Chapter XLVIII

We're approaching the end, I think! About 90K of Carrot written <3

***

Carrot took a moment to breathe in deep before moving into the living room where her friends were talking. 

Iris was sitting on the couch, with their coffee table pulled up, and it looked like she had raided Carrot’s bedroom. Also, Bathemius was back in his cage which was right on the edge of the table. He was as far from her within that cage as he could physically be.

“You had a daemon in your house,” Iris said. “I’m assuming it’s here as a guinea pig, for experimentation and the like?”

“Hm? I mean, sorta,” Carrot said.

The look the bat-daemon gave her was absolutely horrified.

“I’m trying to see if they can be rehabilitated into friends,” Carrot said. “I think Bathemious gets along well with my mom?”

The bat nodded.

“Well, if he stops getting along, let me know. Daemons have lots of interesting parts that can be used for enchanted items,” Iris said. 

The horrified look returned, and Carrot found herself holding back a laugh, which was good. For a moment there, it felt like smiling and laughing was a bunch harder than it had any right to be. “What are you working on?” she asked.

“Filter, and magic-repelling device,” Iris said. She raised what looked like a contraption made from an unfolded clothing hangar and a few coffee filters, then a pendant. The chain was from Carrot’s bedroom, just a piece of costume jewelry, but the pendant itself looked like... bone, maybe? Carrot wasn’t sure, but it had some stuff carved into it. “The filter should capture dust particulates. The pendant is for your mom. It’ll help negate the sleep effect. It might also give her insomnia, but hopefully by the time evening comes around, that won’t be an issue anymore.”

“Thank you,” Carrot said. “Genuinely. That’s super kind of you.”

“Yes, well... we’re allies,” Iris replied.

Carrot squealed then jumped over to give Iris a squeeze. “Thank you!” ‘Allies’ was smart people talk for ‘friend.’

“Alright,” Silas said as he stepped into the room. He had a device of his own in hand, not too dissimilar to the detector he’d used. “So, our enemy, probably the Master, made their move. I don’t know if we forced their hand and they moved early or not, but... I don’t know if it matters. In any case, they made finding them easy.”

“Really?” Carrot asked. Her face was being smushed by Iris, who was feebly pushing her away.

“Very easy. The dust is all heading in one direction once it’s full of magical energy. That means that there’s quite literally a glowing trail in the sky that’s pointing us in the right direction.”

“Did you see it on the way over?” Carrot asked.

Silas shook his head. “I was... not looking up, admittedly. It’s also possible that the glow effect was weaker an hour or two ago, as the magic-collection had only just started.”

“Okay then. So, we follow the breadcrumb trail?” she asked.

“Sounds about right,” Iris said. She finished doing something with the pendant, then stood up. “I’m going to give this to your mom and activate it. I’ll be right back.”

Carrot stepped away, giving her space to pass, then she turned her attention back onto Silas. “The Master...”

“Yeah,” he said. Then he let out a long sigh. “Yeah. In a way, I’m happy he played his cards. This isn’t going to be something that Magic Society can ignore. It’s not something the wider world can ignore either. Not for long.”

Carrot paused, then eyed him. “Are you suggesting that we wait?” she asked.

He hesitated, then nodded. “I wasn’t going to say it outright.”

“I’d rather... I’d rather not,” Carrot said. She wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do, but people were being hurt, people like her mom. She wanted, needed, to put an end to that. “If you’d come with me, I’d appreciate it a lot?”

Silas met her eye for a long time. “I’m happy I met you, Carrot Cuddlesworth,” he said before breaking contact. “Let me get my things. This is going to turn into a fight, I just know it.”

Carrot nodded, then she moved to grab her own coat. It might be a little chilly outside... actually, she might want to change out of her PJs? That seemed reasonable. 

“Hey,” Bathemious said.

“Yes?” she asked.

The bat shifted, moving closer to the centre of his cage now that Iris wasn’t there to spook him. “The Master... he’s not so strong.”

“He’s not?’ she asked. After several days of nothing, the bat was finally talking? She turned to him fully. “Why do you think that?”

“Just know it,” Bathemious said. “But not strong doesn’t mean not clever. Be careful.”

“Are you worried about me?” she asked with a growing smile.

“No. I’m worried that no one will let me out of this cage. And if you die, that freak might be the one that gets a hold of me.”

Carrot laughed, then ran off to get changed. It wasn’t long that she was back in their little living room, shifting a thick, knit sweater on so that it was more comfortable. Iris stepped back into the room, her face set in a serious pout.

“Are you okay?” Carrot asked.

“Your mother insisted on hugging me,” she snapped. “You didn’t fall far from that tree. Though you might have landed on your head on the way down.”

“Mhm! I hope to be just like my mom when I’m all grown up,” Carrot agreed.

“Please don’t,” Iris said. “That runs the risk of creating more of you.”

They left soon after, Silas shrugging into his long coat even as he stepped out last. Then it was down the stairs. It was strangely quiet. There was usually TVs and music and people talking. The walls were so thin that they could hear every neighbour, and while there were some TVs left on overnight, most people turned them on in the morning.

The change disturbed her in a way that she couldn’t quite express. She was actually happy when they made it to the bottom and stepped outside. 

“Wow,” Iris said. She had her head tilted back, so Carrot did the same and examined the sky. At first, she confused what she saw for a strange cloud, one that seemed to glow with a rainbow sheen from the inside, but it only took her a moment to realize that it was magic and the dust carrying it.

“It’s... not just heading in one direction,” Silas said. He squinted at the sky, then ran off in a quick jog to the middle of the street.

Carrot almost called him back, but of course, there was no traffic, no cars or buses out to maybe hit him. So, reluctantly (and after looking both ways) she followed him out.

He was right. The dust wasn’t just going one way. It was criss-crossing in the sky, forming a few vague shapes. 

Iris gasped. “It’s... those are runes! Not yet, I mean, but look, that one, and that line intersecting there. It’s forming a magical circle.”

“One infused with magical energy, stolen from thousands, and large enough to cover an entire small city,” Silas said. Carrot watched his Adam's apple bob as he gulped. “This... might be one of the largest spells ever cast. It’s going to be smaller than the barriers around Magical Society, but not by much.”

“What’s it do?” Carrot asked.

“No clue,” Iris, their best bet for figuring it out, said. “Give me my family library and three to six hours, and I might be able to suss it out.”

Silas shook his head. “Too long. By then we might know what the spell does via personal experience.”

“Yeah, I know, I was just saying,” Iris said rather testily.

Carrot cleared her throat and looked both ways again. Standing in the street like this was making her anxious. “And where’s the Master?” Carrot asked. 

Silas squinted at the sky, then pointed. “That way. About... maybe five, six blocks over? Not that far, really.”

Carrot frowned and tried to match that kind of vague distance up with what she knew of the city. “That’s one of the parks,” she said. “It’s where we met, Iris.”

For some reason, the fact had a shiver running down her spine. Was it a message of some sort, or plain coincidence? She didn’t know, and she didn’t like that she didn’t know. Had the Master been watching them that day? 

“Well, let’s get going. I want to introduce that Master idiot to the pointy end of my boot.”

“You’re wearing sneakers,” Carrot said.

“Carrot... shut up.”

“Okay!”

***