As soon as it was answered, she could see that rather than in its usual place, the correspondence mirror in her parents’ place was on the island counter in the kitchen. There were three menorahs on the kitchen table, among them her mother’s favorite David Palombo menorah. Each one had one candle loaded in the first night’s candle holder, and one lying beside the menorah to use as a shamash.
Rosemary’s mother, Miriam, answered Rosemary’s call with a friendly “Happy Hanukkah” before calling aloud for Rosemary’s father, Naphtali, and her sister, Serena, to come to the table. Each one of them greeted her with a warm “Happy Hanukkah” as they came to the table.
“I’m so sorry you can’t light the candles with us,” said Miriam.
“Don’t worry, mammy,” said Rosemary. “A friend gave me a new menorah. I’m just not sure I can light it here in this booth.”
“Well that’s good,” said Miriam, “then at least you can light the candles yourself later.”
Rosemary didn’t have her menorah with her in the booth to light, but she said the blessing together with her family before they lit theirs.
“Now I have an announcement to make,” said Miriam. “We have gotten Hanukkah gifts for both of you kids. Serena, you will get yours tomorrow. And Simon, you’ll get yours on the trip.”
“Won’t Hanukkah be over by then?” asked Rosemary.
“It will,” affirmed Miriam. “That’s why I’m telling you about it now. I promise you, it will be worth the wait.”
After a little while, the call ended. Rosemary put a drop of the girl’s liquid hairdressing spell on her head, and as soon as her hair finished growing out went back to her room. Sarah sat with her as she put her menorah on the window ledge, put a candle in the left-most candle holder, and placed another candle beside the menorah to use as the shamash. Finally, she got out her wand, lifted the shamash in her left hand, put the tip of the wand to the wick, and chanted “Accende candelam.”
As the candle flame came to life, Rosemary laid her wand on the window ledge, a safe distance from the menorah. She then said the blessing, lit the one candle, and put the shamash in its holder. Only once all that was done did she return her wand to whatever pocket dimension that it slid into when she inserted it into her bracelet’s gemstone.
As the two candles burned, Rosemary talked with Sarah about what present she should give Marsh on Wednesday.
“I’d say something hand-made,” said Sarah. “Hobgoblins appreciate that.”
“Well, I can’t do sculptures,” said Rosemary, “but I can kinda draw.”
“There’s an idea,” said Sarah.
“How about I draw a picture of the menorah?” asked Rosemary.
“No!” insisted Sarah. “That would look too much like you’re giving it to him in exchange for the menorah.”
“Okay then,” said Rosemary, “I’ll draw a picture of him.”
“That’s an idea,” said Sarah.
As the candles continued burning, Rosemary began work on her picture of the hobgoblin.
* * *
Wednesday was the fifth day of Hanukkah. By this time, Rosemary was in good spirits. She had gotten to celebrate the holiday that she previously was sure she would miss. Her concern about missing a check-in at the infirmary over the holiday had been resolved — and she reminded herself that her mother had a plan of how to take care of Luna on the trip. She finally was free to look forward to the vacation.
Wednesday, after study hall, she went back to her dorm room. In her satchel, she put the bag of granola she had filled that morning at breakfast. She then rolled up the now complete picture of Marsh, fastened it with a piece of string, and put that into her satchel too. She then headed to the ground floor of the North Wing Needle Tower to meet Marsh.
“Happy Hanukkah,” said Marsh, as he started eating the granola Rosemary had brought him.
“Thank you,” said Rosemary. “By the way, one thing that we do in Hanukkah in America — just in America — is we give gifts to friends. And I think of you as one of my friends.”
“Oh yeah,” said Marsh. “The granola’s as good as ever.”
“No, I get you granola all the time,” said Rosemary. “I made you something else for your Hanukkah gift.” She pulled the rolled-up picture out of her satchel and handed it to Marsh.
Marsh untied the string and looked at the picture. “Sweet,” he said. “I’ll put it in my hole.”
“I hope you enjoy it,” said Rosemary.
“I will,” said Marsh. He then got up and vanished.
* * *
The rest of Hanukkah went very well. The holiday ended with Rosemary in very good cheer — and each of her friends had at some point learned that she was Jewish and wished her a happy Hanukkah, as had a few others. It was on Saturday night that she lit the last candle, but she left the menorah out on the window ledge for the last day of the festival, not packing it away until Sunday night.
The rest of the month, classes continued to go well. In Potions class, Professor Pendleton had everyone brew a potion called liquid helium — which was called that because if someone drank it, it would have a helium-like effect on their voice for up to thirty minutes. After successfully brewing it, Rosemary and Samantha rewarded themselves by drinking a little bit and singing the Alvin and the Chipmunks theme song.
In Enchantment class, the students received their first lessons in the art of water sculpting. Each student was given a bowl of water and instructed in how to get the water to form a sphere that sat and rested in the bowl, holding its form for ten minutes. It took Rosemary a few tries to get it right, but when she did, it formed a perfect sphere that sat in her bowl. Shortly after she formed it, Professor Hathaway picked up the sphere, examined it, and put it back in the bowl. “Excellent work, Rosemary,” she said.
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One day, after Warding Basics, Professor Thorn asked Rosemary to stay after class. Once the other students were gone, he handed Rosemary a somewhat metallic black cubic box, about two inches on each edge. In the middle, about an inch from the top, a crease went around the whole box, suggesting that it was made of two halves.
“This,” said Professor Thorn, “is a muriphasy alarm.” He opened the box, and it unfolded into two hollow halves connected only by a hinge. A red glow came from inside the box that quickly began to fade. “When it is open like this, it will start making a loud wailing sound if anyone performs muriphasy anywhere within a hundred yards of it. That wailing sound will be really loud, but it can’t be heard at all outside of the room in which the alarm is placed, so whoever’s coming won’t know you have it. It will continue making that sound until you close it.” The Professor folded the alarm back into its cubic form. “Until we know a little more about who tried to carry you off, it’s best that when you aren’t at school, you sleep with it open in your room. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” said Rosemary.
“Now, the magic that makes these things tick ain’t a permanent enchantment,” explained Professor Thorn. “When it stops working, you’ll know, because that glow that comes out of it for the first few moments after you open it up won’t show up. The week before that happens, it’ll give you a heads-up because the glow will start turning green and then blue. Of course, with this one, you won’t have to worry about that because it’ll happen some time in April, and you’ll be in school then. But if your situation isn’t resolved by the end of the school year, I can get you a new one. With any luck, though, we’ll be down to the bottom of things by then and you won’t need one.”
Rosemary nodded.
“One more thing,” said Professor Thorn. “If this alarm gets tripped, then the local Sentinel Operations Department wherever you are will know about it, and they won’t take long to be on the scene.”
“One thing,” said Rosemary, “my aunt and uncle are mundies.”
“Don’t worry,” assured Professor Thorn. “They’re trained to deal with situations like that. But we take it very seriously if we think that someone’s coming after one of our students.”
* * *
Hanukkah was over. Most of the campus now was abuzz with students planning for Christmas. Although devoid of any specific religious symbolism, several Christmas trees could be seen around the school, including a big one in the Hemlock Tower Common Room all the way across from Drippidy Falls, whose trees were now entirely leafless with the exception of a few pines. Rosemary made a point of wishing a Merry Christmas to everyone who had previously wished her a Happy Hanukkah.
A few people at Misty Peaks were anticipating other holidays. Professor Thorn had on the corner of his desk a sculpted representation of a candle holder that very much reminded Rosemary of a menorah, except that it only had seven candles that were all on the same level. Rosemary assumed it was one of those seven-candled menorahs she had seen in the synagogue that really weren’t part of Hanukkah at all — although she wondered why Professor Thorn all of a sudden had it on his desk. That said, one time before class, Rosemary heard a student ask Professor Thorn what it was, and he answered that it was called a “kinara”.
At lunch on Friday, the day before everyone was to depart for winter break, several parchment envelopes appeared in the Great Hall and floated down, landing on the tables. One of them landed right next to Rosemary’s plate. It was addressed to “Miss Rosemary Corbin — Hemlock 920”. Rosemary picked it up and opened it. As had been the case several times before, it wasn’t a true envelope, but a single sheet of parchment folded into the shape of one. On the inner side of the parchment was what seemed to be a standard letter.
To all students at Misty Peaks Academy of the Magical Arts,
Tomorrow, all students who have not made arrangements otherwise will be departing for winter break by flying carpet starting at 10:00am. A detailed departure schedule will be posted at the Great Hall near every entrance starting just before breakfast tomorrow morning.
You will be departing in your school uniforms, and are also expected to be wearing them all day prior to your departure time, even though it is on the weekend.
Also, don’t forget to pack your belongings. Unless you have made arrangements to remain at school over winter break, nothing of yours is to be left in your dorm room once you depart.
Respectfully,
Professor Robert Parker, Headmaster
By the time Rosemary got to the end of the letter, she was trembling.
“Something wrong?” asked Lilith.
“Yes,” said Rosemary. “We have to wear uniforms tomorrow, and get on the carpet home in uniform.”
“So?” asked Lilith. “Why’s that a problem?”
“Because,” said Rosemary, “we can’t really change clothes in flight. And my parents don’t know that I’m a girl.”
“Let’s talk to Amy,” suggested Lilith. “She’ll know what to do.”
* * *
Warding Basics was the last class of the semester. Rosemary was, naturally, distracted during this class by her worry about being outed to her parents the next day by her school uniform. Fortunately, though, everyone else was distracted by their plans for winter break. This didn’t do much to ease Rosemary’s anxiety level, but at least it prevented her distraction from affecting her standing in the class.
After class, Rosemary, together with Lilith, Samantha, and Mika, approached Amy in the Hemlock Tower Common Room, and explained to her the situation.
“Just go in the boy’s uniform, then,” said Amy. “Yes, there’s a boy’s uniform and a girl’s uniform, but some years back they stopped enforcing who wears which one. As long as you’re wearing one of them, you’re okay.”
“But I don’t want anyone here to see me dressed as a boy,” said Rosemary.
“Can’t you change your hair on the trip?” suggested Samantha.
Rosemary looked at her, confusedly.
“Seriously,” said Samantha. “You never really moved like a guy. If you have your hair long, you’ll look like a girl, even in the boy’s uniform. And I’m guessing that you can change after you’re in the air.”
“Yeah — but …” said Rosemary.
“I know you don’t like it,” said Samantha, “but if you don’t want your parents to see you dressed as a girl, that might be the only way.”
“She’s right,” said Amy. “I mean, I could ask Professor Brown if she’d give you special permission to go in street clothes. But even if she says yes, showing up in street clothes when everyone else is in uniform will also seem a bit suspicious, wouldn’t you say?”
“I suppose,” said Rosemary despondently.
* * *
Rosemary didn’t exactly like what she had to do, but she left the conversation realizing that what Amy and Samantha had advised was the best option available to her. Somewhat disappointed, she went to the infirmary for her last check-in of the semester, and then returned to Hemlock Tower.
That evening, she packed most of her belongings. Sarah helped guide her on how to pack in the manner that would make her trip the easiest. She also showed Rosemary how to use her shopping cart as convenient storage — given that it could turn into a walking stick and go into her flying sidepack. This way, she wouldn’t have to lug a huge suitcase on her trip. She still advised Rosemary to keep a few things with her in her backpack, such as her writing supplies and sealing wax. “I always travel with those things handy,” she explained. “Mundies can’t see messages when they’re in flight, so they’re the best way to stay in touch.”
“But don’t I need my wand to send messages?” asked Rosemary.
“Oh, there’s a way to deal with that,” said Sarah. “Before you take your wand out, put your finger on your bracelet’s gemstone for a few seconds till it starts glowing green, and then right away take your wand out. It’ll keep that green glow for five minutes, or until you put it back in your bracelet — and that’ll stop mundies from noticing it.”
“All mundies?” asked Rosemary.
“Except the few who have magical sight,” answered Sarah. “Those ones can see whatever witches and wizards can. But the Department of Magic won’t give that to them unless they’ve been cleared to know about magic.”
* * *
The next morning, Rosemary woke up, showered, and got dressed — in the boy’s uniform that she hadn’t worn since late October. She still kept her girl’s hairdo, but she placed her two liquid hairdressing spell vials in her purse so that she could change that while in flight. She then finished up the remainder of her packing. Finally, with all her belongings packed into either her backpack or her sidepack, she went down to the Common Room to wait for her friends so they could head together to the Great Hall for breakfast.
“Are you wearing a boy’s uniform?” she heard an incredulous voice behind her say.
She turned around and saw the last person she wanted to see — Melissa Langford.
“Your parents don’t know about the little dress-up you’ve been doing here,” said Melissa, smiling gleefully. “Do they.”