“Smith!” I fly to the altar. “Please listen to me!”
Someone in the crowd shouts a spell, and it connects with the window above me—a skylight that used to have a beautiful stained-glass design. I bow my head and spread my wings, but the glass still falls on Daphne and the others. A chunk of it gets stuck in my wing.
“This is a sacred space for mages,” Smith shouts, “and I won’t let you defile it any further! Leave now!”
“Smith, I can’t let you—”
“Abandon hope, all ye who enter!”
His spell probably hits me. I can’t feel it.
“Stone the crows!”
I don’t even flinch.
“My spells aren’t touching him . . .” Smith says. “What are you, Simon Snow? Are you the Insidious Humdrum after all?!”
“What? No!”
Other people start casting spells at me. From the audience. I can’t feel them. I fly higher.
“You won’t stop us!” Smith yells. He turns away from me and points his wand at the mages onstage with him.“Let it all—”
“What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!”
AGATHA
The doe is straining. I cast a spell to give her strength.
There’s a loud noise in the distance. An explosion? Niamh and I both look up. We can’t see over the treetops. There’s another loud bang.Is that Watford?
Niamh says nothing. She looks back down at the doe.
So do I.
SIMON
Smith erupts into goopy webbing. It’s like it’s coming out of his pores. His whole body looks a like a haunted house.
Everyone in the room turns to see who cast the spell.
Philippa Stainton is standing in the aisle, pointing Baz’s wand. Jamie Salisbury is standing next to her, looking mortified.
“Pippa . . .” Smith says, his wand still hanging in the air. “Jamie?”
None of Smith’s followers know how to react. On the one hand, Pippa just cast a nasty spell on Smith. On the other, she justcast a spell.
“Is that truly Pippa?”
“Did Smith cure her?”
“She didn’t even have a tongue!”
“She had a tongue—she sold her voice to a sea witch.”
“How did Smith do it?”
“He’s the real fucking deal, that’s how.”
