Another silence fell at the table, loaded and uncomfortable.
Rory looked around at the others. “The Ivanovs are coming back from Hyde Park today, aren’t they? So we get that relic and we give it to Pavel.” He frowned as no one nodded. “Right?”
“Rory,” Jade began gently. “Do you understand what this relic might be able to do? If the original paranormal had, say, Baron Zeppler’s power of telepathy, the relic would now give the holder the power to read the minds of an entire audience. Think of what a despot could do with that kind of power. Think what could happen if it fell into the wrong hands.”
“Yeah, but what about Pav? We might be able to use it to get his magic under control, like we did for Gwen. If I scried it, I could see how to unlock it...”
Rory trailed off, because the faces around the table were grim. Bile rose in his throat, and on the ceiling, the ring began toclinkagain. “Ace,” he said, a little desperately. “C’mon.”
Arthur’s mouth was set in a thin line. “We can’t. Not a relic full of violation magic.”
“Jade—Zhang—”
But they were shaking their heads too. Rory jumped to his feet. “You don’t understand,” he said, volume rising as the ring’s insistent clinking came faster and louder. “None of you have been trapped in your magic, you don’t know what it’s like—”
“Youdon’t understand.” Arthur had gotten to his feet too. “Because you’ve never seen war.”
Rory blanched. “That’s not—Pavel’s not some power-hungry dictator, he’s a sweet fella who needs our help—”
“We all want to help Pavel,” Zhang said sympathetically. “But the pomander put you in a vision and Arthur was knocked unconscious. Whatever magic is in there, it’s dangerous.”
Rory flinched. “But maybe I can see a way to make it safe—”
“Or see a way to give Pavel the power to start another war,” said Arthur.
“He’s trapped in his magic because he wastortured!” Rory snapped. “He was taken during war and stuck in a prison cell and tortured until he was forced to do magic to escape. Maybe you were just some fancy officer, Ace, but can’t you find some sympathy for that?”
Arthur’s expression went instantly, unnaturally still. Jade and Zhang exchanged a look. “Rory,” Zhang started.
“I need to get back to the wedding.” Arthur was moving for the door.
Rory’s stomach dropped. Arthur’s expression was still blank, his body tense, like Rory’s words had cut him deep. “You just got here—”
“I have to get my tux. I have to—I’m sorry. I have to go.” Arthur yanked open the door and fled the library.
Rory cursed in Italian. “Ace, comeback.” He started after Arthur.
“Rory, wait.”
The fear in Jade’s voice stopped him in his tracks. Rory turned, and saw Jade with her hands out, expression strained, and Zhang staring up in horror.
He covered his mouth. “Oh no.”
The ring had cracked the ceiling.
“I’m holding it back as much as I can.” Jade had to bite the words out. “But I can’t move. If I let go, it’s going to go right up into the restaurant.”
The restaurant now full of the lunch crowd. The ring pushed up a little harder, and the ceiling cracks traveled farther, to the base of the chandelier. Rory’s stomach plummeted, his mind seeing the arcing splits in ice before it shattered.
He looked around desperately, and spotted something up high on the bookshelf closest to Jade. “Pavel’s knockout potion,” he said hoarsely. “Use it on me.”
“I tried to tell you earlier, it won’t work.” Zhang gestured at the ceiling. “You have so much magic now that a chained tempest is responding to your emotions. You’ll shrug off a knockout potion like it’s nothing.” He moved toward the door. “Let me get Arthur—”
“No!” Rory’s shout stopped Zhang in his short. “I don’t want Ace anywhere near this magic. I don’t want him hurt. I gotta go, put some distance between me and the ring.”
“No,” Jade bit out. Her eyes never left the sphere as it pushed at the ceiling. Her hands were trembling.
“We don’t know where Hyde and the other paranormals are,” said Zhang. “If they have the pomander relic, they absolutely cannot have you too.”
