off the burner, then faced them again. She didn’t seem too surprised by Fenton’s announcement. “If you think that’s what the witches are planning, to knock out all other magic so they can come into this house and take control of the lightning tree, then we need to be prepared. If you’ll excuse me for a moment.” She didn’t wait for a response, just left and by the sound of it, went to her room.
Harlow’s eyebrows shot up. “What was that all about?”
Augustine shook his head. “No idea.” He looked at Fenton. “You think Nekai knows anything about chaos magic?” The weaver fae wasn’t one of Augustine’s favorite people, but help was help. If the witches were coming against them, they needed every soldier they could muster.
“If anyone does, it would be him.”
“As soon as you can, fill him in and see what he thinks. We’re going to need all the help we can get.”
Lally rushed back into the room, panic dripping off her like bad perfume. “Someone was in the house.”
Augustine’s hand went for the hilt of his sword even though he wasn’t wearing it. “How do you know?”
She swallowed, her brown eyes filled with a mixture of fear and anger. “The tree’s been touched. Worse’n that. Whoever was here helped themselves to a piece of it.”
While Augustine and Fenton waited for Nekai, Harlow decided to spend her time in a different way. She got up and took Lally’s hand but spoke to Augustine. “We’ll be back in a bit.”
Augustine’s forehead furrowed. “Where are you going?”
She tipped her head toward Fenton. “Somewhere Fenton doesn’t need to know about.”
“I heard nothing.” The cypher fae gave her a knowing glance as he stood. “If you’ll just excuse me, I’ll be on the porch for a moment.”
As soon as he stepped out, Augustine spoke. “Are you telling me you’re taking Lally through the mirror to see Olivia?”
Harlow nodded. “You have a problem with that?”
“Not at all.” He liked Harlow’s new confidence. “You okay to go through the mirror by yourself? I mean, I have no doubt you can do it, you just haven’t before.”
“I can handle it.”
“Yes, you can. And good for you.” Augustine waved a hand. “Olivia needs to see you and know that you’re all right. Last time we were there, we had to tell her what had happened to you and she was pretty destroyed by it. She’ll be thrilled to know you’re okay. Give her my love and let her know I’ll come visit again soon.”
“You know that won’t be good enough. She’ll want to know why you didn’t come this time.”
He nodded. “I know. Tell her what we’re dealing with. That should buy me some slack.”
“Okay. Back in a few. C’mon, Lally.” She pulled the woman into the foyer. “You’re not scared to do this with just me, are you?”
Lally tugged back on Harlow’s hand. “Not one bit.” She pointed at the enormous gilt frame mirror in the foyer. “If I ain’t scared of traveling through that thing, then why should it bother me who I go through with? You’re as fae as Augie.”
“I don’t think that’s exactly true. But he says I can do it, so… why not.” Traveling by mirror alone was a little daunting, but it was just another part of being fae. And since her mother was trapped in the fae plane as a result of dying as she was trying to pass through, visiting her there was the only way Harlow could see her. “Besides, I haven’t seen my mother in a while. Last time we left things sort of… rough between us. I don’t want that anymore.”
“I agree. That’s not how it should be between a mother and daughter.” Lally’s upset over the tree being touched seemed at least partially forgotten. Or she was hiding it. She smiled. “You got your mirror for the return trip?”
Harlow patted her pocket. “I do. Ready?”
“Ready.” She squeezed Harlow’s hand.
“Okay, here goes nothing.” But how hard could it be? She’d traveled by mirror with Nekai and Augustine and they’d both explained it. You just imagined the place you wanted to go was in the mirror and there you were. She could do this.
Lally winked at her. “We all gotta start somewhere.”
Holding tight to Lally, Harlow reached out with her other hand, touched the mirror and imagined she could see the part of the fae plane where her mother now existed. Her vision swirled like she was having a dizzy spell, but that only lasted an