Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
“ C elia? Are you in there? I know you must be because Sarah is running The Lost Lamb by herself. Come out here and hurry up—this thing is heavy!”
I hurried to the front door and jerked it open just in time to see Goody Albright standing there with one of the many Brownies she employed.
Brownies are magical beings who are kin to Fairies, though they’re not nearly so pretty. They have brown, bark-like skin, knobbly knees and elbows, and long, crooked noses. They’re extremely hard workers and I had been thinking of hiring one to work at The Lost Lamb, running the register, before Sarah had come along.
Goody Albright is also a witch—like most of the humans in town—and she owns The Red Lion, Hidden Hollow’s stately old bed and breakfast. Today she was wearing one of her many brightly colored muumuus and had her curly gray hair tied up in a paisley kerchief. Her sharp green eyes were narrowed with effort behind her gold rimmed spectacles—possibly because she was holding one end of a perfectly enormous portrait. The Brownie was holding the other end and her skinny arms were trembling.
“For the Goddess’s sake, let us in!” Goody Albright exclaimed. “This is so heavy we’re bound to drop it if we don’t put it down soon! And if that happens I’m just sure the frame will crack—it’s positively ancient!”
I didn’t think the frame—which was made of some heavy, dark wood—looked likely to crack even if you went after it with a sledgehammer, but I didn’t want to be rude.
“Come in, come in,” I said, standing to one side and holding the door open for them.
“Thank you!” With much huffing and puffing, Goody Albright and the Brownie lugged the enormous portrait into my living room and sat it on the foyer floor with a solid-sounding thud.
“What in the world is this and why did you bring it here?” I asked, looking at the portrait curiously.
It showed a very handsome man—no, not a man, I thought, looking at it again. He must be a Creature of some kind—he had horns and his skin had a reddish cast to it. Also, I thought I saw a tail curving around from behind him. Could he be a Demon of some kind?
He was dressed in a neatly tailored suit which looked somewhat old fashioned. It had a high collar and instead of a tie he was wearing a white lace cravat. There was a devilish glint in his black eyes—which held a hint of red, as though he had been staring into a fire when the artist painted him.
The strangest thing about the picture though, wasn’t the subject—it was the fact that I felt like I had seen the Demon somewhere before. For some reason he looked extremely familiar to me. Maybe he resembled one of my customers? I had been seeing so many new faces in the bakery lately since the town was expanding…
“This, my dear, is your birthright,” Goody Albright said importantly, dragging my attention away from the portrait.
“My what?” I said blankly, staring at her.
“Your birthright,” she repeated impatiently. “Before your Great Aunt Gertrude left town, she instructed me to give it to you on your fortieth birthday—but only if you hadn’t found your Heartmate yet.”
“But she never said anything like that to me,” I protested. “And why didn’t she just give it to me herself back when I first came to Hidden Hollow?”
Goody Albright shrugged.
“I don’t know. She didn’t explain—she just instructed me to give it to you at the right time.” She peered at me from over her gold rimmed spectacles. “You haven’t found your Heartmate, have you?”
“No—it’s just me, myself, and I.” I shrugged. “I keep meaning to get a familiar but I don’t have the time to train one right now.”
“And it is your fortieth birthday—correct?” Goody Albright demanded.
“Yes,” I said glumly. “Thanks for rubbing it in.”
“Oh, Celia—I’m so sorry! I wasn’t trying to rub anything in,” she exclaimed, instantly contrite. “Besides, forty is just the start of a witch’s life! Why, you could live almost indefinitely if you want to. Look at me—I’m over two hundred—not that a lady tells her age. And your Great Aunt Gertrude is still going strong—I just got a postcard from her all the way from Patagonia the other day and it sounds like she’s really living it up. She’s into armature paleontology now. Did you know they found the bones of one of the biggest dinosaurs ever discovered down there? It’s called the ‘Titanosaur’ or something like that.”
“I wish she would have come back to give me this thing—whatever it is—herself,” I muttered, ignoring the tangent about dinosaurs. “I’m sorry, Goody Albright—I just miss her sometimes,” I added, not wanting to sound rude.
“Of course you do, my dear.” She patted my shoulder comfortingly. “Listen, don’t read too much into this. I don’t know why your Great Aunt wanted you to have it—maybe just because it’s a valuable family heirloom. She said it’s been in the Hatch family for centuries .”
“Well, it’s certainly interesting,” I remarked, looking at the enormous portrait again. The man—or Demon—in it was nice to look at, even if he did have that mischievous look in his burning black eyes.
“Yes, it is.” Goody Albright clapped her hands together briskly. “Now—where shall we hang it?”
“Er, hang it?” I asked uncertainly. The heavy dark wooden frame didn’t match the decor of my house at all, which I tried to keep airy and light. I’d been thinking of just putting it up in the attic along with all the other junk—assuming I could get it up the stairs myself. But it was clear Goody Albright had other ideas.
“Yes, hang it,” she said firmly. “Oh, I know just the place! Come on, Tilda!” she said to the Brownie.
The two of them hoisted the portrait again and marched out of the living area, down the hallway, around the corner, and right into my bedroom!
“Hey, I don’t know about this!” I protested, trailing behind them. “I’m not sure I want it in here.”
But Goody Albright was already taking down the nice, serene landscape I had on my bedroom wall and hoisting the strange Demon’s portrait up in its place.
“I don’t know about this,” I said to her again. “I think I’ll feel weird about him, uh, staring at me when I’m trying to go to sleep.” Because the portrait was now directly opposite the large, four-poster oak bed where I slept every night.
“Nonsense, my dear—it’s not like he can actually see you. It’s just a picture, after all,” Goody Albright said distractedly. No, Tilda—it’s crooked. A little to the left, I think. There—perfect!” She stood back from the portrait, beaming in satisfaction. “Well, isn’t that nice?”
I wasn’t at all sure it was, but I could see there was nothing I could say to change her mind. Maybe I could just wait until she left and then take it down, I thought. Assuming I could handle it by myself—it really was huge and heavy.
I studied it again. The Demon in the portrait appeared to be life-sized or even bigger. If he was real, he would be nearly seven feet tall. Also, he had some serious muscles bulging the fabric of the old-fashioned suit. I was sure I’d never had a customer who looked like that—I would have remembered him. Why did he look so familiar?
“Well, my job is done here,” Goody Albright remarked, dusting her hands together. “I’ll see you later at Goldie’s.”
“Wait—what?” I said, frowning. Goldie’s was the town’s diner—a place where people and Creatures alike gathered for good home cooking. I supplied all their desserts.
Goody Albright sighed.
“All right, I hate to spoil the surprise, but we’re having a birthday party for you, my dear. I’m only telling you because I can see you’re in such a low mood you won’t come otherwise,” she added, giving me a sympathetic look. “It’s at five sharp. Try to act surprised and don’t give the game away when Sarah calls to invite you to have dinner with her and Rath. All right?”
“All right,” I said, nodding. It did my wounded heart good to know my friends were planning a party for me. Not that I need to be the center of attention all the time—in fact, I mostly hate that. But it was nice to know I had people in my life who cared. See—who needs a man?
Not me, I decided as I waved Goody Albright and Tilda off at my front door. Having delivered my “birthright,” Goody A was anxious to get back to the business of running The Red Lion. I didn’t blame her. As a small business owner myself, I knew how hard it was to keep things running smoothly and how easily everything can go straight to hell if you’re not careful.
Sighing, I shut the door behind them and went back to look at the portrait some more. Standing in front of it, I frowned uncertainly—had the Demon in the picture moved somehow? I could have sworn that his left hand was in his pocket before—now it was pressed over his heart showing long, artistic fingers with short, neat fingernails that appeared to be very clean. Which was nice—I can’t stand a man with dirty fingernails. But still—had he moved?
“Well, I know one place you’re moving, buddy,” I told him. “You’re moving on up to the attic where you can’t freak me out at night.”
But when I grabbed the frame and attempted to push it up so I could get it off the nail it was hanging on, it wouldn’t budge. I tried again with the same result—it felt like the portrait of the Demon had been glued to the wall!
“What the hell is going on here?” I muttered. Giving up on pushing the portrait up or down, I tried instead to work my fingertips under the outer edge—with the same result. Nothing. The portrait was stuck fast to the wall and there was nothing I could do to loosen it.
I thought about trying to find a crowbar—but wouldn’t that damage the wall? Also, I didn’t think this was a problem with a physical solution. I could feel the tingling of magic in my fingertips when I touched the place where the heavy wooden frame and the wall were connected. I was going to have to ask a witch who had more power than me to get the damn thing down. Maybe I could get Sarah to come try her hand at it after the party tonight…
Deciding to put the problem off until later, I went to the bathroom to take a shower and get ready. I didn’t want to look like a mess for my own surprise birthday party. No, I wasn’t upset with Goody Albright for spoiling the surprise—I was glad to have some advance notice so I could look presentable. I don’t like sudden surprises.
I had no idea I was in for a big one that night.