CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
‘You look different.’
Alaric was leaning against the doorframe to the back room, arms crossed, an apron tied loosely around his waist. He’d taken Liora’s place in opening up, and he’d been so quiet that Nyssa had almost forgotten he was there.
She looked up from the pot she was brewing. ‘What do you mean?’
Alaric studied her for a moment. ‘I can’t put my finger on it, but … you look different. Did something happen?’
He was the only one she hadn’t spoken to one-on-one about the three trials.
Not because she didn’t trust him as much, but simply because they rarely spent any time alone together.
She wasn’t even sure he knew about them.
She hadn’t specifically asked Liora or Elowen to keep it a secret, but given the sensitivity of it, there was a strong chance they’d kept it to themselves.
Quickly, Nyssa explained about the trials.
After everything he’d learned about her and her past with Morven, she wasn’t worried he’d judge her for her failure with her coven.
He listened to her with rapt attention, humming with quiet approval as she explained how she’d completed the first two trials.
‘And last night,’ she went on, ‘I managed to complete the third pre-trial – The Mirror Spell. I don’t know if you know the spell, but it was the one I was most afraid of attempting after everything that’s happened, but …
I did it. I completed it,’ she finished, an unmistakable note of pride in her voice.
Alaric paused a second, then took two steps to close the gap between them and pulled Nyssa into a tight embrace, saying gruffly, ‘I’m proud of you, kid.’
Nyssa blinked back a sudden rush of tears. ‘Thanks, Ric.’
‘I mean it. You did good, and not just with the trials – Li told me about how you dealt with that owl. It was smart, just like your plan for Morven; that pompous ass isn’t going to know what hit him.’
Nyssa glanced over his shoulder to the mahogany chest where she’d stored Familiars for the day.
She still wasn’t sure if the incident with the owl had been caused by her or if it had been Morven’s doing, but if it had taught her anything, it was that until they found a way to permanently trap Morven – and the rest of the figurines – inside the board game, she couldn’t risk letting it out of her sight.
Like most of her grandma’s old things, the chest was enchanted, and could only be locked or unlocked by a special command. It was a temporary solution, however; the enchantment on it was only a little stronger than the one which had been placed on the windchime Morven had broken.
Still, it was better than nothing. Nyssa had brought it over from the cottage that morning, and added a ‘Do Not Touch’ sign next to it for added security, while Nyx had taken it upon herself to sit on the chest’s lid and hiss at anyone who got too close.
With the added safety of her own familiar’s protection, Nyssa allowed herself to be swept up in the daily café rush, and it wasn’t until just after the sun began to set for another early, dark night that the sense of unease she’d felt the night Morven arrived started to return.
The hairs on her neck prickled at the same time as Nyx’s tail began to swish, the fur around it bristling until it resembled a rather frayed feather duster. Nyssa’s breath caught, magic pooling in her fingertips as she braced herself for whatever was coming.
But then Nyx relaxed, her tail slowing and smoothing out, and whatever strange energy Nyssa thought she’d felt began to fade.
Still, something lingered as Nyssa went about her business, a strange sense of unease she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
It left her with the same trepidation she’d felt as she’d waited for word to come from her coven in-between trials, and by the time she closed the café for the night, her nerves were so on edge that she almost sent a jolt of magical energy into Liora when she tapped her lightly on the shoulder.
Nyssa clenched her fingers into her palm at the last second as she whirled to face the bard, whose wide, blue eyes crinkled with worry as she took in Nyssa’s startled expression.
‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.’
‘It’s all right,’ she said, even as her heart thundered in her chest. ‘I just didn’t realize you’d arrived.’
‘I came in when you were in the back, but I wanted to use the bathroom before we got started.’ She gestured to the aforementioned bathroom behind her, which she had evidently just come out of. ‘You holding up okay?’
‘I will be once this is all sorted.’
‘Well, then I have good news.’ Elowen came through the café door at that moment, cheeks flushed and hair flying about her face in a way that made Nyssa’s fingers itch to smooth it down.
‘The wind is really picking up out there,’ she said, forcing the door shut behind her. ‘I hope someone has tea on the go.’
‘Got ya covered!’ Alaric called from behind the counter, where he was already pouring out four mugs of steaming apple-and-cinnamon-flavoured tea. The smell helped calm some of Nyssa’s nerves almost as much as Elowen’s arrival did.
‘Did you hear back from Rhydian?’ she asked.
‘I did – he knows where the orb is being kept, and has agreed to try and retrieve it, although it might take a while – he’ll have to persuade his father.
’ Elowen pulled off her long cloak, hung it over a chair, and headed for one of the seats around the table by the fireplace, which had become their designated ‘research’ spot.
Liora, who had gone over to help Alaric with the tea, bounded over with two mugs in hand, their contents splashing worryingly close to the sides. ‘That’s amazing, El!’
It was amazing. Some of the tension in Nyssa’s shoulders released, and she slid down into the chair next to Elowen, her leg pressing softly against the elf’s thigh.
It had happened accidentally a few days before, and when Elowen hadn’t moved away, when she’d met Nyssa’s gaze and offered her a small, private smile, Nyssa had kept her leg where it was.
‘Did he give any idea how long it’ll take him to get the orb?’ Nyssa asked, taking a sip of her tea. Between the warmth of it, the fireplace and Elowen’s thigh pressed against hers, she felt calmer than she had all day.
‘A few weeks, at least,’ Elowen sighed, ‘but as soon as I get word from him, we can catch a boat to Pembrokeshire and make our way to T? Canol.’
‘It’ll take half the time if we take my broom,’ Nyssa said, and then, remembering what had happened during their last flight together, added, ‘if you’d be comfortable with that.’
Elowen’s responding smile made Nyssa’s stomach flip. ‘I would be.’
‘That actually works out well,’ Alaric interjected, pulling a leather-bound notebook from the inside of his long, woollen coat and handing it to Nyssa.
‘I’ve found a druidic binding ritual that you might be able to work into whatever spell you’re cooking up, but it can only be performed when the moon is at its fullest, anyway.
We’ve just missed the full moon this month, so it’s a waiting game until the next one.
Should be a few days after the Winter Solstice, I think. ’
Nyssa tried to keep her disappointment hidden as she tucked the ritual into her satchel to read later, but she must have done a terrible job, because Liora reached out to squeeze her hand over the table.
‘It’s all right, Nys – I’ve found an enchanted item that might be able to help us in the meantime.
It’s a bewitched birdcage that was apparently once used to imprison particularly mischievous fae creatures.
If we can track it down and put the game in there, maybe—’
Liora’s words were cut off by a sudden burst of steam from the kettle, followed by the incessant rattling of the cutlery in the drawers and on the draining board by the sink.
Alaric let out a deep, exhausted sigh. ‘What now?’
At first Nyssa assumed it was one of her enchantments gone awry again, and a heavy, exhausted sort of numbness flooded through her at the prospect of yet another failure.
She was strongly considering grabbing Nyx and her broom, fleeing Nighthaven for a secluded island somewhere far away and swearing off magic altogether, when the familiar creeping sensation she’d felt in her dream returned.
And as it did, a thick, purple fog began to creep out of the wooden chest keeping Familiars – and the warlock within – trapped inside.