‹Exactly. Think back to that book. I’m going to try to amplify the memory from here, and you’re going to cast the spell.›

‹How?›

‹I’ll explain as we go. Where were you when you read it?›

I concentrated on the memory and found myself in my old dorm room at Michigan State University, camped out in the lower bunk of the metal-framed beds. A green carpet remnant covered most of the tile floor. The air smelled like the beef-flavored Ramen noodles I’d cooked the night before on the hot plate we weren’t supposed to have.

I looked down at the book in my hands. I could feel the roughness of the paper, the faint wrinkles in the worn spine. ‹This is just a memory. Without the physical book to tap into—›

A new voice intruded. ‹So this is what old man brain looks like.›

‹Jeneta?›

‹She’s here with us,› said Talulah. ‹I’m looping her into the conversation. Call it a telepathic group chat.›

I laughed. ‹How did you find her?›

‹I’ve lost some cred since word got out I could do magic, but I’ve still got close to a million subscribers on YouTube, along with six figures on Twitter and Instagram and so on. I put the word out that I needed to talk to Jeneta, and asked my followers to pass it along.›

‹It made the front page of Reddit,› Jeneta added. ‹Hold on, I’m downloading a copy of your book.›

For an instant, I saw through Jeneta’s eyes. She was in an unfinished basement. Talulah sat on a Papasan chair beside her, working over a pile of computer hardware I couldn’t begin to identify or sort out. Lena rested on the floor, Smudge perched awkwardly on her hip. From this angle, you could barely see his missing leg.

‹Can you see the book?› asked Jeneta.

I was back in my dorm room. ‹I see it.›

‹Talulah, we’re ready. Hold on, Isaac. We’re going to create a distraction.›

Darkness flickered across my vision like an eyeblink, but in that fraction of a second, everything shifted. Talulah was suddenly turned away, her shoulders hunched like she was in pain. Jeneta’s e-reader had moved as well, and Lena was sitting up. ‹What was that?›

‹Seventy-four seconds before Kiyoko catches on,› Talulah said flatly.

‹Remember the book,› said Jeneta. ‹See it in your mind.›

I focused on the pages. This particular book was one I’d read not for magic, but for pure escapism. I’d gotten brutally dumped a few days earlier. Relationships were hard enough at that age without me constantly having to sneak off-campus for secret magic lessons.

I saw Jeneta reaching into the screen of her e-reader. I did the same with my book, touching the scene that described the death spell.