I closed my eyes for a moment, focused my thoughts, and slowed my breathing. When I opened them again, the writing was glowing. "It's a spell," I murmured, squinting as I tried to make out the letters from the top. "A locking spell.Clever."
"Has no one been by your house asking about your land?" Hankasked.
I shook my head. "Not that I'm awareof."
"I wonder if they already know it'shere."
"I have wards on my property. The back at least. If anyone stepped around the side of the house, they would trigger. I'd know if someone were here. Maybe not who, but I’d sense theirpresence."
"What if they came the back way?" heasked.
I thought about it. I'd only set the wards up for the two acres I'd explored. I hadn't thought to extend them back any further. "Possible," I admitted. "But how would they know about thisdoor?"
Hank watched as I stepped closer to door. My fingers itched to touchit.
"I wouldn't," he said as I reached out toit.
"I might be able to unlock it." I didn't have strong magic other than in necromancy, but at heart I was a magician. I could do some simple things, maybe more if Ipracticed.
He shook his head. "You have no idea what lies behind that door, Helen. I think it's in your best interest to pretend you'reignorant."
My mouth turned down. "Then why did you showme?"
"Because I don't believe for a second that no one else knows about this. I'm very curious how you managed to purchase this land without afight."
"I saw it. I liked it. I bought it." That was the entirestory.
Hank twisted his lips to the side as if he was thinking very hard. "Too easy. If I can find this door, anyonecan."
"Most people don't climb into dark caves as part of their dailyroutines."
Hank had already turned around and was calling for me to follow. "Your land backs up to the agency. They know for sure it exists. I wonder if they were the ones who sold it toyou."
"Does it matter?" I said with a sigh. "It's my land. I have no issues with Portia Kadish using it if she needsto."
Hank helped me out of the cave. "People have been trying to get into that agency of hers for years. This is the perfect way to do it. It's warded to the gills aboveground."
I thought about the spell guarding the door. "That door seemed pretty securetoo."
"But it isn't guarded. Someone could have been coming here for years trying to figure out that spell. You have a gold mine here, Helen. A dangerous goldmine."
Imadesome sandwiches for us and made sure I drank a lot more water than normal. I was still feeling a little woozy from yesterday. While we were eating, Hank reached down into his backpack and pulled out his clipboard. "I wanted to show you what I came up with yesterday." He pushed a drawing over tome.
I took it and gasped. Hank had perfectly depicted my small, cute historical home, complete down to the little pot of succulents at my front door. But where my landscape was pretty boring, he'd extended out the front beds in sweeping curves and filled them to the brim with smaller flowering trees, herbs and ground covers. Two lemon trees stood on each side of the house. Underneath and behind one of the trees grew taller varieties of basils, mixed with Tarragon and parsley. Lower to the ground, creeping thyme with purple and white flowers scrambled through all of the plants and crept over the rocks stacked to mark the edge of the beds. On the other side of the house, underneath the lemon tree, grew several Mediterranean herbs. I spotted a few different varieties of lavender and rosemary in toward the back. Thyme and oregano grew close together and scrambled over eachother.
"They're planted by watering needs," Imarveled.
Hank grinned, pleased I'd caught it. He pointed to the left. "We can set up your drip hoses differently in each area to ensure both spots get their water needs met." He moved his finger toward the front of the yard. Four Japanese maples stood, the leaves illustrated with a brick red colored pen. "These are purely aesthetic, but they're gorgeous and will bring a smidge of color to the area. Most of the herbs in your main landscaping bed don't have a lot of flowers, or noticeable ones, atleast."
I pointed at the beds dug around the maples. "What are these?" Numerous different varieties of flowers bloomed there. It was a riot ofcolor.
"It's a butterfly garden. Well, your herb garden kind of is, too, but this area is a lot brighter. In the herb garden, you have hostplants."
"Host?" Iinquired.
He nodded. "Yes, a host plant is where a butterfly will build its cocoons. The hosts offer both shelter for the butterflies to lay their eggs and provide food for the growing caterpillars. A nectar plant -" he pointed to the flowers, "is where the adult butterflies willfeed."
"So I'm going to get to see cocoons!" I feltbreathless.
