by A. G. Mayes
“I just hope Josh and I can be friends again someday,” I said.
“I hope you can too.” Henry gave me another squeeze. I couldn’t tell if he meant it, but I appreciated the sentiment.
“Where have you been?” my mother asked the moment we walked through the door. When she noticed I’d been crying she asked, “What’s wrong?” Then she turned sharply to Henry. “What did you do to her?”
“It’s nothing, Mom. My foot just hurts a little,” I said. “I was out running some errands. I was a little too ambitious about how far I could walk in this thing.” I pointed to the walking cast on my foot. “Henry helped me back.” This would all probably come out as a lie at some point. I’m sure someone in town saw me in the truck with Josh, and probably at least one person saw me crying on Henry’s shoulder from their window. I would deal with that later.
“I have to go get ready for Frank’s big outing,” Henry said. He studied my face, his brow furrowed. “Are you okay?”
“Absolutely.” I smiled brightly. “I’ll meet you at the nursing home soon.”
“It’s okay if you don’t want to go anymore.” He gently squeezed my hand.
“Susie, I don’t think you should go out again if your foot hurts,” my mother said.
“I’ll be fine,” I said. Nothing was going to keep me from this.
She “tsked” loudly and walked away, shaking her head.
When I arrived at Enchanted Woods it was clear everyone inside was ready to burst with the excitement of keeping a secret for too long. By some miracle it appeared that Henry had managed to keep the day’s activities a surprise from Frank.
Frank looked around at everyone as though studying who might spill the beans first.
“Are you ready?” Henry asked him.
“Son, I’m always ready for anything!”
With that, the crew shuffled outside to the bus. I had been telling Henry for weeks that they needed a new bus. This one was rusty and creaky and the seats were so worn you could feel every spring when you sat down. Apparently this was the bus they’d taken to a Rod Stewart concert a few years ago, and when they were getting back on the bus at the end of the concert, Rod had stopped to help Bernie after she’d tripped. There was some speculation that her trip had been staged, but she denied it to this day. However, in the process of helping her, Rod had touched the side of the bus. Now they were determined to ride the Rod-mobile forever.
“Isn’t this exciting?” Claire whispered to me. Though, to be honest, her whisper wasn’t much quieter than her regular voice.
I smiled and nodded, afraid if I gave her too much encouragement, she would spoil the surprise.
“What do you think of Frank?” she asked.
“He seems like a very nice man,” I said.
“He’s got a cute butt, doesn’t he?” she asked.
I carefully studied the frost on the window and desperately tried not to think about Frank’s butt.
“Stop embarrassing the girl,” Sandy chimed in from the seat behind us.
“I was just looking for her opinion.” She held her hands up defensively.
Luckily the drive to the hill at the edge of town was short and soon everyone was shuffling off the bus again.
The look on Frank’s face when he saw the bobsled was truly priceless. I felt a lump at the back of my throat and looked over at Henry. He was blinking a lot.
Upon closer examination I saw that Henry had pretty thoroughly padded the inside of the sled, probably hoping to avoid any injuries. He’d told me he’d put a protection spell on it too. The side of the hill we were on was tall, but the slope was gentle and clear of trees and rocks. Henry had solicited the help of some people in town to build a bobsled track out of snow.
“All right, now I need you to be careful,” Henry was telling Frank as he handed him a helmet.
“Yeah yeah.” Frank waved him away. He turned to Claire. “Would you like to go with me, darling?”
“That would be swell,” she said. They both put on their helmets and Henry helped them into the sled.
“Super careful,” Henry warned one more time and they were off.
The crowd of residents cheered their departure. Frank threw his hands up in the air as the sled made its way down the hill, riding up on curves and over dips.
“Woohoo,” I heard him yell.
“Woohoo,” Claire echoed.
Henry shook his head, but smiled.
Bernie breezed past me. “Remember to let the chopsticks fall.”
“Thanks, Bernie.” I still didn’t know what it meant.
“What was that about?” Henry asked.
I shrugged.
“Do you think they’ll get together?” I pointed to the bobsled as it veered around another corner.
“I don’t know. Claire has always liked to keep her options open, but they do seem to have a spark.” He watched them nearing the bottom. “I better go pick them up. Can you stay here with everyone?”
“Absolutely.”
My nosiness was getting the best of me. As he left, I casually reached up to my ear and murmured the spell Bernie had taught me. I looked down at Claire and Frank. They’d slowed to a stop at the bottom of the hill, but they hadn’t moved from the sled. The spell worked and I could hear them breathing hard.
“I’m glad I got to share this experience with you,” Frank said.
“Kiss me, hot stuff,” Claire said.
I quickly turned away. I’d heard enough. My gaze turned to Sandy and Candace, who were standing a little ways away from the rest of the group. It looked as if they were having an intense conversation.
“… thinks they’re onto something.” I tuned in in the middle of Sandy’s sentence.
“I heard they almost had her,” Candace said. “If they get her, I’m definitely in.”
“I never thought we should be hiding. And I’m old now. What do I have to lose?” Sandy said.
Just then the creaky bus pulled back up to the top of the hill, and everyone’s attention turned to the returning bobsledders. Frank’s eyes were bright and his smile stretched ear to ear. He looked like a little kid bouncing around.
Frank took several more rides down the hill with the few other willing passengers.
After we dropped all the residents back at the nursing home, Henry walked me back to the pie shop. Violet and my mother were having a whispered conversation when we walked in.
“Is everything okay?” Henry asked Violet.
“Have either of you seen Erma lately?”
We both shook our heads. “Not since this morning. Why?” I asked.
“There’s been some chatter that the IMPs are going to try something big. I came to warn Erma, but when I got here, your mother said she’d stepped out for a minute,” Violet said.
“She’s not answering her cell phone, and we’re afraid they got to her,” my mother said.
I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. Or maybe she went back to their side. I wasn’t sure if I should tell Violet and my mother what I’d learned from Ivan. I decided against it. She was still my aunt, after all, and if she hadn’t gone to join the IMPs, I would be tarnishing her reputation for no reason.
Violet decided she needed to call in the Morning Pie Crew.
“I need their help searching for Erma, but we need to keep a low profile,” she said. “We don’t want the rest of the town to realize how dire the situation is. A bunch of magical people panicking would just make this all even more dangerous.”
I had an idea where Aunt Erma might be, but I had to get out of the pie shop without raising suspicions.
Flora, Lena, and Mr. Barnes got to the pie shop quickly. Violet filled them in while my mother called Aunt Erma’s cell phone repeatedly. I told her that Aunt Erma often forgot to turn on her cell phone or left it in the car, but my mother kept trying anyway. Not that I blamed her. It was strange for Aunt Erma to be gone so long on one of our busy days before the holiday. It was even stranger that no one had seen
her during that time.
Henry helped me serve any customers that came in. Some people looked over at the group huddled around the table with raised eyebrows. “They’re planning a Christmas surprise,” I would say with a bright smile, and everyone seemed to accept that explanation.
The Morning Pie Crew left to go on their mission to find Aunt Erma. Violet gave my mother and I strict instructions to stay at the pie shop in case Aunt Erma came back. Plus, we had to make sure everything appeared as normal as possible to the townspeople.
“Of course, we’ll stay here,” I assured Violet. But in my head, I was thinking, Fat chance.She nodded, satisfied, and left.
As though on cue, the dogs started barking upstairs. “I’d better take them on a walk,” I told my mother.
“I’ll help,” Henry offered and followed me upstairs.
Mitzy danced around our feet, and Duncan was on the sofa under my blanket with his head on my pillow.
“Hey, get off of there,” I scolded. “You have a dog bed for a reason.” He reluctantly dragged himself off the sofa.
“Do you trust me?” I asked Henry.
“Of course,” he said.
“I need to go out for a little bit. I can’t tell you where I’m going. Can you cover for me?”
“Are you going to do something dangerous?” he asked.
I hesitated. “Hopefully not too dangerous.” There was the part of me that desperately wanted Henry to come along, but I still felt as if I had to keep the tree a secret. What if Aunt Erma really was just out doing some Christmas shopping or something? What if the IMPs had no idea there even was a magic tree? I couldn’t burden him with this secret and betray Aunt Erma’s trust until I knew more.
“Can you at least take Duncan with you? I’d feel better if you had a guard dog along,” he said.
I looked over at Duncan. He let out a gigantic yawn and blinked sleepily at us. “Him? You’d feel better if I had him along?” I asked.
Henry smiled. “Yes.”
“Fine, I’ll bring him along.”
“Can you drive with that thing?” He nodded to my walking cast.
“I’ll find a way,” I said confidently.
“Okay. Call me if you need anything,” he said. He held my gaze for a minute and then we kissed. I hoped he couldn’t hear my anxious heart pounding in my chest.
I said goodbye and left with Duncan sluggishly following me. He seemed happy to discover we were going on a car ride, not a walk.
I took the walking cast off when we got to the car. It hurt to press the pedals, but it wasn’t unbearable. I cranked up the Christmas music to distract myself from the pain. Duncan watched out the window for a few minutes, but soon he was sprawled across the back seat snoring loudly. “You’re supposed to provide protection,” I reminded him, but he didn’t wake up.
As we drove, I wondered if Aunt Erma would have really brought the IMPs to the magic tree. I hoped I was about to prove all of my suspicions wrong. I turned down the dirt road, and I saw her car parked off to the side. This wasn’t where the tree was. I parked a little ways away, though it was hard to hide on this deserted road. Duncan perked up when the car stopped. He leapt over the front seat and out the door in case I was thinking about leaving him behind.
There were multiple sets of footprints in the snow starting at Aunt Erma’s car. We followed them. Duncan grabbed the corner of my coat with his teeth. I was about to scold him when I heard voices.
“I think I’m all turned around.” It was Aunt Erma.
“Stan followed your niece out to these woods. We know your magic comes from something in here,” a woman’s voice said. It sounded like Brenda.
“Yes, and I want to share it with you. I think I turned at the wrong rock,” Aunt Erma said.
I caught a glimpse of them and quickly sidestepped behind a tree. Duncan pressed up against my leg.
Ivan grabbed Aunt Erma’s arm and pulled her away from the group. Brenda marched off making snide comments about Aunt Erma’s magic fading as she aged. Dennis and Stan reluctantly slinked off behind her.
“For goodness sake, we’re the same age, Brenda,” Aunt Erma yelled after her. She shook her head in disgust.
Ivan stepped closer to Aunt Erma. “I wasn’t sure we’d get you back,” he said softly. I had to hold my breath to listen.
“Of course,” she said. “I was just waiting for the right time.”
My heart stopped.
He touched her face.
“You’re cold,” he said. He pulled a gray and blue knitted scarf out from under his coat and unwrapped it from around his neck. “Remember that Christmas you made this for me?”
I couldn’t imagine Aunt Erma ever knitting anything.
“I can’t believe you kept it all these years.”
Her voice was high pitched, and she giggled.
My head was spinning. Had she been biding her time all these years? I wanted to run out there and yell at her. How could she do this to me? To the town?
“I always knew we’d do magic together again,” he said. They gazed into each other’s eyes and stood perfectly still for what felt like an eternity.
Aunt Erma broke the silence. “We’re going to do a lot of amazing things.” She pulled him into a hug. He said something I couldn’t understand, and she giggled again.
I felt sick.
Brenda appeared through the trees and stomped over to Ivan and Aunt Erma. Her presences sucked all the sexual tension out of the woods.
“Quit stalling. I want to get out fo this miserable forest while I still have all my toes,” she snapped.
I saw Aunt Erma roll her eyes. “Maybe we should go back this way,” she said.
“We’ve already been that way,” someone I couldn’t seesaid with a frustrated sigh.
“More IMPs are on their way, and we’ll search the entire woods if we have to,” Brenda said. I glanced up as though they might descend from the sky. The group disappeared between the trees.
Duncan licked my hand. I knew what I had to do.
I turned and hurried back to the car with Duncan close at my heels.
“We can’t let them find the tree,” I said when we got back to the car. Duncan wagged his tail in agreement. Aunt Erma derived a lot of power just from harvesting small portions of the tree. The IMPs wouldn’t exercise the same restraint once they felt that much magic. The destruction they could do to our magical community was almost unimaginable.
I drove further down the road until I was at the spot closest to the tree. Duncan and I got out of the car. I went around to the trunk and grabbed my tool bag. It always had what I needed. I took a deep breath and marched through the woods.
Along the way I called Violet. She sounded distracted when she picked up.
“You’re probably going to want to come find me,” I said.
“Why? Where are you?” I had her attention now.
“I’m in the woods, and there’s about to be a lot of angry IMPs in here,” I said. I did my best to give her directions to my location. I got to the tree. “I have to go. I’ll tell you more when you get here.” I hung up amid her protests.
Let the chopsticks fall. What Bernie had said made sense now. It always made sense exactly when you needed it to.
I unzipped my tool bag. It was right on top. I don’t know how it got there. A shiny axe with a bright red handle. It was smaller than I would have liked, but it would do the job.
I put my hand on the trunk of the tree and felt the tingling rush of magic up my arm. The trunk of the tree began to glow. That was new. Duncan sat solemnly behind me.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered to the tree. I shook off the wave of sadness.
Then I swung the axe hard against the trunk. Sparks shot out from the tree, and I jumped back. There wasn’t time to be afraid. I swung again and again. It had to be done. I imagined Brenda getting the power from the tree and swung harder. I squinted against the flying chunks of wood and sparks. The sound of the axe echoed through the w
oods. The IMPs could find me at any moment. The adrenaline coursed through me. I gripped the handle tighter and swung again and again.
I knew the best way to cut down a tree. When I was in college, I’d had a huge crush on a guy, Luke, from my English Composition course. Luke had competed in lumberjack competitions. I’d been his number one fan for a couple months until I’d realized I would never be anything more than his number one fan. But while I was there I’d picked up a lot of tips on the fastest way to chop down a tree. The universe worked in mysterious ways.
My arms were burning, and sweat was dripping down my back. I threw my coat off and kept chopping. I could feel blisters forming under my gloves. Duncan was walking in circles now. He was on high alert, keeping his eyes open for uninvited guests.
When I was on what felt like my thousandth swing, I vowed that I would start keeping a chainsaw in the trunk of my car. I swallowed the lump in my throat as the glow of the tree began to fade. I paused for a breath. I could barely feel the tingling now. Duncan stretched and yawned as though he wished I would hurry so he could get back to his nap, but he didn’t stop watching the surrounding trees.
Duncan began to growl. I started chopping again. I was almost all the way through the trunk.
“Stop,” a voice cried. I glanced over. It was Ivan. His hair wasn’t slicked back anymore. It stuck out to the sides and hung in his face. He was out of breath. “Get away from the tree.”
I froze for a second. His eyes had a dangerous glint. Brenda, Dennis, Stan, and Aunt Erma all appeared between the trees. Duncan’s growling got more vicious.
Brenda yelled something. Was that a spell? Aunt Erma tackled her from behind. She’s still on our side, I thought as they both crashed into the snow.
I threw myself at the tree.
“Noooo!” Ivan cried.
As I hit the trunk with my body Brenda managed to screech out one more word.
Suddenly everything went black.
***
When I came to, I was looking up into Henry’s worried eyes.
“Is this a dream?” I asked, reaching towards his face. “Because if it is, it’s a good one.”