Weaver

            Gabriel poked his head out the first door and grinned down at her, “Yeehaa! Look out Prague, here we come!”

            Alice smiled. Gabriel had been pushing them to go to the city of Prague for weeks now. He kept raving about the “city of one hundred spires” and how amazing it would be to visit. So Alice had finally given in. After all, she’d already made them go to Hawaii this month. The sales hadn’t been amazing. Tourists mostly wandered in, wondered out loud about the lack of puca shell necklaces and shirts that said “all I got was this lousy shirt” and then walked out again. But it had hardly mattered. She’d got to spend two sun- soaked weeks roaming the beaches with Altair. Something she’d badly needed after all that ridiculous drama with Ambrose. Not to mention, lying about in the sun all day with a muscular, bronzed Altair hadn’t been half bad either…

            “You’ve got a gooey look on your face,” Gabriel was descending the stairs toward her, “I don’t want to know. Let’s just go to Prague now.”

            Alice blushed and turned towards the cupboard. “Right. Prague.” She pulled her necklace over her head, the key clinking musically against the little bottle of magic that hung on the silver chain. The lock clicked and the cupboard door swung forward with a squeak of protest. The dark interior was lit by a large knot of threads, glowing and pulsating with brilliant colors. Alice wrapped one hand around the strands, relishing the electric warmth they sent up her arm. She took a deep breath, “Okay everyone, brace yourselves.” She darted a look over at Gabriel, “You know where Altair is? I’d rather not leave him behind. At least, not quite yet.”

            “Hey!” Altair was standing in the doorway now, a coffee cup in one hand. It was clearly windy outside, since his shaggy dark blonde hair stuck up at odd angles, “can’t a man go out to get a coffee without you jumping to the other side of the planet without him?”

            Alice kept a perfectly straight face, “if you don’t fix your hair, everyone in Prague will laugh at you, and I’ll pretend not to know you.”

            “I say we leave him,” Gabriel volunteered, “he’s clearly a mess.” He smoothed his own hair back carefully, making Maya giggle, “he’ll only make us look bad.”

            Altair laughed, “You’re just jealous of my rugged good looks.”

            “Where’s Shakra?” Alice said, before the boys could really get going.

            Altair took a sip of his coffee and winced, sucking in air quickly, “Ow, hot. She’s by the fire. I just walked past her.”

            “Okay, great. Here we go.” Alice let the warm tingle of the threads take over, she said in a loud clear voice, “Prague, Czech Republic – please.”

            The familiar lurch still made her stomach flip uncomfortably, and she kept her eyes firmly shut until the motion stopped completely. Beside her, Altair let out a breath and swore, “Damn near dropped my coffee. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that.”

            “Wuss,” Gabriel said.

            Maya’s eyes were shining and she tugged on Gabriel’s sleeve, “let’s go exploring!” She turned to Alice, “can we go? Let’s all go!”

            Azura laughed, “You go ahead. I’ve been here loads of times.” A shadow crossed her face briefly, then it was gone, replaced by a far away look and a sad smile, “It was one of Ruby’s favorite cities. The city of magic she called it.”