by Tess Lake
Lost witch took Jack.
Lost witch Jack took.
Lost took Jack witch.
Took lost Jack witch.
…
He’d gone through all the variations but none of them made the message any better at all. Probably the least scary was Jack took lost witch or possibly Lost Jack took witch.
I read through the combinations before I closed the notepad and put it back where I’d found it. We’d all had our own methods for dealing with the odd and supernatural. I now had a wall of crazy up in a hidden lair, and I guess Jack was doing his own quiet investigation on the side. Not so much a wall of crazy as maybe a notepad of crazy or carefully arranged folder of crazy.
I checked the time—it was still early, but I needed to get moving. Since I’d been promoted yesterday, I now had an unexpected morning off because Red Forrest wasn’t due to arrive until the afternoon and I had been relieved of my chair unfolding duties. I was planning to return to my lair to work on my story but that plan got crushed into the dirt, or rather cinnamon sugar, a second later when Mom rang.
“…he can have three dozen and no more. Oh good, Harlow, I’ve been trying to get hold of you, can you come into work at the bakery?” Mom said.
As usual, she was halfway through a conversation when she rang me and again doing that thing where she pretended that she’d tried everything else to get in touch, such as sending a homing pigeon, smoke signals, a telegram, and just now was the first time I’d managed to speak with her.
“Why? What’s happening?” I said warily. I only briefly talked with Mom last night, telling her of my promotion to personal assistant and so it wasn’t a surprise to me that the next day I would be drafted. I cursed myself for revealing that I had any free time at all.
“There is some dance thing coming up and Susanna twisted her ankle rehearsing and now she can’t come in. I don’t know what she was doing but I need you from now until after lunch rush, and I know you aren’t working today,” Mom said in a breathless rush. Behind her I could hear Aunt Freya shouting out something about the buns that were in the oven. I presumed she was talking about literal buns and not metaphoric ones. It would be a little too far for even a witchy mom to bring up babies on an early morning phone call.
“Okay, I can help but I need to go right after the lunch rush,” I said.
“Come as soon as you can,” Mom said and then hung up without saying goodbye.
I got into rushing mode then, gulping down my coffee and running down to the bedroom to get ready.
It was great news that the bakery was busy. Since the original Big Pie had burnt down the moms had struggled for a while with home delivery before finding a new location and reopening. This was the peak tourist season so between the new reopened bakery and the Torrent Mansion bed-and-breakfast they were making quite a bit of money. So were Molly and Luce, Traveler being packed every day even with The Magic Bean taking half their business. Peta’s new café The Cozy Cat was full most days too. I’d even done some waitressing there before this new job working for Writerpalooza had come up.
I had a heart-stopping moment in my car when the engine refused to turn over but after praying for a moment to whatever magical forces might be around, holding my breath and pumping the gas a few times, my car finally started and I raced, as fast as you can race in a car that is on its last legs, into town.
I drove around to the rear of the Big Pie Bakery and found a spot to park. Even at this time of day there were tourists out on the streets and every car space would soon fill up. I had to wedge my old car between some garbage bins and a larger dumpster, which was not the most glamorous of locations. I rushed inside where Aunt Ro immediately handed me an apron and told me to wash my hands. It wasn’t yet seven, but they were already open and there was a horde of people out the front buying bread and other baked goods as fast as they could. Aunt Ro and Mom were still at the back frantically kneading dough and moving all kinds of things in and out of the ovens in a steady flow. Aunt Freya was up at the mansion on breakfast duty for all the guests.
Once I got myself ready, I rushed out the front and started serving customers.
There was something quite enjoyable about the sheer frantic speed of it. The bakery was cinnamon sweet, the delicious scent of freshly baked bread entwined with all the desserts and delicacies that the moms created. The whole place was saturated with a low level of magic as well. The moms would never admit to using magic in their baking, but you could feel there was certainly something magical happening there.
Three hours passed in the blink of an eye before the crazed morning rush decreased and I had a chance to take a breath. The air conditioners in the bakery were working overtime but with all the customers coming and going and opening the front door, it was incredibly warm. I managed to get away from the front counter and grab a bottle of ice-cold water in the fridge out the back, which I gulped down before returning to the counter. When I returned, it was to the most unusual sight. There was a man wearing a bright green top hat in a multicolored jacket with shimmery gloves holding a ukulele and talking to three stunned children and their parents who’d gathered in the bakery. My mind went blank for a moment before throwing up a name: Harry Sparkle, children’s author and also performer. He wrote funny, quirky books, but also performed songs and dances at his concerts.
“I like your shoes,” a little girl said to him and pointed to the enormous pair of green glittery shoes he was wearing.
“I like your shoes too!” Harry said then he straightened up, strummed his ukulele and began to sing “Shoes for me, shoes for you, what could a magical pair of shoes do?” He sang an impromptu rhyme as the children watched, breathless. When he finished, they clapped and cheered along with the parents, and I did too. He was such a joyous character! You could feel that he loved what he did and loved the children that he entertained. His performance finished, he bowed to the children, held out his hand so they could give him high-fives and then he came to the counter and grinned at me. I felt like one of those stunned children myself. His eyes glittered green and he looked like a mischievous elf.
“One loaf of your finest bread and also a magical custard bun, please,” he said.
I retrieved his bread and a custard bun in a kind of breathless silence. He winked at me and then waved goodbye to everyone in the bakery before heading out the front door to a waiting car that was painted blue and yellow in stripes that looked like a beetle. Printed on the door with a star around it was Harry Sparkle. The crowd of children watched him as he tooted his horn and drove away.
“I met Harry sparkle!” the little girl said to me as she and her mom reached the front counter.
“Me too!” I said.
I looked out through the door and saw a few vampires walking by. Not far behind them was a man dressed in a futuristic robot suit. Writerpalooza wasn’t officially kicking off until tomorrow but people in the town had certainly got into the spirit of things. I served the little girl and her mother and then the lull was over as the crowds began to stream in, drawn by the delicious food that the moms baked.
Somewhere in that flood of people I realized I was grinning, skipping about the place, my heart filled with joy.
Chapter Three
I gave the moms as much time as I could but eventually I had to go if I was to make it home for a quick shower and back to meet Red Forrest. The lunchtime rush had become the afternoon rush with no lull in the volume of customers. Not even the blistering heat outside could dissuade them. I gave my apologies to Carla, the other counter staff member, rushed out the back, dumped my apron, and then out to my car where I spent a frustrating few minutes trying to get it out of the very tight car parking space because somebody had moved the garbage bins and boxed me in. With the severe lack of parking around Harlot Bay it wasn’t a surprise, but it certainly wasn’t helpful. By the time I got my car going I was sweating like crazy and practically baking alive. It felt like it was about a thousand degrees in there. The steering wh
eel was so hot I had to use an old towel that I’d been keeping on the passenger seat to protect my hands.
I slowly made my way out of Harlot Bay, the laughably titled air conditioning in my car doing very little to cool me. I eventually got out of all the traffic and tourists, leaving the vampires and other costumed characters behind and got home in time to walk right into Molly and Luce’s ambush.
“You’re on the inside so tell us what you know–is Bella Shade here yet?” Luce said the moment I walked in the door.
“You need to tell us because we’re your family and family is what matters. And also vampires,” Molly said.
“Shouldn’t you guys be at Traveler? Don’t you have like a million customers today?” I said throwing my bag on the floor, narrowly missing Adams who was rolling around and purring.
“We’ve let the staff handle it–we can’t be there every single day or it will kill us,” Molly said.
“But you didn’t answer the question, so confess. When is Bella Shade getting here?” Luce said.
“I don’t actually know, I don’t have her itinerary. I’m working for a different author entirely. But if I find out anything, I’ll let you know,” I said.
Molly turned to Luce. “She says she’ll let us know. If only she knew true love the way we know it,” she said.
“Perhaps if her heart had been opened, she would realize how important this is,” Luce replied.
“My heart is open. I know what true love is. And yes, I’m going to read those books once I’ve gotten through writing mine,” I said, a little irritable.
I left my cousins behind as they started talking about Bitten and rushed in for a quick shower. I had a few moments of indecision in front of my wardrobe wondering what it was an author’s personal assistant was meant to wear, but in the end I had to bow in deference to the weather and so I chose a skirt and a light top. There was no way anyone could wear anything heavier in Harlot Bay and expect to survive. I had frankly no idea how those vampires weren’t being taken off to the hospital with dehydration.
I came back out to the lounge as the front door opened and Aunt Cass marched in. She was wearing a sundress with flowers on it, which was quite cute. However the effect was ruined by the kneepads, elbow pads and bike helmet.
“Chop, chop you two, we’ve got to get going right now,” she said, pointing at Molly and Luce.
“What are you wearing?” I blurted out.
“Safety gear,” Aunt Cass said.
“No, we’re only here for a quick break, we’re going back to work now,” Luce said, coming up with what I thought was a fairly good lie on the spot.
“No you’re not. Your staff members are at work like mine are so you’re coming with me into the depths of the house,” Aunt Cass said.
“But my elbow still hurts from last time,” Molly complained, grabbing at her elbow as though she’d shattered it and had forgotten temporarily.
Aunt Cass crossed her arms and gave both of them a look. “You’re coming right now or I’m going to tell you what happens to Rikael,” she said.
Molly and Luce both gasped.
“You wouldn’t!” Luce stammered.
“Did you think Amis was going to let him play happy families? Especially after what happened with Julius?”
I looked down at Adams, who was watching this back and forth attentively.
“Okay, fine we’ll come. Did you bring any safety gear for us?” Molly said.
“Expedition members are responsible for their own safety gear,” Aunt Cass said.
Molly and Luce went off grumbling into the spare room to try to find some protective gear that they could wear, leaving me with Aunt Cass and Adams.
“I hear you’re going to be working for Red Forrest,” Aunt Cass said, unbuckling her bike helmet. I knew she’d been wearing it for effect.
“Yeah, I have to meet her soon actually, so I need to go,” I said, checking the time.
“Do you think …” Aunt Cass looked shy, which was, if you know Aunt Cass, a very unusual expression on her face. “Do you think she would sign my book?” Aunt Cass asked in a small voice.
“I can ask her. I mean, we’re going to be working together for the next two weeks so maybe I can go one better and invite her up for a dinner or something,” I said.
“A dinner?” Aunt Cass looked alarmed.
“I didn’t know you liked her books,” I said.
“What’s not to like? A red-haired, feisty woman who solves murder mysteries. It is my jam,” Aunt Cass said.
“Okay, well I have to go now,” I said, heading for the door.
“Come on you two, the darkness of the mansion awaits. Mwahaha,” Aunt Cass called out and gave an evil cackling witch laugh.
As I was walking out the door Aunt Cass called out, “I’ll see you tomorrow for training.”
I made some noncommittal noise, rushed out to my car which had returned to its hot oven temperature, and then drove back to town.
A recent development, Aunt Cass had decided that we should explore the mansion to see if we could find any clues as to who the unknown Torrent witch was or anything about our family tree. I’d only been along on one such expedition, going up into the roof space which, thanks to the extreme temperatures, was now a no-go zone. We’d spent a very hot and dusty hour in one of the upper rooms going through ruined boxes of books, hoping to find anything written on them that might indicate who they belonged to or where they might fit in the family tree.
After that, I’d managed to avoid going on any more expeditions but Molly and Luce hadn’t been so lucky. Aunt Cass seemed to have a sixth sense as to when they were taking any time off from Traveler and would force them to come with her into the under-mansion to explore. It was the type of thing where you’d want to wear a helmet and any kind of protection you could. A while ago, Luce had fallen through the floor when Molly and I were down there snooping around. It was only pure luck that she hadn’t fallen down to the next story below.
I headed down the hill into town, the windows wide open, the rush of air providing some cooling, although not much.
Given that I was now Red Forrest’s personal assistant I’d probably be able to get out of training with Aunt Cass tomorrow, which was simultaneously a good thing and a bad thing. It was bad because yes, honestly I did need training and so did Molly and Luce. Being a Slip witch and not wanting to be, I’d avoided learning spells for years. Molly and Luce had only learned the bare basics, I think all three of us somewhat preferring to leave our witchy natures behind. The moms’ and Aunt Cass’s philosophy was: we’ll teach you, you just have to ask. We hadn’t asked and so they hadn’t taught us.
That approach all changed once we’d had our encounter with the Shadow Witch. Subsequent events, such as the magical salamander that had brought both love and war to Harlot Bay, had further cemented the idea that we needed to be prepared for whatever supernatural things were happening in our town.
I checked Meredith’s address on the back of the itinerary. It wasn’t too far away from Jack’s house that he was renovating. As I parked I realized I didn’t have any idea what Aunt Cass had done with the magical salamander that she’d captured. The last I’d seen of it was in a magical cage when she’d given it to Molly and Luce to take back to the mansion. I could only hope that Aunt Cass had taken it somewhere where it couldn’t escape and cause trouble again.
I parked in front of Meredith’s and looked up and down the street, seeing a beautiful blue sports car parked across from me. Was that the rental?
The area was on the halfway tipping point between quite wealthy and quite poor. There were a few touristy holiday homes and ones that had been upgraded by retirees moving for the nice weather and the beach lifestyle. Then right next door would be some ancient wreck of a house that needed a severe renovation in the form of a bulldozer. Meredith’s house was an old one, but it was clear it had been well loved and cared for. It had a beautiful white picket fence and a squeaky gate that led to an amazi
ng front garden that unfortunately was wilting in the hot sun.
I ducked under the shade of the porch and knocked on the door. I heard someone call out “there in a minute!”, and then it was almost a full two minutes before Meredith opened the door.
She was wearing a cast on her leg that went from ankle to knee and was moving on a pair of crutches.
As soon as I saw her I remembered who she was, having seen her at one of the orientation meetings for Writerpalooza.
“Are you Harlow? I’m Meredith,” she said and held out her hand. Before I could shake it though she turned and yelled angrily back into the house. “Rex! Get the car keys!” Then she turned back to me and gave me a smile.
“Hi, sorry you injured your leg,” I said.
“These things happen… of course, they wouldn’t have happened if a certain someone could have done a lift properly!” Meredith shouted back into the house.
Rex appeared, holding a set of car keys. She snatched them and gave him a glare. His arm in a sling, obviously a casualty of the accident that had taken Meredith down.
Rex went skulking back into their house, leaving Meredith and me at the front door.
“Here you go. It’s the blue one right there,” Meredith said, pointing across the road.
I turned around to look again at the beautiful blue sports car on the other side of the road, the sun glinting off its polished exterior.
“It’s a sports car,” I said.
“Zero to sixty in… hey Rex, how fast does the sports car go?” Meredith yelled.
I heard Rex yell something back. I didn’t quite get it, but it possibly sounded like zero to sixty in a few seconds? Meredith gave me the car keys and then sighed in disappointment.
“I love Red’s books so much, I’m incredibly jealous that you’re doing this job now,” she said.
“I’m sorry you hurt yourself,” I said.
