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“So you only have so much—then what? It runs out?”

“Something like that. The spell of destruction we did on Sardi drained me, and that was with my mother’s support. The price was high.”

“The price?”

“I told you, there are two types of magic. The simple tricks and glamours, like fetching things”—she gestured to their clothes—“or making things appear different from how they are.” She whispered a word and she vanished to be replaced by an extremely ugly toad. Caleb smiled, despite the situation, and then she was back. “They aren’t real,” she said, “and cost little. Then there is the earth magic. Earth magic changes things. With the earth magic, we can open a portal anywhere in the world, we can even open them between worlds. With the earth magic we have the power to stop the earth turning and the sun rising.”

Caleb sensed she was telling the truth, and a sense of awe rose up inside him. “Have you ever done that?” he asked.

Regan smiled. “Ask Gina to tell you the story of how she became a vampire,” she said. “The price for such magic is high. Sometimes the price is even a life. So I will save what strength I have and hope it is enough.”

“You’re right,” Caleb replied. “We’ll drive.”