The remaining walls held shelves stuffed with books and the trappings of her craft, which seemed to be more books, bottles, and boxes. There were a few ceramic and glass jars, as well.
What he focused on, however, was Alice’s large, simple, wood worktable. It sat in front of one of the tall, arched windows so that it was bathed in light. Clusters of beeswax candles flickered on each corner, perfuming the air with the sweet scent of honey.
Old books lay scattered over the scarred and stained top, most of them open. The words he saw looked like Latin. Here and there, a few drawings broke up the chunks of text. Magic books, no doubt.
But that wasn’t what interested him most.
He touched the edge of the table. “I think I made this.”
Alice nodded as she came to a stop beside it. “You did. I bought it at one of the first charity auctions the firehouse ever had.” She patted it lovingly. “It’s served me well.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” He’d had no idea who’d ended up with the table all those years ago. And to think it’d been Alice, of all people. He liked that, actually.
She faced them both. “Thank you for coming so quickly. Of course, it benefits you to get my help, but it also benefits the town to have you both returned to full service. Such is the role of first responders.”
“Thanks for working on this.” Jenna glanced at Titus, a question in her eyes.
Did she want him to ask about the metaphorical ticking clock they’d recently discovered? He went with that. If only to get confirmation for himself and Jenna. “Is it true that the spell becomes permanent when the full moon rises?”
Alice flicked her eyes at him. Mad? Amused? Indifferent? The woman was so hard to read. “Nothing stays secret in this town, does it?”
“Not for long,” he answered. “But that’s a detail we deserve to know.”
“I agree. However, I was hoping not to have to tell you at all. I’m sure you also know I’ve convened a coven meeting for this evening, specifically to discuss your spell.”
They both nodded.
“I apologize for not telling you about the full moon, but I truly think that after tonight’s meeting, it will no longer be an issue. I hope that will be the case, anyway.”
“Us too,” Jenna said. She pushed up the sleeve of her cardigan. “How much blood do you need?”
Alice smiled. “Not that much. A few drops from a fingertip will suffice. As will a few strands of your hair.”
“I’m ready,” Jenna said. She reached back and pulled a few pins out of her hair as well as an elastic, then shook her head.
Titus had never seen her hair down. Or how much of it there was. It fell to the middle of her back in sun-streaked blond waves.
Suddenly, he had an image of her, sword in hand, hair blowing in the wind, the smoke of the battlefield billowing around her. The warrior. The valkyrie.
The woman he was rapidly falling in love with.
He shook himself and looked away. It was just the spell, he knew that. But why did it feel so real?
Jenna ran her hands through her hair and pulled out a few loose strands. She held them up. “Is this enough?”
“Yes.” Alice took the strands and laid them on a square of muslin. “Titus?”
He did the same thing Jenna had, running his hands through his hair. He came up with a few strands. “Mine are a lot shorter.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Alice said. She added them to the muslin.
She went to a shelf and took down a few things, coming back with a couple of empty glass vials and a narrow metal case. She put all of it on the table, then uncorked both vials. Next, she opened the case and took out a long, thin gold pin.
“Your finger, Deputy.”
Jenna held out her hand.
Alice pricked a finger, then squeezed several drops into one of the vials. When she had enough, she corked it, then ran the end of the needle through one of several beeswax candles burning on the table. She wiped the end on a different piece of muslin before gesturing to Titus. “Chief?”
He took a few steps forward, hand out.
She repeated the process, pricking his finger, then squeezing blood into a vial. This time when she cleaned the pin in the flame, she put it back in the case.
“How long before you can tell us something?” Jenna asked.
“One moment,” Alice answered.
Jenna gave Titus a skeptical look. “So fast? I didn’t know magic could work that quickly.”
Titus didn’t either, but then, he’d never been so close to magic like this.
Alice lit a new candle, different from the ones already on the table. It was a thick, squat, black beeswax stump with a red center. She looked at Jenna. “I’m going to test your blood first to see how deeply the spell has sunk into you. Once I know that, I can adjust the counterspell. I will know how strong to make it.”
“I see. How do you test our blood?”
“Watch.” Alice gathered a few more things. Long, thin metal rods. They were dark, so maybe iron. Then two small boxes, one with a crystalline substance in it. Salt? Sugar? Something else? The second held a waxy yellow powder that smelled of eggs. Sulfur. The same thing he’d smelled at the house where they’d encountered the magic bomb.
Maybe she had to use the same ingredients to do the test? He didn’t know. Witchcraft was a foreign language to him.
She dipped one of the rods in Jenna’s blood first, then sprinkled a little of the white and yellow powders on the end. She ran it through the black candle’s flame. It sparked white and blue before turning the flame a brilliant green.
Alice set the rod aside. “The spell is surrounding you, Deputy.
