When I opened the front door a slip of paper that had been stuck in the doorframe came loose and drifted to the floor. It was a note from Bill. He’d fixed all the missing tiles on the roof and was going to start tomorrow on replastering the ceilings that had been damaged by the leaks. He’d also noticed that my gutters needed cleaning and had taken care of that. As I looked around the foyer I saw that he’d picked up the mail and put it neatly on the foyer table. Upstairs I discovered that he’d swept up the plaster dust that had fallen from the ceilings and mopped the floors in the hall and my bedroom. I turned on the water for the bathtub and discovered there was plenty of hot water.

While the bath was filling I sat down at my desk and picked up Wheelock. I looked through the index for door opening spells, but found only a spell to bar your door from intruders, which was called a ward, and a whole section on threshold gnomes that was fascinating (apparently their function as guardians went back to a treaty made in Prague in the fourteenth century), but not helpful in keeping the door to Faerie open. Most of the spells about doors had to do with keeping people from coming through them, not keeping them open.

While I was flipping through the book I came across a section on correlative spells. There was something I’d been trying to remember about them last night when Duncan was explaining how to shape shift. I reread the section carefully.

“The most powerful – and dangerous – form of correlative magic is when a witch creates a bond between herself and the object or person she wishes to control1 …”

The sound of lapping water interrupted my reading. Crap! The bathtub was overflowing. That was all I needed after all the water damage the house had already suffered. I rushed into the bathroom, turned off the tap, and unplugged the drain to let out some water. The water felt deliciously hot. I’d finish reading Wheelock later. I undressed and got into the tub, sinking gratefully up to the nape of my neck. I felt all the sore spots from last night’s run through the woods un-tensing. I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the cool porcelain rim of the tub.