Several hours passed, and the emptiness of the inn had me doubting Willo. She had insisted I didn’t tell Sterling about our conversation. I shouldn’t have listened to her. Sterling was the only person here I could trust aside from Jasmine, but I hadn’t told Jasmine either. Now they were both gone, and I might have messed up the inn for good.
I was just starting to panic when a traveler stepped through the front door. Olive jumped to her feet, tucking her book in her apron pocket.
“Welcome to Fibbersnap Inn!” I said, heart pounding. This was it. If the traveler needed lodging, Willo had been right. If he just had a question, we were in trouble. “How can I help you?”
The man shuffled through the room, snow falling off him in clumps. It wasn’t until he reached the counter that I recognized him. “Hello, Mr. Fibbersnap. Good to see you again.”
“Mims!” I said with a grin. “It’s great to see you again! What are you doing out in this weather?”
“Oh, just making my monthly trip to see my daughter out in Rodull. You got any room for me today?” Mr. Mimster asked.
I could have cried. “For you, always!” I said, laughing. I opened the full key drawer and withdrew the key to the coziest room: number thirteen. “Rodull is quite a trek. Doesn’t she ever visit you?”
Mr. Mimster took the key from me. “I enjoy the journey. It keeps me spry. My granddaughter just had a baby anyhow, and I wouldn’t want to make them travel so far. How much?” He waved the key in the air.
“Two gold for the night, as always,” I said.
He dropped three gold in my hand and said, “A little extra for the key trouble from last time.”
I picked the third coin from the pile and handed it back to him. “Don’t be silly! It was no trouble.”
“Keep it, son. I appreciate your kindness. You remind me of Boris, and I’m just glad he had someone like himself to keep this place alive,” Mr. Mimster said. “I miss that old man. I know he’d be proud of you.”
Tears pricked my eyes. I wasn’t sure if Grandpa would be proud, but it broke me to hear. “Thank you. That means a lot. You give your granddaughter a big hug for me when you get to Rodull, okay, Mims?”
“Will do, Cassian,” he said, reaching across the counter to pat my hand.
“I’ll have Olive run your dinner up soon. Enjoy your stay,” I said.
“I always do,” he answered as he walked away.
I let Olive know we had a guest who required dinner, and she happily got to work while I returned to the counter, eager to greet more guests. It wasn’t a permanent fix, but it gave me hope.
STERLING
The next morning, we visited Gertrude first. Her house was easy to find using the Force’s resources. It looked just like every other brick house on the street, except flowers and herbs flooded its windowsill and garden.
She answered quickly when I knocked, eyeing me up and down from behind her door.
“Hello—”
“Who are you?” she interrupted me.
“I was getting to that. My name is Sterling Thorndrop. I’m an investigator for the Force?—”
She slammed the door in my face.
I frowned at Jasmine, who seemed amused by Gertrude’s reaction. I knocked on the door again. “Cassian’s inn is in trouble. May I speak with you about it?” I called.
Gertrude pulled open the door to reveal herself. She was younger than I expected, but older than me. She had dark skin and long, curly brown hair. Her clothes were all black, just like Cassian. “You know Cassian?” Gertrude eyed me up and down skeptically. Her eyes found Jasmine and then returned to me.
“I do.”
“Hm. Come in, but make it quick. Now that I don’t have an apprentice, I have to do everything myself,” she said, stepping aside to invite us in.
The home’s interior was lit entirely by candlelight. Fragrant smoke filled the air, drifting up from long burning sticks on porcelain stands. Red embers glowed beneath a large cauldron in the fireplace, and green liquid bubbled and steamed inside. A dark canopy covered her bed, and old leather books buried the low table in front of her sofa. A scarlet rug covered the uneven planks of the hardwood floor.
“You have a lovely home,” I said, admiring as much as I could. Aside from Cassian, Gertrude was the first witch I’d met to let me see inside her house. She had far more magical equipment than I could have imagined.
