Page 12 of The Witches Catalogue of Wanderlust Essentials (Natural Magic #2)

Chapter 6

The Way The Cookie Crumbles

“T hank you, Rosie. Will definitely needs to eat something.” Maida nodded at the pretty teenage girl who had rushed into the quiet reading room with a plate full of warm cookies and a cup of tea. The cookies smelled of cinnamon and were topped with a crackled, hardened caramel glaze.

Will peered up from the velvet chaise lounge where he’d collapsed and was currently resting. He still looked pale and a little sweaty. But his hand was steady as he reached out to snatch a cookie off the plate. He popped it into his mouth and silently reached out for a second. He didn’t seem up to speaking just yet.

After helping Maida get Will settled, Zani had placed her empty train case on a side table. She dropped her satchel onto the floor and sank into a tufted leather wing chair beside Will’s chaise. Maida sat perched on the ottoman. She placed a hand on Will’s forehead and rolled her eyes when he shoved it away.

“Is he going to be okay?” Rosie mumbled to Maida, darting a look back at Will. She set the plate of cookies down next to the train case and handed the tea to Maida. “I put in three sugars and a little milk, just like you said. I couldn’t think of anything else to add to ease time-travel sickness.”

“Perfect. I’m sure he’ll be fine once he gets his blood sugar back up,” Maida reassured the girl. But judging from the look of consternation on Maida’s face, Zani wasn’t sure her friend entirely believed what she was saying. Something was definitely bothering her. Did Maida really think they’d time-traveled? The idea seemed ludicrous. There had to be another explanation.

“I’ll check back in a few minutes,” Rosie said, slipping back into the hallway. “I don’t want to leave the cafe unattended and Granny has her hands full minding the till in the bookshop. There’s a family of pine marten shifters that just got here from the Pacific Northwest. Apparently they got into it with the squirrels in the park and now they’re arguing over who has first dibs on all the adaptations in the graphic novel section. I might have to pass out some free samples of the cookies again before it gets ugly. Just holler if you need me?”

Maida nodded and thanked the girl. Then she passed the teacup to Will. “Here, have a sip,” she said.

“ I’mtotallyokay ,” Will spat out before draining the entire cup in one go. He set the empty teacup down with a little too much force, making the saucer rattle.

“Is it always so crazy around here?” Zani asked Maida quietly.

This wasn’t her first trip to the Mudpuddle Bookshop and Cafe, but she was still getting her bearings. As far as she could tell, not much had changed at the Mudpuddle since her friend Maida had taken over. Coffee, crumpets, and old books still perfumed the air of the semi-sentient bookshop. The floorboards creaked, and the chairs were inviting. The bell on the front door tinkled merrily and often as a steady stream of customers came and went.

Arriving at the Mudpuddle always felt like coming home—even to an inveterate nomad like her. It was no wonder the magical mansion that housed the bookshop and cafe felt familiar. Zani had visited Primrose Court many, many times as a child. Buried beneath the popular bookstore and cafe were the Arcane Archives—the largest collection of magical artifacts on the east coast. Its wards required constant upkeep. Naturally, Zani had always begged her Aunt Minodaura to bring her along when she went to check the wards. Any excuse to leave the lighthouse…

Her aunt had been happy to oblige. On every excursion, she rewarded Zani with a book from the bookshop and a treat from the cafe. This was her payment for being such a “helpful little assistant.” The practice continued for years. But Zani’s obvious interest in the archives, not warding spells, ended her quarterly trips with Minodaura.

Zani still had a soft spot for Minerva, the former curator of the archives. Despite her aunt’s objections, she’d secretly shown Zani her collection of shriveled hands and werewolves’ teeth.

She stifled an enormous yawn and checked her watch again. It was still set to Bucharest time, which felt like funny money now. She was too tired to figure out the time difference. Jet lag was hitting her hard after so many hours awake in so many time zones. She felt fuzzier than usual.

Out in the hall, Zani heard the clock chime again once, announcing the quarter hour. She had to force herself to do the clock math. When she did, she came up short.

How could it only be three-fifteen? Perhaps the clock in the shop needed winding?

Maida eyed Zani warily, almost as if she were seeing a doppelg?nger. She glanced back at Will, who was still nibbling a cookie, eyes half closed.

“I’m sorry, Zani,” Maida said. “I just can’t believe you’re actually here already. How about you tell me what actually happened? Did your flight come in early? Or did Will fetch you from Paris? Is this some kind of prank?”

“No.” Zani shook her head and stretched to clear the foggy-headed feeling. “My flight was right on time.”

“But how can that be, when you’re here now?” Maida held up her watch. “Last I checked, it wasn’t time to turn back the clocks.” She gestured at Will, perplexed. “He just phoned me fifteen minutes ago to tell me he was on his way to get you.”

“Stop it, Maida. Now you’re playing a prank on me,” Zani protested. But even as she said it, she knew this couldn’t be the case. Maida was not a prankster. She was such a straight shooter she couldn’t even pull off the most basic April Fool’s Day gag of switching the salt and sugar. Zani had a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Wait. You’re not joking, are you, Maida?”

“No.” Maida glanced over at Will, who was pushing himself to an upright position now. “Will, can you please explain?”

“It’s never happened to me before,” Will said. His face crinkled up in an expression of surprise, but not dismay. There was a smile in there somewhere. And a glint in his eyes. He was excited. “But … I think we might have been caught in a time slip.”

“A time slip?” Maida cocked her head and wrinkled her nose skeptically. “Is that a normal magical thing?”

“Apparently it is!” Will nodded happily. “I mean, I’ve heard legends about it happening during porting, though I’ve experienced nothing like that firsthand. But in theory, it can happen in the presence of certain rare gems and during temporal weather.” Will was sitting fully upright and seemed to be acting more like himself now. He leaned forward in his seat and picked up another cookie.

“What’s temporal weather?” Zani asked.

“Celestial conditions that affect the flow of the ley lines. You know, stuff like eclipses, meteor showers, blood moons, solar flares, aurora borealis, zodiacal light, planetary transits.” Will ticked off a list of a half-dozen more potential events before he continued his story, using the cookie as a prop. “One minute, you’re traveling along a line.” He walked the cookie across the surface of the coffee table. “When along comes a Leonid shower and everything goes wonky for a little while.” He waggled his fingers over the cookie to illustrate “wonky.” Then he laid the cookie flat, shot it sideways off the table like a hockey puck, and caught it with his other hand.

“Did that make any more sense to you than it did to me?” Zani turned to Maida.

“Nope.” Maida shook her head.

“You know what?” Zani said, reaching for the cookie and pulling it from Will’s grasp. “I think I will have one of those cookies.”

“Hey!” Will protested. “That cookie wasn’t done porting.”

“Tough luck,” Zani crunched the bruleed surface of the snickerdoodle. It was even more delicious than it looked.

“Have another.” Maida passed her a second cookie. “I’m pretty sure I’d need some cookies, too, if I found out I’d just accidentally time traveled.”