by Tess Lake
“The mothers have called us to lunch,” Molly intoned in a solemn voice.
“May the goddess protect us and watch over us,” Luce added, waving her hands to the sky.
“If you find yourself in trouble, remember it’s okay to run,” I said, managing to keep the smile off my face.
I could tell that Jack, Will and Ollie weren’t sure if we were joking, and with the three of us being so serious, they were also starting to act a little fidgety.
“Did you tell them about the wine?” Peta asked.
“Oh, they know about the wine,” Molly said. As a group, we rushed down to the main part of the mansion as fast as we could. We still all arrived freezing and out of breath. We walked in through the front doors and were immediately hit with a gentle warmth radiating through the room.
“Ah, that smells so good,” Jack said, breathing in deeply.
“This is the best day ever,” Will added.
“Do I smell roast potatoes?” Ollie said. The three men started shuffling forward as though they were zombies drawn by the scent of fresh brains. We followed them into the dining room, which was a riot of color and Christmas decorations. At some point during the night, the moms had decorated the dining room, the living room and, I was guessing, even the kitchen. There was so much tinsel everywhere there were virtually no surfaces that weren’t gently glittering.
“Get in here, Peta,” Aunt Cass said from the living room. Peta rushed in as Aunt Cass jumped up from her lounge chair and gave her a gigantic hug.
“How is the chili business going, Cassandra?” Peta asked.
“It’s hot and spicy, just like me,” Aunt Cass quipped, then they both laughed.
The door to the kitchen burst open and a very flustered Aunt Ro came bustling out.
“Is everyone here?” she asked, looking around the room.
“Still waiting on Sheriff Hardy, I think, Mom,” Molly said.
That wait was over half a second later when Sheriff Hardy knocked on the front door and then opened it to let himself in. Aunt Ro rushed over and gave him an extremely passionate kiss right in front of all of us that left the sheriff blinking and wondering what had happened before she told everyone to take their places because lunch was ready right now.
“We’re still waiting on Jonas, too,” I said.
We all loved Peta, but we were not above sacrificing her if it meant we didn’t have to sit directly next to Aunt Cass. She obviously hadn’t been to one of our dinners for a long time, so she was a little slow on the uptake about what was happening, and by the time she rushed back to the dining room, the only open chair for her was right next to Aunt Cass’s.
She sat down and poked me in the ribs.
“I’m gonna get you for that, Torrent,” she murmured to me.
There was another knock at the door. Molly went over and let in a very frozen-looking Jonas Bishop. He actually had snowflakes in his hair and honestly looked like he’d come back from climbing a mountain. As soon as he was inside, he stripped off his jacket and breathed a sigh of relief as the warmth hit him.
“Everyone move down one,” Peta called out.
We all shuffled down one seat, and now Jonas was in the firing line, sitting directly next to Aunt Cass and beside Peta. I was sitting next to Jack, and beside him were Luce and Will, and on the other side were Molly and Ollie, who was beside Sheriff Hardy, and the three empty seats where the moms would sit.
“Everyone, this is Jonas Bishop, Jack’s brother. He works downstairs from me developing real estate and building homes and renovating them,” I said, introducing him to the group.
I went around the table introducing everybody (except Jack, of course) to Jonas until I got to Peta and told him that she had just come back into town, arriving last night. I think maybe with the cold and possibly the rush to get to our house, Jonas hadn’t quite realized where he was yet, and it was only when I introduced Peta that he took a proper look at her and I saw his eyes widen.
“Jonas Bishop,” he said, introducing himself again.
“I know, I’m Peta. Nice to meet you,” Peta said with a laugh.
Molly retrieved some wine and we opened the bottles, quickly filling our glasses. We had all taken a sip when the door to the kitchen burst open and out came our three mothers carrying platters of food. Mom and Aunt Freya were carrying a gigantic platter between them, which they struggled to get into the middle of the table. It was covered in a silver lid. When they lifted it off, it revealed the most enormous turkey that I think I’ve ever seen in my life. The thing was so big I had no idea how they’d actually managed to cook it in our oven. More platters landed on the table. There were roast potatoes, roast carrots, a giant gravy boat of cranberry sauce. There was a plate of red cabbage cooked in some kind of delicious sauce, some plates of crackers and a big cheese covered in a red wax, a blue vein cheese, and a bowl of fruit and nuts.
By the time the moms had finished bringing everything out, Aunt Cass had joined us at the table and was filling up her wineglass to the brim. The moms all sat down, and Aunt Cass stood up and dinged on her glass with a fork.
“Attention, everyone! I brought something very special for this Christmas,” she said and then reached under the table.
“No!” Mom called out.
Everyone else had instinctively taken a gulp of wine at Aunt Cass’s announcement. What could it be this time? More chili? Fireworks? Aunt Cass brought her hand up from underneath the table and it was empty.
“Ha! Got you all,” she crowed before lifting her glass and calling out, “Cheers and Merry Christmas.”
We all clinked our glasses together and dug into the food as though none of us had ever eaten before. The conversation soon rose up around the table as everyone tried to eat and talk at the same time.
“I think you might have a frog problem,” Sheriff Hardy said. “I saw a lot of them as I drove up here.”
“They breed in some of the old wells out behind the mansion, and I think it’s been unseasonably warm this winter, which might have done it,” Mom said, lying smoothly.
“So, builder man, when are you going to make an honest woman of Harlow?” Aunt Cass said, pointing a turkey drumstick at Jack.
I choked on my food and Jack had to whack me on the back before I could finally get it out. He laughed at Aunt Cass’s question and then wisely followed Molly’s advice and poured more wine.
“Not an appropriate question for Christmas lunch,” I finally said once I got my breath back. But Aunt Cass wasn’t to be deterred.
“What about you, lawman? Planning on making an honest woman out of my niece?” Aunt Cass said, now pointing the turkey drumstick at Sheriff Hardy and then Aunt Ro.
“Maybe one day soon,” Sheriff Hardy said, much to the surprise of every witch at the table.
“What do you mean soon?” Mom asked, but Aunt Ro shushed her and made a brave attempt at changing the topic of conversation.
“We’re thinking of opening the bakery on a brand-new site that we’re going to rent, so then we can make enough money to rebuild Big Pie,” Aunt Ro said.
“Are you going to marry my mom?” Molly asked.
“Does that mean you’ll be our uncle?” Luce asked.
I wasn’t one to let a moment like this slip by, so I dived in too.
“Can we call you Unky Lamont?” I said and gave him a devilish smile.
“I can arrest all of you for basically no reason,” Sheriff Hardy said and waved a butter knife in our direction, indicating the three of us.
“Do you cook?” Jonas asked Peta. She looked at me and then flickered an eyebrow like, “What?” I gave her a slight nod.
“Um… no. I burn toast.”
“What about your mother?”
Another look. Is this guy crazy?
I gave a micro-shake of my head. No.
“She’s even worse, she burns water,” Peta said.
“Awesome—do you want to go out sometime?” Jonas said. We were most of the way thr
ough dinner by then and quickly heading to dessert, and I didn’t get to hear Peta’s answer because right then there was a pull of magic far above us, somewhere up on the roof. To me it felt sharp and jagged, like those teenagers ripping holes in reality. I looked around the table at my cousins, the moms, and then Aunt Cass, but it didn’t seem like any of them had noticed.
Aunt Cass was deep in a conversation, or perhaps an argument, with Ollie about something regarding the history of Harlot Bay. When I tried to get her attention, she actually jabbed me with the fork in her hand and went back to her conversation.
I felt the sharp jagged magic again, this time stronger and definitely in the mansion.
“So there’s been a lot of thefts recently, hasn’t there?” I called out over the hubbub. I might have been a little louder than I intended, because everyone stopped their conversations and looked at me a bit strangely.
“I mean, it’s pretty serious, isn’t it? Could happen to anyone. It could be happening even right now,” I said, looking around the table at my cousins and moms and aunt trying to convey information with my eyebrows.
“They seem to have stopped recently, actually, Harlow,” Sheriff Hardy said.
Everyone was looking at me as though I was the one leading the conversation, which I guess I was because I’d started it, but I didn’t really know how to tell my family anything, so I looked at Aunt Cass and said, “Aunt Cass, I need to see you in the kitchen right away.”
“What for?” she demanded.
“It’s a secret!” I said and then stood up, rushed around to the head of the table, grabbed Aunt Cass by the arm, and managed to hustle her out of there. I got her into the kitchen, and then the low murmur of conversation began again in the dining room. I knew everyone would be wondering what was happening, but I just didn’t care. Those teenage thieves were in the house right now!
“I think the thieves are here. They’re up in the attic. I can feel them,” I told Aunt Cass.
“Well, why did you bring me into the kitchen? We can’t get up to the attic from here! Come on, this way,” Aunt Cass said. She grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back out of the kitchen, through the dining room, and out to the entranceway. I heard the moms desperately trying to keep the conversation going, but no one else was participating now, clearly wondering what it was we were doing.
Aunt Cass pulled me up the stairs to the door which she had magically locked, opening it, and we went into the run-down part of the mansion. We raced as fast as we could up to the top room, and as Aunt Cass pulled on the rope that brought down the ladder, I felt the jagged sharp spike of magic again. I followed her up the ladder, my heart racing, and then heard Aunt Cass curse and stomp her foot.
I got up into the roof and saw why she was cursing—the Frog Barrier 5000, as she’d called it, was gone.
“Oh no,” I whispered and rushed over to the window.
Sheriff Hardy hadn’t been wrong about there being a lot of frogs out in the fields. Aunt Cass’s slip power must have grown much stronger since she’d cast the spell, because it looked like a virtual wave of hopping green creatures were coming up toward the mansion at high speed.
“You need to get out of here right now,” I told Aunt Cass. She didn’t reply but climbed quickly back down the ladder and then ran away into the mansion.
I followed her, heading back into the main part of the house. By now everyone was gathered in the entranceway as Mom, Aunt Freya and Aunt Ro tried to coax everyone back to the dining room. Aunt Cass skidded to a stop in front of everyone and I nearly crashed into her.
“Great Christmas, everybody. Merry Christmas. Love you, but I need to commune with nature right now,” Aunt Cass said. With that, she bolted out the front door and went off running down the front of the house, heading for the forest.
As the door swung open, the moms saw the frogs outside and realized that something must have gone wrong.
“But she doesn’t have a jacket,” Ollie said, pointing out the front door, where snowflakes were now drifting down from the sky.
“I’ll give her mine,” Jack said and started for the door.
“No, no, she’s fine. She’ll get some clothes down in our end of the mansion. She’s totally fine—everyone, get back to the dining room,” I said and grabbed him by the arm.
I saw Peta give me a significant look. She knows we’re witches; she’s known since we were little kids and I told her. She knew right now that something strange was happening. She turned to Jonas and looped her arm in his.
“Let’s go drink a lot of wine,” she said to him and pulled him in the direction of the dining room. Molly and Luce did the same to their boyfriends, but it was only Jack who resisted, looking out the front door and then back at me as though he was trying to work out what was happening.
I stepped closer to him and took his hand. “Please trust me and come to the dining room right now,” I whispered.
“Okay, but it’s really cold out there,” Jack said.
Aunt Ro had managed to get Sheriff Hardy back to the dining room as well. As we all sat down, we felt a familiar push of magic as the moms cast some sort of spell out in the entranceway. Outside the house, the sound of frogs croaking had been growing louder, and as the spell hit it faded away. Back in the dining room, the moms cleared the table and brought out dessert.
“It’s an Australian dessert—pavlova with strawberries, kiwi fruit and passion fruit,” Aunt Freya declared, presenting it to the table. But it was no use. The warm camaraderie of Christmas Day had been broken by me and Aunt Cass rushing away and then Aunt Cass running out into the snow alone.
“Looks delicious,” Sheriff Hardy said finally.
“More wine anyone?” Molly asked brightly and began to pour before anyone had a chance to say yes.
Chapter 16
Three days since Christmas and the fallout was still ongoing.
“Will told me his grandma used to run outside at random moments in the last year before she died and suggested Aunt Cass should maybe see someone,” Luce said as we made our way out to the forest in the middle of Truer Island.
“Definitely don’t tell Aunt Cass that,” I said.
“Ollie suggested we may wish to look at putting her in a home,” Molly said.
Luce and I both winced.
“Definitely do not tell Aunt Cass that,” I said.
“Did Jack say anything?” Luce asked.
“He thinks Aunt Cass is eccentric,” I said, leaving out that Jack had also suggested that perhaps we take Aunt Cass to see a doctor.
I’m not sure what Aunt Ro would have told Sheriff Hardy, but she was probably fending off questions too. There really was no good way to explain why your eighty-something-year-old aunt had gone bolting out into the snow on Christmas Day and run into the forest behind the mansion. When you’re rich they call crazy eccentric, but we weren’t rich at all, so I guess crazy was just… crazy.
Christmas Day had finished up fairly quickly after Aunt Cass had bolted away. We’d had dessert and then by some unspoken agreement, all of us had taken our respective boyfriends and gotten as far away from Torrent Mansion as we could, given there was a virtual flood of frogs surrounding it.
It had even reached the mass media—well, the mass media of Harlot Bay—and Carter had written an article: “Plague of Frogs Descends on Harlot Bay! What Next?”
“It’s not gonna be long before I’m going to have to tell Ollie that we’re witches,” Molly said.
“It’s either that or tell him that Aunt Cass is flat out crazy,” Luce said.
I pulled a map out of my pocket and checked it against the modern map that Luce and Molly had recovered from their store from when Traveler was a tourist trap. We’d decided to investigate the map we had found in the hidden room under the mansion. The weather had taken a sudden turn for the warmer (probably due to the magical confluence), so now was the time, before winter struck again.
“Aw, cute! Someone carved a heart in that tree over there,�
� Luce said, pointing across the field. Then she reconsidered. “Not that I approve of people carving things into trees and hurting them.”
“Tree of love!” Molly said.
“I think that’s it,” I said. We made our way across to the tree, which was a gnarled old oak. Sometime in the distant past, someone had cut out the shape of an enormous heart on the trunk of the tree. It was a ghostly white against the dark brown bark.
“So now we need to follow the birds?” Luce asked, looking up into the sky, where there were in fact some birds wheeling around.
“What’s that down there? On that tree?” Molly said, pointing into the distance. We took off together, heading for a tree in the distance that had something white splotched on the trunk.
“I guess from a certain angle you could say it was a bird,” Luce said once we reached it, closing one eye and then the other.
“If you stand over here it works,” Molly said.
“Come on, give the old tree carver a break. They probably did it decades ago,” Luce said.
Looking around for a now-possibly-bird-splotched tree, we soon spotted another in the distance with a faint white gleam on the trunk, so we set off across the field.
“Okay, I forgot, what happened with those coffee shop people? Are they still going to get their revenge?” I asked.
“I think we might be good,” Molly said.
“They’re probably going to get their revenge,” Luce said a moment later.
“What are you talking about? John was perfectly reasonable,” Molly said.
“And Tess was madder than a box full of… I don’t know, bears that have been told they have to do their tax returns again,” Luce said.
“That sounds pretty mad,” I said.
“She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Okay, she’s still fairly angry about the whole thing, and he is the one holding her back, but I think she’s starting to accept that we didn’t steal their coffee machine. Especially with all the thefts that have been going on around Harlot Bay,” Molly said.
“The problem is, if we actually find Stefano and start our business up, she is going to lose her mind,” Luce said.
