My stomach clenched violently. “Maritza, who was it?”
“The librarian, Mr. Fernara. They found him outside the cafeteria. His spine—they’ve given him a powerful muscle relaxant to stop the contortions, but it’s only been a few hours. We aren’t sure how much worse it will get.”
My blood ran cold. “Vern?” I shook my head. “No, it can’t be Vern. He, no, I just saw him, he was going home the other night, and—”
“A student found him thrashing on the ground this morning. We don’t know how long he was out there,” she said quietly.
A thread knotted in my stomach. I felt like I was going to be sick. “Where is he? Oh God, what about his wife? Has anyone told her?”
She nodded. “They’ve taken him to a secure wing of the hospital. Sonia is with him there. I have to go. I just thought you’d want to hear it from me personally.”
“Thank you,” I said, barely able to concentrate on what she was saying.
She squeezed my arm. “Try not to panic. He’s sedated right now. From what we can tell, he has about two hours until the worst of it kicks in and he starts to levitate.”
She hurried away, and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to not let the world collapse all around me.
Magic had its foothold in, and unless I could stop it at its source, bind Dani to her objects, it would get stronger. It would find more and more conduits, more ways into this world, and tear them apart until there was nothing left. Until it swallowed us all.
I threw open the door to House Torlaine and tore down the hall. I pulled out the Book of Autumn and reread the instructions for binding.
What had I done? “Vern. Please, God, I’m so sorry.”
This was all my fault.
Max was gone because of me. This had happened to Vern because of me. Because I wasn’t good enough. Because I couldn’t figure it out before it was too late. Because I tampered with things I had no business dealing with.
I glanced back at the spell. Even with Max, S’s spell would be difficult. Without him, it could kill me.
This was no simple charm. This was dealing with one of the strongest, most destructive forces on earth. This was trying to tear a hole through an ocean and hold back the water with the palm of your hand. But I had no choice. It was Vern. I wasn’t just going to let him die.
Out of some form of self-preservation, I pulled out my phone to call Max. He didn’t answer, so I started typing out a text.
Max, I know you hate me right now, and I deserve that. I probably deserve a thousand more things, but—
Delete, delete, delete.
Vern is a vessel. Need to do the binding spell. Pls call me back.
I hit send. Then I held the phone in my hand, begging the screen to light up again.
“Come on!”
I stood, legs shaking. I needed a plan. Plans were how you moved forward. Plans were good. Smart.
I tore the spell out of the book, tucked it in my jeans, and started gathering the ingredients, dumping all my objects into my backpack.
“Two hours, Max. Then I’m doing this spell … whether you’re here or not.”
Two hours for the worst of the convulsions to set in, for Vern’s body to levitate, for the Magic to start to whittle its way at his skin. Two hours and no longer.
Max, or no Max, I would do this spell.
I wondered vaguely, as I filled a water pack, if Odysseus made a plan before he went to the Underworld, if Hercules did before he captured Kerberos. I wondered if they had any tips for summoning courage.
I unrolled a pair of wool socks Max’s mom had knitted for me years ago and pulled them on. She’d used yellow and black yarn and embroidered them with little bees. Then I strapped a mounted flashlight to my head and steeled my nerves. I’d never been comfortable with any kind of darkness. The darkness in the desert was one that felt so alien to anywhere else, but it wasn’t just that. Things found me in the dark. Magic. Dani. In every one of my dreams, she was in a dark room, a hallway, a shadowy corner of some long-forgotten place. And it terrified me.
I rubbed my finger over my leather cord, felt the familiar weight of the Christmas mug in my backpack. Then I headed back toward the spot where we’d gone the other day, before we’d decided to turn back. There was something there; I just knew it.
