I felt like every cell in my body had exploded like a supernova, then reknit itself, leaving out a few pieces. The world was still spinning, and I kept my face focused on a small white stone, hoping I wouldn’t throw up again.
“Wimps,” Moira said, not an ounce of sympathy in her tone.
“You suck,” I groaned. “Why didn’t you warn us?”
She lifted a shoulder in a careless shrug. “It was my first time using the magic, too. I had no idea what would happen.”
Untested magic. Awesome.
Garrett was the first to sit up. “Two dozen cookies,” he muttered.
“Don’t talk about food,” I wheezed. “I might hurl again.”
Time slowed as the world slowly righted itself and I could take a full breath in without wanting to lose what little of my dinner was left. I sat up with a soft groan.
“Alright, mastermind,” I said. “What’s the plan?”
Moira wiggled her fingers. “I’ve been dying to test something new I’ve been working on. We try that first, then I thought we could do some old-fashioned sabotage. How long does it take for the scent of your magic to fade?”
I thought about it. “Depends on what it is. If I leave anything behind like new growth or seeds, it could take days to fade.”
Moira’s eyes gleamed. “What if you took out some pipes the old-fashioned way?”
I thought about it. “You mean like using some roots to tear some drainage up or something?”
Moira grinned. “Yup.” She pointed across the large expanse of land. “There are two promising culprits not too far from the house.”
I squinted as I searched. A large oak stood proudly on the left side of the house, and someone who was obviously very bad at gardening had planted wisteria less than ten feet from the right side.
Not just wisteria. “Chinese wisteria,” I whispered, a slow grin sliding over my face. “I may not have to do too much at all if the stuff is true to form.” But something didn’t look quite right. “Why is it blooming in the middle of winter?”
Garrett answered my question before I could send a trickle of power out to see what was going on. “Thorvin pays to keep his gardens magically enhanced. He likes green spaces but has a brown thumb.” He sighed. “You sure you want to do this? Thorvin isn’t a bad sort.”
“He a friend of yours?” Moira asked.
Garrett snorted. “Fuck no, but he’s the least worst.”
“Rousing endorsement,” I drawled. “I’ll look and see where those roots are. Since he’s paid someone to keep the wisteria alive during the winter, I may not have to do anything at all. The root system will keep growing and it’s probably already far closer to the house than it should be.” I may have to give just a nudge and let natural chaos take over.
“Give me the chance to check his security first before you go into view. He’s a Lord, and they’re all paranoid fuckers.”
Without waiting for a response, Garrett crept away.
Moira watched him with bright eyes. “His intensity is kinda hot.”
“Don’t you dare seduce Caelan’s second. We’re just now in a place where we aren’t tiptoeing around each other like nervous cats.”
“For the record,” Moira drawled, “Caelan was never nervous around you. The opposite, in fact. He wanted to eat you alive.”
“Still does,” Tess said from behind us.
I let out a quiet screech. Moira jerked.
“Tess!” she hissed. “A little warning next time.”
“Sorry,” she whispered. “Thorvin is at a bookstore downtown. I waited around to see if he was going to head anywhere else, but there’s some kind of signing going on. He’ll be there for a while.”
“The Lord reads?” I frowned. Caelan had mentioned Thorvin was the scholar of our group. Guilt settled in. I opened my mouth, but Moira put her hand on my face.
