Page 47 of Must Love Scones and Secrets
“You’re very welcome,” I replied, making my way around the shop as the wizard hunted through his things. Every surface was covered with an assortment of magical odds and ends…crystals that hummed when you passed them, feathers that occasionally floated upward of their own accord, and jars of substances that seemed to shift colors when you looked their way.
The wizard himself was exactly what you’d expect. Wizard Thorne was tall and thin with a wild mane of silver hair that seemed to have a mind of its own. His beard was tucked into his belt, and small sparks occasionally danced through the silvery strands. His eyes, however, were kind behind his roundspectacles, which had several additional magnifying lenses that could be swung into place for detailed work.
“The Ley lines, you say?” He peered at me over those spectacles. “Fascinating. And the wild fairies spoke to you directly? Most unusual.”
I nodded, then perched on the only stool in his cluttered workspace that wasn’t occupied by books or devices. “They said the lines were shifting unnaturally as Midsummer approaches.”
“Hmm, that aligns with what I’ve been sensing.” Thorne moved to a large cabinet and began rummaging through drawers. “The magical currents have felt discordant lately, like an instrument slightly out of tune.”
Merry, who I’d brought along in his basket, peered out cautiously. His curiosity got the better of him, and he hopped onto the floor, sniffing a crystal ball that rolled away from him as if alive.
“Careful with your caticorn there,” Thorne warned. “That crystal has a tendency to teleport people…and pets.”
I scooped Merry up quickly and plunked him back into his basket. “Sorry about that.”
“No harm done.” The wizard pulled out a large roll of parchment and spread it across his workbench, weighing down the corners with unusual hunks of metals. “Now, let’s see…”
The map was unlike any I’d seen before. Instead of roads and buildings, it showed Moonshine Hollow and the surrounding countryside crisscrossed with lines of magic.
“This is how they should look,” he told me, gesturing to the map.
Then, he rolled out a similar map. On this map, the Ley lines pulsed with magical blue light. In some places, the lines curved and flowed smoothly. In others, particularly near the unicorn fields, they kinked and twisted unnaturally.
“This is a living map of how they look now.”
“Look there,” I said, pointing to the section of the map where the unicorns resided. A fragmented Ley line pulsed, vibrating wild strands extending to the farms outside of town and to Silver Vale, the magical forest on the other side of the river.
“Frayed,” Wizard Thorne said, tracing his finger. “The anomaly starts near the standing stone the fairies showed you.”
He pulled out a small wooden box to reveal two wands. “These are calibration wands. They can be used to help realign the lines. They are used during the realignment ritual.”
“Ritual?” I asked, suddenly nervous. “Wizard Thorne, my magical abilities are pretty much limited to unburning cinnamon rolls.”
“Nothing too complicated,” Thorne assured me, “but it will require both northern and southern magic working in harmony. Your pixie magic and your Rune elf’s northern magic should be the perfect combination.”
“He’s notmyRune elf,” I said automatically, then felt my cheeks flush. After our night together, that wasn’t entirely true anymore, was it? Or was it? Now, I wasn’t so sure. Last night, I could have sworn Bjorn and I were at the start of something magical, but come morning, something had shifted between us. Had he gotten scared? I didn’t know or understand.
Wizard Thorne, distracted by his thoughts, seemed not to hear me. He began gathering items and placing them in a leather satchel. “You’ll need these maps, the calibration wands, and this”—he added a small glass vial filled with shimmering silver liquid—“essence of moonlight. It will help amplify the natural magic of the standing stone, giving you more oomph to pull the Ley lines back in place.”
As he worked, my attention was drawn to a small orb on his desk that had begun to glow faintly green. Inside was what appeared to be liquid light that swirled in complex patterns.
“What’s that?” I asked, pointing.
“Ah, a truth orb. Custom order for Elder Thornberry. He wants to keep it in his office to help him sort out liars. It detects when someone has been lied to.”
“What do you mean?”
The wizard picked up the orb. “Lie to me,” he instructed, giving me an amused grin.
“All right. Wizard Thorne, you keep a very tidy workshop.”
The orb flared to life at that, bathing the workshop in green light.
The wizard chuckled. “Touché, dear Rosalyn.”
“I know a charm for brooms and dusters if you ever want to learn it,” I offered, making the wizard laugh.
He handed the orb to me. It suddenly flared to life, its light intensifying to an almost blinding brilliance. I nearly dropped it in surprise.
