Free A Dash of Magic: A Bliss Novel by Kathryn Littlewood Page A

Cake
    Sugarless—Better-Than-Anything Banana Bread
    Flaky—Crazed Croissants
    Rolled—Ravishing Rugelach
    Sour—Double Orange Whoopie Pie
     
    When they had finally finished with the list, it was midnight, and Purdy declared that everyone should get some sleep, particularly Rose and Ty, who had to bake early in the morning.
    “But we won’t be ready in the morning!” Rose protested. “Balthazar can’t possibly translate all these recipes by then! And we can’t have gathered all the necessary ingredients by then, either!”
    “Calm down, Rosie, honey,” said Albert. “It’ll all work itself out. Balthazar can wake up early and start translating, and we’ll still have an hour before baking tomorrow to gather the ingredients we need.”
    And so Rose reluctantly went to her room and lay down on her bed opposite a snoring Leigh.
    She felt a little better having an idea of what categories might be coming up and what to do if they did, but she had no idea how she would get through tomorrow morning with no translated recipes and no ingredients.
    She tried to fall asleep, but she kept hallucinating the sound of flute music. I must be having some sort of bizarre nightmare, she thought. The music seemed to be coming from the wall, from underneath a writing desk in the corner. After a moment, Rose hopped out of bed and followed the sound. She discovered a small hole in the baseboard through which she could hear the flute music more clearly.
    “Hello?” she whispered into the hole.
    The flute music stopped. After a moment Jacques poked his fuzzy nose through the hole.
    “Jacques!” she whispered. “You’re back!”
    “I am not back ,” he replied. “I live in this hole, and I am doing my nightly practice. But I have not returned. I have not disobeyed the warning of the Scottish Fold. It is written in the Book of Mouse that I must stay away until the warning has been rescinded.”
    “There’s a Book of Mouse , too?” asked Rose.
    Jacques emerged from the hole, looking left and right, then sat back on his haunches. He was carrying a miniature silver flute the size of a toothpick. “Every mouse has a copy of the Book of Mouse ,” he said. “It is a history of mice, their oppression by humans and cats, and their glorification by insects and small birds.”
    Rose nodded. “We had a book like that. It’s a collection of our family’s magical recipes, sort of a magical family history. Some of the recipes are good; some are dangerous. We never used the dangerous ones. Except once, by accident.”
    “You say you had the book? Where did it go?” Jacques asked.
    “It’s the one you just saw in that suite on the Fantasy Floor,” said Rose. “That’s the whole reason we’re here. To beat my aunt Lily in a baking contest and get that book back. But I don’t think I can do it.”
    “Your mind is heavy,” said Jacques, patting Rose’s knee with his tiny paw, which was the size of a lentil. “Which is why you are awake at such a late hour.”
    “It’s true,” said Rose. “I just wish I could get the Booke back tonight. There’s no way I can win against Lily. I’m not a good enough baker.”
    Rose pondered a minute, then trapped Jacques between her palms and ferried him into Sage and Ty’s room, where her brothers had already fallen asleep.
    “Guys! Ty! Sage! Wake up! I have an idea!” Rose shouted, drowning out the sound of Jacques’s pleas. “Instead of waiting around to lose tomorrow morning, why don’t we sneak up to the Fantasy Floor tonight and steal the Booke back once and for all!”
    “What?” Sage said groggily.
    “Rose, go back to bed,” said Ty.
    Rose ran to Ty’s bed and shook him awake by the shoulder, holding Jacques captive in her other palm. “We can sneak up to Lily’s room, steal the Booke back, and go home and fix Calamity Falls tomorrow. Wouldn’t that be easier?”
    Ty sat up in bed, his eyes still closed. “Yeah, I guess . . .”
    “Sage, don’t you want this