“It will, love.” Kipa softened his voice. “One thing you have to come to terms with is that we’ll never be able to stop all the bad guys—or monsters—in the world. We’ll never be able to make the world safe. There will always be monsters and pain and victims. But there will always be beauty and joy, as well. And kind hearts. Do you understand?”
I didn’t want to agree, but he made sense. “Yeah, I get it, I do. I’d rather not believe it, but you’re right. All right, now, to dislodge it you’ll need silver—how do you even take that over to the astral realm?”
“I don’t, but we’ll take a good length of silver chain and…” Kipa paused, frowning. “You know, if we bind Lenny with a silver chain, the energy will resonate through his aura. Crystals and metals—they all have an energetic component, and when someone holds a crystal, that energy blends with their own. The same for metal. So if we bind him with silver, it may disrupt the aztrophyllia enough so that I can go after it on the astral plane, while you seal Lenny with the spell so it can’t reattach.”
That made sense. “All right. I agree, you’re on to something. We’ll try it that way because I don’t have any better solution than that.”
“What do you need to cast your spell?” my mother asked.
“Nothing. Väinämöinen uses very few spell components. I get the feeling that the Force Majeure don’t need anything but their own energy to cast spells, and the way I see the spell working, it’s a matter of manipulating energy. I often wondered if they keep a room full of bones and feathers and so forth, and I get the impression through him touching my mind that he does have something like that, but it’s not always necessary.”
I had also discovered that the saying was true: The Force Majeure were more removed from humankind than the gods were. When Väinämöinen had met me out in the depths of space, he had seemed far more alien than Kipa had. It was as through something had happened to him—shifted his DNA. In fact, I would never have pegged him for being one of the magic-born. He seemed so far beyond that.
“Good, then. What do we have to do before we leave?” Kipa finished his breakfast and wiped his mouth on his napkin. I had taught him a few manners, at that.
I pushed back my dishes, finished. “I need to tend to the ferrets, and I should meditate for a bit. I need to build up my focus for casting the seal.”
“I’ll do the dishes and mind the house while you’re gone,” Phasmoria said, standing.
We scattered to finish our tasks. Even as I fed the ferrets and told Elise about our impending move, my mind was hanging out in space, remembering Väinämöinen’s mind-touch. It had been perhaps the most intimate thing that had ever happened to me, and one of the greatest gifts. I had looked into the mind of brilliant power, and returned alive and unblinded.
Vixen was waiting for us at the door. They were in a feminine mood today, wearing a linen pantsuit that curved to their form with a smooth ease. They were holding a handkerchief and I could tell they were feeling anxious, because they were knotting it in their hands, using it like a worry stone.
“Hey, Vixen,” I said, leaning in to plant a kiss on their cheek. “Kipa and I think we can free Lenny of the creature.”
“I know, but I’m nervous. Will this hurt him? What if the… What did you call it?”
“Aztrophyllia?”
“Yes, what if the aztrophyllia decides to attack one of us?”
Vixen was in a state and I couldn’t quite pinpoint why. Yes, the aztrophyllia was scary, but Vixen was a powerful snake shifter, and they shouldn’t be as afraid as they were.
“Why are you upset?” I blurted out. “I know this is nerve-wracking and you’re afraid for Lenny, but you seem a lot less sure than you did the other day.”
Vixen met my gaze, and I saw something shift in their eyes. “I was visited by an emissary from the Banra-Sheagh yesterday. I wasn’t going to tell you, but…”
I frowned. “But what? What happened?”
“They’ve threatened to not only exile me from the Ante-Fae, but they said they’d find a way to close down my club for good if I…stay friends with you.” Vixen let out a sigh. “They’re going to expel me from the Ante-Fae community, which I would be able to handle except they’ve also threatened to tear my club apart and to target every client I have, Raven. Basically, every client who comes to the doors of the Burlesque A Go-Go will find themselves targeted by the Banra-Sheagh for excommunication.”
My stomach dropped. The club was Vixen’s life. They had fought long and hard to open it, first against the city itself who didn’t want an Ante-Fae nightclub around, especially a burlesque club, and then against the older members of the Ante-Fae who thought that Vixen was inviting too much of the human element in. It had taken them a long time to resolve both sides of the issue, and now it could be wiped out in one sweep if Vixen stayed friends with me.
I sat down, realizing that it was time to be selfless. Vixen was my friend, and I wouldn’t let them be ostracized and their dreams destroyed because of me.
“Tell them you’ll fall into line.”
When Vixen started to protest, I held up my hand. “Vixen, I’m heading to Kalevala for a year next month. I’m going to train with one of the Force Majeure and after that year, I’ll be interning with him for another year. Maybe in that time, things will change so that this will all be moot. Regardless of what happens, I won’t let you lose everything you hold dear just because the Queen’s got her knickers in a wad.”
Vixen was nothing if not pragmatic. They sat down and took my hand. “You really mean it, don’t you? And second, how the hell did you come to meet with one of the Force Majeure and insinuate yourself into a two-year internship?”
“First, it’s a year in training and then a year’s internship. And second, I met Väinämöinen thanks to Kipa, when we were researching what Lenny’s attachment is. The bard thinks I have promise and his price for giving me the spell that can protect Lenny from the aztrophyllia was that I train with him for a year.” I swallowed, feeling teary-eyed, but I blinked the tears away. “So, I’ll be gone anyway, and I can sneak notes to you through Ember and Angel.”
Vixen shook their head. “Thank you, Raven. You don’t know what this means to me. But I mean it—say the word and I’ll give up the club. What they’re doing isn’t right. The Queen’s encroaching too much on our lives.”
“Be that as it may, we might as well fly under the radar and preserve what we can while we sort all of this out.” I sighed, leaning back. “I’ll miss so many things, but you’ll be in the top five.”
Kipa cleared his throat. “I hate to break this up, but when’s Lenny due? We’re going to need to tie him up and you can be sure the aztrophyllia won’t want any part of that.”
“I have something that might be useful, darling,” Vixen said. “I have a chair that has automatic cuffs. Lenny’s never seen it. Only select members of my personal life know about it. It looks like any normal armchair, but it’s made for sex play.”