by Susan Harper
It was a small room with a single desk and two sets of bunkbeds. Each bunk was decorated by the girls who shared the room in their own special way. One had a bunch of Wysteria Werewolves posters, another was lined entirely with books, one looked like the color pink had thrown up on the bunk, and the last one was decorated with star charts. “Which bunk is yours?” Monica asked.
Abigail pointed to the books. “I got those from Mona’s shop when Sister Celia took me to town last week. I had earned an allowance working extra time in the kitchen here, and I spent all my money on books.”
Monica smirked. She glanced into the bunk and saw a number of books on potion-work. “I thought you didn’t care for potion-work?”
“But you do,” Abigail said sweetly. “I thought it would be something for us to talk about next time you came here.”
“How did you know I would be coming back?” Monica asked.
Abigail twiddled with her fingers. “Because if you didn’t, I’d miss you too much.”
“I’ve really missed you too, you know?” Monica said. “I miss my smart-alecky little sidekick.”
Abigail smirked at her. “You and I both know you were my sidekick.”
Monica laughed. “Gosh, I’ve missed you, Abs.”
Abigail beamed brightly up at her. “You called me Abs! You haven’t called me that since Salem!”
Monica nodded. “You want to get out of here?”
“Like, go to dinner or something?” Abigail asked.
“Like, come home, Abs,” Monica said. “Look, you can’t be my familiar anymore, you’re a witch again. But if it’s what you want, you can come home with me.”
Abigail’s little eyes started to water. “Come home with you?”
“Yes,” Monica said. “I talked to Sister Celia. I can adopt you, and you can come live with me in Bankstown. It would be really different, though. You’d have to go to a mortal school. We’d come to Wysteria all the time, of course. I know how you feel about living in the mortal world, so you have to think about that before you—”
Abigail evidently didn’t need to think. She bolted at her, her little arms wrapping around Monica’s waist and squeezing the very life out of her. “Yes,” Abigail pleaded. “I want to go home. I want to go home with you. I’ve missed you, Monica. I’ve missed Holly and Isaac! Even Brian! I’ve missed Bankstown. I’ll go to a mortal school. I’ll never do magic again if you don’t want me to.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Monica said. “Of course you can still do magic, Abs!” Monica knelt in front of Abigail. “You’re my best friend, you know that?”
Abigail was wiping tears from her eyes. “You’re mine too.”
“Then let’s get you home, what do you say?” Monica asked, and Abigail nodded excitedly.
Monica knew this was going to change things. This wasn’t like bringing home a talking cat with a grown woman’s mind. This was a child, but this child was that same snarky little feline she had known most of her life. Monica couldn’t think of a better way to repay Abigail for their friendship than by signing those adoption papers. They packed her a bag and skipped off together to find Sister Celia, laughing and picking fun at one another the entire way.
A Magical Ending
Back Room Bookstore Cozy Mystery, Book 12
1
Monica Montoya woke up with a start. She was still getting used to the concept of alarm clocks despite having been living in the mortal world for over a year. Plus, this morning, she’d had to set the thing much earlier than normal. “Why…” she groaned. It was still dark out, and in her confused state, she could not for the life of her recall why she had elected to set her alarm so early. But then it hit her. School. She had to get her child, her newly-adopted child, ready for her first day of school.
Monica jumped out of bed and bolted out of the bedroom. Thanks to her much more magical twin sister, Mona, a second room had been added onto the cottage, and she crept by the new door carefully, not wanting to wake up Abigail just yet. Unlike herself, Abigail hadn’t quite gotten used to mortal food, so she got to work putting together a witch’s brew over the fire. Not being particularly good with a wand, this meant Monica had to do all this by hand—chopping the vegetables and goat meat and pouring in the swamp muck that went into a typical breakfast-style witch’s brew. She assumed Abigail was going to have to force down her lunch, which was going to be a very typical mortal sack lunch, so she wanted to make sure she was well-fed that morning.
Once the brew was set and bubbling, Monica hurried to make the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which she placed inside a brown bag that she had decorated with little doodles of black cats in permanent marker. Monica hoped Abigail found this to be entertaining and not insulting. Her relationship with Abigail had changed drastically overnight. The little witch was really Abigail Williams, one of the only real witches to come out of Salem, Massachusetts, during the witch trials. She had been caught by the Sorcerer’s Council and turned into a cat, sentenced to spend five hundred years as a familiar to unnatural witches such as Monica. However, the modern-day council had at last determined that she had served enough time. They had turned the grown cat familiar into a little girl of twelve years old. This had resulted in a number of changes in Abigail apart from the obvious physical change. Her mind had changed a bit as well. She was still sassy as ever, but she hardly had the mind and emotional range of a grown woman. She was a twelve-year-old girl physically, mentally, and emotionally but with several generations of life experience.
Monica and her former familiar had had a brief falling out, but that was behind them now. She had adopted Abigail and brought her home to their cottage in the mortal town of Bankstown. The breakfast brew was ready, so she asked the security ghoul that haunted the cottage to get Abigail out of bed, which he did with great enthusiasm. Abigail came storming out of the bedroom, soaking wet, with a scowl on her face. “You could have just woken me up yourself instead of asking that stupid thing,” Abigail snarled. “I know I don’t look like a cat anymore, but after serving over three hundred years as one, a few things are lingering. Like hating water…”
Monica tried not to laugh. “Sorry, Abs. I didn’t know he was going to dump water on you.”
She placed a bowl in front of her, and Abigail’s eyes glistened. She hopped up on the barstool, pulling the bowl closer. “Breakfast brew!” she said enthusiastically. “Thanks!” She ate quickly and asked for seconds.
“Slow down,” Monica said. “You don’t want to make yourself sick on your first day of school, do you?”
Abigail cringed. “ Ugh…mortal school… I almost forgot…”
Monica smiled. “Be nice. And…give me your wand.”
“Excuse me?” Abigail said, gripping at her nightgown where Monica was sure the wand was hidden.
“You heard me,” Monica said. “I don’t want you to be tempted. You can’t be performing magic at school surrounded by mortals, and I know you well enough to know that that will be a serious temptation. You can have it back when you get to the shop this afternoon.”
“But… Monica! No…” Abigail grumbled. “I just got my wand back after—”
“Yes, I know, after spending three hundred and twenty-six years as a cat,” Monica said. “But I know how you are. You can’t help yourself.”
“What about Morganna?” Abigail asked, and Monica cringed slightly.
Yes, Morganna. That was a pretty serious concern of theirs. Monica’s friend Holly, a mortal-raised Ibeji twin, had at last discovered the identity of her birth mother. And it turned out to be an evil sorceress from the Arthurian age who had somehow managed to extend her life by thousands of years. Morganna had already targeted Holly’s adopted mom, Bonnie, and her stepmother, Norah. She also had Holly’s powerful Ibeji twin sister Grace working with her, which only added to the danger they were all in. They knew Morganna had started a group known as Remembrance, a group whose sole purpose was terrorizing non-wizards and creating a hierarchy in their society i
n which other mystics were far below wizards, and mortals were considered mere animals. To make matters worse, she was still lurking around with some plot they knew very little about.
“Morganna has no reason to go after you,” Monica said, though she wasn’t so sure. While they didn’t think Morganna knew that her former ward was still alive and well, she couldn’t be certain. “Abigail, did you… And tell me the truth… Back when you were helping Morganna start up Remembrance, did you know who she was?”
“No,” Abigail swore. “I knew she was powerful, but I didn’t know she was Morgan Le Faye.”
Monica nodded and sighed. “Okay, I think you’re right. You should keep your wand on you. But you cannot—and I mean it, Abs—you cannot perform magic at school or let anyone see that wand. Do you understand?”
Abigail nodded. “I promise. It’s only for emergencies.”
“Real emergencies,” Monica specified, and Abigail nodded again.
“I promise,” Abigail said, slurping down the rest of her brew.
“And don’t forget that after school when you get to the shop, get going on your homework right away,” Monica said. “Holly is going to take you back to her cabin after the shop closes.”
“That’s right,” Abigail said. “I forgot you and Officer Pretty Boy have a date tonight.”
Monica smirked, picking up hints of the Abigail she had grown up knowing. The one with the smart mouth. “Yes,” Monica said. “Now go get ready for school.”
Abigail, unlike Monica, was very gifted with a wand. She took the lazy way out, waving her wand over her head and muttering a quick incantation. Her hair was instantly cleaned, combed, and pulled up in a ponytail. She was dressed in a black dress and matching shoes. Monica shook her head. “Get rid of the black nails and eyeliner,” Monica said. “You’re an elementary school kid. Not a goth teenager.”
“But this is the way I always dress,” Abigail said.
“You have to blend in here, Abigail,” Monica said. “You’re lucky I’m letting you keep the black dress. I could make you wear a pink t-shirt with a unicorn on it.”
Abigail cringed. “Fine,” she said, and she removed the makeup and black nails. Monica made her put a colorful pink bow in her hair and a matching bracelet to give her some color so she didn’t look too witchy. Much to Abigail’s dismay, they had to drive to school on Monica’s motorcycle—which was really her broom that could transfigure—as opposed to flying. Abigail sat in the sidecar, muttering about mortal transportation most of the way.
Monica saw her off to school, feeling slightly nervous. She hoped Abigail could flourish here in Bankstown in her new role. Monica headed off to the shop where she and her friend Holly got the bookstore ready to go for the day. Holly set up the small barista station and wiped down the back counter while Monica straightened up books and did a bit of restocking. They didn’t bring up Morganna, which made for a more relaxing day because that had been all their group of friends had been able to talk about for weeks. Holly was clearly ready to pull her hair out over the subject, so it was nice having a Morganna-free workday.
Before Monica knew it, the school day was over. The bus dropped Abigail off at the shop, where she sat at a little work bench to get going on her homework. “How was it?” Monica asked her hopefully.
Abigail shrugged. “It was okay. I liked my teacher, Mrs. Pike. She was nice. I met this girl in my class named Katie; she taught me how to play hopscotch. She was really surprised I didn’t know how to play that game.”
“Maybe I should find Abigail a book on children’s games?” Holly suggested. “I mean, she probably grew up playing really different games than what kids today play.”
“Yeah, Abigail grew up in the sixteen-hundreds in Salem, and she’s a witch,” Monica said. “Doubt she has even heard of jump-rope.”
“I saw some kids playing that today,” Abigail said. “I didn’t really get the point of the game.”
Holly laughed and promised to get Abigail some books that would help her blend in a bit better at school. Soon, the day was ending. Brian arrived at the shop to take Monica on their date, and Abigail happily remained behind with Holly, her evening’s babysitter.
This was the first remotely normal date she and Brian had had in a while. He took her out to a simple burger joint in Bankstown where the two of them laughed about their picture that hung on the wall where Brian had won a burger-eating contest after accidentally ingesting way too much of a confidence potion Monica had made for him. It had sort of been a first date, if you could call it that, but Monica loved coming there to remind him of his embarrassing evening high on confidence potion.
He nodded up at the picture as they started their burgers, shaking his head. “Hard to believe that was almost a year ago,” he said.
“I know, right?” Monica said, laughing at her own photograph. She looked embarrassed and humiliated in the picture while Brian was beaming proudly with food all over his face. It had been both a terrible and hilarious day. “This past year has been really crazy.”
“Yeah,” Brian laughed. “But you know what? I wouldn’t change it. I love the craziness. I really do. I love you.”
Monica blushed. “I love you too, Brian.”
“How are things going with Abigail?” he asked.
“So far so good,” Monica said. “I didn’t exactly plan to become a mom to a twelve-year-old overnight, but I’m making it work.”
“You’re incredible,” he said. “I know you must have a lot on your mind right now. Suddenly becoming a mom like that. I don’t suppose you’ve thought much on where I’m going to fall into all of this, have you?”
“Where do you want to?” Monica asked.
Brian smiled. “I’ve been thinking about my future a lot lately. I know one thing for sure: I want you in it. And I’m happy if that includes Abigail. I hope that makes her happy too.”
Monica smiled. “I think it would. You really grew on her, you know?”
Brian laughed. “I hope so. Man, she hated me at first, didn’t she?”
“She hated mortals,” Monica said. “I think you had a lot to do with changing that.”
They talked a lot about their future that evening, but their conversation eventually drifted into other matters. For instance, the upcoming Romp-A-Roo game that Brian would be playing in. He was on the Wysteria Werewolves team, and for the first time ever, Monica’s home team would be going to finals. She hoped Brian’s team could bring home their first gold.
2
Monica knew she was dreaming, yet she remained fully committed to the memory swirling around in her head. Allowing herself to forget for a moment that this was a moment of the past. She was seeing her parents. She hadn’t thought much about them in a long time. Maybe suddenly taking on this new role as a mom was what had brought this on? She couldn’t be sure, but it was still lovely seeing their faces. They tucked her in bed, and her sister Mona was in the little twin bed across the room from her. Mona was secretly playing with her wand under the covers; Monica could see the light. She thought about getting her wand out to play too, but she knew that would be risky. Her spell-work was worse then than it was now, and chances were she would shoot off some sort of noisy spell by mistake, so she pretended to be asleep.
Just when she was starting to close her eyes, there was a blinding, explosive light. When she opened her eyes again, she and her sister were sprawled out on the ground in front of their house inside a protective bubble. Her sister—though young—had managed to cast a spell just in the nick of time, shielding them from the blast but shooting them through the window and into the yard. Monica felt pain in her leg; a bit of glass from the window had gotten her. Mona lowered her wand, and the purplish shield around them vanished.
Slowly, Monica drew her eyes up toward the enormous fire that had completely engulfed their house. Mona was crying, though nowhere near as hysterically as Monica. Where were her mom and dad? Colorful smoke filled the air, letting she and Mona both know that this
was the work of some sort of potion gone haywire.
She jolted awake, her face covered with sweat. She was panting slightly, and she clutched her chest. Her alarm clock had woken her up, thankfully, from that nightmare. “What in the world…” she muttered, trying to remember the last time she’d had a nightmare about the night her parents died. The last time she had one this real, she must have still been a child.
Brushing it aside, Monica pulled herself out of bed. She got to work on breakfast and preparing a sack lunch for Abigail, who happily ate and had Monica look over her homework from the night before. Monica elected not to say anything to Abigail about the nightmare and just dropped her off at school. There were more children in the schoolyard that morning, which meant more kids saw Abigail being dropped off via motorcycle, earning her a bit of cool points with the other children.
By the time Monica arrived at Backroom Books, she had hoped her nerves would have settled, but they hadn’t. She was still a bit on edge from her dream. Holly noticed her jumpy behavior and finally managed to draw it out of her that she’d had a nightmare about her parents. “Why don’t you go talk to Mona?” she suggested. “You never really talk much about what happened to your parents. I know it must have been traumatizing. Who could understand that better than your twin?”
“I don’t want to put her through thinking about all of that,” Monica said.
“She’s your sister,” Holly said. “She would want to know that it’s bothering you.”
Monica sighed, supposing that Holly was right. She left Holly to finish with getting the shop prepped for the day and headed to the supply closet behind the back counter. The supply closet was actually a portal to the mystic world; the shop sat right on the portal. When she stepped into the closet, there was a flash of light, and she came out in Mona’s side of Backroom Books.
