Sinthy rolled her eyes at us. “Ugh, no imagination. It’s also used with other stuff to cure things like heartburn, arrhythmia, and heart attacks—anything to do with the heart, but man, the bursting chest thing? That’s where the real excitement is.”
I waved my hands for her to stop. “Okay, good, got it. Evil tree fungus. Ten-four, good buddy. Can we talk to you about something else?”
She shrugged. “Sure, what’s up?”
Dark circles ringed her eyes, and I realized we were right when we thought she might have been stretched thin. It made this next part more difficult.
“Sinthy, hypothetically speaking, what would happen if you had to leave the pack lands. Say for… I don’t know, a day or two?”
She frowned. “Well… it wouldn’t be great. If I left right now, at this moment, the wards would crash within an hour. You guys would be defenseless.”
I nodded thoughtfully. “Is there a way to, maybe, keep them up longer?”
She raised an eyebrow. “I smell a plan. What are you guys getting at?”
Maddy chuckled. “She’s too smart for you, Nico. Tell her.”
My shoulders sagged. I really hoped she wouldn’t take this the wrong way. The last thing I wanted was for her to think we were taking advantage of her.
“So, you saw the reports of what happened in Virginia, right?”
A darkness clouded her eyes. “Assholes. Baby killers. I saw it, all right.”
“I’ve been sitting in my office, thinking about how blessed we are.” I pointed at her. “Blessed to have you. You’re keeping my pack safe. You’ve stepped in and done things we never dreamed of. The training sessions for us? The ones for the other packs? It’s amazing.”
She smirked. “Thanks. I appreciate that. I will tell you, the magical-enemy thing for the other packs is exhausting. I’m sleeping like twelve hours a day now, doing that. I’m not sure how long I can keep it up.”
“That’s part of what I wanted to ask you. I don’t want you to have to do that anymore. What if we brought our other ally packs here instead? With your help?”
Her eyes widened. She stared into my face, and I knew her well enough to know she was going over a dozen different ideas in her head. I didn’t know what kind of algebra or alchemy witches used, but she was scrolling through a thousand pages of knowledge in a few seconds.
“You want me to teleport that many people here? How many is that?”
“Well, my pack is one of the biggest in the country, so not nearly as big as this. I’m thinking maybe five hundred? Seven hundred at the most.”
“Fuck me,” Sinthy gasped.
I was quick to shake my head. “If it’s too much, say it. We only wanted to ask. Maddy and I are afraid for our friends. We don’t want what happened in Virginia to happen to them.”
Sinthy shoved the glass jar into some hidden pocket of her robes and turned away from me. Crossing her arms behind her back, she started strolling down the edge of my yard and the forest. She didn’t say a word, almost like Maddy and I had vanished.
Maddy tugged on my shirt sleeve. “Is this, like, a negative answer? Is she saying no?”
Shaking my head, I said, “I have no clue. Let’s see what happens.”
Maddy and I sat down right where we were and watched Sinthy. At one point, she snapped a small branch off a tree and started drawing something on the ground. After nearly ten minutes, she shrugged, then scratched it out with her foot. This went on for almost two hours. Eventually, I had to step into the trees to relieve myself.
Finally, she walked back to us, a confused frown etched on her brow. “You guys have been sitting there the whole time?”
I looked at Maddy, feeling embarrassed for some reason. Were we not supposed to? It had seemed like the obvious thing to do while she thought about it.
“I… uh… yeah?” I said dumbly.
Sinthy let out a laugh. “Anyway, I think I have a plan that will work.”
I jumped to my feet. “You do? Can you help?”
She nodded, giving me a pious look. “I think so. It won’t be easy, and I’ll be out of commission for at least three or four days afterward. You guys are gonna owe me big time.”
