“Hey, Schrodinger!”

 

Molly’s voice echoed though the tea room, puncturing his dreams like an arrow through a water balloon. Shards of thoughts fell around him, startling him. Not that he really minded: the dream had been dark, full of something horrible that he had to get away from, even as he couldn’t figure out what it was. He hated dreams like that.

 

He pulled himself to his feet, feeling his muscles ache as if he really had been running. Dreams like that were the worst.

 

“Are you okay?” Molly asked, as he came through the door. Her brow furrowed, and she knelt down to stroke his head. “You aren’t getting sick, are you?”

 

Bad dreams, he admitted. The running one again.

 

“Oh, ick.” She gathered him in her arms, and he leaned against her, enjoying feeling the beating of her heart against him. Too bad humans couldn’t purr. That was one of their deficiencies, but he supposed the opposable thumbs canceled the lack of purring out. “Would you mind running an errand for me?”

 

Of course not. Schrodinger looked up at her. Molly was wearing a dark red sweater today, the color of the poinsettias Aunt Margie had put all around the store. It made her dark hair glow like burnished wood, and her hazel eyes sparkled. She was beautiful. What can I do?

 

“Lily, Jack and her new friend Zoey are supposed to help us decorate cookies today, remember? Corinne said she dropped them off at the school to play in the snow earlier, and I was wondering if you’d mind going and collecting them?” She hugged him. “I’ll have hot tea and goodies when you guys get back.”

 

Sure! Even if she didn’t think she believed in Santa right now, Lily and her dog Jack were two of Schrodinger’s best friends.

 

“Hang on!” Molly got up and got the scarf Mrs. Barrett had made him. She tied it carefully around his neck. “Be careful, and have fun! I’ll be here when you get back!”

 

Will do! Schrodinger ran out of the kitchen through the back door, where Aunt Margie had installed a special door big enough for him and Jack to nose open. The Carter Cove Elementary School was only a few blocks from the store, and the day was clear and cold, perfect weather for being outside in. It only took Schrodinger about ten minutes to arrive at the playground, where shouts, barking and happy laughter told him where to find his friends.

 

Lily Barrett shared her aunt Molly’s dark hair, but her eyes were as brown as her hair, and they danced with mischief. She wasn’t tall, but she was lean, just like her father, and fearless. Right now, she was hanging upside down on the monkey bars, her glasses threatening to fall right off her face, and her scarf dangling, despite the fact that she’d fallen from those same monkey bars not eight months before and broken her arm. Her matching hat, more of Mrs. Barrett’s handiwork, lay on the ground below.

 

Beside her hung another girl, and Schrodinger assumed this was Zoey Allard, Lily’s new friend. He looked at her with interested. She was an adorable girl, a little taller than her friend, with long brown braids that hung a good foot down from the top of her head. Bright green bows hung from the bottom of each braid, and as she turned, he saw they matched her green eyes almost perfectly. Her smile was as wide as Lily’s and Schrodinger decided he liked her immediately.

 

The third member of the party was lying on the snow nearby, not underneath the bars, his tongue lolling to one side. Jack was a half-German shepherd, half-blue tick hound mix, bigger than Schrodinger but as gentle as could be, unless Lily was in danger. Then he was 80 pounds of ferociousness.

 

Jack was the first one to notice him, no doubt picking up his scent on the wind. He jumped to his feet, barking in welcome. Schrodinger!

 

Hi Jack! Schrodinger ran over and rubbed noses with the dog. Then he looked over at Lily and Zoey. Hi Lily!

 

“Schrodinger!” she shrieked in glee, and flipped herself off the bars expertly, landing in the snow. She floundered for a moment before she got her feet underneath her, but then she pounced him. “I’ve missed you!”

 

Me too! Schrodinger rubbed his cold nose on her face, and Lily squealed in pleasure. Then he looked over at Zoey, who had joined them, her eyes wide. Hi! My name’s Schrodinger! Welcome to the Cove!

 

Her eyes got even wider, if possible. “You can talk!”

 

“Zoey, this is Schrodinger – he’s one of my best friends in the world,” Lily said, grabbing Zoey’s hand and dragging her closer. “He’s a CrossCat. He can talk, and he can go onto the Roads without needing a Gate and he knows EVERYTHING!”

 

Not everything, Schrodinger said, embarrassed. There’s a lot more to learn. But I can do the rest. He sat back and offered a paw to Zoey. Nice to meet you.

 

She took it, awed. “I didn’t know animals could talk!”

 

Schrodinger cocked his head, and then looked at Jack. She can’t hear you?

 

The hound’s head hung. No. Lily can, but she can’t.

 

I wonder why. Schrodinger had never encountered someone who couldn’t hear the dog in the Cove that he could remember. Then again, Zoey hadn’t been born in a CrossRoads town. Maybe it would come to her? He resolved to ask Molly and Drew later.

 

“It’s okay. We can translate what Jack says for you,” Lily told Zoey, who brightened up at that. “And you can hear Schrodinger! That’s good!”

 

Yes! Schrodinger agreed. Molly said you guys were coming over to help us decorate cookies. She said to tell you she has hot chocolate and goodies.

 

Goodies? Jack’s tail wagged so hard he nearly knocked Lily over. I love Molly’s goodies!

 

“Goodies!” Lily scrambled to grab her hat and shove it onto her head. “Come on, Zoey! We don’t want to miss Molly’s goodies!”

 

She grabbed Zoey’s hand and they tore off after Schrodinger and Jack. They arrived at the store breathless and laughing, and piled into the kitchen in a rush of cold air and snowflakes.

 

Molly was as good as her word: on the island were two mugs of hot chocolate, and two large soup mugs, one with Earl Grey tea and one with black currant tea. There was also a plate of sandwiches and cookies.

 

“Everyone take their coats off!” Molly announced, kneeling down to help Schrodinger. “There’s room on the hangers for everyone!”

 

Once they’d hung up their coats, Lily introduced Zoey. “This is my new best friend, Zoey,” she announced. “I’m super lucky, because now I have three best friends, just like you, Molly!”

 

“You do!” Molly grinned at her niece, then at Zoey. “Welcome to the Cove, Zoey! How do you like it?”

 

“It’s very neat!” Zoey told her, following Lily to the island, where they both hopped up on stools. Normally Schrodinger would have joined them, but Jack couldn’t balance on the stools, so he stayed on the floor with the hound. Molly put their tea on the ground in front of them, as well as two plates with grilled cheese sandwiches and the special cookies she made for Jack. “I had no idea there would be such interesting people here!”

 

“And cats that talk!” Lily chimed in, and Zoey nodded enthusiastically. “She didn’t think it was true, until she met Schrodinger!”

 

“We never had a cat that talked in Evansville!” Zoey told her. “Never.”

 

Lily shook her head. “I can’t imagine,” she said, and Schrodinger saw Molly try and hide a grin. “All the animals talk!”

 

“Well, here in the Cove, things are a bit different,” Molly reminded her niece. “We’re not quite like other people.”

 

“I like us,” Lily said, and dug into her sandwich with gusto.

 

“Me too,” Zoey said.

 

Me three, Schrodinger said, as he and Jack followed their lead.

 

<><>

Molly watched the four of them eat, their faces flushed with the cold and with excitement. Even Jack and Schrodinger were dancing, hardly able to control themselves. Just as the first day of December should be.

 

She checked the clock on the wall. They’d made several phone calls the night before, and everyone had agreed that what needed to be done could be done. Now, all she had to do was wait until it showed up.

 

The problem was, she’d never really been good at waiting.

 

To distract herself, Molly had baked up a storm that morning, and the results were currently piled up on trays at the back of the kitchen. Once Lily and Zoey were finished with their lunch, she cleared off the island, wrapped fresh aprons around them, and set out the first tray of cookies.

 

“We’re decorating cookies today for the retirement home,” she announced. “Today, we’ve got snowmen and wreaths to decorate. You two ready?”

 

Lily and Zoey nodded solemnly. What about us? Schrodinger asked, looking at Jack.

 

“I have something different for you two,” Molly promised him. “Let me get the girls started, and then I’ll show you, okay? I didn’t forget you.”

 

Schrodinger and Jack went back to their tea as Molly put bowls of red hots, mini M&Ms, pastel sugar balls and sugar snowflakes in front of them. Then she handed each girl a pastry bag of icing and walked them through dotting the icing on the wreath cookies, then putting the candies on them.

 

“Do whatever you want,” she said.

 

“What if we do it wrong?” Zoey asked, looking a little intimidated.

 

“You can’t,” Molly assured her. “There’s no wrong way to do it.” She smiled reassuringly. “I promise. You’ll be fine.”

 

“Ok,” Zoey said, but she still looked dubious.

 

“Let’s work together,” Lily told her. “At least for the first ones.”

 

Once she was sure they were okay, Molly turned to Jack and Schrodinger, who were waiting expectantly. “I’ve a very special job for you two,” she said. “Come with me.”

 

She led them out of the kitchen and up to the second floor of the bookstore, where most of the books were located. Molly looked around for the person that she was expecting, and led them over to a pile of floor cushions. “Sarah, they’re back!”

 

Sarah! Both Jack and Schrodinger surged forward to snuggle up to the young girl, who turned towards Molly’s voice, her face lighting up.

 

“Hi!” She giggled as they attacked her with tongues. “How are you guys?”

 

“Here’s the job I have for you two,” Molly said, after they settled down. “Sarah’s working on a school paper, and she needs help getting some books. Can you two be her legs?”

 

Absolutely! Jack said, and Schrodinger nodded.

 

“Awesome!” Molly looked at the tray next to Sarah. “Do you need more tea, Sarah?”

 

“No, thank you,” Sarah said politely. “But maybe in a bit.” She shifted, and felt for the keyboard that had fallen into the pile of cushions when she’d been mugged by the Cat and dog. “Ready to get to work, guys?”

 

Definitely!

 

Molly left them, secure in the knowledge that the two would help Sarah finish her assignment. Normally, she wouldn’t have needed it, but she’d slipped on the ice two weeks ago, and fractured her foot. The cast, along with her blindness, had made getting around difficult.

 

The afternoon flew by – once they had confidence in themselves, Lily and Zoey threw themselves into decorating the wreaths, leaving Molly to pipe the decorations on the snowmen. Then she turned them over to the girls, who added mini M&Ms to their fronts and red-hots to their hats.

 

“Once they’ve hardened, we’ll bag them up,” Molly said, admiring their handiwork. “You guys did awesome!”

 

Both girls beamed.

 

“Now, why don’t you guys head out to the wood stove?” Molly suggested. “Jack and Schrodinger are hanging out there.” Sarah had stopped into the kitchen about an hour ago to thank Molly, and get a cookie. Her father Jamie, one of the Cove’s police officers, had been with her, and Molly had sent them home with goodies for the rest of the family. It was just the way she was.

 

As they were heading out, Molly heard the front door open, and she glanced at the clock. Just after 4 pm, which meant…

 

“Drew!” she heard Lily squeal.

 

Bingo. Molly moved the last tray of snowmen to the sideboard and hurried out just in time to see Drew go down to the floor in a pile of fur and Lily. Zoey hung back, clearly uncertain, but both Molly and DC, the current clerk for CrossWinds Books, both broke into gales of laughter.

 

“Hi!” That was pretty much the only word Drew was able to get out, given that both Lily and Schrodinger were sitting on his chest, tickling him, and Jack was lying across his legs, preventing any sort of escape.

 

“Should we rescue him?” DC finally managed to stifle her laughter.

 

Molly nodded, wiping tears of mirth from her face. She waded in and picked Lily up bodily (and she wasn’t going to be able to do that much longer, she realized), then said, “Jack, Schrodinger, let him up!”

 

You spoil all our fun! Schrodinger protested, but they backed up. DC gave Drew a hand up, and then she handed him a huge package.

 

“What is that?” Molly and Lily asked at the same time, and Drew wiggled his eyebrows at them.

 

“I…don’t know,” he admitted, making them both giggle again. “It came through the Gate on a sleigh.”

 

Lily’s eyes widened. “A sleigh?”

 

Drew nodded. “And then, once Luke pulled it off the sleigh, the entire sleigh turned around and went back through the Gate.”

 

“Who was driving the sleigh? Was it Old Man Winter?” Lily asked, wiggling. Molly let her down.

 

“That was the really weird thing,” Drew said. “There wasn’t anyone driving it.”

 

“Really?” Lily, Jack and Schrodinger all stared at him in awe, but Molly looked over at Zoey, who didn’t look as convinced. Then again, Zoey hadn’t really been introduced to the Cove yet. Molly was looking forward to seeing how she looked after about a week.

 

“So why did you bring it here?” Molly said, turning back to Drew.

 

“Because it’s addressed to-” Drew paused, and looked at the front of the large package. It was the size of a framed painting, and Molly wondered just what their friends had come up with. “Lily Barrett, Zoey Allard, Jack Barrett and Schrodinger Barrett, care of CrossWinds Books.” He looked back down at the three in front of him, and then over at Zoey. “I’m assuming you’re Zoey, since that’s the only name I don’t recognize. I’m Drew.”

 

“Nice to meet you,” she said a little shyly, coming over to join the others. “Who sent that to us?”

 

“Well, the return address is simply the North Pole,” Drew admitted. “But there’s only one person who uses that address.”

 

Santa! Schrodinger danced around. It has to be Santa!

 

“Santa doesn’t exist,” Zoey said, but she looked doubtful.

 

He does! Schrodinger turned to her. I’ve ridden in his sleigh! So has Drew!

 

Zoey looked from the CrossCat up to Drew, who nodded. “Really?”

 

“Really.” Drew knelt down and held the package out to them. “Why don’t you open it together? It’s not very heavy.”

 

They did. Lily and Zoey held it between them, and both Schrodinger and Jack scratched at the front, tearing the brown paper. It fell away to show a large box that they stared at.

 

“What is it?” Molly asked, and they turned to show her. “Oh, cool!”

 

“It” was an advent calendar, a large one showing a winter scene that looked as if it had been inspired by the Cove itself. A snug cottage nestled in a snowy clearing, surrounded by pine trees. In the foreground, a sleigh carrying two children, a large dog and a large cat was being pulled by reindeer and piloted by a large man dressed in furs.

 

“That’s us!” Lily squealed. “Look, Zoey, it’s us! They even got your braids right!”

 

Molly leaned over the girls and looked. Lily was correct. One of the girls wore glasses and had short hair, while the other had long brown braids, tied with red and green plaid bows.

 

“How did they know?” Zoey said.

 

Santa knows everything, Schrodinger told her, and Jack nodded. He really does. He butted his head against her gently. Trust us. You’ll see.

 

There was a card taped to the corner and Molly pulled it off gently. She slipped the envelope open, took out the little card inside, and read out loud, “Dear Lily, Zoey, Schrodinger and Jack, I heard a rumor that you were having issues believing in Santa and the magic of Christmas. I hope this helps you to find that belief again, because that is a terrible thing to lose, and I hope to see you soon.” She held it out to them. “It’s signed S.”

 

“Wow.” Lily looked at the others. “Wow.”

 

“I don’t know,” Zoey said stubbornly. “It could be the adults.” She peered up at Molly and Drew. “You two could have done this.”

 

Drew nodded. “We could have. But we didn’t.”

 

“But how do we know that?” Zoey countered.

 

Because they say they didn’t, Schrodinger said. And they don’t lie. Besides, I know it’s Santa. I’ve met him.

 

I have too, Jack said stoutly, and he nosed Lily. Don’t you remember? He wrote to us! He brought Drew back!

 

Lily looked conflicted. “There was someone who brought Drew back on Christmas Day,” she told Zoey. “He really did look like Santa.”

 

Molly intervened here. “Maybe we should hang it up, and open the first window,” she said, hoping to head off an argument, since Zoey had a stubborn set to her chin. “See what it has. This is a pretty thick calendar – I’ll bet there are some cool things behind some of these doors.”

 

“Yes!” Both Lily and Zoey agreed with that, and brought the calendar into the kitchen, where Drew helped them hang it on the wall. It came with convenient hangers, and there was room on one of the walls before the counter started. It was even at Lily and Zoey’s height. Then the two girls looked at each other.

 

“You go ahead,” Lily told Zoey generously. “You start.”

 

Zoey looked at the painting, trying to find the first number. It ended up being hidden in a snowman on the edge of the painting, and she frowned. “There’s no way to open it,” she said.

 

Molly leaned over to look. Zoey was right – although she could see the number “1” in gold lettering, there was no box, no handle – no nothing. “Hmm,” she said. “What if you just touched it?”

 

The girl gave her a doubtful look, and Molly chuckled. “Trust me. I’ll bet it’s magic.”

 

Shaking her head, Zoey reached out and touched a finger to the number. Then she gasped.

 

Light flared, and the painting dissolved under her fingertip, in a small box shape. She pulled her hand back quickly, and they all watched as a tiny snowflake drifted out of the hole and floated up, growing in size.

 

“Wow,” Zoey breathed. “It really IS magic.”

 

The snowflake floated in front of her face, and Schrodinger nudged her. Put your hand out, he said, when she looked down at him.

 

She did, and the snowflake shimmered, then drifted down. As it touched her skin, it flared, and then was gone. In its place was a lovely little snow globe with a three-masted ship sailing into a harbor.

 

“It’s the Daughter of Stars!” Lily said, awed. “Captain Carter’s ship!”

 

It was indeed – once she’d pointed it out, they could all see the name of the ship painted on its side. As Zoey tipped the globe to set the snowflakes tumbling, something written on the bottom glinted gold in the light.

 

Molly watched her tip it all the way over. “What does it say?”

 

“Welcome to the Cove,” Zoey read, her eyes wide. “I hope you enjoy it.” She looked up. “It’s signed S.”