By the time I was ready to face the day in a pair of jeans, my favorite blue sweater that looked good with my blue eyes—okay, I wanted to look good for Jack, I can admit it—boots, and a jacket ready to go, Jack had already set the table and cooked eggs, bacon, and potatoes.
I said a cheerful and fully dressed hello to Jed, who still looked young enough to be Jack's brother this morning, and shoved my mug in the microwave to warm up my coffee.
Jed watched this process with interest. "You put your drink in the magic box, and it makes it hot?"
"Yes, but it's not magic, it's science," I said absently, stirring cream and sugar into my mug and trying to think of how to explain microwave ovens to a man from the 1700s. "Well. It's powered by electricity, which you may not know about yet. There are actually these … waves … in the oven called microwaves, produced by a magnetron. They get reflected inside the metal … box … and make the food hot. Specifically, they make the water molecules in food vibrate, which makes heat, which cooks the food."
When I looked up from my first sip of coffee, both of the shifters in my kitchen were staring at me with identical open-mouthed expressions of shock.
I rolled my eyes. "I'm not just a pawnbroker. I'm the niece of an engineer who believes that everyone should understand how everything we use in daily life works. For real excitement, we can go out to my car, and I'll explain combustion engines."
"You are truly a wondrous woman, Tess Callahan," Jed said.
"And she's mine," Jack said, smug satisfaction on his handsome face.
"You're mine too, buddy, but I'll forgive the caveman 'mine' of it all, since you made food. I'm starving." I pulled a half loaf of homemade bread off a shelf and put butter and jams on the table, and we dug in.
I told Jed about my conversation with Mr. Washington—I'd never be able to call him Albert—and we batted it back and forth a bit, ultimately concluding that maybe it could be the dagger but probably wasn't. Then Jack told us about his encounter with Logan and the troll.
"The queen wants you to fight with her?" I could hear my voice rising. "That would be so dangerous. She can forget it!"
Jack grinned at me. "I plan on telling her exactly that, but it's nice that you worry about me."
Remembering my promise of the night before, I texted Susan and Aunt Ruby the scoop and said I'd call immediately after we met with him at the school. Susan sent me a thumbs-up emoji, and Aunt Ruby sent me a "be careful or I'll send your uncle out to get you" message.
Eleanor texted that she'd be at the shop doing some packing up, and I needn't bother to argue with her, so I just smiled, got a little teary, and texted a thanks.
Jed didn't want to be parted from the dagger box, and he trusted me to "dowse," so we dropped him off at the shop to work with Eleanor while we made our probably useless trip to the high school.
By the time we arrived at the school, it was a quarter to nine, so we walked into the admin office.
"Tess! Jack!" A tiny woman with steel-gray curls, dark brown skin, and a huge, denture-filled smile rushed out from behind the counter to meet us. She gave Jack a hug, her head barely reaching his chest, and then started to hug me, hesitated, and then grinned when I opened my arms.
Mrs. Hamilton had been the secretary at the high school forever, and she'd been one of the first people I'd accidentally touched after my gift first manifested. Blissfully, I'd never seen even a hint of her death, so it was safe to hug her. She felt fragile in my arms; she'd always been tiny, but age seemed to have shrunk her physically and yet magnified her always-delightful personality.
If anybody had a bad day in high school—and who didn't?—Mrs. Hamilton was the magical cure. We'd come to the office and "help her file" while the details of our grievance or hurt came spilling out, and we always left feeling better.
Molly and I had often wondered if Mrs. H had any magic to make her so sympathetic, but finally decided that she was just a wonderful example of the very best and kindest of people. She and her wife, the other Mrs. Hamilton, had a lovely cottage with the best garden in town. They made the best brownies I'd ever tasted in my life whenever kids at the high school had a bake sale to raise money for any of the never-ending fundraisers.
I glanced at Jack out of the corner of my eye, wondering if the two Mrs. Hamiltons would make brownies for him if they knew he'd funded the school kids' evacuation.
"Mrs. H!" Jack grinned down at her. "You're more beautiful than ever."
She waved a hand at him. "And you're still the charming scoundrel who snuck a live pig into the principal's office during homecoming week. You and Dave Wolf, you ruffians."
My mouth fell open. "That wasyou? That prank waslegendary,still, by the time I was here."
He winked at Mrs. Hamilton. "I admit nothing. Although, you have to admit that it wouldn't have been nearly as much of a triumph if it had been a dead pig."
She chuckled, patted his arm, and then walked back to her chair behind the counter. "All right. I know you're not here just to catch up with me, especially at a time like this," she said, growing serious. "What do you need?"
"We're here to meet Mr. Washington," I told her. "He's expecting us. Where is he right now?"
"In the science classroom. The same place as it was when you were here setting things on fire, Tess Callahan," she said, her eyes twinkling.
"Hey! That wasn't my fault. Those chemicals weren't even supposed to be flammable!"
She just shook her head. "Poor Albert. He nearly retired after having you and Molly."
