“So many interesting things to see,” Daisy murmured.
The sisters linked arms again and wobbled down the first aisle, exclaiming over the products like children in a toy store. I headed to the back of the shop and through the connecting door to Tea and Empathy. My aunt’s shop had the same square footage as mine, but the spaces were divided differently. The back of my shop was a storeroom; the back of hers, a kitchen. The front of my shop was larger because I needed to display my entire line of products, whereas the front of hers only needed to accommodate a few small tables and chairs. She conducted her psychic readings at one of the tables. The others were elegantly set for an authentic English tea, which most of her clients opted for after their readings. Tilly did all the baking herself but imported the clotted cream straight from the finest English dairy.
That morning I found her bustling around in the kitchen. As usual, Merlin was perched on his stool in the doorway awaiting samples. He was back in the burlap pants and dingy shirt he was wearing when he arrived in the twenty-first century. The shirt had improved somewhat after Tilly put it through several washings, but it couldn’t rightly be called white. In any case, Merlin had made it clear that these were his garments of choice, and he would wreak vengeance on anyone who disposed of them.
I greeted Merlin and poked my head into the kitchen to ask about borrowing the chair.
“Sure, sure. You’re welcome to it,” Tilly said, kneading dough. “My first client isn’t until eleven.”
“Linzer tarts?” I guessed when I passed the kitchen again carrying the chair.
“Hardly a brilliant guess,” Merlin said, “when one can plainly see the smudges of raspberry jam on her apron.”
“I’ll save one for you,” Tilly called after me. She always does. The day she forgets, I’ll know her memory is fading.
On the way back to my shop, I crossed paths with Sashkatu, who was heading over to visit them. For reasons I couldn’t fathom, Merlin was like human catnip to all the felines. They simply couldn’t get enough of him. On the other hand, it was no mystery why they adored Tilly. She was not only a devout cat lover but also the Santa Claus of fresh-baked goodies.
I found the sisters in the last of my three jam-packed aisles. They followed me and the chair up to the counter as if I were the Pied Piper.
“How thoughtful of you,” Daisy said, lowering herself onto the seat as soon as I set it down.
Flora gave an appreciative sigh as she took the other one. “Thank you. At our age, our energy tends to run out before our curiosity.”
I leaned over the counter, grabbed a pad and pencil, and held them out to Flora, who was closer to me.
“Oh good,” she said. “I misplaced my pad a few days ago and I was afraid we might have to memorize the spell.”
Daisy laughed. “Talk about a wasted trip.” Her laughter was as honest as a child’s; I couldn’t help laughing along with her.
“I’m a great believer in backup,” I said, “especially when it comes to memory spells. This is an easy one, but it should serve your purposes. Ready?”
Flora nodded.
“You’ll need to have a mirror, a piece of paper and a pencil. A pen won’t do.” I paused to let Flora finish writing. “Begin by thinking about what you’ve lost, write it down on the paper, and then lay the paper facedown on the mirror. Leave it there until you find the object.”
“How long does it take to work?” Daisy piped up.
“It differs from person to person, but it shouldn’t take long.”
“What if it doesn’t work?”
“After half an hour, try it again. There’s no limit to the number of times you can use it.”
“That’s the whole shebang?” Flora sounded deflated.
“Except to stress that magick works best with the active participation of the practitioner. You can’t just sit back and wait for the object to fall into your lap. You have to continue looking for it throughout the process.”
“I guess I expected there to be some mumbo jumbo involved,” she said.
“I’ll tell you what—I’ll give you another spell free of charge, one that involves words. You can alternate using the two, until you decide which works best for you.”
Daisy beamed. “What a lovely thing to do. Isn’t it, Flora?”
“It most certainly is.” Flora had the pencil poised over the paper again.
“Okay, for this one, you need to find something that reminds you of the lost item. Set it down in front of you. Then chant the following three times:
‘Lead me to what I must find,
‘Restoring it and peace of mind.’
Flora didn’t seem any more convinced of the spells’ ability to work.
“I know the spells seem too simple,” I said, “but magick is what you make of it. It helps you to focus your attention and connect with the universe.”
Flora tore off the paper with the spells and returned the pad and pencil. “Thank you for explaining that. It puts one in the proper frame of mind to succeed.”
“We’ll dig deep and give it our all,” Daisy promised.
“I wonder how much of our ‘all’ we still have at our age?” Flora said, causing both of them to dissolve into giggles.
In spite of their age and physical frailties, they managed to be as lighthearted as a couple of kids. If anyone had the right attitude to make the spells work, they did. They thanked me again, and I told them to come back soon. I often say those words but rarely mean them the way I did with Flora and Daisy. I’d been tense and stressed since the events of the previous night, but they’d lifted my spirits with their own brand of magic. A good thing, because they weren’t gone five minutes when Merlin ambled up to the counter with Sashkatu for a shadow.
“Tilly has exiled me while she conducts business,” he informed me.
I’d completely forgotten I was wizard-sitting. I tried to come up with some chores to keep him busy, but I couldn’t think of anything that didn’t carry the risk of disaster in his hands. “Do you want to use my computer?” I proposed. He loved modern technology almost as much as he loved pizza and chocolate. After being introduced to Tilly’s computer, he proclaimed it to be the most magickal object he had ever encountered.
“I would be most appreciative,” he said with an adventurous twinkle in his eyes.
“Don’t you dare buy anything,” I warned him.
Tilly had made the mistake of giving him her username and password to log on, never anticipating where that might lead. He happened upon one of the home-shopping websites where he clicked his way to a gold-and-diamond bangle bracelet for her. Although his intentions were fine, he didn’t understand the modern concept of money. He should have been stymied at the checkout, but Tilly had bought some bedding on the site in the past, and it had her credit card on file. All Merlin had to do was click again, and the bracelet was on its way to her. For the better part of a week, my aunt and I couldn’t figure out why he was so unbearably full of himself. The mystery was solved when the bracelet arrived, followed closely by the credit card statement. If the numbers on the statement didn’t give Tilly a heart attack, perhaps nothing ever will.
“You have naught to fear,” he told me. “Your aunt has instructed me in the usage of credit cards, debit cards, and the like. If you ask me, barter was a much simpler system. You either had a goat to trade for a laying hen or made do without the hen.”
“Just remember—nothing is free. Even if it says it’s free, it’s