"Like an arrow," I murmur.
"Anyway.” Morgan shrugs. "Fun little Easter egg. Bit of Caliburn trivia.” She swigs her beer, and that’s when I realize she’s also ordered one for me, because she pushes it across the table. "What's going on? Lots of reading, I'm guessing?"
"Yeah," I say, distractedly. “Making about as much progress there as you'd expect, namely none." I keep my eyes glued to the table as if I don't want to look directly at Vivian in thephotograph, like she's judging me for not figuring out the answer to her question already.
Whodoyou think you are, Gwenna?
"Actually, I had something else I wanted to ask you—and yes, another favor, kind of," I go on quickly. “I’m sorry.”
Morgan waves a hand. "Please. Think nothing of it.”
“But—”
“I was joking. Really." She scrunches down a little so that she forces herself into my field of vision and waves from the edge of the table. “Seriously,Gwen,I don’t mind. And I’m sure one of these days I’ll cash in all my chips with you and get a major favor back and we’ll be square. Okay?”
I exhale. “Okay.”
“Good.” Morgan sits back up. “So what’s up?”
I hold my beer a little tighter.
"It's Lanz,” I say. "You gave me that honey, and I made the drink for him like you told me, and then I totally forgot, but?—”
"Oh my god, that's right," Morgan says, a single laugh escaping. "Yeah, in all of the…everything, sort of fell by the wayside, hm? But you made him the drink?" She leans in, interested. "Did you take a picture? What's it look like?"
“That's the thing," I say, shrinking a little. "I did. Well, I did make him the drink, but then—" I grimace, thinking of how stupid the whole thing is. "I dropped it. We were in his room and this bird flew right into his window."
Morgan grimaces.
"And I jumped and dropped it and the mug just cracked. So I don't know what to do. I guess maybe if you have more honey, but honestly, I'm not sure I can get him to just drink a random mug of milk again." I pause, still gripping my glass, letting the few murmured conversations around us fill the air for a second. "Callahan's really worried about him," I say. "I mean, everyone is. But..."
"Yeah," Morgan nods.
"And I think—Iknow—” The words rush out of me. "If I could just figure all this out and solve the riddle for Vivian and get the answer on how to fix things and do whatever needs to be done, maybe everything would go back to normal. You know, the Earth and him. But that all sort of depends on?—”
“…on what's wrong with him in the first place," Morgan finishes for me. She gives a crisp nod. "Well. Did you get a look inside the mug, even?”
I lift a shoulder. "Yeah. But I couldn't tell you any of the patterns or, I don't know, symbols that were there."
"Hold up, hold up." Morgan waves a hand in the air. "I'm not asking you to look for hieroglyphics or anything." She lets out a short laugh. "This is not that complicated a diagnostic, Gwenna. It’s less 23andme, more…pregnancy test, I guess. A yes or no kind of thing. You either are, or you aren’t, afflicted with some kind of magic."
Afflicted. The word sticks in my mind, the memory of Emrys on that day of darkness in the Cameron house living room pushing back to the fore. "Like with a hex," I say, "or a curse."
Morgan bobs her head. "Exactly. So, you got a look. What did you see?"
I hesitate, not sure how to even begin to describe something I’d barely gotten a glance at anyway. "There was like a goopy little ring of frothy honey stuff stuck to the sides. I guess."
Morgan purses her lips. "Like all the way around?" she says. "A complete circle?"
I close my eyes briefly. Open them again. "Yes," I say. "Weirdly, yes. I don't know why I remember that. I guess I thought that maybe the honey was like extra thick or something, but?—”
"That's not good," Morgan interrupts.
My stomach plunges. “It’s not?”
She shakes her head, rueful. “An unbroken circle around the cup means there’s some kind of influence surrounding him.” She makes a little circle with her fingers. “Binding magic. The bad kind.”
Shit. “And that’s why he looks so terrible.”
