Their banishing had been awful. To this day I wished I could somehow take it back, or make it as if it had never happened. Unfortunately, that was never to be. What was done was done.
“Is there anything else?” I asked Bethel. “You want to tell us whether we should eat breakfast in the morning?” I was sort of teasing her and sort of not.
“No, I think I’ve remembered everything. Good luck!” she said.
For once the trolley was pulling up just as we arrived at the platform. Purple and black were the trolley colors tonight. Bethel hustled onto the little train so she could warm up and we could return to the cottage and do the same.
But Lowe was reluctant to leave. She stood silently and watched the trolley until it was out of sight.
I was starting to think that Lowe and Bethel were both having a hard time with this parting. I was too, but maybe I was more used to it. My father hadn’t been around much when I was young, and I had spent a lot of time avoiding my stepmother. As a result, I had become quite self-sufficient over the years. I would miss Bethel, but as she said, the days were quiet. Given that so little was going on, her departure was nothing we couldn’t handle.
Famous last words.
Chapter Four
I didn’t sleep well that night, even with Lowe in the cottage. It turned out that neither of us much liked staying in the house without Bethel. Every creak of the floor was a Vixen, every gust of wind an attacking ghost. The Vixens didn’t even know Bethel was gone, so the idea that they would immediately attack the cottage was ridiculous. Besides, what could they possibly want to attack us for?
Logic notwithstanding, I woke up the next morning feeling tired. Despite the fact that it was staying darker later in the morning at this time of year, light was already streaming through the windows by the time I stirred. After not sleeping well, I had actually slept in.
Reluctantly, I threw the covers back and dragged myself awake. Lowe had agreed to feed the fire in the night so it wouldn’t burn out while we were sleeping, and I had high hopes that the kitchen would still be warm.
Sliding my feet into my slippers and pulling on a robe, I made my way downstairs. In exchange for Lowe’s keeping the fire going, I had agreed to be the one who took care of the unicorns that first morning. This meant that when I got downstairs I had to bundle up into a hat, a coat, and warm gloves to go outside. My breakfast would have to wait. I exchanged my slippers for boots and headed out into the freezing cold day.
Bethel usually insisted on being the unicorn caretaker, so I rarely bothered to get a glimpse of what Twinkleford looked like first thing in the morning. The fact was, the landscape around us was stunning. Most of the time the clear skies, the large slabs of crystal icicles, and the bright sun were all postcard-worthy.
For a split second I wondered what Bailey would do if I sent her a postcard of my new home. I’d be sure not to include the trailer park around the bend. In fact, I had no idea what my dad had told her about my absence. If I told her I was living somewhere this pretty, she’d probably think I was lying.
As soon as I stepped outside, I knew that this morning with different. The skies were overcast and there was no sign of the sun. On top of that, a strange fog hung in the air. The thick gray that enveloped the world was something you might be used to finding in the valleys, but not here. Not one morning since I had arrived at my grandmother’s cottage did I remember seeing fog, and yet here it was. Great curtains of it hung in the damp air.
Shaking my head and thinking that of course there would be fog the minute Bethel left, I made my way to the unicorns.
The care of these beautiful creatures took almost an hour. First, I dropped a bucket of hay that I had carried from the barn. The unicorn I tried to feed first was none too pleased. After that I lost track of several items I needed, including a unicorn hair brush.
After many trials and false starts, I was finally almost finished. The last thing I needed to do before going back inside was to collect dung. The unicorns were very high-minded creatures who knew exactly where they were supposed to leave their droppings for our collection. Even so, it was quite a process to gather it.
One that I did not enjoy.
Not for the first time, I wondered at my family’s profession. Couldn’t they have been florists? Interior decorators? There must have been some other option. For now, though there was not, so I made myself get on with it.
When I got back inside at last, Lowe was in the kitchen making breakfast. She had even stoked the fire, so I started to get warm right away. I was grateful.
“How is it out there?” she asked.
“Cold. And there’s a strange fog,” I said.
Lowe was busy drizzling honey on our oatmeal. I could see a bag of cranberries next to her and was excited for another topping on my long overdue breakfast.
“If by that you mean there was fog at all, I’m not surprised. Every once in a while it happens around the cottage.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s what I mean. I think I’ll go clean up before breakfast,” I said. I was reluctant to leave the fire, but after doing unicorn duty I needed a shower, and at least I still had the warm water of the shower to look forward to. I hustled through it anyhow; I was hungry, and now that the low sun had come up I wanted to enjoy a day at the cottage without Bethel.
Lowe had waited for me to get dressed. She had set the old wooden table in front of the fire with our meal, and I joined her without further ado. We tucked into breakfast, mine enhanced by a steaming mug of tea that smelled like mint and licorice, a strong cup to wake me up, as if I needed it after doing unicorn duty.
I sat back in contentment.
“Did you believe Bethel when she said she was going on a retreat?” Lowe asked.
“I couldn’t tell. I don’t really know where she’d go,” I said.
“Maybe she’s going somewhere to party and didn’t want us to know. Doesn’t seem like her, though,” Lowe mused.
“Wherever she went, I hope she has a good time,” I said.
“Me too,” said Lowe. “I just wish I had slept better. I don’t know why I see an old woman as a line of defense around this cottage against the Vixens. I guess as the head of the family she knows a lot more about spellcasting, cauldrons, and crystal balls than we do.”
I nodded. “I was thinking about that. I need to do some more crystal ball work. I thought maybe I’d do some this morning, then head into town. Tomorrow is another Young Witches meeting and all the fun that comes with that,” I said.
Lowe rolled her eyes. The leader of the Young Witches was a woman named Hannah. She and her cohort Taylor were trouble. They liked to assign all the work to others, meaning me and my friends. “Should we see if Jackie and Kelly want to have lunch at Robin’s restaurant today?” Lowe asked.
I grinned. “You read my mind.”
Before we headed downtown, I got my crystal ball for some practice time. The base of the ball was ornate, and the globe glowed purple when I used it. For practice, I set it up in the kitchen by the fire while Lowe went upstairs to get ready for an outing. I only needed about forty-five minutes of practice at a time, but it had been a while since I had done a crystal ball reading. I wanted to use the time well.
Now that the weather was cold, there were always several cats in the kitchen to keep the clan company, but at the moment both Spunk and Tiger were elsewhere. They took turns patrolling the perimeter of the property, their main objective to protect the unicorns. I did wonder what would happen if anyone was ever foolish enough to go after those creatures. I had a feeling the cats would not be so cuddly in that situation.
Chapter Five
I sat comfortably in front of the fire, warming my back. Out of the corner of my eye I could see outside to the unicorn pasture, where the animals were huddled together near the barn. I had a feeling that the cold morning wind had yet to die down, but one good effect of the wind was that the fog had blown away.
At that reminder, I shook my head, p
uzzled all over again.
There was no reason why this house should be fogged over.
Then I shook the thought away and got to work on the crystal ball.
I took several deep breaths and placed my hands on either side of the ball. My fingers tingled, and I felt an instant, sharp connection. Closing my eyes, I bowed by head and tried to breathe normally while I concentrated on the reading.
When I opened my eyes, all I saw at first was the usual swirl of gray. As I looked more closely, it started to fade, and in the place of gray I saw our cottage.
The scene changed to reveal the trailer park, then Lester with several friends, all of them sitting next to a small, ugly point of land, ice fishing. Some of Twinkleford’s townsfolk did love to ice fish, but they were banned from the big lake on the nice side of town and left to use swamp remnants. They were laughing and drinking, having a great time despite the poor conditions.
Then the scene changed again. I saw Glory and her family and my heart started to hammer.
Glory had been my classmate during witch training, and we had gone through examinations together on debutant weekend this past summer.
Glory had been the Trophi family’s last chance to stay in the coven. She loved sports and was good at them, but she had failed the examinations. Her family had been kicked out of the coven in a horrible ritual. Over the years I would have to participate in more scenes like that, but I wasn’t happy about it. My heart twisted as I watched them in the crystal ball.
They were somewhere on a dark and narrow street, near a building that looked abandoned. All five members of the family were huddled together, none of them looking terribly clean, all looking upset.
“What do we have left to eat?” a voice asked. Glory’s aunt.
“We have bread and cheese now,” said Glory. “We have plenty of food.” She smiled at her aunt, looking just how I remembered her, only maybe her eyes were a bit sadder now.
“How’d you get all of that?” Glory’s mom asked. “Did some of your powers come back?” She sounded so hopeful that my heart twisted again.
Glory didn’t answer at first. When her mom prodded her in the shoulder she said, “Don’t worry about it, okay? I’m taking care of us like I promised I would. Soon we’ll have a house of our own,” she added.
“Just so long as it’s far, far away from here,” said her aunt.
“It will be,” Glory assured her. “I promise.” Glory smiled all around at the other four members of her family and started breaking bread and cutting cheese to pass around.
“The coven rules should be amended. Families like us shouldn’t be made to go,” said Glory’s aunt.
“It’s the way things have always worked. The coven must be kept strong. Otherwise, evil forces will put Twinkleford in danger,” said Glory’s mom.
None of the other women looked pleased by what she was saying.
“They could have taken better care of us. With the Vixens so evil and powerful, I don’t even see what kicking families like ours out is accomplishing,” said Glory’s mom.
“Will you lower your voice?” hissed Glory’s grandmother. “We don’t want to be overheard discussing coven business here,” she added.
“Who’s going to listen in?” said Glory’s mom. “No one cares about us now. We’re less than nothing. What more trouble could we possibly get into?” she said.
“I didn’t realize we were in trouble,” Glory whispered, hanging her head. “I’ve been doing my best since . . .”
“Since you failed us?” The last aunt had woken up. Now that I focused her, I could see that her hair was messier than anyone else’s and her eyes were angry. Unlike Glory’s family members who were upset or trying to make the best of the situation, this former witch was merely furious.
The scene in the crystal ball faded, but I had been left with a lot to think about. Glory was clearly trying to take care of her family, and some of its members were more grateful than others. The street they had been on hadn’t looked familiar, but I figured it must have been in the Bleak Area. Maybe while my grandmother was gone I could try to find them. What Bethel didn’t know, she couldn’t be angry about.
“All set?” Lowe asked. She looked as colorful as usual; she wasn’t happy if she wasn’t wearing at least half the colors of the rainbow. Her shoes today were red, her pants yellow, her shirt green with colorful baubles on it. Over all that she had put a white coat and a hat that was in fact the colors of the rainbow. She was ready to go.
“I hope the townsfolk see me around and are cheered,” she explained.
“I’m sure they are. I know I am,” I told her.
I followed her outside to find the front of the house covered in a layer of snow. I had thought that would stop the pixies and fairies from their fighting, but it had done no such thing. Even as we stepped outside, pixies went buzzing past my face. I had to swerve quickly to avoid them.
Across the street, Lisa and Lucky’s house was dark. As often as not they were in the window and waved, but I figured they had probably gone somewhere for the day.
Not long after we got to the trolley stop, a little yellow and red one arrived.
“Hey, it matches your shoes,” I said to Lowe, who grinned.
The day was cold, and it was a relief to be inside. On the trolley were an Earth Sprite, a vampire, and a werewolf. You could tell what the werewolf was because his neck was very hairy. We all kept quietly to ourselves.
I had been expecting downtown to be quiet, but instead it was bustling with life and creatures. We strolled around to a few shops, but it wasn’t long before it was time to meet Jackie and Kelly for lunch. I had asked Kelly to bring me some baked goods to take home. Without Bethel there to help with the cooking, we were on our own food-wise, so I had decided to order out.
Robin’s restaurant was owned by Jackie’s older brother, who had had a thing for our neighbor Lisa for a long time and had once dated her. They served delicious Italian food, and they usually reserved the corner table for us.
Even beyond the food and the welcome, Lowe’s big crush – a guy named Gill – worked at Robin’s as a waiter while he went to the university in town. Not only had he been instrumental in helping us find our way around when we needed to see a researcher on campus, he had shown a decided flair for snooping.
In short, a man after my own heart. Except – he was Lowe’s crush, and I was totally head over heels for Quinn.
Jackie was waiting at our usual table and waved when she saw us, then bent her head back down over a tall stack of papers. Nowadays Jackie was always busy.
“Hey. How are you doing?” she asked, setting the papers aside once Lowe and I took our seats.
“Pretty well,” I told her. “Bethel actually went away for a few days.”
“No way. You have to wait to tell Kelly about it. She should be here any minute,” said Jackie. She looked past me and waved to Kelly, who was just coming in the door.
Kelly was small, with messy brown hair and glasses. She had probably been the best student among us during our debutante examinations. Now she worked hard helping out her farming family.
“Hey,” said Kelly, removing her mittens and coat and sitting down. “What did I miss?”
“Bethel Rhinestone just went away for a few days. Can you believe it?” Jackie asked.
Kelly looked at me for confirmation. “No way. She did? You let her? Where did she go?”
The onslaught of questions took me aback. Luckily I had a moment to formulate my answers, because Gill arrived just then to take our order.
“Hi, Lowe,” was all he said at first.
“Gill, you can’t just walk up and stare,” said Jackie with a grin. “You have to say hello like a normal person, then take our order, then go away and stare at her from a distance, and she can pretend not to know. Got it?”
Gill went so red, a cherry would have been jealous. Lowe, also turning pink, sank down in her seat and tried not to smile. Gill turned on his heel and hurrie
d away, then turned around and hurried back. “I forgot to take your order,” he mumbled to the table at large.
“We’re all having the usual,” Kelly told him. We all usually ordered the same thing, and we had done it so often that we knew Gill had it all memorized.
“Hi, Gill,” said Lowe, looking at the table and blushing furiously.
“You two need to just make out,” said Jackie.
“Just because you’re stressed at work doesn’t give you the right to embarrass everyone,” said Kelly, coming to Lowe’s defense and giving my cousin a minute to get her breath.
“Don’t be silly. Of course it does,” said Jackie, waving off Kelly’s silly notions. “If you could see my to-do list, you’d say obnoxious things too.”
After that we chatted until our food arrived. Jackie always had fun work stories, while Kelly told us about her family. Her brother Kyle was trying to get his life on track after a series of disasters. He was considering going traveling as part of that effort, but until then he was helping out on the farm. Kelly was pleased, because that meant she didn’t have to do as much of the outside labor. She hated outside labor. She much preferred spellcasting in the kitchen.
When our food came, Gil’s face was no longer so red. But he still didn’t linger. In fact, he scuttled away as quickly as possible after setting down our plates. Lowe looked after him a little sadly, but at least none of us said anything this time around.
As we tucked in to our delicious lunch Jackie got back to what was on her mind. “I do think you should have a party. I mean, that’s obvious. It’s number one. You just have to do it.”
Lowe and I looked at her in surprise. Having a party had never occurred to me. “Why would I do that?” I demanded. “I don’t even know anyone around here. I just got to town a few months ago. Besides, I’m seeing my friends right now. What do I need to have a party for?”
“That’s exactly why you need to have a party,” said Jackie. “You don’t know anyone. If we have a party and invite everyone we know, and our friends invite everyone they know, then you’ll know more people. See? Besides, parties are totally fun. You would love a party.”
The Rhinestone Witches Omnibus: Books 1-3 Page 48