I thought about just telling her and Dad to go home. To pack up and get out of here. But I knew they wouldn’t go without a fight. Besides, the prowler had lurked from the front yard. If they were still out there somewhere, watching, I didn’t want to deliver them hostages. Even though my parents would be in the middle of a battle zone, at this point, the house was probably the safest place for them.
“It’s a pretty long story, but basically, we might have some trouble later on. When things heat up, we’ll need to move you to a safe place within the house.”
My mom’s movements slowed and a crease formed between her brows. “What do you mean, some trouble?”
There was no easy way to say it, so I just went for the direct approach. “Long story short, this house is magical, and in accepting to live here, I became magical, too. Now some people want to use me for my power, I guess. They are here to take what is mine, and we’ll be fighting them off. So we’ll need to get you to safety.”
My mom stared at me for a tense beat. Her flat expression lifted into a smile so broad that it scored her face. “Funny. You’re as bad as that butler of yours. Do you want some breakfast?”
I sagged. “Yes, please. Let me just check in with Mr. Tom.”
They’d need to be forced into safety, clearly, which was fine. Maybe we could just tell them we suspected a tornado or something. No, we didn’t get tornados here, but they’d probably believe that a whole lot faster than they’d believe in magic.Nineteen“Here you go, Jessie.” Ulric bent over my position at the kitchen table and handed me a small brown box covered in glued-on stones. He bit into a sandwich as he watched me ease it to the table without breaking off any of the decor.
“Why?” I asked, and I wasn’t sure if I was asking about the decor or why he was handing me the box.
“Edgar told me to give it to you. He checked in with Agnes earlier. They’ve been trying to re-create the potion. They managed to put together this elixir.”
Heart in my throat, feeling a surge of newfound energy, I flipped the metal clasp and pulled open the light wooden lid. I took out a little vial resting on a purple pillow, the liquid inside iridescent magenta. “They’re trying to re-create the potion? I thought she said she wouldn’t have enough power?”
“Yeah, they didn’t have enough to properly duplicate the spell, but this gives a low-level idea.”
A folded-up piece of paper rested next to the pillow. It had a list of ingredients, followed by instructions, like a recipe. I pulled up the pillow to find the plain brown wood beneath.
My mother bustled through with a pile of laundry just as I was lifting the vial to the light. For once Mr. Tom wasn’t chasing behind her, demanding she hand over the laundry and go sit down.
“Ooh, pretty.” She nodded at the vial. “Do you want a sandwich, hon? It’s after twelve o’clock.”
“No, I’m good—”
“Yes, she does, Mrs. McMillian, if you please,” Ulric said. “Or we can get Mr. Tom to make it.”
“Don’t be silly. I’ll be right back.” My mom left the kitchen.
“You need to eat, and you need to sleep,” Ulric said, sitting down at the table with me. “You’re worn out. You won’t come up with anything in this state. Give your brain a rest. They aren’t attacking yet.”
I sagged against the table. “I know, but they could come at any time and I’m not positive the spell I rigged up will work.” I turned over the piece of paper, seeing more directions for the potion. “If they don’t have enough power, how’d they get anything at all?”
“Reverse-engineering a spell is possible if you have the brains, ingenuity, analytics, and guts to pull it off. You don’t necessarily need the power. These people can’t make the full-fledged potion, but they can figure out how it was done and empower others to do what they can’t.” He held up the slip of paper. “Agnes has a good network of people, even though she’s clearly…” He fingered the crystals glued to the side of the box. “She’s not my speed, at any rate.”
I blew out a breath. “So you’re saying I can probably mostly trust this.” I shook the vial.
“Yeah. They would have told us if it would kill you. You can think about the spell while you eat, and if you refuse to take a nap, I’ll drink this vial—I also have guts—and you see if you can counteract it. Obviously this one will be easier to remove than the one Elliot’s using on his people, but it’ll give you an idea.”