Chapter 30 #2
No one had heard from Sara yet—a thought that pressed on Talula’s heart heavily. And the Volta still needed to be adjusted for mass magical transport.
“What are you going to do?” Simon asked as they stood in front of the glittering, magical maw of the Volta.
Talula shrugged. “It hasn’t killed me yet.”
“Not for lack of trying.”
Talula walked up to the Volta. Blue ribbons of light twined around her shoulders.
“Hello,” Talula whispered, smiling. The Volta hummed at her. Talula let her mind empty out, letting the Volta in, just a little.
Do you remember this? she asked quietly, offering it memories of past Samhains.
The Volta’s power flooded through Talula’s senses.
Power and something else…something bright and effervescent.
Talula got the sense that the Volta loved Samhain.
The Volta pressed deeper into her mind, taking over the images Talula was offering it.
She watched, mesmerized, as the Volta whirled to work, creating the necessary spellwork for the Samhain attendees.
Then, heart twisting, Talula remembered the hunters.
She desperately wanted to keep everyone at Samhain safe from them.
As if it overheard her thought, the Volta paused.
In a torrent of blue-hued sorcery, the Volta reshaped itself while Talula watched, dumbstruck.
A strange new blue archway appeared at the mouth of the Volta.
White light sparked in runes around it, like specks of mica in the crest of a wave.
Talula admired the Volta’s new look. “I’ve never seen the Volta do this before. ”
“Remember, this is just part of the Volta. The rest of it, the giant magical well of raw power, is loosely contained by spellwork to keep it from becoming a giant magical explosion.” Simon’s furry brows furrowed as he read the runes imprinted on the new structure.
“But what you’ve done here is interesting. ”
“Interesting in what way?” Feeling drained, Talula sat down on the basement floor.
“There’s defensive sorcery embedded in the Samhain transportation enchantment. Anyone who goes through the portal will come out the other side with an aura of magical repellent. Any seeking magic that’s looking for them will only see itself.”
Talula rubbed at her temple. “It’s a magic-neutral portal now?”
“In a way, yes.” Simon turned to her, eyes searching. “Were you thinking of the trophy hunters’ mirrors? The ones on the cages that counteracted our scrying magic?”
Talula shook her head.
“The runes are nearly identical to the hunters’ ensorcelled mirrors.” Simon pawed at the ground thoughtfully. “Just when I think I understand what’s going on with your magic…”
“It wasn’t me. The Volta did this.” Talula beamed at the blue mist of magic swirling around the Volta. “It wanted to help.”
“While it is very helpful, you can’t treat the Volta like a puppy you can house-train.” Simon gave Talula his most withering teacher look. “It’s not a person. It’s a force. It doesn’t have feelings.”
Talula opened her mouth to argue, wanting to tell Simon just how much feeling there was to the Volta, but she was interrupted by the sound of the golden bell above the café’s front door.
Excitement bubbled in Talula’s chest. She ran up the stairs and burst out of the Employees Only door to a sight she’d never thought she’d see.
The café was full to the brim. With Pine Hollowians.
For the first time in Talula’s life, the Blue Moon was loud.
Dozens of people filled the café, milling about and examining the shelves with interest. Some had phone cameras out for selfies.
A few were trying on witch hats in the corner.
Talula counted the faces she immediately recognized—Anna, Emilio, Kanishka, Josie, Nathan the health inspector, Muriel the head librarian, Luis, even Wei and Alexei from the farmers’ market.
“Hello.” Muriel stood in the center of the café with her hands on her hips. “What’s to be done?”
“Pardon?” Talula asked. She heard the tip-tap of footsteps behind her as Simon caught up.
“Your speech at town hall reminded us how much Samhain has done for this community. You fought tooth and nail for it while we had our thumbs up our asses,” Muriel said succinctly. “What’s to be done?”
Talula blinked away the sudden prickle of tears in her eyes, then grabbed her checklist (thankfully free of any magical nuances). Muriel put on her ladybug reading glasses and skimmed the list with a few hmms. Then she started delegating.
“Luis.” Muriel poked a stocky man in the chest. “You go meet the porta-potty people and tell them where to set up. Give Talula your number; she’ll text you the information. Don’t let them short you on potties.”
Luis, Pine Hollow’s most respected (and retired) fire chief, saluted the librarian with a grin.
“Nathan, you’re on pumpkins,” Muriel continued, turning to Kanishka. “You. Young person. Call the shuttle services to confirm stops and arrival times.”
“Why me?” Kanishka groaned.
“Because you’ve been on your phone since we got here. You might as well be useful.” Muriel cackled. “Anna, Emilio, stop flirting and make sure we have proper trash-can-to-picnic-table distribution.”
Anna and Emilio stopped flirting (barely) to point enthusiastic finger guns at the imposing librarian.
“What can I do?” came a light-filled voice Talula had been aching for all morning.
Dahlia had arrived, glorious in a Hocus Pocus T-shirt, dangly bat earrings, and combat boots. A flutter of nervousness rose in Talula’s chest. Outside of the love bubble of Dahlia’s house, would Dahlia still want Talula?
She didn’t have to wait long to find out.
Dahlia strode up to Talula, grabbed her by the apron, and laid an enormous, enthusiastic kiss on her lips.
Talula hummed with relief and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend.
The kiss went on for a beat longer than was appropriate for a café (even one that was also an occult emporium).
Nobody cared. Emilio and Anna cheered. Kanishka rolled her eyes.
Nathan awwed. Even Simon gave a fond whuf.
“I liked seeing you this morning,” Dahlia murmured in a low voice against Talula’s mouth. She still had Talula by the apron strings. “We should do it again.”
“I’ll throw in breakfast next time,” Talula promised, cheeks (and other places) heating.
“I’ll hold you to it.”
Talula tried not to melt into a puddle of lust.
“Ladies, this is adorable, but I will throw a bucket of water on the two of you.” Muriel tutted.
Simon hrmphed in agreement.
“Muriel, Talula has been pining for months! Let them have their PDA,” Anna protested.
“Within reason,” Muriel relented, still all business.
(Talula and Dahlia would proceed to be completely unreasonable about their PDA all day.)
Once assignments were handed out, the whole crew headed to the fairgrounds a little ways behind the Blue Moon.
Talula and Dahlia held hands for the entire walk, swinging their arms like schoolkids, with Simon trotting at their heels.
The carnival service had already set up some of the rides and demarcated lanes for vendors with hay bales.
To Talula’s surprise, more friends had arrived to help.
Dave, Roger, Pete, and Rowan were diligently putting together an elaborate play structure at the center of the area.
“What are you guys doing here?” Talula asked with a smile.
“Samhain,” Dave said.
“It’s always been there for us. It’s about time we were there for it,” Pete said as he hammered away.
“You’re all wonderful. Thank you. For this, and what you did for the café.” Talula reached out to rope them into hugs. She loosened her arms to make introductions.
“This is Dave, Roger, Pete, and Rowan,” Talula said to the group of humans. “They’re the best contractors on the planet and part of our Samhain community.”
Hellos and names were passed around. Talula watched everyone introduce themselves and hoped nobody would ask too many questions about the elves’ pointy ears, or that they would at least assume they were early Halloween costumes.
She didn’t have to worry. The humans were too rapt as the elves took them on a tour of the play structure, pointing out trapdoors that dropped the unsuspecting into ball pits, five slides, a crow’s nest, and a zipline.
“Talula!” Nathan called from the designated pumpkin patch area a ways away. “Are these pumpkins…up to code?”
They set out to find Nathan. Dahlia bumped Talula’s hip with her own. “ ‘The Pumpkin Code.’ That could be my next book idea.”
“I love it.” Talula bumped her back. “By the way, how did that book call go?”
Before Dahlia could answer, they came face-to-face with the source of Nathan’s question.
Scores of pumpkins spilled out over the northwest corner of the fairgrounds.
Fields of orange and white gourds stretched on and on, in every size imaginable.
Dahlia gawked at a pumpkin that would have comfortably fit Cinderella, her animal friends, Prince Charming, and a host of additional fairy-tale dignitaries.
“There’s more here than you ordered,” Nathan said, flipping through the receipts. “Approximately…ten times more.”
“Those pumpkins were pitiful. Improvements were necessary,” someone said with a bored sigh.
Behind the giant Cinderella pumpkin, a woman sprawled out over a series of gourds as if they were a lounge chair. Her bronzed skin was tinged with a hint of green, her long black hair tumbling down over her back like a waterfall.
Talula studied her face. “Have we met?”
“You’ve met my sister,” the wood nymph said with an easy smile. “I’m Lucia. I told Dimitra to take her fig and to not wait up for me. I wanted to get revenge on the soybean farm that took our orchard.”
(Behind Talula, Dahlia and Nathan shared a befuddled What the hell does that mean? look.)
Talula, cognizant of maintaining some level of secrecy as her worlds collided, whispered, “Where’s your tree?”
“Back at the hotel,” the woman whispered comically. “That shit is heavy.”