“Come on,” said Kat. “It seems you’ve amplified the dark magic that’s working against my wards. We need to sort this out.”

As they made their way through the castle, Isaac saw that vines and branches trembling in the wind pressed against the windows of the castle, blocking the light. Dire wolves howled all around the outside.

Kat led them into the small library.

“I’m going to go check on the dogs,” Colin said.

“Look in on Leo and Baines, too, would you?” Kat asked. “Make sure Baines hasn’t done anything else foolish?”

Colin nodded.

Willow said with a snicker, “Baines, foolish?”

“Right. Let’s get started,” Kat said.

*   *   *

She and Amelie took turns. Kat would make a spell or Amelie would conjure the ghost cat out of thin air, and Isaac would respond and try to control the magic. After a short time, he found that if he pressed his hand to his chest, pressing the pendant against his skin, he had a stronger response.

It was a bit like trying to control lightning. Electric shocks zoomed from his feet to his head and back. But, little by little, he could grab it more easily, direct it, focus it.

He was able to make the ghost cat flicker or look more solid or freeze in place. He was able to undo one of Kat’s spells, when she made a book float and he made it crash to the floor.

“Does the kitty feel like a good ghost or a bad ghost?” Kat asked. “I’m trying to see how you can affect one or the other. Good or bad.”

“Neither,” Isaac said. “It feels like a kitty.”

Kat put her hands on her hips. “So, what does a kitty feel like?”

Isaac tried to remember the cat his neighbor had in Prague. The tabby would move along the window balconies until she came to sit at his window, taking in the sun. When she turned her green eyes on Isaac, he always felt she was watching him narrowly, with disapproval. “Like a kitty,” he said.

Amelie laughed and Kat gave her a scowl, and Isaac pointed at her expression and said, “Just like that.” Which made Amelie laugh harder.

Kat rolled her eyes and said, “Let’s try this.” She stuck her hand into her pocket and pulled out the odd silvery object.

Isaac felt the power from it at once. But this time he could focus his response and turn the pain aside. “What do you call that again?”

“A chatelaine,” Kat said. She opened her palm. Chains holding three small silver objects—a pen, a thimble, and a pair of scissors—shone in the dim light.

Isaac gritted his teeth. The chatelaine began to glow a brilliant blue, and Amelie gasped. Kat froze.

He felt the shift as he absorbed its power. The thimble. There was an aura about that thimble.