‘They hate me, Belchamber, I am sure,’ said Dot. ‘I ran away. All I left was a note. I was already an inconvenience. My mother did not obscure me from that knowledge.’
‘I am sure that is not true,’ said the spirit.
‘And I am sure it is,’ said Dot.
Belchamber had smiled in a sad way that had only made Dot feel worse. When Dot wasn’t dozing, they chatted. Belchamber loved to read; he voted against the conservative party and he was paid 129 silvers per week by Theodora (before taxes), which he handed straight back to the witch for he had absolutely no use for it.
Now, he opened the door to the basement workshop.
‘Take a seat,’ said Theodora without looking up. She was encircled by the bric-a-brac of potion-making: brass scales, jewelled knives and measuring cups of every size. Beneath the cauldron was a large, circular mark carved into the wooden table. It was the same as the mark carved into the tea shop floor. The space was perfumed, thickly, by the flowers drying from the ceiling. Through a sliver of window, she spotted the shoes of passersby ferrying across the pavement of Wren Court like waves.
Dot’s vision swam. As she reached for the table, she bumped Theodora.
‘Oh! Sorry.’
‘Every time you say that word, Dorothy, I’ll dock your pay twenty silvers.’
It took Dot a moment to catch the witch’s smile. A joke it had been, and not a scolding. She relaxed, and Theodora waved her hand and a second stool appeared. Dot took it. With that, Belchamber left them and Theodora set down her pen.
‘How many spells do you know?’
‘Oh,’ said Dot. ‘Well, none.’
‘None? What about runes?’
‘What are runes? Are they important?’
‘Heavens,’ said Theodora.
‘I’m sorry, Mistress. I—’
‘Twenty silvers, and do not call me “Mistress”, Dorothy. There are five years between us, not fifty.’
‘Theodora,’ said Dot carefully, ‘I regretto say that I know about the history of magic, only. The laws, the dates, Article Thirteen and the politics of it all. Why do you think I came all this way to find you?’
‘I shouldn’t have assumed,’ said Theodora, folding her arms and leaning back. ‘Alright, well – runes are the foundation of all human magic. Spirits of course invented runes thousands of years ago, although they do not depend on them for their power. Their fluency in magic is incomprehensible to us. Sacred, even—’
‘That’s why daemons are rare,’ said Dot, eagerly. ‘It’s a heinous thing to take away a spirit’s magic—’ She caught the witch’s surprise. ‘Oh, I didn’t mean to interrupt.’
‘Nonsense,’ said Theodora. ‘Interrupt all you like. You are correct. It is an abominable thing to turn a spirit into a daemon. Thus, the crime committed by that spirit must be truly terrible in order to justify such a grave punishment.
‘And,’ Theodora went on, ‘that is also why Article Thirteen is such an insult – to threaten daemotion for a spirit merely assisting a human in magic?’ The witch shook her head. ‘But I digress.’ Theodora picked up her pen. ‘Runes are for human Magicians, and they are the foundational amplifiers of magic. Weaker Magicians like Lio will use chalk to help them visualise the runes. Some, like Cate, will use other amplifiers. She has threads to help her See. But the runes, themselves, are the basis of all magic.’
‘How do the packet spells work?’ asked Dot, picking up a burgundy envelope beside her.
‘Ah,’ said Theodora, eyes sparkling. ‘This is a process I have spent the past eight years perfecting. Ever since I opened the shop, really. It’s a combination of powdered potions and spellwork. Every packet spell is different. Some spells require more complexity and, thus, are more difficult to place in a packet. I charge a lot more for those ones. Most of those involve Sympathy.’
‘And what is that?’ asked Dot with such excitement she almost slipped off her chair.
Theodora chuckled. ‘Sympathy is a branch of magic. All spells have runes at their core, but Sympathetic spells also need an item of great significance. Say for example, your maps, Dorothy.’
‘My maps?’ Dot asked, surprised.
‘Even though they have been half ruined by the Lourdes, you still pore over them, stare at them, memorise them. They mean a great deal to you. They are a source of comfort. So, if I wanted to create a spell to find you or otherwise manipulate you, I could use one of those maps to help amplify my spell. If I tried to use a pair of shoes you did not like, the spell would be weaker. If I used something like your eyelashes, it would be even stronger.’
‘What would be strongest?’ asked Dot.
Theodora watched her for a moment. Then she said, ‘Your blood, but that is a taboo magic not taught at the Royal Institute.’
