11. 11

The demolished pastries, cookie crumbs, and jam turned the plates into an art installation that wouldn't have been out of place at the Museum of Modern Art. "Come on," I said. "I want to show you something."

"Ooh, an adventure!" Poppy said.

"Try to look nonchalant," I added.

"Nonchalant," Poppy repeated, with a broad wink that would have looked highly suspicious to anyone in a twenty-foot radius.

We eased our way through the crowd and into the hallway. I led them down the spiral stairs to the room with tall murals, columns, and the bronze dancer in its high-up niche. "Do you know what's through there?" I asked Poppy, pointing to the door across the room.

"It's a pool," Poppy said. "The water witches use it for practice. Or for swimming, too. It's really quite nice, especially if you warm it with fire magic first."

We continued through the door and into the stone hallway.

"Chilly," Mom remarked, rubbing her arms.

We turned the corner at the end of the hallway and entered the pool room with its arched ceilings and swirling geometric tile mosaics.

"Somehow I just never pictured swimming pools in New York," Mom said. "Especially not ones that looked like this."

"I guess they are pretty few and far between," I said. "Mostly in private buildings or health clubs."

"You ran into an old acquaintance here? Were they swimming?" Poppy said.

"Not exactly. He was floating above the pool."

"Above it?" Poppy said. "And ‘he'?"

"Prospero."

They looked at each other, then me.

"Prospero?" Poppy said. "In the League of Women's Welfare?"

I nodded.

Poppy looked baffled. "Why would he show up at a swimming pool?"

"I don't know," I said.

Mom crouched by the pool and trailed her fingers through the clear water. "Did he manage to say anything other than your name this time?"

"Does ‘Beware!' count?"

"Well, that certainly sounds threatening," Poppy said.

All three of us fell silent, seconds still falling away with every drip of water from the shell-shaped fountain.

"Maybe he wants revenge," Poppy continued. "You were the enemy."

All I heard was: You killed him. Guilt stung like salt in a knife cut. I stared into the water until my vision blurred into dancing blue fireworks. "Poppy," I said, "can a witch banish a ghost?"

Poppy paused, appearing to think it over. "Now that's an interesting question. We witches have elemental magic, you see. Fire, air, water, and earth are not usually linked with ghosts and what have you. Although you do get into a bit of a gray area when you start looking at the ‘soft' skills, so to speak, that are associated with each element. Like mind-reading and fire magic, for example. But it's a moot point, though, because you can't banish something that isn't here. You'd have to summon him, first."

"Summon the vampire who trashed my restaurant and nearly murdered all the Gentry?"

Poppy's hands flew to her mouth. She lowered them and whispered: "You said the v-word."

"Does it matter?" I said, the volume rising with my temper. "Really? What are all these rules we follow? Who thought them up? Who decided this particular arrangement of everything magical was the way things had to be? Because I don't think it's working very well."

The last word bounced around the room, and then someone cleared their throat. Someone who wasn't me, or my mother, or Poppy.

Malkin, Azure's young witch assistant, stood framed by the archway leading into the hallway. In her tan gentleman's suit with a matching vest, a golden watch chain peeking out with a metallic glint, and short but stylish hair, she looked like a European prince—the confident gleam in her eye only emphasizing the easy way she leaned against the arch, casually demonstrating that she now controlled the only way out. "Seems like the real party's down here."

Poppy let out a panicked laugh. "We were just…" She looked at my mom and me and widened her eyes.

All I could think of was glowing blue ghosts and how I might have eaten three or four more desserts than I was supposed to.

"We were seeing if I had any latent water magic." Mom, coming through with a majestic lie. I never knew she had it in her.

Malkin strolled forward, hands in her pockets. "Oh? Have you shown any signs?"

My mother smiled charmingly. "Just fire so far. But I was hoping maybe it might show up if I tried."

Malkin shrugged off her suit jacket and held it out to me, not even pausing to see if I'd take it.

I took it.

She began rolling up her sleeves. "Why don't we do a few tests?"

"Oh!" Mom said, trying to look pleased while also looking at me and Poppy for help. "That would be wonderful!"

"Excellent," Malkin said, rubbing her hands together. "Let's start with something easy." She held one hand palm-out toward the fountain on the far wall. "See if you can catch one of those drops coming out of the fountain."

"I'll try," Mom said, slowly raising her hand to the same position.

Malkin's elemental water magic flashed like tiny silver meteors in a night sky, freezing one droplet after another.

Mom pulled her hand back and pushed it forward, as if mashing a button mounted on an invisible wall. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened. Mom's talent seemed to lie in burning things up. She lowered her arms and shrugged. "I guess it just isn't me."

Malkin released the suspended droplets and they fell into the pool.

Perhaps she would lose interest and go away.

"Let's try water that's stationary," she said.

I squeezed my eyes shut, briefly, and tried to take a silent, calming breath.

She held her hand palm-down over the pool and made a scooping motion. A cup's worth of water lifted out of the pool as if in an invisible scoop, and hovered about a foot above the pool's surface.

Then Malkin frowned.

Don't frown, I thought. Don't notice anything unusual.

"You said you didn't have any water magic?" she said.

Mom shook her head.

The ball of water continued to hover. Malkin looked at Poppy. "And you don't have any water magic." Her gaze shifted to me. "Have you borrowed any water magic lately?"

"Me?" Truth and lies fought a lightning battle. Which one would stop her from asking more questions? Which would be easier to defend? "No," I said.

"Funny," Malkin said, tilting her hand and making the water roll over like one of Jester's rubber balls. "There's a magic signature in the water I've never seen before. And I know all the water witches in the LWW." She released the water and let it fall.

The sudden splash made Poppy jump.

"Azure will want to know about this," Malkin said.

"Will she?" Poppy asked. "Surely it's nothing worth bothering her with."

Malkin snorted. "If there was an unknown witch's signature in your house, would it bother you?"

There was no way out but the truth. I was never going to get invited to a tea party again. "You have a ghost," I blurted.

Plink. Plink. Plink.

Damn those water droplets. They were starting to get to me.

"A ghost," Malkin repeated. "In our swimming pool."

When you're in, you're all in. "Can you take us to Azure, please? I don't want to have to explain all this more than once." I shook out her jacket and respectfully held it up, ready to be slipped into.

Malkin tilted her head, and a thick lock of hair fell over one eye as she considered. Then she stepped forward, turned around, and shrugged on the jacket like I had always been her butler. "Want to dry off first?"

"I suppose I don't need to bring the water with me," I said.

"Actually," Poppy said, "that's not a bad idea. We can use it as a sample."

"Easy enough," Malkin replied, facing me and focusing her magic. Vapor swirled away from my clothes and coalesced between her hands in a clear blob of water.

"Do you want something to put it in?" my mom asked.

"I can carry it," Malkin said.

"What about the statue?" Poppy asked. "That will set it off."

"One second," Mom said, reaching into her purse. She turned her body so Malkin couldn't see that she was emptying one of the cider cups of the extra desserts she'd stashed. She blew the crumbs out. "Here you go," she said, offering the cup to Malkin.

Malkin took it and channeled the water inside.

All magic in the off position, we followed her back upstairs.

"Is your life always this hectic?" Mom asked me.

"You don't know the half of it," I said.

We re-entered the red ballroom where the tea had taken place and followed Malkin through the side door that led to the Grand Library.

When Mom stepped inside, she stopped and placed a hand over her heart. "Oh, my stars and garters," she said. "Look at this place!" Her gaze swept the burnished dark wood floor and matching bookshelves, the intricate Persian rug, the cozy wingback chairs and the huge floor-standing globe. She went to the nearest shelves and leveled a professional eye at the titles. "Why, I haven't seen antiques like this in years. Zelda!" she called. "We used to have things like this in our special collection at the college, remember?"

I did remember. Old books that smelled like time and mystery. How Mom would pull one off the shelf that was too high for me to reach, and set me up at a little table with its own green glass-shaded reading lamp.

Malkin, who had disappeared into the back room, reappeared with Azure. Aloysius, Azure's golden-eyed owl, rode on her shoulder and gave everyone the stink eye.

"Well, hello to you, sir," Poppy said, wiggling her finger.

Aloysius snapped at it.

"Aloysius, behave yourself." Azure's blue robe rippled behind her and silver charms lightly jingled in her hair. "You can't seem to come to anything without a hullabaloo, can you, Zelda?"

"Afraid not," I said. "Azure, this is my mother, Effie. Mom, this is Azure Washington, Witch Presiding."

"I am so pleased to meet you, Ms. Washington."

"Please, call me Azure," the Witch Presiding said, extending her hands to clasp my mother's. "You must have had a hell of a time raising this one."

My mother laughed—the traitor. "I always say the things that drive you craziest about your children will be the things that make them the most successful."

"I'm standing right here," I muttered to Poppy.

"At least they're bonding," she said.

Mom turned to me and squeezed my arm. "You come by it honestly. I'm sure I caused your grandmother no end of trouble."

"You? Trouble?" I said. "Never."

Azure clapped her be-ringed hands together, causing Aloysius to bob up and down with alarm. "So," she said, taking a seat, "what's all this about? A ghost, in my swimming pool?"

"I'm afraid so," Poppy said. She repeated the story as I'd told it.

Azure listened, but kept her gaze on me the whole time. So did her owl. "And here I was thinking you had the Lord of the Blessed managed," she said, when Poppy finished.

"I did." I paused, thinking of Daniel. "I do. But no one expects the dead to come to life."

"The dead are always with us," Azure said.

"Yes, well, the dead are not always showing up on Broadway and in swimming pools. At least not in my experience."

"Your experience is largely in running restaurants," she said, mildly.

"So was my grandmother's. Didn't stop her from solving everyone else's magical problems."

Azure steepled her fingers. "And now your mother has magic, too."

"Call it the family business," I said.

"It's not very much magic," my mother added.

"She launched a fireball and melted a dozen cupcakes into slag," I said, unable to keep the pride out of my voice.

Azure gave my mother a new, appraising look.

"Look," I said. "All I want to do is figure this out. If you have something to help with that, I'm all ears. Otherwise I'll just try to stay out of your hair while we figure it out on our own."

"You and who?"

"The usual crew."

"A handful of the Blessed, a sprinkling of the Gentry, and Miss Poppy, here?"

"And me," Mom said.

"Mom, you're not getting involved."

"I'm your mother—who are you to tell me what to do?"

Azure was trying to hide a smile.

"There you have it," I said, gesturing to Poppy and my indignant mother. "The best of the best. Plus a poodle and an Irish wolfhound."

"You don't need my permission," Azure said. "We're a social club, not a governing body. However," she continued, "I'd like to keep the hostile beings—alive or dead—out of our building. And if you're the one who brought them in…"

"I'm the one who cleans them up," I finished.

"Precisely. But since Poppy is one of us, and we all have an interest in the general peacefulness of Manhattan, I will also put the resources of the LWW at your disposal." She gestured to the shelves.

Mom's eyes lit up. "We can borrow books?"

Azure gave a royal nod. Her owl twisted its head sideways until it looked like it might snap off.

"Great," I said. "I'll take anything you have on summoning—and banishing."