The next morning, Katy and Deen got up early and went downstairs while everybody was still asleep, and snuck into Edgar’s study again, they made no mention of the nightmare, which suited Katy just fine. They wanted to set up some new traps for Edgar to ‘find’, but they didn’t get far before they heard footsteps above them.
“Brilliant, dad and mom, normally sleep until like noon on Yule. We still have five more things to set up. I mean you stayed up most of the night figuring out the proper measurements so that way they don’t explode early.”
“We still set six of them. Let’s go sit in the ‘drawing room’” Katy said as she made quotation marks and rolled her eyes, she still could not believe the way the parental figures sometimes spoke.
Deen laughed and decided it was better to race to the couch, and pushed Katy out of the way as he ran. Katy was set to follow when something caught her eye. It was a file on Edgar’s desk. It had her name on it at the top, Katherine Lillian Solomon AKA Katherine Lillian Fitz. Katy was all of sudden curious why Edgar would have a file on her. She was about to grab it when Deen called her name. She turned her back to it, but looked over her shoulder. She made a mental note to come back out and check it out another time.
“Hey what’s up, you never just let me win like that; you fight for the win?” Deen asked from the couch, it looked like he made a pit stop in the kitchen because he a couple of cookies.
Katy did not say anything but let him see the image of the folder in her mind, as she sat down on the couch.
“Oh, well maybe it is from when you were missing?” Deen said not one hundred percent convinced, but could not think of any other reasons why there would be a folder on Katy.
“Maybe, you know those cookies are not a real good breakfast.” Katy said to change the subject and then got an idea. “Why don’t we make breakfast?”
“Hmm… I don’t know much, I can maybe make some toast.” Deen said, as he finished off the cookies.
“I have been watching Sandra, and she taught me a bit, maybe we can make some eggs and toast?”
“Okay” Deen said and jumped up ready to try. Katy followed suit and soon they were in the kitchen making a mess. By the time Edgar, Jane, Jerome, Sandra, Riley, Tony, and Antonio came down they had a mess made in the kitchen but hot eggs and toast set out on the dining room table. They gave great big smiles when the others came in to sit down at the dining room table.
“Well, well, well what do we have here? Breakfast?” Edgar asked as he sat down, he noticed the eggs were a little runny but he sat and took a great big bite. “Yum, this is a great breakfast!”
“If Deen made that I am not eating!” Jerome stated; he went to the fridge grabbed an individual pineapple juice and plopped down in a chair, his nose already in his Alchemy book.
“Yes, quite nice to not have to cook for a change.” Jane said and sat down; she wondered what they had done to her kitchen.
Katy backed into the kitchen to get milk and juice. She flipped her wand to try to get things to clean themselves; but they were slow and sluggish. Katy sighed and walked back out with the milk and juice jugs. “Umm… there may be a slight mess in the kitchen. I can’t seem to get everything to clean itself, like you and Sandra.”
Jane and Sandra laughed, “That will take time, after all there is a reason thaumaturgy is taught for at least five years.” Sandra stood up and opened the kitchen door and waved her wand, which sped up the process. “There, everything good as new.” Sandra said with a wink.
Katy and Deen sat down, but could not sit still. This was Katy’s first Yule, but Deen was excited as well. They knew that after breakfast they would burn the log, and start all the other celebrations. After breakfast, the parents cleaned up and started to make buttered rum drinks, they left out the rum in the kids’ pot, and started to prepare dinner, cookies, and caraway cakes. They all met in the drawing room for the lighting of the Yule Log, and then Sandra and Jane went back to the kitchen. Tony, Edgar, and Antonio went to Edgar’s study and shut the door. Katy, Deen, Jerome, and Riley went back outside, the older boys wanted revenge for yesterday’s snowball fight.
About noon, they trudged back inside, soaked to the bone, and all sported bright colors. Riley and Jerome had raided Katy and Deen’s supply of potions. So Katy came inside a bright red color, Deen was pink, Jerome was puke green, and Riley was neon blue. All the adults took one look at them as they entered the kitchen and started to laugh. Sandra had her camera out and snapped some pictures. They didn’t care; they sat down at the table and reached for the treats that Sandra and Jane had made.
“No!” Jane said and came over and shooed their hands away. “These are for later! Shoo!” Jane said and pushed them out of the kitchen, but Katy and Deen were able to grab a few cookies.
“Ha! I got some!” Deen said and tossed a couple to Jerome as Katy tossed a couple to Riley. “What do you want to do now?” Deen asked as he plopped on the couch, Katy followed suit, and Jerome and Riley took the chairs.
“I don’t know.” Katy said with a yawn and leaned her head back. Nobody else answered and soon they all where asleep for a nap where they sat.
They did not stir until Tony went in and woke them up for dinner. They had a nice quiet dinner, but that quiet was not going to last. For dinner they had lamb’s wool, which Katy found out had roasted apples, nutmeg, sugar, and ale, well the adults had it, the kids had buttered rum without the rum, which was good. They also had a large turkey, that was beautifully prepared, cookies, candies, caraway cakes, spiced cider, fruits of all sorts, ginger tea, eggnog, and of course enough side dishes to keep you in a food coma for years.
After dinner they went into the drawing room and sat in front of the Yule Log, they listened to stories of the past. There were so many legends that surrounded Yule, Katy wanted the stories to last for the rest of the night, but the others had already heard the stories, so they ended after just a few stories. “Don’t worry Katy, you will hear them all. Dad just loves telling them. Time for presents!” Deen said and jumped up and ran over to the tree to grab the presents.
“Now you wait right there, we will pass them out in an orderly fashion!” Edgar yelled out at Deen, who stopped in his tracks as soon as Edgar started to speak.
“Dad…” Deen started but looked at Edgar, sighed and sat down in front of the fire next to Katy. “Fine.”
For the next hour they exchanged gifts, Katy was so excited, she never received gifts before these last two days, she received the journal she wanted from Riley as well as a few rare potion ingredients, including basilisk venom and he gave her a hat, an invisibility hat. She had given Riley a book on Eleball, and some of her potions. She had given Deen a book full of prank spells and potions as well as a journal for his book of shadows. It was dark black with fiery writing that read Deen Joseph Hepburn’s Book of Shadows. Katy and Deen spent the rest of the night going through the prank book and earmarked each potion and spell they were going to try out, as well as making changes, and writing their own potions in their Book of Shadows. They had so many plans for that prank book when they went back to school.
Then Antonio stated something that had them both crying out. “You will not be taking that book back to school with you. No don’t you dare try it. The tears won’t work… oh come on…”
Katy had started to form some tears, and Deen looked up at him like he just killed his puppy. “No… I can’t let you loose with that book. Oh, fine, just fine!” Antonio said as he threw his hands up in the air as he admitted defeat.
Katy and Deen started smiling again and went back to their book, their heads so close, the whispers flew with plans and possible pranks for each person, until they fell asleep next to the fire.
Kris Charles - Author 