vicious options that killed their target, if they remained in stasis for too long. Hard to believe, but those were the best-case scenarios.
Before I understood her intent, Colby flew between the bars to land on Camber’s shoulder.
Eyes shut, wings flexing, Colby’s power lit her tiny body.
“They’re alive.” She shot up over to me. “I don’t know what’s wrong, though.”
Sweet relief crashed through me. “We can work with that.”
“Want me to crack it open?” Clay tested the bars. “They seem flexible enough.”
“Yes.” I didn’t waste more time dressing, just retrieved my wand. “We need it off them.”
The daemon gripped two thick vines and strained with all his might. They bent, but they didn’t break.
Clay tried his luck, but he might as well have been wrestling with a ball of rubber bands.
“It must be part of the spell.” I touched my wand to a vine for a reading. “It’s definitely part of the spell.”
“Rue.” Clay rushed to my side. “Don’t move.”
Heart kicking up, I froze in place as he cupped my shoulder. Jerking my head toward his hand, I watched as Colby’s legs buckled. The stubborn girl hadn’t warned me she was fading, but Clay had been keeping an eye on her. She slid off me into his waiting palm with a sigh and didn’t so much as twitch afterward.
“Colby.” I grasped his hand, yanking it to me, certain my worst fears had come true. “Are you…?”
I knew I shouldn’t let her help. I knew it. But I did it anyway. I even liked it.
No, no, no.
“She’s asleep.” He smiled softly down at her. “Her battery is empty.”
For several long seconds, I watched to be sure she was breathing easy. “I think you’re right.”
“Of course I’m right.” He cradled her gently. “Look, I’ve known a lot of familiars in my time. A hundred or more. I’ve seen burnout before. Many times. This might be my first loinnir, but I’m telling you that’s what this is.” He scanned the pond. “She threw around a lot of magic. Probably discharged an accumulation since she’s never functioned in her familiar capacity.”
The cage waited beyond, but this was Colby. “You’re sure…?”
“I’m sure.” He held her close in a gesture of protection. “I’ve got her. You work on the girls.”
“Let me grab my kit.” I needed all the help I could get without Colby. “I should be able to do this solo.”
The idea of leaving the girls stuck as they were until Colby recovered was out of the question.
I started by pouring a salt circle around them and sealing it with three drops of my blood. From there, I burnt herbal offerings in a caldron the size of my palm. I lit a bundle of dragon’s blood sage for potency and protection and walked a slow circuit around the cage, filling the air with its heady smoke and earthy fragrance. A few blood crystals placed and blessed at the four corners gave me another boost.
I just hoped it was enough.
With enough preparation time, I could work minor miracles even on my new diet. I prayed to any and all gods and goddesses who listened that this unraveling revived the girls, but they rarely favored me. I made my own luck.
Pressure built behind my breastbone in stark contrast to the easy flow I channeled earlier, but this magic came from me. It was all mine. What remained of it. I could do this, but it would cost me. Lucky for me, I had Clay here to catch me if I fell. And, though ours was a new and tenuous trust, Asa too.
And his daemon.
He would probably save me for the sake of having someone to pet him.
As my chant built to a crescendo, I aimed my wand and unleashed my counterspell on the circle with a tap.
A beat before my eyes rolled back in my head, I swore I heard twin inhales that exhaled on screams.
16
A familiar scent roused me from sleep. Tobacco. And…green apples?
From deeper in the house, Colby barked orders while she battled orcs with her friends. But a rhythmic click, click, click kept steady time at my elbow. That was not part of the game, and they only ever played one.
Cracking my eyes open, I discovered Asa sitting in a chair stolen from the kitchen beside my bed. Rimless glasses perched on his nose, and the beginnings of a scarf poised on a pair of wooden knitting needles.
A tiny part of me wondered if that was what he had been whittling in my yard that