Chapter 10 Chapter 10
There’s any number of spells that can kill and leave no trace. They can mimic natural causes so well they are almost undetectable”. I splayed my fingers as I ran my hand in the air over it and closed my eyes. Reaching out with all my senses I examined it. All I was picking up on was residual magic, nothing active
Carefully I reached out a finger and opened my eyes. Channeling power into my extended finger I rolled it around the edges of the canvas. Still no color change. Putting my finger on it I pushed a little magic into the marble. No reaction by the canvas but, various scents wafted up to my nose. Flicking a glance towards the pup told me he could smell it too. His nose scrunched up and he started looking around.
“What are you smelling pup?” I asked with my eyes back on the marble. Just because it hadn’t exploded yet didn’t mean it wouldn’t. I’d once encountered what I thought was a fake apple. Turns out it was an activated paintball grenade. I was red in the face. Literally.
“Rotten eggs. Some kind of flowers. ” Tristan answered after a quick breath.
“Not bad. The rotten eggs smell is actually sulfur residue. It’s leftover from the spell. Hemlock and black locus are for sure in there. Possibly more. But, they give us a place to start.” I nodded at Connor who lowered his hands.
“Are you thinking spell or potion?” Connor asked as he leaned in towards the marble of death, trying to catch the scent.
“Spell. The marble of doom is most likely from the spell being performed incorrectly.” Whoever did it might be powerful and skilled in magic. But, I’d bet my favorite leather pants this was the first time they enacted death magic. “Now we just need to figure out which spell. That should point us in some direction.”
Stepping around the table I walked thru the door into the bedroom/office combo. It looked like a survivalist’s dream. A set of bunk beds took up most of one wall. Which were surrounded by blades both big and small on the walls. Pistols hid under each pillow. A ward covered this room, allowing exiting only, no entrance. Couldn’t risk someone opening a portal in here while I was sleeping. The ward also covered the attached en suite for a similar reason. Except substitute showering for sleeping. One wall was covered in metal shelves filled with dry goods. I’d graciously allowed Connor to fill one with food. Even after all these years I was still baffled by what the humans ate. What was the point of freeze dried food? Why did they worship doughnuts? How was Ramon noodles considered food?
Shaking my head I walked over to the roll top desk on the other side of the room and pushed the power button on the tower in the lower cabinet. Carefully choosing where I stood I mentally crossed my fingers before throwing open the top. Damn, I’d chosen poorly. I had to dive to catch my tablet before it hit the ground with the rest of the debris that came at me like it was spring loaded. One day I was going to have to figure out what to do with all the spell books I’d acquired over the years. But not today, today I had to reverse engineer a spell to find an amateur black arts practicing werewolf murder.
Rubbing the knuckles I’d scrapped up on the floor, I put the tablet on top of the desk. Connor and
Tristan came in carrying the camp chairs that were in the other room. I waved my hand in sweeping motion and sent out a wave of magic towards the books on the floor. They started summersaulting across the floor to the corner. As we settled into the chairs, Tristan looked at my desk and fell over sideways in his chair he was laughing so hard. Ok, maybe I need to update my monitor. Yes, it’s an old clunky one. But, it was still functional. I still had the original speakers that hooked on to the side of it.
Once the wolf finished laughing, he climbed back into his chair. He chuckled a few times while I pulled up the program I needed. Ok, so most kids his age had never seen Windows 95. “Why don’t you use the tablet instead of that clunker?”
Shaking my head at him, I navigated the software to the screen I needed. I started the search for the spell after entering the known ingredients. The little blue bar showed up on the bottom to indicate it was thinking. I glanced back to the pup before answering his question. “This computer has never been online. It’s a virgin. No viruses, tracking cookies, malware, or hacking.” I indicated the screen with a thrust of my chin. “This program has every spell, potion, and incantation I know in it. I can’t risk anyone getting a hold of some of these. Or worse, corrupting them.” A shiver ran down my spine at just the thought. More than just my lab could get blown up with just a few substitutions. “The tablet is for Plants vs. Zombies and notes only. It’s been online once. For basically the same reason the clunker never has been only instead of anything getting corrupted, I don’t want a hacker being able to track me or read my notes. Any other questions?”
“What’s a peacekeeper?”