Page 74 of Monster's Pet

“It has been in the Doyle family for centuries,” Darragh said. “As long as the grimoire, if not longer. It has been tied to many magical spells locking parts of the grimoire.”

I examined the purple stones, diamonds winking up at me between them. “How do I use it?”

“You’ll have to figure that out yourself,” Darragh said. “I never owned the ring. It has one owner every second generation, when it’s handed down to the granddaughter of the previous owner. Or grandson, to give to his intended.”

I pulled the grimoire out of my purse, fiddling with the enclosure. “The book is linked to what is needed,” I said, more to myself than to my ancestors. I held it close to my chest and shut my eyes firmly. “Ineedinformation on the Gràineileachd. Or the ley lines being drained. Anything would help.”

Cautiously, I opened one eye. No brilliant flash of light or flickering pages. I was almost disappointed. I held the book on its spine and let the pages fall open, leaning forward eagerly.

“Anything?” Grandfather asked.

I sighed. “It’s the spell that linked my ring to the book.” I flipped the book around so Grandfather could see it. “It’s bound through bloodlines, apparently. Maybe it’s weakened since it was created, and that’s why it didn’t work properly.” Disappointed, I laid the book flat on the desk again.

“Maybe there’s a hint in the spell,” Darragh suggested. “I’ve never seen that page before.”

“Neither have I,” Grandfather echoed him. “Maybe it’s working better than you realize.”

Taking hope from them, I read over the spell eagerly, talking through the more interesting parts, since they both seemed eager to learn about their family. “The spell is woven through the different gemstones. The diamonds magnify the bloodbound properties—” I broke off. “Of course they do,” I muttered. “And the amethysts are the holders of the spell. The positioning of the gems are set so that the spell weaves back and forth amongst themselves, not building in power, but containing it.”

I sat back, a frown on my face. “If the spell is contained within the setting, then I would need to open it? That doesn’t seem right. I don’t want to damage the ring.”

“What is that little design of circles on the bottom corner?” Darragh asked, pointing it out.

“It looks like a doodle,” I said dismissively. But I listened to him and looked at it more closely. “Two large, one small, two large, two small, one large,” I muttered, my frown deepening. “Why does that look familiar?”

Grandfather gasped. “Siobhan, how many amethysts are on your ring?”

My eyes widened. “It’s the pattern of the setting! Is it a key?” I pulled the ring off and lined up the settings with the design. The open pages shimmered and vanished, leaving a border an inch thick around a space, similar to a chest. I transferred the ring to my other hand and reached into the book, pulling out a sheaf of papers. “That’s everything,” I said after checking. I took my ring away from the circles, and the pages returned, as solid as ever.

“What is it?” Grandfather and the portrait echoed each other, making me laugh.

“Hang on,” I said, putting the ring back on my finger and pushing the grimoire further onto the table to make room for the loose papers. “I haven’t had a chance to look at them yet.” The pages had dates, which was helpful. “These spells were written two thousand years ago,” I said excitedly. “I think we’re on the right track!”

After reading the first page, I nearly squealed, “They’re not spells. They’re diary entries! One of our ancestors, Finnegan, and his wife, Gwenhwyfar, were in charge of the task force of capturing the Gràineileachd after the ministry didn’t succeed. This is their account of the events!”

“I had no idea,” Grandfather said, looking shocked. “Read them out loud to us!”

I had already read the first one, so I put the page aside and picked up the second one.

“I’m impressed at the quality of the paper,” I said, fingering the edge. “There must be a spell of longevity on it. This one is written by Finnegan.” I cleared my throat and began to read, stumbling only slightly over the strange way of writing some of the words.

“Now that the full task force has gathered, we have broken off into smaller groups. My Gwenhwyfar has been selected to lead the Magical Creature division. They have an idea to design a creature that drains magic from a being. I, of course, am in charge of overseeing the entire task force. It’s a big job, and I hope I will do the ministry proud. Some of the other groups disagree with that method. They want to kill the god, but they have yet to come up with a method that would work. Complicating things, the ley lines are weaker than they should be.”

“That magical creature division sounds interesting,” Darragh said. “Anything more on that?”

“Give me a moment.” I rifled through the papers, looking for anything that might pop out at me. “Ah. Here’s a different handwriting.” It was much tinier than Finnegan’s, and I realized this must be Gwenhwyfar’s hand.

“We have succeeded in cross-breeding a feline with wings. The resulting kitten is the cutest thing on four legs. She is constantly hungry, and we are kept busy creating magic for her to eat. She’s growing at a remarkable rate, but she still plays like a kitten. We’re hoping that the next kitten born is a male, so we can breed them and get the next generation. The more of these we have, the better a chance we will have to drain the Gràineileachd.”

There was a rough drawing of the kitten, big eyes, and swirls on her fur similar to that of Moonbeam. Writing with arrows to the swirls indicated that they were a pale purple.

I poked at the drawing excitedly. “This is it! My ancestors created the manducare!”

“Sorry, a what?” Grandfather asked. “How do you know what that is?”

“Oh my God, that’s right, I never told you!” I quickly summarized how Aiden and I had found the manducare and had been taking care of it ever since. “I was afraid to tell you about her in case you were like our Magical Creatures professor,” I admitted. “Even though our backup plan was to send her to you if she got too big for Aiden’s room.”

Grandfather laughed. “You’ve had a busy semester. I’m glad she’s safe with you. Strange how she showed up right at the moment that the ley lines vanished.”

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