“Hostile only means you hit a sore point.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“Yes, you did, and it’s okay. He needed to hear what you said; for your sake and Jackson’s.”
“You think?”
“Yeah, I do. You did the right thing AND you got your anger towards him off your chest.”
“I did. Didn’t I?”
“You did.” Then he leaned in and kissed her so passionately that her toes curled, and she felt quite certain her heart stopped for those few precious moments. A bit out of breath when they pulled away, she said, “Wow. What did I do to deserve a kiss like that?”
“You were just being you. I love you. That’s all.”
She smiled at his answer. Threw her arms around his neck and kissed him back, whispering in his ear, “I love you, too, Daniel.”
* * *
With a smile on her face from Daniel’s visit and sexy kiss, Summer made her way to the main house for lessons with Aunt Myrtle. She was disappointed that Tori wouldn’t be able to help, but she really hadn’t expected Nick to agree anyway.
“Good morning, dear.”
“Good morning, Aunt Myrtle. How are you doing today?”
“As well as an old gal can expect. Were you able to acquire Victoria’s assistance?”
“No. Sorry. Nick would allow it.”
“Oh, dear. I guess on the lighter side, he does look after her well–being, and that’s something to be grateful for, right?”
“Very much so.”
“I suppose you and I will just have to suffice. Before we attempt it though, we need to acquire a few things.”
“Like what?”
“It’s our guess that the egg is somewhere in the house.”
“That’s Hunter’s theory, yes.”
“Then a map of the house layout will be needed.”
“Where am I going to get such a thing?”
“I would think Mortimer might be of some help here, since he frequented the house when he was a young man and wooing Yvonne Macabre.”
“Ew, really?”
“Well, that was before he knew what a ghastly backstabber she is. He was madly in love with her. She ultimately lost Mortimer his magical powers when she turned him in to the BROOM.
“But if Mortimer won’t help you with a drawing, then you can probably get the blueprints of the house from the city planner. They’re public records after all.”
“Okay. What else?”
“It would aid our endeavor if we had something from the dragon, but I know that would be hard.”
“Like what?”
“A dragon scale would be perfect but I believe no one can or should probably get near her in her state.”
“Right. Hmmm.”
“Maybe something from the surroundings that may have touched the dragon?”
“When I was trapped in the cave, the soil had been purified from her nesting ritual. Could a bit of that dirt help?”
“Excellent. I believe it might.”
“There must be some in the pockets of my jeans from the fall. I haven’t done my laundry yet, so I’ll check my clothes for any remnants.”
“Very good. That should do it. They say for best results you should perform the undertaking at night, so if we can get all the supplies we could attempt it tonight.”
“Sounds good. I’ll get right on it.”
“But before you go, dear, you should find Mortimer. I think he has something to say to you.”
Summer grimaced at the thought. “Really? Do I have to?”
“Now, now. I know it’s very hard to believe, but there really is a good, kind-hearted man under all that curmudgeoness.”
“I’m not seeing that.”
“I know, dear, but trust me. He’s feeling a bit less cocky after our get-together last night. It was good of you to tell him your fears and thoughts. He needs to hear every once in a while that not all things revolve around him and most people don’t think like him. This is an issue he and I have had many an argument about over the years.”
“Okay. If I must, but only because you asked me.”
“That’s my good girl.”
Summer unenthusiastically departed the room and made her way to the area in the yard where she often took her lessons with Morti.
There he was, mulling over an open book and seated on his haunches. This was most often the way she saw Morti, and with his fluffy fur and accumulated weight, he looked more like a large, animated, black-and-white hairy pear. When he noticed her coming forth, he rose to his four legs and leapt to the arm of a stone cross that would bring them the face to fuzzy face.
“Aunt Myrtle said you wanted to see me.”
He cleared his throat as Sully rolled over on to his back at the base of the tombstone to warm his belly in the sun, keeping a close eye on where and what Morti was doing.
“Uh. Yes. I did.”
She stood waiting for him to say something, and he seemed to be doing the same. So she started, “You…” at the same time he started, “I…”
They both apologized for interrupting each other. Summer thought to herself that this would be a very long day if the conversation was going to be like this with him.
He cleared his throat again and said, “I have thought about the dilemma you brought up last night, and I hadn’t really thought of the situation from your perspective. I can see why you might have felt uncomfortable speaking to me. I lack in proper social skills; partly due to years of being a feline, but then again, they weren’t very polished when I was human either.
“I would like you to come to me in the future if you have any questions. Myrtle need not have to suffer one of her spells because I was less than approachable. Is that understood?” he said as if was a field sergeant.
“Uh. Yes. Okay.”
“Good. Then I guess we’re done here.”
“Oh. Well then, right,” Summer said, a little shocked that the conversation was now over. She turned to leave, but remembered what Aunt Myrtle had said and turned back to reluctantly ask, “I was wondering…”
He looked annoyed, but he didn’t say anything, reseating himself on his haunches in front of his book.
“Aunt Myrtle was hoping maybe you could help with drawing a map of the layout of the Macabre mansion for our scrying.”
He cocked his head and leaned back raising his front paws in the air. “And how do you propose I do that without opposable thumbs,” he said in his usual grouchy manner.
“Right,” Summer said, disappointed in his answer. He certainly hadn’t turned over a new leaf in being approachable, but then again, since he’s been that way all his life, he probably didn’t even know he was being a butt-head.
She headed back to the cottage and thought she’d hit city hall on her way to the clinic to see if she could get a copy of the blueprints.
Chapter 16
Riding her bike through town, Summer constantly checked over her shoulder for a cloud of crows. Sure, she was being paranoid, but after an incident like that, anyone might be paranoid. She got a copy of the plans for the Macabre estate, both new and before the fire. They were folded up and tucked into the basket attached above the back tire of the bike.
Wind blowing through her hair and legs pumping, her telephone beeped an announcement of a new text. She was close to the clinic so she waited until she was there before looking at the screen. To her surprise, it was from Nick.
Tori wants to scry for you. It’s okay with me, but it must be without anyone knowing. Can you come to the Mausoleum tonight without being seen? ~Nick
Daniel was right. Her conversation with Nick had made a difference. She smiled brightly at the prospect of seeing Tori again.
Summer quickly dialed Aunt Myrtle’s number looking around to see if there were any crows visible.
…
“Aunt Myrtle? It’s Summer.”
…
“You willing to do something a little unconventional tonight?”
&
nbsp; …
“Tori’s going to help us, but we have to do it at the Mausoleum without anyone seeing us.”
…
“Not that mausoleum. The one in town. It’s a night club and bar.”
…
“You up for a little flying?”
…
“Good. Oh and I got the house plans. Talk to you when I get home from work.”
* * *
The day flew by at the clinic, and all the while, Summer was distracted with notes to herself for the evening. She looked forward to another flight on the tricycle; though this time she would be in the back where Sully had sat. It seemed a better idea to have Aunt Myrtle safely seated at her age. Besides, it had been ages since she had flown, and Summer felt sure she’d get a kick out of being the one to steer.
A quick rummage through her laundry basket resulted in a small amount of sterile dirt from the back pocket of her jeans, which she put into a small Ziploc baggy. The only thing she needed beside the trike and Aunt Myrtle was a spell she’d seen in the Midnight grimoire.
When she arrived at the front door of the mansion, Aunt Myrtle was dressed for a stealthy ride in the sky—black sweatpants and shirt and a stocking hat, though her white socks shown under the elastic hem of the pants at her ankles like a beacon. Summer stifled a laugh at the woman’s disguise as they ran off to the barn and the waiting tricycle.
“You steer and I’ll be holding on to you on the back.”
“But, dear, I don’t know where this Mausoleum is.”
“I’ll point the direction.”
“I haven’t done anything this exciting since, well, since the night Ivy died.”
“Well, no one is going to die tonight. I guarantee it, Aunt Myrtle.”
“And what is the word, to make our transportation fly?”
“G-O,” Summer spelled.
“Not very original, dear.”
“No, but it works,” Summer said as Aunt Myrtle climbed on to the seat of the bike.
Summer pulled a stone out of her pocket she’d found earlier along with a scrap of paper she’d jotted down the spell from the grimoire and recited:
“I hold this stone, Mother Earth’s blessed gift
In my grip the power of shadows I shall command
Elements of air and wind, give thine ability of weightlessness and lift
May all I touch be seen by no man
Light pass through and all around me
A wing, a leaf, a flutter of gale
Attempt they may, their eyes to see thee
A veil of invisibility and wingless flight will only prevail.”
Her skin tingled as if a tiny sprinkling of rain had fell upon them in the barn, but she knew it was just the magic doing its job.
“Ooh, the cloaking spell, huh? That was always one of my favorites to spy on Mortimer.”
“Okay, Aunt Myrtle, anytime you’re ready,” Summer said as she climbed on to the back of the trike and held on to the seat with the rock in her hand.
Aunt Myrtle looked over her shoulder to see that Summer was settled and said, “Go.”
The bike shimmied and jerked into action, and in a split second, they were out the doors of the barn and whizzing through the air. A snooping crow swooped towards them and Myrtle had to do some finagling to maneuver around it, but it was good to see that the crow was unable to see them and oblivious to them going right past.
Summer pointed the direction to Nick’s bar and within a few minutes they were descending into the back parking lot and landing near the door.
Summer made sure to keep a hand on Aunt Myrtle for the invisibility spell that radiated outward from the stone in her hand. They got off the bike looked around and knocked on the door.
Nick opened it seeing nothing and was just about to close the door, when Summer whispered, “It’s me, Nick. Summer. We’re under a spell so you can’t see us. We’re walking through the door right now. You can close it behind you as you come in.”
* * *
Nick did as he was told. When the door was closed and they were safely inside away from prying eyes and nosy crows, Summer set the rock on a book at the corner of a nearby table. “Remind me that I put that there, or we’ll never find it when we need to leave,” Summer said to Aunt Myrtle.
Nick reached out to touch the book and rock that were not visible anymore, but thought better of it. “That is super cool,” he said when Tori stepped into the room with an arm full of candles, saying, “Where do you keep the matches, Nick?” That’s when she stopped and saw Summer standing there.
“Tori. It’s so good to see you,” Summer said with a smile.
Tori did not react. She just set the candles down. “I’m not done being mad at you,” she said to Summer. “Either of you, in fact,” she added to include Nick who dropped his eyes like a puppy might when he was being scolded.
“I’m sorry, Tori. I just thought it would keep you out of harm’s way. We were just so thrown by your accident that we didn’t think it through.”
“That’s right you. You didn’t think it through. If you ask me, you didn’t think at all,” Tori said, directing her anger at Nick.
“Truth be told, it was mostly my idea. Nick just went along with things,” Summer lied to help Nick out of the hole she knew he’d dug for himself.
“Don’t lie. You know I can tell when you lie and the only way you could have gotten away with lying to me as you did is if there was some truth to it. That truth is Nick’s involvement in splitting you and Jackson up. If we’re to work this out, the two of you need to be straight with me from now on, or you might as well leave,” Tori said.
“I can do that,” Summer said.
“Fine,” Nick grumbled, but still did not make eye contact with Tori.
“Good.” Then Tori trotted over to Aunt Myrtle giving her a great big hug hello.
“I’ve missed you, Ms. Midnight,” Tori said.
“And I missed you, dear. Congratulations on starting up your shop. I can’t wait to come in for a visit and look at your wares.”
“And I can’t wait for you to see it and tell me what you think,” Tori said excitedly.
Summer started unloading things from her pockets for the scrying.
“So where are we doing this?”
“I’ve set up a table in the other room. Follow me,” Tori said, picking up the candles again. “Nick, can you get the matches for me?”
“Yup,” Nick said, taking off like a shot.
Summer and Aunt Myrtle followed behind into the club where Tori and Nick had cleared all the tables and chairs except one large round table they’d placed in the middle of the dance floor. Tori had the table covered in a black cloth and had blue-green lighting from the ceiling pointed at it. There were several empty candle holders set in a circle around the table where Tori deposited the candles she carried.
“Did I set things up okay?” Tori asked Aunt Myrtle.
“Perfectly, dear” Myrtle said.
“So what is this?” Tori asked as Summer unfolded and laid out the blueprints on the table. Nick looked at them skeptically as he handed a small lighter to Tori.
“These are the drawings for the Macabre mansion.”
“Swell,” Nick said under his breath. All the women in the room turned and stared at him.
“Sorry,” he said, dropping his eyes and taking a step back from the table.
“And what are we looking for at the estate?” Tori asked.
“Believe it or not, a dragon egg,” Aunt Myrtle said.
Nick and Tori were both stunned at the statement. “An egg?” Tori asked.
Nick said, “Here? In town?”
“Yes. And the mother is being held captive on the premises too,” Summer added.
“You mean Jackson flew clear across the world to Japan to research dragons and there was one here…where we live?” Nick asked.
“I know. Can you believe it? Jackson would have loved that,” Summer said.
“No k
idding,” Nick agreed.
“Hunter’s been beside himself given the dragon is a female,” Summer interjected.
“Really? But how do you know for sure?”
“Mortimer. He’s been spying on them and found where they were keeping the mother. He took Hunter there a couple of nights ago,” Myrtle explained.
Summer pulled the Ziploc bag of dirt from her pocket and laid it on the table.
Nick asked, “What’s that?”
Myrtle explained the confrontation between Summer and Autumn.
“You were trapped in a hole?” Tori asked with concern.
“There was a cave-in from the fireballs being thrown at me. And it wasn’t really a hole as much as it was an underground cave.”
“A lot’s happened since…you know,” Tori said with a note of sadness.
“Uh huh,” Summer agreed.
“So how do we start?” Tori asked.
“Take a pinch of dirt from the bag and drop it in your palm. Now rub it between both hands like you’re putting on lotion. Close your eyes and empty your mind of everything but an egg. A dragon’s egg. A large, scale-covered egg, the color of the sky at dusk. Imagine the egg reflecting lights of blues, purples, and greens,” Myrtle instructed. Tori did as she said.
“Good now take you pendulum and wrap the thread once around your index finger, holding it above the map. Begin rotating the pendulum and read this,” Myrtle handed her a scrap of paper.
“Born from earth, charged by the moon
Guide this crystal with gentle cleansing air
Reveal what’s hidden through map and rune
So the lost may be found and the broken given care.”
The pendulum stopped spiraling and swayed back and forth, back and forth in a lazy arc across the blueprint.
“Keep concentrating on that egg, what it might look like, and where it might be,” Myrtle added. All eyes followed the polished pointed purple stone swing freely above the paper. “Do you feel a pull or a tug in a direction? Maybe a gut feeling?”
Tori thought about it. “I’m not sure. It’s a large area for the stone to travel, so we may have to break it up into four smaller areas to get a feeling from it.” “Don’t be disappointed. You’ve done very well for your first time. Scrying is an art, and not everyone is gifted at it. I know it’s not my forte, but I think it will be yours. Focus on this area,” Myrtle said pointing to the top left quadrant. “Trust your intuition, it will guide you. If you second guess yourself it will dilute your focus.”
Autumn Calling Page 13
