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“You’re brilliant!” he said when he finally came up for air.
“Oh, so that’s what this was about,” I teased. “And here I thought it was because you loved me.”
“That, too,” he said with a saucy grin. “But you really are brilliant. Whoever this guy was who took over the Collegium a hundred years ago, it wasn’t because he had a clever plan. It was because he’d figured out some interesting magic.”
I snuggled against him, my head on his shoulder, and he responded by wrapping his arms tightly around me. “How interesting?”
“Like I had Sam tell you earlier, the first spell is a kind of magical key for getting past any magical safeguards within the Collegium. It would have been easy for him to have pulled a coup once he had a power base, since he’d have been able to go right to the top ranks and take them out.”
“I’m guessing that the second spell is even more interesting, if you came straight here to talk about it.”
He tightened his hold on me and kissed the top of my head. “Yes! It’s a universal access code that breaks down all kinds of security. With that spell, someone could transport himself straight into a warded room.”
“Transport right into a warded room?” I asked, a sick feeling growing in my stomach. “You mean like ‘poof!’ right past guards and spells, and stuff?”
“Yes, but the trick is that you have to plant a beacon in the location, and you lock onto the beacon to transport yourself. I’ve already got a team in security figuring out a way to counter it so we can beef up our wards, but I’m not too worried, since you have to get in to plant the beacon before you can transport, and that’s unlikely.”
“That’s how they did it, then,” I said.
“Did what?”
“They got Philip. We think.” I told him what Gemma had told me. “And I’m the one who got him into Philip’s office so he could leave a beacon. That’s what that visit must have been about.”
“It’s not your fault. You’re doing what you have to do, and you had no way of knowing you were giving him that kind of help.”
“I should have, though. I knew I was reading some serious spells. But maybe I should hold off on giving him more spells from the book until you’ve checked them. He can’t even touch the book, so it’s not like he can check to make sure I’m giving him the right information. It’s also possible that some of it’s veiled.”
He shoved me just far enough away from himself that he could brace his hands on my shoulders and look me in the eye. “That’s a great idea! Do that! How much of the book has he actually looked at directly?”
“Only the beginning. And I know he can’t touch it. It blew him across the room the last time he tried. I’ve been shutting it when I leave for the day, so he can’t read the page it’s open to. There may be other immunes around he can use, but he seems to be keeping this between him and me. He won’t even let me type the transcriptions using the company computer.”
“Okay, then, leave out the spells until I’ve had a look at them. This may give us an edge.” He pulled me back to him and kissed me. “Now, I’d better go. I shouldn’t sustain this suspension for too long.” He gave me one more lingering kiss before he released me.
“Bye. I love you,” I said.
“I love you, too. Hurry and bring down these people so we can get back on track.”
“Will do.” After a jaunty salute, I hurried back to my building. Only after I was inside did I hear normal sounds resuming. By the time I was upstairs and looked out the window, he was gone and snow was falling, already erasing our footprints. Come to think about it, there was only one set of footprints, leading back to my building. Had he been testing that transportation spell?
*
On my way to my office the next day, I couldn’t help but look over the railing in the atrium. The frog pond was so far below that I couldn’t even tell that’s what it was from this level. Was Philip down there? I hated to think of him being stuck like that again, and in spite of what Owen had said, I feared it was my fault. I shouldn’t have been handing Roger spells. Or maybe I should have altered them slightly when copying them.
That gave me an idea. On the page I needed to start with, there was a long, complicated-looking spell, and I sensed m
agic coming off the page, which suggested that it was either veiled or its appearance was altered, so no one without the right spell—or without magical immunity—would be able to read it. I changed a few things as I copied it, making sure I memorized the correct version. I’d spent enough time verifying spells for Owen that I knew ways to change it while still making it look authentic. I marked the symbols on my wrist under my watch, as usual. This spell was harder to memorize than the previous ones, but copying it helped.
Roger wasn’t in his office when I dropped off that day’s work, so I hurried back to my office to check the book for what his next step likely was. He’d already taken over the Vandermeer company. It looked like next he needed to recruit “soldiers” loyal to him, using the funds he got from the Vandermeer firm. I wondered where one would go to hire magical thugs. Would he get them from within the Collegium, or would he find wannabes?
That was a question for Rod, I thought, so as soon as I was home and had written out the spells I’d memorized, I called Marcia. “How’s Gemma holding up?” I asked first.
“She’s upset and burying herself in work. And what about you?”
“Me?” I asked, a little surprised, since I wasn’t the one we were worried about, but then I realized that she was giving me an opening in case I wanted to arrange a meeting. “I’m okay, I guess. A little lonely all by myself over here.”
“Why don’t you join Rod and me for dinner tonight?” Marcia said. “He’d love to catch up, and I guess that’s been awkward with you and Owen being broken up. He’s not choosing sides, but he would like to see you.”
“Sure, that sounds great,” I said.
