She was laughing now. “Relax, Isaac. If I really wanted to piss you off, I’d command them to swarm. At which point you’d get all pouty, steal my magic, and turn them against me. Honestly, you’re no fun at all these days.”

“Shit-weasel?” Lena repeated. She was trying not to laugh, but wasn’t doing a great job of it.

“Shut up.” I got to my feet and shuddered. “I hate wasps. I should let Smudge burn this place to the ground.”

“Where would you like to search next?” Deb asked innocently.

I glared death. “Do you have anything else in this house that’s illegal, dangerous, or could help me find the people behind tonight’s attack?”

“Nope.” The Goblin Wood remained silent. Deb caught another wasp and crushed it in her hand. “You know, you could have asked that up front and saved yourself the humiliation.”

I refused to dignify that with an answer. Not that I had much dignity left. Instead, I swapped books again, grabbing my thin paperback copy of Philip K. Dick’s Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said. It was an older book, and that made it harder to use, but it retained enough power for my purposes. I extended one finger into the page, touching a sheaf of crinkled paper within the scene. In the story, each sheet had been impregnated with a microdot transmitter.

I pulled one of those papers free and transferred its magic into Deb’s skin. Like copying and pasting a bit of code, as Talulah would say. “I think we’re done here.”

I looked over at Lena, who nodded in agreement and said, “Deb can stay with me.”

“I’m your prisoner now?” asked Deb. “How are the bugs at your place?”

“You can share Smudge’s cricket stash.”

“Be careful, hon.” Deb grabbed an old black coat from the closet and tossed it on. “This isn’t one of your field missions for the Porters. This is war. If you don’t figure that out soon, it’s gonna kill you.”

TESTIMONY AND QUESTIONING OF WITNESS NUMBER 18: ISAAC VAINIO (CONTINUED)

The CHAIRMAN: How were subjects selected for human medical trials at New Millennium?

Mr. VAINIO: We asked for volunteers with life-threatening medical conditions that couldn’t be cured by mundane means. From that pool, a team of Porters and NIH doctors selected candidates who—

The CHAIRMAN: Why don’t we skip ahead to the favoritism and nepotism?

Mrs. CLARKE: I believe Mr. Keeler is referring to the inclusion of Alexis Vainio in your medical trials. Your niece, yes? You have to admit that’s not normal practice.