“Thanks for keeping me company,” I said, knowing that he had a half-day shift at the university tomorrow and a night shift at the museum. If he didn’t leave soon, he wouldn’t get any sleep before he had to go to work.

Nick glanced at the black hallway as he sat down on his stool with a bag of chips. “I was hoping to be here when Ivy came back. Why don’t you spend the night at my house?”

My lips curled in a smile. “I’ll be fine. She won’t come home until she’s calmed down. But if you’re going stay for a while, how about sketching some pentagrams for me?”

The crackle of plastic stopped. Nick looked at my black paper and silver chalk stacked suspiciously on the counter, then to me. Amusement lit his eyes, and he finished rolling down the edges of the bag. “I’m not going to do your homework, Ray-ray.”

“I know what they look like,” I protested, putting the clippings of my hair into the spell pot and pushing them down with my ceramic spoon until they sank. “I promise I’ll copy them myself later. But if I don’t hand them in tomorrow, she’ll flunk me and Edden will deduct the cost of tuition from my fee. It’s not fair, Nick. The woman has it in for me!”

Nick ate a chip, skepticism pouring from him. “You know them?” I nodded, and he wiped his hand on his jeans before pulling my textbook closer. “All right,” he challenged as he tilted the book so I couldn’t see. “What does a pentagram of protection look like?”

My breath escaped me in a relieved whoosh, and I added the sanicle decoction I’d prepared earlier. “Standard graph with two braided lines in the outer circle.”

“Okay…How about divination?”

“New moons sketched at the points, and a mobius strip in the center for balance.”

The amused glint in Nick’s eye turned to surprise. “Summoning?” he prompted.

I smiled and dropped the pulped wild geranium into the brew. The bits of green hung suspended as if the water were a gel. Cool. “Which one? Summoning internal power or a physical entity?”

“Both.”

“Internal power has acorns and oak leaves in the midpoints, and summoning an entity uses a Celtic chain binding the points.” Smug at his obvious surprise, I adjusted the flame under the pot and dug in my silverware drawer for a finger stick.

“Okay. I’m impressed.” The book slipped down and he grabbed a handful of chips.

“You’ll copy them for me?” I asked, delighted.

“Promise you’ll do them yourself later?”