Dance of Magic - The Books of Beginning [1]

18. Daring Escapades

Michael and Emma were both feeling rather concerned about a variety of things. Both siblings were concerned about Kate. Emma was agonizing over her opinions about Rafe, who she thought she hated but who had just helped save her from her out of control magic. And Michael was worried because after the events of the day, Wilamena was attempting to cook dinner as a way of losing stress. Only Michael was very afraid that she would set the house on fire by trying to make spaghetti.

Abigail seemed to share this fear as she turned down the heat of the stove for the third time. Wilamena felt the need to make the stovetop way too hot, and it was causing Abigail stress. She kept her house neat and her appliances unmelted. She would very much like it to stay that way.

"Wilamena, death has already been narrowly avoided today, can we please keep it that way by not catching my kitchen on fire," Abigail said with a sigh. Rafe frowned from where he was lurking in the shadows at the mention of burning buildings. 

"Oops, sorry," Wilamena said with false cheer. She was trying to cover up how scared she was. For a moment earlier, she had thought she was gonna lose Michael and Emma. And though she didn't, she just felt so useless. She had come to help but hadn't really been able to do anything so far. Maybe she just should have let someone more experienced and powerful be the representative.

Though they all appeared calm on the surface, everyone could feel the mood of the room turning sour with worry and self doubt. So it was a relief when they heard the loud sound of the front door being shoved open, and Jake yelling, "WE'RE BACK!"

He and Beetles burst into the room, each holding several grocery bags.

Abigail rolled her eyes, "what took you so long? You were gone all day! The grocery store and the magical market couldn't have been that busy."

"We'll tell that tale in a minute," Jake said.

"Yeah," Beetles said, "let us put our bags down before pestering us."

"I let you live in my house when you go broke from your failed treasure hunts," Abigail grumbled, "I have a right to pester you."

"Abigail, don't be that way," Beetles protested, "we'll get you the rent we owe."

Abigail looked highly skeptical of this, but decided to let it go. Besides, she had a new subject to gripe about; the content of the grocery bags. There were a few nutritional items in there, but for the most part it was candy and cookies.

She glared, "I gave you money to get healthy food to last us a bit. This is junk."

"What'd you expect?" Jake shrugged, "it's on you for not knowing us better."

Abigail's eyes narrowed, "when your teeth rot from too much sugar-"

"Oh come on Abigail," Beetles grinned, "don't sit around and open a all-work-and-no-fun shop."

Abigail gave a deep sigh, the kind of sigh one got after dealing with Jake and Beetles for a century. The others watched, and found it a testament to her patience that she had any sanity left after dealing with these two.

"I feel like we should get back to where you two have been," Gabriel prodded, politely but firmly, ever suspicious, ever vigilant.

Jake smiled, a hint of mischief gleaming in his eyes, "ah yes, our daring escapades. Well, it all began soon after we left. We were reminiscing, my dear friend and I. See, this brought back memories of a long time ago. I mean, the last time we had seen Rafe was before the separation for goodness sakes. And we got to talking about how it was a different time then, without such a sharp divide between the technology and culture of the magical and human worlds. It was a different time in general. Things cost less, people had shorter lives-"