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He cocked his head. “Dahn. Secret for Mzatal. Mzatal keep safe!”
“Thanks, Jekki,” I said with a pained smile. “Good to know it’s nice and safe.” Jekki was utterly loyal, damn it. Any attempt to wheedle, cajole, or force one of Mzatal’s secrets out of him would be a waste of time and breath. I scritched the top of his head and straightened.
“At least it’s not gone,” Pellini said. His expression turned puzzled as he examined Janice’s contraption. “Is this a seismograph?”
“Huh?” I moved closer to peer at it. A flat base supported an upright piece of wood, from which jutted another, longer arm of wood. A pen at the end of the arm drew a wavy line on a roll of paper, and closer inspection revealed a clever little bit of arcane that unwound the roll at a slow and steady rate. The whole thing was about the size of a carry-on suitcase. “I think you’re right.” I reached toward the paper then yanked my hand back at Jekki’s screech.
“No touch!” The tip of his tail vibrated. “Janice Massi every day watches! Much every day! Watches all!”
“All what?” I asked.
“All!” He waggled his four hands at the device. “All ga-jits! All places!”
“Gadgets? What are they for?”
“To seeeeeeee moves.” With that, Jekki zipped off, apparently confident that he’d explained sufficiently.
Pellini let out a low whistle. “It is a seismograph.”
“Go figure. We can find out what the deal is from Janice.” I grimaced. “If she’ll even talk to me. At least I know where Elinor’s journal is. Let’s get that out of the way, then we can tackle the gimkrah problem.”
We made our way upstairs to the hazy arcane veil that marked the arch entrance to Mzatal’s personal floor.
Pellini shook his head. “I should probably wait downstairs while you look for the stuff,” he said, turning to head back the way we came. “I can check
on Michael and the others, too.”
“Are you kidding?” I stared at his retreating back. “No! It’ll take twice as long to search on my own. Plus, I’ll need your input if I run into anything arcane.” I sucked in a breath. “Crap! Pellini, wait! It’s Mzatal’s aversions. They’re affecting you.” This area was heavily warded, albeit “tuned” to allow me full access. I was so used to the veil and the wards that crawled over the arch that I hadn’t paid any attention to them.
Pellini stopped then pivoted, face set in a grimace of willpower as he made his way back to me. “Wonderful,” he grumbled. “Even if I could push past the aversions, I’d get zapped hard.”
“Killed,” I corrected. “So, not the best plan. But it’s cool. I have ‘admin access’ and can alter the wards enough to get you in . . . Shit.” My throat tightened. “Except I can’t manipulate the arcane.” I was worlds away from the super-shikvihr on my home nexus, which meant I couldn’t tap into the potency. And since these wards were attuned to me, Pellini couldn’t act as my proxy.
“Damn,” Pellini said with a sigh. “This’ll really slow us down. Sorry, Kara.”
The wards shimmered, bright and tantalizing. It was so stupid and frustrating. I could see exactly what needed to be done, which loops to adjust, what aspects to shift, where to add Pellini’s resonance.
The coil of an aversion twitched. “Hang on,” I said. It might have been coincidence or . . .
I envisioned a change in the outer loop of the aversion ward then reached, physically and mentally.
The loop shifted.
“Holy shit!” Pulse thrumming, I tried again. The loop bent to my will and reshaped into the new configuration. A cry of pure joy escaped me.
Beside me, Pellini gave a fist pump. “Fuck yeah, Kara! You show that ward who’s boss!”
Laughing, I dashed tears from my eyes and continued to restructure the wards. I had no doubt the demon realm potency gave me a boost, but there was more to it than that. The nexus and the super-shikvihr and Pellini had all been vital to my recovery process, but perhaps I’d become too dependent on them.
I finished the adjustments then added the sigil that integrated Pellini’s resonance.
“You did it!” His whoop echoed up and down the stairs. I staggered as he pounded me on the back then yelped when he lifted me in a giant bear hug.
“Erp,” I croaked.
Grinning, he set me on my feet. “Always knew you’d get it back.”
He meant it, I realized. He’d never once wavered in his faith in me. I sniffled and gave him a watery smile. “Thanks. Now let’s find the stuff.”
