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“I’ll ignore that statement simply because you didn’t go to university and haven’t witnessed the consequences of someone not spelling as it was written.”
“I’ve been not following spells as they were written for most of my adult life, Monty. Sometimes you have to step outside norms and procedures to get anywhere.”
“I’d wager most of your spells have never been either major or dangerous.” It was impatiently said, with just the slightest edge of annoyance. “Please give me the benefit of knowing what I’m talking about when it comes to higher-level spells.”
Don’t, Belle said, before I even opened my mouth. There’s no point in antagonizing him any further right now. It won’t get us anywhere.
Neither will sitting here doing nothing. I snapped my book shut, then rose and walked over to the sliding door. The night was quiet, and I had no sense of anything untoward happening. Which was odd, given my earlier vision. I took a deep breath to calm the frustration and then said, as calmly as I could, “The soucouyant is out there somewhere, and it’s more than possible she’s preying on someone new.”
“That may be the case, but until we find another means of tracking her, there’s nothing we can do,” Monty said. “Besides, it’s also very possible that after the events of the last few days and losing her offspring, she’s lying low.”
I glanced down at him. “I’d have thought losing her offspring would have made her even more determined to seek revenge.”
“But as you’ve said a couple of times, we’re dealing with a very old spirit. She won’t act irrationally.”
“Acting rationally and acting fast are not mutually exclusive.”
“Yes, but she’s expended a lot of energy over the last couple of days and that’ll take time to replenish.”
I crossed my arms and returned my gaze to the night and the stars. I couldn’t escape the feeling that we needed to find her before the events in my vision had the chance to come true. I needed—we needed—to be doing something, even if that something amounted to nothing.
“That fire protection net you use,” I said eventually. “Why can’t we tweak that and make it seek heat rather than protect against it?”
I’d already used elements of that spell in both the protections around this place and in the three charms, but I’d also added my own embellishments because I didn’t know the entire spell. Monty did—and that meant he should be able to reverse the spell’s usage. It might not be easy, but it should be possible.
Monty frowned. “I wouldn’t know where to start something like that.”
“We could try casting aside the protection threads and weave in a heat finding spell instead. Finders are easy enough to create.”
“Only because we generally have something personal to work off, and we can’t use her skin because it’s been salted. It’ll foul whatever spell we try.” His frown deepened. “Most spirits are notoriously hard to find—that’s probably why there’s minimal information when it comes to tracking them.”
“We’ve nothing to lose by trying, Monty.”
He studied me for several seconds and then shrugged. “I guess we don’t.”
“We’ll need to use your vehicle if the spell succeeds,” I said. “Ours is in bits.”
“If mine ends up the same way, I will be pissed. It’s a classic.” He pushed to his feet. “I’ll attempt the reversal in that spell room of yours. If it works, we’ll head out for a few hours. Okay?”
A few hours would probably not be enough given the size of the reservation, but it was better than nothing. I glanced at Belle. “You’d better stay here and grab some sleep. One of us needs to be fit to serve customers tomorrow.”
She nodded. “Just be careful out there, both of you.”
I couldn’t help smiling. “Careful is my middle name, remember?”
She snorted. If you keep saying that often enough, fate might just believe you. But I certainly won’t.
My smile grew, but I didn’t say anything as I followed Monty down the stairs and into the reading room.
“Nice range of spells,” he said, his gaze on the ceiling. “It’s tending a little toward overkill though, isn’t it?”
“Wait until you’re attacked by heretic witches and magic-capable vampires.” I shoved the table aside and then rolled up the rug. “We’ll see if you think its overkill then.”
He grunted and sat down. I sat opposite him—not because I had any intention of interfering, but because I wanted to see the spell in its entirety so I could use or adjust it at a later date.
Monty took a deep breath and then began his spell. I watched intently, filing away the words he spoke as much as the look and feel of each thread. Once the spell was complete, he began unpicking various threads, reversing the polarity of them so that they would seek heat rather than protect from it. It was very cleverly done, and whatever I thought about Monty’s overcautious ways, when push came to shove, he was far superior in every way when it came to spelling, be it traditional or ad hoc.
Once he’d finished rearranging the threads, he fashioned the spell into an easy-to-handle orb and then activated it. “Right,” he said. “Though it’s not showing much at the moment, energy should pulse through the threads as we get closer to arcane heat. It’s the best I could do.”
