Scholar of Magic (Art of the Adept #3) - Michael G. Manning Page 0,181

see that Lawrence had company at the front desk when they got there.

Laina looked up from her conversation and smiled maliciously. “There you are. I was just telling Lawrence here that they shouldn’t let too many unsavory types in the building. Your presence is liable to spoil the potions the same way you curdle milk at home.”

“Curdling milk sounds more like you,” returned Will, glancing at the window beside the doors. It was pitch black outside. “Your father let you run off by yourself?”

“Darla is here too, keeping watch.”

“Still, the question stands.”

“I hid at the last moment, while they were going in. By the time they had everything locked down and did a head count, I was already on my way here. Father wouldn’t be foolish enough to abandon everyone and search on his own.”

“You hope! What if he does?” countered Will.

Tiny groaned audibly. “Janice will be twice as mad now.”

Will glanced to his friend. “We didn’t allow her to join us on purpose.”

“For a married man, you don’t understand women much. Do you think that will matter when it comes to her feelings?”

Laina snickered. “See, even the ogre has more sense than you.”

For some reason, that set Will’s temper ablaze. “He’s not an ogre. He’s just a regular person.”

Tiny set a hand on his shoulder. “It’s all right, Will. She didn’t mean it harshly toward me.”

Will’s half-sister looked regretful. Looking up at Tiny, she apologized. “No, he’s right. That wasn’t fair of me.” Her eyes bored into Will. “I shouldn’t drag others into it when I’m putting this jerk in his place.”

He did his best to ignore her and showed Tiny where the leftover bread was kept. When he stepped back out, he looked at Laina. “We’re going to be here all night. I suppose you should join us.”

She lifted one brow. “You’re not going out to fight the forces of darkness?” Her words were heavily laden with sarcasm.

“Not a chance,” said Will. “That’s tomorrow. Tonight, I’m just making some preparations. You ditched the family lockup for nothing.” It was well hidden, but he could almost imagine she looked relieved to know that nothing dangerous would be happening. Not that I blame her, he decided. It’s incredibly brave and stupid of her to insist on coming when she thought I might be in the thick of things.

It didn’t occur to him that the same reasoning applied to him as well. As they started up the stairs, he asked about her bodyguard. “Is Darla outside?”

Laina nodded. “She insists on keeping watch. Don’t worry. She’ll spot anything before it gets close and come warn us. As tough as she is, she knows better than to fight those things alone.”

Will led her up the stairs and showed her to his small, rented laboratory. “Welcome to my lair,” he said, waving his hand in a flourish as he opened the door for her.

Laina wrinkled her nose as she entered. “It smells.”

Chapter 41

Since he was done brewing potions, there wasn’t much for Laina or Tiny to see or do. Will stepped out and borrowed a couple of chairs from across the hall, then returned.

Laina looked back and forth between the two of them. “So, this is it?”

Tiny nodded. “Exciting, huh?”

“I’m actually planning to try to attune a relic, but I don’t have much for either of you to do,” said Will.

Laina straightened up. “Actually, if you don’t mind, you could write out a few spells for me. After seeing what happened a few nights back, I couldn’t help but think I might need to expand my repertoire.”

Relying on elementals for everything isn’t good enough anymore, eh? thought Will, but he kept his opinion to himself. Laina was willing to learn; he wouldn’t drive her away and miss the opportunity.

“Which spells are you interested in?” he asked.

“The force spells you used were pretty handy. The way you stopped the sword when Dad was about to put Darla out of her misery was fairly impressive,” admitted Laina.

“What force spells