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“Whether it’s still active or not is a question I can’t answer until I create a secondary spell to track it—”
“Meaning it was another of your freeform spells?” he asked.
“Yes—a demon net spell combined with a couple of tracker threads. I’m hoping they’re not powerful enough for her to have sensed them. She didn’t seem to.”
“That might have been because she was too busy trying to kill you,” Ashworth commented. “But she’s had plenty of time since to feel and deal with your spell.”
If she had, we’d either have to wait for her next attack or hope that, in the next couple of days, she went into that mine we’d found and triggered Ashworth’s trap.
“Maybe not,” Belle said. “It’s possible the blows she took from Vita wiped her out.”
“Given how little we know about White Ladies who were once also witches,” Eli said, “anything is possible.”
“Presuming Liz is able to track her,” Aiden said. “What’s the plan?”
“First priority has to be containment—we can’t afford to have her escaping us again,” Monty said. “Once we’ve done that, we can probably do to her what we did to the other one.”
“There’s two problems with that,” Ashworth said. “Firstly, we’re dealing with a demon who’s far older and stronger than that other one—”
“And two,” Belle cut in. “If we kill her without first giving Vita her chance, there’ll be hell to pay.”
I grabbed a fresh bit of bread to mop up the egg remnants with. “I’m still not liking the idea of you letting her into your body.”
“Neither do I, but if we have to do this, then today is the perfect time. She’ll be wiped out after her efforts last night, and won’t have the same sort of power or control.”
“Her recovery skills—or lack thereof—are something I’d rather not rely on,” Monty said. “It’d be better if we take other precautions.”
“You thinking of a restrictor spell?” Eli asked. “Because they have their dangers.”
“Which could be countered easily enough by placing the spell on Liz rather than Belle. The two will be connected, so it mutes the risks to Belle while still restricting what the demon can and can’t do.”
Eli nodded. “Worth a shot, certainly.”
“Um, before you actually get set on that course of action, care to explain what this spell does and what the possible dangers are?” Belle asked.
“It
basically wraps around your mind and stops the entity from invading. The problem is that sometimes the spell can wrap so tightly that it can tear the mind apart. There have been cases—very few cases—of witches being sent mad,” Monty said. “That’s very unlikely to happen here, thanks to the fact that you two are so deeply connected. Basically, you’ll keep each other sane.”
“Or so you hope,” I said.
He waved a hand. “Hope is such a fragile thing that it’s better not to trust in it. Trust in me and my knowledge instead.”
“Oh boy,” Belle muttered, “That really calms the nerves.”
“It isn’t like we really have many other options,” he replied. “In the end, it’ll come down to the strength of your connection with Liz. And that is the one thing you can trust and believe in.”
A truth neither of us could deny. And yet, however much we believed that our connection would repel all comers, the truth was it had never truly been tested.
“How are you going to contact Vita?” Aiden asked. “Or is she hanging about here somewhere?”
Belle smiled. “She can’t get in here unless she’s invited. I’ll call her once we know whether the tracker is working or not. She said she’d respond if we use her name.”
Ashworth glanced at his watch. “Midday is probably the best time to tackle finding the demon. Shall we reassemble here just before then?”
I nodded. “In the meantime, I’ll work on a receiver and see if I can get anything.”
Ashworth raised his eyebrows. “Were you ever taught how to do a receiver?”
