She wished Auntie Zee were here to see this.
—
Calisa found herself standing in front of Auntie Zee’s door. She knew that the innkeeper wasn’t inside, but she wanted to knock anyway. Her great-aunt had missed Melidor planting her seedlings and Mulligan’s reunion with Zef. Who knew what she’d miss tomorrow? “Come back, please.”
It was time to call her moms. Way past time. She’d delayed long enough. But it wasn’t like there was anything they could do—their most likely response would be to make Calisa come home, which wouldn’t help anything. Calling them felt like giving up on not just Auntie Zee but also Jack and the inn and all the guests and all the potential future guests who could someday need this place. She wished she could think of something else to try, some other way to reach Auntie Zee….
“Ah, you’ve discovered the disaster too,” a clipped voice said behind her.
Calisa turned and saw Kendra at the top of the stairs. Water was sloughing off her, pooling at her feet and then cascading down the staircase—far more water than if she’d come straight out of the shower. It seemed to be emanating from her, as if her pores were faucets. It welled up from her skin and flowed down her face, neck, and arms. It dripped off her fingers.
“I assumed it was merely my portal,” Kendra said, as if she weren’t a living fountain flooding the stairs. “But now that I see you here, in a near panic, I must surmise that mine is not the only portal that will not open.”
“What?” Calisa said.
It was, she admitted, not her finest reaction—but considering a guest was literally gushing water from her skin, it was the only one she could summon.
Frowning, Kendra enunciated as if Calisa were incapable of understanding English: “My portal, which I need to pass through a minimum of once a week, as Auntie Zee well knows, is not functioning. It is an ordinary closet, no matter howmany times I close and open the door, and this is simply unacceptable.”
That…did sound unacceptable.
And like a potentially very bad problem.
Also, again, she was gushing water, which was definitely a very, very bad problem. She thought of Jack’s father and how the door he’d passed through had never opened onto a realm again. What if the portal in room three was permanently closed? What if Kendra couldn’t return to her home? “Show me?” Calisa asked.
Pivoting, Kendra strode down the stairs.
Calisa held on to the railing. The stairs were slick with seawater. She’d need to find towels and dry them before any guests hurt themselves by slipping and falling. But priorities. She and JackneededAuntie Zee to return. This wasn’t a good time for the portals to malfunction. “Has this happened before?”
“On occasion,” Kendra said, “but never for more than a few moments. I am growing increasingly concerned. I am not some minor jellyfish. I am the sea witch for the Eastern Seaboard, and Icannotbe absent for an extended length of time. Auntie Zee understands this. If I am unable to return within twenty-four hours, there will be havoc.”
Reaching room number three, Kendra flung open the door. Calisa was struck by the stench of seaweed. Sea witch, did she say? What was a sea witch?
Eastern Seaboard?
As in the Atlantic Ocean?
Kendra strode across the room, and seawater sloshed aroundher feet.I’m going to need alotof towels.The sea witch reached the closet and opened the door with a flourish.
Inside was an empty closet. Just a few hangers, swinging from the wind that Kendra had generated when she opened the closet door so vigorously.
“Before, what did it—” Calisa began to ask.
“My ocean,” Kendra said. “The lovely deep blue.”
“How did that work? Did the portal keep the ocean inside, like a force field? Could you see fish?” She thought back to the piercing wind of Melidor’s world—the portal must keep the realms separate while allowing travelers to pass through.
“The point is,” Kendra said sharply, “my ocean isgone.”
Calisa swallowed. Yes. Yes, that was a very good point. “I don’t know how the portals work or why one would close.”
“Then you will find out,” Kendra commanded. “Locate Auntie Zee. Fix this. Immediately.”
There was zero softness in her voice.
Calisa backed out to the hallway. Her socks were soaked, but she didn’t even look down. She closed the door to Kendra’s room and stared at it.
Half a minute later, she ran, jumping over puddles, to Jack’s door.
