by Martha Carr
“Laura?” Emily watched her sister move back and forth across the living room. “Maybe stop pacing for a minute and explain that a little bit. None of us can read minds.”
Chuck looked at her. “You can’t?” When Emily shook her head, he just hung his head and picked up where he left off staring at the rug.
“The Clubhouse, Em.”
“Is…where Nickie’s hanging out right now…”
“No, physical transference. That’s instant too. We only knew enough about it when we were kids to build the Clubhouse and the keyring charms, but we can do a lot more than that, now.”
Emily squinted at her sister until the answer struck her. “Make the new rune pop the Gorafrex right back into the prison.”
“Exactly.”
“Once we get it out of Dave.”
Chuck groaned, and Laura’s smile faded. “Well, yeah. That’s also correct. Which you’re gonna get started on too, right, Em?”
“Oh, yeah. I’ve never made a potion in my life, but yeah. I’ll get started on the most important potion I’ll probably ever make, like, ever.” She cleared her throat.
“I have faith in you.”
“Thanks…”
Laura stopped pacing, glanced at her wristwatch, and turned to Nathan. “It’s ten-thirty. We can still take a shot at dissecting that first rune, if you wanna stick around for a little longer.”
“I’m here, and I’m ready to help.” Nathan smiled and shot her a thumbs-up. Emily snorted.
“I’m not gonna be able to sleep…” Chuck shook his head. “Are you guys sure Nickie’s okay?”
“She’s safe from the drumming, at least.” Emily shrugged. “Guess we won’t know when it goes away until she comes back and—”
With a little pop of air, Nickie reappeared on the couch next to Chuck, who nearly leapt over the armrest. She laughed, reached out to rub his arm, and gave him a sympathetic smile. “You’re still here.”
Her boyfriend blinked a few times and sank back down into the couch. “Yeah, I’m still here. You think I was just gonna go home and wait to hear from anybody who thought about telling me how you’re doing?”
Nickie slipped her arm through his and leaned against him. “I didn’t think that for a second. Sorry to make you wait so long.”
“It was only an hour,” Laura said. “Did the drums just stop?”
Nickie rolled her eyes. “No. This whole magic-going-off-the-rails thing is getting old really fast. I’ve been trying to get out of the Clubhouse for the last fifteen minutes.”
“Uh-oh.”
“Yeah, Em.” Nickie nodded at her sister and smoothed her hair away from her face. “That’s what I thought.”
“Wait, what’s uh-oh?” Chuck looked at his girlfriend with wide blue eyes. “You’re okay, right?”
“I’m okay, babe. Don’t worry.”
“That just means we have to come up with a Plan B in case the keychains act up again.”
“Well, we have the transport bubbles, right?” Nickie nodded. “Those worked before as a last resort. I mean, they’re fast enough to avoid magical explosions.”
“Magical what?” Chuck gulped.
“That we totally caused,” Emily added.
“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”
Laura stepped beside the couch and folded her arms. “Yeah, but if we can’t get into the Clubhouse because magic doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to, we can’t depend on transport bubbles, either.”
“What about potions?”
All heads turned to look at Emily.
Nickie frowned. “That came outta left field.”
“Not really,” Laura said. “We have a few things to fill you in on.”
“Yeah, please do.”
Chuck groaned. “I don’t know if I can sit through another explanation. It’s like a song on repeat. A song I never knew existed but is now changing every single thing I thought I knew about life.”
“Okay, babe…” Nickie eyed her sisters before leaning forward to make her boyfriend look at her. “It’s okay if you need a break. You wanna go lie down in my room?”
He let out a short, high-pitched laugh. “That sounds like the best thing ever.”
“Good. Okay. You want me to come with you, or…”
“Nope.” Chuck sat upright and turned to face her. He grabbed her face with both hands and fixed those baby-blue eyes she loved onto her brown ones. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” Nickie smiled and covered his hands with her own. “And thank you for telling me.”
“You’re welcome,” she whispered.
He kissed her long enough to get across how much he meant it without stepping over the PDA line in front of her sisters, then released her. “Good luck figuring out…whatever it is you guys have to figure out.” Chuck stood and squared his shoulders. “I’m gonna go upstairs, and maybe after I’ve slept on it for a minute, I won’t be the useless human who knows about magic but can’t actually help.”
“You’re not useless, Chuck,” Emily said.
“Yeah, right now I am. Don’t worry, though. I’ll change that. Somehow.” He nodded at Nathan, who returned the silent gesture of acknowledgment, then headed across the living room toward the staircase in the foyer. “‘Night, everybody.”
“‘Night, Chuck.” Emily waved, though he didn’t see her.
“Get some rest,” Laura added.
Before Chuck reached the staircase landing, Speed slipped inside through the dog door and trotted through the living room after him. The bulldog snorted when he stopped at the guy’s feet, and Chuck shot him a wary glance. “Yeah, okay. Come on, you immortal stink machine with fur.”
No one said anything else while they listened to the creak of Chuck’s slow steps up the staircase, across the hall, and toward the side of the house right above them, accompanied by the click of Speed’s paws on the hardwood floors. When Nickie’s bedroom door opened and clicked shut again, all three witches and Nathan let out a collective sigh.
“You guys really did tell him everything,” Emily said, flicking her finger toward the staircase.
“At this point, Em, there’s no reason not to.” Nickie let out a heavy sigh and leaned back against the couch. “I just hope that when everything sinks in a little more, he doesn’t just disappear.”
“Do you mean literally…”
“No, Em. I mean run away and never talk to me again.”
“Got it.”
Nathan cleared his throat and shifted around to cross his other ankle over the opposite knee this time. “I think he took it all pretty well.”
Laura frowned. “The guy’s in shock. We don’t know how well he’ll take it for a while.”
“I’ve seen worse.”
All three sisters turned to look at Laura’s part-Kashgar friend. “Like what?” Emily asked, raising her eyebrows in intrigue.
Nathan chuckled. “Okay, so one of my cousins, he’s the youngest of seven, actually, didn’t really inherit magic like the rest of us.”
“Huh.”
“Yeah, I guess it happens. Maybe. I guess his whole family tried to keep theirs a secret for as long as possible, and the guy lost it when he walked in on two of his brothers building a school project with…you know.” He lifted his hand and wiggled his fingers.
“Lost it how?” Nickie asked.
“He actually did run away. Didn’t come home for a month, and I guess that was when he figured out how to wake up his own peabrain. Somehow.” The sisters stared at him, and he shrugged. “I mean, so he didn’t inherit the Kashgar magic. But the rest of him still knew what it was, deep down. Woke him up, I guess.”
“I don’t think that happens very often,” Laura said.
“Right. But my point is that Chuck sat here through everything and didn’t run away for a month. Or longer.”
Nickie scratched the side of her head. “You think Chuck knowing about all this stuff is gonna wake him up to his own magic, too?”
Emily shrugg
ed, and Laura came to sit beside her younger sister. “You didn’t tell him about humans and their magic, did you?”
“No. I know I can’t do that.”
“You guys didn’t tell him what was gonna happen to his best friend when the Gorafrex moves on to another host?” Emily folded her arms and stepped toward them. “‘Cause that might make him run.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about.”
“Don’t be, Nickie.” Laura rubbed her back and shot a quick glance at Nathan. “That guy’s head-over-heels in love with you, magic or no magic. If he understood why you didn’t tell him about any of this until you had no other choice, he’ll understand about Peabrain magic too.”
Emily nodded. “Yeah, that’s my guess.”
“We’ll see.” Nickie pressed her lips together and gazed up at the ceiling. “Right now, he’s up there wondering how he’s gonna deal with everything we told him today, and I don’t know if either one of us will be able to handle it when he finds out he’s got magic too.”
“But you can’t do anything about it now,” Nathan said. “You guys have a bunch of other stuff on your plates, and it’s probably better to focus on that, right?”
Laura glanced at him and felt her face flush. He’s perfect. Her cheeks grew hotter when she realized she’d had that thought.
“Yeah.” Nickie bumped her shoulder against Laura’s and peered at Emily. “So…you guys have some stuff to fill me in on since I heard the drums?”
Her sisters nodded. “My date with John went right down the crapper. I’m not really sure what—” Emily froze and blinked rapidly. “Wait, you said the drums hit you like an hour ago?”
“A little more than that now, but yeah.”
“Oh…crap.”
“Emily?”
The youngest Hadstrom sister clenched her eyes shut and blew out a long breath. “Laura, one of the energy cores we haven’t gotten to yet doesn’t happen to be anywhere near Emma Long Park, does it?”
“Hold on.” Laura pointed at the middle of the living room, and her silver legacy ring flashed purple before the magical map she’d drawn out of the escape pod and all twelve energy cores appeared midair in the center of the room. She glanced at the northernmost dots on the circle around Austin and nodded. “Yeah, looks like there’s one right underneath the park. Why?”
Emily smacked her forehead. “That’s what that was.”
Nickie stared at her younger sister, then glanced at Laura. “I feel like we’re all on different pages.”
“Yeah, not anymore. Something happened at the park, didn’t it, Em? I mean besides Rutilda.”
Nickie coughed in surprise “You met the Engineer at the park?”
“It wasn’t on purpose.” Emily tilted her head from side to side. “She kinda burst up out of the ground by the museum and stormed across town toward the park. Now I think I know why she picked that place.” The youngest Hadstrom sister bit her lip and had a little bit of trouble getting the words out. “I’m pretty sure the Gorafrex got another power core up and running.”
Laura huffed out a sigh. “Great.”
“Okay, but we destroyed seven of them, so it can’t launch the escape pod.” Nickie nodded, trying to stay optimistic. “We still have that going for us.”
“Except for magic’s gonna start rockin’ the boat like a crazy person.”
Nathan pressed his lips together and forced himself not to laugh at another one of Emily’s vivid analogies. “What does that mean?”
Laura slapped her hands on her thighs, stood, and nodded at him. “It means we need to hurry.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The next morning, Nickie picked up her full cup of fresh brewed coffee and leaned back against the counter. She blew over the rim of her cup, then took a sip, making sure to slurp it extra loud.
Laura grunted and shifted in her chair. She and Nathan had fallen asleep at the kitchen table sometime in the early AM with their heads cradled in their arms, and an old, handwritten book open on the table among a few scattered papers with a bunch of rune drawings over every inch of available space.
Nickie slurped another sip. Nathan puffed out a sigh but didn’t stir much more than that. The middle Hadstrom sister reached behind her for one of the kitchen drawers, pulled it slowly open, then slammed it shut.
Laura’s head jerked up and she gasped. Nathan sat upright and sucked a sharp breath through his teeth. They both looked completely out of it.
“Hey, good morning.” Nickie smiled and held her coffee cup with both hands again. “Anybody want some coffee?”
“Uh…” Laura blinked and cleared her throat. She squinted at Nathan still there sitting across from her and frowned. “What time is it?”
“Little after nine. What time did you guys…well, I guess hit the table instead of hitting the hay, huh?”
Laura glared at her sister and shook her head. “Leave the bad jokes to Emily. It’s way weirder when you do it.”
Nickie chuckled and pulled two mugs down from the shelves.
Nathan cleared his throat and slapped his cheeks a few times. “I last remember being awake around four.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right.”
“You guys definitely need coffee, then.” Nickie stepped aside and gestured to the empty cups. “Help yourselves.” Her sister and the part-Kashgar rose and shuffled toward the counter like a couple of zombies. “Was it worth it?”
“Huh?” Laura squinted at the cup Nathan poured for her and picked it up with an eagerness bordering on desperation. She didn’t bother with cream and sugar. After a few sips, she sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I think we picked apart which pieces of the rune are used for which purpose.”
Nathan lifted his mug to his lips and chugged the hot coffee right there in front of the counter. Lily and Nickie shared a surprised glance, and when the man was finished, he let out a huge sigh and turned to fill his mug again. “At least we pinpointed which lines stood for the bond between living being and technology. We just have to pick apart a few others and figure out how to add the transference bit and the command to put the Gorafrex back into the prison before activating the original rune that kept it there in the first place.” He looked at Nickie and lifted his mug toward her. “Good coffee, by the way. Thanks.”
Nickie blinked for a few seconds and couldn’t help but smile a little. “Yeah, I can tell you like it.” They all headed to the table and took a seat.
Laura stacked a few of the loose papers and slid them to the side before setting down her coffee and cradling it in her hands. “I think we only need, what, another couple hours before we can find all the pieces we need. Then I’ll stick the rune on the iron lance, activate it, and voila. Instant Gorafrex teleporter.”
“Okay. A few hours is good.” Nickie nodded. “‘Cause we should hit as many energy cores as we can today. Emily said it’s fine if we go without her.”
“Where did she go?”
“Work. When her shift’s over, though, she said she had an idea for a potion she thinks will work. I honestly don’t know how that’s gonna pan out.”
“I mean, potion-making is almost like cooking, right?”
The witches stared at Nathan for a few seconds, digesting his statement. “Yeah, I guess. In the same way that physics is like parachuting out of a plane.”
Laura snorted into her coffee and pointed at her sister. “Okay, that one was pretty good.”
Nickie smirked. “If Emily makes whatever potion she thought up out of nowhere, we’ll take that with us when we go out tonight. Hopefully, everything will work the way we need it to, considering how many things are starting to not work.” She set her elbow on the table and crossed her fingers.
“Yeah. Let’s just hope we don’t run into any extra problems—” Laura stopped at the sound of footsteps pounding down the stairs.
Chuck rounded the corner into the dining room and headed for the kitchen, his hands shoved all the way into the pockets of his jeans. “‘Morni
ng.” It was cheery enough, but his voice sounded rough, like he had a head cold.
Both witches and Nathan lifted a round of tentative, curious greetings; none of them knew how he was going to act the day after finding out he’d been lied to for a long time. The only sound in the kitchen came from Chuck opening and closing the cupboard door, setting his own mug on the counter, and pouring himself a cup of coffee. He opened the fridge in silence, grabbed the half-and-half, fixed his cup, and returned the carton all without looking at them.
Laura caught Nickie’s gaze, and her sister shrugged a tiny bit, her eyes wide. But Chuck brought his coffee with him when he sat at the table between Laura and Nathan. He took the first sip, glanced at the papers on the table and the open journal, and nodded. “How’s the rune coming?”
Blinking in surprise, Laura nodded in return. “Uh…pretty well, actually. We were just saying we probably only have a few more hours to find all the other components, but it shouldn’t take long.”
“Good.” Chuck looked at Laura, then at Nickie. “What about Emily and her potion?”
Nickie sat back in her chair, realizing he’d done exactly what he said he’d do the night before. He’s definitely not useless. Just testing how far he can take all this. “She had to work this morning, but she said she has a plan for that too. I really don’t think it’ll take her long. Emily’s great at focusing super intensely for short periods of time.”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” Chuck said with a smidge of sarcasm, then took another sip and smiled. “Coffee’s good. So, you guys are gonna find Dave tonight, right?”
“That’s the plan, yeah.” Laura nodded, then turned toward her sister and pointed at her. “Hey, we actually know Dave.”
Nickie’s eyes grew wide. “We sure do.”
“No, I mean we can track him down. Not the Gorafrex, obviously, but we can get something of Dave’s and follow it to wherever he is.”
“Oh…huh. You think the singing bowl will work for that?”
Laura shrugged. “Worth a try. I mean, it worked when we were looking for the first witch that thing kidnapped, and she was already…” She stopped and shot Chuck an apologetic smile.
