"What the hell?" Gabriel smacked himself on the forehead like a cartoon character. "Of course, he did."
"So, now what?"
Michael moved out of my way as I walked over to my closet to get my house shoes. I needed to get dressed, maybe even do my hair, and slap on a little makeup. Feel human again.
Ironically, since I wasn't technically human.
"We need to go get one of the pieces the humans have. It's our only option at the moment. Hopefully it'll be enough to do the job."
I sat down again and slipped on my house shoes, securing the elastic that ran around the ankle. "Maybe it'll at least unlock his memories."
Michael nodded. "We hope."
"Well, go on. He'll be home soon. I'm going to make dinner."
With another farewell kiss, they disappeared, and I moved to the kitchen to busy myself until Lucian came home.
What would happen next? We were truly running out of options.
27
Constance-Lilith
Another two days passed before they appeared in my living room. I'd been thinking about changing into my night pajamas and watching TV again. "What happened to checking up on me?" I put my hands on my hips and glared at the two of them.
Michael's jaw dropped. "We went as fast as we could. We're not experts on theLignumCrucis. We weren't sure which pieces were real and which were fake."
I dropped my arms. I wasn't truly mad. "I know you would've come if you could have. Can't you sense which are authentic?"
Gabe shook his head and pulled a small jewelry box out of his pocket. "Nope. The power is so advanced that it's almost impossible to sense until you try to directly channel it."
"Sit." I pointed to the couch and held out my hand.
Gabe placed the box in it. I opened it carefully as if whatever was inside would reach out and bite me.
Nestled in the inner lining was a sliver of wood. I estimated it to be about two centimeters long, and not even one wide. It narrowed to a point, but they were right. It wouldn't work as any sort of weapon. Except maybe to tiny little fairies.
Unfortunately, those magical creatures did not exist. "Can I touch it?" I sank onto the couch between Gabriel and Michael, peering down at the innocuous object.
"Yeah. Don't be rough with it or anything, but you can touch." Michael reached a finger into the box and pressed the wood. "See?"
I carefully lifted the wood out of the box and let it rest on my fingertips.
I'd used magical objects many times. Many were where the lore about wands originated. Magical objects were generally used as focus points. They helped magic users funnel their magic to a direct point. The concept was not lost on me.
Novices generally needed a magical object. I hadn't used one in a millennium or more. Of course, in my human body I couldn't do much of anything, but when I got my ethereal body back, look out. Whoever did this to Lucian would have a reckoning.
This magical object, however, was exceedingly rare. "I understand now why more magic users don't try to steal this." I couldn't feel a thing from it. "They'd think it fake."
"That's the consensus." Gabe reached over and ran a finger over it. "Feels like a piece of wood. Nothing more."
"How will you use it? Funnel magic through it or draw power from it?" There were other ways to use Objects, of course, but these two were the most common. They could consume part of it, meditate with it, or— "Channel through it, we think." Michael interrupted my musings, and I realized I was almost entranced by it.
"Oh, I found one way to know it's real," I said. They gave me a quizzical look. "I became very wrapped up in thinking about different ways to use Objects."
They still didn't get it. "Almost like a trance," I explained.
Recognition dawned on their faces. "Oh, I haven't experienced that," Gabe said.
