The flame of the center candle shot twelve inches into the air and sizzled with energy. The flame spluttered orange with bursts of green in the center candle and the color of blood in the other four candles.
As she lit the final candle, Lea stood and lifted her hands, her chanting too soft for me to make out the words. Though, I suspected I wouldn’t have understood them anyway since they were in Latin, and I’d all but failed my Latin classes in school.
As Lea chanted, pale green energy rose from the floor inside the circle and lifted toward the ceiling, filling the magical cylinder she’d created with her circle.
She stood at the center of the magic and used the parchment wrapped Licorice Root to fan the smoke coming from the bowl in the center.
Smoke rose from the bowl and thickened, spinning into a charcoal gray column that spread outward and took shape.
A denser part at the top formed into wide shoulders and sprouted a shape from its center that coalesced into a head. The torso narrowed to a waist, bumped slightly out into hips, and broke into two columns that became legs.
The smoke was shaped like a man.
I grabbed Alice’s arm. “That looks like the guy who was in here before the vortex showed up.”
Alice nodded.
We watched as the smoke-man turned to look at Lea, who was still chanting softly. Still waving the parchment-wrapped bundle in his direction.
Smoky hands found blurry-edged hips. He seemed to be glaring at her, determined not to obey the dictates of her magic.
But Lea lifted the parchment to her mouth and blew softly on it. The effect was immediate. The smoky shape was blown toward the wall where the vortex had been. As it touched the drywall, the picture hanging there disappeared, along with the drywall behind it, and the vortex reappeared.
Smoke-man blew through the vortex. To my shock, Lea didn’t hesitate. She stepped closer and then followed him in.
Alice and I looked at each other, wondering what we should do. Finally, we turned and ran toward the connecting door, threw it open, and ran into the library.
There was no sign of Lea or smoke man.
“Where’d they go?” I asked.
Alice opened her mouth to say something but never got the chance.
A thunderous roar and a whoosh exploded from the bookstore. We ran back to the front, arriving just in time to see a column of flame blast toward the ceiling, flare violently, and then dribble down Lea’s magic cylinder like water sliding down the sides of a glass tube.
Too late to catch her, we watched Lea collapse bonelessly onto the carpet.
Her clothes were actually smoking. And her skin was blistered and red as if she’d been burned. She was lying in a crumpled heap on the floor inside the circle she’d drawn. The chalk edge was smudged where her hand lay upon it. She had chalk on one fingertip, leading me to think she’d smudged it on purpose.
“Where’d she come from?” I asked Alice as the Keeper ran over and knelt down beside Lea.
Alice ignored my question and reached for the witch, her hand snapping back as if she’d been burned by the contact. Holding her hand against her chest, Alice lifted a haunted gaze to me. “I need to call the doctor.”
My eyes went wide. “A regular human doctor? Is that a good idea?”
Alice pulled a phone from her pocket. “Don’t be daft.” She punched a number and, a beat later, spoke into the phone. “I need your help.”
As Alice disconnected, Lea groaned. Her fingers twitched as she came awake.
“Don’t move, sweetums,” Alice crooned. “Doctor Whom’s on his way.”
I blinked. “You called Doctor Who?” Okay, that was just too crazy, even for Croakies.
“Whom,” Alice corrected me. Her gaze jerked up as a breezy whoosh filled the room, followed by a soft thump. “Your human is showing,” she said, smiling gently. “Over here!” she called out.
I stood as a man hurried around the shelves, my gaze widening with surprise at the sight.
He looked to be about five feet tall. Maybe less. His form was pear-shaped only more…sloped. He wore a cloak of feathers that drooped from narrow shoulders and covered wide hips over short, skinny legs. His bowed calves were covered in fitted, yellow socks, making them look too much like bird legs, and his feet were bare, the toes long and curved downward like claws.
Tugging a stethoscope out from under the feathered cloak, the doc blinked slowly at me through enormous eyes, which were set close together on either side of a sharp, beaklike nose. His lips pursed as his owlish gaze settled onto Lea. “Whooo?”
“The earth witch from next door,” Alice said, moving away from Lea so the doctor could come closer.
He didn’t so much crouch beside Lea as…nest…there, placing the scope on the curve of her throat and then at her temple.
“Um…” I started to say, but I was shushed by Alice. My lips slammed shut.
Doctor Whom sliced a curved finger claw into the skin of Lea’s wrist, and I stepped forward. “Hey!”
Alice glared at me. “Be still!”
Frowning, I crossed my arms over my chest, watching as blood beaded along the scratch he’d made.
Whom lifted the blood-covered claw toward his nose and sniffed. Then he turned away and hawked several times, regurgitating a small bundle of bones and fur that landed on the carpet beside him.
“Ew!” I objected loudly.
Alice rolled her eyes. “Watch and learn.”
The good doctor scooped the contents of his stomach from the rug and carefully packed it over the slice he’d made in Lea’s arm. Then he settled down with his back to us and began whistling softly.
Nothing happened for long minutes. I started to get restless, moving from foot to foot and trying to see beyond the
