The window behind Leslie’s desk showed the pale light of evening beyond, and his secretary was nowhere to be seen. Her desk had been cleared off and a wooden case sat open, pivoting on a hinge down its center so its contents could be easily accessed. An alcohol burner sat in front of the case, under a metal stand that supported a glass beaker with a triangular base and a narrow neck. A viscous, sludgy liquid the color of mud churned and bubbled within the glass.
As he lay, watching the muddy liquid, a woman entered his field of view. She wore a knee-length blue skirt with a white blouse and a jacket that matched the skirt. She looked to be in her late sixties with white hair bound up in a bun behind her head. Her face was lined and a bit severe, but she had blue eyes that sparkled with an element of mischief.
“W-who are you?” Alex asked. His mouth felt dry and his words were a bit slurred.
The woman walked over to him and held a monocle up to her eye.
“So you’re back among the living finally,” she said with a raised eyebrow. “It’s about time.”
“Didn’t answer…” Alex swallowed hard, but his mouth still felt like it was full of cotton. “My question,” he finished.
“My name is Dr. Andrea Kellin,” she said, squinting through the monocle. Alex remembered the name, she was the alchemist he was looking for when he met Jessica.
“Dr. Bell asked me to come have a look at you. It’s a good thing I did,” she added.
Alex felt somewhat exposed under the doctor’s gaze as she scrutinized him through the little glass. As he observed it, however, Alex noticed that instead of a proper spectacle lens, the monocle had some kind of gemstone in it.
“What’s that?” he croaked.
Dr. Kellin smiled and took the monocle away from her eye.
“You’re just like Ignatius,” she said. “He doesn’t miss a detail either. This is a Lens of Seeing.”
Alex had no idea what that meant.
“It’s actually a salt crystal,” Kellin said, holding it close enough for Alex to see it clearly. “I grew it over the course of six months in a vat filled with the philter of true sight.”
“Very patient of you,” Alex managed.
Dr. Kellin laughed. Her smile was a bit crooked, but it was warm and genuine, and Alex decided he liked her.
“The philter of true sight is one of the most difficult concoctions in alchemy,” she said. “I spent the better part of a decade learning to brew it and the batch I used to make this,” she held up the monocle, “took me two years of work.”
Alex opened his mouth, but she put her finger on his lips to silence him.
“The lens allows me to read your energy,” she explained. “I can see where you are hurt.” She touched his side where his broken rib was, and he felt a twinge even from that gentle contact. “I can also see what you need to get better.”
Alex chuckled at that. He doubted very much that even the formidable doctor could cure him of having spent the majority of his life-force.
Kellin’s face turned sour when Alex laughed.
“Yes,” she said, giving voice to Alex’s thoughts. “I can also see the terrible price you’ve paid for your magic. I hope whatever power you sought was worth it.”
“Seemed like a good idea at the time,” Alex croaked. “Can you tell how much—”
“No,” the doctor said, anticipating his question. “I only know what’s left isn’t much.”
Alex felt a cold knot of fear in his guts. He’d successfully suppressed that emotion for months by the simple trick of not thinking about it. He wouldn’t have changed what he did if he could go back, but he didn’t want to die any more than the next guy.
“Thanks anyway,” he said.
“Enough questions,” Kellin said, turning and walking to the bubbling container on Leslie’s desk. She extracted a small brown bottle with a dropper in the lid. As Alex watched, she carefully added one drop of red liquid from the dropper to the muddy sludge. Instantly it began to roil and churn like a living thing until it burst into a pale yellow light that pulsed out like burning phosphorus. A moment later the light subsided, leaving a clear, yellow liquid behind that looked, to Alex, like a beaker full of urine.
Dr. Kellin picked up the alcohol burner from under the beaker and blew out its flame. That done, she produced one of the shot glasses Alex usually kept in his desk and poured two fingers of bourbon from the bottle Leslie kept in her desk, Alex’s bottle being empty. To this, she added an equal part of the yellow liquid and swirled them together in the glass.
“I want you to sit up,” she said, walking back to the couch. “Slowly,” she cautioned.
Alex moved and the pain in his head nearly blinded him. Taking the Doctor’s advice, he slowly levered himself up into a sitting position.
“I want you to sip this,” she said, handing him the shot glass. “It’s hot.”
Alex raised it to his lips and just touched the hot liquid to his tongue. It tasted sweet and the moisture was welcome in his mouth.
“Jessica told me about you,” Kellin said as Alex took another sip. “I must confess, I’m surprised that you didn’t go back to see her yesterday as she instructed. Usually young men find the prospect of her company more than enough inducement for them to visit.”
“Someone shot me yesterday,” Alex said between sips. “It was a busy day.”
Dr. Kellin eyed him as if she wasn’t sure she believed him, then put the monocle back over her eye. She looked him up and down, twisting the monocle as if she were focusing a telescope.
“How did you stop the three that hit you in the back?” she asked.
“Shield runes.”
If Kellin was surprised by this answer she didn’t show it; she just shrugged and put the monocle away.
“If you had seen Jessica yesterday, she’d have tested your blood and seen that the mixture of the nerve tonic was off.”
“Is that why I fainted?” Alex asked.
“No, you fainted because you have a concussion.”
“What?”
“Dr. Bell said you were hit by a blast of magical force that broke your rib,” she said. “It hit your head just as hard. That gave you a concussion.”
“Is that serious?”
“Very,” Kellin said. “Untreated it can cause brain injury and even death.”
“What do I do for that?”
“Death?” Dr. Kellin smirked. “Nothing. To treat the concussion,” she tapped the shot glass of yellow liquid, “keep drinking your medicine.”
As Alex continued to sip the hot liquid, Dr. Kellin went back to her portable chemistry set on Leslie’s desk. She picked up the silver flask that Jessica had given him and opened the top. Taking several bottles from her case, she added drops and splashes to the flask, then capped it again and shook it vigorously.
“I can’t say it will improve the taste,” she said, picking Alex’s coat up off the foot of the couch and slipping the flask back into the inside pocket. “But this will stop the tonic from keeping you up at night.”
Alex finished the shot glass and Dr. Kellin took it. He put his feet on the floor in preparation to stand up, but the doctor put her hand on his forehead.
“Stay there a while,” she said. “You shouldn’t stand until you’ve had a bit more rest. Give your brain a chance to heal.”
Alex nodded and leaned against the back of the couch.
“Where is everyone?” he asked. The last thing he remembered, Iggy, Leslie, and Hannah had still been there.
“Dr. Bell thought that Mrs. Cunningham would be safer at your secretary’s apartment, so he escorted them over there. I expect him back at any moment.”
Alex closed his eyes and laid his head back on the back of the couch. He could hear Dr. Kellin packing up her alchemy equipment and it briefly occurred to him to help, but he didn’t feel like he could lift his head again, much less stand.