Cassie's stomach dropped.
She peeled the corner back carefully, revealing a block of text in smaller, more urgent handwriting. Red ink. Underlined twice.
"What does it say?" Liam asked.
She read aloud, her voice going hollow:
"Warning: This spell amplifies and projects the caster's inner essence. Effects may spread to surrounding environment. IMPORTANT: Uncontrolled radiance may attach to nearest magical anchor. Strong emotional connection increases effect."
The kitchen went very quiet.
"Magical anchor," Liam repeated slowly.
Cassie thought back to that morning. The spell complete. The magic singing through her veins. Liam in the shower just down the hall—close, connected through the binding that was still very much active.
"You were here," she whispered. "When I cast it. You were the nearest magical anchor."
"Because of the binding from the summoning spell."
"The glamour attached to you too." She looked at him, horror dawning. "That's why the garden went insane. That's why everything's stronger. Mymagic is feeding back through the binding, and the binding’s magic is feeding back through you into me, and it's all amplifying?—"
"Like feedback through speakers." He ran a hand through his hair. "Bloody hell."
She looked at her hands. Faint golden light still emanated from her skin, pulsing gently.
She looked at Liam.
His hands were glowing too.
Same light. Same warmth. Same rhythm.
"Oh no."
"Aye."
"Oh no, no, no?—"
"Oh dear," said a voice from the doorway.
They both spun.
Margaret stood on the porch, peering through the screen door with an expression of profound resignation. Her herb basket was on her arm. The tabby cat from her yard wound between her ankles, looking judgmental in the way only cats could.
"Layered spells," Margaret said, shaking her head. "A summoning bindingandan amplified glamour linked through the same anchor. Child, do you have any idea what you've created?"
"Something bad?" Cassie guessed weakly.
"Somethingcomplicated." Margaret's eyes flicked between them, assessing. "You've connected your magic to the binding in him. When you feelsomething strongly, it echoes through him. When your magic surges?—"
"The binding responds," Liam finished grimly.
"Worse. They amplify each other. You're not just bound anymore, you're—" She paused, searching for the word. "—entangled. Magically speaking."
The horror of this was just beginning to sink in when Cassie felt it rising.
The familiar heat. The internal furnace kicking on without permission. The sweat prickling at her hairline as her body decided that now—right now—was the perfect time for a hot flash.
"Oh no," she managed. "Not now?—"
