“I really don’t think…” Mallory started, but stopped when the beast released a tortured scream. The skin on its tentacles began to shrivel and hiss.
The lou carcolh pulled its tentacles away from the salt, then limped to the broken window. It lifted itself out, lowering itselfdown by outstretched tentacles before crashing onto the terrace below. Wounded and hissing, it slid and hobbled into the gardens.
Mallory and Anaïs watched until it had disappeared behind a hedgerow.
“All right,” Mallory said in disbelief. “Good thinking.”
With a shivery breath, Anaïs dropped the empty bag to the floor. She sank to her knees beside Julie and bent over her.
Julie’s chest lifted in a spasm.
“Oh! Excellent!” said Anaïs. “She’s not dead.Thatwould have been difficult to explain.”
As the adrenaline seeped from Mallory’s limbs, she crawled over to the mess of salt on the carpet, where the monster had left slimy trails, and used her finger to draw shapes into the salt. A pentagon. A star. Fake runes that meant nothing at all.
“What are you doing?”
“Magic,” said Mallory. “If anyone asks,thisis how we got rid of the beast.”
“Mally, please. We almost died. If we keep pretending—”
“I’m not pretending anything. We battled a lou carcolh, and we won.”
“Barely! And certainly not with… whatever those drawings are!” Anaïs gestured at the salt drawings. “Is that a snail? Did you draw a snail in your fake spell to get rid of a giant snail?”
Mallory scratched out the snail. “No.”
Anaïs puffed up her cheeks and blew out one vexed exhale.
Julie stirred, her head swiveling from side to side. “Another one… a monster… upstairs…”
Anaïs laid a hand on the girl’s arm. “The monster is gone.”
With a cough, Julie squinted open her eyes. “Gone?”
Mallory crossed her arms. “We dealt with it.” She fixed a warning stare on her sister. “With magic.”
Anaïs huffed, but didn’t refute her. Even still, Mallory knew from Anaïs’s expression that she had to figure something out, and soon.
And one of her sister’s most annoying traits was that she was usually right.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“Entrust it to the four winds,” Mallory murmured, reading the glittering text of the card from Fitcher’s Troupe. “What in the name of Wyrdith is that supposed to mean?”
She stood in the center of the tower, ignoring the numerous barn swallows that swooped around overhead, darting in and out of their nests. She did not doubt that the two gentlemen who had captured the voirloup and given her this card were very powerful magicians, but these instructions felt intentionally confounding.
At least she could feel a strong breeze here, blowing in from the sea to the west. That seemed promising.
Sitting on the floor of the tower, she pulled the quill she’d taken from the bedroom writing desk and dunked it into the small pot of ink. She’d spent all morning planning out what she would say, but she still hesitated before pressing the brass tip to the back of the card.
A bird trilled. She glanced up. One of the barn swallows was perched on the rail, head cocked, watching her.
“No,” said Mallory. “I really don’t know what I’m doing.” She refocused on the card. “But that’s never stopped me before.”
She started to write, attempting her best penmanship.
Your assistance is requested at the House Saphir in Comorre to expel ghost of known murderer summoned from Verloren 7 years previous. Offering 500 lourdes upon satisfactory removal. Ask for the Fontaine sisters upon arrival.
