Rory could almost taste the magic in the air, his skin prickling uncomfortably like he was being stuck all over with needles. The Venom Dagger’s jewels were glowing. “It might be working,” he whispered.

“It feels like a current’s running through me,” Ellis ground out. “So it better be.”

The hands of the siphon clock finally began to spin counterclockwise, achingly slowly at first, then moving faster and faster. The sensation of needles on Rory’s skin grew stronger, his blood tugged at uncomfortably, like a too-strong magnet coming for his veins.

Rory watched, holding his breath, as the jewels on the dagger’s hilt began to dim—

The siphon clock abruptly stopped.

Then all of the hands suddenly spun clockwise, so fast Rory could hear them whirring.

Ellis gasped.

“No,” Rory said desperately, holding Ellis’s hand down as magic poured the wrong direction. “No, wait, that’s not right—Ellis, the clock, focus on the clock—”

But it was too late.

Ellis’s eyes flew open. He yanked his hand off the siphon clock, out of Rory’s grip, and stared at his wedding band.

Rory threw up his hands and cursed. Loudly. “I told you to concentrate on the clock!”

Zhang’s astral projection suddenly flickered into view. “What’s going on?” he asked, just as a stampeding of feet came from the landing.

The door flew open. “Teddy,” Arthur barked out, Jade and Gwen behind him. “Are you all right—”

“No, I’m not all right!” Rory pointed at Ellis. “I told him to take off that gold ring but this jackass wouldn’t listen!”

He stormed closer to Ellis, the magical discharge in the air making his teeth hurt. “I was trying to siphon the magic out of your dagger and into the air. I was trying to destroy it. But you wouldn’t listen, and you let all that magic pour into the gold instead, and now we haven’t destroyed anything, we just transferred it and made a new Venom Dagger relic out of your ring!”

There was a collective wince.

“Oh Lord,” Jade muttered. “Well... I suppose we’re not worse off.”

“Maybe it’s a step up?” Zhang said weakly. “He can’t stab people with a ring.”

Ellis spread his hands innocently. “I can’t stab people with a ring.”

“Shut up,” Rory snapped at Ellis. He stood up and spun away. “Ace, I told him—”

“Rory, you’re irritable because of the magic still dancing around the room,” Gwen said, far too reasonably. “I feel it on my skin as well; it’s very aggravating. That’s why you’re overreacting.”

“I’m not overreacting!” And okay, yes, he was, but Rory also had good reasons to be angry. “How I’m acting isn’t the point anyway; the problem is Ellis being unable to follow simple directions. What’s wrong with him?”

“Ouch,” Ellis muttered.