“You are the most beautiful stars I’ve ever seen,” Parker said, his words slurring. He slumped over, and Nick was too slow tocatch him. Nick wasalwaystoo slow to stop Parker from doing foolish things.
He dropped to his knees, his fingers searching for a pulse at Parker’s neck. It was there, thready and irregular, fading quickly. He fumbled for his notepad, dragging it out and scribbling so fast that the circle wobbled. Nick gritted his teeth, forcing his hand to be still, forcing himself to draw the same way he always did.
“Check her!” He didn’t look up from his notepad, his voice as calm as he could make it.
When he threw the spell over Parker, he held his breath. Parker would be fine. Parker was always fine. Parker had died and come backtwice, and Nick had only had to bring him back once himself…
Parker gasped, his eyes going wide when the spell hit his chest, shocking him enough that his whole body convulsed. With pupils blown wide, he turned to look at Nick and said in a raspy voice, “Ow! Was thatnecessary? I feel like I got kicked by a really angry horse. A hangry horse.”
Nick slumped forward, his hands finally giving in to the tremble he could feel in his arms. “Parker, I havetoldyou about draining magic out of circles! Zahide has told you!”
“The next time,” Zahide said darkly, her focus on McArdle, checking every bone for hints of any other magic, “I will bind you to the floor before you even think of doing anything so stupid.”
“I mean, I knew you had my back,” Parker said, and the smile on his face was so open, so true, that Nick shook his head. “You always have my back, Nick.”
Grabbing Parker’s face between his hands, Nick said, “Parker, I need you to listen to me very, very carefully. That could have blown you up. Not because of whatever it was but because draining magic out of a completed circle issuicide. Do not do it again.”
“That’s the thing, though.” Parker leaned back on his hands. He watched as Zahide moved down McArdle, checking even her toe bones. “I don’t think it was completed. I’ve seen your circles, and I know what a finished one looks like. The magic, I mean, I can kind of feel it. This didn’t feel finished. It was getting there, but something was missing.”
“It wasn’t finished?” Nick said. He frowned, raising his eyes up, remembering the photos that Rictor had taken. “Zahide, what if it was a combination of circles? What if those were the only ones that survived, but together, they were only part of a spell, as though we captured a moving circle and froze it in one moment.”
“That isn’t how moving circles work,” Zahide said. But she frowned.
“What if it was?” Parker asked. “So, correct me if I’m wrong. A moving circle is basically a way to have several different elements of a circle going at the same time?”
Zahide sighed, starting to correct him, but Nick knew Parker was going somewhere with this. He nodded. “Basically.”
“So, what if it wasn’t several spells going at the same time, but the spells were actually shifting together, like one of those old-fashioned code breakers you got in a cereal box?Everythingwas shifting.” Parker tried gesturing with his hands, and Nick frowned, struggling to understand what he was talking about.
“Am I good?” McArdle said unsteadily.
“Yes,” Zahide said. “You’re clear of any magic, but you should probably stay here. Whatever Ferro did, we can’t be sure that the circles were the cause of the explosion.”
“That’s the thing,” Parker said. “What if the circles are, because they’re constantly shifting, and when the person died, we’re only getting whatever the last thing they froze on was, and also… uh, well, the person is mostly goo, so we’re only getting a few circles.”
Nick nodded. “If we combine the circles from the two scenes, you might be able to get an explosion, but you’re missing a lot of elements, and we can’t tell what the purpose was or how they actually got on a person.”
“You said earlier it might be an infection?” McArdle said.
“Yeah, but if the circles are the cause, not just a side effect… alchemy isn’t contagious. It’s not something that you can catch.” Nick shook his head. “We’re missing something.”
There was a knock on the door, and Avila called through, “Are you safe?”
“We’re good,” Nick called out. “Keep everyone out for now. We need to tell the CDC how to check for the circles. Zahide, can you write something up?”
“Yes.” Zahide nodded, walking over to the door and informing Avila she was about to email a detailed explanation of how to check for circles.
“Okay.” McArdle closed her eyes, breathing in deeply a few times. When she opened her eyes, she frowned at Parker. “You think that the circles are actually changing rather than quickly shifting through spells like a moving circle would.”
“Yes!” Parker nodded. “So, for example, in one iteration, they say one thing, then theyallshift, and they say something else.”
“Thatmightexplain how they’re moving,” Nick said. “If one of those iterations is transportation spell.”
“You don’t sound certain,” Parker said.
“Because what you’re talking about hasn’t ever been done and is impossible,” Nick said. “The amount of magic it takes to move a single spell between locations is… a lot. To move it between bones without burning through skin, clothes, the person even being aware? I can see maybe the spells are all moving, and at any given moment, the combination of them form different variations, but then to add on a level of transporting between people? That’s too much magic, too muchprecision. Alchemy like this is supposed to be left alone, and someone would need to direct it moving between people.”
“So this is set it and forget it, microwave until the ding spellwork. It can’t move on its own.” Parker frowned. “Then I’m at a loss.”
