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“Think this will work, Max?” Alice asked.

Max replied with a small whimper. She kicked up her back legs and slid closer, desperately wanting to join in what she must have thought was play time.

Alice laughed. “Come here.”

Max sprung up and nearly tackled Alice. She wormed her head in between Alice’s arm and torso. She sat down and tilted her head up to Alice’s face to give her a lick on the cheek. Alice rubbed Max’s side.

“Okay. Okay. You can help with the spell too. Do you think this will work? Do you think Hugo will come home?”

Max wagged her tail, inching closer and closer. The force knocked Alice off balance. She braced herself with her free hand.

“I do too, girl. I do too.”

Alice kissed Max on the head and stood. Max popped up and spun around in circles, excited for something to happen. Alice went to her coffee table and retrieved the black leather book resting on top.The Book of the Dead.She then took her position opposite the north point of the star.

She held her fingers over the metal clasp of the book. Alice’s back and neck tightened. Her thumb bounced off the supple leather cover, nervous for what could come. She puffed twice before drawing in a long breath. Alice paused, holding her breath for a moment before exhaling and turning her head to Gwennie and then to Max.

“Ready?” she asked the group.

Gwennie hovered while Max sat down. Max’s front paws pattered against the hardwood floor. The tap dance of her toenails reverberated off the walls.

Alice raised her eyebrows. Her heart beat louder against her chest. A bead of sweat trickled down the back of her head to the base of her neck. She gulped.

“Here goes nothing.”

With a flick of her fingers, she removed the clasp and fanned open the book. Alice scanned the room, not knowing what to expect.

Nothing happened.

She held her breath and listened for any movement throughout the house, ready for some trapped mystical force to manifest itself around her.

Still nothing.

Alice shrugged her shoulders and exhaled. “Seems okay so far,” Alice exclaimed to the curious golden retriever. “It was probably Ez having a little fun.”

Alice positioned her right foot behind her body to better brace herself. She held the book with her left hand, while rifling through the pages with her right. She flipped past multiplearcane spells, not stopping until she reached the spell she sought:Manifesting the Dead.

Her emerald green eyes read the spell written in an arcane language over and over. She mentally worked through the cadence, not wanting to mispronounce a single word. Alice shuffled her hips and feet to get a better stance.

“Here goes nothing,” she said before dictating the spell in the clandestine arcane language.

A wind swirled above the chalk image. It grew more intense with every word Alice spoke. Candles flickered out. Objects popped off the shelves around the room. Light bulbs roared to life and then burst for the surge of energy. Max slinked away behind Alice’s legs and whined.

Alice was unfazed and carried on reciting the spell. A form took shape in the circle. A dark shadow.

Alice smiled. The spell was working. As she read from the spell, the clearer the form became. The shape of a person.

Alice shouted, “I call forth the soul of Hugo Dodds and beckon him to return to the mortal realm from the places behind.”

The form materialized. A head, torso, and arms still cloaked in the shadows but clearly defined.

“I call forth the soul of Hugo Dodds.”

The shadow figure squirmed, flailing its arms and moving.

“I call forth the soul of Hugo . . .”

A flash of light and a burst of energy erupted from the summoning circle. Alice shielded her eyes from the intense flash. The blast knocked more candles and objects off the shelves. It would have knocked Alice over had she not steadied herself.