Page 56 of Transfiguration

Seiran gaped at him. “You have trackers on my kids?”

“Uh, yeah. Don’t you?”

“In their phones, I think?”

“Runes are a bit more infallible than modern technology. But I don’t know if it’s Bella that took it, or her kidnappers. Her body wasn’t in the house. Everything burned hot, but not enough to leave nothing of her behind. The runes in her bag are new and meant to be charged over time by the wearer. It’s fueled by kinetic energy. Which means it won’t have a powerful signal yet. But I can still find it.”

“Where did you learn all these runes? Is there a book somewhere?”

“Hundreds,” Con said. “It’s what I do. Find books for Hart, usually read them before I hand them over. Sometimes I find useful things. My memory is excellent.” Selectively. Anything related to his sister he struggled with, but that was a trauma response, wasn’t it? Or something else. Now he was going to be questioning everything. “I was looking for a book when I found Bella.”

“About?”

“I’m not sure. Summoning?” Con pulled out his phone and dug for the notes and images he had stored. Old black and white things, some from bad surveillance photos, some simply that old. They were still on his phone but hidden away in a folder under encryption that Con put most parts of his cases. He held them up. “The runes on the front are common in dark magic, though I’m uncertain of the order and the actual meaning. Something about gathering? I had thought it was just another grimoire. The Fellowship has thousands. Witches are so varied that most can’t use another’s spells, but grimoires offer insight into the thought behind casting, which can make a spell work for another witch. A book on summoning is usually about calling elements, giving them life with spiritual energy. It’s hard to explain.” Con said. “Like me calling a part of wind to create a manifestation of Venti, the Greek God of wind. Not a real person, or even a god, but a physical creation of it which would have will and power of its own.”

Seiran gaped. “You can do that?”

“Anyone can do that as long as they are bound to their element. You could call Gaea into a physical form, but as with all things in magic, there is a give and take. Summon that kind of power and you ask for them to rip you from this world in exchange. You give them a physical being, and they don’t really need us as mortals to channel power. It’s a dangerous game and a balance.” Con shrugged. “For most, I guess. I don’t know about your assistant, since he is a summoner rather than casting spells to summon.”

“I feel like the Dominion really screwed me over on this. Not telling me any of this was possible.” Seiran grumbled. “How do we follow this first clue of yours? The runes you stitched into the backpack?”

“I’ll need to go outside your wards and create a circle,” Con said. “Normal witch stuff for those of us who aren’t a Pillar.”

“Were you always an asshole, or did you learn it from Sam?” Seiran growled.

“Always an asshole,” Con said, staring at the mess of Seiran’s baking.

Seiran sent a text from his phone, and a second later, Kelly appeared. “I’m going with Con to trace Bella.”

“Um…” Kelly said.

“No,” Con said. “You need to stay here and protect the kids.”

“There are wards up,” Seiran said. “They don’t need me here to keep them up.”

“You put wards up around our apartment, too,” Con pointed out. “Someone still got in and killed Luca.” He tried to hold back his anger. Did he blame Seiran for the wards failing? He did.

“Someone had to let them in,” Seiran said. “Those wards are impenetrable.”

“Luca let his killer inside our loft?” Con asked.

“Which meant he knew his killer,” Kelly agreed.

“Fuck!” Con cursed.

“I will be here. No one inside without my say so,” Kelly said.

“If they have more golems, they might look like us,” Seiran said.

Kelly waved his hand. “As if I can’t see the difference. Pillar, remember.”

Seiran nodded.

“We don’t know what we’ll find,” Con said. How did he tell the most powerful witch in the world that if he found the bad guys around the pack he’d made for Bella, he’d rip them to shreds with the wind. “And if I have to kill the people we find?”

“I’ll help,” Seiran said without pause.

“Um…” Kelly said again. “I’m on kitchen duty. Best you two leave before the vampire gets back with Jamie.”