Page 133 of Hijack the Seas: Seismic

“Well, you know. The crib note version?” Alphonse had never cared much about magic, but now that it was his only way home, it had gotten his full attention.

“The elements stand in for the building blocks of our reality,” Pritkin said, returning to his work. “Ability with one allows you to manipulate reality where that particular element is concerned.”

“Like to create a tunnel on demand.”

“Yes. My mother was weak in earth magic but used it here as the Green Fey do not know it. They have fought the Svarestri for so long that there has been little intermarriage between them. Most do not carry even a shred of it as a result and, therefore, would not recognize what she was doing.”

“But you said this thing needed all four elements?”

“She used the others, with which she was more comfortable, to boost the power of her earth magic. And to ensure that no one could interfere with her escape route. Only someone with all four elements can cast or delete the spell.”

“And you can cast it ‘cause you inherited all four elements from her.”

“I’m not trying to cast it,” Pritkin said, pausing as some blue sparks appeared against the black rock for a second and then vanished, as ephemeral as fireflies. “I am trying to summon the one already here.”

“Your mom’s old spell?” Alphonse asked, frowning. “But why not just recast? You don’t have the power?”

“Not at present. But it isn’t simply a matter of power. My earth magic is weaker even than Mother’s was. I do not think it is sufficient to cast that spell.”

“But it is sufficient to summon it?”

“Let us hope so.” It was grim. “The spell has been sleeping for many years. I have to get its attention, and for that, I need all four elements shouting at once. But my earth magic is more like a whisper. So far, the spell is ignoring it.”

“Or maybe it’s not there anymore,” Alphonse said skeptically. “Ain’t your mom dead? I thought spells died with the caster.”

“Typically. But she fueled hers by linking it to the defensive network around the capitol, using the city’s own wards to power her passage through them.”

He sounded impressed as if even he might not have thought of that.

The fey sure hadn’t.

“But that defensive network is down now, right? So how’s that work?”

“It doesn’t,” Bodil said, looking like she thought this was a colossal waste of time.

Pritkin glanced at her. “You know as well as anyone that this place is built on a ley line sink—”

“Ah, so that’s why they chose to build in a swamp,” Alphonse said.

“—and it’s energy therefore doesn’t run out. The wards are nonfunctioning, possibly damaged in the attack. But the reservoir of power they draw from, the same one that Mother tapped into, is still here. And therefore, her spell is, too.”

Bodil didn’t say anything more, but her expression was eloquent. She didn’t think this would work, but she wasn’t arguing because she had no better idea. And because she was sitting beside a still-unconscious Æsubrand.

She’d probably be more vocal once her backup was awake.

She also kept glaring at me like I had somehow turned her fair-haired boy feral. As if he’d ever been anything else. So, I figured if I was to get the blame, I should at least get some answers to go with it.

“Aeslinn might have found the power to collapse my mother’s spell from the god-blood he was harvesting,” I said to Pritkin, taking up my previous point. “I’ve been thinking about it—”

“A dangerous occupation,” Bodil murmured.

“—and he might not need as much as we think. Athena had an army already waiting on the other side of the barrier when Mircea and I went through. So, Zeus must have been able to communicate with her—”

“How?” Bodil demanded.

“He uses these supersized crows as his eyes and ears, sending them all over Faerie. I saw some at the dark fey capitol. Big as humans or maybe bigger, they had nests all over the place. Anyway, he can see what they see, and the ones on this side also report back to him.”

“On this side?”

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