The Perfect Match

by E. D. Baker

  “Pardon me,” Micah said from the doorway, “but we’ve just received a message from your grandparents, Cory. They’ve invited us to dinner tonight. You, too, Blue.”

  “I’m not going if Mother is going to be there,” Cory replied.

  “Your grandmother assures me that Delphinium was not invited. Apparently, they just want to meet Blue and know you won’t stay if they invited your mother.”

  “In that case we’ll go,” said Cory. “That is, unless you have something else you need to do, Blue?”

  “After all the things you’ve told me about your grandparents, I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” he told her with a grin. “I took the rest of the day off and I plan to spend it all with you.”

  “You could bake one of your berry pies,” her uncle said, sounding hopeful. “I bet Blue would like it.”

  “Nobody likes my berry pies as much as you do, Uncle Micah!” said Cory. “If I’m going to make one, I might as well make two—one to take and one to eat here. Provided we have enough berries, that is.”

  “I’ll run to the store and get them,” Micah said, already starting down the walk.

  He wasn’t gone long before he was back with more than enough berries and two jugs of milk. “You need milk to drink with the pies!” Micah explained to Blue.

  “It looks as if you brought me enough berries to make three or four pies,” Cory said as she took one of the bags. “I’ll measure them to see how many I can make.”

  Blue sat in the kitchen talking to Cory while she washed the berries and measured them in a measuring cup. “I guess I’m making four pies,” she said. “Uncle Micah will be happy.”

  While Cory bustled around the kitchen, measuring and mixing and assembling the pies, Blue sat at the table reading The Fey Express out loud to her. She had put the pies in the oven and was washing the mixing bowl when there was a ruckus in front of the house.

  “Now what?” said Cory. “I wonder which guild it is this time.”

  “You stay here while I go look,” Blue told her as he got to his feet.

  Cory dried her hands and waited, growing increasingly impatient. When she couldn’t wait any longer, she went into the front room to peek out the window. Blue and her uncle were standing by the street, talking to a gang of ogres on solar cycles. Worried, Cory hurried out the front door and down the steps.

  “Is everything all right?” she asked Blue.

  He nodded and grinned. “Everything is fine.” Glancing from the ogres to Cory, he said in a loud voice, “Cory, these are some of my friends. I’ll tell you all their names later. Fellas, this is Cory, the love of my life.”

  “Hey, Cory!” the ogres called in their deep, rumbling voices.

  “The guys were riding by when they saw my cycle parked here,” Blue told her. “They stopped to ask if I’d be interested in playing at a party they’re planning. I said I’d be happy to, if I could bring you along. Your uncle wants to go, too. Are you interested?”

  Cory glanced at the ogres. Although they were all seated on their cycles, they looked huge. Unlike Blue who was half ogre, they were full-blooded and at least a head taller. Cory thought they were scary-looking and intimidating, but they were Blue’s friends, so she should get to know them. She bit her lip and nodded. “Of course I’ll go,” she told him. “As long as Zephyr isn’t playing somewhere at the same time. Say, I have an idea. Why don’t you invite them to come sit on the front porch? The pies are almost ready and they can each have a piece.”

  “Are you sure?” Blue asked, glancing at his friends who were laughing and joking with Micah. “They can be a little rowdy.”

  “I’m sure,” said Cory. “I’ll get the plates. ”

  “Don’t bother with forks,” Blue called after her. “Ogres don’t use them. ”

  Cory counted the ogres on the cycles, then hurried inside to check the pies and get everything ready. The voices outside grew louder as the ogres moved onto the porch. After pouring enough glasses of milk for everyone, she took the pies out of the oven and cut them up. When she was done, two pie pans were empty. Carrying a tray loaded down with pie, Cory hurried back out. Blue and Micah helped her pass the plates around, and she was soon inside getting the rest.

  The ogres loved her pies. “This is the best pie I’ve ever eaten,” three or four ogres told her.

  “This is the only pie I’ve ever eaten!” announced an ogre with a mustache that covered his mouth down to his chin.

  An ogre with one eyebrow and a short pug nose was sitting on the floor, yet his head was almost as high as Cory’s. “I’ll have to get your recipe!” he said.

  The other ogres laughed when they heard this. “You’ve never cooked a thing in your life, Beetle Brow!” one shouted.

  “I might start after this,” he said, and gave Cory a shy smile.

  When the ogres finished their pie, they all licked their plates clean. Cory didn’t say anything, but Blue must have noticed the expression on her face because he leaned closer to whisper in her ear, “Ogres always lick the plate if they really like the food.”

  “I suppose there are a lot of things I’ll have to learn about ogres,” Cory whispered back, and began collecting the plates and empty milk glasses.

  “We need to go, fellas,” Blue told his friends. “We’ve been invited somewhere for dinner.”

  “Thanks for the pie!” said Beetle Brow, and a chorus of ogre voices echoed him.

  The ogres left then, talking about how much they liked the pie. Blue carried the tray of empty plates and glasses to the kitchen and helped Cory wash them. When they were finished, Cory hurried to change her clothes.

  After locking the door, Micah became small and flew off while Blue strapped the pie they were taking to the back of his solar cycle and gave Cory a ride to her grandparents’.

  Cory’s grandmother was slightly less grumpy than usual when they arrived, and even managed a smile when they walked in the door. Seeing the pie in Cory’s hands, she took it from her and handed it to Cory’s grandfather, saying, “Go find someplace to put this thing. I suppose you want us to eat it with dinner, Cory. Didn’t it occur to you that I might have made dessert myself?”

  “Uh,” Cory began.

  “Well, I didn’t! We’ll eat your pie if we still have room in our stomachs after we eat the big meal I spent all day making. Oh, Micah. I see you’re here, too. Why don’t you go help your father in the kitchen? You can ruin dinner together.”

  As Micah left the room, shaking his head, his mother stepped back to take a good, long look at Blue. “Aren’t you a big one! Got any troll blood in you?”

  “No, ma’am,” said Blue. “Ogre.”

  “That’s what I thought!” Cory’s grandmother replied. “I’ve known a lot of ogres in my day. My dentist was an ogre. Come in and have a seat. Dinner is almost ready. I’m glad you could take the time from your busy schedules to stop by. I’ve been wanting to meet Cory’s young man. Micah tells me that you two are madly in love. Is Blue your real name or your favorite color?”

  “It’s my name, ma’am. Johnny Blue. ”

  “Peculiar name, but then you are part ogre.”

  “Grandmother,” said Cory. “Dinner smells wonderful. Can Blue and I help in the kitchen?”

  “Is that your way of telling me that you want to eat now? Because if it is . . . Do I smell something burning? Clayton? Did you check the casserole?” she called, hustling out of the room.

  “I’m sorry about my grandmother, Blue,” Cory told him. “She can be a little hard to take.”

  “She’s exactly the way I pictured her from your description,” Blue said. “Believe me, I’ve met worse.”

  There was a knock on the door and Cory went to open it. She was speechless when her mother walked into the house.

  “Did I hear someone knock?” her grandmother asked, hurrying back into the room with Blue and Cory’s grandfather right behind her. “Delphinium, what are you doing here? I specifically sent you a message today to tell
you not to come by because Cory and her young man were coming over for dinner. Oh, and your brother’s here, too.”

  “I came to see my daughter,” Delphinium said. She sighed when her mother tried to push her out the door. “I’m not leaving yet, Mother, so stop trying to make me. Cory, you cannot testify tomorrow. The Tooth Fairy Guild has been good to us and you have no right to destroy it.”

  “I’m not destroying anything, Mother. I just want them to stop trying to order people around. I had every right to quit the TFG, just as I have every right to testify against them!”

  “I warned you before about going against the guild, and look where it got you!” her mother declared, her face turning red.

  “It got me my freedom, Mother! I’ll never regret what I did.”

  “You will if you go to that courthouse to testify!” Delphinium declared.

  “Stop pushing me, Mother! I’m leaving.”

  “You’ve been warned, Cory. Don’t say I never tried to help you.”

  “Do you know of a threat against her?” Blue asked as Delphinium turned toward the door.

  Delphinium paused with her hand on the doorknob long enough to say, “I know I don’t want to have any more to do with her if she testifies tomorrow! If you go to that courthouse, you are no longer my daughter, Corialis!”

  As the door slammed behind her, Blue told Cory, “Wow, you have a very dramatic mother!”

  “She loves making threats and acting like she’s doing me a favor,” Cory said, dropping into a chair.

  “Are you still going to testify tomorrow?” asked Micah.

  “Of course,” said Cory. “I’ll be helping to put the guilds in their place and getting my mother to leave me alone. It can’t get any better than that!”

  CHAPTER

  18

  Blue arrived at the house the next morning just as Cory was finishing her breakfast. Micah invited him to join them for a slice of berry pie. “I’m glad you’re taking her to the courthouse,” he told Blue. “I don’t trust the guilds to let her say her piece.”

  “I don’t, either,” said Blue. “That’s why I have some of my friends waiting outside to escort us there. I’ve heard some ugly rumors about threats against Cory.”

  Micah’s brow creased in worry. “Cory, I can take off work today and go with you, too, if you’d like.”

  “That’s all right,” Cory told him. “I’m sure I’ll be fine with Blue there. And his friends. Who are they, some of the officers from the station?”

  Blue shook his head and laughed. “Even better. I’ll have to take a rain check on that pie. Cory, are you almost ready?”

  “As soon as I get my shoes on,” she told him, and headed for her room. When she came out, he was waiting by the front door, talking to her uncle. They stopped when they saw her, so she was sure they were talking about the rumors.

  Cory stepped onto the porch and glanced at the street. Instead of the FLEA officers that she’d expected, thirteen ogres riding solar cycles were lined up in the road. They all wore identical leather jackets with bloody troll skulls pictured on the back, and troll-skull-shaped helmets on their heads. If Cory hadn’t met them the day before, she might have been frightened. As it was, she was grateful that they were there.

  She followed Blue to his cycle and put on the helmet he handed her. It was a normal helmet, without any spikes or horns, just like the one Blue wore. When they started down the road, his friends took up positions around them, making her feel like some sort of important person under FLEA escort, only safer.

  It took them nearly twenty minutes to reach the courthouse. A lot of people stared as they passed, but no one tried to stop them. When they arrived at the courthouse, Blue’s friends got off their cycles and escorted them inside. Once they reached the guards by the door, Cory and Blue thanked the ogres, who then left, talking about where they could go for brunch.

  “It was very nice of your friends to do that,” Cory told Blue.

  He shrugged and said, “They like you and they’re hoping you’ll bring your pie to the party. Look, there’s Lionel. Why don’t you talk to him while I see how long it will be before you have to go in?”

  Cory started down the corridor to where her grandfather was talking to a little man with a round head and an equally round belly. She wondered if the man was the well-known Judge R. J. Dumpty, Humpty’s father. When she got closer, she saw that they were so intent on their conversation that she didn’t want to interrupt. She was waiting for them to finish talking when she heard a voice call, “Cory!” and saw Rina seated on a bench with her parents.

  Cory smiled and took a seat beside the little girl, who seemed so excited to see her. “Hi, Rina! What are you doing here?” she asked, but it was Minerva Diver who answered.

  “Rina’s powers are too much for her to handle, and nothing we do seems to make a difference. We’ve been ordered here to talk to an officer of the court to see what can be done before she causes any more accidents.”

  “It wasn’t my fault!” said Rina. “I didn’t ask the water at the ballet to come to me. It just did it, all on its own.”

  When Rina’s mother gave the little girl a skeptical look, Cory hurried to say, “I may be able to help. My band was asked to play at a wedding at Misty Falls. I met the Head Water Nymph there. She’s the most powerful water nymph around. I don’t know if you’ve heard of her, but her name is Serelia Quirt. I mentioned Rina to her, and she’s interested in taking her on as a student, and possibly an intern. It would mean that Rina would have to live at Misty Falls, but—”

  “I have heard of her! She wrote the book on being a water nymph,” Minerva explained.

  “I’m rereading it right now,” said the little girl’s father.

  “When I spoke to her, she said she was going to see if she could get someone to fill in for her so she could come meet you and Rina. I think Serelia could be a big help, if you’re interested.”

  Rina’s parents looked at each other, then they both turned to Cory. “Oh, we’re interested, all right!” said her mother.

  “Then tell the court official about Serelia,” said Cory. “I’m sure it would help to go into a meeting like this with some sort of plan.”

  “Mr. and Mrs. Diver, we’re ready for you now,” a FLEA officer said from an open doorway. “Judge Larkin would like to meet with you first before Rina comes in.”

  “You stay here on the bench, Rina, and we’ll come get you in a few minutes,” said her father.

  “I can stay with you until my name is called,” Cory told Rina.

  “I’d like that,” the little girl said, her face lighting up. “Are you really in a band?”

  Cory was telling her about Zephyr and its members when there was a loud bang! and pop! and the window at the end of the corridor blew in. Shattered glass covered the floor when men dressed all in black poured through the opening. The two guards who had been in the corridor drew stun sticks while more guards erupted from the rooms.

  “Cory!” Rina screamed as the men started fighting the guards.

  Three of the black-cloaked figures turned toward them then, forcing their way past the fighting men. Before Cory knew what was happening, they had hauled her away from Rina and were dragging her down the corridor.

  “Stay there, Rina!” Cory screamed when the little girl got to her feet.

  The loud squeal of bending pipes and the crack! as they broke made everyone stop to look around. Cory kicked one of the kidnappers in the knee, knocking his leg out from under him so that he let go of her. She was struggling to get away from the others when water gushed from broken pipes, punched holes in the walls, and poured down from newly opened gaps in the ceiling. The men holding Cory struggled to keep their grips, but the water beat at them relentlessly. They finally had to let go so they could turn away and protect their faces.

  The water thundered out of the pipes in unending streams that focused on the figures in black. After the initial watery onslaught, the FLEA officers were able to
drive the attackers back, forcing them into a corner where they were quickly rounded up as the water became a trickle before stopping altogether.

  “Rina, that was all you, wasn’t it?” Cory asked, wiping her wet hair back from her face.

  The little girl smiled and nodded just as her parents pushed past the officer who was blocking the door. “This time I did do it on purpose.”

  While Rina’s parents fussed over their daughter, Lionel and Blue came hurrying down the corridor. “Are you all right?” Lionel asked as Blue picked her up to hug her.

  “I’m fine, just a little wet. Did you see what happened? Rina saved me! Could you tell Judge Larkin that she was the one who stopped the men who were trying to kidnap me?” she asked her grandfather.

  Lionel beamed at the little girl. “I’d be happy to! Thank you very much, Rina. That was quick thinking!”

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t with you when this happened, Cory,” Blue said, taking her aside. “I thought you’d be safe inside the courthouse. I never would have left you if I’d thought otherwise.”

  “It’s not your fault,” Cory told him. “No one could have imagined that the guilds would be as brazen as this. I wish I could hear what those men say when the FLEA officers question them.”

  “They probably won’t say much. Guild enforcers like those men never do,” said Blue. “The timing is terrible, but are you ready to testify now?”

  “Yes, please. I want to get this over with as soon as possible!”

  Three men and three women waited in the room where Cory was taken; one of the men was her grandfather Lionel. She told them what the guild had done from the time she sent the note saying that she was quitting, to the moment the black-suited men were taken into custody in the courthouse corridor. Most of the people listening to her took notes, including her grandfather, who had heard much of it before. When she was finished, a guard escorted her back to the corridor where Blue was waiting.