Autumn Calling

by T. Lynne Tolles

  Tori took another deep breath. Closed her eyes for a moment, and then set the crystal in motion again. She shut her eyes again and let the crystal do the search for her as she concentrated on the egg. The crystal spiraled into smaller and smaller concentric circles, and suddenly dropped from her finger and landed on the blueprint.

  Nick asked, “Did you lose your grip?”

  “I don’t think so,” Tori said, confused.

  “If you’re not sure, we can do it again in the same area.”

  “Okay,” Tori said with a note of embarrassment.

  She rubbed her hands together that were still covered in silt from the dirt. Closed her eyes and concentrated once more. Set the amethyst in motion and positioned it over the upper left quadrant. It spiraled, swayed, and then dropped from her finger once more in the exact spot where it had landed before.

  “I’d say that’s our location,” Myrtle said with a sparkle of excitement in her eyes.

  “You mean I did it?” Tori asked.

  “And then some, my dear. I’ve never seen such a definite locator scrying as yours. Most spiral and find a pin point or the scryer feels it pulling until they find the spot. Scrying can sometimes be very time consuming, but you, dear? You’re generating enough energy to your stone to have it leap out of your hand to its destination. Very powerful indeed.”

  Tori swelled with self-esteem and delight. Summer could see her blossom before her very eyes, and she felt such pride for her friend and her new found talent. Nick looked dumbfounded and awe-struck by what he’d seen. Tori had to physically close his open mouth then cover it with a kiss. He spun her around in a circle, and Myrtle and Summer looked on with smiles of happiness at the adorable couple before them. After a moment of celebrating, they all surrounded the table to interpret where the egg was.

  “Okay, so the egg is on the second floor, in the eastern corner room of the mansion,” Summer said. “Aunt Myrtle, do you know whose room this is?”

  “Not a clue, but I know someone who will,” Myrtle said.

  Myrtle and Summer both said the name as if in stereo, though Summer’s voice held a tinge of dread. “Mortimer.”

  “Why would Morti, know whose room it is?” Tori asked.

  Summer explained, “Morti’s been in the house a lot in the past. Guess he used to be in love with Yvonne and spent some time there.”

  The same disgusted look that she had when Myrtle told her the news came over Tori’s face. “We were all young once too, with love interests and dreams of the future,” Myrtle reminded them.

  “I know what I have to do tomorrow,” Summer said.

  “Yes. Talk with Mortimer,” Myrtle said. The statement weighed heavily on Summer. Their earlier conversation, though she was sure it was Morti’s way of apologizing, was not exactly what she had hoped.

  “Why are you so stressed by this? Didn’t you and Mortimer clear things up earlier?”

  “That’s not exactly how I would put it,” Summer said.

  “What did happen?”

  “He said he’d like me to come to him with questions I had about ‘things’ instead of bothering you with them,” Summer explained.

  “And?” Myrtle pushed.

  “And that was about it.”

  “Oh, that man is quite impossible. He’s the biggest pain in the arse there ever was,” she said, and then mumbled some things the rest were glad they couldn’t interpret.

  “Well, my dear, this old lady has had a very long day. Would you mind if we called it a night?” Myrtle said to Summer.

  “No. Not at all,” Summer said, folding up the blueprint and tucking things into her backpack.

  “It was very good seeing you again, Victoria. I hope you’ll come and visit more, and I’d like it very much if I might receive an invite to your grand opening.”

  “Definitely,” Tori said then hugged Myrtle tightly.

  “Nick, thank you for your hospitality. I hope your business will be a success too.”

  “Thank you and you’re welcome.”

  “Now take care of this little fire-cracker,” Myrtle said stroking Tori’s cheek tenderly.

  “I plan on it,” he said, taking Myrtle’s hand and holding it in both of his.

  “Good, now where is that stone?” Myrtle said.

  “It’s on the corner of that table,” Summer pointed, standing in front of Tori.

  She hugged her and said, “Thanks for this. It’s really good to see you.” Summer said.

  “You too,” Tori said with a smile.

  Summer turned to Nick and offered him her hand. “Nick thanks for this.”

  He clenched his lips tightly together as if to keep from saying something, then bypassed her hand and pulled her to him in a brief tight bear hug, with a “yup” in her ear. Summer wasn’t quite sure what to say or and when he pulled away she could see Tori was pretty shocked, but pleased by his display of affection.

  “Well. Okay then, we should be off.”

  “By the way, how did you get here? I can see you used magic to be unseen but since the dog mobile is gone…”

  Summer and Myrtle both smiled, and Myrtle said, “We flew, my dear.”

  “What? You mean like on brooms?”

  “Brooms are for sissies,” Myrtle said. They opened the back door and the trike could be seen in the shadows near the door.

  “That? You flew on a giant tricycle,” Nick said.

  “Yes, we did. You should try it some time,” Summer said, before grabbing the stone and disappearing before them. Then in a flash, Myrtle was gone and then the bike.

  Nick said, before pushing Tori back and closing the door, “Now that sounds like fun. Can you make things fly, hon?”

  Summer could hear Tori telling Nick, “No, I can’t make things fly, but I can find it when they lose that stone.”

  Summer smiled and told Myrtle, who was sitting on the bike seat holding the handlebars of the tricycle. “Are you ready?” Myrtle whispered.

  “Ready.”

  “Okay, bike, let’s ‘go,’” Myrtle commanded and like a shot they were off gliding over trees and streetlights. Cars moved along Main Street and traffic lights turned Christmas-y colors below them. What a night. With the weight of the lie with Tori now over, Summer delighted in the cool breeze against her face. She felt as light as a feather and as free as a bird. The bliss of flight ended far too quickly as they descended and came to a halt inside the barn.

  “That, my dear, was a very productive night. You should be very proud of yourself. Your cloaking stone was a great success, your bout with Victoria and Nick is now in the past, and we were able to obtain the information Hunter and Mortimer need. None of this would have happened without you and your magic. I know your mother and grandmother would be as proud of you as I am right now,” Myrtle said, dismounting from the seat. Then she hugged Summer.

  “Thank you, Aunt Myrtle.”

  “Thank you, my dear. I haven’t had that much fun in a very long time, but now I’m off to bed. Get some sleep and I’ll see on the morrow.”

  “Sleep well.”

  “You too, dear,” Myrtle said as she left the barn and headed to the house.

  Chapter 17

  The next morning before Summer got ready to leave for the clinic, she headed to the far end of the graveyard, where Morti was often found. An overly excited Sully followed behind galloping much like a new born foal—all legs. First he was behind her nipping at her feet, then in front of her, then around to the other side. All of which was way too much energy for ANYTHING to have in the morning Summer thought as she sipped her coffee.

  Summer could see the rotund cat laying on his back, sunning his white belly. When he was in earshot of Summer and Sully, Morti stretched and said, “Keep that slobber beast away from me.”

  “You know I have no control over his affection for you, Morti.”

  And with that, Sully lunged at the cat trapping him on his back and licking his belly. Summer tried not to laugh as she could see Morti wa
s not happy but trying not to laugh at the tickling sensation brought on by the licking.

  “Sully. Let Morti go.” Sully cocked his head at her as if confused by her statement then looked at Morti.

  “Get off me, Sasquatch.” With one last slobbery lick Sully let go of the cat and Morti returned to his feet licking his chest hair a bit to free it from the slime the dog deposited there.

  “To what do I owe this unwanted visit.”

  Summer grimaced at his comment but revealed the blueprints that were folded under her arm.

  “We had a successful visit with Tori last night and she was able to tell us where she believes the egg is.”

  “And how would that mook of a girl know where the egg is?”

  Summer decided to ignore his comment and said, “She’s quite gifted in gypsy magic and she scryed for us.”

  “Humph! Gypsy magic is a bunch of hogwash.”

  “Aunt Myrtle doesn’t seem to thinks so.”

  “You’re willing to risk your lives on the amateurish scries of an incompetent operative of magic?”

  “I am. And so is Aunt Myrtle and most likely, Hunter.”

  He made a tsk sound with his mouth noting his dislike and finished up with a, “It’s your funeral.”

  Summer continued, “Could you tell us whose room this is,” she said pointing to the room the crystal landed on the previous night.

  He stretched his neck, then walked on the blue print taking his sweet time. First he bowed, stretching his front legs out before him while his butt and tail were straight up, then took a step forward leaving his back legs where they had been planted and stretched yet again. Summer rolled her eyes at the nonchalantness of his attitude when he was the one in a hurry to find this darn egg. She thought he could show a little more excitement and maybe some gratitude that she and Myrtle had been hard at work while he was just reading his books and sunning himself.

  Summer crossed her arms and he finally set himself on his haunches in the middle of the large paper and looked at it in detail.

  “Well, if nothing has changed, and it could have since I haven’t been in this house in a very long time, I would say this is or used to be, Yvonne’s room.”

  Hmm. Summer said inaudibly.

  “After the fire, who knows how the rooms were divided up among them. Could be the maid’s quarter’s now, for all I know.”

  “How very helpful of you,” Summer said irritated by his brashness.

  “You don’t have to get snitty with me. It’s not my fault I can’t help you.”

  “No. Maybe not, but you’re…”

  “I’m what?”

  “A…a….condescending, ornery old cat…man…”

  “And your point is?” Morti said without missing a beat.

  Summer threw her hands up and pushed him by the butt, shooing him a way from the blueprint. She folded it up and left for work. She didn’t look back to see if he was still there. Frankly, she didn’t care. He may be a very esteemed cohort of the witch populace, and he may be her elder and her uncle due more respect, but right now he was just a crabby ill-tempered cat she didn’t particularly like at the moment.

  * * *

  Still steaming about her encounter with Morti, she pedaled hard to work to burn off her pent up frustration. That and she kept a look out for an army of crows that might attack. Gees. She thought. What is the world coming too. Killer crows, crabby cats, and snooty hellhounds. Could this day get any better? She looked at her watch. And it’s only 10:00. Sheesh.

  She sat at a light waiting for it to turn green when her pocket vibrated. Before the light could turn she pulled out her phone to reveal Autumn’s name on her phone. I guess it could get worse. Summer thought. It wasn’t that the call was from Autumn so much, it was that she hoped it was fueled by some other Macabre in an attempt to lure her into the open where they could kill her and get things over.

  She touched, ‘Accept’ on the screen and started pedaling again. As she did this a quick question crossed her mind…is it illegal to ride a bike and talk on the phone? It probably was…dang it.

  “Hello?” Summer answered.

  “Summer? It’s Autumn.”

  “Hey. What’s up?” Summer asked.

  “Can we meet somewhere? Privately?”

  “Uh,” she said trying to think if that was a safe thing to do or not.

  “Just you and me. To talk.”

  “I guess so. Is something wrong?”

  “No. I mean, well yes. I have more questions.”

  “I don’t know, Autumn. I really probably shouldn’t have told you a lot of things I said when we were trapped.”

  “I know. I realize this puts you in an uncomfortable position. I just, well, you seem to be the only one I can get a straight answer from.”

  “In regards to…”

  “Us. You and me. Our parents. The past. You name it.”

  “I see. I really think you should talk with your father for those kinds of questions. My answers will probably be skewed towards the Midnight side.”

  “Maybe, but that’s what’s so amazing about you.”

  “Amazing? I doubt that…”

  “What I mean is you’re the only one who can see things without the past to influence you. When we were in the cave, you spoke as if you were not on either side, yet you were willing to fight for the Midnights regardless. To me that says there’s some truth there that my family isn’t providing. I just hoped maybe we could talk some more, you know, without the families around.”

  “I suppose we could do that, but where could we possibly go where there would be no one to overhear or see us.”

  “I know of a place. It’s in the woods off a fire road the rangers use. I’ll send you a map and a text with instruction on how to get there.”

  “Okay, and when do you want to meet up?”

  “Let’s say, before sunrise tomorrow? Say, 4:45 a.m.”

  “Ugh…I’m not a morning person,” Summer admitted.

  Autumn laughed. “Me neither. I’ll bring coffee.”

  “Better be a lot of coffee,” Summer said.

  “It’s a deal.”

  “Okay…see you then.”

  “Thanks, Summer.”

  “No problem.”

  * * *

  True to her word, around noonish, Autumn sent a map and directions to what looked like an abandoned cabin in the woods, maybe an old ranger shack. She’d definitely have to use the flying tricycle again to get to this place, since her bike didn’t have mountain bike tires. It doesn’t look too far at least as the crow flies—then she shuddered at the pun. Stupid birds, she thought.

  The talk all around the office that day was Tori’s grand opening. It was going to take an incredible amount of will power to stop Summer from attending to keep up appearances with the Macabres that there was no relationship anymore between the to friends. People in the office whispered around her trying not to involve Summer in the conversation, since they all knew they had a falling out. It was horrible keeping up the facade. The only saving grace was that Tori, herself, knew it was a farce and that in itself had taken a load of stress off Summer. Just being able to talk to Dr. Stuart, Aunt Myrtle, and the others about Tori, made a huge difference, but it didn’t make it any easier in public.

  Dr. Stuart had noted how the office chatter had been wearing on her and when the office closed he asked her to stay for a bit after hours. He told the rest of the employees that he and she had some new surgical techniques to discuss with some new fangled sutures that had just been introduced. That way he didn’t have to take her to Pizza Pit where everyone would assume there was an ‘issue’ or a ‘reprimand.’

  What he suggested to her that night was an incredible covert idea even to a seasoned spy might envy.

  “So I bought these little spy cams,” Dr. Stuart said revealing a generic white cardboard box from his desk drawer. He pulled out what looked to be a polka dotted silk tie from the little box.

  “Looks like a tie
,” Summer argued.

  “It is, but inside it is a little camera. And this is the remote to control it,” he said pulling out a fob that looked like it might be for a car door alarm and lock. Summer inspected the tie. She couldn’t see any camera what so ever.

  “Where’s the wires?”

  “It’s wireless, neat, huh?” then he pressed a button on the fob and Summer’s face appeared on the computer screen next to her.

  “That is cool…and a little creepy too.”

  “Isn’t it?”

  “But I don’t get it, what’s this for?”

  “The opening of Tori’s store. I know you can’t be there so I’m going to record it and you can sit here and watch it while it’s going on.”

  “Real-time?”

  “Yes. I bought the upgrade package,” Dr. Stuart said with a proud smile.

  “This is so awesome. I can’t believe you did this for me. Thank you.”

  “No problem, you know what a gadget geek I am anyway. This gave me an excuse to play with a new toy AND help you too.”

  Summer jumped up and hugged the doctor.

  Though she couldn’t interact with her best friend on such a big day, she could watch as an observer and see all that would happen. All the employees were going so there was no chance of them knowing that she was secretly at the office watching everything. Maybe she’d even bring soda and popcorn—like movie night in the graveyard last summer, Summer remembered.

  * * *

  After work, Summer met up with Hunter to discuss the little insight Morti had given to Project Egg as Summer now called it.

  “Sorry, Morti wasn’t exactly helpful,” Hunter said.

  “To his credit, he did give us information, we just don’t know how accurate it is anymore, but then that was a given when we knew he hadn’t been in the house in a long time. It’s just that every conversation with him is so…”

  “Difficult?”

  “Yes. Exactly, and stressful as well as exhausting.”

  “He does have a way about him, doesn’t he?”