“I think we have to,” Hol y said, hugging her knees to her chest. She’d added a pair of shorts to her outfit, but with the oversized shirt draping her petite frame, she looked more like a frightened child than a confident prosecutor.
Caleb often said three was the perfect number for a group—there were never ties in a decision. Since I was the final roommate, everyone turned to me. To call the police or not? I dodged. “What can you tel me about the spel on Hol y?” And Caleb—the ravens had scored a deep gash on his forearm and raked his knuckles. If al it took was one scratch for the spel to transfer, he’d definitely caught it.
Tamara pursed her lips and motioned for Hol y to sit on the couch.
Hol y settled herself on the cushion farthest from the trapped raven—we were al giving the strainer a wide berth
—and Tamara sat on the coffee table, directly across from Hol y.
“May I?” Tamara pointed to the col ar of Hol y’s shirt.
Hol y shrugged. “I’l take it off.” She turned her back to us and pul ed the shirt over her head. She pressed the material over her breasts before turning back.
Yesterday the cu sith’s scratch had looked like Hol y had been clawed by a tiger, but today the jagged tears stretching from her col arbone to the top of her opposite breast were thinner, the skin pink and healing quickly from some of the best healing spel s money could buy. The ring some of the best healing spel s money could buy. The ring of teeth marks on her shoulder was a little worse, the scabs stil thick and angry-looking, but by al accounts, healing in remarkable time.
I’d scanned them with my ability to sense magic already and I’d felt a tickle of magic that seemed more like a memory of a spel than anything active or malicious. Now I cracked my shields again, peering through the bril iant swirls of the Aetheric to focus on Hol y’s exposed wounds.
When I squinted, I thought I caught a tinge of gray behind the healing skin. Maybe.
After peering at Hol y’s wounds, Tamara looked over at Caleb and motioned for him to show her his hand and arm.
She studied his wounds for a while and then leaned back, placing her hands to the side and slightly behind her on the coffee table.
“If I hadn’t been looking for it, I never would’ve spotted the spel ,” she said, shaking her head. “And it’s a weird spel . I mean, it’s more a trace than anything active.”
Damn. That was exactly what I was getting as wel . I closed my shields and blinked in the sudden darkness clouding my vision.
“Can you sense what it is or how to counter it?” Hol y asked. She was an exceptional spel caster, but she wasn’t the least bit sensitive.
Tamara reached out a hand, but hesitated before touching Hol y’s shoulder. “This might feel a little invasive.”
Hol y nodded assent and Tamara pressed her palm to Hol y’s skin. Tamara’s eyes closed, and whatever she did made Hol y cringe, but she didn’t pul away.
“It’s like the spel is hibernating,” Tamara said without opening her eyes. “It’s hard to explain, but it’s like the spel formed a crystal ized shel . I doubt it can do anything inside al that protection, but it’s barely traceable and I can’t get a slip of magic beyond the cocoon it’s formed.”
“So it would have to be active to be dispel ed,” I said, fol owing her logic, though I didn’t like it one bit. “But we fol owing her logic, though I didn’t like it one bit. “But we don’t know what triggers the spel or what it does.”
Tamara dropped her hand and nodded that she was finished. Hol y dressed quickly.
Caleb leaned back in his chair. “Hol y left yesterday morning. When she claimed she hadn’t, I thought she just didn’t want us to know who she went to see.” He shot her an apologetic glance. “But maybe that was just a trial run for tonight.”
It was possible. I drummed my fingers on the arm of the chair. “Both events happened in the middle of the night.
Was the timing based on when the caster assumed Hol y’s absence wouldn’t be noticed and when the attack would be unexpected, or does the spel ’s host have to be asleep?”
“Great. I’l never sleep again,” Hol y said, slumping.
Yeah, like that was real y an option.
“I think you should go to the hospital in the Quarter,” I told her. Caleb voiced his agreement and I turned to him. “You too.”
“No.” He pushed himself out of his chair. “Hol y, yes, definitely. She should be under observation and under the care of trained physicians and healers. No offense.” He glanced at Tamara. “But not me. I’m fae—the spel might not even work on me.”