AllFreeNovel
Share Us
* * *
At this point, it shouldn’t have surprised me when I found myself with Mr. Wainwright, floating down a canal in Venice in one of those old-fashioned gondolas. A man in a ridiculous straw hat and a red-and-white-striped shirt was guiding the boat along, singing a throaty song of lost love and heartbreak. The canal water smelled rusty and pungent, certainly not somewhere you’d want to swim. But it provided a beautiful backdrop for the tidy rows of aged, fading-pastel houses.
“Hi, Grandpa.” I sighed, easing against his side as the water lapped lazily at the hull of our boat. He patted my shoulder in a sort of half-hug made awkward by the fluffy red-and-yellow cushions of the gondola seat.
“We’re finally comfortable with calling me Grandpa?”
“Seems rude not to,” I said, shrugging.
“So it has nothing to do with any sort of fondness you may feel for me?” he asked.
“Nah,” I said, shaking my head while my lips twitched.
“So how goes the search?”
“Still no luck,” I told him. “I’m sorry.”
“You haven’t anything to be sorry for,” he admonished me, tapping a finger against the tip of my nose. “Unless you’ve given up. Have you given up?”
“No,” I muttered. “I am nothing if not obnoxiously persistent.”
“You get that from my side,” he said. “Along with a healthy dose of bravado. Now, tell me, how are you feeling, really?”
“Like I’m running out of time and ideas and places to look,” I told him. “Oh, and I’ve some inconvenient feelings for a man who can transform himself into various sorts of wildlife.”
“Feelings can’t be inconvenient,” he said. “They’re just feelings.”
“For someone I’m not entirely sure I should trust,” I added grumpily as the gondola bobbed in the currents of the canal.
“You don’t entirely trust him,” he said. “Give him a chance to prove you right or wrong. At least you’ll know you’re making an informed decision.”
“I can’t believe I’m taking dating advice from my dead grandfather.”
“Smart-ass,” he scoffed, elbowing my ribs. “You spend a lot of time trying to make things come to you, Nola. Maybe it would best to sit back and relax and let something come of its own accord.”
“Because it’s the opposite of everything I hold dear?’ ” I asked.
“When you tried to force finding the Elements, did it work?” he asked.
“No,” I admitted. “Are you sure you couldn’t just drop me a hint or two about where you left the bell?”
“I could, but where’s the fun in that?”
“Even the subconscious versions of my relatives mock me.” I sighed, resting my head back on the fluffy pillows.
“Keep your eyes up and open, Nola. You never know what you might find.”
16
Magic is a living, breathing cycle. In other words, everything you do will come back to bite you in the end.
—A Guide to Traversing the Supernatural Realm
Despite Mr. Wainwright’s assurances, in the wee hours of June 21, I’d lost nearly all hope. The shop was a mess. We’d overturned nearly every shelf and sorted through every box, just in case we’d missed something. Jane and Andrea and I were sprawled across the few chairs not covered in boxes and books. Dick and Jed had gone out to visit one of Dick’s less-than-reputable contacts.
“I can’t believe I actually fooled myself into believing I would find it.” I thumped my head against the chair. “I actually thought I’d be able to track down all four. How insane is that? I mean, how arrogant could I be?”
“Honey, you got three out of four,” Jed said, patting my arm.
