“Then we’ll go to the neighborhood, and I’ll try to catch the amulet’s scent, and you try to feel for the magic. If he’s burned through three of the lives already, then he’s done something big. It shouldn’t be hard to find.”
He took off without waiting for a response, and had I been a less helpful cat, I might have leapt off his back and made him circle around and ask me nicely to continue. But being the exceptionally helpful cat I was, I dug my claws into the bandages over his back, deep enough that I felt mummified flesh, and held on as he began that supernaturally fast run in whatever direction the mail carrier had indicated.
I felt the magic as soon as we entered the neighborhood. The feel of it made my fur stand up and my nose itch. I tugged at Bas’s flesh, and the dog mummy trotted to a halt.
“I think I smell something,” he said, lifting his nose in the air.
“No need.” I pointed with one paw, leaning over so Bas could see me, and Bas followed my gesture to a large mansion on the corner at the intersection of two pristine streets. All the houses in this neighborhood were grand, but none of them came close to the monstrosity radiating magic like a field of four-leaf clovers.
It was the ugliest mansion I’d ever seen. The front of the building looked as if someone had taken two different—ugly—mansions and smashed them together. The left was red brick, curved to look like a medieval turret. The right was pale stucco, half of which drizzled down the front of the house to make it look like a termite mound. The east side of the house was made entirely of windows, giving it a modern look in complete contrast to the medieval-style door.
“That mansion was created with magic,” I said, trying to look away.
“Then that’s where we’ll find the amulet.”
Bas loped toward the house with the confidence of someone completely unconcerned at the prospect of confronting a human and his magic amulet that created mansions. I was about to ask Bas if he was certain he was up to the task, but then I remembered what he’d said. Seth—a god—had told him I would help. And I was very helpful. Perhaps Bas had the ability to use the magic I channeled, just like the witch.
No wonder he’s so confident.
Getting inside the house wasn’t difficult. One of the windows on the side made completely of windows was open, and Bas wasted no time plunging inside, into the solarium within. He padded forward a few feet, then paused to listen.
There. Voices coming from the second floor.
Bas crept up the stairs and stopped just outside a door that was partially open. I could hear a man’s voice inside. He was using the “I’m the Boss, and I’ll Smack You If You Don’t Start Cooperating” tone. Another voice responded, lower and more raspy than the first. It didn’t speak long enough for me to get a feel for its attitude.
Whatever the second voice had said made Bas freeze. For a second, I had to press my paws harder into his back to reassure myself he was still here, still flesh and blood and not turned to stone.
“What’s wrong?” I whispered.
“That voice.” Bas shook his head, as if he couldn’t believe it. “I know that voice. It’s Rayaan.”
“Who’s Rayaan?”
Bas didn’t look at me. “But he was locked away. Sealed in a cave. No one should have been able to find him.”
I dug my claws into his back. “Who’s Rayaan?”
Bas stiffened his legs, pushing himself to stand straighter as if he were staring down his opponent now. “A very powerful djinn. And that fool has released him.”
“I’ll raise it for you,” Rayaan promised. “I’ll raise the whole ship, with every last gold coin and every last jewel.”
I climbed up to sit on Bas’s head so I could see what little of his expression was visible beneath the bandages. The raspy voice was speaking again. This time, it sounded like the voice the witch used when I was under the bed and she was kneeling down beside it waving a can of Tuna. The Tuna Offering tone.
“I don’t need you.” The sound of a hand striking a heavy leather-bound book punctuated whatever Faconi had said. “I’ve been studying magic for years. I can raise the ship myself.”
Magic. I knew that word too.
Bas snorted. “Faconi fancies himself a wizard.”
That explained the “I Can Carry All the Groceries Myself” tone.
“You are no wizard,” the djinn said, a hint of a sneer creeping into his voice. “I sense no power in you. You will never raise the ship without me.”
The djinn was using the “You’re Going to Drop the Milk Again And I’m Not Helping You Clean It Up” tone. Apparently the djinn didn’t agree with Faconi’s view of himself as a wizard. Wizard was another word I knew.
“I didn’t need you to build this house,” Faconi said smugly. “With this amulet, I don’t need your magic to get what I want.” A rustling of paper. “I’ve been studying this book for years. All these spells. And now I finally have the power to make them work.”
“A true wizard wouldn’t need the amulet,” the djinn mocked. “Every human has the potential to learn magic. But not everyone has the skill. You don’t have the skill. You can memorize the spells in that book all you like, but the fact is, you’re no different from someone who hears a song and believes they can sing because they’ve learned the lyrics, and they remember the tune.”
Bas snorted in agreement with whatever the djinn had said.
“Shut up,” Faconi snapped. “The point is, I don’t need your help.”
“You needed me to find the ship,” Rayaan countered.
“I needed your knowledge. Your experience. Which is why I summoned you into that book, with everything you know written out on its pages for me to peruse as I have need. You are a resource, not an ally. I have plans—big plans. And now that I know where to find the Flor de la Mar, I’ll have all the money I need to finance them.”
I shook my head. Based on my experience with the witch and her pixie, the wizard was no doubt attempting a spell while the djinn criticized his technique. If this were the witch and the pixie, I’d smell burning potion soon.
“That amulet won’t last forever.” Rayaan’s voice turned sweeter, sliding back into the Tuna Offering tone. “I could make you powerful. Make you a true wizard, with a limitless—”
“Spare me your pathetic attempt to trick me into releasing you. I’m no fool. I didn’t need you to build this mansion, and I don’t need you to do this.”
Bas jerked his head up, fast enough that I nearly tumbled to the floor. “He’s going to burn another life. I have to stop him!”
“Wait!” I blurted out. “Don’t—”
Bas bolted forward, hitting the door to the bedroom hard enough that it smacked into the wall with a fur-raising bang. He snarled as he paused just long enough to get his bearings, his gaze quickly finding Faconi.
I knew it was Faconi because he’d clearly been to the Halloween shop and had chosen “Middle-Aged Wizard” as his costume of choice. He was wearing an honest-to-gods robe, complete with hood, in a shade of crimson that the witch outright refused to put in the washing machine for fear of the Red Die. He had resisted the slouched pointy hat, but had apparently caved in to the desire for a staff. The large piece of wood was taller than he was, making him look even more like a child playing dress up.
Less humorous was the book lying on the desk beside him. It looked brand new, but the pages were covered in red ink that dripped and shimmered in a way no mundane ink would have done. The pages rustled even though there was no breeze in the room, and when the pages moved, I swore I heard someone—or something—breathing.