Page 26 of The Witches Catalogue of Wanderlust Essentials (Natural Magic #2)

Chapter 14

The Squeaky Wheel

A lthough Will was disappointed that Zani had turned down his offer to take her to France, it was probably for the best that they were headed to the Squeaky Wheel. He was only just back from his early morning trip to London. He could have rallied. He was in fine shape. Two round trips to the continent in twenty-four hours was a perfectly reasonable ask for a porter of his age and skill. But he was still leery about porting with passengers.

The interior of the Squeaky Wheel was quiet, since most of the townsfolk were attending the town hall meeting. Minerva had left the shop in the capable hands of her employees Francoise and Derek, a kindly mouse shifter couple who were just as passionate about cheese as she was.

The shop was small but homey. The first thing you noticed when walking in was the well lit refrigerated room at the back. This was the heart of the fromagerie. Separated from the rest of the shop by floor to ceiling glass windows, it served as both showcase and storage. It was a wonderland of cheese, in every shape, size, color, and flavor. A rainbow-colored stack of wax packaged bricks lined one rack, while giant wheels with uniquely textured rinds were stacked on deep shelves. Still more cheese hung in cloth and mesh bags, suspended from hooks in the ceiling. There was even a small loft, accessible by ladder. This was where the rarest cheeses were kept.

In the center of the shop, a round refrigerated case, separated into sections like a wagon wheel, held a daily selection of precut and packaged cheeses. A deep basket at the center held fresh, crusty baguettes. Smaller baskets scattered amongst the cheeses held other gourmet sides and fixings. Shoppers were tempted with summer sausages, jams and preserves, capers, and tins of smoked fish. There were also crackers and olives, roasted nuts, and local honey with wildflowers.

There was no better place to find things to stuff your picnic basket. But today they’d be dining in.

“We just got in a rather nutty Comte.” Francoise, the paler and more diminutive of the two hosts, escorted Zani and Will to a booth in a mousehole-shaped niche on the far side of the fromagerie. When he tugged aside the lace curtains, it revealed a small, cozy, private nook, with a round bistro table fitted into a banquette. The table was painted to resemble a wheel of brie and the scattered cushions were cleverly fashioned to resemble wedges of swiss and blocks of cheddar cheese.

“Have you dined with us before?” Francoise gestured to the table where a prix fixe menu was tucked under two glass condiment pots. One of the pots held honey with a chunk of the comb. The other contained some sort of a fruity jam. The menu was a simple handwritten list of today’s sweet and savory sandwiches and a curated selection of cheeseboard items.

“I have had the pleasure.” Will sighed happily. “But I’m not sure Zani’s had a chance to visit yet, have you?”

“It’s my first time.” Zani ducked into the tiny booth.

“Well, then. Welcome! Bon Appetit! As you can see, we have a prix fixe menu.” Franciose reached to pull a tiny notebook from his apron pocket. “But I can take your order for your choice of tea.”

“I’ll have earl gray, please.” Zani said.

“Darjeeling for me. Thank you,” Will added.

“Very good. It will just be a few minutes while we get your cheese feast ready.” Francoise placed the notebook back in his pocket. His hand emerged with an ornately tooled brass handbell, which he placed gently on the table. “In the meantime, ring for us if you need anything.”

When the curtain dropped back in place, the two of them were alone again.

“It’s quite romantic here, isn’t it?” Zani asked, passing a quick finger through the flickering tea light on the table. “I have to admit—not quite what I expected from a cheese shop run by the town elders.”

Will felt a blush creeping across his cheeks. “Tell me what you discovered in the archives.” He changed the subject adeptly. “I didn’t realize you were so interested in ley lines.”

Ley lines were, of course, Will’s favorite subject. But he so rarely got to talk about them with anyone. Most people took them for granted, or dismissed them as boring. They didn’t want to know. But they didn’t realize what they were missing. Ley lines affected everything . More than just a map, they were what moved everyone and everything in the natural world, and possibly beyond. He was eager to have someone besides Burnside Porter with whom he could discuss his theories about this essential earth energy.

“I can’t fully explain why yet, but I think the bloodstone has something to do with them.” Zani let out her breath in a whoosh.

Will wilted as he realized Zani’s newfound interest in ley lines was actually secondary to her interest in that cursed stone. It was only a matter of time until she asked him to take her back to the train again so she could change history. Which he could never condone.

“Is that so?” Will’s response was a bit cagey. “What makes you think that?”

Zani wasn’t wrong. The bloodstone definitely had something to do with ley lines. Leyline energy flowed through every rock and stream, down every branch of every tree and through every bone of every body, whether magical or ordinary. Every natural thing on this earth had something to do with ley lines.

Nobody felt this more keenly than Will. His heightened sensibilities and ability to access earth energy were how he navigated the void. Even now, sitting in this booth, he could feel the sizzle of the ley lines buried deep in the earth beneath them. He felt where it connected with the tinier tendrils of his own energy. At the moment, he was especially aware of where the strands of his energy met up with and mixed with Zani’s, like fringe from two blankets, getting tangled in the wash.

“According to the textbook I was reading during the town hall meeting, there are certain gemstones that are rumored to have an effect on ley lines,” Zani said.

This was not exactly news to Will. Rose Quartz and Magnetite. Amber and Malachite. Jasper and Agate. Folks had always known that the magic of crystals could subtly influence ley lines. Even the most common stones influenced earth energy. They worked like magnets that attracted and repelled, and could be useful in nudging the flow in slightly different directions. This was why crystals had always been used for magic and divination. But he supposed he could tolerate a little bit of “leysplaining,” if it involved having tea in this cozy cubby with Zani. He nodded, and used his fists to make a tripod to rest his chin on.

“Sorry. I know all of this is common knowledge.” Zani waved a hand dismissively. “But the charred book from the archives also mentioned this effect. However, it claimed that the gem that has the most profound effect on ley lines is something called Celestial Sapphire?” Zani looked at him skeptically. “Have you ever heard of that one?”

Will’s elbow slipped off the edge of the table.

“Was there a title on that book?” Will’s jaw was still hanging open. Celestial Sapphire was no common crystal. It was so rare that most people had never even heard of it.

“No title. It was only a fragment of a notebook, barely held together by a bit of millboard binding and old glue. Barely legible. It was charred around the edges, as if it were pulled from a fire. But I think it may be a portion from a late sixteenth century diary. It caught my eye because I saw Catherine de Medici’s name and a reference to ley lines. It’s too fragile to even remove from the Archives. I took some notes, though.” Zani reached into her pocket and pulled out a crumpled up take-out menu, which she now smoothed out on the table. On the back of the menu she had written four questions.

What is Celestial Sapphire?

Catherine De Medici?

Scrying stone?

Untethered Ley Lines?

“What did the actual text say?” Will looked up from the menu. It was for a Thai place in Boston he had yet to try. “And are these spring rolls any good?”

“I don’t know anything about the spring rolls, Will. I’ve barely had time to leave Primrose Court. Someone left the menu in the Mudpuddle.” Zani tapped her fingers impatiently, pointing at the word untethered . “The text was not super specific. It just warned of the tendencies of ley lines to act extremely unpredictably in the presence of these particular stones, and it mentioned they are also particularly well suited to scrying with. Apparently the future shows up very clearly in them.”

Will sat up straighter. “I’m only aware of the tethering theory,” he said. “Merfolk lore suggests that Celestial Sapphires exist in abundant quantities, deep beneath the sea, and have been there for eons, as the result of long ago starfall. It’s a difficult claim to confirm or deny, as only the Merfolk can go down that deep. They’re famously secretive, too. Nobody else has ever seen more than a small fragment or sliver of this type of stone. But the legends say that these stones, or rather a specific collection of twelve of them, are somehow responsible for keeping all the ley lines anchored.”

“Do you believe that?” Zani seemed surprised and confused by what he was saying. “I can’t believe in all my research. I’ve never come across a single mention of Celestial Sapphire!”

Will hesitated, unsure how much more to reveal. His Porting school teachers had taught him that, regardless of the legends’ truth, even discussing the stones could be dangerous. Because if it were true, and someone were to find a way to get ahold of the collection of twelve Celestial Sapphires, known as “The Weight of the World,” the entire ley line system could be at risk. He didn’t even want to think about the possibility of that.

He weighed his options before saying any more. He wasn’t the one bringing Celestial Sapphires up. Zani had discovered the legends by herself. And now that she had, he knew she wouldn’t stop investigating further. Not until her curiosity was sated.

Better that she seek answers from someone like him. It wasn’t a breach of porter code to answer a direct question honestly.

“Celestial Sapphire is one of the most sacred and ancient stones. Atlantis was said to have been built on a foundation of them. I first became aware of them because while all gems add risk to a port, Celestial Sapphires are the only ones that porters are strictly forbidden to carry. Many folk will tell you that’s ridiculous of course, that the stories are the musings of Ordinary alchemists and mages. In fact, most scholarly witches would insist that no such stone exists.”

“But that’s not what you think.” Zani read him all too readily. She leaned forward and he could feel the gentle warmth of her breath. “Have you ever seen one, Will?”

He closed his eyes. He knew that at some point, he was going to have to tell her all about Burnside Porter. He just wasn’t so sure he was ready to tell her now. But he recognized that this was the direction they were clearly heading in. He’d only be delaying the inevitable if he chose not to share.

“I can attest that Celestial Sapphire isn’t like any other stone I’ve ever encountered.” Will exhaled slowly.

“Okay.” Zani studied him briefly before going on. “The writing also mentioned a prophecy, something the writer saw while scrying. It said the stone would be cursed by blood and would be the death of all who Catherine loved.” Zani looked up at Will. Her dark brown eyes were full of worry. “The date on the text was well before Catherine lost her children, Will.”

“That’s a pretty generic prediction, though,” Will commented, ignoring the goosebumps on his arm.

“This is where I feel the need to tell you that the bloodstone amulet had a really strange blue undertone to it.” She splayed her hands out on the table, as if to brace herself in a vehicle that was too rapidly gathering speed. Will felt himself hurtling toward the same conclusion, even before she said the words. “I think it is the same stone.”

He tried to play it cool. “It seems like a long shot. I’m sure Catherine had many jewels.” Will shrugged. But he felt no footing in this conviction. He could feel the hairs standing up on the back of his neck, a sure sign that there were specks of absolute truth in the air.

“The writing wasn’t about a different stone, Will.” Zani squared her shoulders defensively. “It was about the bloodstone.”

“Okay. I guess it’s possible,” Will yielded. The last thing he wanted was to be Zani’s adversary. “But what makes you so sure?”

“When I held the text up to the light, there was an impression on the paper. The indentation was left from whatever was written on the previous page. I thought it might be something, so I cast a charm to reveal whatever was on the missing page.” She flipped the Thai menu over, displaying a rudimentary sketch drawn on top of a photograph of one of the restaurant’s most popular entrees.

“Mmmm. Is that Pad Thai?” Will asked.

“Yes, Will.” Zani rolled her eyes. “But it’s also a sketch of an amulet. Exactly like the one I took from the vampires in Romania.”

“Goblin’s gizzards,” Will cursed quietly before letting out a long breath. “So you think the bloodstone is really a Celestial Sapphire in disguise?”

“I don’t know what to think,” Zani admitted. “I’m just grasping at straws here, trying to understand what that stone is, and why it disappeared.”

“Well, I suppose that would explain the time slip.” Will folded his hands on the table in front of him.

“How?” Zani asked. “I thought you said that time slips can happen during celestial events?”

“They typically do.” Will nodded. “But they also happen in the presence of Celestial Sapphires.”

Will tapped his fingers. “I thought it was strange that there weren’t any significant celestial occurrences at the same time as our time slip.” He picked up the honey pot and studied the thick, sticky liquid. He tipped the pot to expose more of the waxy comb.

“I don’t understand.” Zani’s brow wrinkled. She folded and unfolded the corner of the menu. “Do you think that the bloodstone had the ability to facilitate time travel?”

“Yes.” Will closed his eyes for a moment, praying that he wouldn’t regret telling her this incredibly controversial secret. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized he had to tell her. Because it wasn’t only his secret to keep anymore. It was hers as well.

“That doesn’t make any sense, Will. I didn’t have the stone on me when we slipped.”

“Actually, you sort of did, Zani.” Will set the honey pot back down. “Or rather, I should say you do . Your contact with that stone had an effect on you. Some tiny aspect of its energy transferred and stuck to you. Like a cosmic residue. You know how they say ‘diamonds are forever?’”

Zani nodded.

“Well, Celestial Sapphires are even stickier. There’s something elemental about them that stays with you. For better or worse.” He thought of Burnside and his sparkling blue tooth.

Zanfira paled, and her eyes grew wide. “Will,” she said slowly, turning the idea over in her head. “Do you think that means Aunt Minodaura is right?”

“Right about what?” Will tipped his head, not sure what she meant.

“About the curse. What if that’s also been transferred to me?”

He took her hands in his and squeezed them in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. “No.”

“How do you know?” Zani blinked a few times and looked over her shoulder.

“Well, you’re sitting here in this wonderful cheese cafe with me, aren’t you?” Will joked.

“Very funny.” Zani rolled her eyes. “You have to admit, I haven’t had the best luck since losing the stone. And the vampires that I took it from certainly didn’t have the best luck in the end. Cosimo refused to touch it. He must have known…”

“Cosimo’s your vampire friend?” Will’s jealousy and anger flared at the mention of the bloodsucker. “Nice of him not to protect you from it.”

“He’s more of a colleague than a friend.” Zani waved a hand. “And he did try to warn me, repeatedly, that contact with the stone was extremely dangerous. I just didn’t pay enough attention. I figured I always ward myself really well. I’ve never had any issues with curses and hexes sticking to me in the past.”

“Then why start worrying about them now?” Will asked. When Zani didn’t reply, he explained his personal philosophy. “I don’t believe in curses. I reject the notion.”

“Is that so?” Zani looked dubious as she folded her arms protectively across her chest.

Will tipped up his chin. This was his hill, and he would die on it. But not from a curse. “It’s basic common sense. When someone wishes ill on you, it doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t even matter.”

“What do you mean it doesn’t matter?” Zani gave an exasperated half laugh. “What are you supposed to do? Ignore all that negative energy coming at you?”

“Yep.” Will used the honey dipper to drizzle honey onto a spoon. He offered the spoon to Zani, but she shook her head, so he popped it into his own mouth.

“I’m just supposed to ignore terrible things?” Zani repeated.

“Well, not ignore, exactly.” Will shook the spoon like a finger, seeking to correct her. “Just choose to move on. Fix what you can. Move past the things you cannot change. There’s no point swimming upstream only to get washed back to sea. People are going to do what they are going to do. No matter what you do, some of them are going to hate you. And some of them are going to try and hurt you. But it doesn’t matter. Because only you can hex yourself.” He drizzled more honey on the spoon. Once again he offered it to Zani. And once again she shook her head. “More for me.” He shrugged.

Zani waited until he was done with the honey to nudge him to go on. “Explain yourself further, Porter. Because I’m still not sure I get it. How does one hex oneself?”

“Obsessing over all the things you cannot change is the real curse. It takes away all your power. That’s how you end up trapped in a negative energy feedback loop. Believing you’re cursed is a great way to keep yourself from accessing the paths you were meant to travel. It also limits your ability to feel joy. That belief’s not the result of someone else’s actions. That’s the result of your own choices, how you choose to respond to the roadblocks you encounter. Every hex, every curse is the same. They all trap you in your own thoughts and feelings and leave you chasing your tail, going nowhere, attracting more misery. Why not simply slam the door on someone else’s bad energy and choose to walk away?”

“I couldn’t ‘simply walk away’ when my parents died when I was only five.” Zani glared at Will. “I don’t think they died because they weren’t positive enough.” Her eyes filled with tears. This was not at all how he’d meant to make her feel. “Aunt Minodaura has always said it happened because our family was cursed, and now I’m starting to wonder if I believe her.”

“Of course you couldn’t walk away. I’m not saying bad things, horrible things even, don’t happen.” Will spoke gently, leaned toward Zani, and reached for one of her hands. “Bad things happened to me, too. I grew up in an orphanage. Believe me, I know about being miserable. But we can’t go around convincing ourselves that everything that happens results from a curse. That just keeps us stuck there, and helpless. As long as you’re living, there’s almost always a little something you can do to make things better.” He gave her hands a squeeze. Zani nodded as she squeezed his hands back. “I promise you, Zani, the minute you put your energy into the positive things you can do, instead of the negative things you don’t have control over, magic always seems to find a way.”

“You realize how pithy that sounds, right?” Zani dabbed at her eyes with a napkin.

“What can I say? I’m a porter. I have learned to let go of trying to control everything. I go with the flow.” Will waved his hand with a flourish and perfect timing.

At that same moment, Derek whisked aside the curtain. He had arrived with a large round tray that included two pots of tea and a three tiered plate stand that was laden with sandwiches, biscuits, fresh ripe berries, and cheeses.

“Thank you, Derek,” Will said when the dun-haired man offered to pour their tea, “But I think we can take it from here.”

Once they were alone again. Will sliced a chunk of Camembert, which he laid on top of a savory scone. “I’m so glad you suggested this place. I love a good tea party, don’t you?”

Zani held up a cookie and sniffed it appreciatively. “What witchcraft is this now?”

“That’s one of Minerva’s famous lemon drizzle biscuits. I think they’re the opposite of a hex, if there ever was one.” Will reached out to take one for himself. He considered the tart, sweet cookie before taking a bite. “I’d call these biscuits a blessing.”

For several minutes, they both sipped their tea and nibbled on the delicious snacks in companionable silence. They were both thinking about other, more trivial things before continuing the conversation. Zani arranged the assorted items on her plate into a neat half-moon shape. Will picked up the takeout menu again and studied it, making a mental note of which dishes he wanted to try.

Finally, Zani spoke again. “Will?”

“Mmph?” Will knew they weren’t finished, but he was still enjoying the pause. He was concerned about what came next.

“I want to go back.”

He gulped his tea and set the empty cup down before answering. “I can’t take you back to the train to prevent the theft of the bloodstone, Zani. You can’t change the past. That would be just like hexing yourself. You’d risk getting stuck in an actual time loop. Or something even worse.” He shuddered.

“I’m not asking you to take me back to the train.” Zani poured more tea for Will and stirred in two sugars. Just the way he liked it. She’d been paying attention. “I want to go back to the Court of Catherine De Medici. I want to find out what else was in that fragmented book I found and maybe speak to whomever wrote it.”

“No.” Will shook his head. “Just because you weren’t there then doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous. If you were to change anything, the implications would be infinite. The entire world as we know it could be affected,” Will cautioned. This was all conjecture, of course. Will had not yet been able to replicate the slip.

Turn out your pockets, Porter… There has to be a catalyst…

Will didn’t need to pick through any more piles of lint now. He knew what, or rather, who, the catalyst was. And she was begging him to try it again. Wasn’t this exactly what he’d been wishing for? Careful what you wish for.

“I just think it’s too risky. I don’t want to bring about the apocalypse.” Will folded his arms across his chest.

“Do you think maybe you’re being a little melodramatic?” Zani teased.

“No.” Will shook his head.

“There’s a simple workaround to that problem,” Zani folded her napkin on the table. “I’ll ward us before we go. I can just cast a spell that stops us from doing anything that might change the past.”

“I still don’t like it,” Will said stubbornly. He leaned back in the booth. “It seems wrong.”

“What makes you so sure we weren’t already there?” Zani raised an eyebrow, challenging him. “Maybe you’re the one who wrote the notes that I found!”

“Impossible.” Will snorted.

“What makes you so sure?”

“My handwriting is terrible,” Will admitted. “Practically illegible. But…” He held the menu up. “My drawing skills are far superior to this Pad Thai pendant.” He pointed at the drawing, considering it with disdain. Even though this was a copy of the original sketch, he could tell the artist had done a terrible job of capturing the detail.

“Then prove it! Take me there.” Zani’s eyes sparkled with unfettered wanderlust as she made the request, and he couldn’t help but be a little bit affected.

“I do not know if it’s even possible, but if it were, why do you want to go to Catherine’s court? Will asked.

“Because I need answers.” Zani’s lips settled in a straight line. Her tone softened. “Please, Will, you’re the only one who can help me.”