Argentum (P.A.W.S. Book 2)

by Debbie Manber Kupfer

  “Okay,” said Miri.

  Miri followed Danny to his room. One of the perks of being Jessamyn’s son is that Danny didn’t have to share. Danny got out his scrying bowl, filled it with water and set in on the floor.

  “Why don’t you try, Miri?” said Danny, handing Miri his wand.

  “I’m a shapeshifter, I don’t scry,” said Miri.

  “You still have magic Miri. Take my wand.”

  He placed his wand in her hand. Instantly she felt its magic, coursing through the wand and combining with her own. Danny placed his hands over hers and guided her movements over the scrying bowl.

  “Think about Cynthia,” he said. “Picture her as you last saw her.”

  Miri thought back a few months ago, when she and Mandy were at the mall. That was the last time she’d seen Cynthia. She gasped. In the water, she clearly saw Cynthia and she was with a man she didn’t recognize. They were sitting in a restaurant eating bowls of soup, laughing together. Cynthia looked okay. Actually, she looked more than okay. She looked happy, happier than Miri ever remembered her looking.

  The man was considerably older than Cynthia and quite shabbily dressed, not at all the kind of friend Miri would have expected Cynthia to have. But Cynthia seemed relaxed and was enjoying every moment. Miri discovered that, with a little practice, she could control the view in the scrying bowl. She zoomed in on Cynthia’s face. Cynthia was wearing a lot of make-up, but nevertheless still visible was a recent wound on her cheek. It looked like a claw mark.

  “Look at that,” said Miri, pointing at the red blotch. “I think he attacked her, just like he did Tessa. That’s why she left.”

  “Do you know who the man is?” Danny asked.

  “No,” said Miri. “I’ve never seen him before.”

  They watched the couple eating and talking for a little longer, then Danny turned to Miri and asked, “Did you want to try and scry David?”

  Miri gulped. “I suppose I should.”

  She hadn’t seen her uncle in person for a long time, not since she’d been at P.A.W.S. Still, it was easy to picture him; his paunch, bald head, and fur jacket.

  The image that appeared in the scrying bowl hit her with a jolt. Gone was the brash uncle who thought he knew better. This man was obviously terrified. And Miri immediately understood his fear. She felt it deep inside her, even through the waters of the scrying bowl. Alistair was inside him. He had bonded with her uncle. It would do no good, she realized, to merely remove the chain, if it was even possible. David would never be whole again.

  Instantly, Miri broke the spell and the image of David disappeared from the water. She couldn’t be sure it wasn’t a two-way communication. Alistair was devious. Even after she had destroyed him, he’d found ways to retain his immortality; at least three that she knew about—through Max’s amulet, through the wolf boy they encountered in Indianapolis, and through the baby growing in Jenna’s belly.

  “I’m scared, Danny,” she said.

  Danny drew her into his arms and held her close.

  “It’s going to be all right,” he whispered into her hair.

  It was good to hear that, thought Miri, even if it wasn’t true.

  Chapter 43

  There were just a few days left of the school year. On Monday morning, Miri was sitting in Professor Ainsworth’s class trying to complete her final test of the year. She’d missed a lot of school in the last few weeks, what with everything that was going on, and was really scared she was going to flunk. She thought she’d gotten the science okay, and history wasn’t too bad, but her old nemesis, math, was rearing its ugly head now. She thought jealously of Danny and Josh, who no longer needed to go to morning classes.

  Her mind wandered away from the formulas on the paper. Professor Ainsworth looked like he was napping up high on his perch on the ceiling fan, probably dreaming about Thursday when he’d be free for the summer to fly home to his family in Florida.

  The new kid, Gordon Pugh, was staring out the window, bored. As they were deeply underground in P.A.W.S., there really shouldn’t have been windows. But when Jessamyn became principal of P.A.W.S., one of her first acts was to put enchanted windows in all the classrooms. The illusions from these windows varied, but often they would show scenes from Jessamyn’s childhood home in Ireland. Today’s scene was one such. It included rain pouring down in torrents over fields of tiny purple flowers.

  On Wednesday for summer solstice, there would be a dance. Miri was looking forward to it, looking forward to dancing with Danny. For one night, maybe they could pretend that they were normal teenagers with a fun summer ahead of them, instead of having to deal with an unstable uncle with a tendency to turn into a tiger-wolf monster at the drop of a hat.

  Miri glanced at the clock. Only two minutes left of the test. She scribbled in the last few numbers in the math section just before Professor Ainsworth swooped down from his perch and started gathering the papers.

  On Wednesday during lunch, Miri was sitting with Sandy, Sean, and Joey. Joey was going back to Australia for the summer to his family, though of course it would be winter there. He was looking forward to showing his friends all the neat tricks he had learned at P.A.W.S.

  “But don’t worry,” he said, “I’ll be back in the autumn.”

  Miri glanced over at a far table where Danny was talking with Josh. She noticed they were peering down at what seemed to be a napkin and Danny had his wand out and was muttering a spell. Miri ate her salad and tried to pay attention to Joey’s stories.

  Sandy nudged her.

  “Look, Miri.”

  Miri looked up from her plate and was astonished to see a blue butterfly fluttering toward her. As it got closer, she realized it had been fashioned out of a napkin. The butterfly landed on her plate in the middle of her salad and then unfolded itself. Written on it were the words:

  Mr. Daniel Frakes requests the pleasure of Miss Miriam Katz

  to accompany him to the Midsummer Ball

  on Wednesday June 21, 2006.

  Miri giggled and looked over at Danny, who bowed with a flourish. Miri attempted a curtsy in return.

  She left her salad and rushed up to her room to start getting ready. She spent a long time in the shower. Then she wrapped herself in a towel and returned to her bedroom to choose some clothes. Actually, there wasn’t so much choice. She basically had one blue dress that she’d bought with Mandy the day they had been at the mall. The rest of her wardrobe was made up of jeans and t-shirts.

  She put on the dress and looked in the mirror. It didn’t look too bad, but not special enough. Lilith walked into the room and glanced at her.

  “Want some help?” she said.

  “Okay,” replied Miri.

  Lilith took out her wand and pointed it at the dress and muttered a few words.

  “Oh, wow!” said Miri. “Thanks!” The blue dress was no longer a solid color, but rippled back and forth likes waves in an ocean.

  “Not quite,” said Lilith, and added another spell. “Now it’s perfect!”

  Miri looked at herself in the mirror. Now not only did the waves ripple across her dress, but the color was a perfect match with her eyes.

  While Lilith was getting ready, Miri did her hair. She decided to make a bunch of tiny braids that wove together in the back. It took a while to get it right, but once she was done, she liked what she saw. She added a little lip gloss and a touch of perfume, thankful that Mandy had convinced her to get those too.

  At that moment the door opened and Mandy walked in. She was wearing a violet dress with matching shoes and nails, and was gently pulling a very reluctant Jenna into the room with her.

  “I told you, Mandy. I don’t want to go to the dance,” Jenna protested.

  “Nonsense, Jenna, you have to have some fun and I’m sure that Andrew will want to dance with you.” Jenna nodded, but privately she wasn’t so sure about that. Since the full moon, he’d been distant and distracted. In any case, according to her calculations, she ha
d less than a month before her baby was due. She wasn’t sure that dancing was the best idea now, especially since she looked like a large yellow hippopotamus. Still, Mandy had insisted she come and she’d given up arguing.

  Lilith emerged from the bathroom wearing a long red dress and impossibly high red heels to match. Miri wondered how she was going to be able to dance in those.

  “Shall we go?” said Lilith, taking in everyone’s clothing. “Just look at us ladies. Our men won’t know what’s hit them!”

  The dining hall had been transformed into a ballroom. There were chandeliers coming down from the ceiling, a waxed dance floor, and a buffet table filled with Hugo’s finest treats. Hugo himself was already wandering from dish to dish, sampling a little here and a little there, just to make sure it was all perfect, of course.

  On one side of the room was a stage on which a small band was setting up. The band members appeared to be leprechauns and were tuning a variety of instruments, including several fiddles.

  Miri saw Danny standing at the other end of the room talking with Sean. He wore black pants and a black shirt that appeared to have stars on it that twinkled in and out. As he caught sight of Miri, he left Sean and started walking toward her.

  They met in the middle of the dance floor.

  “You look beautiful,” he said.

  “You don’t look so bad yourself,” replied Miri with a smile. She leaned up and gave him a light kiss on the lips. He guided her back to a small table where they sat with Josh and Mandy. Mandy was positively glowing now that she was with Josh. This was one of the things she missed from her old life. She’d wanted to go to the prom, to wear a pretty dress, and dance with her cute boyfriend . . . and tonight she got to do that. Granted, Josh wasn’t that formally dressed (he couldn’t really do formal), but he was gorgeous and he loved her, so everything was good.

  At precisely eight o’clock, Jessamyn walked in and the room went silent. Miri noticed Quentin trailing her. He went to stand at the back of the room while Jessamyn made her speech.

  “Ladies and gentleman, Animagi, Werewolves, and Shapeshifters, welcome to the annual Summer Solstice Ball. We’ve had a difficult year at P.A.W.S., but now it is time to celebrate. So without further ado, I give you Waldorf Sniffins and the Fabulous Green Meanies!”

  At this, the leprechaun band started up. The fiddles were intoxicating and Danny turned to Miri.

  “May I have the honor of this dance?” he asked.

  Miri giggled and followed him onto the dance floor. Miri was never much of a dancer, but Danny was amazing. He twirled and turned her around the dance floor until she was breathless. They danced until they were exhausted and then went over to the buffet table for drinks and snacks. They loaded up their plates and glasses and went back to their table. They laughed with Josh and Mandy, who pointed to Gordon on the dance floor who was apparently trying to teach Joey the Chicken Dance.

  Joey wasn’t getting it. “But I’m a kangaroo, not a chicken!” they heard him protesting. Finally Gordon gave up, changed into his goose form, and proceeded to go around the dance floor attempting to peck at the dancers.

  “Wonder how long he’ll be here for?” said Josh. “I can tell why Canadian P.A.W.S. felt like he needed a change of scenery. Hey, you want to dance, Miri? We’ll try and avoid the goose.”

  “Okay,” said Miri.

  Miri danced two dances with Josh, while Danny danced with Mandy. Then the music turned slow and Danny tapped Josh on the shoulder and they swapped partners.

  Danny took Miri into his arms and they moved together to the music.

  “I love you, Miri,” he whispered.

  “I love you too, Danny.”

  As they kissed, Miri was no longer aware of anyone else but Danny. His love merged with hers and her magic amplified it and returned it over and over again. They stayed connected until the music changed back once more into a wild Irish jig.

  They laughed and separated and started twirling and turning again to the wild sounds of Waldorf Sniffins and his leprechaun crew. The Green Meanies were very good, thought Miri, and she wondered where they played the rest of the year. She guessed that St. Patrick’s Day was probably a big thing for them and wondered how many St. Paddy’s partygoers had ever guessed that their band consisted of real leprechauns.

  They danced and laughed until midnight when Jessamyn came forward and performed the official magician’s ritual for summer solstice.

  Jessamyn raised her silver scepter high and recited the words:

  “Lig oíche an samhradh seo a laced le argentum agus draíochta!”

  Everyone raised their heads and looked upwards towards the ceiling. At first it was completely black, and then stars began to twinkle into existence. Then the stars formed patterns, each more intricate than the first, and then suddenly they exploded in a mass of color and light and a powdery silver dust started falling gently onto the enchanted onlookers.

  Everyone cheered and the band started up again.

  Miri continued dancing with Danny. This was the best evening of her life, and she wanted it to never end.

  Chapter 44

  Mandy woke up. Tonight was the full moon. She felt the now familiar heat in her body that she always did this time of the month. Jenna whimpered in her sleep. Almost time now, her belly had swollen impossibly large for her tiny frame—a pregnant child. Mandy shuddered. That could have been her, she realized, if Alistair hadn’t left her in the park as bait, if he’d taken her back to the packhouse instead. More than likely, she thought, that when the time had come for him to choose a victim, she would have been the one.

  Jenna suddenly let out a piercing scream and her eyes opened. Mandy jumped from her bed and went to Jenna’s side.

  “Are you okay? Was it just a bad dream?”

  “No . . .” said Jenna, between gasps, “I think it’s started—he’s coming.”

  “Maybe we should get you to Mrs. Bumsqueak.”

  The contraction passed and Jenna nodded. Mandy helped Jenna put on some slippers and a cotton robe and slowly walked with her to the infirmary. About halfway along the corridor, they stopped while Jenna breathed through another contraction.

  As they continued along the way, Jenna talked to her baby: “It’s all right, Ryan. Take your time. Mommy’s here for you.”

  The words angered Mandy. How could she love this baby? How could she care for Alistair’s spawn?

  The corridors of P.A.W.S. were silent. It was early Sunday morning, and most of the students and staff that hadn’t left for the holidays were sleeping. When they got to the infirmary, they found Mrs. Bumsqueak sitting and drinking her morning coffee, doing a crossword.

  She got up when the girls entered and ushered them over to a corner cot.

  “You’re early, dear,” she said, “about three weeks, by my calculation; it could still be false labor.”

  “No . . .” said Jenna, between gasps as another contraction started up. “I know it’s time. He told me.”

  “Will you stay, dear?” said Mrs. Bumsqueak, addressing Mandy. “Zamir went back to Egypt for the summer last Thursday and I don’t have another assistant.”

  Mandy nodded. Of course she wanted to help Jenna, but all that she knew about babies and births she’d learned from movies and TV shows, and it never looked very pleasant. She wondered if she would ever have any kids of her own. She thought about a time, maybe a long time in the future, when she and Josh could raise a family. She blushed when she thought of that. She was only fifteen years old. She had many years to go.

  Mrs. Bumsqueak was mixing up a potion over in her kitchen area. She hummed to herself as she added ingredients and occasionally stirred it with a large silver spoon. When it was done, she poured a little into a small china cup. The potion was purple and tiny bubbles played across its surface. She brought the cup to Jenna.

  “Drink this, dear,” she said. “It will help.”

  Jenna took the cup with shaking hands and sipped the purple liquid. It warmed an
d calmed her and she visualized it going all the way down to the baby inside her.

  “Stay with her, Mandy,” said Mrs. Bumsqueak. “I will be back shortly.”

  Mrs. Bumsqueak walked through the corridors of P.A.W.S. towards Jessamyn’s chamber. She was deeply worried. This was the worst possible time for Jenna to be in labor. Maybe the calming potion would delay things a little, maybe, but if not, tonight was the night of the full moon . . .

  She reached Jessamyn’s door and knocked.

  “One moment,” came a voice from inside. Mrs. Bumsqueak stood impatiently outside the room, hopping from foot to foot. She realized that she was still holding the silver spoon and tried to stow it away in the pocket of her housecoat. When the door opened, she gasped; it was like walking into a piazza in Venice. In the distance was a canal with gondolas moving up and down and in the foreground was a table laid out with breakfast where Jessamyn and Quentin sat.

  “Oh, good morning, Beatrice,” said Jessamyn, “we were just having breakfast. Would you like to join us?”

  “Um, no . . . I’ve come to tell you. Jenna appears to be in labor.”

  Jessamyn’s expression changed as she took in the news.

  “There is nothing you can do?”

  “I am trying . . . but I think not.”

  “It is early still. Maybe there is a chance that she’ll give birth before tonight’s full moon? Maybe instead of slowing, we could try and quicken.”

  “I don’t think that will work. I am scared, Jessamyn . . . if she was to change during . . .”

  “I know,” said Jessamyn. “Keep me informed. Who is with her now?”

  “Mandy.”

  “That’s good, but you may also wish to tell Andrew . . . and Miri.”

  On her way back from Jessamyn’s chamber, Mrs. Bumsqueak passed by the dining room. She found Andrew and Miri in there having breakfast, and told them about Jenna.

  Andrew followed Mrs. Bumsqueak back to the infirmary.

  Miri promised she would come as soon as she finished eating. After Mrs. Bumsqueak and Andrew had left, she sat opposite Danny, staring into her cereal. She was suddenly very scared. Last night for the first time since she lost Max’s charm, she had dreamt about Alistair.