Working in a group, a circle of low-powered practitioners could bemuch more effective than any of them operating alone. They could get up to any amount of serious mischief. Especially if they were motivated by fear, they could put together a number of extremely unpleasant hexes or curses, ranging from nightmares to your classic voodoo doll scenario to burning down a building around the curse’s subject. That kind of magic wasn’t just dangerous—it had a tendency to spiral out of control and result in greater and greater chaos. The Rule of Three wasn’t exactly as concrete as one of Newton’s laws—but what went around did tend to come around, sooner or later, when magic was involved.
“What you’re planning,” I said quietly, “it could get out of hand. If it does, it will draw the attention of the Wardens, even if I don’t say anything.”
“We’re willing to take that chance,” Bock said seriously.
“It will also piss me off. Personally.”
That made the two old salts exchange an unsettled glance.
“We’ll take our chances with that, too,” Bock said. “Dresden, we can’t just do nothing. You know how predators will react to that.”
I sighed. He wasn’t wrong about that. Once they’d gotten easy pickings, they’d be back for more. I smoothed my hand over my forehead slowly. “Okay. Okay, let’s take a step back here,” I said. “Look, the problem is, you don’t want your people roughed up, yeah?”
“Yes.”
“Suppose I send a couple of Knights of the Bean down every night toward evening,” I said. “Couple of armed men should discourage gangs of simple street toughs.”
“Or encourage them to show up with more weapons,” Bock objected.
“Arty,” I said quietly. “What you’re talking about doing…it could get out of hand. Easy. Really easy. It could do bad things to you. I know what I’m talking about here. If you lean into vengeance and slip over the line into black magic, you might never know it when you lose control.”
“We can’t just stand there,” he said.
“No, you can’t,” I said. “Let me send you some support. This is the right time for us to stand together.”
Bock pressed his lips together warily. “We don’t have to listen to you,” he said. “You don’t run this town.”
“Of course I don’t,” I said. “But I’ve seen a lot more of how bad it can get than any of you have. I’m begging you. Let me send help.”
Bock glanced back at his crew. Then looked at Roger and Bess.
The young couple were studying me warily.
“What happens if it doesn’t help?” Bock demanded.
“Then we will take more steps,” I said. “But we’ll do it together.”
He exhaled slowly. He looked at least as tired as I felt. Every face in his crew was weary, wary, and determined.
“Okay,” he said finally. “We’ll try it your way. For now.”
“Fitz,” I said. “Get me the KotB roster. We’ll send people over starting tonight.”
Chapter
Twenty
Will defeated my wristlock, kicked the back of my knee hard enough to take my balance, and slammed an elbow into the base of my jaw as I dropped down, hard enough to make me see little birds.
“Point, Will!” Bear drawled, slashing a hand down between us.
I snarled and swiped out an arm in frustration, pushing Will’s proffered hand away.
Bear cuffed me across the head calmly, keeping me from getting any of my balance back. “Cool off, Dresden,” she said in a hard voice. “Corners, now.”
It was a cold, clear evening on the roof of the castle. November could have come in a lot harder and crueler than it had, though everyone was waiting for the Witch of November, a quasi-apocryphal series of storms that often swept in over Lake Michigan, to put in her appearance. Natural gas service had been prioritized by the city, especially to residential areas, and twenty-four-hour construction crews consisting of contractors and volunteers and Army Engineers had been laboring ceaselessly to try to make sure there would be buildings with heat over the winter.
I went to my corner, panting, until my ears stopped ringing. Will had started off his werewolf career as an idealistic kid. He was a warrior now. And I’d asked him to come at me hard. He’d obliged me, whipping me by twenty points to maybe four of my own. My back had beencovered in bruises from the throws. I’d taken half a dozen blows, knees, and kicks to the belly in the last hour. He’d mostly left my head alone.
