“Narcissa.” I gritted my teeth when she didn’t reply. “Narcissa!”
“I’m really not asking for much. I merely want the ability to defend myself during this excursion. It’s a perfectly reasonable request.”
I grumbled, but I didn’t see that I had much choice but to comply. I would merely have to negate the potion at the first opportunity. Narcissa probably wouldn’t abuse the power, but she was also rather fickle.
I took off my cloak and shoved my hand into a back pocket. There were a dozen pockets in my cloak in total, but appearances were rather deceiving, for each pocket was spelled to open into a pocket dimension. Just small pockets, each the size of small cupboards. One I used for a mortar and pestle to grind any ingredients on the go, along with dozens of bottles and vials, most with water to easily mix potions in a hurry. Another held duplicates of my parents’ grimoires, along with those of several ancestors, and a few daggers should I find them necessary to defend myself. Three had potions premade, ready to go into vials. The others were all raw ingredients, many of them already reduced to powder, in pouches or parchment, or loose, depending on its storage needs. I knew where everything was by heart. The cloak was a very convenient piece of clothing, gifted to me by my parents on my tenth birthday. I prized it above everything else I owned, save my parents’ potion books themselves.
It only took three minutes to prepare the potion in question. I presented it to Narcissa in the mortar.
She smiled lazily up at me. “You really would save yourself time if you listened to me more often.”
“Just drink it,” I said, lips curled.
She did so happily, her pink tongue lapping at the blue liquid until it was gone. Once she’d finished, she let out a disturbing belch, complete with a sliver of orange flame. “Lovely,” she said, drawing back and puffing out a more sustained stream of fire. She laughed, licking her lips. “I could get used to this.”
“Don’t,” I said, crossing my arms. “Now, if you have no morerequests, can we move this along before the boy is beyond saving and our lives are completely ruined?”
Narcissa lifted her head. “Yes.”
I rolled my eyes as she bent her nose close to the ground to begin tracking.
“Do you think Auggie is all right?” Therese asked, concerned.
“I hope so,” I said slowly. “Ambrosia doesn’t have a stellar reputation. She’s very self-serving from what I’ve gathered. I don’t know if she’d hurt Auggie if it didn’t serve her purposes, but Auggie could provoke her. I don’t think he has a sense of self-preservation, even though he’s clearly intelligent enough to be doing the research he is.” I sighed. “He doesn’t exactly strike me as the sort of person who would make a deal with the Devil either, but humans are fickle creatures, I suppose.”
The front of the coach suddenly shifted, and a man pulled himself out from beneath the carriage. I blinked, realizing I hadn’t given the driver a second thought. He dragged himself across the ground with one arm, clearly dead, blood trailing him in a wide swath of gore that included the random bit of intestine. His head was no longer on his neck but was cradled in the nook of his free arm, like a baby. As soon as he’d managed to clear the carriage, he set his head down on the ground before him, upright. The foggy eyes from that severed head blinked at us for a moment before the face twisted into a grimace.
“You will leave this place forthright. This will be your final warning.” Then his body went limp, his face slumping in death and tumbling over.
“Well,” Therese breathed, “that was a fine show.”
“The witch Ambrosia is a necromancer,” I said, as I stared down at the crumpled body of the carriage driver. “Rather unfortunate that she’s involved in this.”
“But you have your papers from Lucifer to venture into her territory,” Narcissa pointed out.
“I do. And she clearly left her domain to abduct Auggie from neutral territory.” I tapped my lips thoughtfully. “I wonder why she would go to the trouble. She must know who Auggie is, or that Lucifer wants him.”
“Does it matter?” Narcissa asked, lowering her nose to the ground once more, sniffing around for a scent trail. She began to lead us away from the carriage. “So long as….” Her voice faded in my head all at once, leaving only yowls and mews from her physical body.
I smiled, feeling myself relax. Thank the Gods that spell didn’t last long. I wasn’t sure how much sass I could take from Narcissa. As much as I loved her, she knew exactly how to get under my skin. The last time I’d used that spell on her, she’d given a running commentary of how horrible my flying was, interspersed with tirades of everything I was doing wrong in the management of my shop.
“That means I won’t be able to speak to you much longer either, Mr. Witch,” Therese said as her frog body ribbitted along, perched on the bag at my back. “I wanted to apologize for being such a bother. I never meant to get into such a bind, but I appreciate your attempts to return me to my human form.”
“It won’t be long,” I promised. “We’ll find everything we need during our travels.”
“I hope that’s the case. This skin is itchy, and I hate that these arms can’t reach everywhere. I hate even more that my tongue can. I don’t particularly like how I taste. I don’t think I would like supping in Paris.”
I chuckled. “When we get back, I’ll bring you to Paris and show you delicacies I’m sure you would enjoy much more.”
“I …” Therese shifted, and I could hear her continue to croak upon my bag. The spell had worn off on her too. It was just as well. I needed to focus.
Necromancers were some of the most feared witches, so I was concerned. With any luck, Auggie was still in the hands of only one of Ambrosia’s lackeys. If I had to go head-to-head with an actual necromancer, I wasn’t sure how I’d fare, at least not without aid. I tilted my head. Lexi was just outside Bristol. Perhaps I could persuade her to help me see Auggie to safety if this was an indication of the trouble I had to look forward to. She owed me, after all.
As Narcissa entered an opening through a stone wall, I hesitated, eyeing the grass beyond. Even with Lucifer’s note, I wasn’t going to be welcome in another witch’s domain. But I had little choice.
I stepped through the gap in the wall and let out a breath, gazing around the field dotted by the random tree. A breeze blew across the grass, reeds bowing as if some invisible hand were running its fingers through it. Therese croaked at my back. “It’ll be all right,” I said with a confidence I didn’t feel. “I don’t expect to be trespassing for long.”
Narcissa had noticed me linger near the wall and stopped to mew loudly at me. I could practically hear her words in my head, even though the spell had worn off:Step lively, Callum. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can move on.
