Free The Alchemist's Door by Lisa Goldstein

mind? How could I possibly know something like that?”
    â€œDon’t toy with me,” Dee said. “Do you or don’t you?”
    She laughed, showing three or four brown and broken teeth. “I could say I’d lead you out in exchange for lessons in magic. But I won’t. Come with me.”
    She rucked up layers of her outer garments and tucked them into her skirt, then began to walk. Dee had no choice but to follow.
    Loew had not taken him this way, he thought. They went through back alleys, shadowy unpaved streets crowded with warehouses and workshops. She moved swiftly for a woman of her age.
    â€œTell me something,” Dee said. He was breathing faster from the exertion, but she hardly seemed winded. “What are you doing here? You’re not a Jew, are you?” Say what you like about the Jews, Dee thought, he hadn’t seen anyone in the Quarter as unkempt as this woman.
    â€œNo. I followed you here.”
    â€œYou followed—” The gall of this woman! “That was unwarranted, quite unwarranted. I will not have you following me again.”
    They passed a butcher shop. The smells of the slaughtered animals coiled out into the street and mingled with the woman’s stale odors. Men carrying a side of beef paused to look at them. This time Dee couldn’t blame them; the woman looked like one of the city’s gargoyles come to life.
    â€œI’ve been here many times, though,” she went on. “Rabbi Loew is a powerful man, a great worker of magic.”

    â€œAnd I suppose you asked him to be your teacher as well,” Dee said. He wondered what Loew had made of her.
    â€œI’ve never spoken to him. But I don’t think he’d make a good teacher—he’s too—too—” She struggled for the word. “He wants mastery over everything.”
    â€œWhy do you come here, then?”
    â€œI go all over. I’ve been everywhere in Prague, and a good many places out of it.”
    â€œIsn’t that dangerous for you?”
    â€œWho would bother a harmless old woman, Doctor Dee?” she asked, grinning her horrible grin.
    They came out to a cobbled street, with the gate ahead of them. “My name’s Magdalena,” she said. “It’s only fair I tell you, since I know yours.”
    He made his farewells and hurried outside the Quarter.
    HE FOUND HIS WAY TO HAGECK’S HOUSE WITH NO TROUBLE and went straight to the study to tell Kelley about Rabbi Loew. Kelley was busy pouring a bright green liquid from one vial to another, but partway through Dee’s tale he stopped and turned to him. “Thirty-six righteous men, you say?” Kelley asked.
    â€œYes,” Dee said, pleased that Kelley was taking an interest. “I asked him if he would like us to speak to the angels about him, and he said he would.”
    â€œDid he?” Kelley said absently. His brief spark of interest was gone; he seemed focused only on his work.
    â€œWe’ll go the day after tomorrow,” Dee said.
    Next he went to tell Jane about his encounter. He found her in their bedroom, mending one of the children’s blankets. “Good,” she said when he had finished. “You’ve been too preoccupied lately—it’s good you found someone to talk to. But do you have to take that man Kelley with you? Yes, I know,”
she said wearily, as Dee made ready to answer her. “He is the one who can see angels.”
    But the next day, as Dee sat down to breakfast, he noticed that there were no sounds or smells coming from Kelley’s study.
    â€œWhere is that dreadful man?” Jane asked him, pouring his breakfast beer.
    â€œWhich dreadful man?”
    â€œKelley, of course. He’s usually early for breakfast. I went to knock on his door but there was no answer. Perhaps we’re finally rid of him.”
    â€œI hope not,” Dee said. “Tomorrow is the day we visit Rabbi