The Fairy-Tale Matchmaker (28 page)

“Tell me,” said Lionel, “are you going to talk to your mother again anytime soon? She may not be my favorite person, but I'd hate to think that you were going to remain estranged.”

“I'll see her, but it won't be soon,” said Cory. “I have a lot to think through before I talk to her again.”

“When do you plan to start using your skills?” her grandfather asked.

“In a few days,” said Cory. “I'm thinking about having a party.”

Cory was cleaning the kitchen the next morning when someone knocked on the front door. After all the things that had happened over the last few days, she was reluctant to answer it, especially when she peeked out the window and saw Doris Dumpty standing there looking furious. Certain that she was going to get another blistering rebuke, she was surprised when she opened the door and Mrs. Dumpty's expression softened.

“I've come to apologize,” said Doris. “I was just so angry, but then I learned the truth and I, well, I had something else to deal with before I came to see you. Humpty, tell Miss Cory what you told me.”

The little boy had been hiding behind his mother. He peeked out now, his cheeks pink and his expression
grave. “I told a fib,” he said, his lips quivering. “I let the mice go on purpose, and then I pretended that I didn't see them, but I really did.”

Mrs. Dumpty's lips were pressed into thin lines when she nodded. “He told me only after I had sent a message to an exterminator. It seems he wanted to keep the mice and was afraid you wouldn't let him if he asked. I certainly wouldn't have, but I have to say, since he started taking care of them, he has been very good and has not tried to climb anything higher than his seat at the kitchen table. He's very good with the mice and he's begged his father and me to let them stay. I told him he had to apologize to you and ask for your permission. He understands that they are really your mice and that you might say no, especially considering the misunderstanding. Isn't that right, Humpty?”

The little boy wrapped his arms around his middle and looked so sad when he nodded that Cory didn't have the heart to say no. “Yes, you may keep them, Humpty,” she said, “provided you promise not to lie anymore and you will take very good care of the mice.”

Humpty's face lit up like the sun breaking through on a cloudy day. “I promise! I named them already. Their names are Squeaks, Fuzzy, and Cheese. I named him Cheese 'cause he likes to eat it as much as I do.”

“I think those are very good names,” said Cory.

“I must apologize for something else,” Mrs. Dumpty said. “Before Humpty told me what he had done, a woman came by. She wasn't very pleasant and was actually quite nosy, asking questions about you and your work habits. I'm sorry to say that I was still angry and told her some things that I later regretted. I have no problem with your work, and I … Let me see, yes, here it is. This is for you.” She took a small bag jingling with coins from her purse and handed it to Cory. “That's your pay for the last day you babysat Humpty, plus a little extra for putting up with all of this nonsense.”

“Uh, thank you,” Cory told her.

“If there is ever anything I can do for you, just let me know,” Mrs. Humpty added.

The woman was about to turn away when Cory spoke up. “Actually, there is something you could do for me, provided your husband is Randal Jehosephat Dumpty, the judge.”

“He is,” Mrs. Dumpty said slowly. “What did you need?”

“I've been having a problem with the Tooth Fairy Guild,” said Cory. “I quit recently and they've been hounding me ever since.”

Doris Dumpty listened with increasing interest while Cory told her about all the trouble the guild had inflicted on her after she quit. “So, would you be able to talk to
your husband? Apparently, he has let the guilds do whatever they want, but if you let him know what they were really up to, he might change his mind.”

“I'll talk to him, all right,” said Mrs. Dumpty. “That's outrageous! No one should be able to get away with such nastiness.” Turning to her son, she reached for his hand. “Now come along, Humpty. We have a lot to do before we go home. Your father's office will be our first stop.”

Cory was glad that Mrs. Dumpty had come by, especially when she saw how much the woman had given her. It was more than twice as many coins as she owed Cory. Even the payment for babysitting was money Cory had never thought she'd see.

Singing to herself, Cory went back to work cleaning. She was throwing a party in two days and had lots to do to get ready. After finishing in the kitchen, she started on the main room. Armed with a soapstone, water, and a scrub brush, she was cleaning the mantel around the bird nest when her mother burst into the house. Delphinium froze when she saw Cory and said, “What are you doing? Shouldn't you be resting in bed after your ordeal?”

“I guess I don't have to ask if you know what happened to me, do I, Mother?” Cory said, setting down the scrub brush. “But then you did warn me. You knew
the TFG was going to kidnap me and shut me in a box and rip my fairy abilities from me. They even took my wings!”

“Really, Cory, don't be so dramatic. I'm sure the guild didn't—”

“That's
exactly
what they did! I can't believe my own mother let them.”

“I warned you that you couldn't just walk away!”

“You warned me, but you never tried to help me. Grandfather said that—”

“Your grandfather!” Delphinium said, practically spitting the words. “Mary Mary told me that Lionel had come to see her. She was taken completely unaware and is furious that I didn't tell her that he's a demigod. How was I to know that you would drag him into this, after I tried so hard to shield you from him?”

“You weren't shielding me! You were protecting your pride. He told you something you didn't want to hear and he was right. You were the one at fault, not Grandfather!”

“How dare you!”

“I dare a lot after what I've been through, and I don't think you have any right to barge into my home and … Why did you come here, anyway?”

“For the same reason I came by yesterday and the day before, knocking on your door until your neighbors came to see what was wrong. I thought you were in bed,
hiding from the world. I was worried about you. Most fairies would be traumatized if they were stripped of their abilities, but you seem to be fine. I thought you needed me. I see that I was wrong.”

“How can you let the TFG try to ruin my life, and think I want your help afterward?”

“You're my daughter! I came to take you home where you belong. This isn't your house; it's your uncle's and you've imposed on him long enough.”

“That's just it. He doesn't think I'm imposing. We're family and we act like it. Please leave now, Mother. I don't live with you anymore and I'm never coming back.”

Delphinium stared at her, her mouth opening and closing like a fish's. Finally, she turned on her heel, stomped from the house, and slammed the door behind her.

“Well, that was unpleasant,” Cory told Noodles, who was sniffing at the door. “I can only imagine what she would have done if I'd told her I was the new Cupid. To be honest, I hope she never finds out. There are very few people who I want to tell, and she's not one of them!”

Cory left for Marjorie's house a short time later. She had contacted her to say that she and some friends were stopping by, but hadn't said what they planned to do.
After two failed attempts to get rid of the spiders, she didn't want to get Marjorie's hopes up again.

Only a few minutes after she arrived, Olot and Chancy showed up with the cart full of instruments. Cory had told Olot about the spiders and he wanted to see them. Chancy didn't like spiders and wasn't sure she wanted to go inside, but finally did when Marjorie assured her that they didn't bite people.

“I don't see any webs,” Chancy said, hesitating at the door.

“They aren't web-building spiders,” said Marjorie. “This kind of spider goes looking for its prey.”

Chancy shuddered. “I'm not sure, but I think that might be worse.”

She carried Olot's lute in while Cory and Olot managed the drums. Fortunately, they didn't see any spiders then. It wasn't until Cory was setting up her drums that the first spider emerged. It was a smaller one, only as long as Cory's little finger. Chancy didn't notice it as she went outside to get something Olot had left on the cart. The next time Cory looked up, a dozen spiders were crawling over her drums and most of them were bigger than her fist.

“You might want to tell Chancy to stay outside,” Cory told Olot.

“Good idea,” he said as a spider climbed onto his shoe. He had to shake his foot to get the spider off and he didn't look as intrigued by the creatures when he left the room.

Olot was still outside when Skippy arrived. Perky came next, then Daisy and Cheeble showed up. Cory opened all the doors before they began to practice and noticed that Chancy had stayed outside. Soon after they started their first song, Marjorie went out as well. The music had been loud in Olot's cave and in the restaurants. In Marjorie's little house, it was almost deafening.

At first the noise made the spiders agitated. They skittered off Cory's drums and out from under the chairs, fell from the fairy lights on the walls, and tumbled off the table. Some collapsed onto the floor, drawing their legs close to their bodies as if they were in pain. Others ran in circles making a high-pitched noise that sounded like “Ick! Ick! Ick!”

“Play louder,” Cory shouted to her bandmates.

They did, playing as loudly as they could. The spiders started to run out the doors, just a few at first, then more and more until a steady stream fled the house. Cory thought she heard Chancy scream once, but when Olot looked out the window and continued to play, Cory didn't even pause. Before the first song was done, she
was fairly sure all the spiders were gone, but they kept playing until they had rehearsed as long as usual.

Cory was packing up her drums when Marjorie came to see her. “I've looked everywhere, but I can't find a single spider. I think they're all gone! I don't know if you could see out the window; a flock of crows got a lot of them. The rest ran to the forest down the street. Thank you so much! I thought I'd never get rid of them. How did you ever think of this?”

“I remembered how they hadn't liked the birds' screeching when I tried to get rid of the spiders last time. Then at our last rehearsal, our playing was so loud it made my headache worse. I could imagine what it would do to the spiders.”

“I'm glad you did!” said Marjorie. “I love my little house and I didn't really want to sell it.”

Daisy joined them then, saying, “I don't know how you could stand living with those spiders! They were huge and scary and they watched you wherever you went.”

“At least they didn't bite me,” said Marjorie. “I would have left then and never come back if they had. Excuse me. I have to thank your friends.”

“Well, that was an experience I never hope to repeat, but at least we were able to help Marjorie,” Daisy told Cory.

“Finally!” Cory exclaimed. “I've tried and tried to get rid of those spiders. I'm glad
something
worked.”

“You really do want to help people, don't you?” said Daisy. “You're not just saying it without meaning it, like some people do. I know you were trying to help me when you told me about Tom Tom, and I appreciate it. I thought about what you said, and broke up with Tom Tom the next day.”

“How did he take it?” Cory asked.

“He was mad, but he'll get over it,” said Daisy. “They all do.”

That afternoon, Cory sat at the kitchen table with an ink stick and a fresh leaf to think about the love matches for her friends and clients. She could see the images of Marjorie and Jack Nimble as clearly as if they were standing in front of her. She recognized Priscilla Hood's match, but the matches for the others were strangers to her. Even so, she knew she would recognize them if she saw them. After making a list of who she wanted to invite, she made lists of what she wanted to cook, and what she needed to buy at the market. She sent a message to Olot and all the members of the band, inviting them to the dinner and asking them to play that night. Her uncle had already said that he'd help her cook, but she wanted him to enjoy the party, too, so she arranged to have Josef, the young man at Perfect Pastry, come
help. The rest of the afternoon flew by as she wrote and sent out her invitations.

Cory spent the next two days getting ready. By the night of the party, she was so excited that she couldn't sit still. It was light out when Josef arrived. Then her neighbors showed up and Cory was glad to see that neither Wanita nor Salazar had brought their pets and that the twins were both in their human forms. Only minutes after she greeted the first arrivals, Marjorie was there along with Daisy and Priscilla. Mary Lambkin walked in the door just as Lionel Feathering stepped onto the porch. Cory introduced the other guests to her grandfather, omitting his title, then returned to the door to greet the next arrivals.

Nearly everyone was there when Lionel took Cory aside. “How is everything going? You look a little nervous.”

“Everything's fine,” said Cory. “It's just that, well, someone isn't here yet, and I really had hoped that he'd come.”

“If you're talking about Johnny Blue, I'm sure he'll be here soon.”

“How did you know about Johnny?” she asked.

“I have my sources,” he said with a mischievous grin.

“Uncle Micah?” she said, glancing toward the kitchen, where her uncle was checking on the cooking food.

“He may have told me a few things,” her grandfather replied. “When I realized that this Johnny Blue might be the one you were
not
telling me about at breakfast the other day, it occurred to me that it was important he attend your party. I spoke with Johnny Blue's captain. The man agreed to send Johnny to your party to watch for suspicious characters.”