“…trap Headwaters to give us time to find the spell that will kill him, then I’m all in for that too.You might think we only get one chance at the bastard, but maybe we can hit him more than once.With more than one weapon.
“Can you agree with that?”
“I don’t want to agree…I want him dead.But if we can trap him, then kill him, yes.”
“Fair and good,” I said.“We have a plan B.”
“I don’t know how you’ve stayed so optimistic after everything that’s happened.”
“Did you just call me naive?”
“No.Optimistic.We only get one chance at this, Brogan.The world would never bend to our favor and let us have a plan B.”
“We don’t need the world to give us favors.We make our own luck.Always have.”
“Except for the Blarney Stone!”Abbi yelled through the door.“That was good luck we got with a kiss!”
“She’s not wrong,” I whispered.“But she isverynosy.”
“No, I’m not!I can’t help it if I can see things.And hear things.I’m so good at it!”
Lu stepped back, her hands dragging down my forearms, to catch my fingers.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly.“I’m sorry, Brogan.I have to do this.”
“No apologies.Not to me.I know we’re out of time.I want that monster obliterated, so Atë can never use it to turn someone else into what we are—tools for gods to access the book’s power.”
“Yes,” she said.“Abbi.Tell Card he can come back in.”
Card entered the room.He had a small brass pocket mirror in his hand that swirled with magic.
“That’s new,” I said.
“Ricky just found it.”
“Is she here?”Lu asked.
“No, the Crossroads found a way to transfer the mirror to the Scout.Scout’s a dragon, right?You can tell me.”
“Scout is the hunter’s business,” I said, not wanting to share something they hadn’t already shared with him.
“Well,Scout, whatever it is, hooked up with the Crossroads, and now I have the mirror.”
“What does it do?”Abbi asked.
“It shows me the true intention of god spells.”
“The hell,” I said.“Are you sure?”
Card flashed me a giddy grin.“Absolutely sure.Not an easy thing to track down.I didn’t even know these still existed, but the Crossroads dug it up.Now we can see what those spells can really do.”
“How do you use it?”Lu asked.
“Oh, I don’t.This goes in the circle with you.Brogan’s going to use it.”
“And the glasses?”I asked.
“Yes, so I can see what you see and confirm it.We need to arrange a few things.You’ll need a table to hold the book and two chairs, if this is going to work the way I think it will.”
