“Yep.” And she’s just about to say more when the phone on the bench across the room rings. “One sec,” she says. Then she rushes over to it and picks up the handset. I can’t really hear what she’s saying, but it’s a short conversation. And just a couple seconds later, she’s back. “I have to step out for a moment. A colleague needs my help.”
“But what about my spelling? Should I try a moth spell?”
Talina shakes her head. “That sounds like some pretty powerful shit, Pie. Ask for something easy. Something you really want, but also something you know you deserve.”
“Ask?” I say. “I’m not asking anyone for anything. I need to be able to use my own power.”
“Then make it super, super-easy. Even easier than tea. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” And then she gathers up her bag and a few notebooks and pushes her way through the doors.
I sit there thinking for a while. What could I do that is super-easy and something I deserve?
I want to open portal doors, but that seems like big magic. I want to get Pell through the doors, but that seems even bigger.
But I don’t want to waste time on stupid tea spells. So it has to have something to do with portals.
“Oh!” I say it out loud. I even hold up a pointed finger. “I could open Pell’s door. The door to his tomb!”
This seems so right. It’s an easy task, because Pell already has access to that door. And I can already walk through doors with the bloodhorn scales, so all I have to do is give myself the ability to see this particular door.
I pick up my charcoal pencil and draw his tomb from memory so I can get a clear picture of it in my mind. It’s not a perfect drawing because I haven’t paid much attention to it, but it’s close enough. Then I write the letter A to start.
A horn, a hoof, an eye, a bone.
“No.” I laugh. “Not that poem, Pie. Oh!” I say it again. Holy shit. That poem above the doors was a spelling poem!
Oh. My God.
Could this be the way to break the curse?
Break the spelling poem or replace it with a new one?
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Pie. Calm down.” I take a deep breath. “Talina said easy.”
Right. I will think about that later. After I successfully write my first magic spelling on how to enter Pell’s tomb.
So I begin. And by the time Talina gets back, this is what I have:
A wood, a buck, a nymph, and stone.
A way into a satyr’s home.
A door appears, the nymph walks through,
And now their lives begin anew.
“Holy crap, Pie. This is… wow!”
“Really?” I’m making one of those all-teeth smiles and holding my hands in front of me like I’m praying. “You really think it will work?”
“There’s only one way to find out.”
“I know. I can’t wait to go home!”
“You should leave early. Like now, if you want.”
“It’s not time to go home yet. I’m sure Tarq would object.”
“Object to you actually doing big magic?” She snorts. “He’ll be thrilled. Go ask him, if you want. But this is your job.”