Anandalla!

It was perfect. It sounded so Dharma. Alice followed as I pushed my way into the packed store, stopping every few feet to greet old friends and introduce them to Alice. I spotted Robin on the other side of the spacious shop and we waved at each other. But I couldn’t get there from here, not through this crowd.

I couldn’t see Annie anywhere, and before I could track her down, Mom found me and wrapped me up in a major mama-bear hug.

“Blessed be, sweetie,” she said in greeting, and I was reminded of her recent Wicca training. “Let’s walk outside. It’s crazy in here.” She led the way, worming around the crowds to the door, then out to the sidewalk.

“Good job, Mom,” I said when we hit the fresh air.

She closed her eyes and raised her face to the sunshine. “It’s so nice out here.”

“It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood,” I sang.

She smiled at me. “Now, sweetie, I want you to have a good time today, but also, Robson needs to talk to you sometime while you’re here.”

Robson, also known as Guru Bob to us kids, was the spiritual leader of the pack.

“Okay, I’ll stop by his place a little later.” I turned and gestured to Alice. “Mom, this is my friend Alice I was telling you about. She’s the one who wants to get a massage today.”

“Blessed be, Alice,” Mom said. “The spa is expecting you.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Wainwright,” Alice said. “It’s so nice of you to make the arrangements for me.”

“Can you take Alice with you, Mom?”

Mom turned to me. “Sweetie, I had to cancel my usual massage to help Annie today, but I called Savannah. She’s going to the spa, so I thought she could take Alice with her.”

“Oh.” I looked at Alice. “Do you mind going with my sister? Savannah’s much nicer than I am, anyway.”

Mom frowned. “Don’t be silly. You girls are all wonderful and kind.”

“Of course we are,” I said, laughing. “Veritable paragons.”

Mom touched Alice’s arm. “Did you have a specific type of massage in mind, Alice?”

Alice shook her head. “I have no idea what—”

Mom whipped her hand away. “Oh, dear.”

“Mom, what’s wrong?”

She studied Alice’s face for a few seconds, then reached out and placed two fingers in the center of Alice’s forehead.

Alice flinched.

“Don’t be afraid,” I murmured. “She’s touching your third eye. It’ll tell her everything she needs to know.”

“Whoa,” Mom muttered, and moved her fingers away.

“Mom?”

Ignoring me, she pulled out her touch-screen phone and pressed a number. “I’m calling the spa back. Alice needs immediate attention.”

I grinned at Alice. “Mom’ll take care of you, see?”

“She’s wonderful,” Alice whispered, and looked around. “I feel so safe here.”

Mom hung up the phone and gripped Alice’s arm. “You’re to see Tantra Pangalongie. She’s a specialist. A true healer.”

“A specialist in what, Mom?” I asked. I’d heard about Tantra. The woman was fierce.

Mom took a deep breath. “Panchakarma.”

“Wait,” I said. “Are you sure that’s necessary?”

“Absolutely,” she snapped. “She needs it.”

“Why?” Alice asked, glancing back and forth. “What is it?”

The look on Mom’s face was more serious than I’d ever seen, even when we were children and behaving badly. But the look quickly disappeared and she patted Alice’s arm. “Your aura tells me you need an extraspecial treatment today.”

Alice frowned. “Really? You can see my aura?”

“Mom sees all, knows all,” I said lightly. Then I gave my mother a warning glance as Alice fished in her purse for a tissue. “Mom, Alice is a little sensitive.”

“No, no, I’m fine,” Alice insisted. “It’s just a massage, right? It’ll be fun.”

“Absolutely fun,” Mom said, smiling her Sunny Bunny smile, God help us all. When Sunny Bunny appeared, there was no room for arguments. “Here comes Savannah. You girls will have a great time getting pampered.”

I turned to greet Savannah and burst out laughing.

She’d shaved her head.

“I knew you’d love it,” she said wryly.

“God, you’re weird.” I gave her a big hug, then rubbed her smooth head. “Strangely enough, it looks good on you.”

I introduced her to Alice. “You two play nice.”

“We will,” Savannah said, and grabbed Alice’s hand. “Come on, Alice, let’s go get pampered.”

Alice turned back with a tremulous smile. “I’m excited. See you in a while.”

I waved. Once they were halfway down the block, I turned to Mom. “Are you sure the panchakarma is the way to go?”

Mom frowned as she stared off at Alice and Savannah. “Only if she wants to live.”

Chapter 10

“Okay, Mom,” I said, after catching my breath. “You’ve succeeded in scaring the bejeezus out of me, so spill.”

“Oh, sweetie.” Mom linked arms with me and we strolled slowly down the sidewalk. “I know what your feelings are when you hear me rattle on about auras and such.”

“None of us can pass up the opportunity to tease you, Mom,” I said, squeezing her arm. “But you’ve been right about these things more often than not.”

“Then you must trust me. That girl has problems. She has a gray aura. And it’s absolutely opaque.”

Gray aura? I’d never heard of it. “So what does that mean?”

“Well, depending on the shade of gray, it might simply indicate that Alice feels trapped in her life. Or, it could point toward depression.”

“She doesn’t seem depressed,” I mused.

“There’s another possibility.” Mom paused, then sighed. “She could be terminally ill.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry, dear,” she said, patting my hand. “I’m just the messenger. The good thing is that the gray wasn’t dark enough to call it black.”

“There are black auras?”

“They’re very rare.” Mom’s shoulders shook and she rubbed her arms. “Gives me chills just to think about it. Black aura is often seen in abused children, torture victims, and occasionally, heavy drug addicts.”

I thought about that. “I don’t think she does drugs.”

“No, of course not.”

“But she was raised by nuns in a Catholic boarding school. I hate to think there might’ve been some abuse going on.”

“Oh, dear, I hope not.”

“She seems ridiculously grateful for every little scrap of friendship anyone shows.”

“Maybe she was deprived of such things growing up.”

“Maybe.” Talk about depressing. I’d just met her and already considered her a friend. I didn’t want to find out she was dying.

If I could have laughed off Mom’s aura thing as a big joke, I might have been able to ignore her dire calculations. But as I’d told her, I’d seen her land right on the money too many times to blow it off.

The problem with Mom being right was that Alice was now undergoing a radical Ayurvedic treatment known as panchakarma, or cleansing, which was a really nice way of describing the purging, bloodletting, and high colonics used by practitioners of the regime. They looked for every way possible to draw out poisons and toxins in the system, basically cleaning out every bodily orifice they could find. It was a lengthy procedure normally done for terminally ill patients who’d tried everything else.

Alice wasn’t going to thank me for this.

“Keep good thoughts, sweetie,” Mom had said. “Today is a day for positive thinking. You won’t help your friend if you act depressed over her state.”

I was pretty sure she wouldn’t be grateful either way, but no point in saying that. “Don’t worry. I’ll be perky as a petunia.”

“That’s my good girl. Tell you what. I’ll crochet a healing sachet for Alice to wear.”

“Sounds attractive,” I mumbled.

“My Wicca skills improve every day,” she said. “Your father thinks I make one hell of a witch.”

“Uh, Mom, I’m not sure he meant—”

“Don’t say it.” She laughed and slapped my arm. “Let’s go help our Annie.”

I glanced around and realized we’d walked down the block, turned around, and now were back at Annie’s store. We stared through the wide plate-glass window. “Is she inside?”