“The house looks spic-and-span,” Diane said. “Better than mine, in fact, which reminds me; I should be getting Dr. Laird’s room ready and baking some scones for tea. A British wizard will expect a real high tea.”

“He’ll also expect that you know the basics of magical history,” Liz said to me, unloading a stack of books onto my kitchen table. “I’ve brought you Wheelock’s Spellcraft and LaFleur’s History of Magic, Volumes I through V. Try to skim through them today, would you? We don’t want him to think we American witches have no standards.”

“But he knows I’m a beginner, right?” I asked as I followed Liz and Diana to the front door.

Diana and Liz exchanged a guilty look. “Not exactly. We told him you had an unusual energy signature and had short-circuited our circle. He was … intrigued.”

Great, I thought, Liz had made me sound like an interesting lab rat. But what difference did it make what Duncan Laird thought of me? The important thing was to gain enough power to bring Brock back from Niflheim and keep the door open.

“Have you heard anything more from the governing board of IMP?” I asked on the porch.

Liz sighed. “I spoke last night to Lydia Markham at Mt. Holyrood. She’s always been a great supporter of the fey, but she was evasive when I asked how she planned to vote. Then I did a little snooping on the web and discovered that an anonymous benefactor has just given a huge bequest to fund a new science lab for Mt. Holyrood. I hate to say it, but I’m afraid Lydia’s vote might have been bought.”

“That’s awful,” I said. “But there are still two more members of the board who are pro-fey, aren’t there?”

“Yes, Talbot Greeley in Literature at Bard. He’s an Irish Cluricaune who did his DMA dissertation on the fey influence on Shakespeare. And Loomis Pagan, a pixy in Gender Studies at Wesleyan. I think we can count on Talbot, but I’m not sure of Loomis. To tell you the truth, I never understand a word she’s saying. Even if she speaks up for the fey her argument is likely to be so incoherent that she’ll do our case more harm than good.” Liz got into her car, shaking her head. “Our best bet is to make sure that no matter how the vote goes you can prevent them from closing the door.”

After Liz drove away I stood on the porch thinking about what I could do to help. It didn’t sound as if we were going to be able to count on support from IMP. If only we knew for sure what the Grove was up to … Then I remembered I did have a source at the Grove who might be able to help. I went inside and called Jen Davies.