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"Hang on," I said, looking around the room for some way to help. This room seriously needed to be outfitted with a few more weapons.
Killian launched into solution mode, tearing through the lace covered furniture to see if he could find the source or a solution. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my silver stake. I began jabbing it into the energy sphere like I was picking ice.
And as if things weren't bad enough, Mom shouted, "Is everything alright up there?"
"YES!" both Mindy and I called down.
"Don't tell Mom! You can get me out of this, right?" she asked. Her voice was muffled even though she was standing just a few inches from me.
"I think so," I replied, holstering my stake.
"I should have bought you a second one of those," she stated.
"Won't help here," I answered. I placed my hands on the bubble and felt the energy. "Talk to me as I work, Mindy. Tell me what happened."
"It is all those wards that Pipistrelle put up," she replied. "I was feeling like maybe we could do with a few less. Choking hazard and all."
I nodded in understanding. There was a LOT of tatted lace in the nursery. Like, even the diaper wipes had a cozy.
"But I touched this one and suddenly, I was trapped in this bubble. Maybe it's something that Pipistrelle put up to keep the bad guys away? I can't keep track of all he's up to."
"It would get a bit awkward to get trapped if there was a baby crying in the crib."
"Tell me about it," she groaned. And then, sighed in defeat. "Maybe we need to get Pipistrelle. See if he can free me from his ward."
We both cringed.
"I'm not telling him," I said. She stared me down. "Listen, I will sacrifice you to the Dark Dimension before I hurt Pipistrelle's feelings. Especially if we can avoid it."
"He went out to get ice cream," Killian informed us, giving us a good excuse.
"You didn't let him drive, did you? He can't really reach the pedals," Mindy chided.
"Oh, look! Perhaps there is something over here!" Killian said, looking for a way to avoid the question.
"At least you know he was putting together some good protections for you," I offered, trying to find some bright side to this darkness. I began looking around the room, feeling where the energy was coming from. It was so faint for a ward throwing off that kind of power, but I found it. "There..." I said, pointing at it for Killian.
Pipistrelle had tatted lace runners to cover all the hard corners of the furniture. Mindy probably just brushed up against it without thinking and activated it.
"Are you sure?" Killian asked, flexing his fingers.
I knelt down and peered at it. There were energy markings all over it and I could feel the spells cast into the threads.
So, listen, as far as official duties go at The M-Team, I handle the monsters. Killian handles the magic. His senses being dulled means that I had to do more of the early identification work, but Killian was like a one-man bomb disposal team when it came to knowing which metaphysical wires to cut to defuse a spell.
"You're up, partner," I said.
"Do not tell Pipistrelle I ruined his art, all right?" he made Mindy promise.
"Don't tell him I was in the process of ruining his art when he caught me," she replied.
"Deal," Killian said, ready to shake on it except there was an energy bubble in the way, so he and Mindy just did an air high-five in their respective spaces.
Ideally, we'd do this out under an old oak tree amidst a salt ring. Lacking that, I found a potted rubber tree plant in Mindy's hallway and a bottle of lavender-scented Epson salts in the bathroom. Not quite the same, but you work with what you got.
Mindy shook her head with sadness. "Those were so expensive..." she sighed wistfully as I poured the bottle around the furniture.
I picked up the froofy corner guard with the tip of my silver stake. I could feel the current buzzing through the metal. Holding it out, Killian braced a foot against mine to ground himself. His fingers deftly found the knot as his lips murmured a counterspell.
Killian had always wanted to be an artist, but elfin art holds power. Casting and weaving takes on a whole new meaning in an elfin arts and crafts class. He might not have been able to pursue his dream job, but his innate talent was pretty frickin' impressive. You think sorting out the necklaces in a jewelry drawer is hardcore, I watched as Killian found the hidden end, rolled it in his fingers, and then carefully unknotted the mess. Sweat prickling on his brow, he picked his way through the knots and ever so slowly, unraveled the hex.
The prison around Mindy began disappearing like someone was pulling on the thread of a sweater.
"Oh thank the gods," she said, dropping and rolling awkwardly out of the bottom of the trap. "I thought I was going to be stuck in there until I gave birth."
"It appears we will not have to call the midwife," I congratulated her, as Killian and I took her by the hand and elbow and helped her up.
"We have cake! And Pipistrelle just returned with the ice cream!" Mom called. There was a pause. "Girls! Are you sure everything is okay up there?"
"JUST GREAT!" we shouted back at her.
I could hear her mutter something to Pipistrelle and then the scamper of Pipistrelle's little scampery feet as they ran up the stairs. He walked into the room, catching us with a pile of yarn in the middle of a bath salt circle and half a hex hovering midair.
"I can explain, Pipistrelle," I started, quickly scooping up the pile, hoping I wasn't going to have to deal with a brownie breakdown.
But instead, he just pointed to the bubble. "What is that?"
"One of your wards...?" Mindy gently reminded him.
But Pipistrelle shook his head, mystified, and then pointed at the thread in my hands. "I did not place that work that the Mighty Maggie MacKay is unspooling." His breath caught in his throat as he clasped his hands together under his chin. "She has saved us all again!"
Killian looked at me and raised an eyebrow.
"We should DEFINITELY have some of that cake and ice cream to celebrate!" I said, trying to distract the brownie.
"But let's keep this a secret!" Mindy cautioned.
Pipistrelle nodded with solemn understanding. "Not a word."
"Great! Now, go get ready! And I want to see all the stuff you bought for the shower, too! I left a box by the basement." I decided not to share that I had, in fact, thrown it beside the basement steps. Here's hoping there wasn't anything breakable inside.
"I am on it!" Pipistrelle pronounced.
As soon as he left, Mindy, Killian, and I huddled around the lace.
Mindy touched it worriedly. "How did they manage to get past all the wards?" she asked.
"Something must have broken the threshold," I said, shaking my head. "Maybe a vamp in disguise?"
Killian cleared his throat guiltily. "Or a Shadow Elf who cannot be barred by undead protections?"
I rocked back on my heels. "Shit," I said, looking at Killian. "Do you think this was a trap for one of us?"
Killian rubbed his face. "It seems like something they might cast." He looked at me full of worry. "What if the Shadow Elves have found us, Maggie? What if they have found your family?"
The implications were too huge to even comprehend. I shut it down before our brains could go any farther down that road. "We don't know that for sure."
"But—"
"Listen, we knew this day would come. We just need to—"
"What you NEED to do," Mindy said, stopping this whole conversation in its tracks, "is go down and eat some cake and pretend like nothing happened, because otherwise I'm going to have to deal with a full on Mom-meltdown and I am not having that today. And then you are going to plan this shower before Pipistrelle builds a party palace ark in my backyard." Mindy took the hex and tossed it into the trash.
I pulled it out and shoved it in my pocket. Can't just let these things go floating around.
"And then we save the world?" I asked.
"THEN you save the world."