A Slice of Christmas Magic Page 13

  I tried to be in the moment and not to think about all the pies I had to bake or the apartment I had to find or the presents I had to buy. I really wanted this to work, so I triednot to think about how badly I wanted this to work. I felt myself sliding deeper down in my mind. Was I falling asleep? I listened to Mr. Barnes’s voice, but I wasn’t really paying attention anymore. I was just thinking about my dad.

  Dad, where are you?I thought.

  Suddenly I saw the highway in front of me. I was zooming along. Was I meditating right? I exited and took a turn down a dirt road. Wait, this was familiar. I was heading towards the magic tree.

  “Well, this is unexpected.” I heard a voice that was definitely not my father’s. My eyes were still closed, but a face popped up in my mind. A woman’s face. She looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  She scoffed. “Like you don’t know.” She rolled her eyes and at once I knew who she reminded me of.

  “You’re Alice’s sister,” I said.

  “That’s right. The one and only Nellie.” She struck a pose. Her voice had an edge to it. With her dark hair and sharp eyes, she really did look like an evil fairy from a fairy tale.

  “I’m not here to see you,” I said. I tried to pull myself out. I listened for Mr. Barnes’s voice, but I couldn’t hear it anymore. “Wake up,” I told myself. “Please, wake up. This is just a dream.” But nothing. I was still there in front of Nellie. She looked amused.

  “Are you done?” she asked.

  “I don’t want to talk to you,” I said.

  “Sorry, Cookie, you’re on my turf now,” she said. “This conversation is over when I say it is.”

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  “You know Erma’s secret,” she said.

  “That she loves pickles?” I asked. I was listening hard for Mr. Barnes’s voice. I felt desperate as I tried to stop my thoughts from showing the road. I tried to move away from Nellie, but I was stuck. Nothing was working. I needed to get out of this state.

  “I may not have accomplished all the things that I wanted to in the mortal world, but I can still show the IMPs where to find Erma’s secret,” Nellie said. She was fishing. She didn’t even know what the secret was. I tried not to think about the tree.

  “Show me!” she cried.

  A map appeared in the air for a second. She looked smug, and I yelled and lunged at her.

  “Susie! Susie!” Someone was calling my name. They sounded panicked. It wasn’t Nellie’s voice.

  Suddenly I realized I was lying on the ground. I cracked an eye open. Mr. Barnes was standing over me with fear in his eyes. I felt out of breath and confused. I looked around, and the rest of the class was all staring at me.

  “What?” I asked innocently.

  “You were yelling, and you wouldn’t wake up,” he said. His voice was still higher pitched than normal, but he looked more relieved now that I was talking to him.

  “I must have dozed off,” I lied. “I think I was having a bad dream. Sorry, everyone.” The rest of the class exchanged raised eyebrows, and I sat up.

  “I’m going to call your mother,” Mr. Barnes said. He stood up to get the phone.

  “That’s not necessary. I have to go.” I rolled up my mat and grabbed my pile of clothes. I was out the door before he could stop me.

  Chapter 12

  Dear Elodie,

  I have this co-worker who won’t stop clearing her throat. She does it loudly all day long! I’ve resorted to humming to try to block out the disgusting noise. Besides humming the tunes to every musical I’ve ever heard, how do I get her to stop?

  Sincerely,

  Battle of the Noise

  Dear Battle of the Noise,

  I highly recommend you talk to your co-worker! I have a feeling you’ll make some headway. If all else fails, invest in some noise-cancelling headphones.

  Ask and I’ll Answer,

  Elodie

  I ran straight to my car. I was shivering by the time I slid into the driver’s seat because I was still wearing just my tank top and leggings. I threw on my sweatshirt and sweatpants. I had to get to the tree first.

  I started up my car and sped down the road. Heads turned. I knew I shouldn’t be drawing this much attention to myself. The roads were still a little slippery after yesterday’s snow, so I slowed down a fraction. I wouldn’t be able to save Aunt Erma if I got into a car accident.

  I had a feeling I would have some explaining to do once I got back. No doubt Mr. Barnes had called my mother. I would have to worry about that later. For now I went back to the things I saw during my meditation. I easily found the right exit this time. I wondered if Nellie was able to tell the IMPs what she knew right away. Aunt Erma had some pretty serious protection spells around the tree, but I wasn’t sure it would be enough to keep them away if they went right to it.

  I shuddered a little at the thought of Nellie hanging out inside my mind. How could I be sure she wasn’t still in there somewhere? I would have to ask Aunt Erma when I got back.

  The sun was beginning to lower in the sky as I turned onto the dirt road. I pressed the gas pedal a little harder. I really wanted to get out of the woods before dark. I knew exactly where to pull over. I jumped out of the car and ran in the direction of the tree. It was almost as though it was calling me. It was hard to run through the deep drifts. I had to lift my feet really high as my shoes were filling with snow.

  Finally, there it was still decorated and beautiful. I let out a strangled sob of relief. I approached it slowly, as though it might attack me without Aunt Erma. The leaves just rustled in the wind. The snow inside my shoes was beginning to harden into ice.

  “What do I need to make her better?” I mused aloud.

  A branch near my head shook dangling leaves in my face. I carefully pulled a couple off and put them in my pocket. Then I heard a slight scratching noise and I noticed a corner of the bark had come up. I scraped off a small chunk with my car keys.

  “Thank you,” I whispered to the tree.

  I don’t know if I heard it or if I felt it first, but suddenly I knew that I wasn’t alone. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. A twig snapped nearby. I couldn’t see anyone through the trees, but it was getting darker and hard to make out much of anything. I held my breath and listened. All I could hear was my heart pounding in my chest.

  Could it be an animal? I tried to remember what to do if I saw a bear. One kind of bear you were supposed to run from and one you were supposed to play dead for. Which one was which? Were there even bears in these woods? I wished I’d watched more of the nature channel and less reality television.

  I was crouched down ready to scream and run because those seemed like the best options, when I heard what sounded like a dinosaur bounding through the woods. Fight or flight, fight or flight, I debated. I decided to hide next to the tree trunk, even though it was far too skinny to cover my body. I hoped that the magic would protect me.

  A dark brown creature streaked past me. What was that? A coyote? A lion? A dragon? I was almost delirious with fear. I crouched closer to the tree trunk, and I could feel the magic. It tingled up my arm and through my body, warming me from the inside out. I no longer thought my feet were going to freeze and snap off. I closed my eyes and wished for everything to be okay so I could get back to Aunt Erma.

  I could hear crashing through the woods and then a man’s voice yelled, “Aaah, run!”

  My eyes snapped open. I still couldn’t see anyone between the trees. More crashing, and I shivered despite the magic.

  The sound was coming towards me now. I pulled out my phone, thinking that I should at least call my mother and tell her where to find my body if I didn’t make it back, but I didn’t get a signal way out here. Why did I decide to go to the magic tree alone? So what if it was a huge secret?

  I tried not to scream as the crashing got closer. I didn’t know who was still out in the woods.
Then I saw him. A large dark brown dog running towards me. I held very still. Maybe he wouldn’t see me. The dog came bounding up and sat at my feet, tail wagging furiously. I cautiously checked him for a collar, but he wasn’t wearing one. I looked behind him, but he seemed to be alone.

  “Where’s your family?” I asked quietly. Clearly, I’d spent too much time with Mitzy and now expected all dogs to understand me.

  He leaned his head against my leg, and I scratched him behind his ears.

  “Thanks for your help, but shoo. You should go home now,” I said. I had to get out of these woods before it was pitch black.

  I jogged back towards the car with magical tree bits in my pocket and ice bits crunching in my shoes. Suddenly I was face down in the snow. Ouch. I must have tripped over a tree branch. When I sat up, I was looking into two big brown eyes. The dog was following me.

  “Go home,” I said again, a little more harshly, as I continued to the car a little slower now. He ignored me and stayed close.

  When I got back to the car, I opened the door, and the dog leapt in before I could stop him.

  “Hey,” I cried, but he didn’t seem to mind my protests. He just wagged his tail. “Yeah, you’re funny. Now come on.” I tried all the dog tricks I had learned from my few weeks with Mitzy. Excited voice. Firm voice. Ignoring him. But nothing worked. The dog remained firmly planted in the car. I tried to push him out, but it seemed as if he weighed a thousand pounds. From the look on his face, he wasn’t at all bothered by my frustration.

  “Fine, I’ll take you home later.” I gave in. I had to get this stuff back to Aunt Erma. The dog wagged his tail. Once I was in the driver’s seat, he licked my cheek. “Not cool, dog,” I said, wiping my face off with the sleeve of my jacket.

  By the time we got back to Hocus Hills, the dog was curled up sleeping in the back seat. I decided to worry about the new creature later.

  “What in the world?” my mother asked when she saw the unfamiliar dog. He’d followed me inside as if he belonged there.

  “Don’t ask,” I said flatly.

  “Stop right there,” my mother said. The dog sat down.

  I turned toward her and tilted my head. “What?” I asked brightly.

  “Mr. Barnes called.” Of course he had. Tattletale. “Would you care to explain to me what happened at the yoga studio?”

  “I’ll admit, it got pretty wild. There was stretching and music and even—” I paused dramatically “—candles burning.” My mother was not amused. I let out a frustrated sigh. “Nothing happened. I was tired. I fell asleep. Then I had to run some errands. I’m going to go take a quick nap now. I’ll be back soon to help close up.” The dog got up to happily follow me upstairs.

  “We’re not done talking about this,” my mother called. “And where on earth did that dog come from?”

  Mitzy ran to greet me when I walked through the door, but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw I wasn’t alone. She sized him up. He was easily twice her size. She ran around him, sniffed him and jumped on him. He lay down, his tail wagging, and watched her run around in excited circles.

  Aunt Erma was still sitting at the table going through photos. She looked up when I approached her. “Tea,” she announced with a firm nod.

  “Is that what I do with this?” I asked, pulling the slightly squished leaves and chunk of bark out of my pocket.

  “I like tea,” she said.

  “I’m going to make some,” I said. I hoped that she would direct me at some point if I was doing it wrong, so I explained every step of the way. “I’m boiling some water,” I said. “Then I’m going to steep these leaves and this bark in the water.”

  She tilted her head at me. “When I was nine, I used to write love letters to the actor from that monkey movie.”

  “Okay,” I said. “After it’s steeped for a few minutes, I’m going to strain it and pour it into a mug.”

  She winked at me. “Right on, sugar,” she said.

  The dogs had pulled all the blankets and pillows off the sofa, and they were now gleefully rolling on them. I yelled at them to stop, but those same ears that could hear a treat bag open from a mile away suddenly couldn’t hear me.

  “Would you like honey, or does that mess with the tree’s magic?” I asked Aunt Erma.

  “I like to lick the edge of the honey jar when it drips,” she said. I really hoped this tea worked. I couldn’t handle all these truths for too much longer. I made a mental note not to use the honey anymore.

  I let the leaves and the bark steep while I made up a spell to break the spell on Aunt Erma. She had told me that intention was very important when casting a spell, so I made sure my intention was pure and hoped that would be enough. Plus, the tree seemed to love Aunt Erma, so maybe it would work with me to free her from this evil spell. I paused for a second. It had been just a few weeks since I’d learned about magic and how it was real – a fact I hadn’t even considered since I was a child, but here we were. I was believing that a tree could have good or bad intentions. I shook my head a little. Life was funny sometimes.

  Once I thought the tea had brewed long enough, I carefully poured it into a green and blue caterpillar mug and handed it to her.

  “Please drink this,” I said. She looked at it and then looked at me. I was afraid for a moment she wouldn’t drink it and breathed a sigh of relief as she took a small sip. She wrinkled her nose and set the mug down on the counter. Apparently magic-tree tea didn’t taste good. I added some honey, trying not to touch the sides of the jar. I handed the mug back to her. She took another sip and smiled. She finished the magic tea.

  I held my breath and watched her carefully. I was hoping to see sparkles around her or hear some magic music or something, but nothing.

  “Thank you.” Aunt Erma sighed. “It’s good to be back.”

  I threw myself at her and she dropped the teacup. It shattered on the floor.

  “Oops,” I said. Mitzy made a running leap and was in Aunt Erma’s arms as soon as I was out of them. “It worked! It worked!” I danced around. Our new dog friend joined me as I danced a victory lap around the living room.

  My mother rushed in brandishing a rolling pin. “What’s happening? What’s wrong?”

  “Aunt Erma’s back,” I said, presenting her with a flourish of my arm.

  Aunt Erma smiled at my mother. “That was truly an awful spell,” she said. My mother ran towards her.

  “Careful,” I warned as my mother got close to the sharp bits of ceramic. “Mitzy broke a teacup.” I pointed to the ground, and Mitzy gave me a death stare.

  I felt a huge wave of relief now that we had Aunt Erma back to her usual self. Now we just had to stop the IMPs, and we could really focus on Christmas.

  Chapter 13

  Dear Elodie,

  I made a mistake. Six years ago I told the guy I’d just started seeing that I loved seahorses. I don’t know why I said it, it just came out. I didn’t think much of it until he bought me a seahorse necklace for my birthday. That was very sweet. For the next holiday he bought me a six-foot-tall seahorse statue. We’re still together, and things have escalated. One of my friends told me that he plans to come into my house while I’m at work and put up seahorse wallpaper. That’s too much, right? I shudder when I think about their beady eyes staring at me all the time. How do I stop the madness?

  Sincerely,

  Seahorse Nightmare

  Dear Seahorse Nightmare,

  Things have ESCALATED from a SIX-FOOT seahorse statue? Oh dear! You need to talk to him right away. If you’re worried about hurting his feelings, just say you’ve recently decided that you love giraffes more (or some other animal that you actually love). You should also take an inventory of the relationship and see how often he is surprising you with things that actually horrify you. A little white lie here and there is one thing, but a relationship that doesn’t have open communication could lead to bigger problems down the road.

  Ask and I’ll Answer,

  E
lodie

  Word spread fast, and the Morning Pie Crew was in the front of the shop laughing and hugging Aunt Erma in no time.

  Lena pulled out a bottle of champagne and six champagne flutes from her giant yellow purse.

  “To family, friends, and broken curses,” Aunt Erma said, clinking glasses with everyone. I served everyone slices of chocolate coconut cream pie.

  “What’s the name of your new friend?” Flora asked.

  I was confused until she explained. “That dog you brought home. What’s his name?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I’m waiting for his family to claim him. They’ll know what his name is.”

  “Dear,” Aunt Erma chimed in. “He’s yours. You’re his. It’s a special magic that brings together a person and an animal, and you two belong together. You should figure out what his name is.” The dog wagged his tail at me.

  “Sure,” I told her, though part of me was still hoping someone would show up to take him home.

  “And you can’t just assign him a name,” Mr. Barnes said.

  “You have to say different names and sounds until he reacts. That’s how you figure out what he’s supposed to be called,” Lena explained. I looked around at all of them, expecting one of them to crack and tell me they were just kidding, but they all looked back at me with earnest gazes. Even my own mother.

  “Right,” I said slowly.

  The minute everyone was distracted by how cute Mitzy and No Name were together, I pulled Aunt Erma into the kitchen and told her about Nellie appearing while I meditated and the person in the woods near the magic tree.

  Her brow was wrinkled. “I should go put some extra protection spells on the tree just in case,” she said.