Work Like a Charm

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I admit I flinched. I mean, they had attacked me before. Granted, that had been in an attempt to trigger my magic, and they had promised not to try it again when that failed. But the sight of them charging out of the house, arms outstretched as they raced down the steps to me, Brianna's long red hair streaming in tangled locks behind her, Sophie with a crazed look in her eyes, they were really rather frightening.

So I flinched and really wished the branch I suddenly had in my hand had some sort of power. But the outstretched arms closed around me in a tight group hug.

"What's all this?" I asked.

"You have no idea how good it is to see you," Brianna said, her voice muffled against my shoulder.

"Okay," I said, not sure what else to say.

"Really, it's so good to see you," Sophie added.

They were starting to freak me out a little. I had only known them from a few days, but neither of them was the hugging type.

"We just talked on the phone yesterday," I said. "You guys said things here were fine."

"We didn't want to worry you," Sophie said.

"I'm starting to get a little worried now," I said. "Can we go inside so I can set these bags down?"

"Sorry," Brianna said, and they released me from the hug. Brianna's cheeks were flaming red, although as usual, she worked not to meet my eyes. Sophie ran a hand through her short hair, leaving her bangs in a chaotic mess that she didn't even seem to notice.

Sophie never looked mussed. Now, not only was her hair standing on end, there were actual bags under her bloodshot eyes, and her complexion had an ashen hue.

I looked back to Brianna, who was gently tugging two of the bags out of my hands. I hadn't imagined it before: her usual sleek sheet of hair was tangled in matted locks, and she looked even more exhausted than Sophie.

"What's been going on?" I asked.

"Let's go inside," Sophie said, taking two more of the bags from me. "Brianna made some tea. You can have a cup while we explain."

I nodded. Just a minute before I had wanted nothing more than a quick shower and a long nap, but now I had a lot more on my mind than the aches and pains of a long car ride.

We piled the canvas bags of my clothing at the bottom of the stairs. The doors to the parlor and the dining room stood open, but the rooms beyond were dark, the shades drawn down and the curtains closed over all the windows. That wasn't usual either.

"Did something else get loose in the house?" I asked, remembering the little demons that had attacked the two of them before. Mr. Trevor had warned me not to touch anything that looked like a container. Had something gotten knocked over and unleashed a monster?

"No," Sophie said. "We've had our hands full, but nothing has gotten away from us."

Brianna, who had reached the kitchen door, looked back at Sophie with something imploring in her eyes, and Sophie added, "we're fairly certain, anyway."

Cups and saucers were already arrayed around the table, a steaming pot waiting on the warmer in the center between a plate of cucumber sandwiches and another of shortbread cookies. I could almost feel it in the air of the room, the anxious waiting that must have been going on, the two of them jumping at every car that sounded like it was slowing down to pull up to the curb outside.

"Everything went well back home?" Sophie asked conversationally.

"Fine," I said. "It's all done. I'm here now, and I have no reason to leave again. Now, tell me what's going on."

"As it turns out, we did need you," Sophie said as she poured tea into my cup.

"For what?" I asked. "You two are the ones who can actually do magic."

"Neither of us sensed it when you were here," Brianna said, glancing at Sophie, who nodded her agreement. "Sophie noticed it first, only minutes after you were gone. It was like the fabric of the portal was… stretching."

"Stretching?" I repeated.

"Like pizza dough," Sophie said. "Have you ever stretched pizza dough?" I nodded, sipping at my tea. It was sweet and strong and just what I needed. "Okay, imagine you didn't knead the dough enough, and now you're trying to stretch it out to make a pizza. At first, it looks like it's stretching just fine like it's supposed to. But then it gets too thin."

"It tears?" I guessed. Then nearly choked on my second sip of tea as a thought struck me. "Wait, the portal tore open?"

"No, no," Sophie said hurriedly.

"Yeah," Brianna said miserably.

"Maybe a bit," Sophie conceded. "But I felt it happening right away."

"I came up with a spell to sort of patch it," Brianna said.

"But it's like trying to patch a pizza dough by pressing down another blob of dough. It's not exactly going to work."

All of this pizza talk was making me hungry. I picked up one of the sandwiches and stuffed it in my mouth.

"You don't think anything came through?" I said, mouth still half-full.

"We watched very carefully," Brianna said. "And I crafted some detection devices. They're in the backyard now; they shriek if another tear is starting to form so we can go out and patch it when it's still just a really thin stretch and not an actual hole."

"But even with the devices, we've been watching it closely," Sophie said.

"In shifts," Brianna said. "One of us has always been awake, all week, day and night."

"And when there's a tear, we both have to be awake to fix it," Sophie added.

"I'm so sorry," I said. "That sounds exhausting." I carefully didn't mention the way the two of them were looking at the moment. No reason to rub it in. "But I don't understand what this has to do with me. Couldn't it just be a coincidence that it started right after I left? I mean, maybe it was damage from that fight. Maybe it's been slowly building since Miss Zenobia passed."

"We're pretty sure it has something to do with you," Sophie said. "Miss Zenobia said all three of us had a calling, and that guarding this portal would take all three of us together. That includes you."

"Nonmagical me," I said glumly.

"You are magical," Brianna said. "We just haven't figured out how to bring it out of you yet."

"I just really think what happened in that last fight was a one-time thing," I said. "Something was working through me. That wasn't coming from me."

"Maybe," Sophie said. I knew she could sense patterns in magic, its ebbs and flows. That fight had been too intense for her to really see what was happening magic-wise, but she must have gotten hints.

"You have a connection to the portal, I'm sure of it," Brianna said. "You did travel from 1927 back to here without a wand or anything."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"You followed Helen back, remember?" Brianna said. "You got back here all on your own."

"No, you brought me back," I said with a frown.

"No, I didn't," Brianna insisted. "I was working in the library when I heard the crash of you falling in the kitchen, and Sophie and I came downstairs together and found you there with Helen."

"But you brought me back," I said again.

"No," Brianna said firmly. "I was going to, at sunset, but it wasn't time yet."

"I sent a message," I said. "I knew I had to get back early, so I sent a telegram to that other witch, asking her to contact Mr. Trevor and let him know I needed to get back straight away. So you pulled me over, didn't you?"

"I would've had to be in the yard to do that," Brianna said. "You would've seen me."

"Then how did I get home?"

"I thought that you did it," Brianna said.

"But I don't know how," I said.

"You were anxious to get back," Sophie said. "You knew we were in danger. Your urgency level must have been off the charts."

"That's a circumstance that triggers latent magic," Brianna said.

"But I didn't do anything," I said. "I didn't even make a wish. I was just waiting."

"And then you were here," Brianna said.

"I did see something," I said, half-closing my eyes as I summoned up the memory. "I could see, I guess the portal itself? I hadn't seen it before."

"I really think you have a connection with it," Sophie said. "It certainly has a connection with you."

I looked down at the remains of my tea, playing over the memory and trying to remember any other little detail. But there was nothing. At the time, I had been too worried about getting home to be paying attention, I guess.

The hinges of the back door shrieked as the door swung open and Mr. Trevor shuffled inside.

"Boxes," I said, leaping to my feet to go help him. Sophie and Brianna came behind me. Mr. Trevor had already made some trips up from the garage to judge from the stacks of boxes on the back porch.

"We can stick these in the dining room with my things for now," Brianna said, bending to pick up one of the boxes.

"Your things are here?" I asked.

"I had my roommate crate up all my stuff and ship it here. It took a week, but it turned up this morning." Despite her exhaustion, the thought of having her books back with her lit up her eyes.

"That's all of it," Mr. Trevor said, setting the stack he had staggered in within the hall outside the kitchen. "Ah, tea. Lovely."

"We should check the time portal," Sophie said when each of us had stacked our boxes in the dining room. The few battered cardboard boxes that contained my possessions were completely dwarfed by the stacks of neatly arranged crates that held Brianna's things.

"Yes, let's," Brianna agreed.

"Me too?" I asked.

"Of course you too," Brianna said as Sophie took my hand. "We want to see how the portal responds to you being back. And who knows? Maybe you'll see it again too like you did before."

I didn't say anything. I was pretty sure that like being filled with ineffable power, that had been a one-time thing.

The garden had gained some yard art since I had left: a brass sundial, an ornate collection of windchimes that hung from what looked like an umbrella clothes drying rack, something on a pedestal that looked more like Galadriel's gazing pool than a bird bath.

Then I realized those must be Brianna's magic portal leakage detectors. They were pretty cool.

"Anything?" Brianna asked me. I shrugged. I sensed nothing more than I ever had. She blinked away a brief expression of disappointment then pulled out her wand as she ran down the steps to join Sophie, who was already beginning her spinning, arm-sweeping dance among the plants.

I watched the two of them for a while. Then I tried half closing my eyes, trying to settle into a more meditative state. Then I tried just staring really hard until I saw spots dancing across the sky. But that was nothing more than the usual side effect of staring into the bright sky for too long.

Then Sophie ended her dance, holding the last pose for a long moment before letting all of the tension drain from her body as she turned and walked back to the porch where I sat on the steps.

"Anything?" she asked me.

I shook my head. "What did you sense?" I asked.

"It's back to how it was before you left," she said. "We're going to want to keep an eye on it for the next few days to be sure, but it's definitely better with you here."

"I wish I could watch it for you and let you both get some rest," I said.

"No worries," Sophie said. "We'll have you working beside us soon enough."

"Sophie and I have your training regime all planned out," Brianna said, and her eyes lit up again. "We wanted to get started straight away. Dawn tomorrow."

"So you're the one who should rest up," Sophie said. "We're going to be very demanding teachers."

"I'll be the best student," I promised, although to be honest, I had only been an average student back in my school days. Still, I had no need to learn any of that stuff. This was very different.

I went upstairs to finally get that shower and nap. It was only as I stood under the deliciously hot water that I remembered about Mrs. Olson. I had meant to ask Sophie and Brianna if they had seen her lately, but after everything they had told me I wouldn't be surprised if they had been too preoccupied to notice if and when Mrs. Olson had been out in her yard.

I told myself it was nothing. A woman her age couldn't just stand around the yard all day.

But that feeling in my gut just wouldn't go away. Something was making me feel uneasy. Was I sensing the weakening of the time portal, only now beginning to recover from my absence? Maybe I was sensing magical things and just didn't know how to assign meanings to these vague feelings.

Perhaps things would be clearer in the morning when my training started.