Page 24 of The Witches Catalogue of Wanderlust Essentials (Natural Magic #2)
Chapter 13
Will Porter, Esquire
I t was two weeks into Zani’s stay in Primrose Court and she felt like she’d been living there much longer. She was even attending a Town Hall meeting. Maida’s boyfriend Arthur had tipped her off that there was a motion on the agenda that was sure to affect her. Someone had proposed that the Arcane Archives should be accessible to the public 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Approval of this change would mean she, as curator, would be on call to attend to visitors at all hours. It would make the work of cataloguing the Archive that much more difficult, if not impossible.
She would not let that motion pass without a fight.
Zani settled into a narrow folding chair in the front row of the Town Hall building, where the monthly meeting was being held. Several of the attendees smiled and waved at her. A few addressed her by name. She recognized them all and waved back. Zani hated to admit it, but thought that the tiny magical community might start to feel a little bit like home. She found that feeling of familiarity unsettling, albeit not entirely un-comfy.
She spied a pretty teenager who’d made a frantic trip to the archives last week. She’d forgotten her grandmother’s charm for creating glowing friendship stones, and wanted to pass them out to her friends for Ostara. Zani helped her locate the spell in an earlier grimoire from her family’s line. The young witch was seated with four other girls, and Zani could see they were comparing their stones. They glowed in gorgeous pastel shades that became brighter as they touched them together. When the witch she’d helped pointed at Zani, all four of her friends smiled and waved excitedly.
Even Zephyr Nightshade nodded at her before he took the podium and called the meeting to order.
Despite years of insisting she wasn’t a creature of habit, she’d slipped into an easy daily routine. Because the Arcane Archives were located right below the Mudpuddle Bookshop and Cafe, she had little commute to work.
Every morning, she went for a long walk around the park at the center of Primrose Court. Spring had sprung, and the trees were bursting with cherry blossoms that rained down on the wide pathways like pink snow. She made her way past the fountain and benches at the center of the park. This was where the passage back to the Ordinary world and Boston proper was located. She often ran into other folk here —commuting to work on the outside, or rushing to their posts within the magical community.
From there, she exited the park and made her way back on the street. She window-shopped her way past the apothecary and a handful of other colorful businesses on Main Street. Then she headed back to the Mudpuddle Cafe for her morning coffee.
Only then was it time for her to head back down to “the dungeon,” as she liked to call the Arcane Archives.
In all fairness, the Archives were nothing like a dungeon. The spacious hall of artifacts was well lit by transom windows, and perfectly climate controlled. It was more like a library in a beautiful museum. Time passed quickly when she was down there.
She wanted to hate being there, but the truth was she couldn’t. It was all too easy to lose herself in the stacks of books and cabinets packed full of magical items. The Archive’s greatest treasure was its collection of old grimoires and diaries that had either been donated for safekeeping or recovered from Ordinary markets and collections. There were thousands of abandoned grimoires that had been saved from this fate, mostly by Minerva Lathrop, the priceless collective wisdom of so many generations of magical folk.
Every day, Zani learned ten new things, made a discovery, or got an idea for a spell she’d like to try. Often, the ideas were related to items she wanted to add to her travel kit, some of which were handmade. Recently, based on a sketch in a dolphin shifter’s diary, she’d crafted a pair of magical auditory enhancing “Hearings” from a pair of seashells.
The Arcane Archives was a world-class treasure trove of information and artifacts. Yes, she’d had the tedious misfortune of being tasked with inventorying it all, but even she had to admit, the unfettered access to that much powerful magic was intellectually intoxicating.
Time flew by when she was down in the archives, and she didn’t feel like she was missing anything when she was down there. But the minute she emerged, Zani’s hunger for adventure returned with a vengeance. Seeing exotic items from around the world only inspired her to travel and explore more. Anywhere.
She spent more and more time underground, because whenever she wasn’t working, she felt like a caged bird, beating her wings and flying into walls.
Will Porter kept repeating his offer to take her anywhere she wanted to go. But it could only be for an afternoon. Zani wasn’t interested in popping over to France for pastries or the Maldives for a sunset. That wasn’t how she rolled. She wasn’t some common tourist, desperate to check foreign experiences off a prescribed bucket list. Zani was an explorer. She believed in slow, deep, deliberate travel. Tourist traps and checklists held zero appeal. What she craved most was the opportunity to bushwhack. To find her own paths. Wherever she went, the one thing she always required was swathes of time. Time to dig in and get to know her destination and learn about the people there. Time to unravel their secrets.
Real travel was not an option for her until she finished cataloguing the contents of the archive. But at her current rate, the task might take years. She’d barely scraped the surface.
If only Will was willing to entertain the notion of taking her back to the train when the amulet disappeared. He’d cut her off every time she brought it up. So she’d stopped mentioning it. Apparently, his offer to take her anywhere did not extend to anywhen. If that was even possible. Will was quite frank about the fact that he hadn’t been able to replicate the time slip. He was back to his usual porting duties, on call as Buffalo Westabrook’s assistant, and running the occasional errand for friends. It was a nice perk when he showed up with takeout food.
“If you can hear my voice, snap twice!” Zephyr Nightshade’s voice boomed as he called the meeting to order. The audience responded with a peppery burst of unsynchronized snapping, the net effect of which left her craving popcorn.
“First up on the Town Hall agenda today are the benches in Primrose Park.” There was the scrape of chairs being dragged back into place and people getting settled as everyone turned their attention to the old wizard.
“As you all know, the carvings on the benches regularly update to reflect the names of current residents of Primrose Court. The present enchantment is set to refresh the benches on the second Tuesday of each month, or the first weekday thereafter, if a full moon should fall on a Tuesday. A motion has been made by the shifter’s union to change the schedule to every Tuesday, regardless of the moon cycle. Please raise your hand if you agree with this change.”
“That’s preposterous. The timestamp for the enchantment on those benches dates back to the time of Papa Lathrop!” Lucretia Lathrop, who was seated two seats away from Zani, objected.
“That’s why they look so dated,” mumbled a young shifter in one of the back rows. “Everything here is ancient . It’s not fair that the benches don’t update more frequently. What about all the shifters who work here but can’t afford to live in Primrose full time?”
His voice was prickly. Possibly a porcupine shifter? Zani didn’t want to crane her neck around to check, but she could see the reflection of someone with a spiky mohawk in one of the windows.
Hildegarde Fish, a pleasantly plump middle-aged witch who was also seated toward the front of the room, cleared her throat and stood up to speak her mind. She set aside an oversized pair of knitting needles, which seemed perfectly content to carry on knitting without her. “Perhaps we might test a new schedule and evaluate the results before committing?”
A wave of discussion erupted on the topic, which was then tabled for further discussion, apparently for the second time.
“Next up, we have a request from the Literary Squirrel Society. They wish to propose a statue in the park of…” Zephyr wrinkled his nose and squinted as he read the agenda. “Fidelito, the Grand Poobah of the Squirrels and honorable leader of the book club, dressed in his finery and holding a novel, as he came to the rescue of Primrose Court this past fall?” Zephyr looked around, confused, hoping to spy the squirrel himself. Zani heard more than a few poorly suppressed snickers from the crowd. “Is he here? Perhaps he’d like to say a few explanatory words?”
“Perhaps he got lost in one of his stories,” the spiky-haired youth shouted out. This earned him a stern look from Minerva Lathrop, who, along with a handful of other elders Zani did not recognize, was seated at the long table beside the podium.
“Well, I suppose we will have to table that as well. Moving on to the dates for the annual Flower Fairy Festival this spring. Apparently, there’s a conflict with the May Queen Pageant and both groups would like to use the gazebo in the park on the same day?”
A hubbub ensued as at least a dozen protestors, many of them holding handmade signs, rushed toward the microphone stationed in front of the podium. They all wished to be the first to speak.
Zani sighed. It was going to be a long night. They were only on the third agenda item. The motion to keep the Archives open 24/7 was item number 27.
She now sorely regretted the efforts she’d made to be on time. It might take a week to even get to the motion that affected her.
Zani stifled a yawn and pulled a heavy book from her bag. While cataloguing some bits and pieces from a four hundred-year-old French cache earlier that day, she’d come across a burnt journal of sorts. She could restore some fragments from the old text and had found one passage of the writing interesting. It theorized about the effects of certain uncommon gemstones on the ley lines. This was something she was eager to discuss with Will when she next saw him. In the meantime, she’d found a promising textbook that detailed the magical properties of rare and lesser known crystals and their uses. She had the perfect use for The Crystalline Codex: Uncommon Gems and Their Metaphysical Applications . She was going to use the dry tome to pass the time.
Finally, close to two hundred pages later, it was time to discuss the matter of the Archives.
“I see here a motion from Minodaura Marinescu to increase the hours that the public has access to the Arcane Archives?” Zephyr raised an eyebrow as he read the motion. “Is this correct?” He looked around the room for confirmation. Heads turned as Zani’s great-aunt Minodaura trudged down the center aisle between the seats. Her starched taffeta skirts swished noisily, catching on chairs as she passed.
“That’s right.” Minodaura held herself erect and proud. “The Arcane Archives are a prized resource that belongs to the magical community. We should all have access at all times. I’m frankly shocked this hasn’t been made a priority much sooner.”
Zani was shocked to see her aunt there, and even more shocked to discover that it was her own aunt who proposed this absurd policy change. It wasn’t enough that Zani was down there six days a week for ten or more hours a day? If her aunt had her way, she’d be locked up in the Archives. Zani gritted her teeth and fumed. What was her aunt even doing here? As far as she knew, the old witch had barely left her lighthouse for the past fifty years. And now here she was paying visits to Primrose Court twice in a month?
“What a fantastic idea!” Lucretia clapped her hands. “It’s so frustrating that the archives are closed on Sundays. Some of us work full time and don’t have a chance to request items on weekdays.”
“The archives are open on Saturdays, Lucretia.” Will Porter’s voice rang out from the back of the room. Zani spun in her seat and located him immediately. He was making his way to the front. She was so relieved to see him. Hastily, she removed her bag from the seat beside her to make space for him.
“My apothecary is also open on Saturdays, so obviously that’s not an option for me.” Lucretia turned to stare icily at Will, who was squeezing past her to get to the seat beside Zani. He slid into the seat and put one arm around her, giving her a quick and reassuring shoulder squeeze.
“Sorry I’m late,” Will whispered. “I was shopping at the most unique sweet shop in London. You won’t believe the candies I just found!”
“Not now, Will,” Zani hissed. She stood up to speak. “Everyone needs a day off,” Zani began her prepared speech. “The archives are currently undergoing a radical reorganization. This is very difficult to accomplish with items constantly being checked out. If I may, I’d like to suggest that we go in another direction entirely. I would like to propose that we pause all public visits to the archives until the audit is complete.”
Several members of the audience gasped at this suggestion, and Minerva Lathrop slowly rose to her feet. Her face was red and her expression wary.
“I’m not sure you understand what you’re proposing, Zanfira. The archives have never been closed for more than a day or two, except for the time last fall that the Mudpuddle went missing.” Minerva’s brow furrowed at the memory. She shot a glance at Zephyr. “Although we ultimately run the Archives on behalf of the Society of Natural Magic, operating hours are at our discretion. But I cannot imagine closing it off entirely to the public. Many of our community members rely on the ability to easily access their family documents and relics held in the collection.”
Minodaura nodded and beamed at Minerva. “Precisely. We owe it to the community to make those items more accessible.”
Zani glared at her aunt. She was certain that making more work for her was part of Minodaura’s plan to keep her grounded here forever. But she wasn’t about to lose this argument. Not without a fight. She reached for the ace in her pocket.
“I’m not so sure you’ve thought this through, Auntie Minodaura.” Zani spoke through clenched teeth. “Increased access comes at a price. Increased risk. After all, wasn’t it an overly generous public access policy that led to all the troubles this past fall?”
“That was hardly the issue,” Minodaura shot back. “The archives are equipped to handle dozens of daily visitors; however, this requires a conscientious curator and adequate security measures.”
She and Minerva nodded sympathetically at each other, making Zani wonder if they’d collaborated.
“Well, then, I think you’ve answered your own question. Clearly, the wards need more work. All the more reason to shut down visits for a time.” Zani argued.
“I’m already working on strengthening and resetting the wards in the Archives. I’d like to see another power-mad mage try to get past my powerful defenses.” Minodaura was confident to the point of imperious. “Perhaps you might want to audit my process. I understand you seem to have had a bit of trouble with your own warding of late, haven’t you?” Her aunt shot a poisoned barb at Zani’s heart, using only the timely arch of one shaggy, judgmental brow.
“I can cast my own wards, thank you very much,” Zani snapped back at her aunt. “And the Society seems to think I’m fit to run the Archives as the curator as well. They’ve put me in charge and as the person in charge, I don’t think the archives should be open seven days a week.”
“That’s not really up to you, though, is it?” Minodaura shrugged. “It’s a public resource and the public should have their say. Should we put it to a vote already?” Minodaura tipped her head impatiently toward Zephyr and swept her arm across the room. “I’d like to hear what the people have to say about my motion.”
“I object!” Will Porter stood up abruptly, dropping a tin of lozenges to the floor. They rattled like gunfire as they hit the ground, making several people, including Zani, jump in their seats.
Minodaura narrowed her eyes at Will.
Will reached for the tin, removed a single sugared lump of candy and popped it into his mouth. He sucked on it thoughtfully for a moment before placing the tin back in his pocket. Then he spoke. “Pardon the interruption. But I believe the point is moot. This motion must be dismissed immediately.”
“On what grounds?” Minodaura huffed. “I submitted the request in writing over a week ago.”
“On the grounds that you may not raise motions at Town Hall meetings.” Will paced the length of the front of the room like a lawyer making closing arguments. He held up a finger to make his last point. “You cannot raise a motion because your name is not engraved on either one of the benches in Primrose Park!”
“But I’ve been staying here for over a week now!” Minodaura turned crimson, as she cast about for something to reinforce her case. “Surely that counts for something.”
“Her name is NOT on the benches!” A very out of breath and overweight squirrel huffed from the back of the room. He set down a stack of books on an empty seat. “I can confirm this. I’ve just come from the park now. Am I too late? Did my motion pass? Is the statue a go?”
“Shhh … let’s let Will finish.” Zephyr silenced the squirrel.
“Minodaura has indeed been here for longer than a week, but she was not here on the second Tuesday and as such, her stay in Primrose Court is not reflected on the official roster of the park benches. As only residents are authorized to raise motions at town hall meetings, this motion was called without proper authority. I submit that the motion be struck, immediately.”
Minodaura opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She clapped it shut again.
“I’m afraid Will is correct,” Zephyr said. “Motion dismissed, no changes shall be made to the schedule of the Arcane Archives at this time. I’d now like to call a ten-minute break before we move on to the next items on the agenda.”
Zani heaved a sigh of relief and collapsed back into her seat. “Thank you Will. You really saved me!” She turned to thank the man who she’d come to think of as a good friend, but never as a barrister. “That was incredible . How did you come up with that?”
With a sly grin, Will pulled the tin from his pocket and flashed the label at her. “That’s what I was trying to tell you about. These travel sweets I picked up at the shop in London are incredibly handy, no?”
“Last Word Lozenges?” Zani read the label.
“ Licorice Last Word Lozenges.” Will stuck out his tongue, displaying the small black candy there. “Delicious. And really strong, too. They sure do work a charm!”
“Your tongue has turned black, Will.” Zani wrinkled her nose. “But you might have a point. And even if I disagreed with you, I have the feeling that I’d be a fool to argue right now.”
Will’s face crinkled as he smiled one of his signature smiles. She noticed how it altered his aura. When his face screwed up like that, it was as if the bright light within him surged and gathered, generating pressure. But all that goodness couldn’t stay contained. It leaked out through the cracks in brilliant bursts and radiant rays. The effect was dazzling and impossible to ignore.
Zani bit back her own involuntary smile. She wasn’t quite ready to admit that the porter was really starting to grow on her.
“Do you have a minute to chat, Will?” she asked him.
“What about?” Will eyed her warily. “You’re not going to ask me to take you back to that train again, are you?” There was a sudden defensive note to his tone and the light streaming from him dimmed. Zani kicked a toe at the faded rug. She had been planning to ask him again, but there was no point in it while he was sucking on the magical sweet.
“Have you finished your candy?” Zani asked.
“Yes, but there’s more where that came from.” Will shook the tin gently. “Don’t expect to win any arguments with me anytime soon.”
“I don’t want to argue.” Zani sighed. “I just want to run something by you. I came across something in the archives earlier today, a fragment of interesting text about crystals. And ley lines.”
At the mention of ley lines, Will’s ears perked up. “You have my attention…”
“Good. Shall we go somewhere and grab a bite? I’m feeling a bit peckish.”
As soon as Zani suggested getting a snack together, Will’s aura brightened again. He jumped to his feet excitedly and held out a hand to Zani. “Sounds good to me. There’s a lovely bistro in Nice that hosts a fantastic midnight omelette bar.”
“Will, I’m not interested in porting to France for a snack.” Zani felt a bit like she was taking a toy away from a puppy. “I’m fine getting something locally. How about we head down the street to the Squeaky Wheel?”
“Fine.” Will toyed with the tin of candies, turning it over in his hands before slipping it into a pocket. “I suppose France can wait. The Squeaky Wheel will have to do for now.”