by Kallie Khan
“She does,” he said. “She’s not great at showing certain things. But she’s great at a lot of other things. The loving you part? She’s got that down pat.”
“She’s insane,” she said bitterly. “She turned Kaiden into a freaking dog,” she exclaimed, pointing at his sweet purple face.
“She doesn’t know how to handle her girls growing up,” her father said gently.
Tobie stood suddenly. “Well she’s going to have to learn,” she said.
“Tobie…”
But Tobie was already halfway to the kitchen, fists balled, magic crackling like electricity all over her body.
“Listen,” she began, voice snapping with the same dangerous hum of magic as she entered. Her finger was raised, her face must’ve been like something from a nightmare.
But all the righteous words she was going to hurl like spears of justice at her mother fell apart. She dropped her arm, fingers uncurling.
Because sitting on a barstool, barefoot, hair disheveled, knees drawn up to her chin, was Isidora Takahama Moon.
And she was crying.
“Mom?” she said hesitantly.
Isidora looked up from her knees, and Tobie was struck by her face—it was a blotchy red, but more than that, it was wide and open and miserable. And...frightened?
“Mom?” she said again, stepping toward her. “Are you okay?”
Isidora slipped slowly off her stool, then padded toward Tobie like some silent, sad angel. She’d never noticed before how small her mother was. For all Isidora seemed to tower, she was exactly the same height as Tobie—five feet (on a good day).
Isidora touched the abrasion on Tobie’s cheek wordlessly.
Tobie hissed at the sudden pain—but then suddenly there wasn’t any, and Tobie realized the light of a healing spell was fading in her mother’s palm.
Tobie grasped for words, mouth opening and closing. Then she managed one more, “Mom—”
But the rest of her would-be words were cut abruptly off as her mother grabbed her and held her close.
Tobie was shocked for a full three and a half seconds. Then she put her arms around her mother’s back, and they stayed like that for what seemed like ages—and no time at all.
When her mother finally let her go, she sniffed, wiped her eyes, then said, as though the night’s events were completely routine, “I’ll write the reversal incantation down for you so you can turn that boy back into a human. Do what you will. I won’t interfere. Now, if you’ll excuse me?” She gave Tobie two air-kisses against her cheeks, as per usual, and then she swept out of the kitchen and into the darkness of the greater house.
Tobie gave an abridged version of these events to her father.
“She’s embarrassed,” he said softly. “Angry with herself, I’m sure. And she really, really loves you,” he added again.
“Funny way of showing it,” she grumbled, patting the Kaiden-dog distractedly.
Her father nodded thoughtfully.
Then the memory of her mother’s face—her true face, not some carefully cultivated facade—came rushing back to her. “I love her too,” she said, and the words surprised her even as they came out of her mouth. “Do you think she knows?” she added softly.
“Of course she knows,” said her dad, nodding. “But it wouldn’t hurt for you to tell her now and again. Even if she is prickly about it and doesn’t quite know how to respond. And even if she does turn your boyfriend into a dog now and again.” He gave her a small wink.
She snorted and shook her head, but a reluctant, lopsided grin spread over her lips. The Kaiden-dog licked her cheek, and at the sight of her smile, her father gave her a smile in return.
“That’s my girl. And, here. Let’s load the dog up in the car and see you on your way. You’ve had a long evening, the both of you.”
When she got outside, she realized that Kaiden hadn’t driven alone—in fact, Mystia’s car was idling in the U-bend of the driveway, and she scrambled to get out when she saw them.
“I told him!” she shouted as she rushed toward them. “I told him he’d get turned into something!”
“You were in on this?”
Mystia gave a scoffing sort of scowl. “Of course I was! You think I was just going to let you be miserable all on your own? I mean, I told him he was insane, but I’d rather you have a shot at getting back together to try to figure stuff out than not.” She threw her hands toward the poodle. “But clearly—oof!”
Mystia rocked back as Tobie threw herself into her arms. “I’m sorry,” she said into her hair. “I’m so sorry. I never meant to say those things. They’re not true, and you’re just as passionate, you’re just as talented, your my biggest inspiration—”
Mystia was laughing and hugging her back. When Tobie finally pulled away, she saw Mystia’s eyes glistening. “I just want you to be happy,” she said, voice a touch lower than usual. She wiped a thumb across the bottoms of her eyes.
“I know. You’re the best,” Tobie insisted. “The best.”
They said goodbye to their father, lead Kaiden into the car where he rested his fluffy purple head on Tobie’s shoulder the whole ride home, and listened to the Scarface soundtrack all the way there.
Chapter 32
KAIDEN
He didn’t know much except that he had been holding flowers and been perfectly clothed in normal human fashion.
Now the flowers were just a crush of petals at his feet, and there was a distinct lack of clothes on his person.
“Oh my goodness!” Tobie was standing a few feet away, hand clapped to her eyes. “I’m so sorry,” she said from behind her hands.
“W-what happened?”
“Pants.”
“What?”
“Pants!” She kicked in the general direction of a pile of what he recognized suddenly as his clothes.
“Oh!” He pulled his underwear and pants on quickly, then said, “Okay, I’m properly pantsed.”
Tobie peeked from behind her fingers. When she apparently deemed it safe, she dropped her hands.
“I’m so sorry,” she breathed.
“Sorry?”
“For my mom turning you into a poodle.”
It came back in a rush—the simple happiness; the smells; the way he rested his snout on her shoulder and was utterly content to just be near her. He gave an incredulous laugh. “A poodle?”
She winced. “I’m afraid so.”
“What...what happened while I was a poodle? Did you talk to your mom? She...wasn’t too angry?”
“I...yeah. Everything’s okay now,” she said, giving him a weak smile. Or at least it was approaching okay, but her mother was a contrary and prickly beast, so she didn’t want to dwell on it too much. “And I think,” she said hesitantly, “that if you weren’t too put off by being transfigured into a dog, she’s pretty okay with us seeing each other.”
“Tobie. Your mother can turn me into a dog every day if that means I get to be with you,” said Kaiden.
She smiled, cheeks flushing.
“Was I cute?” he said.
Her blush faded into a quizzical expression. “Cute?”
“As a poodle.”
“Oh!” She laughed. “Very,” she said, nodding, and he was equal parts pleased and self-conscious when she blushed. He noticed how her eyes trailed down his shoulders and chest.
“Oh, whoops—” he began, reaching for his shirt.
“Um, I wouldn’t, if I were you,” she said quickly. “I—um—I think you may’ve peed on it. While you were a dog.”
He froze, a horrified expression on his face.
Then she snorted and her face broke into a grin. She schooled it quickly, a contrite expression replacing the smile. “I’m so sorry. That wasn’t funny.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure it wasn’t funny?”
“So sure,” she said, nodding. Her lips were stretching out in a ridiculous elastic way—clearly a grin she was trying to disguise—that made him grin back at he
r.
“I feel like you think it was pretty funny.”
She snorted again. It devolved into a series of snorts that set him off laughing, too, and then they were in each other’s arms laughing.
And then his lips found hers, and he felt the warmth of her arms go around his neck.
When they stopped for breath, he looked down at her happily, as though this were the part in a dream he wanted to last forever. She was looking up at him with a magical incandescence—literally. Her eyes were glowing a gentle gold, and her hair was raining little stars in slow motion.
“You know,” she said dreamily, “you really were a cute dog.”
He laughed. “Oh, really?”
“Really,” she said. Then she gave her slow, sly, lopsided grin. “But I think human Kaiden is just a touch cuter.”
“Just a touch, huh?”
“Well, now that you mention it, I don’t know. Probably need more kissing from human Kaiden to be sure.”
He smiled, her radiance kindling a warmth deep inside of him. “I feel like I’m mixing my magical metaphors here, but at risk of being turned into a poodle again: your wish is my command.”
Chapter 33
TOBIE
Three weeks later, she was sitting in Pat’s, soaking in the scent of coffee as a kind of caffeinated aromatherapy, waiting on tenterhooks to hear back from Pepper Keeling’s apprenticeship office.
“Any day now,” Kaiden said, sliding into the seat across from her, their coffees in hand.
“Any day now,” she echoed, and when he raised his cup to her, she raised hers as well.
Kaiden smacked his lips. “Ah, delectable,” he said. “So, you ready for dinner tonight?”
Tobie groaned. “Dinner,” which sounded innocuous enough, was definitely Dinner with a capital D, no matter where it fell in the sentence, because Tobie and Kaiden were going over to her parents’ house for said Dinner in their first official parental introduction as girlfriend and boyfriend.
“Why are you so worried? Mystia will be there.”
“Why are you so stupidly nonchalant? Mystia can’t protect you, you know,” she said, jabbing her little stirring straw at him.
He laughed. “It’ll be fine.”
“Fine? My mom turned you into a poodle the first time you met her.”
And he still had one purple curl hiding under the rest of his hair, which she supposed her mother could amend if she were to ask. And Tobie wasn’t sure if he knew it was there anyway, but it matched her own green streak in a way, so she was quite fond of it and didn’t want to tell him. At least not yet.
“And it was fine! Uh, eventually.” He grinned. “What do you think she’ll turn me into this time?”
She made a show of smacking him, but only tapped his shoulder with the back of her hand.
The bell rang at the front of the coffee shop, and Mystia rushed in, face flushed from the delicate flurries of snow. “It’s here!” she said, slapping an envelope on the table with a triumphant smile.
But Tobie quaked deep inside herself as she stared at it. Neat purple ink made up the letters of her name and address. A pretty label bordered by flowers proclaimed the envelope as originating from the Offices of Ms. Pepper Keeling.
Tobie’s fingers trembled as she reached for it. She froze.
“I can’t,” she said.
“You can,” Kaiden insisted.
“You can,” echoed Mystia, nodding.
She steeled herself. She snatched it up, tore it open, and read:
Dear Ms. October Isidora Moon,
We are pleased to inform you that your application for summer internship with possibility for extension has been accepted. Should you have any questions, you may call, email, or contact us via scrying bowl. Please remit your letter of intent to accept or waive your admittance by the date below.
Once again, we are thankful for your interest in our programs, and look forward to working with you next year.
Best,
Pepper Keeling
She gaped, looked up at Kaiden and Mystia.
“Well?” Mystia said forcefully, making them all jump.
A slow, bright smile slowly dawned on her face. “I’m in,” she said softly. Then, a little louder, “I’m in!”
They enveloped her in hugs. Kaiden kissed her.
She texted her parents. Her dad replied immediately with a barrage of celebratory emojis and a hearty “that’s my girl!”
Isidora didn’t reply at all, which hurt, although she pushed past the hurt to celebrate with another round of coffee and the promise of seeing Phoebe throw straight bullseyes at Dogget’s later that night.
Later (much later, in fact), as Tobie was soaking in a bubble bath (Mystia had insisted she try Veritable’s Gently Enchanted Relaxation Bubbles), her phone dinged. She wiped her hand awkwardly on the towel hanging to her left, then reached for her phone.
Very proud of you. Knew you’d make it.
That was it from her mother. It was small, but it was also everything.
Epilogue
“Why are you being so weird?!” Tobie said, voice dangerously close to a shout.
“I’m not being weird!” said Mystia, throwing a hand into the air as she drove (way too slowly, in Tobie’s opinion) down the street back to their house.
They’d spent the day shopping, which Tobie mostly loathed but found tolerable because of Mystia’s company, but she’d met her threshold limit of crowds and people and noise about three hours ago and despite her repeated and escalated insistence that she was ready to go home, Mystia had put her off with bizarre stubbornness until about twenty minutes ago when she’d suddenly said brightly, “Okay, I’m ready,” dropped the clothes she’d been looking at on the nearest rack, and sauntered out of the store.
“Look, we’re home,” she said, waving her free hand with a grand flourish.
“Wait, why’s Kaiden’s truck here?” asked Tobie suspiciously.
“Why are you so nosey?” Mystia quipped back, grinning.
Mystia made a big show of leading her through the house, snapping at her to be quiet when she tried to ask what was going on.
“Sneaksy,” said Veronica, rubbing against their legs.
Mystia nodded. “Exactly, Vee.” Then she stopped short at the back door. “We’re here!” Mystia shouted.
“Come on out!” called Kaiden from the other side.
When she stepped outside, it was like she’d stepped into a dream—bowers of vines and two gloriously sweet arbors buttressed the wide trees that dotted the backyard. Fresh cobblework had replaced the old foot-beaten paths tread by past tenants.
But the most glorious thing (the silliest, vainest thing, Tobie told herself) was the water fountain in the center, and the way Kaiden stood next to it proudly, smiling down at her.
“I’ll just be inside,” Mystia said, and while Tobie could’ve smacked her for the knowing smile she gave them, she didn’t.
She just stared at the garden in amazement.
“It’s not quite finished yet,” said Kaiden, hands shoved in his back pockets, smile bashful.
“It’s...it’s perfect,” she breathed. Then she locked her eyes on his. “I told you not to get me a fountain,” she said, waggling a finger at him.
“And I told you I knew a guy,” he said, grinning. Then his smile became bashful and tentative again. “Do you...you really like it?”
He moved toward her hesitantly, and she toward him as she walked in a wide, slow circle around the fountain. When she looked up at him, he was a touch blurry in the fall sun as her eyes misted.
“Oh my goodness, you hate it,” he said, looking mortified.
She laughed, astonished. “Wow, I must be awful at facial expressions. So, so, so far from hate. It’s the most beautiful...the most wonderful…” She shrugged, lost in a wordless bliss. “I can’t even describe it. But seriously, Kaiden! This is—it’s too much.”
He stepped closer to her, hands going around her waist. “I to
ld you, it’s a hobby.”
“It’s an expensive hobby.”
He laughed and rolled his eyes. “I told you, I know a guy.”
“Yeah, well, moderately expensive, then.”
“Doesn’t matter. You’re worth it.”
Her heart gave a happy thump, and she was suddenly shy. She smiled into his chest, head tilted down.
He put a hesitant finger under her chin and lifted it gently until she was looking at him. Her smile was wide and undoubtedly silly at that point, discontented with being hidden under a cool facade.
“You’re worth it,” he said again, and he didn’t have to tell her a third time—she lifted onto her toes and kissed him, lips soft and electric, and for a moment, she felt as though they were floating across a massive celestial garden, filled with flora and fountains and stars.
“Hey,” he said softly, smiling against her lips. He kissed her again.
“Yeah?” She was partially breathless.
“I’m still kind of new at being a witch’s boyfriend, but...is this normal?” His smile was brilliant and warm when she pulled away to look at him.
“Is what normal?” she asked.
He nodded his head toward the ground.
When she looked down, she shrieked and grabbed at him; they were hovering two feet up from the ground. And apparently shrieking wasn’t the best way to go about alleviating emotional-response levitation, because they crashed to the ground in a heap.
“Sorry!” she said.
But Kaiden just crawled over to her, laughing, and paused for a moment to smile down at her and brush a tangle of hair out of her face. “Shall I help you up?”
She grinned, wrapping her arms around his neck. “In a minute.”
He grinned back, all hot cocoa and mittens, and a touch of something even more sweet. “I like the way you think.”
In no time at all, they were floating again, and Tobie was radiantly, buoyantly, incandescently happy. After all, the world was hers.
