“I felt magic down here,” I explain. “Not mine. Not yours. Not the dumb minotaur’s either. Something else. Powerful as hell.”
“Want me to clear the space so you can poke around more easily?”
“Not yet.” I stand and wipe my hands on my skirts. “I need to do some meditation on this.”
“Do you usually do that?”
“It’s a regular part of being a witch. One must be in tune with one’s intuition.”
“I had no idea,” Rom says. “Should I try it for my magic?”
I slap his massive arm. Only the minotaur’s is more muscular than his. Or maybe they’re tied. “You should!”
His gargoyle fangs peek out between his lips. “I’ll do it.”
“Pick a quiet spot,” I say. “Get comfortable. Think of nothing. Or just white space. You’ll get there.”
“Thanks, Tully.”
I get a slip of parchment from the small pouch on my belt and magically pen a note to Rustion, asking that this area be roped off. I bespell the letter and it zips away in a flurry of purple sparks.
Argos joins me and crosses his huge arms. Snow is caught in his wavy, brown hair and little, icy flakes slide over his wide-set horns. The chains hanging from them jingle quietly.
“Do you want a hand here?” he asks.
“Your hand? No, thank you.”
“If you’re so proficient and respected, why are you being so defensive with me, a lowly competitor?” he asks.
I grip my wand tighter. “Give me those stones of yours.”
“No, I don’t think I will.”
“You must.” He’s infuriating.
“The mayor didn’t confiscate them,” he says. “He allowed me to keep them. Do you believe you have more authority than he does?”
Red sparks crackle from the end of my wand. “Rustion is too nice for his own good.”
“And yet he’s the only one who can confiscate property in Leafshire Cove, right?”
What did this minotaur do? Study our town laws before his arrival?
“Fine,” I snap. “Keep them. Did you finish tidying up back there?” I point in the general direction of his cart and mine.
“Aye.”
“Then we’re done here.”
He studies the hole in the cobblestones and the heaps of earth around the spot. “So we aren’t fixing this?”
“Nope.”
Two of our gate guards in Rustion’s livery show up and begin to set up poles and rope around the area.
“Okay, you’re definitely not telling me everything, Mistress Tully.”
“Don’tmistressme. And don’t worry about this,” I say, jerking my chin at the disturbed ground. “This is a problem for true magic workers.”
