Chương 23

Lemon spent the night curled up on Hogarth's bed next to him, and was up early with the sun. She was anxious to continue exploring the conference, though she'd been warned to temper her expectations. It was the last day, and a lot of the wizards were shutting down their booths in preparation of their own return trips.

"Don't forget your pass," Hogarth mumbled, still half-asleep and in bed.

"I won't!" Lemon assured him. She padded over to the window, where Midnight was snoozing.

"Do you want to come with me?" The cat cracked open one eye, gave her a sniff heavily laden with disdain, and simply said,"No."

"Okay! Maybe later." Midnight didn't answer, but Lemon got the feeling her friend wasn't planning on moving until it was time to go. She supposed that was only fair. Midnight had been there for three days already, after all, and she'd done lots of work yesterday. She was probably very tired. Lemon knew who probably wasn't tired at all though, and in fact only made it halfway to Bon's room before she ran into him in the hall.

"Time to go exploring?" he asked.

"Yes! I hope they still have the flying exhibit up. We can do that one together!" The pickings were much slimmer than they'd been the night before, but the two of them still found plenty to occupy their attention for the hour or so they had to play, including watching the golem makers put their finishing touches on their creation. Lemon didn't know much about golems, but they told her that it was an incredible feat to make one, start to finish, in just four days.

Even simple golems took upwards of a week to construct.

"You guys are really fast then," Lemon said.

"Congratulations on getting it finished before the conference ended!"

"Yes, thank you. It was quite a bit of work on such a tight deadline," the husband wizard told her. He gave his wife a fond glance and added, "But with a partner like that, how could we not succeed?" The wife wizard rolled her eyes and said, "If you've got time to flatter me, you have time to clean up the leftover slick." But Lemon noticed her smile got a little bit wider while she worked.

"Ah, she's right. Beautiful and talented, but merciless. If you'll excuse me, I do need to get things cleaned up." And with that, the wizard used a wand and started levitating copious amounts of what looked and smelled like axle grease into a big blue metal can with a label reading 'Asrov's Miracle Slick' on it. It had been spread liberally on the golem's joints and left to sit for sixteen hours in order to infuse them with full mobility, according to the wizards demonstrating how to build it.

Lemon didn't know about that, but she did know it was a very messy job.

"That's so amazing," Bon said as he watched the golem help its makers clean up.

"I want to build one too, some day."

"I wonder if I could talk Hogarth into building just an arm to throw the stick for me," Lemon mused.

"Maybe a ball too." Sadly, the flying room had already taken down its exhibit, and Bon just wasn't as interested in digging holes as Lemon was, so that one display got skipped this time. They wandered around for another hour and checked out the few remaining displays, about half of which were in the process of being taken down as their owners prepared to catch their own portals back home.

"What's it like being an apprentice?" Bon asked while they walked.

"I don't know. Hogarth never had one."

"Sure, but you've lived with him your whole life. What's it like?"

"Most days are fun. We do lots of experiments, and we visit Wilbourghy a lot. Sometimes I go see my family, but I was the only one who was born magical. The rest are just regular dogs. They seem happy though." Bon thought about that for a moment, and then said, "I think that would be kind of lonely, to have all those brothers and sisters, but not be able to talk to them even when you go see them." This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Sometimes. Mostly it's just a little sad that they don't have what I do. But on the bright side, they get to play outside all day, and they're never lonely. A few of them have gone to live at other farms nearby, but they see each other all the time." Latressa found them then and dragged Bon and Lemon back to the room.

"Our portal opens in an hour," Hogarth said once they'd arrived.

"Aw, when will I get to see you again?" Bon asked Lemon.

"Do apprentices get to go visit other wizards?"

"Not too often in the beginning," Latressa told him.

"New apprentices are very busy," Midnight added. Hogarth thought for a moment and said, "Well, there's always next year's conference."

"Wait, that would mean Lemon is coming with us next year," Midnight said.

"That's not what you meant, right Hogarth? Hogarth? Hogarth! Tell me that's not what you meant." * Their goodbyes were said and they parted ways. Latressa and Bon were off to go meet with his family and formalize their status as master and apprentice. She promised they'd see each other again at next year's conference while Midnight sulked in the background. Then they were gone, and Lemon followed Hogarth to the portal room, where a harried-looking wizard glanced up at them and said, "Time slot?"

"Eleven," Hogarth said.

"We're running a little bit behind, just a few minutes. Go ahead and wait over there until we call for your group," the wizard told him. Hogarth settled into a chair, Midnight jumped up onto his lap, and Lemon sat on the floor next to them.

"This was a fun trip. I can't wait to do it again next year. I can't believe you've been going to the conference without me all these years."

"To be fair, we don't go every year," Hogarth told her.

"And they don't usually have quite as much excitement as this one. Still, I think we'd best plan on going to next year's conference at least, even if it's only as attendees and not running any displays or lectures."

"Maybe you can take Lemon and I'll stay at the tower next year," Midnight said.

"Don't be ridiculous. How would I survive without my familiar? I'd be lost without you, Midnight."

"But… my vacation…" Midnight's tail lashed back and forth as she stared at Lemon. The wizard called Hogarth over, confirmed the intended destination for their portal, and had them stand to the side while he got the spell set up. A circle of bright white light appeared, and the three of them walked through it. Well, two of them did. Midnight rode on Hogarth's shoulder, her posture perfectly regal as she returned to her home… …

Only to go flying as Hogarth tripped over an overturned chair as soon as he stepped through the portal. With a wild screech, Midnight tumbled through the air, landed on a small rectangular table set up against the far wall, and came to an abrupt stop when she smacked into firm, unyielding stone.

"What in the name of Merlin's beard is going on here?" Hogarth asked, glancing around the room with pure bewilderment. Chairs were on their sides everywhere, the tablecloth was piled up on the floor, and half the decorations had been knocked off the walls.

"Huh, that's not how I remember this room looking when I left," Lemon said. Her nose twitched.

"Oh, no."

"Lemon?" Hogarth asked.

"Oh, uh, it's probably nothing," Lemon lied.

"Lemon."

"I just need to go check on something real quick."

"Come back here! Lemon? Lemon!" But she was already gone, running from room to room, trying to pretend she couldn't smell what her nose was telling her. She started in the pantry, a mess. Everything had been knocked off the shelves, and most of the food had been torn apart. The entry hall, covered in muddy prints. Drawers and cupboards, all opened. Hogarth's bed looked like it had lost a fight with the gardener. Mud, sticks, and leaves were tangled up in sheets that had been shredded. His clothes were even worse.

"No, no, no," Lemon muttered. There was no denying it now. Lying in the middle of their nest was a trio of plump raccoons, all fast asleep. Lemon barked and jumped forward, teeth snapping. The raccoons, startled awake, chittered and screeched as they ran as fast as their stubby little legs would take them. Lemon chased them from the bedroom, down the hall, and to the front door, hanging wide open, just like she'd left it when she'd started on her journey.

The raccoons were run off, but the mess they'd left in the tower remained. Hogarth found her, tail tucked between her legs as she watched the raccoons run off down the road and into the forest.

"Forgot to lock the door again, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Did you even remember to close it?"

"No." Hogarth sighed and dropped a hand down on her head to scratch her ears.

"Okay, let's go see what we can salvage from all this mess. The wards on the lab held, at least, so they didn't destroy anything too valuable."

"AAAAARRRGGGHHHH! MY FELT MICE HAVE ALL BEEN RIPPED TO SHREDS!" Lemon winced as Midnight's voice rang out through the tower. Hogarth sighed again and amended his statement, "Anything too valuable to me."

"I'm sorry, Midnight! I'll make it up to you, I swear!" Lemon yelled back.

"I'm going to shave your tail in your sleep, Lemon!" Lemon glanced back uncertainly at her tail. Was… was that a bad thing? She wasn't sure. If it made Midnight feel better, she supposed it was okay. Fur grew back anyway. Together with Hogarth, she went to assess the damage. They threw out anything they couldn't fix, and Lemon started cleaning up all the mud, dirt, sticks, leaves, and scraps of cloth. When they were done, they walked down to Wilbourghy to have a nice dinner.

It had been an exciting and fun week for Lemon, but she was glad to be home now.