Sally's Lament by Mari Mancusi

Author:Mari Mancusi [Mancusi, Mari]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Published: 2024-08-10T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The door Sally had unlocked turned out to lead into a small kitchen, which was luckily empty when they entered, though it looked frequently used. There were old-fashioned gadgets strewn across the counter: a hand mixer, a butter churner, and several piles of strange metal objects that seemed to be fashioned into various shapes like stars, stockings, and trees. Sally sniffed the air; something was baking, too. And it smelled good.

Her eyes lit up as she spotted the stove. “Keep an eye on the door,” she told Jack. “I’ll need a minute to whip up an invisibility potion for us. It’ll help us get through the rest of the workshop without being spotted.”

“Of course,” Jack said, walking over and peering into the oven. “But you might want to be quick about it. Whatever’s in here has a timer set to go off in five minutes.”

Sally nodded, quickly reaching under a cabinet and pulling out a pot. She filled it with water from the sink, then hurried over to the stovetop. She dumped the herbs into the pot and stirred vigorously while Jack paced the room, keeping an eye on the door.

Soon the potion began to bubble and turn green. Sally took it off the stove, hoping she’d let it simmer long enough, then began to pour it into a couple of mugs she’d found nearby. Her hands shook a little as she worked, her nerves jangling as she pushed a now-filled cup to Jack.

“Here you go. You need to—”

BING!

The timer went off. Sally swallowed hard. “Down it! Now!”

The door began to open. Sally chugged her potion, then yanked Jack down behind the counter to give it a few moments to kick in. Meanwhile, two elves pushed through the door, wearing matching red aprons covered in white powder that looked more like flour than snow. One had a beard and the other was completely bald.

“I can’t believe he ordered another batch,” the bearded one complained as he opened the oven and pulled out a tray of what appeared to be little cookies cut in the same shapes as the metal objects Sally had noticed earlier. “At this rate we’re not going to have any dough left for our post-Christmas cookie swap.”

“You better stop whining about that if you know what’s good for you,” the bald elf scolded, wagging his finger at his friend. “Or you’ll find yourself on the naughty list. And doughless cookie swaps will be the least of your problems.”

The bearded elf shuddered. “Don’t even joke about that!” He glanced around the kitchen, as if half expecting some spy might be listening. For a moment, his gaze rested right on Sally and Jack and she squeezed her eyes shut, sure they’d been seen. But then he turned away, as if nothing were amiss. Sally’s shoulders slumped in relief. The potion had worked.

The elf turned back to his friend. “That reminds me, Frank and Fred have gone missing.”

“Oh, no. Are you serious?”

“They didn’t show up to their shifts this morning.

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