“How can you tell?” I asked, seeing no difference among the destroyed windows.
She pointed at our feet. “No glass. This window brokeinward, probably before the fire started. All the other windows had glass in the grass outside, meaning the heat and pressure of the fire caused them to explode.”
“And this is the only one that didn’t. The glass had to have fallen inside. Excellent catch.” I threw an arm around her shoulders and squeezed, excited that we had at least one clue.
“That’s not all,” she whispered, glancing anxiously over my shoulder toward the waiting feline, doing her best to pretend like she couldn’t hear us. Her voice dropped so low, I could barely hear it over the morning breeze. “I sense pixies again. Just like with Sandrine.”
While I was insanely curious, I kept my expression neutral as I nodded, not commenting on thehowof her being able to sense pixie magic. I couldn’t tell anything at all about who’d broken the window. After two weeks, multiple rains, and the lingering heavy coating of ash, there wasn’t any scent left for my wolf to pick up.
“Okay. Well, let’s poke around carefully inside and see if we can pick up anything else.”
She agreed, shooting another cautious glance toward our bored chaperone before pushing through the oddly hanging front door.
The inside of the cottage was destroyed so badly, I wasn’t sure how it was still standing. It seemed like the whole thing would go up in smoke with a single misplaced step. The urge to ask Elodie to wait outside in case of a collapse was strong, but I resisted.
She was the one sensing the magic here. And she obviously had a keen eye that we needed. I couldn’t hold her back to keep her safe. That wasn’t our agreement.
I had to trust her to handle herself in this situation. It went against every single instinct I had.
My wolf rumbled his agreement in my chest.
We swept the entire house in silence, both of us intently focused on the crime scene instead of each other. Though every creak and groan of the cottage kept me hyperaware of where shewas and how long it would take me to throw myself over her if the roof came down.
I was in the back bedroom when she called my name.
“Look here,” she murmured, pointing at the back corner of a blackened closet. “What does that look like to you?”
I squatted down to get a closer look at the dull object. “Metal? I can’t tell what it was before the explosion.”
“I agree. But I think that thing is what caused the fire.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked, craning my neck to look up at her. She was fidgety, picking at a nonexistent thread on the sleeve of her blue tunic.
“The magic is really concentrated over it. This is also the room with the broken-in window. There’s melted glass on the floor.” She pointed to where, sure enough, the melted glass from the window had solidified after the fire. After another look, I noticed that it was in a strange pattern, like whatever the thing in the closet was had exploded, moving anything loose away before the heat caught it.
A quick glance around, and I found the mangled remains of a curtain rod. I used it to poke at the lump of metal in the closet. No reaction.
Elodie hissed out a breath as I bent to pick it up, but it didn’t react as I lifted it from the rubble.
“What the heck was it?” she asked, leaning closer as if she’d see markings that survived the fire. I didn’t see anything but twisted metal.
“I don’t know. I think it might have been a circle before the explosion.” I held it up, the shape somewhat reminiscent of a badly dented bike wheel, only more melted and smaller. It was only about a foot across at the widest part.
“So you sense the magic on this?” I confirmed now that it was moved.
“All over it. Not just pixie, though… There’s dwarven magic there too.” She shrugged.
“Good enough for me. We’ll take it with us, see if anyone else has any ideas.”
“You don’t think the lynxes might have a problem with that?”
I glanced out the open window at the front of the cottage, visible through the bedroom door. “I don’t think she’s willing to deal with us long enough to stop us.”
Elodie snorted a laugh. “Fair. Did you see anything else?”
“No, nothing. You’re the MVP of this operation. Good thing you came along.” I playfully nudged her arm with my elbow, and she shot me a grin.
“Don’t you forget it.”
