Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 113319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Indigo, who was staying back with the part of our crew that would remain hidden, could fix Austin up if I couldn’t. She’d had experience at the last battle. As for the magic…
“That ward is only good if it has more power than I do, correct?” I asked as the man who had to be the butler—one who lacked fluttering wings and was probably well trained at his job—stepped back and out of the way.
“Yes, madam,” he answered.
“She would like to be called miss, actually,” Mr. Tom interjected from the back of our party, waiting on the walkway to approach. “I tried ‘madam’ in the beginning as well. No go. You’ll learn.”
I was suddenly so glad he’d be guarding the door and not inside with the rest of us.
“Okay, let’s do this.” I went to step forward, but Austin put out his hand, his humor utterly draining away, his gaze on the butler.
“I’ll go first, Jess.” He pulled his arm from me and stepped. Almost in unison, Tristan stepped up to take his place at my side. Broken Sue pushed in close behind me, the three of them protecting me from all angles as if I weren’t the one with magic in this outfit. Fine. It meant it would be easier for me to drape us all in a defensive spell. Thanks to Ivy House’s collection of magical books, I now had a whole lot of those.
“How many staff did you say you had?” Austin asked, putting out his hand for me once he’d crossed the threshold. I took it, letting him softly tug me in after him.
“I do not have the exact number, sir,” the butler replied as I crossed the spell, feeling the magic slide softly over my skin.
“This wouldn’t have stripped me of a spell,” I mused, turning back to look at the doorframe. “It needs more punch. It’s not grabby enough. Even with less power I could have devised something to slip past this.”
“I think you do,” Austin told the butler.
“Thirty-two, in total.” A straight-backed man entered from a doorway on the left of what looked like a marble mausoleum, with marble pillars, floor, stairs—the works. His belly stuck out and a little black mustache lined his upper lip, curled at the corners. His gray hair was parted down the middle and a diamond sparkled from one ear. He wore a plain brown suit of excellent quality but no embellishments, which I found odd, given his choice of facial hair. Maybe that was his thing. His eccentric flair. The other was the cane he carried instead of used, and if it didn’t have a sword you could pull out of the base, it was a waste of a party prop.
“They are all magical,” he said, stopping about twenty feet from us and popping the cane tip off the floor. “Twenty-six of them, however, including Roberts there, don’t have much power.”
“He doesn’t care about the magic—he cares about how many people will be wielding silver-tipped weapons,” I said. “But it’s fine. If they try to attack him, our people will kill you all. What’s the story with this door ward, though? I don’t get the point. Can’t people just do magic once they get inside?”
A silent beat passed as he surveyed me, and I felt very self-conscious about the stupid dress.
“The point of the ward is to expose anyone trying to hide something,” he finally said. “Like people with an invisibility potion.”
“Ah.” I nodded. “And have you applied it on all the doors and windows in the house, or just this front door?”
Again the silent beat. “Front, back, and side doors. Did you plan on sneaking people in?”
“If I did, they could just come through the front door, because that ward is pretty ineffective. If you want to be thorough, you should really do all the doors and windows.”
“They are all locked.”
“Locks don’t matter for people who have soundproofing spells and can break a window without being noticed. One of the heirs through the ages must’ve been a thief. I have a lot of magical spells for breaking and entering now. Anyway, no biggie. I was just getting the lay of the land.”
His staring was starting to get annoying.
“You think you could get through that ward with magic?” he finally asked.
“Of course, but I didn’t bring any potions or anything to prove it. I don’t know how to do the ageless stuff, either. As you know, I’m new to magic. I’ve only focused on learning the useful stuff. Attack and defense. Breaking and entering. Well…and some horrible spells to get people to talk. Nothing that’s good for dinner parties, basically. I could just fire a spell through it, if you’d like?”
My God, this guy had slow response times.
“No, that’s okay. I’ll take your word for it. Please, let’s see the people you’ve brought.”