She did exactly what Mila expected her to do. She turned and bolted. No doubt she’d go running back to Vegre to tell the tale, which was precisely the point.
Tal had raised his hand to catch Alexy’s eye, who noticed and started weaving through the crowd toward them. “Well, that was fun … but I don’t know what good it did. Now they have time to prepare.”
She nodded and stood, smoothing her dress as she did. She suddenly felt a little more confident. “Yep. And now they
have
to prepare. Nothing like forcing the opponent to put their defensive squad on the field to keep the score down.” She had no idea whether Tal followed football up here, but if he’d been stationed here at one point, he should at least understand the reference.
He raised his brows and nodded with a surprised expression that soon turned to admiration. “They’ll split their resources. If they believe the
duszats
are at the house, they’ll
have
to send someone there, and will probably send quite a few to effect a search before the police can arrive. I notice you didn’t mention the defensive spells I laid.”
Mila opened her mouth as though surprised. “Oh,
didn’t
I? How careless of me.” A small chuckle escaped her. “Frankly, I’d
love
to be there to see the bedroom door slapping one of them around. Those are damned heavy things. Maybe it’ll even be Sela.”
Tal likewise chuckled just as Alexy joined them and then spoke to him. “What news do you bring, old friend?”
They clasped forearms in greeting. “Kris has been trying to reach you. Seems she can’t get through to flash your mark—keeps getting feedback and static, like her call is just bouncing off. I expect it’s a result of your new power.” He tipped his head to Mila, taking in her outfit with an appreciative glance. “Amazing talent of yours, Mila. When this is done, I’m sure the kings will be courting your favor. That is—” he amended, “if Tal doesn’t blow himself up first. Try not to get startled again.” He jerked a thumb toward Tal with a grim smile. “Nearly took off our heads, he did, when we first arrived. We barely got shields up in time and the basement still smells of smoke. We had to take away his focus in self-defense.”
She didn’t really hear much after the kings wanting her favor, and just nodded blankly. She hadn’t even considered the possibility of what it would
mean
that she fixed Tal’s mark. While it was flattering, it was also worrying. “Do we
have
to tell them? I can’t imagine a
king
would be willing to take no for an answer.”
He shrugged noncommitally. “I’ve no idea. But I’ll keep it mum if you wish. Though I think you’re a bit crackers to not take advantage of it. You could have your heart’s desire, just for the askin.”
“The only
desire
I have right now is waking up tomorrow, safe in my bed. Is Baba okay? Has she been healed?” She realized she was twisting her fingers nervously, and shook them to make herself stop. Part of it might have been that Alexy’s other comment had finally sunk home. They’d taken Tal’s focus away because he couldn’t control his new power. It was a side effect that had never occurred to her. He’d spent most of the day working with both focus gloves and was damned glad she hadn’t gotten the extra option of the smoke detector with the security system. As it was, he’d been concentrating so hard he hadn’t noticed the several small fires he’d started in various places, and she had to take to keeping a bucket of dirt from the backyard handy. No way was she going to spray a fire extinguisher around the house or drown the expensive antiques until she had a deed in her hot little hand.
Alexy nodded but his face didn’t light up with relief which dragged her attention back to him. His expression went blankly serious, and Tal reached around her to pull her close. Mila let him—drew on his strength to hear the news. “She’s not out of the woods, not by any means. She’s stable, because the physical damage was quite easy to repair. But some of the curses they laid on her were bloody complicated. The healers fear that even a simple counterspell will set off something else, like triggering a bomb in a crowded market. It might be that Vegre
wanted
you to find her. We just don’t know yet.”
That made her think. “It’s possible. I didn’t get that impression from Sela just now, but I suppose
she
might not know the entire plan, either. Once a betrayer, always one, so Vegre might be keeping her out of the whole plan.”
That made Alexy look around with an angry expression. “You’ve seen Sela, then? Where is that traitorous witch?”
Mila pointed up to the balcony. “You just missed her. And she knows you’re here. Spotting you is what made her bolt.”
Alexy snorted and clenched his fists. “She
should
run. She knows I’d bury her alive and leave her there.”
Tal was tapping her on the shoulder with the hand around her. She looked up at him, but he was staring off into space, which didn’t surprise her. She’d noticed that habit today while they were making plans—deciding who would do what. She nudged him with her hip. “What are you thinking?”
He jumped slightly and blinked. “Hmm? Oh, um … I just tried to flash Kris and couldn’t reach her from this end, either. I tried you, too, Alexy. You didn’t get any tingle?”
Now Alexy’s brow was furrowing. “No, and that is odd. Even if the connection is fuzzy, I should get
something.
He turned his arm palm side up and stared at it. Then he shook his head.”And now I can’t reach Kris, either. But the signal was just fine outside.”
It actually made Tal smile. No, more …
grin.
“Only one thing I know that blocks mark flashing.”
Alexy clapped Tal on the shoulder, also grinning. “Squelk. He’s got squelk around here somewhere.
That
must be how he’s planning to divert the magma.”
She must have looked as confused as she felt, because Tal turned to her, his face animated. “Sometimes when you alter nature with magic, odd things happen. One of those things is squelk. They’re big and tame, like cattle, except during rut. Then they chatter to attract each other, so high pitched our ears can’t hear it. But the magic we use to contact others through our marks is affected.”
Alexy nodded, tapping his hand on his leg. “And they chatter
constantly,
like echolocation.”
“Okay,” she said with a shrug. “So how does that help us? He couldn’t have them hidden in the hotel, cattle or not. They’re just too big. So how will knowing change anything?”
Alexy winked. “Alchemy, luv. What magic created, magic can turn. See, I worked a digging crew in my … misspent youth.”
“Community service, you’d call it here,” Tal whispered, while Alexy coughed and looked away.
“I prefer
service to the crown
. Anyway, I got familiar with how the squelk work and why dirtdogs had to be assigned to the crews.”
Tal removed his arm from around her shoulder and moved to sit down on the slatted wooden bench, still keeping his voice down because of the people walking by. “Squelk
can
dig through anything, but
won’t
go near some things. One of those things is
coal.
Whether it’s the taste, or the smell, or the feeling under their claws—nobody really knows. Dirtdogs have to either swing the squelk around the coal bands or use alchemy to turn the coal into something else.”
Now she had the idea! “And Denver used to be a swamp in prehistoric days. I’ll bet there’s coal around here somewhere.”
Alexy lifted his foot onto the bench and rested a hand on it. “I’ll be
making
the coal, luv. No need to find it.”
Then a thought occurred to her and her shoulders dropped a bit. “But coal
burns.
It might stop the squelk, but it wouldn’t stop the magma. It’d eat right through it.”
Alexy’s head nodded slowly, but he didn’t seem bothered by the idea. “Eventually, yes. But I can make the coal hard enough that it’ll be
slow.
It might take days, maybe even
weeks
to get here. Now, there’ll be some damage up here, some pavement cracking as the ground shifts, but nothing drastic. If geologists find the coal at all, it’ll only make them scratch their heads that they didn’t notice it before. But there’s plenty around here already, so it won’t be really noteworthy.” She could almost see the gears turning in his head. “I’ll need to do some probing in the basement—see if I can get to all the exterior walls to try to sense which direction they’re coming from. They could still be miles away, or right underneath. But I can’t craft the coal without some idea or I’ll wind up making the whole area settle a foot or more.”
Tal let out a slow breath and then slapped the back of his hand against Alexy’s calf. “And don’t forget that this is Vegre’s homestead. You’ll be fighting to get through that.”
“Hotnestead?” The word had a particular meaning in real estate law. but she didn’t know what it had to do with magic.
“Magic’s always more powerful in your own home.” Tal rose back to his feet, apparently getting ready to end this session. “Just like Jason could make Sybil leave his house. This hotel is
Vegre’s
house, which makes him most powerful here.”
She was trying to remember that particular moment. Mostly, she’d been concentrating on making sure Sybil didn’t attack any of them. “So Jason invoked some sort of special magic to make himself more powerful? Can Vegre do that. too?”
“He won’t need to invoke it, luv.” Alexy had likewise gotten ready to move and was smoothing his slacks. tugging them back into place. “So long as
others
acknowledge his right of ownership, there’s no need.”
Tal nodded. “Jason had to invoke it because he wasn’t the owner of the property … just a resident. You told me Vegre wormed his way in as heir so he could own this place legitimately. Once the state acknowledged his ownership, his homestead magic was secure.”
That brought back the question in her mind. “But why
this
hotel?” Again, it was rhetorical, but there had to be an answer. She looked up and around the room. There was no denying the beauty, from the waterfall to the stone walls and the stunning stained-glass windows. She stared at the small round window in the wall that matched the massive dome over the lobby. Her eyes narrowed for a moment, and she left Tal and Alexy to walk across the entry. She moved aside a couch a few inches so she could squeeze herself right next to the wall. The men followed, but she wasn’t even sure yet what she was seeing. It was a pretty mix of typical stained-glass colors, sort of in an abstract design. It wasn’t until she actually looked at the
pieces
of glass, rather than the entire window that her heart started pounding and a gasp escaped her. In that moment, a thousand tiny pieces fit together in her head, shards of information that also formed a picture. “I’ve got it! I know why he’s
here,
instead of England. I know what he’s planning!”
Tal opened his mouth and she was certain he’d have a dozen questions. But she didn’t want to lose her train of thought so she held up her hands and waved them quickly. “Shh, shh, shh. Let me talk or I’ll lose this.”
They both looked at each other for a moment, and shrugged. They sat down on the couch and simultaneously waved her to a chair. But she couldn’t sit. This was too exciting, and she began to pace. “He followed the
windows
here.” They both stared up at the little round opening of colored glass, trying to see whatever it was she was seeing. “The concierge said the stained-glass dome was made by the
finest English craftsmen.
I wondered at the time if it was really made by
crafters,
because the colors are so very similar to the farbas for pysanky. But that didn’t make any sense until I started thinking in terms of the
glass,
rather than the picture. Look at each individual shard. Stained-glass windows are
always
made from odd-shaped glass. That’s part of the charm. But these bits are in particular shapes. Look at this one.” She reached up to point, but she was too short. She looked around and pulled one of the long bird of paradise blooms from the table in front of her to use as a pointer. “Why put this bit here? It’s shaped like a butterfly wing. It doesn’t match the diamonds and triangles around it. Sure, it could be abstract, but it also could be a completely different picture, just mixed up like a jigsaw puzzle.”
Tal was struggling to understand. His frown wasn’t from anger, but from confusion. “But he couldn’t manipulate it back to the original picture with magic. I already told you we can’t do that with magic.”
“See, but with pysanky the order doesn’t matter that much. Eggshells get broken. They’re useless for healing after they break, but the pieces are still valuable. My mom always used to bury the broken shells around the house foundation as protection from evil. Like you said, it’s
intent.
Once the picture is made, it’s
made.
Forever. And what happens when you dedicate roadways, sidewalks, and easements on a triangular lot?”