Taavi and I head back down through the trapdoor and into their lair. I read while we walk, checking for how to imbue an object with magic.

“The lead goes through this entire place, right?”

“Yes, except for that one area… where…”

Her mother. I clench my jaw. The way she handles her just doesn’t feel right, witch or Seer or whatever she is. It doesn’t sit well with me. They’re family!

I run a finger down the page.

Find the weakest spot of the object, usually at one end, and say the spell.

The weakest spot is definitely the cellar where she keeps the Seer. “Take me to where the lead stops, at your mother’s wooden door.”

We head back down the winding corridor. I read the spell three times as we walk to be sure, chanting the words in my head. Enunciation is key, and I don’t wanna screw this up.

Taavi still rubs her arms. “Do you know how long it will hurt?”

“I don’t. Never did a blood oath before.”

We stop at the bottom. I press the wall and shudder with a chill.

“How thick is this? Must have taken a long time to get it down here like this.”

“We have Totsi to thank for that. She used spells to melt down the lead into sheets. Then she magicked them to be weightless. My guys did the rest. Once the Chancellor got wind of large amounts of lead going missing, she was looked into and placed on restriction. That’s when I knew she’d never be able to help us using magic again. It was too risky. And Imbuing spells are expressly prohibited.”

“I remember.” Saw that on, like, day one of trying out my magic. That rule is plastered everywhere. And how hypocritical when Imbuing is precisely how the Chancellor fills onyx with magic. Of course he wouldn’t want anyone toying with that spell. He knows its power.

“If they suspected Totsi anymore and came looking, we feared they’d find us.” She pats the wall. “In many ways this was her life’s greatest accomplishment, preparing this place for us. Protecting us.” She looks away, and I hear the faintest shuffle behind the door. The Seer knows we’re here.

“Well, I’m going to Imbue this lead lining your walls with a protection charm that’ll absorb anything fired at it.” I practice the chant to myself a few more times.

“Open her cell.”

She does. I touch the edge of the metal door where it meets the wood, careful to get out of the lead-lined corridor so my magic can move freely. “And you’re sure this metal is continuous throughout the whole place?”

“It is, yes.”

I glance at the page once more then tuck the book under my arm, summoning warmth to my fingertips and pulling it through to my hands.