Page 75 of Take You Home

All at once, the world goes quiet around Obie. “What?”

“Yeah.” Ez smiles ruefully. “Our current draft still requires dualspellcasting with the neophyte in question as one of the spellcasters, which obviously isn’t realistic, but we’re fairly confident that we’ll have a usable counterspell within a few months.”

Obie leans back heavily in his armchair, absorbing the words. He wasn’t terribly shocked when Ez and Roma started putting together human-magic glamours and neutral-base healing spells, using their combined knowledge of demon and human magic to find unique solutions, but somehow‍?—

Somehow, he never even considered that they could figure out how to break unidirectional binding spells, too. Never even considered that there was a way to do that without killing the summoner.

Never even considered that the most traumatizing aspect of this dimension could someday lose its power. “I’m… happy,” he says slowly, glancing up at Ez. “Really, I am. It’s just…”

Ez finishes the thought for him. “It would’ve been nice if it existed when we needed it. Right?”

Fleetingly, Obie remembers when the first hunters came for him, remembers how their binding spell crawled over his skin and burrowed into his bones, remembers the screaming and the blood and thepainand‍?—

He shoves the memories away. “Right,” he agrees softly. “It‍—it would’ve been nice.”

“Well,” Roma says, giving him a small smile, “even if nothing else good came from this whole episode with the bidirectional binding spell, then at least we’ll know it set the foundation to help demons in the future.”

Obie’s smile feels easier this time. “Yeah. And a lot of good has come from the bidirectional binding spell,” he adds impulsively. “If it weren’t for that, I never would’ve met Kyle. And Kyle is… a good thing.”

More than a good thing, actually. At this point, Obie is tempted to call Chester Locke one of hisfavoritethings.

Not that he can ever tell Chester that.

Not without the risk of scaring him away for good.

Ez’s lips twitch. “Yeah, how is Kyle? You were pretty evasive the last time I asked you about him.”

“I was not!” Obie protests. “There’s just not much to tell. I still like him, and he still likes me. We’re on the same page. Always nice when that happens.”

Roma snorts. “Yeah, it’s definitely nice when your romantic partner likes you,” she says, and her smile softens. “But I’m really glad you two are still going strong. JJ and I like him a lot. Keep bringing him to group hangouts, yeah?”

“I will,” Obie says. “He’s stuck with me, and that means he’s stuck with the rest of you, too.”

Until Obie and Chester use this counterspell, at least. Viciously, he shoves the thought away.

“No complaints here,” Ez says, resting her chin on her fist as she considers him. “I feel like he’s… good for you.”

Obie narrows his eyes at her. “What’sthatsupposed to mean?”

“You just seem happier now, is all.” Ez winks at him. “Whatever he’s doing in the bedroom, tell him to keep it up. It’s good for your blood pressure and general stress levels.”

“All right,” Obie says decisively, pushing himself to his feet. “This conversation is over. Thanks for the counterspell. I’ll see you both for lunch next week, right?”

Ez scoffs. “You couldn’t keep us away from Javier’s tortilla if you tried.”

“I actually prefer Viktor’s currywurst,” Roma says.

“Well, that’s because you’re a barbarian.”

Obie rolls his eyes, peeling open a rift back to his house. “Later, guys.”

“Bye, Obie!”

“See you around!”

He waves over his shoulder as he steps back into his living room, absently closing the rift behind him. Letting out a slow breath, he unfolds the innocuous piece of paper with the counterspell again, skimming over the incantation without really seeing it.

This is it, then. Frankly, it’s almost anticlimactic. After all those hours of researching in the Sanctum’s library, after all those weeks of Obie and Chester trying to find a solution on their own‍?—