Jodie huffed not only in frustration, but also as a way to clear her sinus passages. For the last few days, she'd been going through grandmama Patricija Lara's things after the 98 year old woman had died suddenly almost three weeks ago. The house crowded with what the old woman called knick-knacks from the old country, books, magazines, pictures of people Jodie hadn't seen in years or hadn't met at all, along with hundreds of other items, it had been up to Jodi, Patricija Lara's last living descendent to clear out the house, and heir to the house and all within, to clean and to make the home presentable to be sold.
A sneeze escaped her and the twenty-six old woman looked down at the book she'd been going through. Inside had been pictures and other documents, all things Jodie hadn't known about, such as that her ancestor's hailed from a country called Dalmatia, a historic region of Croatia. Grandmama had apparently dug deep into the family's roots after she herself had been forced to flee to North America, and from what Jodie had so far read, the only thing that had slowed her research was when she'd married and started a family. Flipping the book closed, she set it in a box of other books, all meant to be kept. Wanting to know more about her family history, she wondered what other books grandmama had document or collected as she reached for another book off the nearest book shelf. Flipping it open, she was disappointed to find it didn't have any important family information in it and after scanning several pages, she dropped it in a different box, all the contents to be donated, before she pressed on.
The work slow going, Jodie knew it'd take her almost another two weeks to finish. When her fiancé, Nathan, turned up after his shift from at the factory, she greeted him with a kiss before she asked, "Want to give me a hand?"
Tired, wanting nothing more than to take Jodie out to some place to get a bite to eat before heading home, but knowing the job was important to Jodie, Nathan smiled and looked about at the crowded sitting room. As he did, he inquired, "Any place you want me to start? Or should I just toss whatever looks important into a box and leave it for later?"
Her attention focused on another book, Jodie commented, "What don't you start in grandmama's sewing room. It's just at the top of the stairs. I don't think there is anything I want in there, especially as it looks like her sewing machine burned out years ago and she never got around to fixing it. Just take a couple boxes and put the machine and its parts in one, all the loose fabric in another, and everything that is for sewing, like pins, needles, scissors, that sort of stuff, in another."
With a decisive nod, Nathan left the room. Jodie, who hadn't noticed this, closed the book, which was more on the history of her family, put it in the box to keep, and pulled down another. Opening it, she thought if had to be on mythological stuff, as the first page talked about ancient artefacts that caused transformations and bewitchment of the sense and mind. Flipping through it, finding some of the things interesting, others things terrifying, she was torn as to whether to keep it or not. Setting it back on the shelf in a pile of maybes, she reached down another book as from somewhere in the house she heard the ripping sound of the tape gun as Nathan put together some fresh boxes.
Time stretched out and Jodie finished with the bookshelves and moved on the to magazine wracks, which she'd already decided she'd recycle all the contents. Upstairs, Nathan packed away the broken sewing machine and the accessories that went with it. In another box, he filled it will all of the things the old woman had used for sewing. When he'd finished that, he filled three more boxes with swatches of fabric, yarn, thread, and patterns for various types of clothes. Putting together a couple more boxes, he stopped to look at his watch, saw that it was after seven pm, and wondering if his fiancé was ready to call it a day, or if she wanted to go get something to eat and come back and continue, he stretched. As he did so, he figured that no matter what Jodie did, he was done and that all he wanted was to go home, kick off his boots, watch some television, take a hot shower, and climb into bed.
About to leave to go find Jodie, he stopped when he spotted the dog collars. Not sure why they'd been left in the sewing room, he picked up the black one, the red one next, and was about to go ask Jodie why her grandmama had two dog collars when she hadn't had a dog, or, at least he didn’t think she did, he stopped when something else caught his eye. Buried under a bunch of whatnot, some of which Nathan thought was more patterns, he could see the very edge of what was clearly a necklace. Setting the collars to one side, he carefully lifted the patterns up, and after making sure that thin paper was what he thought it was, he added it to one of the boxes he'd filled with matching stuff. Picking up the piece jewellery by the chain, he dropped it in his had, marvelled at its heft, turned it over and thought it had to be copper as he noted the images printed on both sides and the word that'd been stamped on one side. Feeling like this was something that shouldn’t be in with the sewing stuff, he turned and stopped when he heard footsteps coming up the stairs.
Seconds after he heard this, Jodie popped her head in the room and said, "How about dinner?"
Rather than answer, Nathan held up the medallion and asked, "What's this? Part of one your grandmama's sewing projects?"
Careful in how she took it, though unsure why she felt the need to do so, Jodie examined it, started to say she didn't know what it was, but stopped. Looking at her fiancé, she knitted her brow and replied, "I think I know what this is," and making a motion for Nathan to follow, she headed back the way she'd come.
Perplexed by how she could know what the necklace was, the twenty-seven year old man collected the dog collars and followed. Back downstairs, he was led to the sitting room, where Jodie set the medallion on a small, round table that had once held an ornate green Tiffany lamp, and made her way toward one of the bookcases. Scanning a pile of books, she took one down, paged through, saying as she did, "I thought I saw something in here when I was flipping through the contents," and stopping, she proclaimed, "Here," before she handed the book to Nathan.
Not sure what he was looking at, her fiancé read the two pages, turned to the next, and read what was printed there. Finished, he looked at Jodie and stated, "This has to be a hoax or something. I mean, really? Come on. There's no such thing as magick, especially one that can transform someone into something else for twelve hours before they can turn back."
"It's what the book says," Jodie countered and pointing at the necklace, she added, "And if it is fake, how do you explain that?"
A shake of his head and Nathan answered, "I can't," as he closed the book and handed it back.
The book returned to the shelf, Jodie mulled over what she'd briefly read and what Nathan had said. Turning to look at him, she asked, "So what should we do? Write it off as some weird thing my grandmama was into? Or should we try and find a way to prove that the necklace does what it was claimed to do?"
Suddenly remembering the dog collars, Nathan gave a shake of his head and replied, "I don't know," and as a way to change the subject, he said, "Did your grandmama have any dogs? Or want to get a dog? Cause I found these in her sewing room."
"What a weird place to leave them," Jodi told him as she shook her head and furthered, "And, no. Grandmama Patricija Lara didn't have any pets. Nor, as far as I know, did she plan to get one," and with a shrug, she offered, "Maybe it was for some sewing project she'd been asked to do for a neighbour, had been in the process of when she died. She did do that every so often. If that is the case, perhaps we should find who it was and inform them what happened."
Nathan saw the logic in this, and was about to agree aloud when an idea came to him. Looking down at the medallion, he suggested, "How about we test them out first on the Amulet of Zulo?"
"I don't want to become a dog, even if it did work," Jodi stated as she crossed her arms.
Familiar with how defiant his fiancé could be, Nathan smiled and in attempt to calm her, he said, "Relax. I was joking. Besides, I wouldn't want to be a dog either," and stepping closer, he drew her into a hug and told her, "I love you the way you are. No roughness, no barking mad behaviour, no issues with shedding."
Jodie, kenning she was being teased, pressed into Nathan and hugged him back. As she did so, she whispered, "And I love you the way you are. And besides, if I want to get your attention, I don't have to throw a ball or scritch you behind the ears."
This got her a soft chuckle from her fiancé and as they stood there, it was Nathan who finally asked, "So, what do you want to do. Should we get rid of the necklace and go find out if the collars belonged to someone? Or should we try the Amulet of Zulo on something, try to disprove it does anything, and still find out who the collars belong to and, if they do, if they want to back?"