literal leigh 05 - joyful leigh (17 page)

I sent a text message to Kelly to let her know that we were leaving. I left a key hidden by the back door. I’d check in before we headed home. Hours passed, and it was all my fault—on purpose. We had lunch and I insisted on seeing every tree lot we could find. As I explained it, it was my first Christmas tree. It better be perfect. I was pleased when I got a call from Kelly. All she said was, “It’s done.” I liked the sneaky mobster way this went down, but I didn’t like the guilt that I dragged around from hiding what I was up to.

“Let’s get the lights up!” Gertie yelped when we got home.

Brad and Hunter carried out dozens of boxes containing strings of lights. Fortunately, Hunter has a couple of extension ladders he borrowed from his old roofing contractor. While they covered the house in lights, Gertie and I worked on something special of our own.

“Okay, Gertie. Time to make this magic happen!” I sat at my desk and opened the document for
Restoring The Old Schlitt House- A ‘Do Yourself” Romance
. “What I want is to have one of those Santa’s workshops and gingerbread houses we saw when we were out today. Big enough so that kids can go inside. In the story I need some way for the owners of the Schlitt House to receive those decorations. Something realistic has to happen for it to possibly work. Any ideas?”

“How about win them in a contest? Like Lindsey and her roof?” Gertie suggested.

“That would be good if we actually entered any contests.” I thought about it and had an idea. “Okay, so the owners decide to enter a Christmas contest for some free decorations. There has to be a bunch of stuff online for that. Anyway, instead of receiving the winning prize, they get this beautiful gingerbread house and elf workshop for their yard.” I started typing away like mad. “Ta da! Done with that part! Now to go online and find a contest.” I hummed away and there were several to pick from. Most were for some lights or ornaments. I entered a few that were just ending. “Good enough!”

“I don’t know, Leigh.  I have a weird feeling about using witchcraft to decorate your house for the holidays,” Gertie said warningly.

“Meow. Meow.”

“Oh, you two! You’re worrying too much. This is damn near foolproof! What could go wrong?” I was in a good mood. Lights were going up, I’d solved the bat issue, we were about to bring in the tree. Then I thought about the bats. I had to be reassured that they were moved out. “Gertie? Would you check on the guys and see how it’s going? I’ll be out in a minute.” Once I saw Gertie go out the door I called Kelly. “You said ‘It’s done’ but what exactly did they do?”

“Dammit, Leigh! Don’t you ever watch mobsters on TV? You never ask what happened. All you get is that phrase ‘It’s done’ or as an alternative you could get, ‘That thing you wanted done. I took care of it.’ No details, because you don’t want to know. It insulates you from getting in trouble.”

“Oh…I get it. That’s pretty clever. So what did they use?”

Kelly groaned. “Still, you don’t understand. Anyway, Hamster said he put some kind of repellant in your attic. If the bats wake up, they’ll get a whiff of it and they’ll get out of there, fast.”

“That’s what I like. Simple. I don’t know why that animal control officer didn’t just suggest it in the first place.”

After the call, I went outside and joined Gertie. The guys did a wonderful job with the lights, it looked amazing. Our house would literally light up all of the yards around us. Then it was time to bring in the tree.

Brad was concerned about fire safety. “Be careful with these real trees. You have to make sure you keep them in water at all times or they will be the biggest fire hazard you can have in your house.”

Hunter placed a metal stand on the trunk and set the tree upright. “Our ornament selection needs to be seriously considered. We don’t have hardly anything to work with. Would you help me run the string of lights on it, Leigh?”

“I have an idea, Hunter. Let’s hang up the few ornaments we bought. And every day until Christmas, we’ll add an ornament to the tree. It’s appropriate to put a star on top of the tree, right?” I held up an eight pointed star made with white and blue lights. “Well, here is the star and you’ll recognize it as the Magen David, or Star of David. See, so it all makes sense in our mixed up holiday. Over here on the fireplace mantle is the menorah. We’ll light one candle every day of Hanukkah.”

“Who’s ready for some Christmas cheer?” Brad said and headed for the kitchen with Hunter. They returned with egg nog that he laced with some sort of hard liquor.

After a cup, I was charged with Christmas cheer. “Hey! Let’s light a fire in the fireplace! One of those yule logs or whatever their called.” I pumped my fist in the air and yelled out like I was at a rock concert.

“No, let’s not. Unless you’ve had that old chimney cleaned, checked, and certified, you should never light a fire in there. You wouldn’t want a chimney fire tonight.”

The mention of a fire made Gertie squirm. I wanted her to be at ease. “Don’t worry, Gertie. I’m just kidding. I’ll be careful. When are you lovebirds leaving?”

“Tonight. That’s why I skipped that cup of gorilla milk or whatever Brad calls it,” Gertie answered.

“Yep. I’m going down to the plantation with her for a week or so. Don’t worry. We’ll be back soon enough.”

We thanked them both and once they left, Hunter and I both realized we forgot one important thing. “The turkey! Damn! I guess we’re stuck with it for a while longer,” Hunter grouched.

“I could just see if I could zap it down there. There’s no guarantee that I would hit my mark. Like Gertie said before, it’s not like the thing is going to sit still for long.”

“Give it a try, Leigh. You can do it. I have faith.” He went to find the turkey but returned empty handed. “It’s gone. I have no idea what happened to it, but the door to his room was open and it found its way out of here somehow.”

My guess was that Hamster Dick had come across it and accidentally let it get away.

Chapter Twenty Two

Sybil Explains The Order of Dobrin

The days of school left until the holiday break were finally down to single digits. Day by day we added ornaments and little holiday touches to our home. The historic Schlitt house was looking more like what I pictured an old house should look like during the holidays. We already have lots of snow and it added to the effect. My charity fund at work was growing bigger by the day. All in all, I was honestly full of joy.

“Guess what, Luna? The fortnight came and went. And no Sybil. See? It was nothing more than a dream.”

“Meow.” Luna cried, as if to say to me, “Don’t speak too soon.”

There was a knock at the front door. “Hello? Hello? Leigh! It’s me, Sybil.”

“What? No. Whatever crazy you’re bringing, I don’t want any. Go away, please.” Reluctantly, I opened the door and let her in. “I really was hoping you were just a dream metaphor. For what? I have no idea.” I poked her arm. “Apparently, you’re real.”

“Of course I am! This is important. Remember, Cosmos told you that there is a negative force? Something that is sucking the positive vibes from people? He wasn’t quite accurate it seems.”

“What are you getting at?”

“That bomb. We know who planted it. It isn’t about holiday spirit. It’s about identifying any magical or supernatural being. The powder that was in that bomb would have spread throughout the city and any of us, you, your witch friends, would have been able to be detected by our enemy’s high tech equipment. Once they’ve identified you, they’ll hunt you down and who knows what they’ll do.”

I was shocked and told her what had happened to us. “That’s who they were then! We were recently followed by two big creepy guys down at Daley Plaza. They looked weird. Who are these people and why are they doing this?”

“Really? Two guys? I suppose it could be. As far as I know, that isn’t something they would typically do. It’s too risky for them. They would rather use tricks and traps. You’ve no doubt heard about the persecution of witches and anyone that practices magic during the medieval times in Europe? It even happened here in the American colonies. The persecution has been going on for centuries. There is an organization that is actually behind all of these things. What is so contradictory about them is that they persecute practitioners of magic, yet they seek to gain it for themselves. They want to control the entire magical world. The group was once called The Order of Dobrin and was supposedly under the control of the Teutonic Knights. Back then, those knights gained fame by waging wars against the pagan countries to the east of Europe. Lithuania was one of those pagan lands. There, one of the knights from The Order of Dobrin, a man named Villius encountered all sorts of magic and enchanted beings. The legend says that he came upon a certain Lithuanian ragana, which is a name for old witches that lived in the forest. This ragana’s name was Dalia, after the goddess of giving and taking. Similar to the Fates of ancient Greece I suppose. Anyway, she disguised herself as a beautiful maiden and seduced Villius to go to her home, deep in the forest. Once she had him as her prisoner, she changed into her true form, which must have been pretty frightening. She supposedly cut off his right arm as payment for his life. She probably figured that a knight without his right arm would be harmless. However, Villius wanted revenge. He became fascinated with magic and obsessed with trying to control all magic for himself. What he couldn’t control, he destroyed. His knights relentlessly pursued and punished all of the witches they could find. They’ve been at it ever since. This organization has been on a secret worldwide crusade to control free magic for centuries under the guise of witch hunts, trials, and inquisitions. They’re hypocrites because they use magic they’ve stolen in order to wipe out people like you, me, and all of our friends.”

I shook my head and laughed. “You have to be kidding. What could they possibly want from someone like me? I’m nothing but a rank amateur when it comes to this stuff. And don’t tell me it’s because of my desk. I’ve been through enough when it comes to that.”

“No, it’s not the desk, but it’s the fact that you were just a normal woman who suddenly became a witch. A normal woman with hidden power. The same thing happened with Gertie, and now Lindsey, Kelly, and Randy. It must scare the hell out of them to know that new witches are being created. Cosmos believes they are getting desperate. They must have had information that magic beings would be at the Furry convention and that’s why they put the bomb there. They have an informant or more likely they have planted listening devices.”

“So you’re saying they’ve bugged us? What, my house? How would we know?”

“That I don’t have answers to. I can only tell you what Cosmos and I have learned. We’ve been dodging these bastards for centuries. We need a leader. We need to form a united front somehow to defeat these people. The Order of Dobrin has one grand master and fifteen so-called knights. That’s it, but they are very influential people. They are probably in high offices of some sort. We don’t know their names and as they die off, they are replaced from their hereditary bloodlines. They could be male or female.”

I knew what Sybil was up to finally. “So that’s why you and Cosmos are interested in me. You think me and my friends are their next targets and you might be able to catch at least one of them in the act of hunting us. Then you’ll figure out their network.”

“Exactly. You’re pretty sharp.” Sybil was obviously impressed.

“Meh, not too big of a deal. I read a lot of fiction. It makes you think about global conspiracy theories, secret orders, that sort of stuff. By the way, do you know Marie Laveau? She wants me to let her know when you’re here. Why?”

“Yes, I do know her. We’ve met. I’ll be honest, she used to think Cosmos and I were nut cases and delusional about this whole conspiracy that has gone on for centuries. Although, she is partly correct. Cosmos is little bit nuts, if you hadn’t guessed. But now, ever since that bomb was planted, she realizes we were correct this whole time. I’m heading to New Orleans from here to meet with the Witches Union.”

“So what do I do? Look for bugs? I wouldn’t know a listening device if I saw one.”

“Yes, anything. And never ever discuss plans involving magic in your house, just in case. Get ahold of Marie if you notice anything. Warn your friends and avoid any public displays of magic.”

“Okay then. I’ll be sure to do that. I can’t say I’m convinced yet, but just in case, I’ll keep an eye out.”

Chapter Twenty Three

A Big Surprise

Hanukkah was well underway and there were only a few days left before Christmas. To be fair, Hanukkah—traditionally a mostly private observance contained within a family’s home—has been elevated to a similar level of public jubilation as Christmas, only here in America. Christmas was also redefined as a huge commercialized shindig in America. It’s a far cry from when the first New England settlers, the Puritans, would levy fines on anyone displaying as much as a single holly flower in celebration of Christmas. God forbid they should put up a Christmas tree. So, I suppose the lesson we can draw from history is that as Americans became more diverse, they unleashed a new love for big brash displays of celebration—of any kind. All I have to do is remember what we Americans have done to the once obscure holidays of Halloween and Saint Valentine’s Day. This multicultural outreach is where Hunter tried his hardest.

“Hunter, you know you don’t have to give me a gift for everyday of Hanukkah. It’s usually something for the kids, maybe a little money, smaller gifts, and then maybe one bigger gift. It hasn’t quite caught up to the gift exchange level of Christmas yet. Well, at least not in my family. God knows.”

“Exactly! You’re the one that gave me the idea of blending together traditions and holidays. I’m just getting in the
Leigh
spirit. This is something I really want to do for you. So, hush. Accept your gifts and get used to it, because I’ll always do this for you from now on.” Hunter was visibly excited to surprise me with the things he picked out for me. I have to admit, it was sweet and it made him that much more adorable. “Here you go. I hope you like it.” He handed me a small box wrapped in blue and white paper.