Unsympathetic Magic - Laura Resnick [124]
Jeff smirked at me. I ignored him.
“Esther,” Max added, “there would also certainly be no harm in our renewing the power of your protective charm.”
“In the laboratory?” I guessed.
“Yes. Frank, perhaps you would be so good as to continue your recitation downstairs?”
Frank nodded wearily, and he and Jeff rose to follow Max.
We heard a sudden, piercing wail come from the far side of the shop, followed by the slapping and slamming of rapidly opening and closing doors and drawers.
Frank screamed and hid behind me, his eyes rolling in terror. Jeff looked around for a weapon and grabbed the coffeepot.
“What are you going to do with that?” I took the pot away from him, then said to both men, “Calm down. It’s just the possessed cupboard.”
“The what?” said Jeff.
“That thing tries my nerves,” Max said, proceeding toward the back of the shop and downstairs to the laboratory.
“Come on,” I said to Jeff. “I’ll show you.”
Since Frank was clinging to me for dear life, he came along by default.
Along the far wall of the shop there was a massive, dark, very old wooden cupboard. It had a profusion of drawers and doors, and it was about six feet tall and at least that wide. As I understood it, the cupboard was enchanted. Or cursed. Or possessed. Whatever. Anyhow, it could be dormant and inert for weeks at a time, but then suddenly, without warning, it would act up again.
At the moment, one of its drawers was opening and closing repeatedly, while thick smoke and a wailing scream poured out of it.
“Holy shit,” said Jeff.
Frank buried his face against my back and started sobbing.
“I know it’s annoying,” I said. “But it’s really best just to ignore it.”
I gave Nelli a worried look. She disliked the cupboard and usually barked ferociously at it when it acted up. But she was just staring at it now with glazed, listless eyes.
“She needs a vet,” I said.
Frank paused in his hysteria long enough to lift his head and look at the dog. “You’re right,” he agreed. “She looks worse now than when I got here.”
“Esther?” Max’s voice floated up from the cellar.
“Coming!” I called. Then I said to my companions, “Protective charms first. Then a vet for Nelli.”
Jeff said, “I am not wearing something like that foul thing you’ve got around your neck, Esther.”
“Yours won’t be nearly this smelly,” I assured him, having no idea whether I was telling the truth. What did I know about voodoo charms? “The bokor doesn’t have strands of your hair, after all.”
Nelli gave a little groan and decided to lie down. I cast her another worried look, then turned toward the back of the shop. There was a little cul-de-sac there with some storage shelves, a utility closet, a bathroom, and a door marked PRIVATE. The door led to a narrow, creaky stairway.
At the top of the stairs, there was a burning torch stuck in a sconce on the wall. It emitted no smoke or heat, only light; and it had been burning steadily ever since I had met Max, fueled by mystical power.
My two companions blinked at it in surprise, but chose not to ask about it.
Instead, Jeff said to me, “So how is Lopez? Alert and sober?”
“Yes.”
I began descending the steps. Jeff followed me, and Frank brought up the rear.
“Then he’s got amazing recuperative powers.” Jeff asked, “Was he freaked out by your burning bed?”
“He was alarmed,” I said. “I’m the one who was freaked out. Lopez expects an arson investigator to explain it rationally.”
“That could happen, you know.” When I didn’t respond, Jeff said, “So are you two back together now?”
“No. He still thinks I’m deranged.”
Apparently my tone discouraged further conversation. Jeff said nothing else. We reached the bottom step in silence.
Max’s laboratory was cavernous, windowless, and shadowy. The walls were decorated with charts covered in strange symbols and maps of places with exotic names. Bottles of powders, vials of potions, and dried plants jostled for space on the cluttered shelves.