Magic on Changeling Mountain

“Hi! I was beginning to think you weren’t going to make it.” Colin said as he stood when she approached and gave her a kiss on the cheek then helped her with her chair. “What would you like to drink?” He was still in his uniform and looked tired.

“Coffee please.” She told the waitress and then turned to Colin as he reclaimed his chair. “You look tired, babe. Long day at work?” She asked.

“Yeah, it was. Did I tell you about Joe Danfield trashing the bar again? Well, he had to appear in court today and the judge threw the book at him. He’s going to the county lock up for 90 days. He has to pay restitution for everything he’s broken over there and the judge ordered that it is to be deducted from his paycheck.”

“Wow. What did Zoey have to say?”

“Don’t know. She didn’t show up for court. I’ve heard rumors that she’s going to file for divorce but I don’t know that for sure. She has warned Joe so many times in the past but he is such a hard head.”

“Oh, that’s sad. They have been together a long time. High school sweethearts, if I remember correctly.”

“Yeah. Speaking of sweethearts, how is mine doing?”

“A little bit tired but very happy to be able to spend some time with you. Any chance you’ve heard from your parents yet?”

“No and I talked to the guys at work and everyone is willing to cover for me to take a week off. That was one of the reasons I wanted to see you tonight. Do you think we could leave the day after tomorrow? I tried calling Jacques again but didn’t get an answer. The operator said that lines have been down to that area for the past couple of days due to ice on the lines.”

“Well, if Tammy is free to take us, then I’ll make myself free to go.” Carolyn said, her mind going into overdrive as she tried to think of all the things that would need to be taken care of so that she could go with him.

“So what have you been up to this afternoon?”

“Well, it’s been eventful, to say the least. After you left, Lucinda came back and gave me the most beautiful wedding gown I’ve ever laid eyes on. She also brought up a very good point that I think is going to make you very happy.”

“Well, tell me. Your lovely face always makes me happy but I sure could use some good news.”

“Well, she made me realize that a spring wedding might be nice, if we held it inside because spring is also when it rains and there will be mud everywhere and my beautiful gown would be ruined. So, with that said, if we have to have it inside, how about we move the date up some?” She said and saw his eyes light up and a big smile crossed his face.

“Wow, you sure do know how to make a man’s day! That would be great!” Colin said, suddenly his tired feeling disappeared and he felt like he could take on the world.

“Hopefully we can find your parents quickly and as soon as we get back, I’m going to go into serious wedding planning mode.” Carolyn said with a coy smile.

“So, it’s the middle of January now. Oh by the way, what do you want to do for Valentine’s Day?” Colin asked.

“Well, we definitely can’t do the wedding by then, unfortunately, and to tell the truth, I hadn’t even thought about it yet but let’s get through finding your parents first and then maybe we can think of something we’d both like to do.” Carolyn replied.

“Great. I do want to make it a special day that’s just for the two of us.” Colin said.

“So, do you have to go back to work tonight?” Carolyn asked.

“Unfortunately yes. But only until about 9. Wait for me to do your patrol?” He asked before he finished off his coffee.

“Sure. Is Stuart working tonight?” Carolyn asked.

“Yep. He comes on when I go off this week.” Colin said as he signaled the waitress for the check. “He’s going to work my shifts while I’m gone so he has tomorrow off. I sure do hope he gets to spend some time with Tammy. He’s barely seen her since her parents arrived.”

“Well, I’m going to stop in there and I’ll see if I can get her alone for a few minutes. She might even come to sleep over tonight since at my house, at least she has a bed to sleep in. Her parents are sleeping in hers so she’s been camping out on her sofa.”

Colin walked her back to her car and kissed her good night then went on to his patrol vehicle. Carolyn decided to call Tammy before just showing up at her apartment and wasn’t surprised when she picked up on the first ring.

“Hey, I was just about to call you.” Tammy answered the phone.

“Great minds think alike. What are you up to right now?”

“We just finished eating dinner. Any word from Colin’s parents yet?”

“No, not yet. In fact, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Colin wants us to go the day after tomorrow. Are you still going to be able to take us?” Carolyn asked.

“Sure. I just need to find out if Lucinda or Amelia know of a safe place for us to land.”

“Hey, how about I pick you up in about 10 minutes and we go back to my place and call?”

“Ok. I’ll be ready.” Tammy said and then hung up. Just as she was about to tell her parents that she was going to go over to Carolyn’s, it dawned on her that they might know of a landing place. “Mom, what part of Canada were you guys in when you were there?”

“We stayed all over the place. We never stayed in any one place for very long. Why do you ask?” Julia answered honestly.

“Because Colin’s parents have gone missing somewhere in Canada and they want me to take them up there to look for them.” Tammy told her mother.

“Hon, Canada is a big place. You are going to have to be a little more specific than the name of the country. When Carolyn gets here, have her come in and we’ll try to narrow it down.”

“Thanks, Mom.” Tammy said with a smile at her mother. “I’ll text Carolyn to come in when she gets here.” She said as she quickly punched in the message on her phone.

Carolyn pulled up outside of Tammy’s apartment building and was surprised that she wasn’t waiting for her but then heard her cell phone buzz, alerting her that there was a message for her. She checked it and wondered why Tammy was telling her to come inside but opened her door and hurried towards her apartment. The door opened just as she was about to knock and Tammy hurried her inside.

“What’s going on? Is everything OK?” Carolyn asked as she looked around Tammy’s apartment. “Hi.” She added to Tammy’s parents.

“Everything is fine. It’s just that my parents brought up a very good point and we wanted to talk to you about it.” Tammy said.

“What’s that?” Carolyn asked.

“Well, do you know where in Canada Colin wants me to take you two?” Tammy asked and then almost began to laugh when Carolyn got a deer in the headlights look on her face for a moment.

“You know what, I never really thought to ask. He just keeps saying Canada but I guess we will need to know so that you will know where to find a safe place for us to land, won’t you?” Carolyn said as she pulled her cell phone out and looked for Colin’s number in her list of contacts.

“Hey, babe. Where in Canada are we going to need to go? Tammy needs to find a safe landing place for us.” Carolyn asked, when Colin answered her call.

“Well, Jacques’s place is on the edge of the Reserve Faunique Ashuapmushuan but we should be able to land at Jacques’ place without much of a problem. Does she need to know specifically where it is?” Colin asked.

“I’m not sure. Look, what time do you get off of work?” Carolyn asked.

“At 9 tonight.” Colin replied.

“Well, come by my place and we can talk more then. I know you are busy and I don’t want to keep you on the phone while you are working.”

“Ok. I’ll see you then.”

Carolyn hung up and relayed the information and Jacob and Julia nodded that they knew a little about the area but Jacob said “It’s been years and years since we were there and we didn’t stay for very long. Can’t say that it’s an area I would want to be in January. It’s going to be incredibly cold up there.” He said with a worried look to his wife.

“Don’t start worrying about Tammy now. We just need a ride up there. Once there, Colin and I can transform into our animal forms, which means we’ll have built in coats. Mine is already thicker from the cold weather we’ve had here and I’m sure Colin’s is too. Tammy can apparate back here as soon as she drops us off. I can call her to come back and get us from there, I’m sure.” Carolyn said, when she saw his look of concern it seemed to ease his fears somewhat.

“What time did Colin say he’s going to be getting off of work?” Tammy asked.

“9 pm. I know he wants to leave as early as possible the day after tomorrow and he’s going to work tomorrow so that Stuart can have the day off and then he will work while Colin and I are in Canada, so I’m sure he won’t be staying long once we work out the landing details.” Carolyn smiled at them.

“Well, hopefully, he will hear from them soon and you folks won’t have to go at all.” Julia said.

“Well, Colin has been trying to reach them since Thanksgiving but so far no luck. Now their friend, Jacques, is not answering his calls either.” Carolyn said.

“Perhaps the phone lines are down? That happens all the time up there because of the snow and ice.” Jacob said.

“That’s what the operator he talked to said and we are hoping that’s the only issue. All I know for sure is that Colin wants his family to be here for our wedding and right now they don’t even know about it.” Carolyn said. “So, are you going to come over to the cottage with me?” She asked, looking at Tammy.

“Actually, why don’t you get your stuff together and come sleep over tonight? We can work out the landing details with Colin and then have a chance for some girlfriend catch up time.” Carolyn added the last part to stop any objection that might pop up from Tammy’s parents. She had been receiving weird vibes from them ever since she walked through the door.

“Ok. Just let me get some things together.” Tammy said. She would have to remember to thank Carolyn a hundred times for rescuing her. She wasn’t sure how much longer she was going to be able to take having her parents staying with her. Her patience was just about gone with them treating her like a child and of sleeping on her sofa in her own apartment while they enjoyed the comfort of her new bed. Ten minutes later, they were in Carolyn’s Jeep heading for the cottage.

Carolyn had been trying to think of a way to ask about what was going on with Tammy’s parents but didn’t want to stick her nose where it might not be wanted. They parked in front of her cottage and hurried inside, grateful to be out of the cold.

“Ok, so what is up with your parents?” Carolyn finally decided the direct approach might not be the best but it was definitely the fastest way.

“Oh Carolyn, I don’t want to hurt their feelings but if they don’t go home on their own soon, I’m going to go insane. They are still treating me like a child. I can’t leave the apartment without them wanting to know why, where I’m going and how long I’ll be gone.

At least my dad has quit trying to talk me out of being with Stuart but I can tell he doesn’t like that I’m engaged to him. He thinks I’ll “outgrow it” and that it’s “just a phase”. They are not very good at whispering.” Tammy confided as she wrung her hands. “I don’t want to hurt their feelings but I can’t continue on like this.”

“Oh, girl, I feel you and I know you don’t want to hear this but unfortunately, the only one who can deal with this is you. You are going to have to just tell them that if they want to be a part of your life, they are going to have to realize that you are not a child anymore. I thought it had improved since you got back from Washington?”

“It did at first but the longer they are here, the more they seem to slip back into their old ways. I know they are having a hard time with not having to hide anymore but it kills me whenever I go to leave the house, they start with twenty questions.”

“They love you and care about you. But I understand what you mean. You are just going to have to make it plain that you don’t appreciate being questioned every time you walk out the door.”

“If it doesn’t change soon, or they don’t go home soon, I just might. I’m kind of hoping that they will kind of catch on to my moaning and groaning about how much my back is killing me having to sleep on that sofa. It’s OK for a night or two but it’s been over a week now and I don’t know how much more I can take. I never realized how short that couch is until I had to lay down and go to sleep at night.”

“Well, I’ll tell you what. So long as Colin and I are in Canada, why don’t you house sit for me and stay here? That gives you some time to yourself without having to kick them out of your apartment. Or maybe better yet, I’ll ask them to come house sit while we are gone and you can have your apartment back!”

“Be careful what you ask for. You have the spare room and no roommates. You might find it hard to get rid of them.” Tammy grinned at her.

“No, I won’t because, unlike you, I don’t have to spare their feelings as much. I’ll be the same with them that I was with Lucinda and Amelia when they came.”

“Well, if you are sure you don’t mind?” Tammy said as she toyed with the idea.

“Not at all. In fact, I’ll call them and ask them to come stay here, so it doesn’t look like you are trying to push them out.” Carolyn offered.

“Let’s see what Colin has to say when he gets here. Maybe he will get lucky and you won’t have to go at all.”

“Maybe but I’m going to get ready either way. Come on and help me pick out some stuff to wear while I’m there.”

They spent the next hour and a half packing clothes for the trip to Canada. Colin showed up about 9:15, still in his uniform.

“Hi! How was work?” Carolyn asked as she opened the door to him.

“Hi! Glad it’s over. I usually love my job but then there are days like today that just seem to crawl by that make me want to pull my hair out waiting for them to be over.”

“I take it still no word from your parents or Jacques?” Carolyn asked as she hugged him.

“No. I made sure that my phone was fully charged and left word with Jason to call me if I had any calls at work today and I had my home phone forward all my calls to my cell phone.”

Tammy came out of the bathroom just then and joined them in the living room.

“Hi, Colin.”

“Hi Tammy. So have you managed to find us a safe place to land?”

“Well, since they have asked me not to talk about spells and such on the phone, I’m just going to call and ask if it’s OK if I pop in and get whatever is necessary to see where we are going. There has got to be a way.” Tammy said as she pulled out her cell phone. She found their number in her contacts and hit the call button.

Lucinda picked up on the first ring. “Hi Tammy. Yes it is OK for you to come and bring Carolyn and Colin with you.”

“How do you do that?” Tammy laughed. “We’ll see you in a few.” She said and then hung up. “She has got to teach me how to do that but she said it’s OK for us to go over now.”

She and Carolyn pulled on their coats and joined hands with Colin. “It helps if you take a deep breath.” Carolyn told Colin with a grin.

Seconds later they were standing on the front porch of Lucinda and Amelia’s home and Colin looked like he might throw up and had to bend over to catch his breath.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding. It is like being in a washing machine on the spin cycle.”

The door opened and Lucinda welcomed them in. “Come on in out of the cold.”

They all followed her into the house and then into the kitchen, where Amelia was baking. The house smelled of gingerbread and Colin’s stomach growled.

“Hungry, Colin?” Amelia smiled at him.

“I wasn’t but that gingerbread smells great! It’s one of my favorites.” Colin admitted.

Lucinda poured coffee for all of them and they gathered around the dining room table while Amelia piled cookies on a plate and set them in the center of the table. “Help yourselves and enjoy.”

“Before I show you this, we have to tell you, and I can’t express this strongly enough, that you have got to be extremely careful with this. It can be very dangerous and it’s not to be used frivolously. Do you understand?” Lucinda said.

They all nodded and then she continued. “Now, you need to know how to tell if you will be landing somewhere safe. There are several “tricks″ that you can use if you are going into unfamiliar territory but the most popular one we have found is a spell that can open a portal that will allow you to look at the landing site before you actually go there. But there are dangers in doing it. If there is a magical creature standing anywhere near it, they can either jump into where you are or pull you through it. When you open a portal, you have to remember to close it or you could leave yourself open to some very nasty customers, even on the mountain. Using this will totally wipe out all the protection we put on the mountain if it’s left open. It would allow things to travel from that place to wherever you start from with ease until it’s closed. It’s an alternative to apparating but not one I like to use unless there is a large group that needs to go through or you go with someone who can’t be apparated, like a baby or an injured person.``

“Can I ask a question?” Carolyn asked.

“Sure. Ask away.” Lucinda asked, cutting off Amelia’s standard snide remark about that question already being asked.

“Why can’t you apparate with a baby?”

“What do you do just before apparating?” Lucinda asked in return.

“I take a deep breath and then hold it.” Carolyn said and realized she had just answered her own question. “Babies can’t do that, can they?”

“Exactly. Apparating has a tendency to take the breath away and for a baby it can be very dangerous. While I will show you how to make a portal, just in the case of an emergency but hopefully you won’t have to use it. The one we prefer to use is the looking glass.” Lucinda said. She produced a beautiful ornately carved silver hand held mirror and put it on the table. “With a looking glass, you can peek at your destination and make sure it’s safe to land there. There can be some disadvantages to using a mirror like this. For instance, anyone standing directly in front of it will be able to see you too. It can be quite startling to suddenly have a head, which is all they will see of you, suddenly appear out of thin air. I would recommend that if that happens, you immediately close the “window”. They cannot hear you so trying to use it to communicate is useless.”

“Can you turn in a circle and see things 360 degrees?” Colin asked.

“Yes, you can and in fact, I recommend it since you will want to know that you didn’t just pick a peaceful, safe looking view.” Lucinda said. “So, let’s test this, shall we?”

“Do you have the address of where it is you will be going?” Amelia asked.

“Well, I have the address of the hotel in the area. I don’t know Jacques’ actual address and I haven’t been able to contact him to get it. His phone just keeps going to voicemail.” Colin said.

“Hmmm. Such a public place is not a good idea. Do you know anything about the area?” Amelia asked.

“No, I’ve never been there. My folks used to go up for a couple of months once a year but a couple of years ago, they decided to move to Quebec. They go to see Jacques in the summer months but are usually back by the end of September or the beginning of October. When they didn’t contact me at Thanksgiving, I started trying to get in touch with Jacques and talked to him once but the connection was lousy. It was hard to hear what he was saying but he told me he would check and let me know. I haven’t heard from him again since then and now he’s not answering his phone. To say I’m worried about them, is an understatement.” Colin admitted and Carolyn put her hand over his, in an effort to comfort him.

“Well, we are going to have to have a definite location or this will not work.” Lucinda said.

“I wish I had my computer here.” Tammy said absentmindedly.

“Why?” Carolyn asked.

“Well, we could google earth the area and get a specific location.” Tammy explained.

“Wouldn’t do us any good here. No wifi, remember?” Carolyn reminded her. That had been one of the things she had found irritating when they had been here last year was that she could rarely get cell phone service so she couldn’t call home or Colin.

“Oh yeah. Well, I guess we are going to have to chance it based on the hotel address. Maybe go for just the street and town name?” Tammy said.

“Oh, I don’t know about that. That can be very dangerous if you are seen and then show up there. It could be the beginning of the Salem witch trials all over again.” Amelia said.

“So what other options do we have?” Carolyn asked.

“Let me think for a minute. There has got to be a place that will be safe for you to land somewhere in that area.”

“Can I ask, do we have to land in town? Couldn’t we stay outside of the city limits?” Colin asked.

“Yes! There is no rule that says we have to be in town.” Amelia exclaimed.

“I would prefer to land closer to Jacques place, but at this point, I’ll just take getting there.” Colin said. He wasn’t really looking forward to apparating again but he had checked into tickets and they weren’t cheap, especially on such short notice and it would land them so far away that they would have to rent a car which would mean an additional expense.

With them planning their wedding soon, he was trying to save as much money as possible. Carolyn’s engagement ring had put a serious dent in his savings and he knew there were many other expenses that they would be facing soon. He did not want to ask her to delay it in any way.

As far as he was concerned, besides her, the only people he wanted to be there for one of the most important days of his life were his parents. He couldn’t move forward for this new part of his life without doing everything in his power to find them. He took out the map of the area that he had printed out at work and unfolded it on the table. “I printed this out at work. I hope it helps.”

“Great. So it looks like at the edge of town, there is a large grove of trees. Let’s try there.” Lucinda held up the mirror and said the spell and first the mirror appeared to turn completely white, like a thick white fog, but after a few seconds it began to clear slightly. They could make out some trees and lots and lots of snow. As they turned in a circle, they saw the lights of the nearby town twinkling in the distance. They completed the circle and again saw only trees and snow.

“That should be a safe place to land. Take only what you absolutely need and dress like you have been there for a while so that you don’t stand out. The grove is only about half a mile from town so it shouldn’t be that hard to hike it into town.” Amelia said.

“Ok. Well, we hate to run off so quickly but we didn’t let anyone know we were going and my folks are going to worry if I’m not back soon.” Tammy said. “One of these days, you are going to have to tell me where I can get a mirror like that.”

“Oh, hon, you don’t buy them. You make them.” Lucinda said. “You need to find a mirror with heavy glass. Modern mirrors don’t hold the spell and can often give you a distorted picture. Look in antique shops. They are often the best places to find them. Sometimes you will get lucky at an estate sale.”

“Oh boy. I smell a scavenger hunt in our future.” Carolyn said with a twinkle in her eye. She loved going antiquing and searching for “treasures”.

“We’ll go when you get back but right now, we need to get home. I’ve got a feeling my parents are going to be popping in soon and will worry if I’m not there.” Tammy said. She was feeling impatient and didn’t know why. She usually enjoyed being with the sisters and learning whatever they were willing to teach her about magic.

“OK. Well, make sure you call and let us know how it went or if you need any more help!” Amelia said, as she wrapped up the mirror and passed it to Tammy. “Take very good care of this. It’s very old.”

With that, they all said goodbye to the sisters, joined hands and with deep breaths for Carolyn and Colin, Tammy said the spell and a few seconds later, they were back in the cottage and sure enough, Carolyn’s phone was ringing.

“Hello?” Tammy answered because Carolyn needed a minute to catch her breath after apparating. Colin looked like he just might throw up as he sat down heavily on the sofa. “Yes, mom. I’m fine. We just popped in to see Amelia and Lucinda for a few minutes. They helped us find a safe place for us to land tomorrow.” She explained to her mother and then listened for a minute.

“Mom, will you please tell Dad to stop worrying! I’m a grown woman and I can take care of myself. I’ve been doing it my whole life!” Tammy blurted out. She didn’t want to hurt her parents’ feelings but her patience with them was just about gone. They seemed to want to know her every movement, every second of the day and it was beyond irritating for Tammy.

“Just keep repeating that they only do it because they care about you.” Carolyn told her as Tammy almost slammed the phone down.

“I know but this is getting to be beyond irritating.” Tammy said, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself. “I think I’m going to take a shower and wash my hair. Are you guys going to patrol tonight?”

“Yeah, I want to run up to my parents’ house and tell them where we are going.” Carolyn said. She knew that Tammy might have to get stern with her parents and knew she wasn’t looking forward to it.