“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Where the walls don't have ears.” Kelly gives me a conspiratorial wink, then grabs the edge of the grandfather clock and gives it a good heave. The whole thing swings open like a door on invisible hinges, revealing a dark closet full of glowing gossamer webs.
Magick webs.
“A portal,” I breathe, reaching out to touch them. The strands shimmer between my fingers, making my skin tingle.
“My own personal transportation device,” she says. “It’s one of the old portals left over from before the Academy upgraded. When they installed the new ones, this one had already been out of service for decades, so they just left it alone. It was here when I moved in, just as dead as can be. But three hours of tinkering, one bottle of cheap red wine, and a dash of hocus-pocus later? Voila!”
“You fixed it yourself?”
Kelly grins. “I’m a witch of many talents.”
“Does that mean this portal is off the grid?”
“Maybe,” she teases. Then, lowering her voice to a whisper, “You won’t give away my secrets, will you?”
I cross an X over my heart and laugh. “Never.”
“Okay then. After you.” Kelly gestures for me to step inside, and she follows, shutting the clock behind her. The magick threads envelop us, glowing brighter in our presence and making me feel like we’re underwater. It’s not scary—just a little disconcerting.
Kelly pulls a Tarot card from her back pocket and shows it to me—a man and woman in a boat, guided to safer shores by a ferryman at the back.
“Six of Swords,” I say. “For safe travel?”
“Very good, Stevie.” She holds the card in one hand and takes my hand in the other, then speaks an incantation:
We travel together through time and space
In my mind’s eye, I hold the next place
Steer us safe and guide us true
The Six of Swords will see us through
The magick flickers, then the underwater feeling intensifies, as if we’re sinking into a warm and salty sea. Suddenly, everything starts spinning, the magick strands and Kelly blurring before my eyes. I have just enough time to feel the nausea hit, and then we’re stumbling out through another darkened doorway into an alley in an unfamiliar desert town.
The air is warmer here, and after spending the last month inside the climate-controlled confines of the academy, it takes me a minute to get used to the feel of true desert air on my skin—hot and gritty, almost suffocating, as if the red sands are already trying to claim me.
The sun has long since set, but the smell of hot asphalt lingers—a familiar scent that makes my eyes water and my heart beat faster. When I peer down through the short, squat buildings at the end of the alley and see a tumbleweed rolling down the street, I squeeze my eyes shut and let myself believe I'm home.
Tres Búhos… It can’t be…
“Welcome to Buena Casita, Arizona,” Kelly says with the same dramatic flair I know from class, and I blink the sting of lost memories from my eyes. I glance back through the doorway we just came through—nothing more than a storage room on the backside of a restaurant.
“Whoa,” is all I can say.
“Yes, the old portal system is a little hard on the body. You okay?”
“I think so. Just dizzy.”
“It will pass once you readjust to being on solid ground again.”
“How do we get back?” I ask, checking out the mundane storage room again. There’s no magick that I can see—just a few cleaning supplies and some gallon-sized tubs of mayonnaise and pickles. “The only other time I came through a portal was when Dr. Devane first brought me to campus. He had to do a blood spell in the middle of the desert.”
“My portal operates a little differently. For one thing, you can only return to campus via another closet or storage space. Any closet will do, as long as it’s dark and has a door that closes. You also need your return ticket.” She flashes the Six of Swords card again, then tucks it into her purse for safekeeping. “Then you envision my shop, recite the spell, and off you go—the magick will take care of the rest.”
“What if you lose the card?”
