The Perfect Match Read online

“Don’t call me ‘Baby,’ Mama!” said the cub. “I’m a big bear now! Call me Teddy!”

  “All right, then,” said his mother. “Steve, would you please carry Teddy?”

  “I wanna walk!” whined the cub.

  The family was still arguing as they shuffled off. Cory watched them for a moment before going back into the house. After making sure that all the doors were locked, she went down the path to the main road. When she summoned the pedal-bus for her trip home, a different bus came with different drivers, but they seemed to recognize her as well.

  Noodles was still lying on the kitchen floor when she got home, so she picked him up and went back outside to call another pedal-bus. Although it wasn’t far to the animal doctor’s office, it was a long way to lug Noodles. Three fairies, a dwarf, and an ogre were already riding the bus when it stopped to pick up Cory. When they saw the woodchuck, the fairies cooed over him.

  “I’m taking him to the animal doctor,” Cory told them.

  Even the ogre was sympathetic then, asking what was wrong with him and offering advice. Everyone wished Noodles well when the bus stopped to let Cory off.

  When Cory glanced down the street, she was surprised to see that Dr. Dickory’s office was only three buildings from Perfect Pastry, a shop owned by Jack Horner. She’d visited the pastry shop a few times and never noticed the animal doctor’s sign before. DR. HICKORY DICKORY read the sign that hung above the door. The picture of a cuddly kitten was curled up on one side of his name, while a fierce-looking manticore watched from the other. Cory thought the manticore’s eyes seemed to follow her as she walked, which was a little unnerving, so she hurried through the door and found herself in the waiting room.

  It was a fairly large room, although it didn’t seem to be when she first walked in. A man wearing beads and feathers over a leather shirt and leggings had a bald eagle perched on his shoulder. He was seated across from an ogre struggling to control a badger that was snarling at a giant rat. The rat was huddled at the feet of a witch dressed in tattered green and black, who was glaring at the ogre as if it was his fault that the badger was snarling.

  Cory was careful to keep her distance from the other occupants of the room as she walked to the counter in the back wall. An elf maiden dressed all in green was seated at a desk on the other side. She stopped writing on a large leaf long enough to shove a clipboard and an ink stick at Cory and say, “Sign in and I’ll be with you in a minute.”

  The elf was still busy writing when Cory finished signing in, so she left the board and ink stick on the counter and took a seat with Noodles. When the man carrying the eagle glanced her way, she gave him a tentative smile, but his expression never changed and she went back to petting the woodchuck. She was there only a few minutes when a door opened and a brownie cradling a bandaged chipmunk came out. A few minutes later the man with the eagle was called into the room. The bird beat its wings as the man carried it to the door. Calming the bird with a few soft words, the man ducked so they could both fit through the opening.

  Noodles groaned and shifted on Cory’s lap. She petted his head as he moved again, trying to get comfortable. By the time Cory and Noodles were called into the back room, she was even more worried about the woodchuck.

  Dr. Dickory was a tall thin man with a large Adam’s apple that bounced up and down when he spoke. He was running his hand through his thinning hair when he stepped into the room, but he dropped his hand and smiled when he saw Cory watching him.

  “Now, who do we have here?” he said, peering at Noodles.

  Cory set the woodchuck on the table in the middle of the room and said, “This is my woodchuck, Noodles. He hasn’t been behaving like himself today. He just lies around moaning, he’s been breathing hard, and he hasn’t eaten a thing.”

  “Hmm,” said Dr. Dickory, whipping a round piece of glass on the end of a stick out of his pocket. “Let’s see what we have here, shall we? Can you open your mouth, please, Noodles?”

  “He isn’t the talking kind of animal,” said Cory.

  “Oh, right!” Setting down his stick, the doctor pried the woodchuck’s mouth open and peered inside. “I think I see the problem. Thortonberry!” he called in a surprisingly loud voice.

  A moment later, a gnome opened the door and hurried into the room.

  “Hold this little fellow’s mouth open, please,” said the doctor.

  The gnome dragged a stool from the corner to the table and climbed onto it. Placing one hand on top of Noodle’s head and the other on his jaw, he held the woodchuck’s mouth open while the doctor reached inside. Cory gasped when Dr. Dickory began to pull something out. He pulled and pulled as a long green string emerged from the woodchuck’s mouth.

  “That’s my uncle’s gardening twine!” Cory exclaimed as the doctor kept pulling.

  Noodles tried to get away, but the gnome was stronger than he looked and held on, keeping the woodchuck’s mouth open and his body on the table. When all the string was out of Noodles, the doctor held a piece at least ten feet long.

  “I’m impressed,” said the doctor. “I bet you didn’t know he had it in him.”

  “If I had, I would have tried to pull it out myself. He has to feel better now,” Cory said as the gnome let go of Noodles.

  The woodchuck sat up, gave the gnome a nasty look, and began to clean himself.

  “Does he eat nonfood items often?” asked the doctor.

  “All the time,” said Cory. “Last time it was the buckle off a boot.”

  “That’s not good,” said the doctor. “Does he get to spend much time outdoors? Even domesticated woodchucks are still wild creatures at heart. Keep them inside and they get bored and destructive. You should make sure he spends most of his days getting fresh air and sunshine. If you don’t have an outdoor enclosure for him, you might consider building one.”

  “The destructive part is certainly true,” Cory said as she picked up Noodles. “I’ll see what I can do about the enclosure. Thanks, Dr. Dickory.”

  Noodles grumbled all the way home, although Cory wasn’t sure if it was his stomach protesting or if he was being grumpy. He seemed to be feeling fine when they reached the house, so she set her purse on the table by the door and was about to take him back outside when she heard a ping! and a message appeared in the basket. Tearing the envelope open, she found a message from one of her clients, Mary Lambkin, who had been away on business.

  I’m back and ready to go on another date. Please find me the perfect man!

  Mary Lambkin

  I’ll see what I can do, Cory wrote back, hoping to see Mary’s match when she had more time.

  Noodles was waiting by the door when Cory turned to look for him. “The doctor said that you need to spend more time outside,” she said, “but building an enclosure sounds like an all-day project, and I don’t have time to start it today. I can take you for a walk now, though. Let’s see if we can tire you out.”

  Noodles grumbled as they crossed the street and entered the park. Unlike the grassy parks in the center of town, this one was a forest with paths laid out for walking. Most people stayed on the paths, but some of the local pet owners let their animals have the run of the forest. Cory often did this, so as soon as they reached the shade of the trees, Noodles sat down and waited for her to take off his leash. He shambled through the underbrush aimlessly at first, but when he reached a spot under a tree, something caught his interest and he began rooting around as if looking for something.

  After a while, Cory grew tired of waiting for him. “Let’s go, Noodles. You’re supposed to be exercising.”

  When she walked away and Noodles refused to follow, she sighed and reattached his leash. The woodchuck was reluctant to move on even then, and the rest of their walk was a test of wills, with Noodles either planting his feet or shuffling a few steps before turning around and trying to return to the tree.

  “Let’s go home, Noodles,” Cory finally said, picking up the woodchuck. “We’re not accomplishing anything here.
I don’t know what there is about that tree that you like so much, but we’re not staying around while you inspect it anymore.”

  After giving Noodles fresh water and a lettuce leaf, it was time for her to get ready to go out to dinner. Johnny Blue was going to pick her up on his solar cycle, so she bathed and put on black pants and her dove-gray sweater. Because the solar cycle was nearly silent, she didn’t know he was there until he knocked on the door.

  Half ogre and half human, Blue was not nearly as big as a full-blooded ogre, but a lot taller and more heavily muscled than most humans. He was a year older than Cory, so had been a year ahead of her in school and had been her ex-boyfriend’s best friend. Although he was still just a trainee, he made an imposing figure in his FLEA uniform. Blue was also a well-known trumpet player, but he usually played solo, not in a band like Cory. She thought he was perfect, at least for her; the special magic that came with being a Cupid even told her so.

  It was obvious that Blue had made an effort to look nice in his white shirt and tan pants. When Cory answered the door, he took off his cycle helmet and ran his fingers through his mussed hair.

  “You look very nice,” they said at the same time, and laughed.

  The trip to the restaurant wasn’t long, but Cory enjoyed riding on the cycle behind Blue, even though they couldn’t hear each other over the noise of the wind rushing past. She liked how solid he felt when she wrapped her arms around his waist, and enjoyed leaning with him as if they were one person when they took a curve. After he parked the cycle, he took her hand to help her off, dwarfing her small hand in his enormous one. She smiled up at him as he led her across the street to Everything Leeks, the restaurant that Jack Nimble had chosen.

  Although Cory and Blue had officially been together for less than a week, she was closer to him than she’d ever been to her old boyfriend, Walker, who she’d dated for years. Ever since the party she’d thrown at her uncle’s house, not a day had gone by that she and Blue didn’t do something together, even if it was just to sit on the front porch and talk. Knowing him the way she did, she wondered how she’d ever been drawn to someone as shallow as Walker.

  When they stepped into the restaurant, they found Marjorie and Jack already there, seated at a table in the corner. It was a pretty restaurant with flowers painted on the walls and plant-holding dividers between the tables that made them seem cozy and private. As they approached the table, Marjorie and Jack were holding hands and gazing into each other’s eyes. They didn’t look up until Blue pulled a chair out for Cory and took a seat himself.

  Marjorie was the first to notice them. “Hi!” she said as if she was surprised.

  “Hi, yourself,” Cory said, smiling broadly. She had used her Cupid magic to match up the couple, and was pleased that they seemed so happy together. Noting the golden blush on her friend’s normally pale skin, she added, “You look like you’ve spent some time outside.” Marjorie had always been pretty, but she was so happy now that she would have seemed to glow even without the tan.

  Marjorie laughed and turned back to Jack. “We flew in Jack’s balloon to the Azure Sea and went swimming.”

  “That sounds like fun,” said Cory. “Blue, what did you do today?”

  The waiter stopped by the table to give them each a menu, and lingered a moment to admire Marjorie. When Jack noticed, he scowled until the waiter hurried off.

  Blue shrugged. “Nothing exciting, although I did arrest two shoplifters in a sporting goods store,” he said, looking pointedly at Jack. The store, Nimble Sports, was the outlet for Jack’s company that manufactured athletic shoes and other athletic wear like bathing suits, sweatshirts, and jogging pants.

  “I stopped at the store before coming here and my assistant told me about that,” Jack said, glancing at Blue. “It seems the nymphs were stealing flip-flops. They had a dozen pairs between them.”

  “I’m surprised they didn’t steal bathing suits,” said Cory.

  “Why would they?” Marjorie asked with a laugh. “Some nymphs don’t wear them. We saw some at the beach today.”

  “But they . . . Oh,” Cory said when Blue gave her a rueful look.

  “What about you?” Blue asked her. “What did you do today?”

  After Cory told them about Noodles and the animal doctor, she told them about being asked to go to the FLEA station the next day to make a statement about everything the Tooth Fairy Guild had done to her.

  “My mother got a message about that, too,” said Jack. “She’s really looking forward to it. Mother hates the guilds and is thrilled that someone is finally going to do something about them. When I was growing up, she used to drag me along to the FLEA station to tell them about something else the Flower Fairy Guild had done, but the FLEA officers never wanted to hear it.”

  “Jack’s mother was a flower fairy until she married Jack’s father and was kicked out for marrying a human,” Cory told Blue. “They tried to make her life miserable for years.”

  “I can’t believe all the things the guilds have gotten away with for so long,” said Blue. “Your grandfather has gotten everyone riled up about it, Cory.”

  “Which is only right,” said Jack. “They took away Cory’s fairy abilities just like they did my mother’s.”

  “Are you ready to place your orders?” the waiter asked, hovering by Marjorie’s elbow.

  Cory wondered how long he’d been standing there. She shook her head, saying, “Sorry, we’ve been so busy talking we haven’t had a chance to look at the menus. Can you come back in a few minutes?”

  The waiter nodded, but he gave her such a curious look that she had a feeling he had overheard everything.

  After a pleasant dinner, they were leaving when Marjorie and Jack invited them to go to a light show that some flower fairies had arranged using trained lightning bugs. Cory was sorry she had to turn them down. “I’d love to, but I can’t. I’m house-sitting for someone tonight and I need to head over there.”

  “I can take you,” said Blue.

  “Are you sure?” asked Cory. “It’s on the other side of town.”

  “Good!” he told her, holding the door open. “That gives me that much more time to spend with you.”

  “I need to pick up my overnight bag first,” said Cory.

  “Even better,” he said with a grin.

  When they arrived at the house, her uncle was watering the garden just as he did every evening. Noodles was rooting through a pile of weeds that Micah had pulled from the ground, and his nose was covered with dirt when Cory stopped to pet him.

  “I’ve come for my overnight bag,” she told Micah. “Then Blue is taking me to the Bruins’ house.”

  “I’ve been thinking about this whole house-sitting thing,” Micah said. “You met the Bruins today, right? What did you think of them?”

  “I was surprised that they were actually bears, but they seem like very nice people. It’s a mother bear, a father bear, and their cub. They have a beautiful house in the West Woods area. I’ll write down their address so you have it, but it is just for the one night. I’ll come home as soon as they get back tomorrow.”

  Micah sighed. “I trust your judgment. I know you had to learn how to get out of a lot of tricky situations when you were a tooth fairy, but if you think there’s anything wrong or something makes you uncomfortable, get out of there. Do you understand?”

  “I do!” Cory said, and gave her uncle a kiss on his cheek. “Oh, I need you to watch Noodles, if you wouldn’t mind. I really can’t take him to the Bruins’ house.”

  “I figured that was part of the deal,” Micah said with a grin. “Now, get going before it gets dark. And if you aren’t back first thing tomorrow, I’m coming after you!”

  It was dark out when they reached Deep Woods Drive, which meant that Blue had to pedal the solar cycle the last mile or so. Cory thought the area didn’t look nearly as inviting as it had during the day.

  “I don’t know about this,” Blue said when he saw how far the house was
off the road. “I don’t like how isolated this is, and hearing about that vagrant breaking into houses has me worried. I’m supposed to be at the station early tomorrow morning, but I can stay here tonight and call in sick tomorrow.”

  “That won’t be necessary,” Cory said as she followed Blue up the path. He had insisted on walking her to the front door and carrying her bag as well. She appreciated his offer to stay, but she had accepted the job and was sure she could handle it. “I’m sorry I mentioned the vagrant. They said he comes in only if the door is unlocked, so he isn’t actually breaking in. I’ll make sure to keep all the doors locked and I’ll be fine. Please don’t worry. I’ll send you a message as soon as I get home.”

  “Fine,” he said, sounding reluctant. “But I’m going to look the house over before I leave.”

  From the expression on his face, Cory knew better than to argue. Besides, she had to admit that the dark house in the middle of the woods did look a little spooky, and having Blue make sure that no one was already in the house would help her feel better. She waited by the front door with her bag at her feet while he turned on every light as he searched the house. When he was sure it was safe, he came back to give her a kiss good night.

  “I’ll be looking for that message, so don’t forget to send it. If you don’t, I’ll be back here banging on the door.”

  “You and Uncle Micah!” Cory said with a laugh. “Don’t worry! I won’t forget.”

  Blue refused to go until she had locked the door behind him. After peeking out of one of the front windows and seeing him walking up the path, she picked up her bag and carried it up the stairs. Setting it on the floor of the middle bedroom, she climbed onto the bed and looked around. There would be a good view of the backyard out the window when there was daylight, but right now all she could see were the dark shapes of the trees. The room itself was pleasant with framed drawings of flowers on the walls and the scent of cedar in the air. Her only complaint was that the mattress was a little too soft for her taste, but it would do.

  Cory left the light on in the guest room as well as the second floor hallway when she went to turn off all the other lights. Although Blue had checked the windows and doors, she checked them all herself, just to be sure. When she was satisfied that everything was locked, she turned off the rest of the lights and went back upstairs. It was a warm night, so she opened the window a crack before crawling under the covers.