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“I was trying not to scare you.”
“Too late. The carnivorous eggplant handled that.”
Agnes snaps her teeth behind us.
“Vegan,” Karloff reminds us without turning around.
Hewit sighs. “Come on.”
The laboratory behind the cottage bears almost no resemblance to the rest of Karloff’s home. The clutter disappears. White counters gleam beneath bright lights. Glassware is arranged in exact rows, equipment hums quietly against one wall, and an examination couch sits beneath a bank of cabinets.
Karloff points at the examination couch. “Nora, sit. Hewit, there.”
“There” turns out to mean a metal stool positioned close enough that Hewit’s knee brushes mine when he sits. The contact steadies me, like everything about him steadies me.
Karloff takes my pulse, shines a light into my eyes, checks my pupils, asks me to follow his finger, then produces a small device that looks like a tricorder stolen from the original Star Trek set.
I eye it. “What does that do?”
“Measures thaumic activity.”
“Meaning?”
“Magic.”
He moves it slowly around my head, shoulders, chest, and hands. The device emits an occasional faint click.
Hewit leans forward. “What does that mean?”
“Nothing yet.”
Karloff moves to Hewit and repeats the process. This time, the clicks come faster.
His eyebrows rise. “Ah.” He waves the device between us, and the clicking accelerates.
Hewit looks ready to throw the machine through the wall. “What?”
Karloff turns to us. “Move apart. Opposite sides of the room.”
Hewit doesn’t move.
I nudge his knee. “Humor him.”
“I’ve been doing that since we got here.”
“Please.”
He huffs as he stands and crosses to the far wall.
Karloff takes another reading. A few clicks. Then he has Hewit come back toward me. The closer he gets, the faster the device responds. By the time Hewit stops in front of me, it’s chattering like an irritated insect.
Karloff beams. “Oh, yes. Yes, yes.”
Hewit closes his eyes.
I reach for his hand. The instant our fingers touch, the device lets out a high-pitched whine.
All three of us stare at it.
