Winter's Spell, page 10
“Also true,” said Clare. She paused at looked them both up and down. “Fair enough. I trust you. I wish I could say that other lady who was here asking around smelled of sulfur or had horns coming out of her head, but I can’t. She may be one of these people you’re talking about, or she might have been just another tourist. Or someone like you, maybe, who is trying to help.”
“Could we see this grimoire?” said Mo.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” said Clare. “I told the other lady that too. Books in the special collection are only by prior arrangement with our archivist, and she’s currently on holiday in Greece.”
Disappointment filled Roxy. How would they know what was in the grimoire and what enchantment they were fighting if they couldn’t look at it?
“Don’t look so glum. She’ll be back next week. Let’s go up front and you can fill out a request card.”
Roxy had a thought. “Did the other lady fill out a request card, too?”
“I believe she did,” said Clare with renewed energy. “Yes, I’m fairly sure of it. We can take a look at it together.”
As they turned to leave the display, Roxy and Mo took one last glance at the display case. The objects in the case all related to mermaids somehow. There were several fragments of figureheads from a ship that had had a mermaid as a figurehead. There were some small mermaid figures whittled by sailors. They were crude but nonetheless fascinating. There was a necklace with a locket that had a painting of a mermaid inside it and next to it—the space was blank.
“Wait,” said Roxy. “What was supposed to be here?”
Clare walked back to the display case and her eyes widened. “There’s an object missing here,” she said.
“It’s not out for cleaning or something?” said Roxy.
“No,” said Clare, and her voice trembled. “It’s missing. Oh no oh no oh no,” she moaned, clutching her head with hands. She was upset and Roxy felt bad—but she also had a sinking feeling about the missing display object. She was certain that the other person had stolen it. And dollars to donuts, a page was missing from that grimoire too. She didn’t say that, though, as she didn’t want to agitate the poor guide any more. “Oh dear, I’ll have to call up Rhoda and interrupt her holiday and let her know. She’s our archivist and the owner of the museum, and she will be so upset.”
“What was it?” said Roxy.
“It’s just a small gold chain, but it was supposedly the bracelet of Gwenhidw, the Welsh queen of the mermaids,” said Clare in a rush. She was so agitated that the word mermaid slipped out of her mouth without a second thought, even as Mo clamped her hand on Clare’s lips.
“Shhh! Don’t say that word!” said Mo.
They all paused and looked all around, as if expecting something or someone to materialize out of thin air. After a couple of beats, the museum was as silent and still as a tomb, and they were alone. Mo took her hand off Clare’s mouth and stepped away.
“I am sorry,” she said.
“It’s all right,” said Clare. “You’re worried that word will do something? Summon someone or something? But we say that word here all the time. We have a whole museum display about it.” There was cool logic to her words that soothed Roxy. Clearly, that word couldn’t be as powerful here as in other places. On the other hand, if one of Mo’s pursuers had already been here, and had even stolen a bracelet, then perhaps the museum wasn’t the safest place to be, either.
Mo accepted Clare’s explanation, however, and nodded. She was still agitated by the whole experience though and wrapped her arms around herself tightly. Roxy gave her shoulder a squeeze as they followed Clare back to the front room. It took her a while, in her agitation, to find the rarely used museum log for missing and stolen items. They stood there so long that Roxy felt certain Clare had forgotten about them.
“Are you still going to let us fill out a book request? And show us the request from the other person interested in mer—I mean, magical sea creatures?” said Roxy. She didn’t want to let her guard down, just in case.
Clare looked up, somewhat wild-eyed. “What? Oh. Yes. Hold on. Let me get that for you.”
It took another five minutes to locate the logbook underneath the stacks and stacks of papers on the counter, but it was worth the wait. Clare opened the logbook to the current page, and right there in black and white was one single entry:
Name: Faustina Clerval
Book Requested: The Moon Tide Grimoire
There was also an address listed and a telephone number. The address was a local one in Provincetown. At least that would be easy.
“Unique name, eh?” said Clare. “I don’t know how I could have forgotten it.”
Clare’s remark gave Roxy an unsettled feeling. She knew what it was like to be under someone else’s spell, to have one’s memories messed with. Had this Faustina person done something to Clare’s memories so she wouldn’t remember anything about her?
Roxy filled out her own request and put down the same book title. Her fingers were itching to page through the grimoire, but she settled for writing down Faustina’s address and phone number in the small notebook she carried with her everywhere.
“Sorry I couldn’t help more,” said Clare. “But I’ll let you know as soon as our archivist returns. I’m sure we can accommodate your request. I can prioritize it, if you like.” She gave them a wink, and Roxy couldn’t help smiling.
“You’re a peach, Clare. It was great to meet you. I’m sorry to hear the museum was the victim of a burglary, though, and I hope you catch the perp.”
Clare sighed. “What a nightmare. You’ll have to excuse me, now, as I’ve got to get in touch with Rhoda and the police.”
Back outside, the weather had turned nasty. The wind was whipping at their hair and scarves, and the gentle snowflakes from earlier had changed to an unpleasant wintry mix.
“What do we do now?” said Mo, looking worried.
“Let’s go home and warm up,” said Roxy, shivering. She paused to look at the address for Faustina Clerval again. “But you know, I think we’ve got time to check out this address. Let’s walk by it on the way home.”
Mo nodded with some energy. Unlike Roxy, the cold did not affect her. She found it invigorating, or so she’d told Roxy.
The address was right off the main drag in Ptown, and it wasn’t too hard to find—though the building itself looked nothing short of creepy. To her surprise, Roxy saw the name “Faustina Clerval” painted onto the window. This person wasn’t too secretive about their whereabouts. And despite the fake sound of the name, she was an actual person.
The window display said, “Faustina Clerval, Clairvoyant. By appointment only.”
It was impossible to see through the thick curtains in the window.
Roxy sighed. “Well, we know where she is, I guess. Let’s go home and have a think.”
Back at the apartment, Roxy parked herself on the radiator to warm up while Mo took the opportunity to throw back some mackerel filets.
Roxy had been so preoccupied with their morning visit to the museum, that she’d forgotten to write Tessa back. She would be busy with the brewery that afternoon and Saturday evening, but she had most of the day free on Saturday. She had no idea what to do about Faustina and whether to make an appointment with her. The thought made her shiver, to be frank.
The weather was due to clear up the next day. Maybe a daytime date with Tessa was just the thing to distract her—sometimes that was exactly what she needed to clear her thoughts. Plus, it would give her a chance to get to know Tessa. Just the thought of her warm brown eyes made her feel warm in a way completely unrelated to the radiator.
She picked up her phone and replied to her message: Got some time tomorrow?
Chapter Ten—Tessa
Tessa felt her energy shift when she spied Roxy walking toward her, as if her whole body were straining toward her. She was glad for the warm winter layers in that moment, including the hat and scarf that helped camouflage her excitement and nerves a bit. The blush in her cheeks could easily be attributed to the occasional gust of chill wind. Nothing could stop her smile, though.
She waved. “Hey you!” Roxy smiled, the thoughtful, somewhat grim expression wiped from her face as she recognized Tessa from half a block away.
They were meeting in a part of Provincetown Tessa was less familiar with, on the outskirts of the small hamlet. It was just far enough from where she was staying in town that Tessa had driven to the trailhead. Roxy had evidently walked the whole way, and Tessa felt very stupid for not offering to pick her up that morning. It would have given them extra time together.
“Hey,” said Roxy once she was closer. “You ready for this?”
“Absolutely,” said Tessa, nodding. She had learned to enjoy hiking and being in nature after the breakup. The breakup had, in a way, launched her into nature and into becoming a hedge witch. The soothing effect of being outside, among trees and fields and the wide-open sky, had reminded her that there was a world outside of the New York-London theater junket. Pursuing hedgecraft had only reinforced to her the power of the natural world, and its ability to impact her life positively.
Still. Hiking in winter was a whole other story. She’d never been much of a winter sports person. She’d done some ice skating as a kid in Boston, but her family had never been the kind to be able to afford ski trips or things like that. Hiking in the snow or snowshoeing was not something her family had done either.
Luckily, she did have some warm winter boots for walking with her in Ptown, plus the requisite “big coat,” warm hat, mittens, and scarf for a New England winter. The Cape was generally a bit warmer than the mainland, warmed by the Gulf Stream, and today was a perfect example of that. It was in the forties with only an occasional breeze. The trail they were to walk was very sheltered, though it would eventually lead them to the ocean beach. Just in case, she had cast some hedge witch charms on herself for positive thoughts and openness to new experiences—as well as a charm for her boots to keep them extra warm.
“All right,” said Roxy with a big smile. “Let’s hit the trail.”
They were soon walking through sparse but beautiful woods. The trail was somewhat muddy, but mostly free of ice and snow, and in the shelter of the forest Tessa warmed up quickly, as Roxy kept a fairly brisk pace.
“How was your morning?” said Roxy.
Tessa couldn’t help groaning somewhat. “It was kind of crazy, to be honest,” she said. “I was supposed to spend the morning organizing the scripts for everyone for Monday’s read-through, and instead I had to take Lisa on a tour of the theater, and it sort of ate up my whole morning. Which is fine,” she added quickly. She didn’t want Roxy to think she was a constant complainer. “I just really wanted to get ready for when the rest of the core cast members arrive and the read-through on Monday, and I felt a bit rushed.”
She didn’t add, of course, that Lisa had started in right away ordering people around and making suggestions for how to “improve” everything. Chayo had been staring daggers at her by the end of the morning. Tessa had to soothe Chayo’s ruffled feathers, as well as those of the props mistress, once she’d figured out how to keep Lisa busy. She’d finally realized that Lisa could organize the scripts by herself in the greenroom while Tessa worked with Joy in the office to double-check all the lodging bookings for the cast and crew arriving on Sunday.
“That sounds pretty hectic,” said Roxy. “It was a busy day at the pub yesterday, too. I was learning all the front-of-house duties when a giant family group showed up and kept us busy for a couple of hours. It was a trail by fire.”
“A trial by fire?”
“Trail, trial. Potato, po-tah-to,” said Roxy with a grin and a chuckle. “Sorry. I’m always mixing up my sayings. I once told a customer not to count their chickens before they’re eggs.”
Tessa couldn’t help hooting with laughter. “What was their reaction?”
“I think they were too nice to say anything,” said Roxy. “Though I prefer to think that they thought they’d been saying it wrong all along instead of me.”
“Completely possible,” said Tessa with a grin.
They walked along in companionable silence for a few minutes, and Tessa took the opportunity to take in their surroundings and soak up the peace and quiet of the place, the only sounds the crunching of their boots in the snow and ice and the occasional twitter of a distant bird.
Roxy cleared her throat. “Do you mind if I ask you a, uh, personal question?”
Tessa’s heart raced. “Sure.” She had no idea what Roxy was going to ask, but if she just happened to tell her right then and there that she was in love with her, Tessa was ready to jump in her arms. After nine years of wondering and crushing, she was ready.
“How come you’re Tessa Flowers now?” said Roxy. Tessa felt a pang of disappointment quickly followed by a sense of ridiculousness at her own assumptions.
Of course, Roxy wasn’t just going to declare her undying love for her four days after meeting again for the first time in nearly a decade.
“I was thinking about it, and I realized that in college you were Teri. Teri…K…”
“Kwiatkowski,” supplied Tessa.
“Yeah! That’s it.”
Tessa felt slightly embarrassed. Should she tell Roxy the whole truth? Or just part of it? She hesitated long enough that Roxy rushed to fill in the silence.
“I’m sorry. That’s probably really personal for you. You don’t have to answer that question.”
“No,” said Tessa with as much kindness as possible in her voice. “It’s okay. It’s a fair question for someone who knew me as Teri.” She paused again, trying to find the right words—words she could say without bitterness. “I changed my name when I got into show business in New York. Lisa was the one who suggested changing my name. Teri and Tessa are both nicknames for Teresa, which is the name on my birth certificate. Kwiatkowski is a Polish last name. Kwiat means “flower” so “Flowers” is as close a translation of Kwiatkowski as you can get. And of course it’s a lot easier for people in the US to pronounce.”
“So the w in your last name is actually pronounced like a v?” asked Roxy, sounding intrigued. “I had no idea I’d been saying it wrong this whole time.” She tried saying it like Tessa, “Kvyat-ko-ski”
“Yep, that’s it. Great job,” said Tessa, feeling an unexpected rush of emotion. So few people took the time to learn how to pronounce Polish names correctly that to hear Roxy trying, really trying, felt special in a wholly new way.
“So is Teri what your family calls you?” said Roxy, clearly curious to learn more. Tessa felt flattered.
“Actually no, not at all. That was a nickname from grade school,” she said. “My folks are both from Poland, and in Polish the nickname for Teresa is Terka or Tereska. My mom always calls me Terunia, which is definitely a pet name. Most of my Polish family calls me Tereska.”
“That is so cute,” said Roxy. “I wish Roxy had more nicknames…I’m not Roxanne, you know. It’s just Roxy. I mean, I like that it’s so easy and short, but sometimes it would be nice to have some other options. Sometimes friends call me Rox, but that’s about it.”
“Polish people love nicknames and diminutives. Nobody goes by their given name there.”
“That’s super interesting,” said Roxy. “Did you grow up speaking Polish too? I feel like an idiot asking that, actually. I feel like this is something I should remember.” She sounded a little sheepish.
“I did. But it’s not something I advertised in college. I kind of went through a phase where I was a bit embarrassed that my family was different, and my parents weren’t like other kids’ parents.”
“Hey, don’t feel too bad about that,” said Roxy with real warmth in her voice. “We all go through that. Man, I was a mess in college. There’s a reason I didn’t come back after freshmen year.”
“What?” Tessa stopped dead in her tracks. All along she’d thought that Roxy had simply put in a room request after their first year to room with someone else on the soccer team. Or that she’d transferred to play for a better team at another school.
“Oh, you didn’t know?” Roxy sounded embarrassed. She scratched the back of her head awkwardly. “I lost my scholarship after my GPA tanked.”
“Oh no! I’m so sorry, Roxy. I didn’t mean to bring up something painful on this beautiful hike.”
Roxy met her worried gaze with a big smile. “It’s all water under the brink, you know? Er, that ship has been buried a long time. Or whatever the saying is.” Her gaze was full of warmth and whatever earlier embarrassment was gone. Tessa basked in her attention before finally looking away just in time to duck under a particularly low-hanging tree branch.
The trail had gotten narrower and they were forced to walk single file. Tessa enjoyed the view from the back as Roxy led the way. As they walked in silence, she let her mind wander, imagining what it might be like to be folded into Roxy’s strong arms, to feel her soft, red lips pressing on hers—
“Oof!”
Roxy had stopped at the top of a small rise in the trail, and Tessa hadn’t noticed in time. She walked right into Roxy and her backpack, which was surprisingly hard and heavy.
Roxy turned around and put an arm around Tessa to catch her as much as herself. Her arm was every bit as strong and steady as Tessa had just moments ago been imagining.
“You okay?” she said with a wink.
“Yes,” managed Tessa, somewhat breathlessly. “Why did you—”
Beyond the small rise in the trail, the trees opened up onto a spectacular view of the ocean beach. After the enclosed trail, it was a stunning contrast to see the wide, empty space of the beach, unbroken except where the land curved, with the cold winter water splashing onto the beach. The sound of the ocean was similarly stunning after the quiet of the trail.
