Page 19 of Langiappe & Lost Legends

"Maybe they're suggesting a career change," I offered as I put another wine glass in the laser. The crystal caught the light oddly and sent rainbow fractals dancing across the inside of the machine. "Prehistoric tour guide could be your calling. 'And on your left, you'll see where the T-Rex tried to eat a street performer’."

"Very funny," Dre grumbled, but I caught her smile. "At least my reflections are interesting. Poor Dea just keeps seeing herself in different historical outfits. Though the flapper dress wasn't bad."

"Speaking of historical fashion disasters," Dani said as she carefully bespelled balloon arches with lights, "the enchantments aren't holding. I swear something's interfering with the magical frequency. Whenever I try to weave in starlight, I get deflated balloons instead."

I moved closer to watch as she attempted another enchantment. The spell should have been simple. We'd done similar things dozens of times before. But instead of the gentle glow we were aiming for, she got nothing. That wasn’t entirely true. Cocking my head, I noticed that images of places decidedly not the plantation played across one of the metallic balloons.

"Hold up," I said, leaning in closer. The energy coming off the arch made my teeth ache. "Is that...?"

The image crystalized like a high-definition video. We could see a group of robed figures standing in a circle around what had to be the Larmes du Bayou. The crystal pulsed with power and sent out waves of energy that distorted the air around it. Eachpulse seemed to ripple through the silo, making the workshop's contents shift slightly out of sync.

"Holy shit," Kota breathed, abandoning her own work to crowd around us. Her elbow knocked over a container of spelled glitter, but none of us noticed. "Are we actually watching them perform a ritual? Like, right now?"

"The energy signature is impossible to mistake," I said, studying the way the Lost Legends moved around the crystal. Their movements were precise and practiced. This wasn't their first attempt at whatever they were doing. "That's definitely our stolen crystal."

"Phi!" I called out, not daring to take my eyes off the scene. "We need you in here! Bring whatever scientific magic detection stuff you've got!" She’d left us to do party stuff while she worked on altering some of her scientific equipment. She had an idea of how we might better be able to track subtle hints of magic.

Phi burst in moments later. Her arms were full of stuff that looked like someone had tried to combine a Tesla coil with a smartphone and then let a mad scientist bedazzle it. Her red hair was wild. She had what looked like algebraic equations written on her forearm in Sharpie.

"What's happening? I think it’s working. My readings just went crazy and – oh." She stopped short at the sight of the ritual playing out in the large balloon. "That's... that's not supposed to be possible."

"When has that ever stopped anything in this city?" Dre asked as we watched the Lost Legends do their ritual. The energy built-in visible waves.

"Please tell me someone is recording this," I said, noticing how the patterns they were weaving looked familiar somehow. Like something I'd seen in Marie's library. Only this was twisted and changed as with our wards.

"Already on it," Phi replied, her fingers flying over what looked like a modified tablet. The screen displayed readings that would probably give a physics professor a headache. "And I'm picking up their energy signature. It's a combination of the crystal's temporal resonance and something else. Something older."

"Older like 'pre-colonial New Orleans' old, or older like 'dinosaurs would think it's vintage' old?" Kota asked as she squinted at Phi's readings.

"Older like 'time itself might be a teenager in comparison' old," Phi muttered, adding another equation to her arm.

The laser dinged and I changed out glasses while it was running smoothly. The ritual continued for several minutes while I continued making glasses for the party. The power was built until the balloon cracked. Spiderwebbing covered the circumference. The sound it made resonated on a magical frequency that gave me an instant migraine. The image shattered, leaving us staring at mylar pieces with more questions than answers.

"Holy shit, Phi," I breathed as I stared at the array of detection equipment my sister had jerry-rigged together. "These new toys of yours are brilliant. The way you isolated the magical frequency alone will save us from depleting our magic."

Phi's eyes lit up with that specific brand of crazy she got when someone appreciated her mad scientist tendencies. "This isn't even their final form," she said as she tapped away at her devices. "Give me another hour. I think I can modify them to track both the mirror anomalies and the crystal's signature simultaneously. Maybe even add in some temporal alignment features."

"An hour?"Dani checked her watch, which was currently showing three different times simultaneously. "We've got the final party planning meeting with the Light Fae in two hours. You sure you can work that fast?"

Phi's grin was downright scary. "Watch me."

We spent the next hour working on party stuff while Phi continued her modifications. The space Phi had taken over in the silo looked like a mad scientist's lab had a wild night with Radio Shack and then invited a witch over for breakfast. Complicated equipment covered every surface. Some of it was clearly modified with magical components that made my skin tingle.

"Hand me that stabilizer," Phi called from beneath what looked like a computer having an identity crisis. "No, not that one,” she told Dea. “The one that's glowing blue. The purple one exploded and will be too unstable."

"You have way too many things that explode," I muttered as I continued changing glasses. I paused while Dea carefully passed her the device. I didn’t want glass in my eyeballs. "Remember when the most dangerous thing in here was the coffee maker?"

"That coffee maker is still dangerous," Dani pointed out. "It achieved sentience this morning. Now it only makes espresso when it's in a good mood."

Kota dodged a floating array of crystals and said, "At least it makes good coffee."

"Done!" Phi announced exactly fifty-eight minutes later. She held up something that looked like a cross between a compass and a smartphone. Blue light pulsed along its edges in a rhythm that matched the temporal disruptions we'd been seeing. "It's not pretty, but it'll work. I've calibrated it to track both the temporal disturbances and the crystal's unique energy signature."

"And it won't explode?" I asked warily. This was the first time anyone had created something like this. Normally, mixing tech and magic wouldn’t work, but our magical makeup was unique. Phi had been trying to do something like this for months, so her progress wasn't surprising, but that didn’t mean it was stable.

"Ninety-five percent sure it won't explode," she replied with what was not at all a reassuring smile. "Eighty-five percent sure it won't create a temporal paradox."

"Those odds are better than our usual," Dre said as she grabbed her gear. "Let's move before the Light Fae show up, and we have to explain why we're bailing on their meeting. Send them pics of our progress so they’re mollified."

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