Page 60 of Office of the Lost

Searing blue squares appeared around him, lighting the tree house in an eerie glow.It’s working!

He held his concentration, creating Order with the skill of an artisan, connecting one box to the next until they finally surrounded him.As the last box was completed, the very air around him shimmered, the world shook, and the force that had been holding him up dumped him unceremoniously onto the floor, forcing the air from his lungs in a sharpooof.

Blue lines shattered and dissolved into the air.

When he could breathe again, Crispin grinned.“It worked!”

His eyes fell upon poor Minkis, who had played a hero’s role, if unsuccessfully, in the Great Raid on Crispin’s Tree House.He scampered over to his best friend’s side and repeated the exercise, this time using his hands to draw the squares, and soon Minkis was free too.

The squirrel leapt onto one shoulder and danced, merrily and manically, between the left and right one, his furry tail tickling Crispin’s neck and ears.

“Happy to see you again too, my little friend.”

Crispin’s mind was abuzz.Without Leo, he was stuck here on Torevor, unless he could find a way to summon help.

Why had Bidulla sent Juzir and Qyl—not one of the other curators—after him?It was not unheard of to use off-the-books help, just rare.Maybe she’d foreseen the need to have someone with Juzir’s ability to contain Leo.His wizarding abilities were far stronger than the average curator’s… in fact, Crispin didn’t even know the full extent of his strength.

Or maybe she didn’t want the Office to know about it.

Out of habit, he reached into his pocket for Thea.

Her cracked screen lit up, and he recognized the Earth song she played.He’d heard it on a foray to London, retrieving the Crown Jewels and replacing them with exact replicas.

“God Save the Queen?”Did she mean his mother?

He had no intention of returning to the Estate.He’d been burned there more than once, and his mother was just as bad as Bidulla.Besides, he had no way of going there, unless….

He slapped his head.Why hadn’t he thought of it before?I am a bumble-footed idiot.

“Thea, I’m going to try something.”

She emitted what he hoped was a pleased sound.

He set her down on his table and pulled up one of the hand-carved oak chairs.

Minkis scampered up another chair to land neatly on the far side of the tabletop, his little nose twitching and his head darting back and forth.

“I’m going to try to fix Thea.”He closed his eyes, working to remember what her magical circuit board looked like.He’d seen them before in the Production Room.With his memory as a guide, he began to draw an intricate and very orderly series of squares and circles and squiggly lines in the air above her.The details were important, and he could see them in his head as clearly as if he’d noted them only yesterday.

It took longer than he anticipated, but soon enough he had the outlines finished.He looked it over one last time, satisfying himself that it was as accurate as he could manage.“Wish me luck.”

Minkis chittered.

He pushed the construct down onto Thea’s rectangular form, where it settled in and vanished with a sizzle.

Nothing happened.

Minkis edged toward the phone, sniffing the air.

Damn it all to Hellvin.“I’m afraid I’ve failed.Again.”Crispin sighed as he pushed his chair away from the table.

He was just starting to get up when a strange sizzling sound issued from Thea.

He sank back down with a thump and stared at the little mechanical-magical creature.

A sharp crackling accompanied a blue shimmer of light that started at her base and crawled up her broken screen, healing the glass into an unbroken smooth surface once again.Old dents and scratches disappeared, and there was another sound—like steam escaping a kettle—as something dark and smoky poured out of her speaker holes.

Chaos—a little bit of Leo, left behind.It resolved itself into a miniature cloud as Thea’s healing completed, leaving her looking as shiny and new as the first day Crispin had bonded with her, before his initial mission.He stared at her and then at the little, angry, roiling cloud.

---