“Good morning,” Isabella said in greeting.

“Good morning,” I replied around a yawn. “Excuse me. I just woke up.”

“Do you always sleep late?” Izzy asked.

“Depends on how late I was up working,” I replied.

“Jase, stop being rude and invite her in,” Lily said before yawning herself. “I think I’m going to go back to sleep.”

“Slacker,” I muttered. Lily blew a raspberry in reply and flew to me before landing in my shirt pocket. “Going to curl up against my chest?”

“Yep,” Lily answered. Izzy smiled at our exchange. My familiar didn’t say another word and dropped out of sight.

“Sorry about that,” I told Isabella stepping back and gesturing to the kitchen. “Come on in.”

“Ah…”

“Something wrong?” I asked.

“Is this place haunted?” Izzy blurted out.

I laughed and Lily joined me.

“Nope! Our home is not haunted by ghosts, demons, or other spirits,” Lily answered from my pocket.

“Where did you get that idea from?” I asked.

“Juan and the others,” Isabella answered as she tentatively entered the kitchen and looked around. “This place is in better shape than I was led to believe.”

“The pixies liked to shelter here in the winter, and they pretended the place is haunted to keep the villagers away,” I said.

“Oh. That makes a certain amount of sense,” Izzy replied. “Do they still stay here?”

“Don’t know yet. We’ve only been here since early summer or late spring,” I answered.

“We won’t deny them space if they want it though,” Lily added sleepily.

“True,” I agreed. “You won’t have a problem with that, will you?”

“No,” a smiling Izzy replied. Her eyes widened as they fell on the kitchen appliances we had taken from the lab. She pointed at the refrigerator. “What is that?”

“Oh… that is a refrigerator,” I hesitantly answered.

“And one of the secrets you’ll have to keep,” a more awake and cheerful Lily added. She poked her head out of my shirt to watch Isabella.

“Refrigator?” Izzy asked.

“Refrigerator,” I corrected.

“You can just say fridge if you like,” Lily added.

“What does a refrigerator do?” Izzy asked.

“It keeps things put inside it cool,” I answered.

“So, it’s like an icebox?” Isabella asked.

“Not really,” I replied.

“This fridge has an icemaker inside it,” Lily said. “Jase, show her the inside of it.”

“Sure,” I said walking towards the appliance and waving Isabella to follow me after shutting the backdoor. Izzy glanced at the stove and frowned.

“Why is your stove so different looking?” Izzy asked. “Is it another secret?”

“Yep,” Lily answered. “And it looks different because it’s… old.”

“I’ve seen old stoves and they look nothing like that,” Izzy protested. She pointed at the oven door. “Nor do they have glass like that one does.”

“It’s really old,” I said. “In fact, it’s positively ancient.”

Lily burst into a giggling fit.

“That was a good one, Jase,” the pixie said.

“We might as well get the contract out of the way before doing anything else,” I said after giving it a moment of thought before opening the fridge.

“Right,” Lily agreed. She emerged from my shirt pocket in her business suit and her hair in a bun.

“That makes no sense,” I said pointing at my familiar. Izzy’s eyes widened in shock at the pixie’s change of appearance. “You didn’t even move in my pocket enough to change like that.”

“Pixie magic,” Lily shrugged before flying to the table and producing the contract.

“That should be impossible!” Izzy said pointing at Lily on the table. “Can all pixies do that?”

“Yes,” I answered. “Though I haven’t seen the others change as much as Lily does. She has a flair for the dramatic I think.”

“That’s one way of looking at it,” Lily agreed winking at me. “Anyway, this is the apprenticeship contract. Take a seat, Izzy.”

The chair closest to the young woman slide back seemingly on its own. Isabella looked frightened.

“That’s just Lily using her power,” I said. “I promise this house isn’t haunted.”

“Alright,” Isabella replied sitting in the chair. I got three cups from a cabinet and while Lily started talking to Izzy about the contract.

“Lily, do you want lemonade or apple juice this morning?” I asked.

“Lemonade of course! Don’t be silly,” my familiar answered.

“Isabella, what would you like? We have lemonade, apple juice, chicory, water, and carob,” I said. “Chicory is a coffee substitute and carob are a chocolate substitute that I can use to make something like hot coco.”

“We also have a lot of different teas,” Lily added.

“That’s true,” I agreed.

“I’d like to try the carob, if it’s not too much trouble,” Izzy said.

“It’s more like a dark chocolate and not really sweet tasting,” Lily warned.

“That’s fine,” Izzy replied.

“You’re having carob, aren’t you?” Lily asked me.

“Yeah. I need something to help wake me up,” I replied.

“I can zap you,” Lily cheerfully offered making electricity dance across her fingers. Izzy nervously laughed.

“No thanks. The chicory will do just fine,” I said.

“Spoilsport,” a smiling Lily replied.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in serious business mode right now?” I asked as I put a kettle of water on the range and turned on a burner. Izzy watched in amazement.

“You didn’t have to light a fire,” she said.

“We’ll teach you about this too,” I said.

“Right, back to business,” Lily said putting on a pair of glasses. I laughed and shook my head. Lily spent several minutes explaining the contract to Isabella.

“It’s really a simple contract. I keep your secrets and you profit off anything I make that can be sold in exchange for your knowledge, teaching, room, and board,” Isabella said once Lily was finished, and she had read the contract herself. Lily and I nodded in agreement while Izzy took another drink of her hot carob. “Hmmm. That’s good and Aunt Gabby will want some for herself as well as to sell.”

“Supply is limited right now,” I replied. “Though I am willing to part with a little bit for her personal use.”

“Jase wants to make sure we have enough for ourselves,” Lily added.

“That’s good,” Izzy said giving us a smile. She signed the contract after I gave her a pen. She just shook her head and smiled again instead of commenting on the writing utensil. She signed both copies of the contract.

“You didn’t want to get your aunt or anyone else to be witnesses?” I asked.

“No, I trust you two,” Izzy replied shaking her head. I signed the copies too. “Now, why don’t you show me your kitchen secrets?”

“Sure!” Lily replied. “I love showing off these things.”