Autumn Calling (2 page)

She had an onslaught of junk mail after a
recent shopping spree she’d done online not long ago. Fifty emails
and only one out of three were worth looking at. She reached for
her glasses on the side table to find they weren’t there. She
looked on the floor near the table then found them under the couch,
mutilated, mangled, and a bit melted.

“Sully. Did you do this?” She waved the
glasses at him, and as she did one of the lenses fell out. Sully
cocked his head to get a better look, then went back to
itching.

“That’s a bad hellhound. Don’t you be
chewing on my glasses.” She realized she was talking to a brick
wall. She huffed in displeasure at his ignoring her, and then went
about squinting to read her emails.

There was a cute nun joke from Sister
Margaret she’d sent to a handful of her favorite peeps. There was a
Facebook update from a friend at the orphanage, and quick video
note from Dr. Stuart in a hat and a tropical drink in hand telling
her what a great time he was having on vacation. But she had no
word from Jackson. Not an email or even a text letting her know he
was thinking of her.

Was she being selfish, wondering why he
couldn’t find two seconds to send her some kind of recognition that
he was missing her or thinking of her? Part of her felt angry, and
the other part felt ashamed for being so needy.

While she pondered their relationship and
where it stood, she heard a
tap, tap, tap
. At first she
wasn’t sure where it was coming from, and then she heard it again.
She closed her laptop and set the empty bowl on the side table
while she got up and looked around.
Tap, tap, tap
she heard
again, and it seemed to be coming from the front door. Sully was
completely disinterested in what was happening and continued his
duties cleaning. She crept to the door, glancing out the window to
see if anyone was there, but she saw nothing.

Tap, tap, tap
. It made her jump as
she stood in front of the door. She turned the knob and opened it
cautiously. There was no one on the porch but a large black crow,
who cawed at her. He looked at her sideways, seemingly sizing her
up. She stepped farther into the doorway when the crow stretched
out his shiny black iridescent wings to their full extent, took two
hops toward her, and cawed. He seemed to be provoking or
challenging her.

His creepy golden eyes never left her as his
head jerked and nodded at her. She wondered if he was hurt or
acting odd after maybe hitting a window or something. She knelt on
the porch to get a closer look. The crow looked at her sideways
with one eye then turned with a jerk to look at her with the
other.

Then without any warning he flew at her
face, catching her cheek just an inch below her eye with his razor
claws. His wings batted at her head. Summer brought her hands to
her face to protect it from more injury from the bird’s claws, and
she let out a scream. Sully sprang into action at this and bounded
toward the bird, ramming it with his head and sending it off the
porch onto the ground beyond. It quickly righted itself and
squawked at him furiously. More calls came from a nearby tree,
where Summer noticed a dozen or more crows protesting the actions
inflicted upon their kin.

Sully leaped within a foot of where the crow
complained and growled low and deep. Summer noted the smell of
sulphur and the steamy smoke that leaked out of his steel jaws. The
crow decided he had enough for the moment and left. With a flurry
of feathers and deafening caws, the bird flew off to the waiting
“murder” in the tree, and when he joined they all took flight,
momentarily obstructing the tree from view. Then they were gone.
Sully stood watching, listening to distant screeches until they no
longer sounded, then he turned back to check on Summer.

A ribbon of blood ran down one cheek along
with a half dozen pink welts swelling alongside. Sully sat beside
her and nudged her with his nose as if checking on her.

“I’m okay, Sully. Thank you.”

He licked her hand. She used the large
hellhound to brace herself as she got up and went inside to get a
wet rag to cool the sting and pain of her injury. What a bizarre
incident, she thought. She’d never seen such odd behavior in a
crow, or one as bold as to knock on a door and confront the human
who dwelled within. It was as if the bird was possessed, or driven
by something or someone. And then there were the birds in the
tree—were they…laughing? Screaming?

Her heart ran double-time and the whole
event unnerved her. She felt her Cheerios flip-flop in her tummy
and she found herself racing for the bathroom to purge herself of
her breakfast. Adrenaline will do that to you, she thought. She
rinsed her mouth with water and lay on the bed.

“Maybe today was not the day to get see Aunt
Myrtle before Tori got here. I’ll lie here and rest until Tori
comes,” Summer said, and then invited Sully to join her. He didn’t
have to be asked twice before hopping on the bed and circling three
times before flopping down and starting his grooming all over.

A knock at Summer’s door roused the
hellhound, who jumped off the bed, trotted happily to the door, and
pawed it. This was a sure sign that Sully knew who was at the door
and that all was well.

Summer yawned as she opened the door and was
greeted with, “Oh my God. What happened to your face?”

Instantly Summer’s hand reached for her
cheek, feeling the sting at her touch and the swollen welts. “I had
a run in with a psychotic crow this morning.”

“A crow? Really?”

“I’m just as surprised as you. Trust
me.”

“So it just attacked you for no reason?”

“Actually it knocked at the door and then
attacked me.”

“Okay, now that is really weird.”

“Tell me about it.”

“It’s really red and swollen, maybe we
should go to the emergency room.”

“No. It’s just a couple of scratches.
They’re not deep.”

“But birds carry all kinds of things.”

“I cleaned up the one deep scratch. The
others didn’t really break the skin, they’re just swollen.”

“You sure? I’ll even drive that dog mobile
we call a car,” Tori said, referring to the carpet-covered SUV
Summer drove for the vet office they both worked at. It had floppy
ears, a wire tail that wagged in the wind, and a tongue. Summer
thought it was kind of cute, but Tori hated having any association
with it. So for her to offer to drive was really saying how much
she cared.

“I’m good. Shall we go up to the house and
see what Ms. Midnight has planned for us today?”

“I can’t wait.”

They headed through the graveyard. Nothing
seemed to make Tori happier than magic lessons, except Nick, of
course. Sully followed like a behemoth shadow, stopping to sniff
here and there on the way.

When Ms. Midnight opened the door she
exclaimed, “Goodness, child, what happened?”

Again Summer explained her encounter with
the crow and his crew. The story seemed to disturb the elderly
lady, and for the first time in a long time she saw that old
familiar crabby face she’d seen so often from the window when she
first moved into the cottage. It just dawned on her that maybe all
that time it wasn’t her being grumpy but deep in thought.

Tori looked to Summer when the cranky face
was shown, but Summer just shook her head as if to tell Tori “leave
it alone, I’ll tell you later.”

“A little tea tree oil will bring the
swelling down in no time and clean out anything that might have
gotten in the wound. Tori, would you mind getting it? It’s in a
small blue bottle in the bathroom cabinet, and cotton balls are in
there as well.”

“Sure thing,” Tori said, happily fetching
the items for her.

“Thank you, dear,” she said when Tori
returned. With shaky hands she deposited a tiny bit of oil on the
cotton ball and very gently applied it to several spots on Summer’s
face. “There, now. That should help. I’m sorry that happened to
you, but I’m not exactly surprised either.”

“Really.”

“Oh, yes. Crows are often used to do the
deeds of the sinister and lazy. And, I might add, witches. I find
those with dark character resort to such fiendish acts. A good and
fine witch will face her opponent when she attacks, but the dark
ones, they enjoy their little tricks.”

“So you think this is somehow related to the
Macabre family.”

“Most definitely. It used to be Yvonne’s
signature card. I guess she’s still up to her old tricks, unless
she’s taught them to another member of the family, which can never
be ruled out. No matter who sent them, it still came from under the
same roof.”

“How awful,” Summer said.

“But kind of cool, too,” Tori added, but she
got a reprimanding look from both Ms. Midnight and Summer. “Sorry.
I mean it’s awful they did this to you, but it’s amazing what magic
they are capable of.”

“The Macabre are very powerful, and not to
be taken lightly by any means,” Aunt Myrtle warned. “Now, let’s get
on with our lessons, shall we?”

“Yes,” Summer agreed.

“Definitely,” Tori replied.

“Follow me into the salon. I’ve set up in
there.”

* * *

The salon was a darker room than the parlor,
and Aunt Myrtle had decked it out in all things gypsy. Brightly
colored lavish scarves and pillows were eclectically placed about
the room. The air was scented with cloves, lavender, and vanilla
from the incense and candles burning. It was inviting and warm.
Summer saw by the wide smile on Tori’s face that she was thrilled
by the sights and smells.

In the center of the room was a medium-sized
table draped in azure velvet. It housed a tray containing a teapot
and three cups, and in the center of the table was a huge crystal
ball upon a pedestal of deep mahogany with carved dragon claws as
feet.

“Sit. Make yourselves comfortable,” Aunt
Myrtle said, gesturing with her hand towards the table. When the
girls sat, she grabbed a silk scarf and wrapped her head, giving
her the final ingredient to her perfect bohemian scene.

“The first thing we will do today is tea
leaf reading,” Aunt Myrtle said as she poured each of them a cup of
steeped loose leaf tea.

Summer was not a tea drinker, nor was Tori,
but the delightful smells it brought to the mood of the room were
enchanting.

“Empty your mind of your woes of the day,
and take in the scents and ambience of your surroundings. Drink and
enjoy,” Aunt Myrtle added.

Summer watched Aunt Myrtle as she closed her
eyes, enjoying the quiet and leisure of the process. Tori too
seemed very relaxed. She stretched her neck, leaned her head to one
side and then the other as if smoothing out the kinks that had been
there. Summer felt warm and cozy, but she didn’t seem to be
enjoying herself like her two table mates.

When they all had drank their tea, Aunt
Myrtle instructed them to put the saucer on the lips of the tea cup
and flip it, depositing any extra liquid onto the saucer. “Now lift
your cups, examine the tea leaves at the bottom, and tell me what
you see.”

Summer did as she was told and looked at her
tea leaves, but she saw nothing but greenish brown muck staring
back at her. What was she supposed to be seeing? Whatever it was,
she certainly wasn’t seeing it. She looked up trying not to be
noticed by the other two intently studying their cups. Summer
looked back at her cup, looking harder this time for something
other than the blob that was there.

“Tori, let’s start with you. What do you
see?”

“Well, I see a frog, a guitar, a tree, an
apple, an alligator, and a dagger.”

“My goodness, that’s excellent. You have a
real gift for this.”

Summer looked again at her cup and still saw
nothing but a blob. She craned her neck to see inside Tori’s cup
thinking she must have done something wrong, but as far as she
could see, Tori’s was more speckled blobs of nothing. What was she
missing? What was wrong with her? She was supposed to have all this
magic inside her, but there was absolutely nothing here.

“A frog means you’ll be moving or changing
your residence. A guitar is often love. A tree often means growth.
Let’s see, um, an apple can mean some kind of achievement in
business is coming your way. An alligator could be that you could
be involved in some kind of accident in the near future. And a
dagger almost always means there is danger ahead. Very good, Tori.
Now your turn, Summer. What do you see in your cup?”

“Truthfully? I see a blob of crushed
leaves.”

“Let me see.” Tori relieved Summer of her
cup. “Hmmm. I see a cat, a sun, an upside down
L
, and a
finger.”

“What does the finger point at?” Aunt Myrtle
asked.

“Um, hmmm, I don’t know, maybe a dragon,”
she said, contorting her face and tilting her head back and forth
as if to see things from a different angle.

“Amazing. I’ve never come across someone so
quick to learn, Tori,” Aunt Myrtle said. Taking the cup from her
and confirming what she had seen, she handed it back to Summer.

Summer peered into the cup once more,
looking for the items that Tori had found, but still saw nothing.
Though when she spun the cup one direction, she thought maybe she
saw an
L
. But then she lost it and decided she only wanted
to see it.

“According to your reading, Tori,” Aunt
Myrtle said, checking the notepad she’d been writing on. “A cat
usually means you’ll be having a quarrel with someone, Summer. A
sun means power, an upside down L might mean you’ll be meeting some
kind of shady character, but the last two are more important. A
dragon means trouble, and a finger pointing at it means big trouble
is on the horizon.”

“So what does yours say, Aunt Myrtle?”
Summer asked.