie with one, either.
He shrugged. “Heights.” He shivered, and I could’ve sworn his face paled. “I trust my feet to get me where I need to go.”
“What about your wand and hat?”
“Witch stuff,” he told me, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, “but that isn’t why I’m here.”
I swallowed hard. “Why are you here?”
“Moral support, of course! It’s not every day our latest and greatest faces her first trial.”
Okay, now I knew he was being nice. The greatest? All I’d done was keep him from crashing through a shop window. “I… I don’t think I’ll be facing the trial today.”
“It’s okay to be afraid. I shook the entire time I went through mine.”
“No, I mean… there’s a problem. With Morpheus.”
“Astrid…”
“I didn’t do anything, I swear. It’s… I…”
“Where is he?” He didn’t have to ask, but the way he looked at me then with his narrowed gaze and stiff posture, I knew he was asking where the body was and not so much the man we’d come to see.
“Nowhere. Poof. Gone,” I told him, running my hands through my hair. “You… you should probably get in there before Lucy has a heart attack.”
“There’s someone in there?” he growled, opening the door to The Magician’s Closet with so much force, I was amazed when it didn’t fall off its hinges.
“I told her we should leave and report it, but she… I don’t know.” I was about to tell him it wasn’t like Lucy to lie, but then she had hidden the truth about my magic from me, so what did I know?
Lance ignored my last comment and strode into the back room, his hands fisted at his sides. I almost felt bad for him. The first time I’d gotten stuck in an investigation, I’d accidentally cleaned up the evidence. Now, he had a hysteric woman hovering over a burn in the floor and nothing else to go by.
As soon as Lance entered the room, Lucy scrambled away from where Morpheus must’ve been when he was banished. Her face was as pale as before, her eyes wide with worry as she met Lance’s narrowed gaze.
“Would either of you care to tell me why this hasn’t been reported yet?” Lance asked, crouching in front of the mark before digging in his back pocket for a pair of gloves.
“Do you always have those with you?” I asked.
“I need to, obviously. Now, why didn’t you report this?” He was looking right at me, the kindness I’d seen on him earlier completely gone.
“I was going to,” I blurted out before Lucy could say anything. “It’s where I was going when you stopped me on the sidewalk.”
“And you didn’t think to mention it right away?” He turned his gaze to the mark on the floor, tracing it with his fingers which were covered in a slight residue once he pulled them away.
“I was in shock, what did you want me to do?”
Lance removed his gloves and placed them in a small bag he took out of his jacket poc
ket. “Anything you’d like to tell me?”
“You mean how I keep stumbling on these things?” He didn’t have to say it, but I knew what he was implying. “I didn’t even want to come here, but I did because if I can unlock my full potential, then maybe I can conjure something for Maggie to possess besides Ginger.”
He didn’t believe me. “No one comes to their trial unless it’s to better themselves.”
“It would have,” I told him.
“But for yourself. You can’t want it for another person, otherwise you’ll fail.” He bowed his head, then shook himself out of whatever trance he’d fallen into. Once he got to his feet, he peered at a tiny clock Morpheus had on his desk. “Has it been like this long?”
“The time?” I wasn’t in the habit of carrying a pocket watch with me or my phone, so I hadn’t noticed.
“It’s off.” Lance checked the time on his cell, frowning when he did. “That’s even more worrisome.”
“What?”
“What is?” Lucy echoed, taking her place beside me before holding my hand. Her hand was hot and clammy, but then I couldn’t expect much else because mine was the same.
“How long have you been in here?” Lance asked, ignoring our previous question.
“Twenty minutes?” I honestly wasn’t sure. “I thought you said you heard about us opening a portal.”
“I did, but that was over three hours ago.”
“Three hours?” Lucy and I said in unison.
“We just got here,” I explained. “No more than twenty minutes ago.”
Lance rubbed the back of his neck. “Which means the time on this clock wouldn’t have mattered. You can go now.”
“Clocks stop all the time,” I told him.
“It hasn’t stopped, Astrid,” Lance said with a sigh. “Look.” When he held it up for me to see, the hands moved slowly. It took a while for me to notice, but once I did, Lance said, “This is why you’ve been here longer than you think. You’re free to go, but stay in Emberdale for the time being.”
“Wait, that’s it?”
“Need I remind you you aren’t a detective?” He went back to the mark on the floor, sighing when it didn’t offer more than whatever conclusion he’d already come to on his own.
“The books are stuck,” I told him, turning on my heels to leave. “You know, if it matters.”
Without saying another word, I placed a hand on Lucy’s back and guided her to the front of the store with both Maggie and Sammy following close behind us. Once we were out of earshot, I looked at her and said, “If the clock didn’t die, then why make such a big deal out of it?” You’d think it was the most important thing in the world the way Lance had gone on about it.
“Because we’re dealing with someone who can warp time,” Maggie answered for her. “Can’t say I know anyone with that skill.”
Lucy collapsed in a chair before placing her head in her hands. “We never should’ve come here. Now you’ll never finish your trials.”
“It’s fine, Lucy. Really,” I said, rubbing her back as I wasn’t sure there was anything else I could do. Even as she spoke, I could tell she was worlds away. “Lance will figure it out.”
“The same way he found out what happened to Maggie?”
“So he needs help, but who doesn’t? He has an entire team dedicated to this sort of thing.”
“If you say so.” She didn’t sound convinced, and as she removed the chalk from her purse, I had to admit I wasn’t as confident in Lance’s efforts as I let on. He did his best, but what was he going to do if he didn’t even know the time Morpheus was banished?
“Maggie,” I said, looking to her spectral form which had taken on a lighter appearance than usual, “is there any way you can contact Morpheus?”
“He’s not in Limbo, dear,” she reminded me.
“But it’s close, isn’t it?”
She considered my question a moment, then was gone. When I met Sammy’s eyes, he was filled with a sense of calm. I say that because I felt it emanating from him, though I couldn’t say if he did it for my benefit or if I was picking up on not only his thoughts—whenever he let them through our wards—but his emotions as well. If he read my thoughts then, he didn’t say anything, keeping to the same serenity as before.
“What did she say?” Lucy asked, not realizing Maggie had already left the room.
“Nothing, she just vanished.”
“I thought you three were leaving,” Lance said as he walked up the hallway.
I spun on my heels and put a hand to my chest as my heart skipped a beat. “You need to stop sneaking up on me like that.”
“I wouldn’t have to if you’d already left. Answer the question.”
“Maggie came with us.”
“Of course she did,” he said with a sigh. “Let me guess, she isn’t speaking to you right now.”
“Not exactly. I asked if she might be able to talk to Morpheus, then she vanished.”
“Ghosts can’t cross over to the banished realm,” Lance told me.
“How many ghosts have you known?”
He opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it.
“I know it’s a long-shot, but if Maggie can reach him, isn’t it worth a try? Unless you know of another ghost who might be able to help.”
“Fine, but none of this back and forth. If Maggie finds anything, she’s to report back to me. Understand?”
Maggie returned a moment later, doubled over and out of breath, which is odd considering she’s a ghost. “Take the books,” she told me, pointing at the stack I’d removed from the chair when we’d first walked in.
“And why am I doing this?” I asked, taking the stack of books in my arms while meeting Lance’s gaze. “It’s Maggie.”
He nodded. “What’s the word? Has she spoken to Morpheus?”
“Not exactly, no,” Maggie said, “but those books feel like him.”
“The books? Seriously? If he was banished, shouldn’t he be gone?” I asked her.
“Back and forth, Astrid,” Lance said, his tone harsh.
“Sorry. We didn’t bring Ginger with us—”
“But Sammy’s standing right over there.”
If he expected Maggie to possess Sammy, he had another thing coming. “And what am I supposed to do without my familiar?”
“Fine, you need the books. Now what?”
“Maggie?”
“Get us home,” she replied, her form still as pale as before. “And never let go of those books.”
Chapter Four
Having a personal escort from Harris’ bakery all the way back to Maggie’s old place was sure to turn a few heads, and even as our small group walked along the sidewalk, I couldn’t help the feeling we were being watched. Not by the folks in town, either. Every now and then, the stack of books in my arms glowed a bright blue, but whatever they had to say, it either wasn’t meant for my ears or Sammy wasn’t willing to repeat it.
“Let me call a patrol car,” Lance said, clearly not happy with our current situation as he took out his cell.
“And worry even more people about this? You know how the town got after Maggie died. There was practically a witch hunt.” When Lucy glared at me, I corrected myself. “Bad choice of words, I swear.”
“This is ridiculous. We should be heading to the station,” Lance said, already turning for the far side of town.
“Are you willing to let Maggie possess someone else?” When he didn’t reply, I continued. “I thought so. Once we get to the house, Maggie can possess Ginger, then we can find out what’s up with these books. Hey, don’t you need to drop your baggie off at the station?”
“And let you out of my sight?”
“I promise not to do anything until you arrive.” It wasn’t like I was looking forward to tonight, anyway.
“You won’t start without me,” he said, pointing a finger in my direction. “I mean it.”
“Trust me, if I could hand these over to you, I wo
uld.” As it was, whenever I tried to pass the books over to anyone else, they ended up weighing over a thousand pounds. For them, anyway. Whatever these books wanted to tell us, they wanted me to hear it.
“What if you leave them on my desk at the station?” He sounded hopeful.
Offering him a partial shrug, I let the books go, but even as they hit the sidewalk, they left a tiny crater. “Not sure you want to do that unless you’re okay with getting a new desk and replacing the floorboards.”
“Cursed books,” he said, glaring at them.
I hugged them to my chest. “Aww, you hurt their feelings.”
“Twenty minutes, Astrid. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
Once he was gone, Lucy and I picked up the pace. Even though I might not have had a link with her mind, I could already hear what she was going to ask.
“Let’s get home first,” I told her, turning down a side street to avoid wandering eyes. “The less people hear about this, the better.”
If I thought the town reacting to Maggie’s murder was bad, hearing about a troll and banishment was probably ten times worse. So, once we were out of sight and cramped in a back alley, I slowed down enough for Lucy to walk in front of me. She glanced over her shoulder, but didn’t have to ask why I hung back as I was talking to Sammy.
“Do things still smell off?” I asked him.
“Yes,” he growled, “and those books aren’t helping. They shouldn’t be here, and they shouldn’t go inside our home. Leave them outside.”
Looking skyward at the darkening clouds, I wasn’t sure we had any other choice. “We’ll use my house.” I hadn’t put it up for sale yet, and using it would leave Maggie’s house unscathed. Whatever had made its way under Sammy’s skin, it was still there once we turned into our tiny cul-de-sac. I never understood why the town only built two houses back here, but having so much room to ourselves was nice. The front porch needed work and the one banister replaced, but the house was a historic monument and had stood as the town’s inn long before I arrived.
Once we were in the foyer, I held the books up to my lips and said, “If I put you on my coffee table, do you promise not to break it?”