She left, and I went back to brooding about how everything had gone wrong. Then the air around me charged, like I was in the middle of a lightning storm, and the floor dissolved. Looking around now, I gathered I had actually been the one to dissolve, not the floor. In an instant, I had been whisked from the spire room to the great hall.
“I couldn’t find you.”
“Did it occur to you that I didn’t wish to be found?” I looked away from Isa, focusing on the wingback chair that didn’t use to live in my great hall. Well, so long as it was there, I mightas well make use of it. I hopped onto the seat and curled my body into a comfortable pose.
“It occurred to me.”
I glared. “Then why did you summon me?”
“Because you summoned me to your castle. I made a discovery today that I thought I should share. I don’t know if it will help you break the curse, but it should at least give you some peace of mind.”
My ears pricked forward, my interest caught. “What did you discover?”
“The node is still locked. I can’t access the power, and it still resonates as truth-magic. I don’t know how Lady Cecily used it to curse you, but she must be an exception.”
I wanted to believe Isa’s conclusions, but I had held onto hope for too long already. I knew better. “You used the node the other day.”
“No, I used a charm powered by the node. Trust me, Felix. I spent all morning trying to access the power of the node. It is still tied to truth-telling; I can hear that in the magic. So, I thought maybe it was tied to that power, but the blood-lock had faded, in which case I should be able to touch the power, even if I can’t shape it. But I can’t.” Isa pulled a piece of paper from her pocket, dropping it on the chair next to me.
I craned my head around and read where she had written out a sentence naming herself, her signature below.
She wasn’t done with her lecture. “After luncheon, I decided to figure out why I could use the node to truth-read written statements. I still can’t tell you how the node accomplishes that feat, but I am positive it is a charm of some sort. Anyone in contact with the node will have access to the spell. That’s why you saw colors when I used the charm; you are always touching the node through your blood-tie. But I heard nothing when you used it because I wasn’t touching the flames.”
I looked up from the paper. “The node is locked.”
Isa nodded. “The node is locked. No matter how Lady Cecily gained access to the power, it doesn’t change the fact that you arethe primary tie-holder. You are both truth-tellers. So, if she could curse you into the shape of a cat, then you should be able to change yourself back.”
“If you are right—”
“I am.”
I flicked my tail. “Ifyou are right, then that makes it less likely that another series of node wars will erupt, but it doesn’t help me break the curse. I should have the same abilities as Cecily, since I’m apparently a truth-teller, but I already tried writing my own Truth to change myself back to human form. It didn’t work.”
Amazing how, only hours ago, I had resigned myself to a lonely life stuck in the form of a cat. Yet now that Isa offered me hope that I didn’t have to keep everyone away from the node, I was impatient to regain my human form. I couldn’t be happy with a partial win.
Or perhaps I had realized that being stuck as a cat, even with company, was a different form of loneliness.
Isa rolled her eyes. “I can’t solve everything in a single day. I know next to nothing about how Truths are made. That’s what you want me to search the archives for, isn’t it? The scrolls that contain the castle’s Truths?”
“Well, yes, except Marc is back now.”
“So?”
“So, he’ll wonder what is going on if you start searching the archives. I’d rather not clue him in to the fact that I no longer trust him. I’ll let him continue the search. He might not be working with my best interests at heart, but if he finds a scroll with a single signature, he has no choice but to bring it to me.”
I couldn’t send Marc on his way. Not when Isa was still trapped in the castle. So long as I was forced to rely on him to carry any messages to Leort for me, I couldn’t afford to let on that I distrusted him either. He already had too much power over my life. I needed him complacent.
“If you don’t want me in the archives, then I suppose I’ll go back to reading Demeret. I still have plenty of questions about how the node magic works.”
I squinted up at her. “Are you excited to read that mess of a book? Still?”
“The information is fascinating. I’ve learned more in the last two days about magic than in an entire lifetime of being a mage.”
“If I didn’t know better, Isa, I’d say you are enjoying your stay at Rose Castle.”
I waited for her to refute me, but all she did was shrug. “I miss Sofia, and my life is going to be in shambles when I finally return to Leort, but I’m not miserable here.”
“Why is your life going to be in shambles?” I plucked at a strand of node power, calling in a second chair.
