“As you know, Vivian—”
“Vivian!” Glinda declared. “We can't start without Vivian.”
“I believe that was the intention,” Osamu said shrewdly.
Glinda narrowed her sky blue gaze at Odin. “Was it?”
“Yes, it was,” Odin confirmed. “This is about Vivian.”
“Are we planning a surprise party for her?” Glinda asked excitedly.
“No,” Odin said in a tone that brought the flighty witch immediately back to earth; it's kind of his specialty.
“What's happened?” Glinda whispered. “Is she all right?”
“Vivian's fine.” Odin sighed deeply and started again. “The spell she laid on Elaria and King Verin went wrong. Instead of weakening, it got stronger. That was our first clue. During the midst of this love-spell-induced craze, King Verin absconded with Elaria to his kingdom.”
“That's rather romantic,” Glinda smiled at Verin.
Verin cleared his throat and looked away.
“I'm sure it was,” Odin said gruffly, “right up to the point when someone tried to kill Elaria with Scylla's venom.”
“What?!” Glinda shrieked.
Osamu just lifted a brow.
“Scylla tried to kill me twice,” I took over. “Both times, she was using a very powerful illusion potion to hide her identity. I killed her and took my father some of the potion bottles we found in Scylla's cave. The bottles had remnants of the illusion potion but my father couldn't determine all of the ingredients so we called in Odin.”
“Illusion potions are water witchcraft,” Osamu murmured.
“Yes,” Odin swept up the conversational reins again. “This particular potion was a cutting-edge spell that I've concluded—based upon Elaria's reports and the potion's ingredients—could allow the user to takeanyform.”
“Any form?” Osamu asked with interest. “From a single potion?”
“Yes,” Odin said gravely. “That was another clue; only an exceptional witch could have crafted it. One of the potion's ingredients was nooten eyes.”
“A brilliant choice,” Osamu praised.
“And a rare one,” Glinda added. “You'd have to go to Sabban for that.”
“Exactly,” Odin agreed. “To one man in particular, who we spoke to.”
“You went to see Alden?” Glinda asked. “Did he tell you who purchased the eyes?”
“I'm assuming it was Vivian,” Osamu said.
Glinda frowned. “You can't possibly think that Vivian had anything to do with Scylla's attack?”
“We didn't at first,” Odin said. “I didn't want to believe it, and I insisted that we collect concrete evidence before we spoke with the two of you.”
“Which means that you have that evidence,” Osamu concluded.
“I was attacked again on my way out of Alden's store,” I said. “I was encased in water and submerged in a lake. Through the water, I saw a woman about Vivian's size, with pale skin and blonde hair.”
“Not exactly concrete,” Osamu decreed.
“I'm not finished,” I protested. “Earlier today, my aunts and uncle sang for us and broke Vivian's love spell. Afterward, someone used an illusion spell to impersonate one of Banning's Blooders. Under this disguise, she drugged and abducted Verin. I sang to find him and located him at an estate in Scotland.”
