I glanced down at him with a silent question. “Do I feel okay to you? This is unpleasant.”
“Okay so far,” he said. “Hold onto your breakfast. The second croissant was probably a bad idea.”
The doctor caught my eye. “Janelle, it would help if you focused. Picture a knot releasing. It almost feels like you’re holding onto it.”
“Got it. I guess I really am tense.” I took a deep breath and then another and tried to do as she said. My innards seemed to seize up even more. It felt like my system was rejecting her therapy.
She lifted her hands again. “It’s a stubborn one. We’ll move onto plan B.”
Turning, she went to collect a wheeled cart from the corner with a small machine on it. “What’s that?” I asked.
“Think of it as an ultrasound for magicals. The pulses reach deep into the tissues and sweet talk problems into healing.”
“I like that idea.” The direct application of her energy had been anything but sweet.
“Tell me about your dog,” she said, turning on the machine. It made a gentle whirring sound that was rather soothing. “It’ll help you relax.”
I laughed inwardly and Bixby joined me. He was not the type of dog to encourage relaxation.
“Right,” he said. “Constant vigilance. That’s why I’m here. On this earthly plane, I mean. I was vigilant on the other side, too, but there wasn’t much I could do about my observations then.” He paused for a moment. “Relaxing yet?”
This time, I laughed out loud. “Sorry, doctor. Just thinking about my dog makes me chuckle. He is quite a character. Do you have one?”
She touched a dial and the whirring grew louder. “I’m more of a bird person. I have quite a few of them, including a parrot who talks. I can’t say enough good things about a pet you can actually interact with. He makes me laugh, too.”
It was as hard to imagine this woman laughing as it was to let go of the tension in my midriff. Instead of releasing, it seemed to double down. These hiccups did not want to go.
The doctor must have agreed, because she made another adjustment and the whirring got too loud to speak or even think. I had no choice but to focus on my belly, which was pulsating with energy. I wasn’t nauseated now but it wasn’t comfortable, either. It felt so invasive.
Dr. Featherburn was speaking again and I couldn’t make out the words. Instead, my mind drifted away and images of Whimsy crossed my mental landscape. Was I being hypnotized? If so, it was quite pleasant.
At least until memory whisked me back to the library. I was standing at the end of the row with my friends, just like before, only this time Angus wasn’t dead, he was—
“Janelle!” Bixby’s voice in my head was urgent. Louder than the whirring machine. “Enough.”
I continued to walk toward Angus in my imagination. Could I stop what happened? Or at least see how it happened and prevent another incident? As my feet moved toward the big man, tension built inside.
In the same moment that Bixby nipped my ankle, I hiccupped.
“All done,” the doctor said, stepping back. She turned the machine off and pushed the cart to its corner. “Took a bit of doing, but the problem is solved.”
“Solved? I just hiccupped.”
“Sure did,” Bixby said. “Loud enough to blow her across the room.”
The doctor returned with what passed for a smile. “You’re still going to hiccup like anyone else. But that will be where it ends. No sunflowers. Nothing required but a simple excuse me.”
“Excuse me,” I said. “That certainly felt like a release.”
“Exactly the result we were after. Now, sit up slowly and take a few minutes to adjust to the new you. Or the old you. I have another patient waiting.”
“Thank you,” I called after her as she left. “And thank you, Bixby, for pulling me back from what felt like a dangerous precipice.”
“It was a waking nightmare,” he said. “No fun in that.”
Ren came over and joined me, lifting the blind. “Oh, look. There’s a crow on the windowsill. Bigger than Bixby.”
Sitting up, I turned to look into the crow’s bright eyes. “What a beauty. Just as happy there’s glass between us, though.”
“You and me both,” Mr. Bixby said. “Let’s get out of here. I’ve found the whole process unsettling.”
“You and me both,” I echoed, hopping off the table and lifting the dog. “But erasing the sunflower problem was worth the price.”
“Time will tell.” Bixby wheezed dramatically. “No need to squeeze me like a teddy bear. I was just doing my job. Nip included.” He chuckled as we walked through the waiting room. “Tried not to leave a mark, in case Big Red is an ankle man.”
We walked in silence through the parking lot, Mr. Bixby strutting ahead, quite taken with himself. It was a crisp clear day and Elsa’s chrome danced with sunbeams.
“What are you thinking about, Janny?” Ren asked.
“My crossword puzzle. One of the clues is ‘dark, winged omen.’ Five letters. I think that bird on the windowsill was a raven.”
“Cool,” Ren said. “They’re not common around here.”
The bird landed on the roof of my car. It was quite a bit larger than a crow, now that I thought about it. The sound it made was different, too. More of a dragged-out croak.
“Uh-oh,” Bixby said. “He’s coming for me.”
“Get wiener boy, birdie,” Bijou called. “I’ll help.”
