Page 14 of Her Magic Light

Her mouth opened as if to speak. But when no sound came out, I continued speaking instead.

“What do you think it’s all about? Do you think Sweetwater is expecting a visit from, like, the president or a member of the government?” I asked.

Her eyes opened a tick wider.

“Or maybe from the governor?”

But those seemed unlikely. Mrs. K had her ear to the ground. She would surely have known something like that. Or even Bess—she got a lot of people through the salon each day and often seemed to know what was going on around town.

Helen frowned a little, her eyebrows lowering and a small crease appeared at the top of her nose, nestled between her eyebrows like an exclamation point.

“You’re probably right,” I said, trying to carry on the one-sided conversation as though it was the most normal thing in the world. “Sweetwater is far too sleepy for anything like that.” And I wasn’t even really that curious. It was more about filling the silence and putting Helen at ease.

A noise at the window by my workstation startled me, and I glanced up. The hummingbird flapped her tiny wings against the glass. The noise was faint at first, then sounded like the buzzing of bees, then became a constant rattle, almost like the rapid movement was vibrating the whole of the glass.

“What’s it doing?” Helen’s voice remained quiet, as though if she spoke any louder, she’d spook the bird, or like she was trying not to draw its attention.

I shrugged as I watched. “I’ve got no idea. It’s never done anything like this before. Maybe it can see something in the salon that’s making it try to get inside?”

As I spoke, the bird bobbed its head forward and tapped its beak against the glass in a sharp rap. Then another.

Then another. Nothing had ever happened like this in Minnesota.

Helen moved back in her seat and the book slid from her lap. It fell with a slam against the floor. “Can it make a hole?”

I laughed. “Oh, I doubt it.”

But the rainbow bird brought her small beak against the surface once more. She behaved as though she thought she could get in. But could she? How sharp were hummingbird beaks?

“What are you doing, little friend?” I murmured.

“What’s that?” Helen asked.

“I have no idea what it’s doing,” I said, but it was making the customer uncomfortable.

I rolled the blind down over the window, trying to prevent it from seeing whatever was making it behave so strangely, but that only made it redouble its efforts.

“Is everything all right over there, Meira?” Bess’s voice rang across the salon.

“Yeah, I think so. There’s just a hummingbird behaving a bit strangely outside.”

Helen stood from the chair and moved away from the window. “I’m not sure this is safe.” She spoke slowly and enunciated each word.

I frowned at her unnatural tone.

Then she edged toward the door as the noise the hummingbird made grew louder still. In the space of a breath, another sound joined the first.

A loud rumble provided a bass noise to the hummingbird’s percussion, and I frowned. “What’s going on out there?”

Helen backed toward the front of the shop as the sound of helicopter blades gradually became more obvious. She spun, dashed toward the salon door, and threw it open as roaring engines sped up the street. The door alarm chimed to announce a customer. Black sedans squealed to a halt outside, parking at ridiculous angles, as if to prevent anyone leaving the business or even getting past on the street.

It was like the entire FBI had arriveden masseto conduct a raid. I clutched a lone bottle of color in my hand as I watched the scene unfold through the glass of the storefront.

When the engines were no longer running, radio chatter clattered in the air, punctuated by the crackle of open frequencies. The helicopter noise came and went as it circled above us. The hummingbird had gone silent now, and I resisted the urge to open the blind and check if she was still there. Possibly—probably—all of the sudden activity had scared it away.

Or maybe that was what had disturbed it in the first place. Did hummingbirds respond to radio waves? The percussion from helicopter blades? Was it like their wing beats but bigger and stronger?

Helen stepped out into the exterior fray before Bess could stop her, and then Bess joined me at the back of the room. The door slipped closed behind her.

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