Grimoires and Where to Find Them by Raconteur, Honor (ebook reader for laptop .txt) 📕

other. Meet me back at Denton Street when you finish interviewing Maslin.

“Niamh, Gerring, I want to play a hunch. Hit up the hospitals, see if anyone by the name of Samuel Laughlin or Searle Massimo was admitted. If he’s been in and out of his apartment, he’d have been hit with a strong dose of magic cocktail before anyone else. Surely he’s suffering from side effects.”

Gerring let out an ooh. “That’s a great idea. We’ll see if he’s gone to any of the hospitals.”

“Thanks. Disperse, and report in regularly.”

Gerring and Niamh gave a nod before they were out the door. I paused a moment to message Sherard, Colette, and Henri, figuring I needed to give them a head’s up. They might or might not want me in the building. Depends on how bad it was inside.

Coming your way.

My pad beeped with a message that Jamie was downstairs. I was heartily glad to take a break, and we all trooped down the three flights, weary beyond belief and absolutely famished.

My better half, bless every strand on her head, had grabbed us all lunch before coming to meet us. After using our magic for four straight hours, trying to mitigate the effects of the room, we were all drained and in need of refreshment.

Jamie had snagged a table from somewhere and spread our lunch out on top of it. Sandwiches, chips, cookies, glass bottles of water—it all looked splendid. I greeted her with a smile.

“Thank you, my dear.” Oh, dear, my voice sounded froggy. Was I that dehydrated?

She gave me a once-over, then did the same to the others. “Yeah, you guys could definitely use a break. Why don’t you sit in the cars, give your feet a rest?”

“Sounds like heaven,” Colette sighed.

We lined up at the table, selecting food to take with us to the cars. As we did so, Jamie asked the group in general, “How much is left?”

“Half the room,” Seaton answered, the exhaustion evident in his voice. “We had several volumes so volatile that we couldn’t just cram them into a bag. Jere and I were forced to stop and craft something stronger to hold them before we could trust them in one of his temporary holding boxes.”

Jere grunted sourly. “Even the Reaper’s Set wasn’t this bad. And they were in poor condition when I first laid hands on them. I think the problem children are the oldest of the collection—the ones that have been together longest. That’s why they’re bleeding into each other so badly.”

A guess that was probably not far off the mark. “I wish dearly we had found the Reaper’s Set up there.”

“I looked very carefully at every grimoire and didn’t see them. Unless they’re buried in a stack somewhere, I don’t think they’re up there. RM Seaton even threw out seeking spells, and they still didn’t show up in the flat, so I really don’t think they’re there. And I’m honestly rather glad, as I shudder to think of what they’d have done in that insanity.”

I grunted in agreement. He had a point there. Although, I still wished we’d managed to lay hands on those missing grimoires.

A problem for a different day. Certainly not today. I collected my sandwich, chips, two cookies—I had more than earned my sugar—and a bottle of water before heading to the passenger seat of my car.

I let Jamie catch up with the others as I ate. I did feel slightly better but not replenished. The magical drain of working in that apartment was not so easily restored. Between bagging up grimoires and maintaining my protection hex, I had very little magical power at this point. My magical core was smarting, in fact, from the constant drain over the past four hours. Really, all I wanted was a nap.

And a bath.

I, in fact, fantasized about the bath.

Oh, but nap. Nap sounded quite appealing as well.

“Henri. Henri?”

Someone’s calling me. I turned my head a little and smiled at her, this beautiful woman whom I loved, and who loved me. Why was she looking at me in concern, though?

“Is something wrong, my dear?”

“You are really out of it,” she informed me.

“Out of what?”

“I mean, honey, that you are at zombie stage. I think if I let you sit for five seconds, you’re going to fall asleep on me.”

I blinked at her, the thought crystallizing. “Oh. Can I have a nap, then?”

“You’re at that stage, huh?” Shaking her head, she turned and called, “Sherard! I think we better do an exchange of the guard. You guys are wiped.”

Seaton didn’t trot over (no one had the energy for that), but he did come to stand at her side, looking at me, the person slowly becoming fused with the car seat. He seemed ready to object until he saw me, then his lips pursed.

“You see?” Jamie responded as if he’d said something aloud. “And the others aren’t much better. You’re looking like you want a nap, for that matter.”

“Don’t bring up naps,” he whined at her. “Gods, I’d kill for one. But I am worried about Davenforth and Colette, especially. They’ve been pushing themselves to keep pace with us, and they just don’t have the magical power to do that. But…we’re halfway done.”

“Like I said, change of the guards,” she repeated patiently. “You guys are seriously done-in. You are all so tired at this point you’re likely to make mistakes. Let me call in Jules, yeah? And some of the other kingsmen. We’ll switch you guys out, let everyone here rest. I think that’s a better option than running you into magical exhaustion or making a serious mistake that blows the building up.”

I may have wanted a nap, but I was still awake enough to take in her point and agree with it. “Seaton, she speaks sense. I honestly don’t know if my legs will carry me back up those stairs.”

“Yes.” He sighed heavily. “My own are protesting just as loudly. I hate leaving matters half-finished. And Jules Felix couldn’t move fast even