Witch Doctors Inc: SEASON TWO (Ongoing)

Part 1.6

"You said it was a cottage."

"It is," Maya insists.

It's my fault, really.

Maya doesn't do cottages.

Maya doesn't do normal.

The "cottage" is four storeys high. It's nestled in the meadow like a wild rabbit settled onto its haunches for a nap. With its cobblestone walls and vine-wrapped windows, it could almost be called a cottage. If you overlooked the potted plants floating in the air, lighting the path to the door with their glowing bulbs, the clouds meandering through the foliage, dripping water onto plants that shivered with delight, and the stone statues that shifted poses every few minutes, it could even be normal.

"It's beautiful, Maya," Addy gushes.

Onyx skips over the grass to join her. I have heard the inside is even more impressive. The curtains are made of butterflies.

Addy beams down at him. "Wait until you see the lighting. It's lit from the floor instead of the ceiling. By glowing flowers and lily pads."

Ponds too, I hear.

It seems unnecessary to me. You have a house, and you have a garden. Why turn your house into a garden?

The inside of the house doesn't disappoint Onyx and Addy. As soon as we step inside, we're greeted with a soft glow like that of moonlight. It's emanating from the carpet, which is freckled with pinpricks of white light. On closer inspection, they're enchanted white daisies.

Instead of portraits, the hallways are lined with a shifting mass of branches. Birds flit in and out of them, their colours lighting up the wood.

"Are those bird charms or real birds?" Addy asks.

"They're real birds," replies Maya. "They're free to be outside, but they like it in here."

Addy reaches out to a small yellow finch that perches on an overhanging branch. It titters in response.

Maya's dining room is equally...creative. The drapes really are made of butterflies. They're burgundy butterflies with wings like satin. They're gathered into a flow of curtain that rests upon the carpet. When Maya waves a hand over them, there's a great shifting of wings, and the butterflies move across the window, forming a collage that holds the sunlight at bay.

My guest room has navy blue butterfly curtains and a luminous pond that waits in the corner. The carpet is lit by white lily pads. I think I see a frog somewhere.

At least my bed is normal. Too bad the bedside lamp isn't. It's a small tree that sprouts from the carpet. Its leaves can be set to varying degrees of brightness.

Onyx sits at the foot of my bed and glares at the butterflies. He's been banned from chasing them. I can't have him destroying Maya's curtains.

But they are fluttering, he'd protested, his eyes sullen. They are asking me to chase them.

"Chase your own curtains," I'd told him. "These are Maya's, and I'm not paying for the damage."

He does have fun poking at the lily pads and splashing in the pond, whose water is not really water at all, but magical energy that buzzes invitingly when he dips his little furry body into it.

As for me, this place annoys me. If I wanted to sleep in a garden, I'd go outside and do just that. Even the simple act of walking is transformed into a trial here. I have to be careful where I put my feet. I might step on a flower or a bird or something.

We gather in the dining room for dinner. Maya has a sumptuous feast laid out for us. The waiter grins when he sees me trying not to slobber all over the flower-infested floor. Roast chicken, spiced potatoes, apple crumble... this is what I need.

My hunger threatens to punch free of my stomach. When the customary idle chit-chat is over, we tuck in. Addy gives Onyx the seat next to her, and he sits there gobbling fish and throwing regal looks at the rest of us.

Pass the fish, he says, after he's had two servings of just that.

"The fish isn't just for you," I say.

I don't see anyone else eating it.

"It's not like you gave them a chance."

Between him and Ruby, it was a wonder the rest of us ate anything at all.

"Here's some more fish, Onyx." Addy scoops some more onto the greedy cat's plate.

Thank you, Adamantine. It is nice to know that someone cares about my nutritional needs.

"Nutritional needs?" I sneer. "If you like I can dump you in the ocean. You'll have all the fish you need."

Onyx looks down his insufferable cat nose at me. Lily, do mind your manners. This is the dinner table.

Maya hides a smile behind her napkin. I narrow my eyes. Can she hear Onyx? As far as I know, he only speaks to me and Addy.

"Pass the apple crumble," Ruby demands.

I'm considering asking Maya about the option of room service when my communications monitor buzzes again. It's Talia. No surprises there. I put it on silent and return to my chicken.

"She's very worried about her brother," Addy observes. "This behaviour must be very unlike him."

Maya's gaze lands on me. "Did diagnostics turn up anything?"

"Negative for curses, negative for hexes. I did find traces of a charm on the hairbrush Talia gave me, but it was a simple colour-change spell."

"Long-lasting curses," Ruby butts in, "will need griffin tears to be detected. You didn't take any from the store room."

"Didn't need any," I respond. "Crocodile tears are more than enough, considering Owen isn't much older than twenty."

Ruby grimaces. "The curse of Naemar is much older than that. You'll need griffin tears."

I grabbed some from the store room right before we left, but I see no need to tell her that. It'll just encourage her.

I'm going to take a sample from the Naemar tree tomorrow. To cover all bases, I'll take a sample from the well and a sample from the ground too. If there's anything magical going on, my cauldron will tell me.

Talia calls me again when I get to my room. I take the call this time. Her eyes look positively deadly in the glow of the tree-lamp.

"Are you at a hotel?" she demands.

"No. This is my friend's house. It's close to Naemar."

"Fancy friend," she mutters. Her gaze flickers to Onyx, who's frolicking in the pond. "Looks like you're having a great time. I hope you'll spare a second to do what I paid you for."

I close my eyes.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Addy's meditation class turned out to be a good thing.

"I'll solve this mystery," I say, my tone hard. "I'll find your brother."

"And you'll bring him home?"

I pause.

"I'll find your brother," I repeat, "and I'll solve the mystery. The rest is up to Owen."