She peered at me. "What about them?"
"Well, they’re considered spirits—or daemones. So should your spell have stopped them?"
"No, because Maniae don’t wear flesh. They’re also deities rather than spirits—a different type of being altogether. I don’t think Alston ever imagined someone would hate her enough to raise a daemon against her, let alone the curse of the Maniae. And that makes her situation extremely tricky."
"Why?"
"Because the Maniae can usually be summoned only by great injustice. Alston must have cocked up pretty badly for the Maniae to be after her."
"Meaning the event three years ago is unlikely to be the cause, because the attacks have only just begun."
"Not necessarily. It could have simply taken that long to perform the summoning correctly. It is not a well-known spell, and it is not one that is well recorded."
"Would the Brindle have it within their archives?"
"Undoubtedly."
"Meaning it’s the sort of spell that any witch could perform?"
"It’s the type of spell anyone who feels they’re the victim of a grave injustice could perform if they can find the full version. However, the only people who would get access to the spell are witches connected to the Brindle."
"So maybe all I have to do is go to the Brindle and ask who had access to that spell recently."
"It is worth a try, though I honestly doubt a witch would be involved in such a summoning—even if it is only to supply the text of the spell."
"Why?"
"Because of the threefold rule. And because one person’s great injustice can be another’s minor annoyance. It is a very gray area for a witch to be involved in."