“Aaah!” Reflexively, Han threw up his left arm to protect his head and face. Leathery skin brushed over him. Bats smacked into him and dropped to the floor, straightening their wings, looking bewildered.

Dancer seized hold of the lantern and swung it in a wide arc, forcing the rodents back. Han joined him in his corner, and they put their backs to the walls.

Rats and mice slipped past Dancer’s lantern, swarming over Han’s feet, sinking their razor-sharp teeth into his ankles. The magic was real. The magic had crossed over. And it was anchored to him.

Han danced from one foot to the other, trying to shake off the rodents climbing his breeches. He extended his hand, meaning to channel power into the teeming hordes. Then he remembered he was in the wood-and-stone bell tower of Mystwerk Hall and risked setting it aflame in the process.

Taking hold of the amulet again, Han spoke the thorn-hedge charm, spinning in a circle. A thicket of thorns arose all around them, so tight and impenetrable that the rats impaled themselves on the thorns. Dancer stomped the few rats that had slipped through while Han swatted at the bats that still spiraled down from above.

“Good job,” Crow said in Han’s ear, his voice low and amused. “Very creative. Now make them go away.” He followed up with the charm, spoken through Han’s lips.

The heaving sea of rodents drained away into the walls, as though someone had pulled a stopper plug. Moments later, Han and Dancer were alone in the bell tower, surrounded on three sides by a thorn hedge, ringed by rat corpses.

Han’s heart pounded, his shirt soaked with sweat. He slid down the wall until his backside hit the stone floor.

Crow whispered in his ear again. “Tomorrow night. Midnight. Same place. And, please…build up a little more power in your amulet next time. We have lots to do and we need to work fast.”

And then he was gone.

“Hunts Alone?” Dancer knelt next to him. “What in the name of Hanalea’s blood and bones was that all about?”

Han scraped his damp hair off his forehead and sat thinking until his breathing steadied and his heart slowed. He looked up at Dancer and smiled. “I think I know how to solve our burglar problem,” he said.

C H A P T E R  E I G H T E E N

ABELARD’S
CREW

Abelard’s crew of exceptional students met in the dean’s office, familiar to Han from his previous visit. Chairs ringed a polished wood table in a plush meeting room with a view of the river. Refreshments were set out under the window.