sleepyhead," Elyssa said.
I turned and saw her sitting behind me, a pillow on her lap, a book in her hand. "How long?"
"Oh, an hour or so," she said, looking at a clock on the wall. "I had to carry you in here." She set the book aside and touched my cheek. "Are you feeling better?"
I nodded. "I don't feel like barfing, if that's what you mean."
"Meghan checked on you. Said it was magic poisoning."
The healer walked around the corner, a steaming mug of something in her hand. "I thought I heard you." She set her cup down on the coffee table and took a seat in a divan across from the couch, a serious look in her eyes. "Justin, we have to talk."
"Do you know how many times I hear that in a day?" I asked, sitting up straight and rotating my legs off the couch. "When I'm not fighting vampires, someone is giving me bad news." I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. "What's the crisis now?"
She almost smiled, but something like concern tugged the corners of her lips back down into a neutral expression. "It's about the magic poisoning. Can you tell me exactly what happened in the crypt?"
I shrugged. "Sure." I told her all about the encounter with Conroy and Ivy, including how I'd managed to change the spell, altering it to remove the magic intended to make a person a vampire. Try as I might, I couldn't recall how I'd known it, only that the demon side of me knew the lingo.
And then I reached the part about Mom. I hadn't told anyone yet, not even Elyssa. Just thinking about it choked me up with sadness and happiness at the same time. But as I told them, the tears evaporated. I felt…happy. It was strange to feel that way when talking about my dysfunctional family.
"After she told me that, she just poof! Vanished into thin air," I said, recounting the last bit of the saga.
Elyssa gasped, a beautiful smile on her lips. "Justin, she was trying to protect you. I couldn't believe a mother would abandon her child like your mom did."
I grinned. "Just when I was ready to give Mom and Dad the 'World's Worst Parents' award." The thought of my dad robbed some of my joy. Either he didn't know about Mom's plans, or didn't care. Far as I knew, he still planned to marry Kassallandra. Damn it, if I'd only had a little more time with Mom. There was so much to tell her and so many questions to ask.
Meghan wore a faint smile on her lips, or maybe it was a joyless smile, because it turned back into a frown. "Justin, when I was examining you closely while you were asleep—"
"You didn't anal probe me with a staff did you?" I said with a wink, trying to lighten her mood.
Again, she gave me a brief, but fleeting smile. "While spawn are capable of using magic, they're usually less powerful than human Arcanes. This is true of other supernatural species who are capable of magic. Why, exactly, that is, I don't know." She rolled her wand between her fingers, looking down at it. "What you and your sister Ivy were doing required a great deal of magic. Channeling that much energy would burn out all but the most powerful Arcanes."
I sat back, confusion pressing in on me. "Well, my mom is supposedly a pretty strong Arcane."
"The Conroys are probably the most powerful Arcanes alive," Meghan said, seeming to agree. "I'm sure they could have channeled this spell. In terms of raw brute force, Shelton might even manage it."
"Shelton?" I glanced at Elyssa. "Is he really that powerful?"
Meghan nodded. "He has, shall we say, potential to be great. But his rogue tendencies and lack of attention to fine control are his undoing." She waved a hand in the air. "But that's not what I want to talk about. The thing is, when I measured your well—the non-physical place in your body where you store magical energy—I discovered you haven't even yet tapped its full potential."
"And this is separate from where I store all my evil incubus power, right?"
She nodded. "Completely separate, as far as I know, although it is a matter of some debate in high circles. Think of it like lungs. You can draw in only so much air. By training your lungs, you can increase their capacity and efficiency." She stopped fiddling with her wand and looked me in the