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“I do not share your confidence about this,” Mulan said.

I turned to look at her. “Keep in mind that the people powering yer staff were once magickals like us. Sure, it was a long time ago, and they’re beings of light now, but they still remember what it was like to be human. And I think they like being given new challenges.”

Mulan huffed and shook her staff. “We are not boring heroines. We bring them big challenges every day.”

I giggled at her statement and put a hand on my chest. “Based on what I’ve learned so far, they can refuse to help us. But I don’t think they will in this case.”

Shrugging, Mulan planted her staff a foot in front of her. I put my hand over hers on the staff. “Don’t act so resignedabout dealing with them. Open yourself to the possibility that their protection might be better than ours. Their power is great and we can learn from it. They are with us to serve our greater good.”

She blew out a breath. “Fine. I will beopento staff’s poor attitude, even if I think this is wasted time.”

Chuckling at Mulan’s drama, I rolled my eyes a bit before I turned loose of her and her staff. “I’ll try to spare ya all the frustration I can, lady shaman. I’ll consult the Dagda stone first.”

Mulan leaned on her staff and held out one hand, urging me to do as I wanted.

One of Three, I called.I need to ask ya a question.

His voice instantly popped into my head.We are listening.

Can ya help me ward our property against attackers? The original wards were broken twice recently. We need something unknown to modern magick and much harder to break by physically powerful creatures.

Yes. We can help you, he said.We can send a better guarding spell. Prepare to receive it.

Before I could ask One of The Three how to prepare to receive something from him, one side of my head abruptly exploded with pain. “Ow...” I said, gripping that half of my skull. The pounding there hurt so much that it felt like I was dying again.

Your fresh fear of death could become a problem for you, Aran. You need to get control of yourself.

I held the throbbing side of my head as I summoned the strength to walk off the hurt.That is not helpful advice when the pain is this great. Haven’t I suffered enough this week?

I thought I heard One of The Three laugh at my response, but I couldn’t be sure. The next time I saw him in person I would ask more questions about how many of his evil human traits hadevolved along with him when he became a light being. I found it disheartening to think people remained jerks after they died, or even worse, reincarnated with those same terrible traits.

You may share the spell with the Wu Shaman. It is not from her culture, but her mages will understand it.

I dropped my hand to stare at Mulan as I asked him about the obvious.Do ya know the mages powering her staff?

Yes. The same penultimate magickal trained us. They are weaker in their craft. My group of three kept on learning. If they haven’t changed, her three mages do as little as possible.

“Fascinating,” I said aloud.

They fight among themselves. I chose my forever companions more wisely.

The guarding spell suddenly burst in my brain like it had escaped from a giant bubble. The words appeared as a memory of magick I’d cast a hundred times or more. It instantly integrated into the rest of my knowledge.Ya’re going to cause me to have a brain aneurysm if ya keep doing that.

I knew I heard male laughter after I sent the chastising thought.

We will heal your brain if that happens. We have spells to heal many human conditions.

His promise of healing did not give me ease. Plus, I was tired of hurting.

Mulan lifted a hand as if to ask me what was going on.

I held up my hand, palm facing her in answer. “I’m fine. I need to write down a spell for ya before ya talk to the staff. I was told ya could use what they gave me. They also said your mages fight with one another, which holds them back from magickal development. My mages said their group and yers went to school together and were trained by the same teacher.”

Mulan held out her staff and glared at it. She shook it until the turtle shells clacked loudly. “Stop fighting, or I will get new mages.”

I felt one of my eyebrows arching. “Can ya replace them?”

Mulan turned to look at me. “No, but I can make new staff and put this one in dark closet. It will stay there until next shaman needs them.”