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incentive to a kid who has never had one.”
    He held the door open for her and they went inside. It was an open room with a high ceiling, steel cabinets and workbenches full of tools and equipment on one wall, and tall metal shelves on another. Sitting on a stool at a desk was a solidly built man with short dark hair, peppered with gray, who was jotting something down on a piece of paper. He waved when he saw them and held up one finger for them to wait, then quickly finished and stood to greet them.
    Jamie made the introductions, and Mr. Bass said with a smile, “So, Dr. Tindall, your first trip to Rivershire, huh? What do you think so far?”
    “Um…it’s incredible.” She tittered like a nervous bird. “I’m not sure if I’m dreaming or not, so I’m just going with the flow for right now. I guess I’ll sort it out later.”
    “It’s fantastic, though, isn’t it? I was absolutely floored when Jamie’s grandfather brought me here for the first time. It’s a wonderful place. The people are nice and friendly, the kids are great. This is a perfect job for me. Not too stressful but still challenging enough. Sometimes it’s a two-man job, but I think I’ve found an assistant, a local fellow named Stev.”
    “Stev Ailesbury?” Jamie said. “Isn’t he the blacksmith’s apprentice?”
    “He was, but he finished his apprenticeship. He’s perfect for this job. He’s good with tools and learns fast, and he’s strong as an ox. Your granddaddy said we’ve got the money to hire him.”
    “Why doesn’t he want to be a blacksmith?”
    “Because his master isn’t ready to retire, and there’s not enough demand for two blacksmiths in this town. Stev wants to marry this young gal, and her folks won’t let him until he can support her.”
    “Feather? Is that the girl?” Mr. Bass nodded and Jamie laughed. “She’s one of the teenagers who bought love potions from Fred when we stayed here over spring break. I guess the potion worked.”
    “Love potions?” Dr. Bass said. “Real love potions? There’s such a thing?”
    “Oh, yeah, and once word got around that Fred’s a witch, we had love-sick girls knocking on the door constantly, wanting to buy them. It got to be annoying after a while.”
    “I heard it was for the Founders’ Festival,” Mr. Bass said.
    “It’s a big social event, the biggest of the year, and those girls had their sights set on certain boys. They were looking for an edge over the competition, so they wanted love potions.”
    Dr. Tindall’s lips turned up in a crooked smile. “That’s so funny.”
    “It was serious business to them. Fred could barely keep up with the demand. The only other witch in town is Mrs. Malley, and she wasn’t making potions at the time because her eyes were so bad. She had cataracts, but I fixed them for her, and she’s back in business.”
    “You can cure cataracts? How?”
    Jamie wiggled his fingers. “With magic.”
    “If word got out back home that you could do that, you’d have people lined up on your doorstep.”
    “Which is one of the reasons why I don’t want everybody knowing about the magic. That’s why you had to take the oath.”
    “Wizards and witches. So interesting,” Dr. Tindall said slowly as if she were measuring each word before she spoke them. “It would be absolutely fascinating to investigate how your magic works. Every scientist I know would give their souls to study that.”
    “I wish I could do it someday. I’d have to build my own research facility, probably, and that would take millions of dollars.”
    Mr. Bass nodded. “Well, according to your granddaddy, you might have that much pretty soon.”
    Wish he hadn’t said that . Jamie narrowed his eyes at Mr. Bass. Hope she doesn’t ask what that means .
    Mr. Bass seemed to understand what Jamie was thinking and cringed. “Uh…sorry,” he said. “I have a big mouth sometimes.”
    There was an awkward pause in the conversation while Dr. Tindall looked back and