“Yes, I packed up her things,” Dorian said.
“Why pack up her office so soon? It doesn’t seem like the space was needed.”
“Well, it was,” Dorian said, setting gleaming ruby cocktails before Aspen and Finn.
“And where are her things now?”
“Storage,” Dorian said quickly.
“Would I be able to look through them just to see about the relic? I mean, if there is an important artifact on campus, surely you don’t want it shoved into some box in a storage space.”
He frowned. “I don’t think we could authorize that.”
Heat rose up in my cheeks and I could feel myself gearing up for a fight. I’d always had a problem with authority, but especially when it felt unearned. What right did the librarian have to hold dominion over Dr. Casimir’s things? But I knew arguing would get me nowhere, so I tried to be civil about it.
“Then could one of you look through and make sure you didn’t miss the statue? She described it as representing thirteen female figures in a circle, with a two-faced being at the center of the circle. You can probably understand why that would be important to me.”
“Your coven,” said Aspen.
“Exactly. Depending on when it dates from, it could be pretty important.”
“I think it would be fine for you to look through her things,” said Aspen brightly, “but the storage space is in Denver. We cantry to arrange for you to get down there in a few weeks if you want, though.”
“Denver?” I said, the wind swiftly leaving my sails as I realized the space was hours away. “Sure. That would be great.”
Lexi set her napkin on the table and excused herself. I half wondered if she was going to go scold a cook somewhere.
Dorian turned to me and smiled. “How is your new living space? Everything to your liking?”
“Actually,” I said, setting down my glass, “I found the strangest thing today. Down in the basement.”
Dorian froze, his fork nearly to his mouth. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. There were these stairs down to it and—”
“The gate wasn’t locked?”
“It was open,” I lied. “And inside was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. All these glass bottles hanging from the ceiling. Is that like an art thing? Or an experiment?”
Finn and Aspen exchanged confused looks.
“No,” Dorian said, “not an experiment.”
His attention drifted, and I got the sense that these bottles had some other meaning to him. Just then there was a commotion in the kitchen and Lexi emerged with a tray of salads.
“Hope you’re hungry,” she said brightly.
“Lexi,” he said, hesitation in his eyes, “Isabelle had witch bottles in her basement.”
Her hand shaking, she set the tray of plates clattering down on the table. “No.” She locked eyes with Dorian, aghast and amused all at once.
“Yes,” he said with a broad smile.
I looked on, completely confused, and then as if finally noticing me, she snapped out of it, smoothed down her skirt, and sat.I tried to get a sense of where Aspen and Finn stood on witch bottles, but they both seemed preoccupied with their salads.
“How curious,” Lexi said, taking a sip of her wine before nodding to me. “Please, Robin. Eat up!”
I stared down at the salad. The vegetables were crisp and glistening with a dressing I knew I could expect to be the perfect combination of savory and sweet. Laid across the top were thinly sliced pieces of some kind of meat.
