Chapter 1

  (August, 2023)

  It was a bright, clear, and absolutely beautiful morning in the middle of August. For once that summer it wasn't too hot, it wasn't too humid, and there was nothing but fluffy white clouds in the sky and a pleasant breeze. It was far too beautiful to waste stuck inside, in other words. Even when the 'inside' in question was as endlessly amazing as Oakwood Hall, my ancestral home.

  After a spot of plotting with my co-conspirators - Sparkle and Penny - I'd dressed in shorts, sandals, and a short-sleeved cropped top, and collected my books. We located and raided a closet of beach supplies - some of which appeared to be of Victorian-era vintage, and who knew when that ancient-looking hand-stitched leather ball had been made - let Ken know what we were up to, grabbed one of the new phone system's wireless handsets, and headed outside.

  Which was how we found ourselves on a beach blanket in the shade of one of the oak trees that lined the driveway. Sparkle - human-sized and dressed in clothes that matched mine - was poking through the remains of the breakfast hamper Ken had given us, while Penny was stretched full-length in her natural form beside us, apparently dozing.

  I was studying sign language, ASL and BSL. Both because I'd always wanted to learn, and because Ken said they'd help me learn to cast spells silently. I had the books open in front of me, and was going back and forth between them. So far, I'd found the basics fairly easy…the structure of it made sense to me, and my Eidetic memory was making picking up the visual language fairly simple. It was the differences between the versions that kept tripping me up.

  Two nations separated by a common language, and all that.

  "We are," Sparkle announced in an ominous tone, "finally out of food."

  "We're not going to go hungry," I replied absently, trying not to let my amusement show, "when we're still within sight of the front door."

  Penny snorted a little laugh, revealing that she was still very much awake. I hadn't really expected otherwise. When we were outside of the Hall, she was on constant alert…even inside the walls that marked the boundaries of my property.

  Sparkle huffed a sound that was half-annoyance and half-amusement, then shrank in an instant to her natural fairy size and landed on one of my open books. She sat down, folded her arms, and stared up a me, very much like a cat seeking attention.

  I gave her an affectionate smile, and flipped the next page on top of her.

  She started giggling.

  Which of course started me giggling, and then Penny, at which point the phone rang.

  I could literally count the number of people who had that phone number on one hand: Margrave, representative of Summers & Winters, my law firm and financial managers; Malcolm O'Day, owner of the Oak & Ivy pub in town; D.T. Burroughs, Oakwood town constable; Professor Sheila Levin, my faculty advisor at Cambridge (possibly former faculty advisor by that point, since I'd now skipped two semesters plus summer classes) and only actual friend in the 'real' world (as defined by that part of my life before coming to Oakwood); and Ariana Pendragon, monster hunter at large.

  Yes, that Pendragon. Long story. Very long.

  Point being, even if the handset hadn't had a caller I.D. screen, I wouldn't have been particularly worried about taking the call. And it was why even though it did have said screen, I didn't bother looking at it before hitting the talk button. I struggled to get my giggles under control and failed horribly as I sputtered out a laughter-filled, "Hello?"

  There was a long moment of silence on the other end, followed by Sheila's voice. "I'm not entirely sure I have the right number…"

  "Sheila! You do, it's me, honest!" I put my hand over the pickup and hissed, "Knock it off!" to Sparkle, who was pretending to struggle under the paged I'd flipped atop her, and Penny, who was idly pawing at the Sparkle-shaped lump under the page for her own amusement, both of them still giggling madly.

  They didn't, of course. I rolled my eyes.

  "Well," Sheila said, "I suppose I can stop worrying about you. I can't honestly say I've ever heard you giggle before. It has to be a good sign. But it's awfully hard to be certain, since all I've gotten from you in the last six months are these terse little 'I'm perfectly fine, nothing to worry about' emails."

  She sounded annoyed, relieved, and curious all at once.

  "Oh god, Sheila, I'm sorry…" I trailed off, trying to think of how to explain this away in such a way that wouldn't make her suspicious. I'd promised, the previous October, to have her out to see the Hall sometime over the winter or in the spring…but the more I'd learned about Oakwood Hall, the adjacent town of Oakwood, and my responsibilities as Guardian of the Hall, the more reluctant I'd been to involve her in it.

  It didn't help that Penny chose that moment to slide one paw under the page I'd flipped atop Sparkle, resulting in a teasing 'attack' from my little fairy companion. I had to bite my bottom lip to keep from dissolving into renewed giggles before hissing, "Give it a rest, you two, I'm on the phone!"

  They stopped, Penny cocking her head to one side and giving me a look that would have been perfectly innocent if not for the mischief sparkling in her golden eyes, and the amused twitching of her ears and tails. Then Sparkle pushed the page back and peered out from under it, looking up at me with wide eyes. Her expression was perfectly innocent, but I knew her far too well to buy it for even an instant.

  I pinched the bridge of my nose and snorted fresh laughter, an entirely indelicate sound.

  "Well," Sheila said, "at least it sounds like you've made some friends at last. Did I interrupt anything?"

  "Nothing especially important," I said, getting my giggles under control with an effort. "I was just studying sign language."

  "Sign language?" Again, the curiosity in her voice was almost tangible. "That's new."

  "It's a long story," I said, half-turning from my friends and looking out across the broad expanse of perfectly manicured lawn. "I'm sorry I haven't called or written anything detailed, it's just…there's been so much, and you wouldn't believe half of it."

  Also, some of it might actually be dangerous for her to know. I'd heard rumors about the ICOA doing unpleasant things to maintain the division between the mundane and supernatural worlds. Thus my reluctance to have her out to the Hall, even though I'd promised.

  "I kept meaning to have you come out, but…" I began, then trailed off and tried to think of something to say.

  Sheila sighed. "Caley, you're one of the best students I ever taught. I like to think of you as a friend, too. If your life has moved in a different direction, that's fine, just promise me you'll keep in touch. But all I got were those brief little emails. Not even a Christmas card!"

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  I winced. I'd been so immersed in studying a mixture of magic and martial skills through Christmas and New Year's that the only reason I'd celebrated either was because the Hall had decorated itself for the former, and Malcolm O'Day had invited me to his pub for the latter. I barely remembered most of December through February except in the most abstract and academic of terms.

  "More immediately," Sheila continued before I could apologize again, "I have to inform the school of whether or not you plan to resume classes. You know, you only need six more credit hours and to finish editing your thesis to complete your Master's in Medieval History. I know you probably won't go on to do the PhD now, but you're so close…"

  I sighed and pulled my knees up to my chest, hugging them with my free arm. "I know, but…there just so much here to learn and do. I've barely scratched the surface. It sounds bizarre, I'm sure, but returning to Cambridge and being a TA again would be a massive let-down at this point. And I really am sorry about not having you out to visit yet…"

  "Then let's fix that," she said firmly. "I have a plan to get your degree finished with a minimum of fuss. I know you have an Internet connection there…I got your emails, after all. Two classes this coming fall semester, which you can take remotely, and turn in your thesis - which I know is basically done, since I edited it - and you can append 'MPhil' to your name."

  "That sounds doable," I said thoughtfully. Ken might be a bit tweaked about me taking the time out of my magical studies, but Sheila was right. My thesis was done except for wrapping it up and handing it in. And two remote classes wouldn't take that much time out of my week.

  "So how about this," Sheila barreled on. "I know which two classes you were taking before you dropped off the face of the Earth. I'll get you signed up for them for the fall semester, then drive out the last Saturday in August to pick up your thesis on a flash drive. You can give me a quick tour of Oakwood and your new luxury digs, and I can stop worrying about you every time I have a spare minute to stop and think."

  That also sounded pretty doable. I'd just have to convince her to promise not to talk about anything she saw in Oakwood Hall itself.

  "I…don't see why not," I said carefully. "How about this…let me double-check my upcoming schedule, make sure there's nothing that'll cause problems with that plan, and you come out the last Saturday in August regardless. Worst case scenario I might have to put off the classes for another semester or two."

  "Sounds like a plan to me," Sheila said cheerfully. "I'll call you a few days before to firm up plans for that Saturday, okay?"

  "Okay," I said with a smile. I really did want to see her, and I really did want to finish my degree. It probably didn't matter very much anymore, but I hate not finishing what I start.

  We exchanged a few more pleasantries, then hung up. I sat staring at the phone for a long moment before blowing out a breath. "That's going to be a weird visit." I clapped my hands together. "All right, let's pack it in. I've got practical magic lessons this morning to go with all the theory, and then a late lunch date with D.T. to get ready for."

  With the three of us working together, it took only a few minutes to pack everything up and get it back inside the Hall. I took a minute to unpack was was left in the hamper (just containers, as Sparkle had indicated) and put it away, then headed for the workshop.

  Formerly known as the laboratory. Pronounce with five syllables, all spoken distinctly. Ken was still a bit sulky about me insisting on workshop, but it made me feel less like I was a mad scientist engaged in some lunatic project.

  The workshop is one of my favorite rooms in the Hall, which is really saying something. It's a circular room, about twenty meters across with a dome shaped ceiling. The walls are lined with overflowing bookshelves, equally overflowing tables, and work benches for engraving, enchanting, potion-making, alchemical work, gem cutting, and other esoteric purposes I had yet to learn.

  The center of the room was taken up by an enormous ritual circle, about fifteen feet across, which was by itself a work of art. It was made up of two concentric circles embedded in the floor. The outer ring was made of silver and platinum woven together in a helix pattern; the inner ring, two feet further in, was made of steel and copper, also woven in a helix pattern. Between them a series of runes made of gold were embedded in the floor, broken up by a variety of raw gemstones. In the middle of all of this was a five-pointed star, its sides made up of strips of gold, copper, silver, steel, and platinum respectively, with its points just touching the inner circle to form a pentacle.

  I had yet to make serious use of this particular tool, since Ken was leaning heavily on practical spellcasting in my ongoing lessons. Ritual magic would, I was assured, come later, once I had a solid foundation in the basics.

  And no summoning things for the foreseeable future. Period.

  Not that I wanted to.

  More importantly, the walls of the room were magically hardened against damage, including spell damage. One section of the outer wall had been cleared of shelves and tables to make a sort of shooting range, allowing me to safely practice new spells without risking life, limb, or property damage.

  It was, all told, a ridiculously useful room. And just really cool.

  As we entered, Sparkle riding on my shoulder and Penny padding along beside me, Ken was already waiting for us. Penny took up her accustomed place near the door ("It's the furthest point in the room from all of the mayhem,") and Sparkle flitted over to land on one of the tables, where she sat down atop a pile of books.

  "Today," Ken began slowly, "I want to talk about making a new staff to replace the one von Einhardt destroyed in April."

  I'd barely begun learning to use the white waxwood staff I'd made before it was destroyed, and had generally been getting along just fine without it since. But I could clearly remember the feeling of that staff humming in my hand, eager to be used and very much a part of me. So I nodded.

  "All right, but -"

  "Before you say anything," Ken interrupted me, "I know what you're going to say. You want to try to make your mother's experimental staff work."

  "Well, yes…"

  "Which is why I brought it with me," Ken said, moving aside so I could see the thing laid out on the work bench behind him.

  It was as I'd first seen it months earlier, a gorgeous belt that appeared - at first glance - to be made of a finely woven mesh of silver, copper, and gold. Now that I looked at it more closely, I could see that the mesh was actually a tightly woven triple helix pattern with each strand made of one of those materials. It was capped at either end by a clever hook and loop "buckle" made of copper, the hook end molded to look like a phoenix with its wings spread.

  It was the second phoenix-related object I'd found in my mother's possessions. I wondered if there was a theme there, or if it was just something she liked.

  The belt was flexible enough to coil up, long enough that it looked like it would go around my waist at least twice, but still slender enough that it wouldn't look gaudy or out of place. And she'd intended for it to change between this belt form and a reasonably traditional wizard's staff.

  "How does it work?" I asked, stroking the length of it with my left hand and feeling the faint hum of energy. I thought there was something discordant about the sensation, like it wasn't flowing smoothly through the device.

  "That's the thing," Ken said wryly, "it doesn't. As you no doubt recall, I told you that the first time she shifted it to its belt form, she couldn't get it to change back. Your father was never able to figure it out either…but that's not terribly surprising. It's uncommon for one spellcaster to be able to use another's foci at all, let alone with enough facility to spot a design problem."

  I was still running my fingers along the length of it, focusing down towards the end with the phoenix…which I assumed was meant to be the head of the staff. "Hmm."

  Ken tipped his head and smiled a little. "What is it?"

  I shook my head a little. "It's like listening to a badly tuned piano. Something's not right."

  Ken's smile grew a little. "Tell me what you're sensing from it."

  I frowned a little and focused on the belt more carefully, sending tendrils of my own energy into it. After a moment, I got a small shock from it and twitched my hand back. "Energy's not flowing through it smoothly. It's like there's a short circuit in it, or at least the magical equivalent thereof."

  Ken fairly beamed. "That's fantastic. That's more than your mother was ever able to tell me while she was trying to figure out what went wrong with it."

  "Really?" I was surprised. She'd made it, after all.

  "Really." He shook his head a little. "That's the second of her foci that resonate better with you than they did with her. It's very unusual."

  The first was the shield ring I wore, which Ken said worked better for me than it ever had for her. "So you've told me." I frowned down at the belt. "Does that mean you think I can fix this?"

  "How would you approach the project?" he asked curiously.

  I stared down at the woven belt as my fingers caressed the phoenix-shaped buckle. At the engraved patterns of runes on the belt, so small I'd probably need a magnifying lens to really see them clearly. Then my eyes fell on the way the three strands of woven metal links connected to it, and tapped that. "I think I'd start by unwinding it and taking a look at each individual strand. Break it down into smaller pieces and take each one individually. Maybe it's a small flaw and not a large one."

  Beside me, I saw Ken nod. "I agree, that's an excellent way to begin. The necessary tools are all here on this bench, but we have other work to do before your date this afternoon. We'll begin this tomorrow. For the rest of the morning, we're going to work on your transfiguration skills. You were close to making a lovely rocking chair out of a block of wood the other day…I want to see you perfect that spell today."

  "Taskmaster," I said teasingly, turning to where a fresh block of wood sat, looking drab and boring. "Let's get to it, then."