Page 51

“So, we’d need to borrow one.”

“Yep. And good luck with that. London’s our best option, probably. They’re pretty friendly. For Brits.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Paige asked as they reached the desk.

She tapped on the keyboard to wake the device.

“You know how British people are. Stuffy.”

“That’s not true,” she said with a chuckle as she typed in the first add-on in the search bar.

“Yes, it is.” Dewey perched on the edge of the desk, his legs dangling over and his back stick-straight. He mimed holding a teacup, his pinky finger pointed in the air. “Let’s go to the countryside and have tea with the queen.”

Paige chuckled despite herself, jotting down a reference for the Crystal of Increased Energy before typing Holigramium into the search bar. “They are not like that at all.”

Dewey flitted into the air. “Yes, they are. You’ll see. If we have to go to London for the Wrangler, I bet you a month’s pay they’ll first want to have tea and chat about the weather.”

“A month’s salary that a Brit offers us tea? No deal. Of course they’ll offer tea.” Paige lifted her chin as she peeled the sticky note from the pad and stuck it to her finger. “And I happen to like tea.”

“I like a good cuppa, too. But I’m not stuffy,” Dewey said as he replaced her at the keyboard.

Paige shook her head at him before wandering to the bookshelves against the wall and seeking out the three books she’d identified. She heaved the heavy volumes into her arms and snaked her way around the desk, heading for the nest.

“Meet you back upstairs,” she called over her shoulder as she walked away.

“Okey-doke,” Dewey shouted, flitting over to the magical bookcase floating near one of the artifact shelves.

Paige sucked in gasping breaths as she climbed the stairs with the three books spread between her arms. The corner of one poked into her elbow until it hurt. “Ugh, why do they make these so heavy?”

She shouldered through the door and back into her temporary home, skirting around the air mattress and dropping the thick tomes on the armchair before shaking her arms to relieve the strain.

“Find out magic exists, and still have to lug books around to learn about it,” she murmured as she shuttled the books from the cushion to the carpet.

With a sigh, she plopped into the chair and pulled the first reference onto her lap. After an index search, she found the entry for Crystal of Increased Energy. The short chapter devoted to the crystal explained that many existed, some with varying degrees of strength. Purple crystals provided the most energy, while yellow provided the least.

Crystals that worked with the Wand of Division must be fuchsia in color to provide additional energy boosts for object division.

Paige scanned the remaining paragraphs in search of the origins of a fuchsia crystal. Only one existed and was controlled by the ogres of Tipult Canyon.

She grabbed her phone and searched for the location after jotting a note to find another reference book about the ogres. Did they still have the crystal?

After studying the map, she tapped into the SupNet app and performed a few searches. She scrolled through the posts that appeared and found one that made her heart skip a beat.

A Shrieking Pixie pointed one black nail at a photo of a magenta-colored crystal. The caption read Increased power, anyone? Found one! Just gotta retrieve it #sp4thewin #soon

“Oh no,” Paige groaned.

“Oh no, what?” Dewey said as he flew through the door, his arms flapping up and down as he struggled to control the thick, leather-bound book in his paws.

Its gold-trimmed pages gleamed in the light as it fought for independence from Dewey’s control. A gold lock bounced around on the front cover, keeping it from opening.

“The Shrieking Pixies already have a lead on the Crystal of Increased Energy!”

Dewey’s shoulders slumped. “Oh crap.”

The book took full advantage of his limp arms and tugged him toward the ground.

“Whoa! You okay?” Paige asked, leaping to her feet.