by Amy Boyles
Cordelia pulled away and laughed in embarrassment. “Now then,” Betty said. “If you two lovebirds are finished with your fighting, I’d like to get back to work.”
Cordelia and Garrick separated, each returning to their positions in the room. I squeezed her hand, and Amelia gave her a quick hug.
“I knew it would work out,” Amelia said.
Cordelia sniffled. “I always hoped so.”
Amelia and I shot each other skeptical looks but said nothing.
I folded my hands. “Now then, if y’all are ready to proceed. Let’s figure out a plan to catch this bird.”
Amelia clapped lightly. “I have the perfect idea.”
I flattened my hands on the table. “Great. Lay it on us.”
Chapter 17
We planned an ambush. It was smart, I thought, if not extremely difficult sounding. How could it be done? Birds had such keen eyesight.
There in itself lay the challenge. Luckily we came up with a way to get around that. And even more luckily, Grumpy looked exactly like a bush when you put him close enough to shrubbery.
“Grumpy,” I said while patting his shoulder, “you must sit really still. When the crow lands on your leg, I need you to capture it. Okay?”
Grumpy sat just off Bubbling Cauldron, his legs and torso camouflaged by dried leaves we’d found.
“Understand,” he said without emotion. I couldn’t tell if Grumpy liked the idea or if he was simply humoring me.
“How are you going to get the crow to land?” Cordelia asked.
I pulled a piece of tin foil from my pocket. Crows liked shiny objects. I figured this along with some sunflower seeds should do the trick.
“And where will we be?” Amelia asked.
I pointed in front of Familiar Place. “Sitting on that bench. Hopefully our presence along with the object and seed will be enough to attract the crow.”
I directed my attention back to Grumpy. “Catch it in your hands. As soon as you do, I’ll bring over this.” I revealed a bird cage that Betty had fixed so that magic couldn’t be worked inside it. “Just in case the crow has power that it can use to escape,” Betty had explained.
I pointed to it. “Grumpy, put the crow in here and we’ll take it back to Betty. Okay?”
Grumpy grunted, which I took to mean that he understood. “We’ll just be over there.” I pointed to the bench. “We won’t stay out all day. An hour tops, okay?”
Grumpy grunted again. He was a good creature to do this, I thought.
My cousins and I retreated to the bench. Betty, Axel and Garrick were still busy coming up with a plan to infiltrate Misery’s lair. While they were doing that, my cousins and I figured the least we could do was catch the crow.
I knew that catching the bird would give us leverage when it came to Misery—I was sure of it.
I just had to prove it.
We sat on the bench and stared in Grumpy’s direction. He really did blend in almost perfectly with the surroundings. So much so that I was pretty confident that a crow wouldn’t notice him. At least not until it was too late.
I draped a cloth over the cage and set it beside the bench. No way was I going to let the bird see the cage. If it did, that stinker would no doubt think something was up.
Crows are smart, y’all.
So we had to be smarter.
That was the plan. Hopefully it would work. But anyway, the three of us watched Grumpy. It was so quiet I could hear our breathing.
This wouldn’t work. We had to be natural. Had to act like we were just hanging out talking.
“Don’t you think it’s weird that Grumpy seriously looks like a combination of what the two of y’all did to each other the other day?” I said.
Cordelia frowned. “If I ever look like that again, please shoot me.”
I nudged her with my elbow. “I think someone’s being a bit dramatic.”
She shrugged. “I can’t help it. Do you know who my grandmother is?”
Amelia snorted. “Ain’t that the truth? But anyway, I just hope we get this over with. To be honest, I’m afraid to sleep at night.”
I’d been feeling that way, too. I wrapped an arm over her shoulder. “I know. But it seems like once your dream comes true, then maybe you’re not involved anymore.”
“I don’t think that’s the case,” Cordelia said. “Betty dreamed about all of us. Remember the cabin?”
I grimaced. “That’s right. And Axel…”
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to reveal his dream to them.
“What about Axel?” Amelia prodded.
“Well,” I said reluctantly, “he dreamed that he attacked me. In his werewolf form.”
Cordelia cringed. “That’s not good. It still involves you in another dream. Even though it was someone else’s.”
I nodded. “And I know Carmen dreamed that Rufus goes all evil again.”
“Again?” Amelia rolled her eyes. “Haven’t we had enough of Rufus going bad? I mean, he’s good. Let’s just keep him that way, all right?”
I laughed. “I know. It’s like the poor guy can’t catch a break.”
“No, it’s more like Magnolia Cove can’t catch a break,” Cordelia corrected. “From anything. We’ve had the Order appear, the town was all upside down not long ago, and now we’re cursed to live out our nightmares. I’ve just about had enough.”
“Well, if you move,” Amelia said, “I’m going with you. Anywhere you go. I don’t care.”
Cordelia laughed quietly. “I’m not going anywhere. Don’t worry. But it is annoying sometimes.”
Amelia nodded. “It is.” She paused. “I called Sherman.”
My eyebrows shot to peaks at that. Sherman Oaks was Amelia’s boyfriend. He was leader of the Head Witch Order and a bit goofy. Sort of a bumbling wizard, but an all-round good guy.
We hadn’t seen much of him because work kept Sherman very, very busy.
“Is he coming?” I asked.
She nodded. “Betty said Garrick and his men might need even more power to stop Misery. So I called Sherman and he said he’d come for sure. I don’t know if he’s bringing any of the Order with him.”
“It’ll be good to see him,” I said. “Won’t it?”
Amelia’s face split into a smile. “It will.” She tugged her hair. “Is my hair growing? I’m trying to get it longer. You know, so that Sherman feels he’s dating a more girlie girl.”
I smirked. “I’m pretty sure Sherman thought you were a girlie girl with your hair in its pixie cut. But yes, it’s growing out nicely.”
“Okay good.”
We sat in silence for a minute, and then something happened. I heard the wind kick up. Leaves fluttered against Grumpy and I feared that his camouflage might fly away, but luckily it didn’t.
As the wind increased, something dark floated straight toward him.
I held my breath and watched as the crow landed softly on Grumpy’s knee, clearly attracted to the foil and seeds.
Amelia sucked air. “Is that it?”
The bird cocked an eye toward us as if it had heard our conversation. My heart jumped and I wondered for a moment if we’d blown our chance, if the crow was on to us and would scatter in a flurry of feathers.
But it didn’t.
The creature eyed the foil before pecking at it. This was it. The bird had relaxed enough that Grumpy could get it.
I held my breath and waited for the ogre to make his move. The crow hopped another couple of steps up Grumpy’s leg. It opened it beak to take the foil in its mouth.
In a great flutter of leaves, Grumpy clamped his hands around the bird. The crow squawked and cawed.
I leaped up and grabbed the cage.
I flung a thought to the bird. Calm down. We won’t hurt you.
But the crow was terrorized. It started pecking at Grumpy. I rushed to his side and flung the cage forward.
The bird glared at me. Yes, it glared. I’d never had an animal glare at me quite like that. But I sw
ear the crow’s eyes were full of anger.
It released a loud squawk and gave Grumpy a hard peck on the hand.
“Ouch,” Grumpy yelled. His hold on the crow slipped.
“Don’t let it get away!”
My cousins and I reached for the bird, scrambling to catch it. Cordelia even threw a stream of magic at it, yet the crow effortlessly slipped from our fingers and launched into the sky, out of reach.
Before we could come up with a Plan B, the bird disappeared into the trees.
I sighed. “How’s your hand, Grumpy?”
He held it up. “Tough.”
His skin did look tough. The bird’s beak hadn’t broken it, which was surprising how Grumpy had yelled.
I helped Grumpy to his feet and stared up at the sky. “Well, that crow isn’t going to be fooled so easily a second time,” I said. “What do we do now? I even tried talking to it, but I didn’t hear its thoughts.”
Cordelia tapped her chin. “You mean the bird doesn’t think?”
“No, I don’t believe it’s that.” I rubbed a worry crease that had formed between my brows. “Maybe its thoughts are shuttered to me or it doesn’t talk. You know some animals don’t. I can’t hear them.”
“I think that bird is smart,” Amelia said. “It gave you a dirty look, Pepper.”
I nodded. “I agree. So how do we outfox the fox?”
“Bird,” Grumpy corrected.
“Right, a bird,” I said. “How do we do that?”
Cordelia shook her head. “I have no idea. We’re not birds. We can’t fly, so it’s not as if we can keep up with it.”
“Technically we can fly,” Amelia said. “We have skillets.”
Cordelia scoffed. “You know what I mean.”
“Before this conversation disintegrates into a bunch of arguing,” I said, “let’s keep on track.” I pointed to the sky. “We need a way to catch that crow.”
“Easy,” Amelia said. “We all go after it.”
I stared at her, wondering exactly what that could mean. “I don’t understand.”
“Well, it flies, right? Do we have something that flies?”
Cordelia rubbed her lips together and shot me a triumphant smile. “I get it. I know exactly what she’s saying.”
The lightbulb went on in my head. “Hugo!”
“Right,” Amelia said. “We use Hugo to flush it out and then all of us surround it. Or maybe we don’t surround it, but we cut off all its options of escape.”
“Until we have it surrounded,” I said, circling back to her original idea.
She clapped my shoulder. “You are so smart, Pepper.”
I chuckled. “Not sure about that, but we must have a starting point. As of now, I’m not sure where to begin.”
“Well,” Cordelia offered, “you know the bird comes here, so this seems like a solid starting point. When does it usually show up?”
“In the mornings when I first arrive.”
Amelia rubbed her chin. “So we set up around here. Out of sight. Even Hugo. As soon as you see the bird, you call the dragon and we’ll come out of our hiding spots. We chase the bird until we have it surrounded and then”—she pointed to the cage—“we catch it. Simple as that.”
Cordelia frowned. “Why didn’t we do this today?”
Amelia shrugged. “Because I hadn’t come up with it.”
I had to admit it seemed a solid enough plan. With seven or eight of us chasing the bird, we should be able to surround it. Once surrounded, we capture and hold the crow, either for ransom or to get as much information out of it as possible.
A cold wind sliced through the air. I shivered. The only thing was, the plan wouldn’t be ready until tomorrow morning. Which meant we had one more night to endure. Another night of dreams, more ideas that could come to light. More possible nightmares to become horrible realities.
I studied Grumpy. He was one nightmare that had turned out okay. But the others? There was an entire town that could have been dreaming about me—nightmares where they attacked me or my family. There was no way I could keep myself safe from others’ thoughts. There was no protection until Misery called off the curse, and she wasn’t doing that anytime soon.
Which meant we had no choice but to catch that crow and see how it could help.
I stiffened and slowly nodded. “Tomorrow then. We’ll set up and this time we’ll catch that creature. We have to.”
Amelia cocked a questioning brow.
“Because,” I answered, “there are more nightmares to come. Most of them I don’t want to face.”
Chapter 18
Betty, Axel and Garrick’s endeavor hadn’t gone well, either. It was worse than the last time when Misery put up the shield of crows. This time they simply couldn’t find her house. The entire mountaintop had vanished into thin air.
Wow. I was impressed.
“I don’t understand why you said Misery wasn’t a decent witch,” I said to Betty. “That she was someone not to worry about, because clearly this woman can work some magic.”
Betty grumbled. “She must’ve gotten better. When I knew her before she wasn’t very good. Neither was her family. They were old but not intimidatingly powerful. She must’ve spent the last few years working on her magic and making herself better.”
A sad expression crossed her face. I gave my grandmother a squeeze. “It’s okay. People often surprise us. Sometimes we find these things out the hard way. Like now.”
I smirked. “Is there anyone else we should be inviting to the wedding? Any wizards or warlocks going to climb out of the cracks in the foundation or anything?”
Betty shook her head. “No. That should be it.”
“Okay, well let me tell you about our day.”
Over supper that night I told Betty, Axel and Garrick our plan to catch the crow in the morning. They all agreed it was a reasonable plan, which made Amelia feel good since it had been hers to begin with.
Just as dessert was being served the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it.”
I crossed the living room, fully expecting to see Sherman Oaks standing on the other side of the door, but I was surprised to see it was Mint and Licky.
“Pepper,” Mint said with flair, “we’re so glad to see you.”
“Just in time for supper, I see,” Licky said, licking her lips, no less.
“We’d love to join y’all,” Mint said.
“Don’t mind if we do,” Licky added.
My aunts sailed past me into the living room, beelining straight to the dining room table.
“Ah, peach cobbler. Our favorite,” Mint gushed. She magicked up a chair and sat. Licky did the same.
“And where’s the ice cream?” Licky said, sounding disappointed.
Betty pointed a spoon at them. “Don’t y’all be coming in here and causing some chaos to happen at my supper table. Y’all will be in for a world of hurt if that happens.”
Mint heaped a spoonful of cobbler onto a dessert plate. “That’s not why we’re here.”
“No,” Licky said, trying to reassure Betty. “We’re here to see how Pepper’s getting along with things. You know, it only being a few weeks till the wedding and all.”
I rolled my eyes. I had a feeling they weren’t completely here for that. They probably wanted to know about the dream catcher—how it was working on protecting me. Well, in my opinion it wasn’t.
“Actually I wanted to thank you again for the dream catcher,” I said. “It’s been interesting. You know I really like it.”
Total lie, but I wasn’t about to tell them I’d thrown the thing in the trash.
“The only thing is,” I added, “it doesn’t seem to be all that good at catching the bad dreams. I’ve had several doozies this week. I’m sure y’all have, too.”
“Er, yes, I guess I have,” Mint said, looking confused. She leaned forward and stared at me quizzically. “Did you say dream catcher?”
“Yes. The one you gave me as an early wedding present.”
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Mint and Licky exchanged a look. Then Licky waved her hand. “Oh, of course. The dream catcher. I completely remember now. We’ve had such a crazy week, what with a couple of our crazy dreams coming to life, that I’d forgotten all about it.”
I frowned. Not sure how they could have forgotten something like that, but they were a bit flaky, my aunts, so it wasn’t too far out of the realm of possibility.
Axel shot me a confused look. As if he was having a hard time buying that my aunts could be flakier than normal.
Was it possible?
Yes, it was, I said with my own look.
“What happened in your dreams?” Garrick asked.
Wrong question. My aunts went into a ten-minute story about a stray cat and a can of tuna fish. The cat apparently got angry that they gave it tuna and attacked them, chasing them down their block until they conjured up an actual live tuna and threw it at the cat.
Well, that scared the cat enough that it tucked tail and ran, essentially saving my aunts.
The story was actually quite funny and had all of us laughing. By the time they finished, Sherman Oaks had appeared. Betty made him a plate of food while Cordelia and I cleared the dishes.
I gave Amelia the night off from being grounded and helped in the kitchen. From the way her face lit up while she and Sherman talked, I knew my cousin appreciated it.
After dinner I went onto the porch. Grumpy had made himself a hammock from strips of bark that he’d woven together. He swayed back and forth, the moonlight splashing over his face.
He hadn’t wanted to eat with the rest of us, so I’d brought him some dinner beforehand, as well as dessert.
Axel joined me on the porch. “Your aunts are quite the characters.”
“You think so? I was going to see if they wanted to come live with us after we married.”
Axel blanched.
I squeezed his taut bicep. “Kidding.”
“Whew.”
“I asked Betty instead.”
He glared at me. “You wouldn’t dare.”
I laughed. “No, I would never.” My mind flitted back to our conversation at dinner. “But it was strange…my aunts, not Betty.”