by Kali Harper
“Morpheus did it,” she explained, her voice shaking a bit.
“Lucy said your friend went missing as well. Is she still in there?” I hadn’t caught her name, so calling her out of the Canundrum wasn’t an option unless Darby was willing to do it for me.
“Oh no! Izzy!” Darby scrambled over to the Canundrum, gently touching the cover as she spoke. “Izzy, you in there?”
The Canundrum glowed, and once again, my living room filled with light as a second girl fell out of it. With both Darby and Izzy safe in my house, the Canundrum vanished, hopefully returning to wherever it had come from.
“I thought we’d never get out of there,” Izzy cried, embracing Darby as the two of them sank on the floor.
“I told you there was magic,” Darby said with a laugh that probably had a lot more to do with nerves than anything else.
“You never said you’d get us in trouble!” Izzy wiped her brown bangs from in front of her eyes and looked right at me. “Thanks for being so cool about this.”
“You have to call your parents,” I told them both, already taking out my cell phone.
“We can’t. They’d ground us for sure, and I can’t be grounded!” Darby exclaimed. “I was supposed to go to Fairmount for my next trial by the end of the month. I’ll never get to go now.”
“What were you two doing in The Magician’s Closet anyway?” For starters, Izzy clearly wasn’t a witch, so she never should’ve been invited. As for Darby, if she was this careless with her magic or talking about it, maybe she shouldn’t have gotten her broom in the first place. “You have any idea how much danger you’ve put us in by bringing her here?”
“I thought we were cool,” Darby said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“We are, but I’m not going to get arrested for kidnapping, which is what this is going to look like to Lance if I don’t say anything.”
“We’ll run away,” Izzy offered, taking Darby’s hand in hers.
“And go where? You can’t go back into the Canundrum. It isn’t even here anymore.”
Izzy’s face fell once she realized it was gone. “We are so dead.”
“Which isn’t as bad as things are going to be if you stay here. Darby, you have to call your uncle.”
Darby yanked the phone from my hands and pretended to dial, talking to herself before hanging back up again.
“Nice try, but I was a teenager once.”
“Bet you never had to hide your magic, though.”
“No, I had it hidden from me instead.” When her eyes widened I said, “I know, right? I didn’t have a clue until a little over a month ago, and I’m in my thirties!”
“Then that means there’s hope for me yet,” Izzy beamed.
“Unlikely.” Sammy padded into the room, scaring every single one of us as he’d previously stayed outside. “What are they doing here?”
“They were in the Canundrum,” I explained, taking my cell back from Darby while looking at Izzy. “Number please.” Once she’d recited the number of Darby’s uncle, I sent him a quick text to let him know the girls were fine. To cover, I told him I was a friend who asked them to join me out of town. It’d probably get me in trouble later on, but for now, it was the best I could do with Lucy and Lance still arguing next door. “I bought you some time, but I need something from you in return.”
“Thank you.” Izzy released a long breath.
“Good thing it’s the weekend, otherwise my excuse wouldn’t have worked. Darby’s uncle thinks you’re both visiting me out of town. I let him know it was terribly last minute and I’d make up for it later.”
“We’re dead.”
“What? What else should I have said?”
“He’s going to come looking for us,” Darby said before Izzy could reply.
“Maybe he should. Emberdale’s lovely this time of year.”
“I’ll tell him about it the next time he wants to go on vacation.”
“The sarcasm is strong in this one,” I told Sammy, unable to keep from laughing when she glared at me.
“She’s almost as bad as you,” he countered, dismissing himself from the room as he more than likely went outside to work on the wards again.
“Talking cat. Cool,” Izzy said with a smile.
“My familiar, actually, and it isn’t as cool as it sounds. It actually gets kind of old once the newness wears off.” With the two of them calmer than before, I sent Lance a quick text to let him know they were fine and to give me a moment before breaking down the door. Of course, he didn’t listen, running over with Lucy hobbling behind him after she broke a heel in Maggie’s front yard.
“It’s okay,” I told the girls as I opened the door, which was a lot better than waiting for him to bang on it and scare the poor things to death. Now I knew how Maggie felt when I’d first stumbled into Emberdale. Darby and Izzy reminded of two injured birds. All I wanted to do was protect them, even if doing so put me in danger. Strange, I never thought of myself as someone who’d do well with kids of her own, but maybe there was hope for me yet. Boyfriend, first. Yeah, like that was ever going to happen. “Lance, please calm down.”
“Calm down? Astrid, you’re harboring—”
“Helping,” I corrected him, putting on the sweetest smile I could. Then, speaking loud enough so only he and Lucy could hear, I added, “They might’ve seen something.”
Lance stopped Lucy when she tried barging into the living room. “She’s right. The girls are our best chance of finding Morpheus right now. Scaring them off won’t do us any good.” To the girls, he said, “I’m thinking of ordering a pizza. You guys hungry?”
Izzy piped up first, joining us in the foyer. “Veggie for me. Onion, broccoli, tomato, everything.”
“It’s a good thing I know a place. What about you, Darby?”
Darby didn’t say anything, turning her back to us.
“She does the meat-lovers, usually,” Izzy said after a moment. “She’s just grumpy.”
“You shouldn’t be talking to them!” Darby yelled over her shoulder.
“I’m hungry. Oh, and a soda as well.”
“I’ll get enough for everyone,” Lance promised, jotting down their order before looking at me and Lucy. “Need anything?”
“Pepperoni,” we said in unison, giggling as we did.
“Be back as soon as I can.” With that, Lance was gone, leaving Lucy and me with a pair of teenagers who seemed to bicker as much as she and Maggie did whenever Maggie possessed Ginger.
By the time Lance got back, the girls had run out of steam and were quietly listening to one of Lucy’s tall tales. Not so tall after all. I’d heard them before and tuned most of them out until she came to the story about witch hunters.
“Should you really be telling them this?” I asked her, taking a tray of empty mugs back into the kitchen which were once full of hot cocoa. Thank goodness Maggie kept her shelves full of the stuff along with the tea she insisted I drink every single morning.
“Darby’s a witch,” Lucy explained, looking back at me from the sofa.
“What about Izzy?”
“I don’t mind,” Izzy said, leaning her head back on the arm of the couch as Darby paced in front of the window. “They’re way better than the stories my folks tell. Their trip to Egypt was the only good one.”
“Egypt? Wow, that’s crazy.”
“They say seeing the pyramids up close is like nothing else, but the pictures look kind of fake.”
I smiled, then turned on my heels to go. “Lucy, no more. I mean it.”
Lucy started her next story as soon as she thought I was out of earshot. She always did enjoy turning heads, but I knew once we sent the girls home, we’d have to do something about Izzy. I’d considered enlisting Harris’ help. Perhaps he could cast a few charms, but then I remembered how they had a time limit, and having to visit Izzy every few days was too great a risk. Connie had mentioned what the town had done in order to appear normal during the Static Storm, but Izzy
had already seen and heard things she shouldn’t have. The only thing I could think of was to wipe her memory, which was simply out of the question.
“It’s a shame Lance got rid of the Black Book,” I said when Sammy walked up behind me. “We could really use it right about now.”
“You’ll find a way to keep everyone safe.” He sounded so sure of himself.
“Why me?”
“Because the girl trusts you.” He jumped on the counter, his green eyes meeting my own. “Besides, we have other things to worry about. Have they said anything else about Morpheus?”
“No. I haven’t even had a chance to ask.” Not with the way Lucy was rambling on and on about the olden days. “I’ll have to wait until I get them alone again.”
“Darby’s a firecracker.”
“She’s stubborn, that’s for sure, but I think Izzy would be willing to talk. She might not belong in our world or be able to learn magic, but there’s something about her. I can’t explain it.”
“She’s like you.” When I frowned, he said, “There’s a great deal of wonder in her eyes. The girl probably dreams of unicorns and god-knows-what-else.”
“Unicorns are better than what I used to dream about.” Public speaking in class without my clothes on? No thanks.
“Yes, well, if they’re going to stay, they need to do so by our rules.”
“Our rules? Don’t you mean mine?”
“I’m not going to extend my efforts for them and put us at risk.” He bowed his head, then slowly melted on the counter until there was nothing left but a ball of fur.
“Sammy, are you tired?” And here I thought familiars didn’t need to sleep.
“I’ve been casting wards all day, and if you’re going to ask me to babysit for you, don’t.”
“They aren’t babies—”
“Not my responsibility.” He cracked open an eye to make sure I got the point, then rolled on his side so I could stroke his belly. “New witches are hard.”
“I’m not that bad, am I?”
“You were.”
“And now?”
“Can it just be the two of us? I liked it when it was the two of us.”
Glancing over my shoulder toward the hall leading to the living room, I had to agree. Lucy visiting was already exhausting without having to listen to her and Maggie go over every small detail of what did or didn’t happen at college along with whatever it was Izzy and Darby were going through. Okay, so maybe I wasn’t ready for parenting, but I could handle a small mystery, right? “Just you wait. Once they’re fed and Lucy goes home, things will calm down.”
“I can hardly wait.”
Chapter Six
When Lucy headed back to Maggie’s place, I thought for sure we were in the clear. The quiet lasted all of five minutes before she was back in my living room again, her sleeping bag spread on the floor along with a bag of toothbrushes she happened to buy at The Market.
“We have teenagers in the house and you’re worried about dental hygiene?” I asked her.
“No one likes cavities, Astrid.” She shuffled into the room in her fuzzy slippers and a two-piece pajama outfit, handing each of the girls a small bag of toiletries before sending them off to get ready for bed. “I would’ve bought clothes as well, but I didn’t know their size.”
“What? Is Mark not speaking to you now?”
“I had to lie to him so he wouldn’t jump on his broomstick and fly over here. We have until tomorrow evening until he shows, so whatever it is you hope to get out of these girls, you’d better do it soon.” She paused when there was a knock on the door. “That must be Lance.”
“He’s staying over too?” Could my house get any more crowded? Next Ronan Clark would walk in with Maggie, or worse, Kat. “Wait a second. Ida?” Ida Kensington had a hat collection to match Maggie’s assortment of cats and could sniff out a lie with her magic. She was what most called a Seer, though I still thought of her as a nosy Nelly.
“She’s here to help,” Lance said, holding the door open for her until everyone was as crammed into my living room as humanly possible. “Girls, this is Ida. She’s going to ask you a few questions.”
“Who’s she?” Izzy asked, leaning into me as Darby kept to the far side of the room.
“Lance’s mom. What? She asked,” I told Lance who glared in my direction.
Ida fixed her vibrant red hair and placed her large hat on the coffee table, looking to me as she did. “I need all nonessential personnel to leave. The fewer mouths we have in here, the better.”
“I’ll be in the kitchen—”
“Not you, Astrid. You stay.”
“What for?”
“The girls have a liking for you and because you were the one who moved the Canundrum.”
“You told her?” I growled at Lance.
“It saves us time,” he said with a shrug, sitting on one of the easy chairs as the girls settled on the couch with Lucy.
“Lucy, you need to leave. You as well, Sammy. I assume Maggie’s still here?” Lance gestured around the room, but even when I checked, Maggie was gone.
“Looks like she may have gone to Ronan’s after all,” I said.
“Good, then let us begin.” Lance directed his attention to both Darby and Izzy who were scrunched together on the sofa, their eyes wide as they could go. At that very moment, I knew exactly what they were going through. Lance could be intimidating on his best of days, and fortunately, today was one of them. At least they weren’t stuck in his office with sludge for coffee and waiting for toxin reports to come in or to learn they were left everything in their neighbor’s will. Talk about an eye-opener! “Don’t worry about Ida. She’s here to see if you fib or not. Normally I wouldn’t require her services, but because you both ran aw—”
“But we didn’t,” Izzy squeaked, shrinking away from Darby when the other girl narrowed her gaze at her. “What? It’s true. We weren’t running away or… at least I wasn’t.”
After getting a nod from Ida, Lance crouched in front of the girls and put on a smile that was almost believable. I couldn’t imagine working the way he did. No matter who he talked to, they were either angry at him or afraid of him. Still, he shrugged it off like water on a duck’s back and fell into a kinder role than what I’d first experience after Maggie died. “What were you two doing in The Magician’s Closet? And why was… why at such a late hour?” He’d planned to say something else, but if I had to guess, he held his tongue because Ida placed a hand on his shoulder.
“It wasn’t late,” Izzy argued, once again speaking when Darby clearly didn’t want her to. “I think we arrived in Fairmount around four o’ clock, didn’t we?”
Darby hugged her arms around herself, her cheeks filled with color. “Not really. Izzy worries too much, so I had to change the time. On the clock inside the car, I mean.”
“But what about the clock inside the store?” Lance asked, looking between them. “Did you notice?”
“We didn’t have a chance,” Izzy explained. “As soon as we walked through the door, we couldn’t move.”
Lance met Ida’s worried gaze, and when she hurried into the kitchen, I followed after her. Once we were out of earshot, she pressed both palms on the counter by the sink, her head bowed.
“Ida, what is it?” I asked.
“Those girls won’t have much else to say. Whatever happened when they reached The Magician’s Closet, it was no fault of their own. They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, likely falling into a trap Morpheus meant for someone else.”
My heart skipped and I swallowed around my nerves, taking the tea kettle from her once she’d filled it with water. “So he really was banished.”
“It would seem so.” She forced a smile, but the worry in her eyes was proof enough whatever we were dealing with, even she was afraid of it. “Morpheus is a very strong troll. One of the best, in fact.”
“What do you think happened?” I put the kettle on, then dug a pair of teabags from
a box Lucy had brought over earlier.
“I’ve seen things—terrible things, but nothing such as this.” Being a Seer, not to mention the town gossip, Ida was perfect for Lance’s investigation. If it weren’t for the fact Morpheus had vanished in Fairmount Square, Ida probably would’ve had a lot more to say. Instead, she sighed and accepted her tea when I handed it to her. “Manipulating time is risky for any witch,” she said, walking back into the living room where Lance sat on the floor, the concern in his eyes matching what I’d seen on Ida.
“Are you sure that’s what happened?” I took my place in the recliner on the other side of the room, smiling at Izzy as Darby braided her hair. “French braid?”
“Mmm-hmm,” was Darby’s reply, her eyes fixed on Izzy’s hair as she weaved the strands together. “I do it all the time. Dyed Mom’s hair last week,” she went on when no one said anything.
“Is that what you’re going to school for?” I asked, completely forgetting the fact humans and witches had very different forms of schooling.
“I’d like to, but Uncle Mark thinks I should come here and stay in Emberdale.” The last part came out in a growl, and seeing her passion for working on Izzy’s braid, I couldn’t blame her. “I thought if I showed Izzy and got her accepted, then maybe she could come too.”
Ida’s warm smile was contagious. “Applying for your first broomstick isn’t the same as applying to college, I’m afraid.”
“It should be. So what if we’re a little different?”
“Ow!” Izzy cried out, wrapping a hand around the top of her braid as Darby pulled on it. “Maybe we should have this conversation after you’re done.”
“Forget it.” Darby left the braid unfinished, glaring at it as the strands slowly came apart. “It’s not like it matters, anyway. I can’t do my best work when I’m stressed.”
“That makes two of us,” Ida said, placing a hand on Darby’s shoulder. “No one here is out to get you. We’re just trying to find Morpheus.”
“Like Izzy said, we didn’t even get the whole way through the door before we got stuck in this whole mess.”
“How long were you frozen before you ended up inside the Canundrum?” I asked, keeping my voice as gentle as possible.