teach him how to make spaghetti sauce. Not your special stuff, just a basic recipe." Josh would totally go for that. Scrambled eggs and spaghetti pretty much covered all the food groups a single guy needed.
Elsie got up from the table and reached up into the cupboard over the fridge. She came back bearing two jars of red sauce and a package of fettuccine noodles. "A housewarming gift."
Jeebers. That probably meant she wasn't getting out of scrambled-egg-lesson duty, but it was worth one last try. "You could go drop them off yourself - he's getting his keys in about an hour."
Her roommate's face went blank. Which wasn't nearly as scary as the sudden emptiness in her mind. "I have some other things to take care of this morning."
Lizard stared. This wasn't even stick-butt Elsie. It was worse. What the heck? "Where are you going?"
No answer. Just - distance.
To hell with that. Lizard reached out, hands and mind both demanding an answer. "Where are you going?"
Elsie slid back into her own head - real again, and ineffably sad. "To visit my mother. It's time."
Jennie beamed straight into Melvin's living room. She didn't have time to knock.
And found him sitting in his usual chair, hand wrapped around his pendant, eyes focused on faraway places. She knew better than to interrupt, even though her heart knocked with fear.
It nearly undid her when his fingers reached out to curl in hers. "Thank you for coming, sweet Jennie. I need the company."
That wasn't the answer she was looking for. "What's going on? Why are the pendants going nuts?"
He was silent a long while. "There are moments in every person's life. Moments of infinite hope and great danger, when the egg of the soul cracks open." His grip on her fingers tightened. "One of those moments is today."
Brought on by the magic of exactly the right clothes and people who saw you as you could really be. Damn, damn, damn. She had the insane need to leap tall buildings in a single bound. "What do we do?"
His face sheathed in pain. "We wait."
Unacceptable. Jennie jumped up, reaching for her cell phone.
He stopped her with a whisper. "It's not ours to do, bright Jennie. It's ours to wait." A tear ran down his cheek. "And I'm terribly sorry it's been asked of you."
It hit her then, like a sledgehammer. He'd done this before. Lived with this tearing need in his soul - and done nothing but waited.
She crouched down at his knees. "You did this for me."
"Yes." He rested his forehead on hers. "It doesn't get any easier."
Elsie fussed with Gertrude's ribbons, double-checked the lock, and kissed the head of her brand-new lime-green frog, riding in a place of honor on Gertrude's handlebars. She hoped it would give her courage.
And remind her of the woman she wanted to be - the kind who got pleasure from kissing cosmically ugly green frogs. The kind who rode her bike in a pretty skirt and sandals, just because the sun was shining. They weren't her Helga-gifted red shoes - even the new Elsie was pretty sure she couldn't ride a bike in four-inch heels.
But in the quiet hours of the night, she'd gone through the bouquet of clothes in all the untouched shopping bags and found those that made her happiest. The flirty, jewel-blue skirt was the sort of bold, daring color she never wore - and it had delighted her heart to slip it on this morning.
She brushed her hands over the vibrant material and sighed. A bold woman wouldn't be standing here terrified to go knock on her own mother's door.
Elsie touched her frog one last time for luck, and then walked through the white picket gate of the front yard where she'd grown up. Automatically she scanned the gardens, lovely as always. Her mother sank all of her earth-witch talents into the summer blooms. Elsie reached for a blue flower almost the color of her skirt and sent it a wisp of power, pleased when the blue petals perked up under her touch.
"Your skills have improved," said a voice from the front door. "Perhaps this internship is doing you some good."
"Hi, Mom." Elsie closed her eyes for a moment, trying to channel Nat's calm, and then turned. "You taught me how to use my earth magic well. I just had to learn to keep my fire power separate. I've gotten some help with that now."
Her mother turned sheet white. "You're not a fire witch. What ridiculousness is