(advent) December 21, 2014

Sunday, December 21

“Okay, spill it,” Lai said, as the Terrible Trio swarmed into the kitchen that afternoon. “The entire story.”

“Yes!” Sue and Noemi chorused, and Molly laughed.

“Okay, okay, okay,” she said, pulling tea mugs out and pouring hot water into each of them. “Although come on, Lai, didn’t you give him the third degree when you were dancing last night? You looked like you were having a good time!”

Lai stuck her tongue out at Molly, reddening. “Not my fault he picked my shoe. I know he was looking for yours.”

“Oh? And how do you know that?” Molly asked, putting their favorite teas in the mugs: Christmas for her, green for Sue and Lai, and a spicy Assam for Noemi.

“Because he told me so,” she retorted, picking up her mug. “In fact, we spent most of the time talking about you. You’re lucky you’re engaged, Molly.”

“I doubt Drew has anything to worry about,” Molly said, and pulled a plate of homemade maple donuts from the refrigerator. “Jack’s heart is firmly held in the hand of the Snow Queen. If it’s not, then I’ve wasted most of my December, and I will NOT be happy.”

It is. Schrodinger climbed up and put his front paws on the island. Are those donuts?

“They are,” Molly said, putting one on a plate in front of him. “How did you know?”

I have a highly sensitive nose, he informed her. Tea, too?

“Tea too.” Molly poured water over the tea ball containing his favored Earl Grey. “Are you going to help me tell this story?”

I’ll just make sure you get everything right, Schrodinger said, licking a drop of frosting from his nose.

“Thanks.” Molly picked up her own tea cup, enjoying the feel of the warm porcelain. A cold front had moved in overnight, finally driving off the warm air that had hovered over the Cove for the past month, and it had actually been icy that morning. The stove in the tea room had been stoked to life for the first time all winter.

“So, how did you actually meet Jack Frost?” Noemi demanded. “Because that’s who that was, right? THE Jack Frost?”

“Yes, that’s who it was.” Molly told them about how Pavel had brought Jack to the farm, asking for their help. The tea and donuts were long gone when she finished with the scene at the Snow Queen’s palace.

“I can’t believe it,” Sue said. “I mean, who would have thought the Cove would be the center of this torrid love affair? We’re just the Cove.”

You’re not just the Cove, Schrodinger said, wiping crumbs from his whiskers. You’re the COVE.  Everyone knows about you. When they all looked at him blankly, he said, Really? Do you really think that Old Man Winter, the Snow Queen, and everyone else who has come through here in the past came through just because you happen to have a Gate or two here?

“Um, yes, actually,” Sue said. “I mean, there’s really nothing historical here. Remember, I work in the museum here. Why else would they come here?”

Look at how much magic seeps into the world here, Schrodinger told her. That’s not just spillover from the Gates.

Molly looked at her hands. Her magic was small, as was most of the magics of those born here in the Cove, and she’d never really wondered where it came from. It just was. If you were born in a Gate town, you had magic. “So where does it come from, then?” she asked.

Schrodinger shrugged. I don’t know. But I bet Jade and Jack do. And I’m certain that’s part of why Caliban is so interested in her realm, and her. She’s got the keys to the Cove.

“Which means you did a wonderful thing, Molly, in getting Jack back into her good graces,” Lai said. “When I asked him last night what his plans were, he said he was currently getting to know the Snow Queen again. It’s been 300 years since they’ve talked, he said it was like discovering her all over again.”

“I wondered if it was possible, at first,” Molly admitted. “Jack was an ass, to be perfectly honest, but now that I think about it, I was never unsure about what was underneath. He’s a good guy – he just didn’t know it yet. Caliban, on the other hand….” She couldn’t stop a shiver from going through her. “He was just evil. There was never anything human about him.”

“Well, then, it’s a good thing he’s gone then,” Noemi said. “We don’t need that.”

“If he’s gone,” Lai said darkly, and they all turned to look at her.

“What do you mean?” Molly said. “The warm front lifted. I lifted ice from the puddles in my driveway today. Caliban is gone.”

“Maybe,” Lai said. “Jack didn’t seem to think so last night, even with the cold. It’s just too easy.” She turned and pointed out to the tea room, where Goldie was sitting next to the stove, reading again, his gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. “And isn’t that one of Pavel’s sailors? Why is he still here, if you’re safe?”

Molly had no answer for that. Another chill went through her. What if Lai was right? What could Caliban be planning?

Anything, Schrodinger said, answering her unspoken thought. He could be planning anything.

Originally published at The words of Valerie Griswold-Ford. You can comment here or there.