“Forty? A bit more? Am I close?”
Bixby laughed even harder in my head. “Better get moving if you want to ‘cut loose’ with Big Red, old lady.”
I decided not to satisfy Marli’s curiosity. “Do you remember a particular book of interest?”
She pointed again. “That one. It wasn’t quite aligned with the others.”
Bixby stopped me as I reached out. “Remember the last book you touched on impulse?”
A shudder ran through me at the memory. Instead of touching this one, I ran my fingers along the shelf a few inches from the spines. Several had a warm glow, but when I got to Mastering French Cuisine the book lit up.
“Oooh, how’d you do that?” Marli asked.
“No idea. Just happens sometimes. You got the right book, but I’m afraid to touch it, after what happened to Angus.”
“It’s fine. I’ve already looked.” She plucked the book off the shelf and handed it to me. “There’s nothing in there.”
Only there was. When I took the book from her, it was red hot. Scorching. If I didn’t have a very high tolerance for heat, I may have screamed. Instead, I dropped it and shook my hand to cool my fingers. “Ow. That stung like blazes.”
“I felt nothing at all.”
I showed her my fingertips and even in the low light, blistering was visible. That hadn’t happened when I touched Magic Through the Ages, yet the book didn’t feel hexed.
“Ah,” Bixby said. “Your energy tank is low. That’s likely what protected you before.”
“Then I sure hope I don’t need to stun anyone,” I said.
“If you need it, it’ll come,” he assured me. “Just costs more.”
The next voice was Marli’s. “You two are weird, you know.”
“You have no idea.”
I expected Mr. Bixby to supply a silent witticism but he didn’t. And when he did speak in my head, the tone was serious. “Janelle, I’ve got a bad feeling. Let’s move.”
“In a minute.”
“In a minute, what?” Marli asked.
I stooped to stare at the open book.
If I hadn’t stooped, it would have been me that got hit by a flying book instead of Marli.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Marli staggered and fell. “Ow. That hurt.” She touched her forehead. “I’m bleeding.”
Our assailant was invisible, but I assumed they were behind us, based on the trajectory of the book.
“Not necessarily,” Bixby said. “Skye wants you to come the other way.”
I was too flustered to seek direction from the ghost dog, but I took Bixby’s word for it. “Marli, get up,” I whispered. “We’re under attack.”
“Attack? I don’t see anyone.”
“Lower your voice. A book just clobbered you and there are thousands more locked and loaded.”
She scrambled to her feet. “I can throw back, you know.”
“Not if you can’t see the target.” I shoved her in the direction the book had flown.
“Toward the book? Are you crazy? You go first.”
“Marli, just shut up and trust me.”
She stopped resisting and moved ahead. “Why don’t we want to fight back?”
“Because I know who’s throwing and we won’t win.”
Someone called out, “True. Because books aren’t all I can throw.”
The voice was an angry snarl but confirmed my guess anyway.
We reached Skye and the dog tried to herd us on. I moved in front of Marli and pressed her into the wall. We were trapped on the wrong end of the stacks to escape. Yet being in the common space would leave more opportunity to be struck by large objects.
“Is there ever an ideal place for a showdown with an aggressive witch?” Bixby asked.
I didn’t bother answering. “Invisible, Marli,” I whispered. “It’ll make us harder to hit. And for the love of magic, zip your lip.”
