The space beyond the curtains was dark. Obviously this was Elmer’s way of controlling the people around him. He had them step through a doorway into darkness, then gradually revealed their surroundings. This time, the smells that engulfed her were mundane: a faint odor of dusty cloth mixed with an even fainter odor of mothballs. For all she knew, that was how the curtain could have smelled. Then the lights came up, slowly, as if someone were turning on a variety of switches that operated fixtures all over the room. Zoe’s back muscles were tight with tension; she had been here once before when Elmer had given a tour to some of his favorite magic-users. That day, the main part of the store had been the size of a warehouse. It had held posters from Houdini and little curios from the real magic users who had died in the Spanish Inquisition. This afternoon, however, the room was tiny, barely the size of an average bedroom. A single table lined the back wall, and two chairs sat in front of it.
