by Kate Danley
"Bug bite?" Miss Trudy asked.
"Goblin bite."
"Ooo. Those can be nasty. I hope you disinfected it thoroughly. No telling what secondary infections might set in. Perhaps this is why your memory lapses are happening."
"I need to go to a healer." I gave it one last scratch as it started to calm down. "In fact, Ajax has been telling me to go for over a month, but I forgot the conversation every time."
"Sure, sure," she replied, picking up her wand and stirring her tea like she had been doing before. She even blew on it and sipped it exactly as she had done before.
"I should be going," I said, rising.
"But we just got here!" she exclaimed. She seemed surprised.
"I want to see about my ankle," I replied. "You'll check into the stained glass for me?"
She regarded me like she was trying to puzzle out the words coming out of my mouth. "Stained glass...? Right. Of course. I'll... learn about stained glass..."
"It disappeared?" I reminded her.
"I'm just... distracted," she tried to assure me.
I turned and walked away. I had to believe that she knew what I was talking about. We just had the conversation. But I glanced back. She looked like she didn't know why she was holding a teacup or how she ended up in a sidewalk café.
It wouldn't have bothered me so much, except it was a feeling I had experienced myself far too often recently.
My ankle started acting up again. I might not be able to get my coven to take me seriously, but by Hades, I was going to fix this goblin bite, if nothing more than to feel like the day was not a total loss.
With new determination, I hobbled over to Healers Lane. It was a small corner of town made up of a row of smart, thatched cottages. Each healer grew her own herbs. You could pick out her specialties by the size and color of the blooms. Also the most expensive. I brushed a mass of magnolias out of my hair as a showy tree dumped an armload on me, trying too hard to impress. That cottage was definitely out of my price range. I needed to find someone more middle-of-the-road. Or end of the road.
The healers didn't have office hours or appointments. You just came down and figured out which one had a good feel, and then entered her garden and waited for her to come see you when she was ready. If she didn't know you were there, you wouldn't want to work with her anyway. Intuition and calling and such.
The spicy perfume of roses drifted in the wind. It wasn't cultured flowers, but the honest smell of wild blooms that still held their natural power.
I stopped before the unpainted picket fence.
This was the place.
A ramshackle arbor arced over the front gate, groaning beneath a bower of wisteria. First impressions would say the yard was unkempt, but there was a symbiosis where the growth of one was keeping the other in check. Sage and honeysuckle and lavender... it held memories of comfort and home.
I pushed open the rough, wooden gate, and walked in.
"Can I be of assistance?" asked a voice.
It was as if she had been waiting for me, which she probably had. She leaned against the frame of her doorway, protected in the shadows. She was a petite woman. Her once fair skin was leathery and red from time in the sun. Her straw-colored hair was styled in a bowl cut with thick bangs straight across her brow. I wondered if her modest manner was actually her or just a show she put on for visitors until she figured out if she wanted you as a client or not.
"I was at work... I own a hotel... and I'm afraid I had a bit of an accident. A bite," I explained. "Anything to be done about it?"
She smiled, as if relieved that both our intuition was right. "Absolutely," she said, motioning for me to follow her into her practice.
It was cool inside the thick, plaster walls of her home. Overhead, herbs hung to dry from the oak beams. She pointed at a worn chaise lounge covered in threadbare mustard damask. "If you'll take a seat, we'll see what is going on."
I settled in and took off my shoe. "We'll?" I repeated to make sure I had heard her correctly.
She didn't answer, just smiled as she sat on a small milking stool. She pulled her eyeglasses up from a chain around her neck and squinted as she began to unwrap my dressing.
"It's so embarrassing, but I was bitten by a goblin. The goblins are gone now, but the bite keeps flaring up."
"Very interesting," she muttered. She inquired over her shoulder. "Wouldn't you say?" She then leaned forward and studied it some more. "I doubt it."
I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be saying something. "Excuse me, are you speaking to me?" I asked.
She drew away from her inspection, startled. "What was that?"
"Were you speaking to me?" I repeated
"Oh! No," she laughed, waving away my confusion. "You probably thought I was nuttier than an almond tree. I was just speaking with my consulting practitioner."
I cast my eyes around the dim room. I mean, perhaps there was a brownie or a fairy that I had missed. Finally, I pointed out, "There's no one here but you and me."
The healer pressed the flesh around my wound, "She's a ghost."
"Oh." I paused, not entirely sure what to say. I shifted uncomfortably, not sure where I should be looking. "There is a ghost? Here?"
"Want to see her?" she asked.
It is not often you get a chance to actually see a ghost in full form. "Very much so," I replied.
She took off her glasses and handed them to me. "Try them on."
I did. It took a second for my eyes to adjust. I squinted and then held my eyes open. Sure enough, a woman not much older than either of us was standing behind the healer, giving me a friendly wave.
"Well, I'll be..." I said, examining the glasses more closely. "This is quite the invention!" I reluctantly handed them back. "I own a hotel and we sometimes have ghostly clients. These would be awfully nice to have. I feel like such a ninny, getting out the Ouija board and asking them to spell things out for me. Where did you get them?"
"I'll get you a pair!" the healer replied with an encouraging smile. "I always appreciate someone inclusive of the non-abled non-bodied."
"I... this is quite... but I’m afraid..." I stammered, not sure how to tell her I didn't have the funds to cover such an expense.
She continued, not paying any attention to my hesitation. "It'll help you see the truth of anything dead or undead," she said. "Vampires, ghouls, ghosts, you name it."
I felt my mouth go dry. Should I tell her that I was not allowed to practice magic? Did this count as practicing magic? It was just a magical object that happened to fall into my lap. Would the coven feel it when they came with their random audits of my property?
"That would be lovely," I stammered. "But I don't know if I can afford them..."
"We do payment plans," she replied. She gave me a wink and walked over to her shelf. She pulled out a basket where she had a stack of glasses hidden away. She held up several pairs and stared at the space where her friend was standing to test the lenses. "I make them myself. Just a little spell I discovered. My findings don't do anyone any good if they only stay on my nose." She dug through to the bottom. "Ah! Here! I think these will be perfect!" She triumphantly held up a pair of black frames with rhinestones. It's like she had made them just for me.
She could see I was still hesitating. She wrapped my fingers around them. "If a payment plan is too much, you can comp me a room at your hotel." She paused for a moment. "You did say the goblins are gone...?"
"Gone!" I immediately confirmed. "And, yes, you have yourself DEAL!" I didn't have the willpower to tell her of all the trouble she could get in if she helped me.
She laughed at my enthusiasm. "Your future guests will be so pleased." She then sat back down on the stool. "Well, I have some good news and some bad news."
"Give it to me all at once, healer," I said, placing the glasses into my purse.
"The good news is the wound is healed and not infected."
"What?" I asked, leaning over. Sure enough, there was an angry red
scar, but it was closed. "Then why has it been itching and swelling?"
"Well," she replied, rubbing the back of her neck. "I'm afraid that you have what we like to call in the business a 'trick ankle.'"
"I have a what?"
"Some people, when they break a bone or the like, can tell shifts in the weather and such. I'm afraid that this wound is going to just ache whenever we get a low-pressure zone or rain is coming in."
I thought back to all the times it had bothered me. It didn't seem like there had been a weather shift, but maybe I just hadn't paid enough attention. I contemplated the scar. I suppose there were worse things, but I hated having such a lousy souvenir from those goblins.
"Will it fade?" I asked hopefully.
She shrugged. "Most likely it will. I'll get you some herbs to massage in. It may help break up the scar tissue." She went over to her cabinet and opened it up. "I'll also prepare you some herbs to create a poultice to wear at night, but it may be a case of it needing time."
I wondered if, with my old powers, I would have been able to heal it properly. Just another thing stolen from me by a vampire.
"Well, that's one thing I've got a lot of. Time," I sighed. I turned to the healer. "Listen, if anyone asks if I was here, you'll keep it between us, right?"
The healer looked at me quizzically. "Of course! Patient confidentiality is something I take very seriously!"
"As in, you have a binding around your place so you can't tell anyone I was here or you just don't like to gossip?"
The healer laughed, sharing a chuckle with her dead friend. "Both. Is there a reason you're concerned?"
I thought of all the business I could lose if a confirmed healer revealed I was being seen for this sort of injury. It was like coming down with a case of the cooties. I confessed, "You let it get out that a goblin was able to bite you, you'll find yourself on the bottom of the totem pole with every monster in the Other Side wanting to use you as a chew toy."
The healer locked her lips with an imaginary key. "This will all remain between you and us."
I stood, relieved, realizing part of my hesitation in coming to ask for help was the fear of someone else outside my circle knowing this dirty secret. "Thank you."
She handed me a linen wrapped package of medicine and then walked me to the front door. "See you soon!"
"I hope not!" I half-joked as I headed through the garden to the arbor. I then stopped. "I mean, come to the No Spell anytime you like for that free room and I will DEFINITELY be back to make my payments. But not for new injuries like this."
"I know what you mean!" she laughed and waved again. "We hope to see you under happier circumstances."
A handsome man suddenly appeared and kindly held the gate open for me. I gave him a grateful nod. The sun glinted off his silver and black hair as he returned my smile, his green eyes twinkling. He stepped forward towards the healer and then followed her into the cottage.
I had a spring in my step as I headed home to the No Spell. I put the packet in my purse and caught a glimpse of my new glasses.
I had just a little bit of magic. Not much. Nothing more than any ordinary, non-witch citizen of the Other Side would be allowed to have. But it was a tantalizing hint of my former life, and it tasted delicious.
I kept waiting for the magic police to come around the corner and snatch my bag. They are sneaky, those ones. But no one showed up.
Was I getting away with it? Was it just my own magic I was barred from? Was it okay for me to use magic created by others?
I wet my lips. I think I was actually salivating.
Glasses that would allow me to see ghosts and vampires and the undead.
I stepped in front of the iron gates to the No Spell.
Instead of it seeming like a prison, it felt like there was a chance for me to survive the next five months.
Chapter Eleven
"How was your appointment?" Ajax asked as I walked in the door.
"Absolutely divine," I replied, unable to keep the grin off my face. I spun, arms outstretched. I had magic back in my life again.
Just the smallest, quirk of a smile revealed Ajax's flat row of teeth before he sternly got everything under wraps again. "Well, I'm glad. Because there is plenty to do. I think I heard a mouse in the ballroom."
That stopped me in my tracks. The mice on the Other Side were nothing you wanted crawling through your walls when you were in full power, much less in my condition. They settle in, building tiny houses that become red-light districts, and suddenly there are little rodent casinos beneath your floorboards. They bring in an element, if you know what I mean, and sooner or later, one of them gets infected by a vampire or zombie and you're fighting off a horde of teenie tiny skittery monsters. I wilted. "Oh, please don't make me deal with rodents..." I begged.
"I had to check in a family of ghouls," Ajax informed me. He pointed his stubby finger at the ballroom. "Go!"
I didn't even bother dropping off my satchel in the office, just turned and dragged myself over to see how bad a situation this was going to be. I gave a nod to a vampire who had stopped by the kitchen for an early breakfast before his night flight.
"Excellent bloody marys," he stated.
Before you get your knickers in a twist, Mary donated that blood at a fair price. I may not like the fact playing nice with one vampire nest was necessary to keep the nest of the one I killed from descending on the No Spell, but I was going to do my best to make any turf war as cruelty-free as possible.
I walked into the ballroom, grateful that at least the goblins hadn't returned. It was dark inside, all the drapes drawn to keep out the brutal rays of our two suns. Talk about ways to fade your tapestries. I set down my purse and waited, listening for the telltale sound of little feet.
I really hoped they weren't undead already.
And then I remembered the healer said my new glasses would be able to spot things magical. I pulled them out and put them on. It'd be so nice to figure out if our furry friend should have already passed to the great Cheese Shop in the Sky, or if we would be able to have a nice chat about relocating to the outer garden. I scanned the room but it was too dark. I strode across the parquet floor and pulled back the curtains to let in the rising moonlight.
"What under the two suns is going on?" I whispered, staring at the window.
There were the stained glass figures of twenty girls in the pane. They had not been there before. There was a girl with a turquoise pillbox hat and another with wild brown hair. As I stared at them, their flat faces of lead and glass shifted. And then they were staring at me. They were seeing me.
I ripped my glasses from my face.
They were still there, but now frozen in different positions.
My heart felt like it might leap from my chest.
The door behind me opened and I yelped.
"What?" grumbled Ajax.
"You... um... you startled me," I replied, my voice faint.
"I didn't know you wore glasses," Ajax remarked crossly, pointing at the rims in my hand. "You should tell me so if they are ever knocked from your face in battle, I shall be able to take countermeasures to protect your ocular weakness."
"They aren't those sorts of glasses, Ajax." I gave them a good wipe and pointed at the windows. "Do you see them?"
He squinted. "What's that? I thought all the stained glass disappeared."
"Our stained glass featuring all the great battles of the Other Side disappeared. These are new."
He seemed momentarily confused. "Did you redecorate?"
"No, I did not redecorate," I hissed, starting to freak out. "Why are there now twenty young women depicted in stained glass??"
"Huh." He crossed his arms and stared harder.
I marched over to him. "And when you put these on? They move."
He took the rims from my hand suspiciously and then placed them on his nose. His face paled as his eyes got big. He snatched them off.
"Huh!" he stated, regarding at the gl
asses with newfound respect.
The bell rang in the lobby.
Ajax looked at the window to the glasses to me. Reluctantly and apologetically, he held them out. "We have guests arriving," he stated with forced calmness.
"Mummies?" I replied, swallowing.
He nodded grimly.
"Try not to sniff as you walk past their bandages," I reminded him, taking back the black rims. The rhinestones glimmered in the moonlight. I was trying desperately to appear as if everything was normal. I was not allowed to melt down about the fact that the exact number of missing Jane Does were now in our windows and these glasses brought them to life. "It's unbecoming."
We both stood for a moment longer, then turned back to stare once more at the girls.
The front desk bell rang again.
"Huh," we both said in unison.
Chapter Twelve
My pointed shoes clicked on the cobblestones as I hustled down the street. I dreamed of the day when I would have a broomstick again, able to soar overhead instead of walking among the scum of the earth. Literally. Some pond monster had decided to leave his watery abode to rub elbows with the land dwellers. Taking up almost the whole sidewalk, he brushed his green, oozing mass against me as he passed. It felt like someone squeezed a moldy sponge on my dress and left a trail of musty smells no perfume could cover. I tried not to gag. One must be polite when one is fangless in a town full of jawed monsters.
Fortunately, he and I were headed in opposite directions. Thank goonness for small blessings.
Despite my urgency, the windows of several witch shops caught my eye. I could not help the little pang of longing as I passed the bookseller and the shelves of leather-bound tomes and illuminated tarot decks; the candle shops with their rows of rainbow-colored, hand-dipped sticks draped across long rods. The "little pang" was outright jealousy as I watched my fellow sisters sitting at lace-draped tables, levitating tea and biscuits as they chatted. A broom swept through the small café. It leaned against its owner for approval like a sleepy old dog. Oh, for the days when I had a broom who adored me...
