First Frost (8 page)

“Okay, you might want to take a few steps back,” Rose warned.

Bianca frowned, but she knew better than to ask too many questions and followed her mother’s instructions.

“Not by the hair of my chiny, chin, chin,” Rose chanted the spell. And right before their eyes the brick turned into a small brick house.

“What the what?” Bianca walked around the small house. “What is…I mean…seriously? A brick house?” she stammered.

“Not just
any
brick house.
This
was the house of the third little pig.”

“Awesome.” It was very simple house with one window and one door. “Can I go inside?”

“Yeah, just a heads-up though, only the person who cast the spell can open the door. No one else can come inside unless you allow it.”

“Not even if you huff and puff?” Bianca joked.

“Not even if you use a machine gun. Trust me, my dad tried it once. Nothing will go in.”

“That’s so cool.”

Rose opened the door and together mother and daughter stepped inside the small brick house. There was a tiny bed, a rocking chair next to the fireplace, and a small stove. Everything a person could need. Bianca was amazed by its simplicity.

“Um, where’s the bathroom?” she asked when she noticed the lack of a toilet.

“Back in the day, they did their business outside or in a latrine if they were lucky,” Rose explained.

“Ew,” Bianca said. “How come there’s only one bed?”

“The brick thinks I’m alone. You have to hold hands with the person or people who are with you.”

“The brick
thinks
?”

“You’d be surprised what else it can do.” Rose chuckled.

“How do you make it go back to being a brick?”

“Watch and learn.”

Rose plucked a single strand of red hair from her head and tied it around the doorknob. In the blink of an eye, the small brick house reverted back to its original form.

Bianca’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“Well…I don’t have hairs on my chin, thank God…so this is the best I can do and it works which is all that matters. Anyway, I think this concludes Part One of the museum tour.”

“Aw, man,” Bianca whined.

“Don’t worry, we can go over some more things tomorrow,” Rose promised.

“Okay.”

Rose checked the time on her watch and gasped. “Holy mackerel, it’s getting late. Come on, let’s go home.”

“What time is it?”

“It’s a quarter after seven. Hungry?”

“Starving,” Bianca admitted.

“Come on. We’ll get tacos on our way home.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Bianca was halfway done eating her chicken burrito when she said, “You know…I’ve been thinking. I can understand where the Snow White stuff comes from, but…how do you explain all the other items in the museum?”

Rose chewed her food and then swallowed before answering Bianca’s question.

“When the museum opened its doors in 1929, all we had were the items you see in the Snow White Room and a few of the things in the Wicked Wing. Little by little, people sold or donated items to the museum. A lot of people thought the items were cursed so they were happy to get rid of them. Lucky for us, Great Grandpa Francis was very good at calming the items down.”

“Calming them down?”

“Well, you can’t disenchant them because then they wouldn’t be magical. All he did was put the more dangerous items in a magical form of sleep. You know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Anyway, Francis opened the museum. I’m sure you skimmed through his picture in the book I showed you this evening. But I have a box full of old photos; you can also see what the museum looked like when it opened its doors.”

“I don’t understand. Why not keep all of this secret? Why put these things out on display at all?” Bianca asked.

“The family was broke. They lost everything during the Great Depression. They were going to lose the house, and he had a wife and children to take care of. He lost his job as a professor at the local university, and he was running out of ideas. He knew about all of the treasures he had in the attic, so he decided to open a part of the house to the public and charge half a penny to anyone who could afford it. Those who couldn’t pay would barter their goods or services.”

“He was able to feed his family and get a lot of repairs made on their house. Lots of people wanted to see Snow White’s items. If only to forget about life for a while, they didn’t care whether they were real or not. People drove for miles just to come and visit the ‘Fairy Tale Museum’ as they lovingly called it back then. When Great Grandpa Francis had enough money to save the house, he let people come in for free once a week. Once the Great Depression was over, he started acquiring newer items for the museum.”

“How?”

“He went to Europe a lot. There was a lot of stuff there, especially in Ireland. The fairies
love
it there for some reason. And then after World War II, a lot of soldiers came back with items they found. They would go to Great Grandpa Francis and sell the items, not knowing what they were. They only wanted the money, and he paid well for those items. Word spread quickly that he was purchasing unusual items, and that’s how we got a lot of the things that are in the museum now.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, it’s amazing what you can learn when you sit down and read the journals. Everyone who ran the museum kept a journal. Great Grandpa Francis, Grandma Paulette, Aunt Rosie, my mother, and now me. Hopefully you’ll run it when you’re ready to take over the reins.”

Bianca nodded. She didn’t think she would ever want to run the museum when her mother passed away. She wanted to live a life that was her own. Not a hand-me-down of her ancestors. But now that she knew and understood the history of the museum, she would never be able to sell the place or let anyone else run it. She began to understand why Rose had the “family only” rule. Who else but family would ever be able to understand?

Chapter Six

The next three weeks passed by in a blur as Bianca learned everything Rose knew about magic and their family history.

One night while Rose and Bianca were eating dinner, a huge brick sailed through the window. Glass rained all over the hardwood floor.

“What the hell?” Rose stood up and ran to the window.

Bianca followed closely behind her mother. Rose studied the brick without touching it. Then, with a flash of light, the brick turned into a bright red snake. Rose took a step towards it and the snake hissed at her. It bared its sharp white fangs and recoiled, as though it were getting ready to spring at her. Rose narrowed her emerald green eyes at it. To Bianca her mother was a lioness trying to protect her home and her young.

Bianca gasped and took a step back. Just as the snake was about to lunge at Rose, she waved her right hand and used her magic to turn the snake into a handful of roses. She glared at the shadow standing outside her house.

Bianca followed her mother’s steady gaze and found Lenore’s pale and haunting face glaring at them. She was taken aback by the anger and hatred that was evident on their enemy’s face. Thanks to the wards Rose had set on their home, there was no way that Lenore could physically enter and wreak havoc inside the house. Other items? That was an entirely different matter.

“Bianca, go upstairs,” Rose whispered.

“But, Mom—” Bianca protested but Rose cut her off.

“Now, Bianca,” Rose said in a loud and firm voice that Bianca very rarely heard.

Mother and daughter looked into each other’s eyes for a brief moment. She felt ready to fight alongside her mother and actually be of some assistance. Bianca wanted to argue with Rose, but instead she reluctantly obeyed and went upstairs. She made it as far as the top of the steps.

“Come out, you coward!” Lenore shouted.

If there was one thing Bianca knew for sure, it was that her mother would never, ever back out of a fight. She slowly inched her way down the stairs. Rose stepped out of the house and was far away from the safety of her wards. Bianca tried to call as little attention to herself as humanly possible. She duck-walked across the living room until she was directly underneath the broken window. She peeked every now and then to watch her mother in action.

“Where’s the book?” Lenore asked.

“Where is my husband?” Rose demanded.

“How about we make a trade? Your husband for the book,” Lenore said.

Rose remained silent. Bianca knew that somewhere in her mother’s mind she was seriously considering trading whatever book Lenore was talking about for her father.

“You’re not getting anywhere near that book,” Rose replied.

Lenore snarled and contorted her face in anger as she created a fireball and threw it at Rose.

She created a wall of water around her, and the fireball vanished with a hiss. She then used the water that surrounded her and attacked her adversary.

Lenore used an ice spell and froze the water, and caused it to crash all around her with soft clinks.

“You have to learn to control your brat. I can smell her better now that she’s downstairs,” Lenore said and then cackled.

“You shut your filthy mouth about my daughter,” Rose shouted.

“Want to come out and play,
little one
?” Lenore taunted.

“Bianca! Stay inside the house. Do you hear me?!”

“Mom, let me help,” Bianca pleaded.

“You do as I say!” Rose snapped.

Bianca’s heart skipped a beat as she ducked underneath the window. She knew she was safe inside the house because of the wards. Bianca risked a peek at the battle, and the witches were fighting viciously. They were both putting everything they had into their spells and doing everything in their power to destroy each other.

Lenore had Rose trapped in a small tornado. Bianca could see her bright red hair whipping in every direction imaginable as her mother struggled to counter the spell. It was enough time for the dark witch to reach in and take something out of her pocket. Lenore pulled out a tiny glass vial and drank a black potion that swam inside the container.

What is that?

Lenore flashed her sharp yellowed teeth at Bianca and then turned her attention to Rose. Bianca turned her gaze to her mother and saw that she had finally countered Lenore’s tornado spell. Lenore took a deep breath and then blew black fire at Rose. The dark flames took on the shape of a sinister dragon.

Bianca gasped; she had never seen anything so menacing in her life. The dragon’s yellow eyes zeroed in on Rose. It chuckled as it looked upon her. It launched itself at her mother and wrapped itself around her body. The dragon pried Rose’s mouth open and shoved its clawed hand down her throat.

“No!” Bianca shouted. The blood in her veins froze, her stomach dropped, and her heart leaped to her throat. She watched in horror as her mother did everything she could to fight off Lenore’s monster…and failed.

“Mom!” Bianca dashed to the front door and stopped herself from running into the front yard.

Lenore had kicked Rose in the stomach and grabbed a fistful of her red hair. The smoke dragon took away Rose’s voice. She was now mute. She looked like a fish out of water as she tried to cast a counter spell, but it was no use. The damage had been done. Her mother had lost her voice and the battle. Rose turned her green eyes to Bianca.

“There, now we can have a little chat…no interruptions. Come on out here and sit with me a while,” Lenore said. The false saccharine in her voice was obvious.

Rose shook her head violently. Bianca knew what her mother wanted her to do. She wasn’t sure she could obey Rose’s request to stay inside the house now that she was in danger of losing her life.

I can’t just sit here and do nothing.
God…what do I do? What do I do?

“Come here!” Lenore roared as her face contorted with rage, making her look uglier and older than she actually was. Lenore yanked on Rose’s hair so hard she opened her mouth as though she were screaming…except no sound came out of her lips.