Abaddon's Mark

Chapter Forty-Six

Theon walked into Wyver's study clutching a pebble. After a brief conversation, Naena had recreated her spell on a pebble Theon 'happened' to be carrying around. The sound was absolutely perfect. She had explained something would go wrong over time and she didn't know what or why.

The spell wasn't on the pebble. It surrounded the pebble like a bubble. Naena had used Maeno's and Bo's principle. The same work used to keep Maeno's magic about his griever was used on the pebble. Meaning no magic wove into or anchored to the pebble. It was little more than a visual indicator of where the spell was, so one did not lose it.

Because, Naena said this and Theon recalled Bo saying something similar, the problem with magic wasn't using it on air. It was remembering where it was once the spell was set. Those sorts of spells weren't meant to be seen, heard, or felt.

He took it to Wyver, the only person he knew who could pick a spell apart, put it back together, and then create a recipe from the spell. Otherwise, it would take the Pan coven a year or more to pick it apart. They would never manage to piece it back together again and would require duplicate spells to complete their study.

Not that Theon could bring them the duplicates they required.

"Theon, to what do I owe this meeting?" Wyver asked. "Are you angling to remove basic spell writing from the second year?"

"No," Theon said, a frown creasing his brow as he sat across from Wyver slowly. "I think it was better when I was in school, with spell writing taught from the start. But magical history? Please, why are we arming students with that information? If they don't know their magical history, that's their problem and our advantage."

"Then what brings you?" Wyver asked irritably.

Theon reached out and set the pebble on Wyver's desk.

Wyver sucked in a little breath at the sight of the pebble, then turned his cold look across the desk to Theon. Just as when he attended Amos and took Wyver's classes, Theon felt pinned to his seat by that gaze. He felt an immediate need to explain.

"Naena—"

"I know," Wyver said.

Theon let out a breath, wondering if coming to Wyver was a bad idea. The man had always held himself apart from Theon. Even during his years in school, Wyver had refused to meet with him privately. No office hours for him. No extra help or inside jokes. No pats on the shoulder or murmured words of appreciation no matter how delicately made his spells had been.

"I also suppose you want me to pick it apart and create the spell back for your so you might use this to your advantage."

As that was part of his idea, Theon grunted rather than verbalize a response. He decided to get straight to the problem.

"She says in a month, maybe a little more, it begins to scream," Theon said.

He sucked in a little shuddered breath as Wyver straightened. The other man smiled, reaching up to rub at one side of his lips with the pad of his thumb.

"Is that funny?" Theon asked.

"You don't know how she did that," Wyver said.

"No, I watched her do it, I know how but I don't know how," Theon said. "And it goes bad. This isn't about using this to my advantage. She... she might use these for notes and the like."

Wyver's eyebrows rose.

"Notes?" the man whispered. "Brilliant. Perfect recall for students with the inability to read. Sadly, few who make such discoveries make them known to the world."