Chapter 34

Centralmarket District, Oldtown

“Would. You. For the Love of All. Please. Shut Up.” Elisabeth was two steps beyond irritated.

All three of them were having trouble dealing with the after-effects of the spell Elisabeth had cast. Niamh and Katherine had been bickering ever since they left the room that had imprisoned them. The problem was that now they all could sense exactly where the others were. That sensation was playing havoc with their balance. To make matters worse, they tended to get anxious when they were too far apart. As a result, Katherine kept stepping on Elisabeths’s heels and Niamh kept crowding her.

Elisabeth was more than a little embarrassed at the comical spectacle they were making when she noticed two street kids giggling when Niamh and Katherine tripped each other and knocked over a basket seller’s cart in the middle of Centralmarket.

A feeling of budding frustration swept over her. A glance at Niamh’s face told her where it was coming from.

“Niamh, you can’t shift here. You’ll cause a panic.”

Niamh looked surprised. “I wasn’t...”

“Yes, you were. I felt it too.” Katherine snapped. Then she looked thoughtful. “This is really going to take some getting used to, isn’t it? Niamh, where on earth did you get that stupid sword? It keeps tripping me.”

“Lan left it,” Niamh said. “The bank is up there, just around the corner. Let’s get this over with so we can get back to normal.”

Elisabeth didn’t think that this was a good time to remind her that the melding was permanent. So, she walked on, trying to come up with a plan to rid the bank of the hex. It irritated her that the other two seemed to have absolute faith that she could do it. She had no clue. She had tried everything. And nothing she had read from the scroll had been helpful.

After she collected her animal companions and endured a “Fledging. Disappointed I am” from Nevermore. They walked across the street to the bank.

The Orgoth, the butler, met them at the entrance. He seemed pathetically happy to see her. “Very good, Mistress. Very good indeed. The spell has grown. It has taken one more level since you were here last.”

“What I’d like to know is. What happened to your security?” Niamh growled.

“I beg your pardon...”

“Never mind Master Orgoth,” Katherine interrupted. “Where is your mistress, Guang Pang?”

“Unfortunately, she is indisposed at the moment. I will show you to your task.”

He led them through the marble halls of the bank to the stairway that let down to the vaults. Elisabeth had the raven perched on her shoulder and Buttons was in her carrier. The raven kept ruffling his feathers but was mercifully silent as they proceeded.

Elisabeth was again thinking about how much adventure sucked. Regular people didn’t appreciate what a luxury boredom was. Here she was, a classic regular person who should be at home baking muffins. Instead, she was trapped in another dimension, tasked with unraveling a diabolical hex. Doubt nagged. She’d tried once before and failed, now even with the help of the scroll, she couldn’t see a way to succeed.

The orc stopped one floor short of the vault.

“We can go no further, Mistress. The spell is now just below us.”

She nodded.

The three of them stared at the swirling grey fog.

“What’s that sound?” Niamh asked.

“That’s the screams of last person who tried to banish this hex,” Elisabeth said absently.

Niamh paled.

Elisabeth chalked a large circle and a pentagram on the floor.

“Come in here with me. Be careful not to step on the lines.”

The two crowded in sat cross-legged positioning themselves back to back like the leaves of a three-leafed clover.

Elisabeth sensed Niamh’s rising paniShe had the shifter-kin’s instinctive fear of magic. Buttons moved from her lap onto Niamh’s. She began to purr. The three women immediately relaxed into their centers.

Elisabeth grasped the first glowing strand and started untangling.

“Sweet mother,” Niamh whispered, “is this what you harmonizers do? That thing is the most beautiful-awful thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Don’t talk,” Katherine whispered. “The last thing you want to do is break her concentration and have the hex pull us in like it did the last harmonizer.”

Once again, Elisabeth followed the strands of magic. Once again, she got lost,