The Witch's Patron

Chapter 14

By the time Noori stepped out her front door that night, her bitterness toward Toddrick was overshadowed by excitement. Her stomach fluttered and twisted with anticipation. A wide grin was plastered across her face. She wasn't sure why she felt this way, but she didn't mind it either. 

As she sprinted into the darkened streets Noori's eyes scanned her surroundings for Luck's tell-tale golden glow. But she heard him before she saw him; his bright whistles echoed around her until she turned a corner and found him hovering at eye-level only a few paces away. The little hummingbird chirruped at if congratulating her for winning this round of hide-and-seek before darting off to start another. Noori ran after him and wondered with childlike excitement where she might find the studio's enchanted entrance this time.

Luck zipped down a particularly narrow alley and Noori squeezed in after him. Thankfully, her slower pace spared her from tripping over a door handle that reached from the ground like an upturned tree root. The moment Noori's eyes landed on it, the edges of the door began to glow.

"It's in the ground?" she laughed, tracing the golden frame with the toe of her boot. With an encouraging chirp from Luck, she tugged at the handle and hauled the door open. She peered in to find the the studio on its side. 

Luck showed off, spinning a grand loop in the air before zipping through the doorway. Noori wasn't quite sure how to follow. Her palms grew clammy as she positioning herself at the threshold and closed her eyes before taking a cautious step forward. The world rushed passed her and, for a gut-churning split second she thought she was falling. But just as she started to fumble, her foot met the ground, finishing its step as though nothing strange had happened.

"Door please!" Keizsa's voice called from somewhere in the studio's clutter.

Blinking in disbelief, Noori turned and poked her head out the door. The smooth stones of the alley sat at eye level as if she was peering out from a trap door in the ground. The topsy-turvy entryway made her stomach turn, so Noori pulled the door shut and took a moment to catch her breath.

"Well?" came Keizsa's voice again, this time so close it made Noori jump. "Are you going to come in or would you rather play with the door all night?"

Noori spun, coming face to face with the grinning art witch. She was, somehow, even messier than usual. Her magic spectacles sat askew on her forehead and her smock, hands, and even her face were smudged and smeared with paint in hues of earthen shades.

"Am I early?" Noori asked, wondering if she had caught Keizsa in the middle of a spell.

"Not at all!" Keizsa replied. "Well, actually, perhaps a little sooner than I expected. But that's alright — you'll get to see me finish!"

"Finish wha—" Noori's words failed her as Keizsa stood aside and gestured with a flourish to a massive, lifelike painting of forest trail that opened into a tree-lined meadow. The witch had cleared a large section of wall space on which to paint. Her work stretched dozens of feet high and even spilled over onto the stone floor beneath it. The grassy pathway looked so real that Noori would have believed it to be so had she not already seen the wall it was painted on with her own eyes.

"What is this?" she asked, awestruck. "Is it a spell?"

"Sort of," Keizsa said. She gestured for Noori to follow her as she breezed back toward the wall. Her bare feet padded over the smooth stone, leaving little painted footprints wherever she stepped.

"Here," she motioned, picking up her pallet with one hand and giving the stool it had been resting on a pat with the other. "Come sit with me."

Still captivated by the mural, Noori found it difficult to pry her eyes away long enough to watch where she was going. She walked into the stool and nearly knocked it over, earning a laugh from Keizsa and splashing heat across Noori's cheeks.