Somehow, Mr. Cat did find a cab willing to take them home at midnight. Puppy sobbed all through packing. Hilary had to send her to help Maple, because the girl-dog’s tears were ruining her good silk blouses. Mr. Rabbit and Bear helped them get their things downstairs. Eagle followed Maple with her suitcase, staring at her with those intense dark eyes, his yellow beak drooping.
“Do you have to go?” Bear whimpered again as they waited for the cab on the wide, snow-covered porch. “Can’t you stay? For Christmas Day?”
“Bear, Dad needs us. We’ll be back by the end of the week. Before that.” She tugged her old wool coat around her shoulders, then gave him a kiss on his fuzzy cheek. “You’ll keep up with your writing. Write at least an hour every day. And Eagle will help you with the codes. There’s only a few pages left to do. If you can finish that, Hilary and C.J will bring it to the FBI, and they’ll arrest Pavla.”
“Bear try. It hurts. Dark hurts. But Bear try. For Betty. For Puppy and Eagle.” He gulped. “And for Bear. Bear wait for Betty. Bear loves Betty. Bear always loved Betty. Bear always will.”
She gently pushed away the lock of shining black fur that fell over his wet amber eyes. “Betty loves Bear, too. She loves him more than anything. Don’t worry. We’ll come back. We wouldn’t abandon you.” Bear pulled her into his strong furry arms and soaked her coat with his noisy, snuffling sobs.
“Yeah, Prince Charmin’.” Maple rubbed Eagle’s shoulder. “Would I let my best guy down? We’ve gotta finish those papers, and I haven’t listened to that last record. We’ll be back before New Year’s.” She handed him a package wrapped in gold paper and huge bows. “Here’s those jazz records. Practice dancin’ for me? We’ll dance in the ballroom on New Year’s Eve.” She giggled as he rubbed at her with his beak. “Hey, you tickle!”
Hilary gave Puppy a hug as she sobbed into her chest. “Don’t worry, dear. It’s only a few days. We’ll be right here with you on New Year’s Eve.”
“But we might not be. You heard Master.” Hilary hated to see the young woman-dog so distraught. She was so much like her sisters when she was younger. “I’m going to miss you! Even when I can’t think…” She coughed. “Well, even when I’m different.”
She patted the girl’s back as the cab pulled up to the porch. “We’ll be back, dear. It’ll be all right.” Mr. Rabbit helped load their luggage, including Hilary’s six suitcases, into the cab.
Bear would not let Betty go. “Don’t forget Bear. Even when Bear gone. When he’s not Bear.”
She nodded, tears flowing down her own cheeks. “I won’t, Bear. Never.”
Hilary pushed Maple’s two suitcases into the trunk. “That’s it. Come along, ladies.” She made a face at Maple, who was moaning as Eagle ran his beak and wings around her neck and shoulders. “Ladies, it’s time to get going. Dad is expecting us!”
“Hey, Hilary, I’m busy here!” Maple made a face at her sister. “See ya later, ok, Eagle?” He turned red as she gave him a kiss on his beak.
Hilary finally dragged her away and shoved her in the back seat. She was the last person in the cab before it started and turned away from the mansion.
She tried to focus on the job at hand on their way home. “It’ll be good to go home, won’t it?” She tried to say brightly. “We’ve been saying that we wanted to visit Dad anyway. He needs us more than a whole zoo full of enchanted animals. Certainly more than some monster of a troll.”
“Hey, Hilary?” Maple made a face as she stared at the trees and other mansions passing them. “Could ‘ya keep it down to a dull roar? I’m tryin’ to think here.” Betty said nothing, her eyes focused on the snow that started to fall softly as they pulled into downtown.
The rest of the trip passed in silence. She knew how they felt about the animals, but they’d be back in less than a week. They still had to get Eagle’s paperwork to the proper authorities. She wanted to get Pavla out of their hair for good, and it looked like this was the best way to do it. They’d get those decoded papers, she and C.J would give them to the FBI men, and that would be that.
The cab finally pulled up at their home around quarter of 1. Even that late on Christmas morning, the lights were all on. C.J was there to greet them. “Girls!” He gave them all huge hugs and helped them unload their bags. “I’m so glad to see you! I’ve missed you so much. I have so much to tell you.”
“We have plenty to tell you, too, but right now, we need to attend to Dad.” Hilary took her hat box and one of her suitcases. Where is he? His room?”
“No, he’s in the living room.” C.J grabbed the rest of Hilary’s luggage. “The doctor said his room was too drafty. Besides, he can see the Christmas tree and listen to the radio there.”
Mackie lay on the couch, listening to a choir sing “The Twelve Days of Christmas” on their cathedral radio. “Girls?” He looked over at them, coughing. It was a raspy sound, one that was more in line with the flu than Troll’s cough. His round face was ashen under the bristly gray mustache. “You’re home. I didn’t think you’d make it.” He nodded at the wrapped boxes on the table by the radio, under the tiny Christmas tree festooned with sparkling lights and the few heirloom ornaments they’d been able to retain over the years. “Those are for you. They’re not as fancy as a monster in a mansion could give ya, but…”
“Shh, Dad.” Hilary was by his side in an instant. “I’m sure they’re fine. Anyway, he’s not…” She stopped, breathing harder than her sick father, as she realized what she was saying. “He’s not…really a monster. He was angry when we left, but not because he was leaving. There’s some…curse…surrounding the place. Anyway,” she added briskly, “let’s not think about it now. It’s Christmas. C.J, take my things upstairs. Betty, heat Dad up some chicken soup. There’s always a stray can in the cupboard. Maple, soak a rag in cold water and bring it for his head.”
“Hilary,” Mackie wheezed, “you didn’t have to come. You said you wanted to solve that mystery. You could have stayed. Though why, I don’t know. That monster did nothin’ but scare the hell outta me!”
“First of all, he’s a troll. Not a monster. Not most of the time, anyway.” She sighed. “Second, it’s been a long night. We’ll get some soup and orange juice in you and discuss this in the morning.”
“Hilary…” Mackie’s brown eyes were clear when they turned to her, even as his body was wracked with coughs that sounded nothing like the curse. “You love that…whatever it is…don’t ya?”
She hesitated, then sighed. “We’ll talk about this in the morning, Dad. Right now, you need your rest.”
“Ok, Hilary.” He made a face as she pushed him back down. “Whatever you say.”
Christmas morning dawned clear and cold, the sunlight sparkling on the snow in her bare garden. She really needed to look it over, see if any work could be done while she was home. Too bad Troll had acted like such an idiot over their departure. She could really use his advice on how to bring it back to life. He hadn’t even been there to see them off.
Mackie looked a little better when they all came downstairs to open presents. Betty and C.J went off to make scrambled eggs, bacon, and stewed apples for their Christmas breakfast while she and Maple exclaimed over their gifts. Mackie appreciated his script about a father and his children from Betty, a song Maple wrote for him, and the bookmarks with the pressed roses from Hilary.
“Ginger Snap, these are really beautiful.” Mackie slid the bookmark into the script. “Did you make these yourself? I can almost smell the sweetness in the paper.”
“Not entirely.” She slid next to him on the couch. “Troll growls the most beautiful roses I’ve ever seen in that hot house, in every color of the rainbow. He nurtures them like they’re his children. He’s really very good with them.”
Mackie raised an eyebrow and coughed. “Is that why he accused me of being a thief when I took one? I didn’t think he’d mind. There were dozens on that bush!”
“I think,” Hilary added softly, “that he thinks they’re all he has. All he’ll ever have.”
“Ginger Snap,” Mackie went on as Maple and Betty opened their gifts, exclaiming over new sheet music and books. “Tell me.” He patted her hand. “You love this…thing.”
“I’m not sure.” Hilary frowned, looking down at the bookmark. “I was sure I didn’t when he blew up at our leaving. He has such a horrible temper! You should have heard him when we first came. Pushing around that poor Bear because his mind is so scrambled, ordering everyone around within firing distance, practically demanding I marry him. He was a living terror, Dad.”
“And now, Ginger Snap?” Mackie’s voice was raspy as he caught the wistful look in her dark eyes.
She looked down at the bookmark. “Now, I’m not sure anymore. I know Betty and Maple are in love with his men. Bear is such a dear and a softie, no matter what state his mind is in. Puppy’s such an intelligent little thing. I’d love to send her to high school and college alongside Betty. She really worships her. And Eagle…he used to do nothing but catch fish and sequester himself in his room. Now Maple actually got him dancing, even if he isn’t very good at it.”
“But what about you?” Her father ran a plump finger along the bookmark. She’d made it from dried scarlet roses, pressed lovingly between wax paper with Troll’s help. “How do you feel?”
“Dad,” she said softly, “there’s something…about him. He has the most beautiful eyes. They’re so familiar. I know them. They’re not the eyes of a monster. When we perform together, it’s like magic. Like we belong together. It’s…like…when Jeff and I did the tour of Razzle Dazzle. We just…fit. He knew when to let me have my spotlight, and I knew when he needed to command the stage. It was so like….like…”
“Like Jeff.” Mackie coughed again as Hilary handed up a cup of hot lemon tea with honey. “Thank you, Ginger Snap. Normally, I’m not one to believe in fairy tales, even if I am an old stage man, but does it occur to you that, between you, me, and your siblings, we have called and talked to every single person we know on the East Coast, and not a single one has seen Jeff, Scott, or Victor? I asked around. I asked people at every theater in town, at KDKA. They haven’t been anywhere.” He sipped his tea. “Ahh. Thank you, Hilary.”
She pulled the blanket up to his chin. “I have my suspicions about that, Dad. C.J already got me tickets to The Rivals. I’m going backstage to discuss this with Pavla. He says T.J Hunnicut just vanished a few weeks ago, after she was entertaining him. From the way everyone in the mansion panics every time she’s mentioned and her turning up…”
Now she was the one coughing. She hadn’t told Dad about the shared dreams or the other monsters in them. Not only did she not want to worry him, she suspected he might think she and her sisters were more than a little crazy. “Well, I think she has everything to do with what’s going on in that mansion. Every single creature in that building trembles when she’s mentioned, including Troll. She’s the one they’re gathering intel on. They honestly have a pretty good case on her. She’s apparently involved with some groups in Europe people over here are more than a little concerned about.”
Mackie’s eyes widened. “Ginger Snap, I don’t like this. She likely already hurt Jeff and the guys and probably Hunnicut, too. I don’t want her to do something like that to you. I’ve heard rumors, honey. They say she’s a witch…and not just of the ‘bad girl’ variety. It’s whispered that she practices black magic, the kind you read about in fairy tales and books on the supernatural. The kind you usually see in Lon Chaney movies and Betty’s Grimm’s anthologies.”
“I’ll be all right, Dad. I can take care of myself. C.J will be back there with me, not to mention the cast of my…The Rivals. I know how to deal with Pablum.” She took his hand and gave him a squeeze. “Now, why don’t we bring out breakfast, and then maybe we’ll switch on the radio and sing carols together? After that, we’ll all play a round of canasta, just like we used to do with Mother on Christmas Day before she passed on.”
Her father’s gentle, round-cheeked smile was genuine. “Penelope would have been proud of you girls, Hilary. Especially you. And I am, too. And wherever Jeff is…I’ll bet he’s just as proud as I am.”
She nodded with a small, wistful smile. “I hope so, Dad. I only hope so.”
~*~*~*~*~*~
Hilary spent most of the next week tending to Mackie, heating chicken soup, making lemon tea, and making sure he took his cough medicine. Someone had to stay with him. Betty locked herself in her room the day after Christmas, barely emerging at meal times. C.J returned to his job, working extra matinees behind the scenes. Maple played records for her dear old Dad or listened to the radio with him until she’d get bored and say she was going out for a walk…but Hilary knew she was really searching the skies, looking for the familiar mahogany wings of an enormous man-eagle.
Doug Thompson came around with gifts the day after Christmas. “Doug!” She let him in. “How are you doing?”
“Well, thank you. Merry Christmas!” He tipped his hat at her. “Where’s Mackie? Is he all right? I wanted to get the best doctors, but C.J said you were fine.”
“He’s much better. He’s napping now.” She put the brightly wrapped packages under the tree. “I suppose you’ll want Betty.”
Doug nodded, frowning, as he took off his hat. “Yes, but I wanted to talk to you, too. Hilary, after you called me this summer, I made my own inquiries at City Hall and with the real estate office that sold Jeff the mansion. She put in claims on the mansion last October, just days after Jeff returned from Europe.” He continued in a whisper. “Right before he, Scott Sherwood, and Victor Comstock vanished. Pavla says the house is legally hers, but it’s in his name.”
“That…that…OOOOH!” Hilary screamed so loudly, Maple ran in from her bedroom and Mackie nearly fell off the couch. “That’s why she married him!”
“That’s why she married who?” Mackie rubbed his head, wincing at Hilary’s shriek. “What’s going on?” He grabbed his round silver-framed glasses off the coffee table and squinted. “Oh, hi Doug. What brings you here?”
He sighed. “Partially seeing Betty, but I mostly wanted to talk to Hilary.” He took a slender box wrapped in green and gold paper out from under the tree. “Hilary, this is from me and C.J. He’s already arranged with the Nixon for you to be backstage on the 30th. Pavla is leaving the show. She’s going to New York to star in T.J Hunnicut’s newest play the week after New Year’s. If you want to talk to her about all this, now is the time.”
Hilary narrowed her eyes. “Oh, I’ll do more than talk to her. I’ll scratch her eyes out! She’ll have Jeff and that mansion over my dead body! She’s…well, I have a good idea of what happened to him, and why he’s been missing, but I need proof.”
“Maybe we should all go.” Mackie coughed. Hilary quickly handed him a cup of lemon tea that had been on the table. “Damn it, it’s cold. Left it there too long. I’m feeling a lot better. C.J might be able to wrangle you girls tickets, and I still have connections.”
“Oh no, Dad, you are not going anywhere. You’re still not well enough for outings or confronting witches.” She frowned. “I’ll have C.J as back-up. Betty and Doug can sit in the audience. It’ll be good for Betty to get out and do something besides type. She’s barely emerged from her room since she got back. Maple will stay with you. She’ll fuss over missing the action, but someone needs to be here.”
“Ginger Snap, be careful!” Mackie looked up at her, his own dark eyes haunted under the round spectacles. “I lost your mother to cancer, and it almost killed me. I don’t want to lose you, too.”
She patted his hand. “Don’t worry, Dad. I know what I’m doing. No one knows more about the stage than me! Besides, I’ll have Betty and the men there.” She turned to Doug, frowning. “Now, tell me when the best time to catch Pavla backstage would be.”
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