“His name’s Finnall. He belongs to Calypso now.”
Oscar poked at Finnall with his muzzle. “Why’s he just sitting there? What, is he playing dead?”
“I think he’s shy.”
I picked him up and brought him back into the other room, where Calypso waited. Oscar transformed into his pig form, and followed me.
“What’s going on here?” I demanded.
“Did you see Sailor?” Calypso asked.
“Yes.”
“It’s the silverfish. I heard of this charm, long ago. It didn’t occur to me before because it doesn’t require silverfish per se, but will work with any insect or sea creature with an exoskeleton. Something about their outer shells... They can be enchanted, and then used to throw powerful glamours.”
“Like the one Aidan maintains?”
She nodded.
“So I have a shoe box full of magical silverfish,” I said. “Will wonders never cease?”
“Unassuming creatures—like household pests—are perfect hosts for this sort of glamour charm.”
I remembered Aidan mentioning that Tristan Dupree’s mother was gifted at glamour charms. AndSilberwas German for silver; maybe when Tristan’s spirit spoke through Hervé in the hotel room, he was mentioning his silverfish. So I had “stolen” not only my lachrymatoryfrom him but also a box full of his mother’s silverfish glamour charms. I may have suppressed the memories of that time, but I felt a little thrill of pride. Apparently I’d been quite the resourceful teenager.
“I’ve never thrown glamours,” I told Calypso. “I mean, I’ve done minor masking brews, things like that, to make others less likely to notice something like a pimple. But not full-on glamours like your mandragora just did: making myself look like someone else entirely. How does that work?”
“If one has the skills, the possibilities are endless.”
“It would be difficult to maintain a glamour for long, wouldn’t it? How does Aidan do it?”
“It takes an enormous amount of strength to maintain a glamour as Aidan does, day in, day out. But in the case of this fake Sailor, one would only need to maintain the guise for a few minutes at a time. Walking through the hotel lobby, or at the bottom of the stairwell. Wouldn’t take that much, especially when the onlookers are scared. When people are afraid, they tend not to notice details.”
“And it’s helpful to have an object belonging to the person you are trying to look like?” I asked. “That makes sense.”
“As you know, our possessions sometimes carry traces of our energy. Especially something that means a lot to us.”
I thought of how it felt to see my engagement ring on Patience’s finger. I hoped I could trust her. As with Calypso, IthoughtI could. But I wasn’t entirely sure. The story of my life.
“You know who has a surprising expertise in glamours?” asked Calypso as she cleaned her mortar and pestle, rubbing it with salts and olive oil.
“Who?”
“Your friend Wind Spirit.”
“You mean, the witch who used to be called Amy? From the Welcome coven?”
“Yes. She came to talk to me a couple of weeks ago, and she noticed the moss and mentioned using it in glamour spells.”
“How did you meet her?”
“Bronwyn gave her my name and suggested she speak to me directly. Wind Spirit’s been interested in developing a small agricultural business, but doesn’t have any garden space. She said her landlord agreed to let her use the basement, which is mostly dirt.”
“What can she grow in a basement?”
“Not much,” Calypso said with a laugh. “But the girl’s quite determined.”
“I’ve heard white asparagus is grown in the dark.”
