“Well, I’d be honored to come along, Ignatius Mangood.”
He almost said it was a date, but luckily the more mature part of his mind stopped him before he could make even more of a fool of himself.
“I shall open a portal then.”
They parted, Ignatius stepping forward and drawing on the magical energy present in Orcieran’s core. He sang softly. No less than five seconds later, the portal appeared, and Ignatius was looking onto his street, devoid of cars.
“Have you ever had buckeye ice cream?” Ignatius asked, turning to look at Freida. Her mouth hung wide open; her eyes were even wider. She must have never seen a live portal before. Most on Oriceran were able to open them, but some were too scared to leave their homeworld. Ignatius didn’t blame them. The first time he fled Oriceran and went to Earth with baby Maria in one arm and the music box in the other, Ignatius was terrified.
Of course, he already knew the answer. Freida might’ve had ice cream or something like it—though he doubted that—but she had never had the deliciousness that was Salem’s buckeye ice cream, which he currently had in his freezer at home.
“You’re in for quite a surprise,” he said. He stuck his hand out. Hesitantly, Frieda took it. He noticed how it had gone from warm to clammy. She was nervous. Ignatius didn’t blame her.
“You ready?”
She nodded, her eyes still wide, studying the other side of the portal.
“Let’s go.”
And they went.
Chapter Ten
While Ignatius had sat at the Ves Ielan with a burning glass of Firejuice in front of him and a crowd of curious onlookers behind him, Claire had hung around the Apple’s house with Sherlock, watching the Soap Network. It was a rerun of this old canceled soap opera called Passions, and it was enjoyable…if a little weird. The town, which was called Harmony, even had a witch named Tabitha, which reminded Claire…she pulled her phone out and texted Tabby.
Tabby responded almost instantly.
She had invited Tabby to come over and wait for Maria to get back so they could find out if the date went well or not.
Tabby replied by saying she was on her way, and not much later, Tabby arrived. Her dad was on his way into town and had dropped her off, though he thought she should’ve been in bed resting since her “accident,” which was definitely not explained to him as getting attacked by a giant humanoid spider.
They watched Passions for a while; turned out the Soap Network was running an all-day marathon of the show.
“This show is odd,” Tabby said.
Sherlock was sitting on the couch between them. He thought the same thing.
“I agree. We should play a board game or something. That’ll help pass the time until Maria comes back,” Claire said.
“A board game? What are you, like, lame or something?” Tabby said.
“No, but since I don’t know the Wi-Fi password, it would probably be better than sitting around watching this weird show or doing nothing.”
Tabby shrugged. “Got a point there.”
“I know Maria’s grandpa must have some weird board games, if he’s from another world and all that jazz. Maybe Jumanji.” Claire looked down at Sherlock. “Since I know you can understand me, can you show me where they are, instead of me rummaging through the house like some crazy burglar?”
Sherlock looked up at her, wagging his tail. As far as he was concerned, Claire and him at Dog Prom was still a thing—though, truth be told, he didn’t exactly know what Dog Prom was; but it contained lots of techno music, a cat piñata, and an all you can eat garbage/Milkbone buffet.
He zoned out thinking about it. When his eyes came back into focus, everything black and white, he was still staring at Claire and wagging his tail.
“Sherlock, there’s food in it for you,” Claire said. “Whatever you want. Garbage included.”
He stood up on the couch and thumped his tail harder, but instead of hitting the cushions, he hit Tabby in the face.
“Ouch, quit it, Sherlock!”
Now he jumped down and barked.
He would show her where the board games were. Hell, he’d do almost anything for the promise of food. That was one of the few things he lived for—the others included serving his masters, chasing squirrels, finding dead squirrels, and now, peeing on Gnomes. What a rush!
“Good boy!” Claire said, and that was the best thing she had ever said to him, especially when what she normally said to him almost always involved complaining about his farts. Whenever Dog Prom happened, Sherlock made a promise to himself to hold it all in just for Claire.
He padded up the steps faster than normal. When he reached the top, he looked back down at Claire, who was slowly making her way, and barked at her. It wasn’t a mean bark, but it was one of urgency.
“Coming, coming,” she said.
Now he went down the hallway, moving so fast, he almost tripped on more than one occasion. Ignatius’s room was cracked open. All Sherlock had to do was nudge it the rest of the way with his nose. He was so excited and happy that when he did push the door open, he left some moisture behind on the wood from his snout.
“Always feel weird going into this room,” Claire said. “Smells like Oriceran. Huh, funny that I know what that is, now.”
Sherlock guided her to an odd looking chest up against the wall opposite Ignatius’s bed, next to his dresser. It looked like a pirate’s treasure chest, and it smelled like the sea. Sherlock wasn’t sure where he had gotten it, but he wouldn’t have been surprised at all if Ignatius had, in fact, stolen it from pirates.
He barked at the chest—one of the many downsides to not having opposable thumbs.
“In there?”
He barked again. It’s so much easier communicating with Maria. Imagine if she would’ve been able to do that from birth. I’d probably have been able to pee on so many more Gnomes!
Slowly, Claire knelt and
