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“I found something in one of the diaries about how they trapped the fire entity the first time,” Sanderson announced excitedly over the phone.

“What did you find?” Simon’s voice sounded as rough as he felt, and he blinked his eyes before groggily checking the time. Five a.m. Clearly Sanderson wasn’t a believer in sleeping in.

Vic gave Simon a quizzical glance. Simon motioned for him to go back to sleep, padded into the bathroom, and shut the door.

“There are a couple of pages that talk about ‘ushering the guest into its new room.’ A lot of the diaries are coded like that. I’m sure you’ve noticed.”

“Uh-huh.” Simon wished he’d had his morning coffee before the call.

“Sometimes it’s easy to guess what they mean, and in other cases, it’s a head-scratcher,” Sanderson barreled on. “That’s why I missed it the first time I read this and didn’t flag it for you. But I think it’s about binding the spirit in that hidden room.”

“That would be helpful,” Simon replied.

“Do you want me to read it to you?” Sanderson sounded far too chipper for the time of day.

“It would be better if you could photograph the pages and text them to me,” Simon told him. “I’ll be able to study it better.” Because I’ll be awake.

“Sure thing. I woke up early because I couldn’t stop thinking about how to lock it back up, so I’ve been going through the books I still had since about three,” Sanderson said, and Simon figured he should be grateful the call hadn’t been made earlier.

“Shoot them over to me, give me about two hours, and let me have a look,” Simon replied. “I want to bounce the pages off some witchy friends who will probably be the ones sealing the entity back up.”

“Will do,” Sanderson promised.

Simon ended the call, then cupped his hands under the faucet and splashed cold water on his face, too awake now to go back to sleep.

Vic didn’t seem to have had that problem, so Simon let him be with a tiny bit of envy. He took his phone with him to the kitchen and made a fresh pot of coffee, scrolling until Sanderson’s texts came through.

Simon intended to study it more closely after a shower, coffee, and breakfast, but he took a quick look to get the thoughts flowing.

Deciphering the text meant to confuse any unauthorized reader, he made notes as he read. The journal didn’t share the exact wording for the spell, but the sequence of magical events was very close to what Simon had guessed, which raised his mood.

“What was that all about?” Vic shuffled into the kitchen and greeted him with a big yawn before making a beeline to the coffee maker.

“Sanderson thinks he found the outline for binding the main entity back in its prison. I think he’s correct.”

“That’s a good thing, right?” Vic’s short hair stood up all over, and dark stubble shadowed his face.

“Yeah, if it works. I’m going to send it on to Gabriella and Donnelly, but I think it’s definitely got the right bones, even if they add some additional mojo to it.” Simon paused for a couple of swallows of coffee and willed it to start his synapses firing. “I was braced for something very complicated, but sometimes, the simplest things are the most powerful. This looks like it falls in that category.”

“Do you think the writer left out parts? You’ve told me that a lot of witches are jealous of their spells and don’t like to share,” Vic asked.

“It’s a step-by-step, but not the incantation itself,” Simon replied. “Which usually means that it’s the sequence of what’s done and not the specific words that actually do the magic. It looks hopeful to me. Donnelly and Gabriella will know whether or not it’s legit.”

He thought for a moment. “I’ll send it to Cassidy too. She can share it with Sorren. They might have other resources to tie in that they can send with Donnelly.”

“What about the dark ghosts and the fire salamander?” Vic asked. “They’ve been causing trouble all on their own.”

“They would lose power with the main entity bound,” Simon mused. “But I’d be afraid to count on them just vanishing without a fight.”

“How about the room itself? Getting damaged was at least part of what freed the entity in the first place, wasn’t it?” Vic drained his cup and poured another.

“Sanderson already started mundane repairs: fixing the physical breakage,” Simon clarified. “I’m sure that Gabriella and Donnelly will make sure the wards and magical seals are in place and done right before we try to call the entity.”

Vic gave him a worried look. “Just remember, if you’re there for that part, so am I.”

“Vic—” Simon knew his protest would be useless, and while he appreciated Vic’s love and loyalty, he didn’t want him to get hurt.

“Nope. I’m going. It’s a fire spirit, right? I found some weapons that will work just dandy on something like that,” Vic replied, and to Simon’s consternation, his partner actually seemed excited once weapons were involved.