"I've got to go," Kiri said reluctantly. "I'll see you later." She winked, an action Morgana didn't understand then but would later.
"Bye!" everyone chorused.
When Kiri was gone, Morgana turned to the rest.
"Now," she announced dramatically, "we ride Bus a la Knight."
"Your French needs work," Stormy commented.
Morgana humphed.
"Coffee," Cassiopeia commanded from underneath her bed, sticking out her hand. When the steaming mug was presented to her, she pulled her arm back under the bed and drank the entire thing in one go. Then she set the empty cup back out and slowly eased into the light, groaning.
"Anybody know what time it is?" asked Circe blearily to anyone who would listen.
Morgana rubbed her eyes and looked at her watch. "It's..."
Thump. Scritch-scratch. Silence.
"What was that?" Stormy inquired nervously.
"Worry about getting ready to get off, not some mysterious noise," suggested Uric.
"I'm not taking orders from you!" exclaimed Stormy, but no one did worry about the sound any more.
Morgana's house was indeed large. It was something of a medium-sized manor. Set on a hill, it had a monstrous, mostly wooded backyard. The architecture of the house was exquisite Victorian. Circe's mouth fell open when she saw it, but Uric had been here before.
He lived just down the street and as a child, he had had no idea that real magic existed. Being the only children their age within a two-mile radius, Morgana and he had been friends through school. Actually, Morgana had been home-schooled, but Uric went to the local public school.
Until Hogwarts changed everything.
Suddenly he had been able to see the magical side of the Smith home, where before he had only been allowed in the Muggle. He had seen the magical side of Morgana, too. He did wonder how she'd ever hid it. His friend was very obviously extraordinary.
"All right, this is, as we've come to call it, The Portal," Morgana instructed. She pointed to a huge full-length mirror on a wall in the entry hallway. "If you look really closely, you can see there're no hooks holding it up.
"The mirror is one of only a few physical doorways between the Muggle and wizard halves of our house. C'mon."
She whispered something to the glass and stuck her hand right through the seemingly normal reflective face. Morgana announced cheerfully, "Everyone in!" and promptly disappeared into the hidden doorway.
Uric shrugged and followed, the others going single file after him.
One by one they popped into view again right in the middle of a kitchen.
A lady sitting at the table, presumably Morgana's mother, jumped up to meet them.
"Mum!" Morgana protested as she was swept into an extremely enthusiastic embrace. She disentangled herself so she could properly introduce her guests.
"Mum, these are my friends, Circe, Uric, Cassiopeia, and Stormy. Kiri couldn't come or I would introduce her too."
"Hi," Stormy said.
"And everybody, this is my mother."
"Call me Violet," Morgana's mother added.
"Hey, why does the mirror take us right into the middle of the kitchen, in particular?" Uric inquired.
"My dad made a minor mistake in calibration. It was supposed to go to that," Morgana pointed, "end of the room.
"Trust me, it's better than most. At least you appear at ground level."
"Do I even want to know?" asked Circe nervously.
"No," Morgana confirmed.
"So we have to use the mirror every time we want to move between the two sides of the house?" Cassi questioned.
"Actually, no. All you have to do is yell, 'Darn cats!' from anywhere in the house and you'll get transported to the equivalent room. Our neighbors must think we have some annoying cats, that's for sure."
"Will 'Damn cats' work?" Stormy asked.
"Sorry to say it, but... no," the hostess replied. "It can only be made to recognize one phrase. There's actually a story behind that. My dad tripped over Bonzo while working on it, and by the time he realized it, it was too late. We can't change it."
"Damn!" Stormy exclaimed.
"And if you're going to ask why we didn't use that in the first place, it's because you don't always appear in convenient places and the mirror's much easier with luggage."
"You know me too well," Uric commented. "Oh, and who's Bonzo?"
"He," Morgana pointed out a chocolate-colored cat with a white face lounging in the corner, "is Bonzo. We named him that because he's a clown.
"As a matter of fact, why don't I give you the animal tour?" Without waiting for an answer, she adopted a tour guide voice.
"Now, here at Jackson House we have five cats, four owls, a tarantula, and a dog. In addition to the house pets there are several wild birds yours truly has befriended that frequent the house. To your left you will see..."
