Aisling snorted. “I assure you he hasn’t done anything other than make sure there’s round-the-clock security on the house, and let me just add that it wasn’t easy getting details on exactly who is here on guard duty, and when the shift change happens. I had to pretend I wanted to stay at this house in order to get the details, and even that wasn’t easy. We’re just lucky he had to go to Budapest for a couple of days to take care of some business concerns, because there is no way in Abaddon I could have slipped out without him knowing I was gone. Jim, stop leaning so hard on me. The bushes aren’t evil. Ysolde is just seeing things.”
“I’m sure it’s just the moon going behind the clouds,” May said after giving the shrub in question a considering look.
“Hmm.” I looked at my own watch. Twelve minutes to go. “Is Gabriel away from home, as well, May?”
She smiled. “Home as in his house in Australia? No, we’re still here in London until a few things are taken care of.” She gave her twin an odd look, but Cyrene, sitting on the ground with her back to a tree, was too busy sending a text message to notice.
“Actually, I meant is he gone from your London house, so that you could help me out with this project.”
“Oh, no. He’s in England.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Did you have to go into the shadow world to sneak out?”
“I didn’t sneak out.” Her smile widened. “Gabriel’s here. Well, in Reevesbury, not out here with us, obviously.”
Both Aisling and I gawked at her.
“He’s right here?” Aisling asked.
“That Gabe’s a deep one,” Jim said as it wandered over to Cyrene, where it peered across her shoulder to read what she was texting. “Whoa, you’re saying that to Neptune?”
“Jim!” Cyrene shoved it aside, hastily tucking her phone into her pocket. “It’s illegal to read someone’s text messages!”
“In town here, yes,” May repeated, dragging her gaze off her twin.
“Is Brom with him?” I asked, worried that Brom might somehow get involved with my plans.
“No, he’s still in London with Maata and Tipene. I believe they were going to have a mummy movie marathon tonight. We thought it was best he stay there until you pick him up tomorrow. You didn’t want Gabriel to bring him, did you?”
“No. Not that I think there’s going to be any trouble, but I’m much more comfortable knowing he’s out of the blast zone, so to speak.”
May took in our worried expressions. “Don’t worry that Gabriel’s going to do anything to interfere with our plans. He realizes that this is probably our best shot of getting Baltic to lift the curse. Plus he never really saw the reasoning in keeping Thala prisoner any longer.”
“A sane voice in a crowd of maniacs,” I murmured.
To my surprise, Aisling laughed. “If you knew how often I’ve thought that about dragons . . . But you gotta love them despite their archaic rules.”
Aisling, May, and I smiled. I thought of Baltic, so infuriating at times that he made me want to pull out my hair, and yet so filled with love that just thinking about what he’d been through had the power to bring tears to my eyes.
“Why don’t you try your magic now?” May suggested as Cyrene rejoined us, Jim following her. “We’ve still got nine minutes. It would be a good opportunity to see if this Grace Dr. Kostich gave you will help.”
“Good idea.” I looked around for something upon which I could cast a spell.
“Oooh, magic!” Cyrene said. “I love magic. Can you change Jim into something? Like a toad?”
“Hey!” Jim protested, backing away from her.
“Tempting, but I think I should start smaller.” I narrowed my attention on a small rock that was partially visible in the soil at the base of a nearby willow tree. “I’ll do a simple spell to turn that rock into a tongue stone.”
“What on earth is a tongue stone?” Aisling asked, moving next to me to watch as I picked up the rock and dusted off the bits of grass and dirt that clung to it.
“It’s something that was taught to me by a member of a Serbian Romany tribe. They are traditionally made from small meteorites or, alternately, lightning-struck stones, and are highly charged with power that is used for divination purposes. Anyone can make a tongue stone, but since it’s made by burying it and urinating on it”—I gave Jim a sharp look as its ears perked up—“I’ll use the magical equivalent.”
“Mage pee? Ew,” Jim said, snuffling my hand as I passed my hand over the stone, drawing a pattern in the air.
“I’ve never actually seen a mage work,” Aisling whispered to May. “I thought they did spoken spells, not wards.”
“There are elements of both in mage work,” I said, trying to find the place in my mind from which the magic flowed. I knew if I could just find it, I’d be able to cast the spell, but it seemed to be obscured by Baltic’s dragon fire. I’d just have to use that instead.
“From the farthest star, to the deepest earth, stone borne of lightning, to me you will speak.” I held the stone over my head, drawing on the fire to imbue the stone with the power of divination. “Lightning-borne, wrought in fire, plunged in water, buried in earth. The elements combine in thee; reveal your true nature now!”
There was an instantaneous flash of blue-white light, thankfully silent. I lowered my hand, aware almost immediately that something had gone wrong.
“Er . . .” Aisling pursed her lips.
“That doesn’t look right,” May agreed.
I stared in surprise at the small brown and white rabbit that sat equally astonished on the palm of my hand. “Well, crap.”
“A bunny!” Cyrene said happily, taking it from me.
Jim shouldered me aside to get to her. “You mean dinner! Yum.”
“You even think about it and you’re going to the Akasha,” Aisling warned.
“It’s not real,” Jim objected. “It’s really a rock. Right, Soldy?”
I went over the spell again, trying to figure out what I’d done wrong. “No, it was all correct. That should have done it,” I said, shaking my head. “The tongue stone spell isn’t anything at all like a polymorph spell. It should have worked. Why aren’t you a stone?” I asked the rabbit.
It twitched its nose at me, then leaped from Cyrene’s arms to scurry off into the night.
“You guys are no fun at all,” Jim grumbled, watching it leave with much sadness.
“I think it’s probably safe to say that your magic is still affected,” May said, hesitating before she continued. “Perhaps we should do this another time, when it’s been restored?”
“I don’t know when I’m going to have another opportunity,” Aisling said. “Drake doesn’t like leaving the babies for long, and with all due respect to Gabriel, he won’t entertain the subject of letting Thala go. I’m afraid that for Jim and me at least, it’s going to have to be tonight.”
“It’ll be all right,” I said after some thought. “I think the problem is that I had to use Baltic’s fire, and not my happy place. That no doubt caused the spell to go a bit wonky.”
“Your happy place? Is that anything like a door in your head that you open to see things differently?” Aisling asked.
“Not really. It’s the place in my mind where my magic comes from. It’s calm there, and filled with light, and I use that light to make things happen. The problem is that I haven’t been able to find it since I came out of that last fugue, but I’m sure that’s because of everything that’s happened. Dr. Kostich used to tell us apprentices that we might occasionally lose track of our happy place, but we never lost it for long.”
“I don’t know about anyone else, but I would give good money to see Dr. Kostich say the words ‘find your happy place’ to someone,” Jim said.
May laughed. “Me, too.”
“You’re sure your magic is up to this?” Aisling asked me. “If not, we can sacrifice Jim or something in order to get the same effect.”
“Hey! Ixnay on the acrificesay!”
“It’ll be fine,” I reassured her, not feeling quite as confident. A lot was riding on my ability to break down the various protective spells that were no doubt covering all entrances to the house.