Autumn Calling (18 page)

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.”

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.

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 was 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.”