Boundary Born (Boundary Magic Book 3) - Melissa F. Olson Page 0,61

Ergo, our father is behind the attacks on her, and somehow he’s behind this too.”

“Couldn’t it be Emil’s mother?” Lily offered. “You said Sophia was a powerful boundary witch.”

I shook my head. “Yes, but she was in Nova Scotia last night. I called and confirmed.”

“I’ve never heard of a male witch being strong enough to do human sacrifice alone,” Simon insisted. “And if your theory were true, why did they try to kidnap you?”

I had to admit, he had me there. I had no idea why someone powerful enough to use human sacrifice would want to drag me into this. But my instincts said that I was on the right track.

But Simon and Lily didn’t seem convinced. I couldn’t entirely blame them for not buying my theory, but it was still frustrating. I needed more evidence. “Let’s put a pin in this for the moment,” I said, looking down at the cluttered table. I brushed aside the newspapers, revealing a bunch of open books and the stones from the sculpture park. “What have you guys figured out about crystals?”

Both Pellars began to speak at once. I held up my hands in protest, and they exchanged another one of those sibling communication looks, which somehow resulted in Simon speaking first. “A lot of this is New Age crap,” he said, waving his hand at the table of research. Then he paused, considering me. “Um, unless you believe that tiny beings from another dimension live inside crystals and have the power to influence the exterior world. If so, congratulations on your wacko religion.”

Lily smacked his arm, probably a little harder than I would have. “Hey!” he protested, rubbing the arm with great exaggeration.

“Do the science part,” she ordered.

“Fine. Okay, so, the word ‘crystal’ actually refers to the structure of the material,” he began, relaxing into his explanation. Science was a lot firmer ground for Simon. “Rocks with an orderly arrangement of atoms are called crystals. They are unique from other rocks because they can produce a piezoelectric effect—”

“Which just means they can generate an electric charge in response to pressure,” Lily broke in.

“Right. Anyway, there are some people”—he cut his eyes to Lily—“who believe that because crystals vibrate in different frequencies under pressure, they can affect the human bioelectric energy fields.”

“Which is basically the aura,” Lily added.

I stared at them, not bothering to hide my incredulity. “Wait, you’re saying it’s real? I mean, we know crystals do something, but are you saying it’s common knowledge that they affect humans?”

“Yes and no,” Simon answered, tilting his flattened hand back and forth. “Yes, crystals have a measurable piezoelectric effect, and yes, human beings do conceivably have a bioelectric field, which in magic we call the aura. But there’s no scientific evidence that crystals actually affect people. In fact, I’d say most of the testimonial evidence comes from crystal users who want to believe in it so badly that they convince themselves it’s true.”

I looked at Lily. “Okay, now give me the woo-woo version. What do hard-core crystal users believe they can do?”

She took a deep breath. “The idea is that you can program crystals to do all sorts of things. Different crystals can supposedly amplify energy, broadcast information, heal wounds, and affect moods.”

“Wait, go back to the word ‘program.’ What does that mean?”

“Just how it sounds. You program the crystal to do something—heal a wound, ground energy, or whatever—and it does it.”

I thought about that. “That’s how Emil was able to run so fast when he’d taken the belladonna.”

“Exactly.”

“And if crystals can ground energy, and Sophia used them to ground boundary magic . . .” I went on.

Simon nodded. “She could store spells in the crystals, and Emil could set them off later. Technically, he’d only be using gravitational magic.”

“Okay, well, that’s one mystery solved.” I tried not to think about how many animals—I was really hoping it was animals—had died just so Emil could attack me with wraiths. I looked at Simon. “Why did the spell stop when you picked up the big stone? Is it based on touch or something?”

He shook his head. “Emil had laid these out in a grid system,” he said, gesturing at the pile of stones on the table. “The idea is that if you place certain stones in a certain ritualistic pattern, it creates an energy net that the magician can control. That’s how Emil was able to activate such a complex spell.”

“It’s just like witches’ circles,” Lily said.

“Only more vulnerable,” Simon pointed out. To me, he