very few people in the world can also cut out the sound. It’s one of those strange little magical phenomena.”
“What about disappearing from the house itself?” Agnes asked. “Or glowing?”
“Uhhmm…” The man paused. “No, that has to be something different. You know what, my buddy’s new girlfriend figures out spells. I bet she could help.”
After I’d thanked him, we were given the number for his buddy Donald, who then gave us the number of his new girlfriend. Once we were connected to her, the story was told yet again. The quickness and ease with which she made sense of everything had me wishing we’d called her first.
“A simple elixir for masking tracks and smell can be layered over virtually any spell or potion if the elixir is made with enough power,” the woman said, her voice quiet and reserved. “Given everything else you are saying, this mage has the power. I would guess that the elixir to disguise smell and tracks ran out at the point you were able to smell him, obviously, and he had to drink another. If you could see the…intruder at first, and then they disappeared when they drank another potion, I’d bet there are two potions and one elixir. There is the potion masking the person’s signature from the house, which is layered with the elixir masking scent and footprints, and the potion for masking sight, scent, footprints and maybe smell, depending on the mage. Two potions and a high-powered elixir would be incredibly expensive to buy, and take a master at least a couple of days to make, though he or she could probably make a decent batch size with each. Maybe enough for four people.”
“Do you think you can figure out how to make any of those?” Austin asked.
“The elixir and invisibility, yes. Easily. That’s just a matter of looking it up. The first spell that made the deer glow… I’ll do some research. I can’t promise anything, but…”
Agnes beamed. “Fantastic! I have all the faith in you.”
“Listen,” the woman said. “A mage that can do all of this, or someone that can afford to buy these types of high-powered potions, is incredibly dangerous. Incredibly dangerous. You need to try to see your way out of their affairs as quickly as you can. You don’t want to get mixed up with anyone of this caliber.”
A tense beat of silence filled the room. Austin’s hand rested on my shoulder.
I pushed the hair out of my face. “Too late now. I’ve accepted the magic. There is no going back.”
Twelve
I nearly fell through the door, I was so tired.
“She’s gonna get it done, don’t you worry, Jessie,” Niamh said, following me into the house. The others trailed behind us, except my parents, who had, thankfully, stayed downtown to shop and taste wine. “Ye know what, I never realized just how little I knew about her until this afternoon.”
“Just think, if you’d gotten better acquainted earlier, you could’ve had a friend all this time,” Ulric said.
“Not a hope,” she replied, the house almost sounding hollow without the noise from the TV spilling out of the sitting room. “She is much too chipper and sweet for me. All the smiles put me in a foul mood.”
“Your very existence puts you in a foul mood,” Mr. Tom said, straightening a painting in the hall.
“That is because I have to share that existence with ye, ya miserable old goat,” she replied. “Now pull yer socks up, unless ye want to be fired from another butler gig.”
He looked down at his feet. “I’ll kindly ask you to leave my socks out of it.” He paused. “You can’t even see them!”
“It means get ta work. That auld mammy is running circles around ya, boy. She’s handling the whole house with a smile, so she is. Jessie is probably rethinking having yer sad sack loafing around.”
“Oh my God, please don’t start at each other right now. I cannot handle it.” I rubbed my temples and stopped outside the front sitting room, the one we usually used to discuss business or just hang out. We had a ton of stuff to work through. Agnes’s contact was working on the potions, so that was out of our hands for the time being, but I had to work out guard schedules for the gargoyles within Ivy House, not to mention those staying in the hotel. Should we scatter them through the wood as lookouts? Edgar had been tasked with researching ways to circumvent Ivy House’s magic,