Doorways to Infinity (39 page)

Stacey locked eyes with Fred for a moment, and seemed to accept it without question.

Keeva smiled at Stacey again and said, “I need to take a measure of you now.”

“Will it hurt? No needles!”

“No,” Dr. Shelby said. “Keeva doesn’t need them. She uses her magic.”

“You know, Keeva,” Jamie said, standing to the side with Fred, “I’ve never seen you use your magic before.”

“I have seen you use yours. At the Founders’ Festival. I came to Rivershire last year for that.” She leaned closer to Stacey and grinned playfully. “He can fly!”

Stacey rounded her eyes. “Really?”

“Yep,” Jamie said. “And I’ll show you, if you’re really good for Keeva and the doctors.”

“She’s always good,” Terry said. “She has a lot of experience with doctors.”

“Very well.” Keeva stood up straight. “I require silence to examine her.” No one spoke as Keeva laid her hands on Stacey’s chest. The dark-haired healer seemed to be sensing the young girl in a way that Jamie couldn’t understand. Witch’s magic, he knew. Then Keeva placed her fingertips on Stacey’s head for several seconds before frowning. “The disease has spread. It is all over her body.”

“We already knew that,” Terry said. “Does that mean it’s—” She swallowed hard. “Is there anything you can do?”

“Yes, but I shall have to visit Mrs. Malley and Momma Sue, first. They will have some special ingredients that I require.”

Fred nudged Jamie’s arm with her elbow. “Make her a doorway.”

“Fred, you should come with us,” Keeva said, “in case we must use your magic, also.” She nodded toward the two doctors. “And both of you. We may have need of your expertise.”

“I’ll stay here with Terry and Stacey,” Jamie said and began drawing the glowing outlines of a doorway. Stacey watched, her mouth and eyes wide.

“Pretty awesome, isn’t it?” Terry said. “He can go just about anywhere by doing that.”

“Let me go first,” Fred said, “so I can let Momma Sue and Mrs. Malley know what’s up.”

Jamie pushed the portal open to reveal the front of Momma Sue’s old house in Louisiana, and he moved aside while Fred walked through. Keeva, Dr. Burke, and Dr. Shelby waited a minute and then followed.

Jamie left the portal open and attempted to entertain Stacey with a few simple magic tricks while they waited, but she faded quickly and fell asleep again.

Terry paced the clinic floor with her arms crossed tightly over her chest. After a while, she checked the black sports watch she wore on her left wrist and said, “Jamie, what’s taking them so long? It’s been almost an hour.”

“Heck if I know. But those are some powerful witches, and they know more about that kind of magic than anybody. Whatever they come up with, it’ll be good.”

“Why does Keeva need Fred?”

“Probably so that she can combine Fred’s magic with hers. The two old witches, too, if necessary, for extra mojo. Fred described how that works, but I’ve never seen them do it. With all four witches working on it, it’ll be powerful, no doubt.”

Terry got quiet and resumed her pacing, but suddenly stopped and said, “I forgot to ask you how your track meet went this morning.”

“Oh,” he said, taken aback. “Pretty well, actually. We won. I didn’t do that great, but that’s okay. Coach was happy. The whole team was, which is amazing, considering that we were on the verge of falling apart just a few weeks ago.”

“I wouldn’t know what it’s like. I never got to do college sports.”

“I might not anymore, if I get any busier.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let you do this today.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’d rather do this than anything else right now.”

She opened her mouth as if to reply, but turned away and faced the windows instead.

A few minutes later, Dr. Burke hurried through the portal from Momma Sue’s house and said, “We need something to put the potion in,” and she walked past Jamie to a cabinet on the far wall, opened it and pulled out an empty one-liter plastic bottle. Then she went back to Momma Sue’s while Jamie and Terry waited silently.

Soon, all of the women returned, Keeva carrying the bottle, which was full of a dark liquid. “We have it,” she announced. “Terry, you need to wake your daughter.”

“You’re going to give it to her now?”

“The sooner she gets it, the sooner she will recover.”

Terry gently rubbed the side of Stacey’s face. “Wake up, baby. You have to take some medicine.”

Stacey’s eyes fluttered open. “Mmmm? More medicine?” She made a miserable face.

“Yes, but it’s magic medicine. You’ve never had that before.”

She sat up on the examination table with Terry’s help. “Will it taste bad?”

“Probably,” Fred said. “But give it a try, Stacey. We linked up and put some heavy-duty magic in it.”

“You should’ve seen it glow when they finished!” Dr. Shelby said. “Like white fire. I’ve never seen anything like
that
before in all my years of practicing medicine. That must be one potent potion.”

Keeva poured some of the dark liquid into a paper cup, and Terry took it and handed it to Stacey. Stacey held it beneath her nose and sniffed. “Ugh.” She stuck out her tongue. “Smells yucky.”

“Drink it fast,” Terry said, “like when you take the other medicine.”

Stacey held her breath, then raised the cup to her lips and drained it. “Bleah. It’s bad!”

“Give it a minute,” Fred said with a nod. “See what happens.”

Jamie sensed something but couldn’t pinpoint the source. It seemed to be coming from Fred instead of the little girl. Jamie turned to Fred and whispered, “Is that you?”

She shook her head. “I’m feeling something from Stacey, something strong. You must be feeling an echo of it from me.”

“That’s a new one.” He focused his attention on Stacey again, along with everyone else in the room. No one blinked. No one breathed.

Stacey’s cheeks began to turn pink, then her whole face changed color, a rosy glow that washed over her like sunrise. A tentative smile flickered across her lips and she said, “Oh.” Then her smile widened and she looked up at her mother. “I feel a little better.”

“Oh, baby.” Terry leaned close to her daughter and smiled, too. “You
look
better.” She turned to Keeva, who stood nearby. “Does that mean it’s working?”

She nodded and blinked several times, and Jamie thought she was holding back tears. He blinked, too, and felt something wet in the corners of his eyes. Fred grabbed Jamie’s hand and squeezed it, and he said, “Wow.” He cleared his throat and tried for something more eloquent, but all he managed was another
wow
.

“I think she should stay with us for the night,” Dr. Burke said, “so we can keep an eye on her. We have a room in the back, and we can set up a cot for you, Terry, if you want to stay with her.”

“Of course I’m staying with her. I can sleep in what I’m wearing, but is there someplace around here where I can get something to eat? I’ve been so nervous I haven’t eaten since yesterday. All of a sudden, I’m starving.”

“We have a little kitchen in the apartment,” Dr. Burke said and pointed at the ceiling. “We can whip something up.”

Jamie and Fred returned the next morning and found a note taped to the front door of the Rivershire clinic:
We’re upstairs
.

They went inside, and as they walked up the wooden steps to the second floor, Fred sniffed and said, “Do you smell maple syrup?”

“Yeah. Smells good.”

They found Dr. Burke, Terry, and Stacey in the little kitchen that was part of the apartment that was over the clinic. Stacey was sitting at the small round table with an empty plate in front of her, and the two women stood nearby.

“Wow, Stacey,” Fred said. “You look great!”

Stacey grinned at Fred, and Terry said, “She just ate three whole pancakes. That’s the first real food she’s had in ages.”

“So you’re feeling better?” Jamie said.

“I walked upstairs by myself,” Stacey said. “Mommy didn’t carry me even a little bit.”

Terry shook her head. “Scared the you-know-what out of me, but she’s stubborn. Maybe more stubborn than me.”

“Dr. Burke, where is everybody else?” Jamie said.

“Keeva went home to the boarding house, and Dr. Shelby went back to Hendersonville to get some sleep. They stayed up all night to monitor Stacey while I got a little shuteye up here. Now it’s my shift.”

“Stacey woke me up a little while ago,” Terry said, “saying she was hungry as a bear.” She rubbed Stacey’s back. “And I believed it. She looks so much healthier now. She doesn’t look like a little zombie anymore.”

“Miss Keeva gave me something for my hair.” Stacey patted her scalp. “She rubbed it on and said it would grow back really, really fast.” She grinned again. “I can already feel a little bit. Wanna see?”

She tilted the top of her head toward Jamie and he said, “I’ll take your word for it.”

Dr. Burke held up the bottle with the dark liquid in it and offered it to Terry. “We’re going to send you home with this. Keeva said for Stacey to drink half a cup every day until it’s gone, and then she should be completely recovered.”

“No more cancer,” Stacey said firmly. “I can play with my friends and everything.”

“Speaking of friends,” Fred said, “my little sister Sammi wants you to come over and play sometime. She’s a little older than you, but you’ll have fun, I promise. She’s a witch, too.”

Stacey bobbed her head and then her small face turned serious. “I want to be a witch when I grow up.”

Terry laughed and rubbed Stacey’s back again. “I think you have to be born one, baby. It’s not a career choice.”

Stacey lowered her brow and stuck out her lower lip while she seemed to consider that. Then her face brightened. “Can I have some more pancakes? I’m starving!”

Dr. Burke laughed and turned toward the counter behind her. “I think there’s still some instant mix left. Maybe I should double the batch.”

CHAPTER 17

Jamie was walking around the outer edge of the track beside the Rivershire School with his hands on top of his head, catching his breath. Practice was almost over, though some of his teammates were still running or working on field events, like DeSean at the long jump pit.

Frankie and Ivan caught up with Jamie as he neared the curve, and Frankie said, “Jamie, have you talked to your grandfather lately?”

“Not in the last week or so. Why?”

“Well….” Frankie glanced at Ivan before continuing, “When we were here for the bonfire, he said to talk to him before we graduate because he might be able to give us a job. You think he was serious about that?”

“He wouldn’t say it if he didn’t mean it.”

“What would we be doing, you think?” Ivan said.

“What’s your major?”

“Computer information systems.” He nodded toward Frankie. “He’s logistics.”

“I don’t know what you’d do, exactly,” Jamie said. “Something for the school and the clinic and whatever. Anything to raise more money, or whatever needs doing, like finding the cheapest place to get gravel, or installing methane-burning generators. All kinds of stuff. Whenever I get an idea for a new project, Granddaddy helps make it happen. You’d be a facilitator, I’d guess you’d call it.”

Frankie twisted his mouth thoughtfully. “We’re both really interested. You got a phone number for him?”

Jamie gestured at the yellow building across the road. “He’s right over there. Why don’t you go talk to him in person?”

“We can do that? I mean, what if he’s on the other side instead, in his warehouse in Hendersonville? We can’t go through because we don’t have counter charm bracelets.”

“There’s a buzzer on the wall next to the portal. Just press it and he’ll come.”

“Can we go now?”

“I don’t see why not, but you better hurry. We gotta go back to Cullowhee pretty soon.”

The two young men turned and jogged toward Granddaddy Pete’s headquarters. Allison, who was stretching nearby, said, “Jamie, where are they going?”

“To talk to my granddaddy about a job.”

“For real? He offered me one, but I thought he was just blowin’ smoke.”

“He wouldn’t do that.”

“Can I talk to him, too?”

“Sure, but you need to hurry.”

Allison stared at him for a moment, then ran after the other two boys, who were already across the road.

* * *

Jamie met Fred in front of the dining hall for lunch. She pulled him off the sidewalk, far enough away from the passing students so that she could talk without being overheard. “I assume you got the message from Terry, too.”

“Can we go over there right after dinner? I’ve got to study later.”

“That depends on everybody else’s schedule. I think we all should go.”

“Let’s keep it to just you and me. It’s easier and faster.”

Fred shook her head firmly. “I really think everybody should go with us. Melanie’s been kinda upset that we haven’t been including her lately. She feels like we’re leaving her out because she doesn’t have any magic, but we’ve always made this big deal about how she and Bryce are part of the Crew and everything.” She frowned. “Makes me feel like a jerk. It’s wrong to do that to her. She wants to help. She wants to be a part of what we do.”

Jamie pushed the fingers of one hand through his blond hair while he thought it over. “It’s gonna be hard getting everybody together, ’cause we’re all on different schedules. Rollie and Nova always have intramural basketball, seems like.”

“They don’t tonight. I checked. I’ll tell them we’re going.”

Jamie and his friends crammed into Fred and Melanie’s dorm room before they went to meet with Eric and Terry. Melanie seemed to be excited about it. Rollie wasn’t. He said, “Why do I have to go? Jamie, you and Fred can probably handle this in your own, can’t you? I gotta study.”

“We all have to study,” Fred said. “So quit being a baby and try to be helpful.”

“Aw, man, but I really don’t want—” He cut his protest short when he caught the tight-lipped glare from Nova. “Uh…what the heck.” He shrugged. “I’ll come with you and help save the world or whatever we’re doing tonight.”

“I doubt it’s that serious.” Jamie outlined the doorway. They went through it to Eric and Terry’s house and ended up standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the small, dingy living room.