The Perfect Match

by E. D. Baker

  This book is dedicated to Kim, whose series title inspired me; to Victoria Wells Arms, who taught me so much; to Brett Wright for being so perceptive; and to my fans, whose enthusiasm keeps me writing.

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  ALSO BY E. D. BAKER

  CHAPTER

  1

  Cory stood in the dark, waiting for the fairies to arrive. It was the last day that Larch and Treesap were assigned to the early tree-tending shift in the forest surrounding Giant Lake. If Cory didn’t match the two fairies now, she would have to find a way to bring them together later. Doing it now would be so much easier.

  An owl hooted somewhere in the forest. Dew settled on the meadow where the fairies checked in for work. And then they were there—dozens of twinkling lights that dimmed and grew to human size as their feet touched the ground.

  “Larch! Treesap!” Cory called softly when the two fairies she’d been looking for walked past.

  They turned their heads, surprised at anything unusual in their ordinary routine.

  Bow! Cory thought. Time stood still as the bow and quiver appeared in her hands. She was good at this by now, so she wasted no time in nocking the arrow marked “Treesap Winter Downslow” and aiming at the male fairy’s heart. The next arrow, labeled “Larch Shiverleaf Breezegood,” hit the fairy girl with a sparkle of gold.

  Cory waited for the gold to suffuse them both—a part she always liked—before stepping back into the darkness of the forest. She already knew what would happen next. They’d kiss and be madly in love for the rest of their lives. The people Cory shot with her Cupid arrows had no choice; they were soul mates, after all.

  This matching had differed in only one way from all the others; she hadn’t known either person before she shot them. A recurring vision had told her that she needed to match the two fairies, and do it soon. Finding them hadn’t been too hard. She’d referred to the Junior Fey School yearbook for their pictures and names, then used her uncle’s connections to learn where they worked. If only all of her matches were that easy!

  Cory glanced at the sky. It would be light soon, which meant she had to hurry if she was going to fly. Finding a big enough gap between the trees, she thought wings! and they appeared behind her, sprouting from between her shoulder blades. Unlike the delicate fairy wings she’d had before the Tooth Fairy Guild kidnapped her and took them away, these wings were covered with feathers and were both larger and stronger. They were the wings of a demigod and marked her as someone from a long line of Cupids.

  Spreading her wings, she brought them together in a powerful clap that lifted her into the air and rustled the leaves around her. And then she was in the sky, soaring above the clouds, letting the early morning sun warm her back. She flew for a good distance as the sky grew brighter. When she finally glanced over her shoulder, she could glimpse the feathers on her wings catch the sun’s rays and shimmer with all the colors of the rainbow. Since the sun was this bright, Uncle Micah was probably eating breakfast, and Noodles, her pet woodchuck, would need to go out.

  Tilting her wings so she would descend in a wide, sweeping pattern, Cory thought about what she should do that day. Ever since she had lost her fairy abilities and learned that she was actually something much grander—the granddaughter of a Cupid and thus one herself—she hadn’t been sure what she should do next. Her grandfather had promised that she wouldn’t have to quit her band, Zephyr, but should she still do odd jobs? She had been helping people by doing things like babysitting, mowing lawns, and canning beans. Although she had started taking the jobs to make a little money, they had become an important part of her life, allowing her to meet interesting people, some of whom became future prospects for her matchmaking business. And to what extent should she mesh her matchmaking business with the serious work of being Cupid? Should she really make someone pay for something she would do for free?

  The biggest question right now, though, and the one that was eating at her the most, was when should she tell her true love, Johnny Blue, that she descended from a long line of Cupids? Any child they had would probably be a Cupid, too. Her grandfather had told her that she needed to keep her Cupid side a secret from everyone except the people she trusted the most, and to tell them only if they really needed to know. If word got out, it would make her job matching people that much harder. When Cory had said that she trusted Blue and wanted to tell him, her grandfather had told her to wait until it was the right time. But how would she know what time was right? It bothered her that she couldn’t tell the truth about herself to the most important person in her life.

  As far as most people knew, the Tooth Fairy Guild had taken away her fairy attributes, including her gossamer wings, leaving her unable to fly. Only her uncle; her grandfather, Lionel; and her good friend Marjorie knew that losing her fairy traits had revealed her abilities as a Cupid. Neither her grandfather nor her uncle would ever give away her secret, and Marjorie didn’t believe it.

  Cory reached the top of a fluffy, white cloud and circled just above it. The cloud was beautiful to look at, but Cory knew that it was also cold and wet and thoroughly unpleasant to fly through. Once she was inside its vast whiteness, she could easily get confused about which way to go and get colder and more miserable as she tried to find her way out. During the weeks since she’d acquired her feathered wings, she’d learned that the fastest way to go through a cloud was to fold her wings and drop straight down.

  Cory turned so that she would enter the cloud feetfirst. Pulling her wings in, she flattened them to her back. In an instant she was dropping like a pebble off the side of a cliff. As the cloud engulfed her, she closed her eyes, blocking out the relentless white, but the chilled moisture still entered her lungs, making each breath heavy and thick.

  And then the warm air around her told her that she’d made it through, and she opened her eyes, only to see that she was about to hit a griffin flying just below. Sensing her, the beast swung its head up and squawked in surprise. Cory opened her wings with a snap, fighting to spread them wide against the air rushing past. She managed to veer away from the griffin, but one wing was bent the wrong way and she flipped over twice. Suddenly she was tumbling from the sky. Struggling against the wind, Cory pulled her wings close and gauged her fall until she was facing the right way, then opened her wings again. This time her flight held true, although it was wobbly at first and her heart was pounding.

  By the time she spotted the park across the street from her uncle’s house, her heartbeat had returned to normal. She made a smooth landing in the secluded meadow she’d found, and started walking home.

  Because Cory was trying to keep her new abilities secret, she was careful not to let people see her fly and generally flew only at night. The few fairies in the area who were up before dawn rarely flew above treetop level and hardly ever looked higher. She didn’t worry about people seeing her enter or leave the park in the morning, because she could always say she was going for a walk.

  She had just left the park and was crossing the street when she spotted her neighbor Salazar walking his pet iguana.

  “Good morning!” the genie sang out, raising his hand in greeting. “It’s a truly fine day for a walk, is it not?”

  Cory backed away from the iguana, who was eyeing her shoes.
“It is indeed,” she replied.

  “Where’s Noodles?” Salazar said, looking behind Cory.

  “He had a restless night and was sound asleep when I got up. I thought he needed his rest, so I didn’t wake him.”

  Salazar frowned. “I hope the woodchuck is not ill. I assume that is unusual behavior for him. Perhaps he needs to see an animal doctor. I hear there is a very good one named Dickory in town.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” said Cory. “But I’m sure he’s fine.”

  She wasn’t so sure when she stepped through the front door of her uncle’s house, where she was living, and the woodchuck didn’t greet her. “Noodles?” she called out. When he didn’t respond, she peeked in her room, wondering why her uncle hadn’t let him out, but the woodchuck wasn’t there, either. Cory finally found him in the kitchen, lying under her uncle’s chair.

  Micah was seated at the table, eating his breakfast of mixed fruit and nuts. His squirrel, Flicket, was perched on the back of a chair, nibbling an ear of corn.

  “From the look of your hair, I’d say you’ve been flying,” her uncle said, glancing up from the morning paper.

  Cory patted the wind-whipped, tangled mess. Her hair was worse than usual, probably because of falling after her near miss with the griffin.

  “You have a message,” Micah said, pointing at an envelope leaning against her plate. “It’s from a Mrs. Bruin.”

  After getting a bowl of mixed grains and milk, Cory sat down and picked up the envelope. Her uncle set down his cup of apple juice and listened while she read.

  Miss Feathering,

  I am writing in response to your advertisement. We need a house sitter for tonight. Please contact me if you are interested in the job.

  Mrs. Bruin,

  2 Deep Woods Drive

  “Are you interested?” asked Micah.

  Cory shrugged. “I suppose. Zephyr isn’t rehearsing tonight. Blue and I are going out to dinner with Marjorie and Jack, but I can go to the Bruins’ house afterward. I’ll let her know I can make it, then go pick up the key.”

  “Any other plans for the day?” asked her uncle.

  “Not so far,” Cory said, reaching for an ink-plant stem.

  After writing her reply, she took it to the message basket in the main room and waited until the envelope had disappeared before returning to the kitchen. She was about to take her seat again when Noodles rolled over and moaned.

  “He doesn’t sound very good,” said her uncle as he pushed his chair back so he could see the woodchuck better.

  “What’s wrong, Noodles?” Cory asked, getting down on her knees beside the woodchuck. “Aren’t you feeling well?”

  Noodles raised one eyelid halfway to peer at her. It was open long enough that she could see his eye looked glassy before he let it close again.

  “His tongue looks dry,” said her uncle as he bent down beside her. “And his breathing is heavy.”

  “I think I should take him to the vet,” said Cory. “Salazar told me that there’s a good one in town named Dickory.”

  “What about Mrs. Bruin?”

  “I’ll go see her first since I already told her that I was coming, then I’ll come home to take Noodles.”

  “It sounds like you’re going to have a busy day,” said Micah.

  “I usually do,” Cory replied, reaching for another leaf.

  Noodles was still groaning when Cory placed the message to the vet into the basket. Worried about the woodchuck, she barely glanced at the two messages that had arrived while she was in the kitchen. It wasn’t until she was back in her seat with Dr. Dickory’s reply in her hand that she thought to look at the other messages. One was from Mrs. Bruin, saying that she was looking forward to meeting Cory. The other was from Officer Deeds, the goblin Fey Law Enforcement Agency officer who had come out to investigate when Tom Tom threw the plaster tooth through the window.

  “The Fey Law Enforcement Agency wants me to come to the station tomorrow to make a statement,” Cory said after reading the note.

  “Good,” said Micah. “It’s about time the FLEA did something about the Tooth Fairy Guild.”

  “They have to now,” Cory told him. “Grandfather is an active member of the FLEA board again, and he isn’t about to let them ignore all the awful things the guilds have done any longer.”

  CHAPTER

  2

  Cory took the pedal-bus to Mrs. Bruin’s house on Deep Woods Drive. It was a pleasant ride into the forest at the western side of town. The trees were older there and the houses were farther apart and very different from each other. Riding down the main road, she saw a tiny cottage with a thatched roof; a long, narrow house made of red brick; a huge glass globe covered with yellow flowers; and a cavelike opening heading into the side of a hill. When they turned onto Deep Woods Drive, Cory couldn’t see any of the houses from the road, but she spotted four mailboxes, so she assumed there were as many houses. As she got off the pedal-bus, the elves who were in charge of driving waved good-bye. Cory was using the service more often now that she couldn’t fly during the day, and most of the drivers recognized her as a regular.

  The twisty path that led from the road to the house wasn’t very long, but it was enough to keep people from seeing the building until they were standing in front of it. After seeing some of the odder houses, Cory was afraid that she might have to sleep in some weird kind of building, but she was impressed when she finally caught a glimpse of the Bruins’ house. Obviously old, the stone house had two floors and was nestled among the trees so well that it almost seemed to have grown up with them. As Cory stood in the cool shade and peered up at the house, she gave a sigh of satisfaction. She wouldn’t mind house-sitting here at all.

  Only moments after Cory knocked on the door, a female bear wearing a summer dress greeted her. Cory was only momentarily surprised that Mrs. Bruin was a real bear. She’d seen many talking animals that dressed and behaved like humans, and had even befriended a trio of talking pigs. Such creatures weren’t uncommon, because the spell that changed them was an easy spell for witches to cast. The descendants of such animals shared their abilities, so the number of talking animals was growing every day.

  Cory smiled when she spotted the bear cub peering at her from behind his mother’s legs. “I’m Cory Feathering. You contacted me about house-sitting,” she told the adult bear.

  “Oh, good! We’ve been waiting for you so we can get on the road. I’m sorry this was such short notice, but we weren’t sure we could go until today,” said Mrs. Bruin. “I want you to see the house before we leave. Now, the kitchen is this way . . .”

  Cory admired the house as they went from room to room, but the thing that she noticed the most was that everything in the house was in sets of three. There were three wooden chairs at the kitchen table, three comfy chairs in the main room, three coat hooks on the wall, and three sets of shoes in the boot tray. When they climbed the stairs, she saw that there were three bedrooms: one with a big bed, one with a middle-size bed, and one with a small bed for the cub. The only thing she didn’t see was the third bear.

  “We don’t have any pets for you to feed or plants for you to water,” the mother bear continued. “All you have to do is keep an eye on the house. You can sleep in the guest room,” she said, nodding toward the room with the middle-size bed. “We’ll be back in the morning. Oh, the larder is fully stocked, so you’ll have plenty to eat, and we have the best well water in the forest.”

  “I’m sure I’ll be fine,” said Cory.

  “My husband will give you the key. Just make sure that you keep the door locked at all times. There’s been a problem around here with someone coming into houses if the doors aren’t locked. He broke Baby’s rocking chair a few weeks ago and we just had it fixed.”

  “I’ll be very careful,” Cory said, even as she wondered if taking the job had been a mistake.

  Mrs. Bruin led the way back downstairs. They were returning to the kitchen when they ran into Mr. Bruin.
He was even larger than his wife and looked very dapper in plaid shorts and a short-sleeved shirt.

  “Steve, there you are!” said his wife. “This is Corialis, the girl I told you about.”

  “Darn, you showed up!” the father bear grumbled when he saw Cory.

  “Don’t mind him,” said the mother bear. “I made him pack before he went to bed last night and now he’s tired and grumpy.”

  “I’m not grumpy because I’m tired! I’m in a bad mood because I don’t want to go on this trip. You know how much I hate visiting your brother, Norman. All he does is brag about his house, his cubs, and his great job at the town dump. I’d be happy if I never had to see him again!”

  “It’s only one night!” the mother bear replied before turning back to Cory. “We would have left yesterday, but Steve had an important meeting at work that he couldn’t postpone. He didn’t think he could get away today, either, but the meeting he had scheduled for this afternoon was canceled. Why he couldn’t reschedule yesterday’s meeting, I’ll never know. He is the head of the law firm.”

  “If I’d had my way, we’d have had meetings all weekend if it meant I wouldn’t have to see Norman,” Mr. Bruin muttered under his breath. When he saw that Cory was looking at him, he gave her an exaggerated wink.

  “What did you say?” asked his wife.

  “Nothing, dear.” Taking the key from his shirt pocket, he handed it to Cory. “Here, make sure you lock the door when you leave. I don’t know if my wife told you, but a vagrant has been coming into people’s homes and using their things. He’s been in our house on three different occasions that we know of, and each time someone left the door unlocked,” he said, giving his wife a pointed look.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” Mrs. Bruin told her husband. “It was your fault at least once.”

  “Huh,” grunted Mr. Bruin. “Are you ready, dear? Let me help you with your knapsack.”

  “I don’t need any help,” she said, shrugging the pack onto her back. “Why don’t you carry Baby?”