Autumn Calling (17 page)

“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.

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?”

…

“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 kidding,” 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?”