Thursday, December 18

Normally, Molly had Thursdays off. But this was the Thursday before the Snow Queen’s Ball, and since Aunt Margie usually closed the bookstore that Saturday, Molly had come in to work. Jack was sitting at the island, a cup of tea cooling at his elbow as he watched her paint lines of shimmering silver icing on delicate snowflake cookies. Lily’s teacher Miss Stanley had stopped by the day before and requested them for the last day of school on Friday, and Molly had been happy to oblige.

Jack was fascinated. “But how do you do it?” he asked. “Not the actual icing – I can see that. But how do you know what it’s supposed to look like?”

“I just do,” Molly said, laying another line down. There were nearly three dozen cookies that had already been frosted on the counters against the wall, and she only had two or three cookies on this last sheet to lay icing on. “It’s not really something I can explain.” She frowned at the cookie, deemed it done, and moved on to the next one.

“It’s amazing,” he said. “Like watching a nymph dance.”

“Seriously?” Molly looked up at him. “A nymph?”

“I don’t know many mortals, or I’d compare you to them,” Jack said. “Nymphs are what I know. Cut me some slack?”

“Oh, I suppose.” Molly grinned at him, then went back to her cookies. When she’d finished the last one, she set the icing bag aside and frowned at the trays. Then she went into the pantry and came back, not with the silver bullets she’d planned originally, but more of the shimmery sugar that she’d used in the icing. She dusted this across the snowflakes and smiled. “There.”

“Almost,” Jack said, leaning over. “May I?”

She eyed him warily. “What are you going to do?”

He grinned. “Make them magical. Do you trust me?”

“I don’t know,” Molly said, wondering if she really did. “These are for Lily and Zoey’s class, you know.”

“I won’t hurt them, and I won’t wreck the cookies,” he promised. “Please? Let me help.”

“Okay,” Molly said, stepping back. “Go ahead.”

Jack grinned even wider and then, to her surprise, he leaned down and blew softly across the cookies. Loose sugar whirled up, sparkling in the light. No, not just sparkling, Molly realized: they were glowing.

The glowing sugar swirled across all the cookies, settling down and making the cookies dance with pale light. Now they looked like captured stars, glowing with inner starlight.

“Oh, those are beautiful!” Molly breathed, clapping her hands together. “Jack, that’s wonderful!”

Then she looked up, and saw his face was pale, paler than normal. “Jack? Are you okay?” she asked worriedly, hurrying over to him.

He waved her off. “I’m fine. I just didn’t realize how much that would take out of me.” Passing a hand in front of his face, Jack sighed. “Not long ago, I could have done that in my sleep.”

Molly settled for laying a hand on his shoulder. “It will be over soon,” she soothed. “Drew said that Jade didn’t seem completely opposed to lifting the banishment.” She smiled. “He said she was captivated by the cabin.”

“Really?” Jack looked up, hope warring with despair in his eyes.

“Really,” she assured him.

Jack picked up his tea and sipped, making a slight face, but waving her away when she went to warm it back up for him. “She only went there once, you know,” he said, as she went to start packing up the glowing cookies instead.

“Oh?” Molly said, inviting him to continue with that one word.

“Just before the last battle,” Jack said, his eyes going distant, looking back across the centuries. “We didn’t know if we’d even survive, and I convinced her that we needed one night together.” He laughed softly. “She said it was charmingly rustic. I think she meant it wasn’t much better than a tent. But it was a clear fall night, with a sky full of stars. We had a fire outside, and we fell asleep in each other’s arms.”

“It sounds lovely,” Molly said.

“It was the last time I was truly happy,” he said. “The next day, the raiders made their final attempt. I was lured off, my guard slain, and Caliban accused me of cowardice that cost his brother his life. I was banished.” He laughed again, but this one was laced with bitterness. “My only consolation was that Caliban was banished too. It made things…bearable.”

“What do you think will happen to Caliban when she chooses you, Jack?” Molly asked him.

“You speak as if it’s a forgone conclusion.”

“It is.” Molly’s voice was firm. “I know it.”

“True love conquers all?” Jack smiled sadly at her.

“Yes.” Molly shook a finger at him. “Don’t distract me. What will Caliban do?”

“I don’t know,” Jack said honestly. “He can’t come to the Cove while Jade is here, but that doesn’t mean his army can’t.”

“His army?” Molly paused, wide-eyed. “He’d invade the Cove? But that’s insane!”

Jack chuckled. “Look at who you’re talking about, Molly.”

Her brain whirled. What would happen? This wasn’t back when the only defense the Cove had was Captain Carter and his ragtag allies. Despite the magical nature of the Cove, it was still a part of the United States. “He might be surprised at the reaction,” she said. “Does he know about modern warfare?”

“I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised,” Jack said. “But maybe we’re borrowing trouble. Maybe he’ll give up and go find someone else to bother.”

Molly looked at him steadily. “You don’t believe that, do you.” It wasn’t a question.

“No,” Jack said. “No, I don’t.”

And that left her with all sorts of other things to worry about.