"Hello?" she called. The only creature she saw was Portia, sitting on the branch of a red maple, the leaves of which were slowly turning. "I don't suppose you saw someone? Or that you can talk?" She laughed.
Portia cocked her head. "Yes."
"Ah!" Tilly screamed.
The sound of footsteps on the wooden steps of the porch drew her eyes to Kelsea, running to see why Tilly had screamed.
"What is it? Are you alright?"
"The..." Tilly blinked and pointed to where Portia calmly watched them. "She talks?"
Kelsea's look of disbelief turned to shock when Portia said, "Hi, honey."
"Oh!" Kelsea exclaimed. "Uhh..."
"Can we understand animals now? Do we have new magic?" Tilly whispered.
"I don't know," Kelsea replied. "Can you talk to us?" she called to the bird.
Both women watched the bird suspiciously. When Portia didn't say anything else, they went inside with their coffee. Kelsea worked on an article, asTilly installed a wooden chandelier in the kitchen.
And now Tilly stood in the lobby of The Crescent Inn, where three guests had checked out early and odd occurrences had been happening nonstop. The latest sat in the palm of her confused and irate guest's hand, detailing how long it had taken her to break out of her room, and she emphasized how unapologetic she was for breaking the door.
As she was hanging up with Judy for the third time, Tilly's day got darker when her sister's voice interrupted her few moments of silence.
She held her breath for a couple of seconds before she turned around with a pasted-on smile.
"Why are you smiling? Did you not hear me?" Fae held a shiny red apple in one hand and her phone in the other with a look on her face that told Tilly exactly how difficult she was about to be.
"Sorry, I didn't. What's up, Fae?"
"What's up is that the lights won't turn off in my room. Which makes it difficult to take a nap."
"It's ten-thirty in the morning."
Fae simply jerked her head by one tick and raised her eyebrow in a silent challenge. So, Tilly did what she always did when it came to her sister, and she went along with her.
"Alright, I will come up and take a look. Anything else?""Yeah, why is it fifty-five degrees in July?"
She raised a hand as the grandmother clock ticked loudly a few feet away. "You know, oddly enough, I don't have any stock in the weather."
"Being sassy won't help and isn't your strong suit."
"Actually, her sassiness is one of my favorite qualities."
Jen was walking down the hallway in a dark red trench coat and with a pink coffee cup from The Black Cat in hand. The relief Tilly felt at seeing her best friend was immediate and grounding.
"Hey, I'm Jen. And by the pinched look on your face, I'd say you're Fae."
She held out her hand, and Tilly watched in fascination as her sister tentatively took it in a light and quick handshake that was more of a grasp and drop than a shake.
"What look on my face?"
"I would not ask that," Tilly warned.
Fae shot her a frown before turning back to Jen.
"Oh, she's right. You don't want to ask me that."
