“One man’s opinion,” Newt said smugly, and I pulled my head up. “And what a typical male response,” she added, glancing at me. “Blame everyone but yourself. You left Rachel in the middle of a highly sensitive curse. You could have brought her with you. Brought the bottle with you. But you left her alone. Face it, Al. You don’t have the smarts to raise a child.”

“You did this on purpose!” Al raged, sounding like a little kid calling foul. Newt looked smug, and Al turned away, frustrated.

Shaking, I tugged the blanket higher. They were my hands. My hands. Tears prickled when I looked at the small bottle on the table, green and swirling again. I wanted to laugh. Cry. Puke. Scream. “What’s she doing here?” I asked again, my voice stronger.

“Krathion is insane,” Al said. “It took two of us to get him back in the bottle.”

I fingered the wool blanket, worried. I had a bad feeling that Newt had tried to kill me. “You were in my mind?” I asked her, fearful now.

Newt made a small sound of regret, stepping silently across the room. “No,” she said petulantly as she stopped beside Pierce, slumped beside the empty tapestry. Even the moving figures made of weft and weave were afraid of her and had hidden. Pierce was nursing a swollen lip, and was sullen, even scared maybe. I was surprised to see him here at all.

“Al took teacher’s prerogative,” she said as she ran her fingers through his hair. Pierce stiffened, the tightening of his lips giving away his anger. “I merely put the soul back in the bottle once Al got it out of you. Gally, if you can’t demonstrate the ability to keep her alive, then I will take over her care and get you a dog instead.”

My eyes widened. Fear got me to my feet, and I wobbled until I reached for the table for balance. “It was my fault, not Al’s. I’m fine. Really. See? All better.”

Al stiffened. “I didn’t leave her alone. I left her in the care of my trusted familiar. The curse was invoked by accident. One you probably planned.”

Trusted familiar? I looked at Pierce, knowing laughter would sound hysterical.

“Excuses, excuses,” Newt drawled, clearly seeing through it. “He tried to save her life. I see it in his thoughts.” She shifted a stray hair from Pierce to set it straight. “It was his skill that failed him, not his spirit. He was here. You were not.” Smiling, she turned to Al. “Think on that before you kill him.”

“Kill him?” Al blurted out. “Why would I kill him?”

Yeah, seeing as he was Al’s trusted familiar, but when Newt looked at the to-go cups spilled on the black floor, Al stiffened. His gaze flicked to Pierce, then me, and there it stayed, scaring me. Al thought I had freed him. The coffee had come from somewhere, and I couldn’t line jump.

“No more warnings, Al,” Newt said, and both Al and I jerked our attention back to her. “Your mistakes are starting to have an impact on all of us. Another error, and I take her.”