“A lot but that's not why I'm calling,” I said. “We're dealing with a human who has swallowed three Kumiho fox pearls.”
“Three?” his tone went into the calculating scientist region. “How have they affected him?”
“He has more elemental magic than he would have with one.”
“But no extra wisdom? How can you be sure?”
“Because I spoke to Danu, and she said with the first pearl, he gained access to the knowledge of whatever he gazed upon. She likened it to the Internet. You cannot increase access to everything.”
“Ah, yes. Of course. You spoke to Danu about this? There must be more to the story.”
“Not really. I just wanted to ask her about the pearls. The reason I'm calling you is—”
“At eight in the morning,” he interrupted.
“Right. The time difference. Sorry.”
“It's all right. I was up. Go on.”
I rolled my eyes. If he was up anyway, why did he have to give me shit about it? “This man who swallowed the pearls, he was trying to extract one from a Kumiho without her, you know.”
“Shoving it in his mouth?”
“Yes. Since he's become so smart and he thinks it's possible, we figured it must be possible.”
“I imagine it is. It would be an energy transfer of some sort.”
“All right. So, here's my question. If he can do it, can we? Can we take back the pearls he's stolen?”
“Interesting,” Dylan murmured. “It should be possible. You'd need some kind of device to . . .”
“Uncle Dylan?”
“Talk to the Kumihos,” he said. “I'll work on this end, but I think you'd get further faster if you spoke with them. They will know the process of summoning a pearl.”
“This man won't be able to summon a Kumiho's pearl, will he?”
“Probably not, but that's not my point. The Kumihos can tell you where the pearl resides inside them. It's likely to sit in the same place in the human. When we know where it is, we'll know where to focus to make the extraction. But, Seren, why bother? Why not just kill him?”
“I don't know. I guess it feels wrong to destroy what he took just because he took it. I'd like to give it back to the Kumihos.”
“How would they reclaim it? And which one would get the honor? No. I don't think you should offer the pearls back to them. But we might be able to do something with them here.”
“Do you know how self-serving that sounds?”
“It's not. Our advances are for all fairies. Even the other races sometimes. I don't study things so I can learn about them and hoard the knowledge. This is my passion, Seren. This iswhat I do every day. What I've dedicated my life to. I've given up my position at court to study magic and science on Earth. Fucking Earth.”
“All right, ease back,” I said with a chuckle. “If I can get the pearls, you can study them.”
“Thank you. Then I'll get to work on a device to extract them.” He hung up.
I grimaced at the cellphone. “Goodbye, Uncle Dylan. Oh, you have a good day too.”
“So now we're going to try to extract the pearls?” Killian asked.
“So now you're speaking to me?” I shot back.
“Twilight, that's—”
