Page 34 of Claim the Twilight
“I’ve not seen the trap, so I’ll have to take your word on it.”
She presses her lips together and nods. “We’ll need blood,” she says. “To mix in with the chalk we use to draw the spell.”
“You can use mine,” Padma says from across the library. “It seems attached to me, so…” She sighs. “This is insane.”
“Which part?” Holly asks with a wry smile.
Padma snorts. “Point taken. But I’m talking about the theory that I’m a witch. I mean, even if past lives were real and I was a witch in one of them, I’m not now.”
“But the entity called you a witch.”
“It could be wrong,” Padma says.
“Or it may be right,” I point out. “The fact that you were able to free it is evidence that its incarceration is somehow bound to you.”
“All I did was clean the teapot.”
“And you think no one else has ever polished it?”
“Or made tea in it.” Merry frowns. “Now thatisweird.”
“Not for an enchanted object, it isn’t,” Holly rightfully points out.
Matthew enters the room carrying a bucket of soil. “Here you go, a little soil from around the castle.”
“Each compass point?” I arch a brow.
“Yes, as requested.” He carefully sets the bucket on the floor, then pulls a bag of salt from his pocket. “The rock salt you requested. Is there anything else I can get you?”
“No, thank you, Matthew. You’ve been incredibly helpful.”
Twin spots of color bloom on his cheeks. He ducks his head. “Very well, I’ll leave you to it.”
Every ward needs an anchor, and stationary wards around buildings are often anchored into the earth. The wards around Dracul, for example, are linked to natural crystals buried deep in the ground around the perimeter of the territory.
Soil taken from all corners of the mansion should be enough to anchor a warding spell for the castle. We can weave the spell into this bucket of soil while adding the salt, then sprinkle the mixture around the castle to activate the wards.
I look to Holly. “Let’s get started.”
Holly crouches by the bucket, then sinks her fingers into the soil. She scoops up a little and brings it to her nose to sniff it before jerking her head away.
“What is it?”
She holds the soil up for me to sniff. “You tell me.”
There’s an acrid, bitter stench to the soil that reminds me of death and decay. My heart sinks. “It’s tainted.”
“Yep,” she says with a popping ‘p.’
“What do you mean?” Padma joins us by the bucket.
“The soil is…infected,” Holly says, looking to me. “How would you explain it?”
“The breaches that have opened into Loviator’s realm are not as contained as we might think. Some of the atmosphere and organic elements have already seeped into our soil.”
“So we can’t use the soil to make wards?” Merry asked.
“We could, but I’m not sure how stable or safe they’d be.”
