Grey clouds threatened rain and Eddie pulled her coat tighter around her as she headed to The Crow’s Foot Cafe. It was well into Autumn now and her breaths came out in puffs ahead of her, lingering in the air as she marched through the chilly streets to work. Despite this, the dull weather couldn’t dampen her spirits and she was on edge with excitement at doing more magic. Eddie blearily packed the spellbook into her rucksack before she left and couldn’t wait to get it out again as soon as the morning rush had died down.

Bright coloured posters advertising the upcoming Bridgewater Bonfire Night were in every shop window, listing the running order and reminding patrons to buy their tickets inside. The annual event began with a flaming torch procession and ended at the recreation ground, where a section was cordoned off for an enormous bonfire. The local primary school donated a straw Guy Fawkes to be burned on top of the fire, and their janitor, who also sold bootleg fireworks from his garden shed, used the Bridgewater Bonfire Night to advertise his products in a spectacular display that drew a large crowd.

Eddie and Pippa went every year and usually hung out with Eric and the rest of the firefighters, clasping cups of steaming hot chocolates in their cold hands while they watched the spectacle. Eddie loved it. Eric, who was sick of seeing preventable burns, was far less supportive and last year had moaned that the organisers should replace the real flaming torches with glowsticks now that they were in the 21st century. Pippa argued back that he’d be out of a job if there were no fires to put out and at that point Eddie decided to wander off to avoid the ensuing argument. Hopefully this year there would be less bickering.

As she made her way through the cobblestone town centre, she dug out her phone and called Mr Maccabee. Initially Mr Maccabee was annoyed at being woken up so early (now that he was retired he was treasuring his lie-ins) but any ill-will disappeared once Eddie explained why she was calling. The prospect of finding a tenant so soon after advertising was a huge relief to him, and after a bit of back and forth on the price, they agreed Eddie could begin leasing the space at the start of the new year. After looking at her savings over breakfast she’d realised things weren’t so bad after all and decided three months was enough time to get set up. This gave Mr Maccabee time to clear out the rooms, and Eddie time to scale up her side-business, at the moment she mostly bought and sold finds online.

The cafe had remained busy throughout the morning and over lunch, so it wasn’t until around half-past two when the room finally cleared out. As the door shut on the last customer, Eddie turned the sign to Closed and angled the venetian blinds to obscure the view from any passers by. The entrance to the cafe was down a ginnel so it was unlikely anyone would walk past at this time of day. Even so, she didn’t want to be interrupted.

Turning to face the room, she put her hands on her broad hips and let out a slow breath, eyeing the tables strewn with dirty plates, crumpled napkins, cutlery and coffee cups.

Her excitement was building as an idea formed and she made her way around the counter, nudging the door to the kitchenette with her boot and propping it open with the bin. By the end of last night she’d felt pretty confident she could make anything fly from one point to another, so maybe it was time to kick it up a notch and make the spell more complex. Could she enchant multiple objects at once? There was only one way to find out. Not one to back down from a challenge, she lifted her hands and concentrated hard, speaking the incantation to the empty room.

Discarded rubbish rose from every table, then all at once, sandwich crusts, wrappers, and napkins flew past her and dropped unceremoniously into the open bin. She squeaked and did a little dance on the spot.

“Oh, this is good. This is very, very good. I’m going to save so much time!”

Next, she drew in a deep breath, rubbed her hands together and rolled her shoulders, picturing the crockery and cutlery depositing themselves into the commercial dishwasher in the kitchenette. There were far more items to consider than the previous attempt, and she furrowed her brows in concentration, replaying the action in her mind.

“Okay, let’s do this, c’mon Eddie. SALIRE!”

Although unnecessary, she threw her hands out, directing the clinking china as it assembled into a single line and snaked through the air towards the open machine. Knives and forks slowly revolved as they joined the procession. It was hard to keep them all on track but she doubled down, focusing hard.

Only three meters to go.

Then two meters.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

She strained with the effort of conducting so many moving parts as they slowly closed the distance to the dishwasher, until there was only half a meter left.

Suddenly, a sharp rapping on the door made Eddie jump, lose concentration, and all the dishes, mugs, knives, forks and teaspoons fell from the air at once clattering to the floor. Shards flew in all directions. A split second later and all that remained was an angry-looking pile of broken crockery.

“Shit!”

She was definitely getting fired for this. Eddie was on her last warning after the cinema incident, she’d begged Steve to let her work back the extra hours and in the end he’d only relented because he was going on holiday and didn’t want to lose the income while he looked for a replacement. There was no way she could talk herself out of this one.

The hammering on the door continued, louder now, and Eddie turned to see a red-faced Pippa cup her hands over her eyes to look through the glass pane of the door, squinting to see through the gaps in the blinds. Her muffled voice shouted, “Eddie, are you in there? Open the door!”

She sounded panicked. When Eddie let her in she burst through, flattening her hair down as she turned to face her friend. Then she looked away quickly, but not before Eddie saw red eyes and tear tracks. Pippa was usually unshakeable, so seeing her like this made Eddie worry. Pippa made her way further into the room, looking around her. She sniffed.

“What’s wrong, has something happened?”

Eddie grabbed a clean napkin from a dispenser next to the till and handed it to her best friend. Pippa took it and blew her nose noisily, then met Eddie’s eyes.

“Eddie I’m so sorry, maybe you should sit down for this.”

Despite the urgency with which Pippa had knocked on the door, she now looked as though she would rather be anywhere else. Eddie’s skin crawled with dread. Ignoring Pippa’s suggestion, she asked again, “What’s happened Pippa?”

She swallowed. “It’s Daisy. You know I tutor your neighbour, Megan, on a Saturday? The one who walks Daisy at lunchtime? Well, she knows we’re close so she called me when she couldn’t get through to your phone.” Pippa reached out to hold Eddie’s arms. “She took Daisy out and, well, you know how Daisy loves to chase cats…she saw one across the road and launched herself after it. She ran into traffic, Eddie.”

Eddie just stared at her.

“Daisy’s been hit by a car.” Pippa whispered, her voice breaking.

Daisy was hurt?

She stared at Pippa, whose mouth was forming words that Eddie could no longer hear as a buzzing in her ears took over. Then it hit her, Daisy was hurt. She pictured her at the vets, scared and in pain and surrounded by strangers. Eddie jumped into action, grabbing her bag and coat, then ran back to the door, pulling Pippa through it. It had barely clicked shut before she took off down the alleyway, shouting behind her, “Hurry, we can make it to the vets in five minutes if we run!”

She had loved Daisy for four years, since she first saw the puppy asleep with her head in her food bowl, before they had taken her home. She’d cried tears of joy carrying her back in the car. Sure, there were days (especially in the first few months) when she threatened to return her, and dreamt about clean floors, eight solid hours of sleep, and bite-free ankles, but not once did she ever actually consider it. Daisy was hers, and she was Daisy’s person. They’d survived a global pandemic and a messy break up, they could survive anything.

As she ran, she started planning. She would put off the business and use her savings to pay for the treatment. If that wasn’t enough then she would max out her credit card, even swallow her pride and beg her parents for money if she had to. It was going to be ok, she told herself.

It took her until the end of the alleyway to realise Pippa wasn’t with her. She turned in the archway to look back at her friend, who stood unmoved at the cafe door, shoulders sagging. Eddie frowned, angry that she was holding her up.

Pippa’s expression was pained, her lips pressed tightly into one thin line. She started to silently cry and when she spoke her voice was rough but clear enough for Eddie to hear every word echoing across the space between them. She spoke slowly, begging her to understand.

“Daisy’s not at the vets Eddie.”

“Why? She should at least have been taken to get checked over.”

Pippa swallowed. “There was no need.”

“Of course there is a need, what if there’s internal bleeding or, or a break that she can’t feel at first because of the adrenaline!” She argued back. “Hang on, let me get my phone and I’ll call Megan, she can meet us there.”

Pippa shook her head.

The logical part of her brain was telling her something she wasn’t ready to hear. There were enough context clues for her to piece it together. Because if there was an emergency, then surely Pippa would be running with her right now.

“Don’t make me say it Eddie, please.”

Eddie looked down, going through the motions of searching for her phone, picking through her bag without really seeing anything. Her eyes stung. Pippa moved closer, arms out, placating. Her fingers brushed Eddie’s shoulders and Eddie jerked backwards, her head snapping up.

“No!”

Eddie watched Pippa’s lips shape the words she was dreading.

Words she would never forget.

“Daisy’s gone, Eddie. She didn’t make it.”

The brick walls were closing in on her as she stared at her friend. It didn’t seem real. Just this morning she was fighting Daisy for her boots, rushing to not be late for work. What had been their last exchange? A quick goodbye as she slipped through the door?

She let out a sob and collapsed in Pippa’s arms, burying her face in her shoulder. She’d thought her luck had changed but clearly the universe had other ideas.

This couldn’t be happening.

She couldn’t accept it.

Then she remembered the spellbook in her rucksack with hundreds of unexplored spells, enchantments, and potions recorded within.

Maybe she didn’t have to accept it.