I waited until the magic finished settling into place before stepping carefully into the circle. When nothing weird happened, I walked up to Maguire and shook his shoulders.

  “Huh, what?” he mumbled, confused.

  “Sorry about that. There wasn’t really a way to get everyone without getting you too. Just give yourself a few seconds and the dizziness will pass,” I explained.

  “What about the double vision?”

  “Shake your head real hard like you’re trying to get water out of your ears. It’ll feel silly but trust me, it works. Once you’re oriented, come help me search pockets. We have some stones to collect.”

  Finding the stones without accidentally waking anyone proved trickier than I expected. The bell’s power didn’t cover everyone as much as I hoped it would. Too much stimulation could create a cascade effect and leave me with a gaggle of very confused and rightfully upset adults. We needed to err on the side of caution since I had no idea how long it would take to untangle all of the identities.

  “Okay, I think we have all of the rocks. Check to see if the colors are back to normal,” I said. Maguire pulled the coin out of his pocket and started tracing his finger around the edge, walking in a slow circle around the group.

  “Something’s not quite right,” he said, shaking his head. “I can still see the colors mixing together and the strands lead to the basket you put the rocks in.”

  “Great. We have to play musical magical mind rocks to get the minds back in the right body. This is going to take a while.”

  “Don’t suppose we can take turns doing this?”

  “Not with the coin, but I’ve probably got something in my bag that will help speed things up a bit.”

  “Good, because I’m starting to get kind of tired.”

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  “Same, and we still have to deliver the herbs. So, let’s get to it.”

  Maguire approached me, carefully weaving through the tuned out family, and I divvied up the artifacts I scrounged from the cabin. Most of them only served to help detect different kinds of fairy effects, and we definitely needed that to better untangle the mess. There were fewer protective implements than I would have liked, though.

  “We are going to have to be careful with how we do this,” I explained. “The little ones may not take kindly to our messing about in their game. They might also decide to include all of us in their game whether we want them to or not.”

  “I get the feeling that both options would result in general unpleasantness.”

  “That and lost time, at the very least. Not to mention unfathomable, mildly weird side effects that just kind of follow you around. Nothing harmful, of course, just…annoying.”

  “Yeah, we have a few packs up in the Pole but they usually keep to themselves.”

  “Oh yeah, I forgot about that. So you know some of what we're dealing with.”

  “As much as one can. Speaking of, give me one of the stones. I have an idea.”

  I held out the basket for Maguire and he grabbed a stone, putting on a pair of glasses he used to detect auras. They could be somewhat helpful in dealing with such whimsical, vague magics. I watched him curiously as he wove through the people, holding the stone up to them as if trying to compare something. He came to a stop in front of one of the moms, looking between her and one of the kids.

  “What did you find, Maguire?”

  “The minds or souls or whatever it was that was being switched around are tied to the stones in a way, so we need to use the stones to make sure things go back to where they were. I can almost see the connections between the bodies and the stones, though it's getting a little fuzzy.”

  “That almost makes sense. You take the lead and I’ll keep an eye on the perimeter.”

  I kept a close eye on Maguire while he worked, watching the shifting threads of magic and flickering of lights. He handled it well, though I couldn’t shake my nervousness. This was taking too long. The fairies would be coming soon, there was no doubt, either drawn by boredom or curiosity. Experience taught me that every second counted when dealing with fairies, so the last thing I wanted was for us to be caught off guard.

  Thankfully, these fairies weren’t all that subtle, and I noticed their approach before they decided to make themselves known.

  I cleared my throat to get Maguire’s attention and he glanced briefly at me, before returning his attention to his work. His part was almost done. I just had to buy him some time.