Persie Merlin and the Door to Nowhere by Bella Forrest Page 0,53
her berry-stained lips. Her face had an impish quality, framed by a sleek, blunt bob. The drab light, when it hit right, revealed shades of darkest cherry in her black hair.
I raised my hand. “The puzzle box?”
“Ah, excellent! But no.” She giggled, and I couldn’t help smiling, despite my nerves. “The puzzle box is a great all-arounder, and I know you’ll all come to wonder how you ever lived without them, but this is my favorite.”
She picked up a perfectly round, sleek sphere, about the size of a baseball and the color of a black pearl. Which is to say purplish, with tones of pink and gold and gray—not black at all.
“This is an Omnisphere. Now, call me biased, but this happens to be my baby—designed, patented, and realized by my own two hands. It can catch anything, regardless of strength. There are still a few kinks to iron out and it requires a complex spell to use, so not yet practical. But it will be! Once I’ve had my eureka moment and everything works properly, it’ll be the best new toy in town!”
Not for me. I admired her enthusiasm, and it looked beautiful, but I needed simpler options. The rest of the class was staring at the Omnisphere agog. She’d made some bold claims, but I doubted an experimental capture object would be of much use to anyone. Still, I hoped she’d iron out those kinks. If she did, she’d go down in magical history.
“How about this one? Not my favorite, but can anyone tell me what it is? This is easy!” Naomi picked up a Mason jar.
The class rolled their eyes, a warm collective chuckle spreading through the lab.
“Mason jar,” everyone chorused.
“Yes! Very good!” Naomi set the jar down and clapped her hands together. “It’s the most prevalent method of monster capture, used in covens worldwide, but it uses extremely basic hexwork and can be easily broken if you’ve got a case of butterfingers. Most are pre-treated with hexwork these days, to avoid hexing on the go. Useful in a tight spot, but there are better choices. Namely, this one—the puzzle box that Persie mentioned.” She showed off one of the boxes and nodded toward our workbenches. “You’ve all got one at your stations, and I’d like you to write down as many observations about it as you can. Then we’ll reconvene and go through what you’ve found and what it means.”
One of the Ponytails, Suranne Redmond, raised her hand. “What’s the fourth one?”
“Goodness, good thing you asked! I’d have forgotten all about it.” Naomi smacked her forehead dramatically, and possibly a bit too hard, and picked up the fourth object. It was an old, neatly painted ceramic bottle, similar to one I’d seen in a display case.
“This is an Artemis vase. We don’t use them anymore, but these were the forefathers of the Mason jars and the puzzle boxes. The oldest monsters in the Bestiary were caught with these. Powerful, reliable when you’ve got the knack, but notoriously tricky to get the hang of, as they require a complex spell and the right sequence of buttons. Now, back to the puzzle boxes. Make your notes and be ready to share in ten minutes.”
Genie cast a glance at me. “Atlantis still uses them.”
“Huh?” I leaned closer to her.
“Those vases. Atlantean hunters use them, even now, and they don’t have any trouble getting them to work. They caught Jörmungandr—a freaking World Serpent—with one, for Chaos’s sake.” She shrugged, as if she’d surprised herself by jumping to Atlantis’s defense. “I bet I could catch a pixie in one, given the chance.”
I propped my chin on my hand. “To do that, they’d have to come out of hiding. I thought we’d at least catch another one during our search.” Especially after a whole night of being duped by them.
“Maybe they’re living it up in the orchard. Didn’t you say they liked apples?”
I tried to remember what Nathan had said. “I don’t know if it’s apples, specifically. I think it’s just sweet fruits, so probably not. Blackberries, maybe? They do like the outdoors, though. And Nathan said they love a party.” A horrifying thought crept into my head. “Oh no, what if they throw a huge gathering outside? That’ll definitely attract attention.”
I just needed to get through this class. Then, I could go to Victoria, and my anxieties would hopefully be lifted a bit. The pixies just needed to stay hidden until then.