Page 43 of The Neighborhood Witch

Alice thought for a moment. “Well, until sunrise the next day.”

Alice flipped through more pages. Their appearance was tanned and stained with time. She stopped on a page. “Here we go. Perfect beginner’s spell for you to learn. It’s calledAir Walk. This prevents you from crashing to the ground. Very popular for those who’ve drunk too much.” Alice chuckled. “One sip, and it’s like you’re floating in the air.”

Alice pulled open drawers of her apothecary box to examine the contents inside. She called out each ingredient as she withdrew them from their cubbyholes. “Let’s see. A leaf blown by the breeze. A pinch of dirt. A bird’s feather. A sprig of peppermint.” She placed them one by one into a granite mortar bowl on the table. “Grab that pestle there, and start smashing those together.” She motioned to the club shaped object laying on the table, about as long as Hugo’s hand.

“So, is this why you collect nature things?” Hugo asked.

“I told you. Only the perfect ones.”

Hugo grabbed the pestle and was about to grind the ingredients into a fine powder.

“Wait!” Alice exclaimed, stopping Hugo. “Let me see that.”

Hugo handed over the objects. “What’s wrong?” His eyes widened as if he had somehow messed up.

Alice removed the objects from the bowl and picked up a cloth. She wiped both of them in a clockwise rotation over and over andover, as if she was never satisfied with each pass. “Sorry. I normally have mortars and pestles dedicated to each spell. I don’t want to contaminate them with the wrong ingredients. That’s my secret.”

She finally finished as if satisfied on some level that the ingredients would not be contaminated. Alice gave one final examination with her fingertips for good measure. She placed the ingredients back into the bowl and handed them to Hugo. “Good as new.”

“What happened to them?” Hugo asked as he resumed his assigned duties. The stone against stone sound resonated in the mortar bowl and echoed throughout the stone wine cellar. The crackling of the leaf. The smashing of the peppermint sprig. The mortar bowl grunted with every strike of the pestle.

“They disappeared during the move,” Alice began as she rearranged items on the workstation. Each one seemingly moved at random and with less thought than the last. “Or before the move. I… I don’t know. It was all such a blur. No doubt Sam took them.”

She opened and immediately shut a few of the drawers. She slammed her hands down. Her fingers attempted to dig into the wood table. Her face glared off into emptiness. Hugo recognized that look. The anger hidden behind lying eyes. Her body was no doubt tense and ready to burst out in frustration. He knew it far too well. How natural that anger felt, like breathing or simply existing.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

She turned to him and smiled. “It’s okay. I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not,” he responded immediately.

“No, I’m not.” She bowed her head. Her purple hair partially obscured her face. Her shoulders slumped, and she released her death grip on the table. Alice let out a sigh of relief.

Hugo stopped his work. He placed his hand on top of hers. “Hey. Look at me.”

She turned and locked eyes with him. Her emerald green eyes watered as they held back tears. His icy blues struggled to reassure her. Their gaze disappeared into an eternal bliss.

“It’s okay to not be okay.”

A solitary tear left a trail as it moved down her soft, pale face. Alice sniffled and wiped it away with her free hand. She turned her other to clutch Hugo’s hand.

“It is okay to not be okay,” she said, laughing away any more tears.

He let go of her hand, while hers remained on the table, now empty.

“I think the powder’s ready,” Hugo said, looking into the mortar.

Alice composed herself, preening her hair back into place. She rested her chin on Hugo’s shoulder to peer into the mortar. “Good enough.”

Hugo felt the vibration of her words, but that sensation was fleeting. He yearned for more.

She took the mortar and dumped the contents into the bubbling cauldron. She carefully pulled her hair back behind her ears and bent down over the cauldron. Her purple lips moved back and forth as she recited more words of the unknown language. He didn’t understand what she was saying, but he didn’t care. Hugo focused on her soft lips. She could have spoken English in that moment, and her words would have been indecipherable.

She finished and then blew over the cauldron. The bubbles stopped, and flame dispersed. She picked up the cauldron, cupping the bottom with her hands as if it were now cold to the touch. Alice carried the cauldron to the wine presses and poured in the liquid. After returning it back to the table, she grabbed two vials of powder. One was labeledBrewing Sugar, and the other wasBrewing Yeast. She headed back to the presses and added in a small bit of the contents.

“You know, I can do magic too,” Hugo said.

“Oh, yeah?” Alice turned her attention back toward him. “How so?”

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