“Is there anything you can do?” Celeste asked, as anxiety clambered up her throat. “I’ve been trying everything I know – everything I was ever taught – to try to bring them back up to full strength, but it seems like nothing I do works at all.”
“Yes, I can see you’ve been trying your best,” Gordon said thoughtfully, and though Celeste bristled at first, he didn’t seem to be making any derisive comment on her abilities, but rather just making an observation. “I can see the history of the magic you’ve been using in the patterns the wards make. The shimmering here – that’s where you did something very powerful. But it fades again. It didn’t stick, it seems.”
Celeste couldn’t see what he was talking about at all, but then, she supposed, that was why Gordon was the one she’d called. What he didn’t know about magic could probably be written on a Post-It note.
“But you can fix it, right? And teach me what to do in case this ever happens again?”
Gordon was silent for a long moment, seemingly lost in thought. “Perhaps,” he finally said, his voice contemplative. “Perhaps. I must admit, my dear, that I have never seen something quite like this before.”
Celeste’s heart sank. IfGordondidn’t know what to do, then she was worried it was hopeless. But thatcouldn’tbe the case – her family had been tending the wards for centuries. What would happen if they failed?
She shivered.
I can’t even let myselfthinkabout that possibility…
“You are a witch of exceptional natural powers, and your education was outstanding – after all, I oversaw it myself. I myself am of course greater,” Gordon said, without a hint of modesty, “but I am not so proud as to not be able to admit that I believe I must consult my books on this case. You have done everything you were supposed to do – have no fear of that! – and yet the wards remain weakened, and are growing weaker. I know I will find the answer, but it means returning to my own library for a short time to seek it out.”
Fear clutched at Celeste’s heart. “You mean you’re going back home for a few days? But what if the wards fail in the meantime?”
“That shouldn’t happen,” Gordon said, though Celeste didn’t feel particularly reassured by his words. “And the fact remains unavoidable that I must consult my books for a historical precedent. So I don’t see that we have much choice. Iwillhowever cast a spell that should be strong enough to keep the wards from failing whilst I am gone. Observe.”
There wasn’t muchtoobserve – just a quick flick of his wrist – but even so, Celeste felt the magic in the room grow immediately stronger, like the warm glow of the sun. As pompous, arrogant and annoying as Gordon was, she had to admit that his self-regardwasat least well-founded: he truly was the best there was at what he did.
“There. That should hold until I return,” Gordon said, dusting off his hands as if there was any possibility they could have gotten even a particle of dirt on them. “And now, I shall leave you. I will return as quickly as possible. There is, however, one last thing.”
Celeste frowned as Gordon’s face turned pensive, his eyebrows drawing together, a deep furrow appearing between them.
“Your friend, with whom you were eating earlier. What is his name?”
“It’s – it’s Pierce, Pierce Hardwicke,” Celeste said, confused. “Why do you ask?”
“I find something deeply suspicious about that man,” Gordon said darkly, his eyebrows still furrowed. “Do you not find it strange, my dear, that he appearedjustas these tremors began? And that somehow he knows about them, even though really, they are barely detectable to anyone but us? No one on the island has mentioned them, is that not correct?”
“Well… I mean, I suppose so…” Celeste said reluctantly. She had to admit, itwasa pretty big coincidence. But she couldn’t believe that Pierce had anything to do with them. After all, sheknewhim… or at least, shehad, twenty years ago.
She had to admit, something like that wasn’t going to sound very convincing to Gordon.
“Precisely, my dear. There is something else going on, which I currently can only guess at. And as I say, I must leave now. But I do not like it at all – not at all! I think it would be for the best if you were to return to the island for the time being in order to ferret out just what this Pierce Hardwicke is up to.”
“You mean… s-spy on him?” Celeste asked, her eyes going wide.
“I trust you have no objections,” Gordon replied, quirking an eyebrow at her.
No, none,Celeste thought,except for the fact that I just swore I wouldn’t go near him again, for fear of not being able to give him up. And oh, yeah, I’m still in love with him. I mean, I think. Somehow. Even after all this time.
Shewantedto tell Gordon that she didn’t think it was possible for Pierce to have anything to do with whatever was going on with the wards, but she knew she had no reason to think so except her own gut feeling.
But… he wouldn’t be involved in anything like that! I simply can’t believe it.
Gordon was still staring at her, however, his mild confusion becoming something closer to suspicion by the minute.
“All right, I’ll do it,” Celeste said, with as much conviction as she could manage. She’d just have to harden her heart and… somehow survive being in close quarters with Pierce again. She didn’t have totalkto him, she supposed – Gordon had only told her to keep an eye on him. If she didn’t have to actually speak to him, maybe it’d be easier for her to forget what they’d once been to each other – what she’d had to give up when she’d taken on her duty here.
Ha. Ha. Fat chance of that,she thought miserably, as Pierce’s handsome, smiling face flittered through her memory once more.
But even as she thought it, she knew she didn’t have a lot of choice.
Somehow,she thought, gritting her teeth,I’ll just have to make it work.
