Smoke and Wishes (Best Wishes #1)(30)

Several hours later, my messenger bag was heavy with textbooks and accompany class notes as Cam and I headed towards the front doors of the library together. He pushed the door open, holding it for me as I neared, but before I could pass by him, the boom of a small explosion sounded.

“What on Earth was that?” His head searched the surrounding areas. I rolled my eyes and headed towards the main office. When I realized he wasn’t following me, I turned back to where he was standing as still as a statue. I gestured for him to follow. When he finally started moving, I held open the small half door leading behind the desk, thankful that it was empty in the library.

Leading Cam through the office, I made sure to avoid the stacks of papers and files Muriel had scattered around her desk. The new addition to the library a few years ago added on a hallway in the back that led to a fire door and the door to Muriel’s rooms.

“Where are we going, doll?” Cam’s voice bouncing softly off the barren walls of the hall as I stared at her door, smoke seeping out from under the door.

“Muriel’s rooms,” I murmured before opening the door, no sense in knocking. If the explosion was that loud out in the library, then I know she wouldn’t hear me pounding on the door. The smoke was floating in soft clouds around the room, but thankfully nothing was actively burning. At least nothing that I could see. I spied Muriel’s grey bun right above the counter in her kitchen area. Instead of it being in a neat ballerina bun, it was looked like a bird’s nest, complete with twigs and leaves sticking out of it. I shuffled around her dated floral couch, glass coffee table, and very gaudy gold floor lamp over to where she was crouching on her dark stained wood floors.

I glanced back at Cam, double checking he wasn’t too uncomfortable and found him eying the space. His hazel eyes were taking in every detail like he always does, the smoke curling around him as he stood still in the traditionally styled living room. I turned back towards Muriel and crouched down on the opposite side of her table that she had dragged into the kitchen, looking at her through the legs.

“Oh, Lucienne! Did you hear that wonderful explosion?” She practically yelled the words at me, her eyes shining with excitement despite the fact she looked like she had taken a tumble down a hill. She stood and shuffled around the table. “I had the most amazing idea on how to multiply outdoor vegetation, like trees and bushes, to help with regrowth after major deforestation or to help with wood production for construction!” She waved her hand towards the deformed shrubbery in the middle of her dining room. It looked like it had been dropped in a vat of radioactive material, it was bulbous in strange places while patches of leaves were odd colors including pink, black, and yellow. To her credit though, it smelled like greenery and seemed very much alive. Although, it looks like it belongs in a comic book.

“Give me a few moments, and I’ll be right with you, dears,” she waved her hands in several small spirals, the smoke sucking towards her hands like tornado funnels before dissipating. She then proceeded to wiggle her fingers in her ears, a soft pop sounding in both before she faced me.

“I take it you’ve been experimenting again,” I chuckled knowing now she could hear me. I felt Cam came up behind me, his warm hand migrating to my lower back. Subconsciously, I leaned back into him, the whiff of the outdoors mixed with his parchment scent. The mixture of smells calmed me. “This certainly is an interesting looking tree, though the idea is wonderful,” I commented, my head tilting at the mutant plant.

“Thank you, only a few more tries and I should have it down,” Muriel clapped excitedly. Her enthusiastic behavior brought a smile to my face.

“Perhaps you should take a break for the rest of the night and try again tomorrow. If there was anyone else in the library other than Cam and me, I’m sure they would have freaked out,” I looked at her, my face slipping into one I know my mom gave me frequently as a child when I got into trouble.

“You’re no fun,” she flailed her hands at me, a twig and a leaf falling from her hair into her eyes. “But I suppose you are right. Will you help me put Mr. Leafsolot in the corner, Mr. Smith?” She directed her question at Cam who nodded, a small smile on his face as he shifted around me to push the shrub into the corner.

“Mr. Leafsolot?” I couldn’t help but laugh at the name. Eccentric and odd, just like Muriel. She reminded me of an older version of Sadie when she wasn’t in the library, when she was in the library she was the stereotypical ‘studious librarian’, not this eccentric, youthful witch who named misshapen shrubs Mr. Leafsolot.

When Cam finally got the shrub situated in the corner and helped Muriel put her table back into the dining room, he came back to stand next to me, the back of his hand brushing against mine. Tingles shot up my arm at the contact. Peeking through my lashes at him, I saw he wasn’t looking at me, but he did have small patches of pink growing on his cheeks. My heart thudded knowing he was doing this on purpose. Do friends do this? Is this more than friend stuff? I really need a manual for this.

“Thank you for checking on me, Lucienne, and thank you for the help,” she nodded politely at Cam who gave her a warm smile, “you two better get going. Have a good evening, children!” I waved as we passed through her living room and back out into the hallway.

“So,” Cam finally spoke since having entered Muriel’s apartment, “Lucienne, huh?” I felt my cheeks flush as he eyed me. I shrugged half-heartedly