Grimoires and Where to Find Them by Raconteur, Honor (best affordable ebook reader .TXT) 📗

until he’d locked properly onto the location of the scent. Without hesitation, he reached up on his hind legs and pawed at a rolltop desk, currently closed and locked.

“Here.”

I pulled a wand from my pocket, flipped my notebook to a blank page, and enacted a diagnostic spell. “Reveal elements.”

The result alarmed me. I saw a breakdown of magical ink leaking from underneath the closed rolltop, signs of two magical elements bleeding into each other so badly I couldn’t quite discern what I was looking at. The air was charged with such chaotic power that I feared even standing this close to it. I immediately bent and scooped Phil up before darting back out of the room.

Phil’s face tilted up to look at me. “Bad, Henri?”

“Very much so, especially for you. I don’t want you stepping back into that room until I say so, alright?”

“Okay.” He put a paw on my chest to keep himself upright, content for me to carry him about.

I immediately went on a hunt for Jamie, who was in Walcott’s office, going through his drawers. She glanced up at my entrance.

“Hey, I found a client list. We’ll definitely need to sit down and go through it.”

“Jamie, I need that warrant extended if it doesn’t cover us breaking through locks,” I informed her tersely.

She stopped rifling immediately, head popping up. “Why?”

“There’s a rolltop desk in the file room leaking magic at a volatile rate. I must get in there to contain it.”

“Craaaap. Okay, hand me Phil. The warrant covers us breaking stuff to get to files, so I think you’re good.” She reached out both hands for the kitten.

I promptly handed him over and said, “Do not let anyone else into the file room until I’ve cleared it.”

“Yeah, go, go.”

I went, not quite at a jog, hurrying back into the room. I closed the door firmly behind me and immediately put up a ward on the walls and door. Nothing in here would affect Jamie—it would slough right off her like water on a duck’s back. I’d seen her wade through magical auras thicker than this without blinking an eye. But it would impact everyone else, and I didn’t want my coworkers to become ill.

With the ward in place, I could breathe a little easier. I had my bag in here with me, stuffed with items I considered to be beneficial to keep on hand just in case. And it was one of those moments when my preparations proved to be handy. I drew out two bags to contain volatile magic—the same type of bag we’d used for the bad charms in an earlier case. With a containment bag in one hand, I hit the rolltop desk with an unlocking spell.

It popped open immediately, and it was with due caution that I used the tip of my wand to encourage the rolltop to go up.

The first sight of the desk made me hiss.

It was a good thing Walcott had run. If I’d seen this when he was still on the premises, I would have flayed him alive. As soon as we caught him, I still would. How dare he do something not only so senseless but so stupid?!

There was a knock at the door. “Henri, I see the ward, I won’t enter, but at least tell me what you’re seeing?”

Of course Jamie would follow me, worried.

“Walcott was cutting apart a grimoire on this desk.”

A startled beat, then her voice went into the same octave as screeching Felixes. “He was WHAT?!”

“You heard me. He was cutting the charm designs out, it seems. There’s a stack of cut pages off to one side. No wonder the blasted thing is leaking magic all over the place. He’s destroyed the integrity of the binding.”

“Can you do something about it?”

“Fortunately, I have the right bags on me. I can bag this up, clear the area of residual magic, and make it safe for people to enter again. Just give me a few minutes.”

“Sure, sure. I’ll stand guard out here just in case. He’s okay, Phil, he’s done stuff like this before.”

Ahh, so my feline friend was also concerned. I did adore that boy.

I didn’t want to worry them further, so I moved efficiently, first pulling on gloves. I didn’t think we’d need much in the way of fingerprints here, but the gloves were also warded to protect my hands. With those on, I approached the first page with caution.

It wasn’t just a charm he’d cut out. It was a cut-out charm resting on a hex design—the magic of both were bleeding together, the charm and hex activating each other’s magic in the worst ways. I gingerly reached for one, trying not to rub the pages together, as that would only aggravate the situation. Like rubbing oil onto embers.

My efforts failed. The charm page was stuck to the hex, enough cling to it that it didn’t lift freely off. Oh no—dark magic, no—

The two combined magics lit in a combustive burst of magic and flame. I threw myself backwards, letting go of both, landing hard on the carpet with a wince I barely registered. I threw up a personal shield, then hastily beat at my own forehead, as I felt heat lingering there. My eyebrows! I think it singed my eyebrows.

Now this was really, truly beyond the pale. To be injured while exercising caution! Walcott and I would have words, no doubt about it.

I rolled to my feet, as I had no time to be sitting here complaining, and threw a quick magical-suppression spell on the burning pages. I had to stop the flames before they destroyed the evidence and possibly burned down the building. The explosion had simmered into a smaller fire, something contained to the desk, so I was able to put it out well enough. Although that left a good portion of the evidence now half-burnt.

Curses. Well, enough remained that I thought I’d be able to write a report and still use this as evidence. Although I’d likely get teased for