“I’m impressed; I thought you were going to pass out in my lap last night.”
“Well, your bed is very comfortable.” She blushed and I thought about making my big move, wasn’t now the right time? She’d just called me a hero after all. Before I could say anything, she spoke again. “What if we looked at this from a different point of view? We have been trying to stop Fionuir, right?”
“Well, she is the one responsible for this problem.”
She shook her head. “Actually, the problem is the fairies not having babies.”
“That’s a symptom of what Fionuir is doing.”
“No, I mean what if the fairies started having babies again? It would at least buy us some time. If Fionuir has to change the spell on the amulet, we might be able to get it away from her.”
“But they aren’t.” She was right we needed a way to get the amulet, but the fairies were stuck.
She rolled her eyes at me and started tidying up the kitchen. “Are you sure you didn’t get hit in the head? Look, what I’m saying is, what if I found a way to at least temporarily get the fairies fertile again?”
“I didn’t think that was possible.”
“It occurred to me when I made your willow bark. What if I combined a few things then distilled the spell down to strengthen it?”
It felt like this was one of those things that in retrospect seem like a good idea at the time. “And what if you go overboard and we find ourselves knee deep in baby fairies. Do you have any idea how much trouble a baby fairy can be?”
“I would be very careful.” She twisted her lips in thought. “I could test it on something. I could make the potion for something short lived and then adjust it if we find it’s too strong or too weak. What about on fruit flies?”
“Crap, I don’t want an infestation of fecund fruit flies.”
“Very mature.” Cate poked my shoulder. “Keep that up and I’ll dislocate it again, buster.”
I dug for a good idea. “We can do it in a jar. That way we know we can keep control of the population.”
Cate went back to the bedroom and came out pulling on her coat. “I’ll have to do this at home, all my stuff is there and you don’t have what I need downstairs.”
“Just make sure you don’t let your apprentice help. Remember when we helped Vollont with that snow spell.”
She laughed. “Yes, we were digging the house out from the blizzard for a week. I think that’s why he had such a remote house; a blizzard in July would raise more than eyebrows in any town in California.”
Chapter Eighteen
Cate called me when she got home to let me know she’d seen Olan flying over the house as she left. And that I didn’t have to worry about the bird any more. I tried to reassure her that I wasn’t worried but she just laughed.
I cleaned up the breakfast dishes and tossed the coffee grinds on the garden. I went downstairs and checked to see if Princess was still okay, she was, and then scribed a seeking circle inside my power circle. If Cate was going to find a fertility spell, the least I could do was try to find some information.
I put three stones and a wren feather in the seeking circle. Then I sat outside it before closing my larger power circle. I took a deep breath and tried to empty my mind. Unfortunately a vision of Cate in my bed filled the space as quickly as I emptied it. I tried again. Deep breath, think of leaves falling, exhale blow the leaves away. There was Cate covered in leaves. Okay that was not going to work.
I hated to work under the influence of a spell but I wasn’t going to get Cate out of my mind without help. I pulled down a jar of mint leaves and a box of ground cricket. Placing a pinch of the cricket powder in a mint leaf I placed between my teeth. I thought the word calm and bit down. The weight of everything I’d experienced in the last three days drifted off my shoulders. Then the worries about what could happen floated after them. My mind cleared and I was ready to seek.
I held my list of spirits and looked at the section on procreation. I didn’t spend a lot of time with procreative spirits. Most were both birth and death type, like The Morrigan. They were a bit crazy. I figured I could ask one about how the fairies normally make sure they get a baby when they want one. Like most Real Folk the fairies didn’t have to produce kids if they didn’t want to. The trick was to make sure you got the baby when you did want it.
There were two spirits who seemed to be in charge of fairy, kobol and troll procreation. One I knew from the past, and we didn’t have a good parting. The other I’d heard of but never met.
“Ezeral. Please come to my circle. I offer you a stone or a feather for news.” I decided to try the unknown spirit first.
Five minutes later, nothing had happened. “Ezeral, I beseech you, it is vital we speak.”
A small dust devil started building in the center of the circle. I saw the feather lift and then spin away. The three stones rolled over twice before settling in place.”
“The feather is useless to me. I need more than a wren to feed my needs.” The voice echoed from deep in the earth, as though my cellar were a well.
“And the stones?”
“Two are adequate. I will take them now.” The stones lifted from the earth and I slapped my open palm on the floor beside me. The stones dropped back onto the ground.
“When I decide you have told me all you know, I will release the stones.”
The spirit humphed. “What do you want to know, wizard. Hurry I am busy.”
“Really, busy with fairies?”
“No, the fairies haven’t called me for some time now.”
“Did you wonder why?” The spirits didn’t often keep up with the gossip in the world.
“No, but I assume you will tell me what you have now made me curious about.”
I brought Ezeral up to date and asked my question. “Is there a way we can make the fairies fertile so they will stop killing?”
“There may be a temporary fix.” The stones tumbled closer to the center of the circle but didn’t rise.
“That will be fine. It will buy us some time to reverse what Fionuir has done. Will you tell me what it is?’
“”I didn’t say I knew. You will have to ask Ranseed.”
Damn, I didn’t want to mend that fence. “If I call Ranseed, will you intercede for me?”
The sound of laughter rustled through the room. Ezeral rose in a cloud of dust and the laughter stopped. “Why is there a dead fairy on the couch?”
Ah, that was not good. “Not dead. I am trying to keep her alive until I can solve her problem.”
“Hmm, I am not sure I believe you, but we will let that lie for now. I will not come between you and Ranseed that is a wound you must heal yourself.”
“It will cost me.” And, I really didn’t have a lot to give for information. “Is it likely to work?”
“I am not an oracle. You must decide for yourself if effort is worth a reward.” He moved the two stones closer; one was topaz and the other obsidian. “I require my payment now.”
I lifted my hand and the stones soared into the air and fell, disappearing into an invisible hole, the sound of Ezeral’s laughter fading way with along with the sudden wind. I picked up the list again. There wasn’t a spirit for blocking the Sidhe, nothing about finding the amulet, nothing about miracles for saving the world.
I was going to have to get more rewards if I called Ranseed. And something stronger than chalk to keep the circle closed.
I put the list away, and then covered Princess with a second blanket so she wouldn’t be visible. I didn’t think Ranseed would be as ready to listen to my explanation as Ezeral was. When the room was prepared, I wiped the chalk away and replaced the stones with two eggs, an airplane bottle of vodka and a gold chain with three pearls hanging from the clasp. I took some red ink and closed the circle.
“I ask for Ranseed to come to the circle.” I waited. It took an hour; my bones were aching from sitting still so long. An image of swirling dust filled the circle but nothing moved. “Thank you for coming to my circle.”