“But you’ll do it?”
Freya didn’t answer. Instead, she lifted an arm before her, fingers glowing gold. Her three other arms joined the first, creating runes that hung in the air like afterimages. “It takes a lot of concentration to do this right. I have to factor in things like elevation and the rotation of the Earth as I picture the place. Otherwise we could very well fall a thousand feet to our deaths.”
That didn’t sound particularly pleasant. “Yes, please be thorough. Take your time.”
A moment later, the runes seemed to converge on one another until a purplish-pink hole stood in the air before us, its edges glimmering like starlight.
“After you,” Freya said, smiling brightly.
I hesitated. I could very well be walking into a trap. Perhaps this portal would lead me directly into a dungeon cell. But it wasn’t like I had much of my own magic left. And we should both be long gone before Ambrosia roused.
I picked up Auggie carefully, his head lolling back, exposing his neck. I stared at his mouth, which had fallen open prettily. He felt warm in my arms and looked vulnerable with his face so relaxed. He really did boast the longest eyelashes I had ever seen.
“This does take no small amount of energy to keep open,” Freya said, voice tight.
I shook myself, and walked to the portal, Narcissa walking alongside me. I took a deep breath as I faced the portal. “Here goes nothing.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Stepping through theportal was smoother than being teleported via the tree stump in my shop, less a tugging of my body, and more a disorienting nausea. I stepped through to a short three-inch drop to the ground.
“Nearly perfect,” Freya said proudly, sending a grin back at me. “I still got it.”
I pushed down my rising gorge and smiled back politely. Narcissa didn’t show such tact. She coughed and sputtered, then produced a hairball that she deposited at Freya’s feet.
Freya’s smile tightened, but she made no comment on Narcissa’s display.
“Can you check his injury while I whip up a location spell?” I asked, lowering Auggie to a soft patch of grass. I paused to push his shirt down, which had begun to ride up.
I quickly assembled the potion I needed using my map of the area, pieces of copper, and a single hair from a troll that I soaked briefly in an array of ingredients.
As the copper indicated to me where we were versus where we needed to go, Freya grunted. “The bleeding’s stopped,” she announced. “That must be a good sign, right?”
I didn’t reply. I could give him some herbs to tide him over, but he didn’t look like he was in grave peril, and we were lucky enough to have landed just a half kilometer southeast of Lexi’s estate.
“Would you mind planting a rune on him in case we get separated again?” I asked.
Freya considered, then nodded, tracing a symbol over one of Auggie’s limp hands. When she was done, she blew on it and the shape came alive in a shimmer of gold before disappearing. “Done.”
I hoisted Auggie back into my arms and we continued our journey in silence.
Rolling hills crammed with trees greeted us. We strolled up a dirt-packed drive thirty minutes later, a sprawling brick house just beyond, smoke billowing from its chimney.
The scent of autumn hung in the air as apples ripened on their branches and leaves scattered about in a cooling breeze. I spied squash and pumpkin amid curling vines growing in a garden along the path to the front door; crows eyed the vegetation with envy.
Auggie was growing heavy in my arms. His weight hadn’t bothered me at first, but carrying a man, even with Auggie’s lean build, became taxing after a half kilometer. If I’d had a griffin feather, I could have created a potion to make him feel half his normal weight, but my cloak could only accommodate so many vials and ingredients, and frankly, my supply of energy was nearly at an end, so it wouldn’t have relieved me of my burden for long anyway.
The front door opened as we arrived, and a man with milky dead eyes stared out at us, mouth hanging open as if he was issuing a silent scream. His skin looked in the process of rotting, with patches of hair sticking to a sparse scalp. I could see his skull gleaming through his forehead. But he was dressed in a smart tux, nonetheless, even though blood seeped through his shirt collar. “Uhhh,” the man finally managed.
I smiled politely at the zombie, clearly a victim of some plague spell gone awry long ago, then looked past him into the house. “Um, Lexi darling?”
“Ung,” the zombie tried again, putting his arm in the way of the doorway.
“Xander, what have I told you about being rude to our guests?” a woman hurried to the door, fighting the zombie’s arm down. The woman gazed out at us with a wide smile. “Apologies, my butler is very protective of me.”
“You don’t say,” I said.
The woman blinked as she focused on me. “Callum!” She had Japanese features, straight black hair falling like silk down the back of her powder blue dress. Periwinkles and baby’s breath adorned her forehead in a crown. It was a lovely touch. “It’s been too long,” Lexi sighed, the space between her eyebrows pinching with concern. “Come in, come in. You can set your friend down in the parlor.”
