I managed to shower and get dressed with minimal assistance, but Rachel had to make the coffee. I have an eye doctor that I don’t see very often, but we’d have to wait until at least nine to call her.
“Do you want to go to the ER?” Rachel asked as I slowly ate my bowl of Lucky Charms.
“Maybe.” I carefully reached for my coffee. “But I know what this is.”
“Jonah.” I couldn’t see her face, but I could hear the disgust in her voice.
“Yeah.” I sipped coffee.
I wasn’t completely blind. I could make out shapes and light, and if I held my phone very close I could at least see the names on my contact list. But I couldn’t see well enough to read my email, do a search, or play any of my games.
I curled and uncurled my fists, feeling helpless. And angry. At Jonah, yeah, but also myself. I didn’t know how I could have protected myself against a curse from Jonah, but I should at least have expected that he’d try something like this. Did Bree tell him I talked to her? That was stupid too.
“So what do we do?” Rachel was at the sink. “Get you a cane? Dark glasses? Sign you up for a Seeing Eye dog?”
“I don’t know. There’s got to be some way to reverse it. That’s how the whole scam works. Jonah will probably contact me with his ransom demand, I don’t want to pay him anything, but it could be our one shot at getting the book back. I just hope he doesn’t want to just leave me like this.”
“Yeah.” I heard a sigh. “You’re not going to need help going to the bathroom, are you?”
“I think I can manage.”
She was back at the table again. “Are your other senses suddenly more sharp? Maybe you can turn this into a superhero gig.”
“Then I’d have to get a costume, and I don’t look good in spandex.”
“Good point.”
I waited until 8:30 to call Vivian Vogel. I had to make sure she hadn’t gotten a curse laid on her too.
She was fine, but shocked when I told her about my near-blindness. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry! Can I do anything?”
“Send me Jonah’s number, if you have it. I expect he’ll call to ask for money, but I don’t want to wait too long.”
“God, this is a nightmare. I never thought—”
“At least he hasn’t come after you.” Yet. I wished I knew some kind of precaution to take. A cross? Cloves of garlic? Hiding in a church?
“Oh God. I’ll pay. Whatever he wants—”
“I’m hoping we won’t have to pay him anything. I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to do, but I’ll think of something.” I hoped.
She sent me Jonah’s number. I was able to store it without asking Rachel for help, which felt like a victory, so I had another cup of coffee.
I made my way into the office and sat at my desk, but I couldn’t do anything. I could barely make out the shape of my computer monitor in front of me. I heard Rachel come in, and saw a shadow of her setting something down on my desk next to the keyboard. “Here’s some coffee. You need anything else right now?”
“A bottle of water? Whenever you get a chance.”
“Fine.” She left and came back. “Here. Anything else? This is your last chance for an hour. I’ve got work to do.”
“Thank you. I won’t bother you unless it’s an emergency.”
I felt a kiss on the top of my head. “Got it.”
I sipped my coffee, thinking. After a few minutes I took a breath, braced myself, and said, “Hey, Rach?”
I heard a grunt. “Yeah?”
“Sorry. Could you email Carrie and ask her to call me?”
Carrie was Rachel’s oldest friend. She knew a lot about magic, and had deep connections inside Chicago’s supernatural community. She’d never liked me, but she managed to tolerate me for Rachel’s sake.
Usually I ask Rachel to communicate with her, but I didn’t want to interrupt her work any more than I had to. And I needed something to do on my own,
“Okay. . . . There. I don’t know how long—”
My phone buzzed. Carrie? That was quick. I fumbled and managed to answer, for once with no idea who was calling. “Tom Jurgen speaking.”
“Jurgen? Jonah.” He sounded like a man highly amused with himself.
“Very funny, Jonah. Message received. How much do you want?”
He laughed. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll let you sit in the dark for a while. That way you can’t bother me again.”
“I’m blind, not helpless. And I’m not rich.”
“Your client is. At least she’s got that big house. You don’t want anything to happen to it, do you? Or her?”
“You sound like Tony Soprano. Just tell me what you want. That book doesn’t make you invulnerable.”
“We’ll see. I’m only just figuring out everything I can do. I’ll be in touch.” He hung up.
Rachel heaved a sigh. “What did he want?”
“Nothing yet.” I stood up cautiously. “I’ll go out in the living room where I won’t bother you. I think I can make it on my own. Don’t worry about the coffee.”
But she walked me to the living room and brought my coffee and water. “Just shout. If it’s important.” I heard her walk away.
A few minutes later my phone buzzed again. “What’s up, Sherlock?” This time it was Carrie. “Rachel says you’ve come down with a curse.”
“Yeah. I can’t see.” I gave her the short version. “Is there any way of getting rid of the curse without the book?”
“Yeah, without knowing the exact curse, I don’t think so. But I’m not an expert. You get yourself into the stupidest problems, don’t you?”
“It’s a curse. Oops. I meant—”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Let me send a few emails and see what I can do.”
This was the nicest she’d been to me in years. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. Seriously. To anyone.” Carrie hung up.
I slumped on the sofa, trying to think of what to do. Trying not to think of what I’d do if my blindness became permanent. How long would Rachel put up with me? How would I make a living? Would I look good in dark glasses? What kind of Seeing Eye dog should I get? How would I pick up after him?
Eventually I dozed off. I woke to the sound of a text coming in on my phone. I picked it up instinctively, then remembered I couldn’t read it. Goddamn it.
I stood up and made my way haltingly into the office. “What is it?” Rachel asked from somewhere.
“Sorry. I got a text. Can you read it to me?” I held my phone out.
“Yeah. I can even set it up to read texts to you, if you want. Later.” I felt her take the phone. “It says, uh, from Bree: Meet me @ 5 @ Gunter’s bar. $500. Who’s Bree?”
“Jonah’s girlfriend.” I felt a surge of hope, and tried not to get too far ahead of myself. “I asked her to help me get the book back.”
“And she only wants five hundred dollars for it?” Rachel snorted. “Can you trust her?”
“I don’t know. I think she’s mad at Jonah for sleeping with Mina. Not that she seems hopelessly in love with him. Whatever. If she’s really got it, we have to take a chance.”
“Yeah. It’s only been a few hours, but I don’t think I’m cut out to be a caregiver. Even though I love you,” she added quickly.
“Me too.” I took the phone from her. “Will you take me there?”
“Sure. I’ve got class, but Abby will let me look at her notes. This is kinda more important, I guess.”
“Thanks. I owe you one.”
“Oh, you owe me a lot more than one, buddy.” But she kissed me on the cheek. “Now get out of here and let me work.”
So I went back out to the living room, managed to drink some coffee without spilling it, and sat back down to take a nap. Then the phone buzzed again. I answered. It was Carrie.
At 4:45 Rachel led me into the bar. “What does she look like?”
“Blonde. Twenties, apple tattoo on her shoulder.”
“I don’t think she’s here yet. You want a beer?”
She walked me to a table, and I sat down. A few minutes later she came back. “Here.”
The bar didn’t sound crowded or noisy. The jukebox played something by Taylor Swift, and I could hear a baseball game on the TV.
I’d spent part of the day talking to Carrie, and the rest just sitting around. Life without sight was boring. I could imagine myself becoming a shapeless blob if this went on much longer.
I heard people come in and out. “What time is it?”
“A little after five. Drink your beer and don’t get antsy. You’re the one who’s always telling me to be patient.”
“You’re the one who can see.” But I took a sip of cold beer. It didn’t help me relax, but it felt nice going down.
A minute later Rachel said, “She’s here.”
“Does she have the book?”
“She has a backpack. Here she comes.”
I heard a chair move across the table. “Hi.”
“Hi.” I spoke in the direction of her voice. “This is Rachel. Rachel, Bree. Do you have the book?”
“Do you have the money?”
“Hang on a second.” I could see Rachel’s arm, a shadow, and something dropped on the table between our beers. “Show me the book.”
I heard Bree moving her backpack around. “Here.”
“Stay right there.” Rachel’s arm moved again, pulling the book toward her. “Whoa. I can feel it through the cover.”
“What?” Bree was confused.
“The magic. I’m psychic. Okay, here’s the symbol Carrie told us to look for.”
“What’s that?” Bree asked. “A triangle inside of a circle inside a star?”
“A friend of mine told us to look for it. It’s good.”
“You’re really psychic?”
“It’s her thing,” I said. “Are you going to count the money?”
“That’s okay. I guess I trust you.”
“Why are you giving it to us?” I asked. “Won’t Jonah be mad?”
“Who cares?” Bree giggled. “Serves him right. Not like I thought we were going to live happily ever after or anything, but a 70-year-old woman? Yuck.”
I felt like I should defend Mina, somehow. Then Bree said, “What?” and Rachel said, “Nothing,” and I thought it smarter to keep my mouth shut.
“Damn, this thing should have an index,” Rachel said. “Blindness, eyes, sight—it’s like 600 pages long.”
“Remember what Carrie said,” I told her.
“Yeah, but this has lots of good stuff in it. Warts, plague, insomnia, ingrown toenails . . . Okay, here it is. Wait. Oh, hell.”
“What is it?” No cure? I was going to be blind for the rest of my—
“Uh-uh.” Bree’s chair scraped on the floor. “I’ve got to go now, thanks.”
“Hang on a minute.” It was Jonah’s voice. Right behind me. Damn it!
“Bitch. I knew you were—Hey, what are you doing?” Jonah clamped a hand on my shoulder. “That’s mine.”
“Actually, it belongs to my client,” I said, pulling his hand away and turning toward the sound of his voice. “We’re just taking it back before you can do any serious damage with it.”
I felt him push my chair, trying to get to Rachel. Then I heard Rachel’s chair fall over. “Be right back,” she muttered.
Someone said, “Hey!” and Rachel said, “Sorry,” and Jonah said, “Come back here!” I heard Rachel’s feet pound the floor away from us.
I could feel Jonah swing around the table, and I kicked a foot out. It caught something, and he cursed, and I heard him topple over, along with shouts and clattering glasses and a general outcry of irritation mixed with amusement. “You all right?” someone asked. “Need another beer here,” someone else said.
“What’s going on?” Bree was still there, right behind me.
“Rachel’s going for plan B,” I said. “Can you keep Jonah here?”
“I don’t think so.” She squeezed my arm. “Thanks for the money.” Then her voice was gone.
Great. I couldn’t do anything except hope Rachel had time to do what she had to do. And that we wouldn’t get arrested. I heard Jonah swearing. “Where did she go? What do you think you can do, put a curse on me? It’s not like you can call the cops.”
“Yeah, no. I wish I could.” I leaned forward, trying to make out his body in the shadows shrouding my eyes. “We’ll just have to settle for keeping the book away from you.”
“And how do you think—”
Then the fire alarm went off in the back of the bar.
Fortunately the sprinklers didn’t come on in the front to douse us. I heard shouts over the blaring siren as people immediately started jostling each other for the exits.
The bartender shouted, “Take it easy! It’s in the bathroom! Everybody, just make your way outside and I’ll call the fire department!”
“What did you do?” Jonah’s hand gripped my shirt, pulling me out of my chair. “What the hell did you do?”
The room spun. He didn’t hit me, but bright lights flashed in my eyes. I blinked, rubbing them as tears suddenly started streaming down my cheeks. I rubbed my face, and when I blinked again I could see Rachel. She was standing behind Jonah, her jacket and hair soaking wet, with her stun gun in her hand.
She’d never looked more beautiful.
“Let go of him, asshole,” Rachel growled.
Jonah looked at her, looked at me, then let go of my shirt before it ripped. “Motherfuckers,” he muttered. He clenched a fist, half lifting his arm to hit me, then glanced at Rachel’s stunner and changed his mind. “Motherfuckers,” he said again, then turned and left.
I smiled at Rachel. “I can see.”
She smiled back. “Carrie was right. It worked.”
The bartender came up next to us. “Okay, out. I won’t tell the cops about you if you just get out now and don’t come back.”
I nodded. “Deal.”
Back home Rachel changed into dry clothes. The sprinkler in the women’s restroom had drenched her when she set fire to the book in the sink—after spraying it with as much lighter fluid as she could manage quickly—but now she was dry and wearing sweats. “We’ll have to call Carrie and thank her,” she said, opening a beer.
Carrie had called me back in the afternoon. “If the book is real,” she told me, “it’s the source of the power of the curses in it. There’ll be a symbol in the front. Or Rachel will probably feel it. Anyway, destroy the book, and the curses vanish. Let me know.”
“I hope my client won’t care that we destroyed her property,” I said to Rachel now. “But I’ll deal with it either way. It’s good to see you again.” We clinked bottles.
“I just hope she doesn’t argue about the $500 you’ll put down for expenses,” Rachel said. “I hope Bree got away. She doesn’t need an asshole like that in her life.”
“And that Jonah stays away from Mina. I doubt she’ll be returning his texts.” I kissed her. “You looked sexy, all drenched and ready to shock him with your stunner.”
“It probably would have shorted out and zapped my hair white.” But she cocked an eyebrow. “Don’t get any ideas. I’m not taking a shower in my clothes just to get you all excited.”
“Fine.” I was hungry, though. “Do we have any Chinese food left from last night?”
She punched my arm. “Now that you can see again, you can make dinner.”
I got up and started humming ”Amazing Grace.” I didn’t start singing until I reached “was blind but now I see,” and by then I was in the kitchen. Rachel could always slug me again later.
# # #
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