“Yes, but I’m sure this one was called Samuel.” She glanced at the door as it opened and Monty appeared. “Was there a Samuel Kang in your homeroom?”
“Yes, why?”
She shrugged. “He’s apparently in charge of the team the High Council is sending here. Just wondered what he was like.”
“He’s not as fabulous as me, if that’s what you’re asking.”
She gave him the ‘don’t be stupid’ look, which only made him laugh. “In all honesty, I didn’t have much to do with him. He was the studious type.”
“Which is probably why he ended up working for the High Council,” I said, “and you ended up in the dusty bowels of cataloguing.”
“Possibly,” he said, “but being ensconced in said dusty bowels has at least had one payoff—I think I’ve found a book that might tell us more about the wild magic and your connection to it. I’ve put in a request for its retrieval.”
I raised my eyebrows. “How did you find it?”
“It was referenced on some old data cards being transferred to the main database. They catalogue out-of-date or superseded reference manuals.”
“Will you have to fly up to Canberra to view it?”
He shook his head. “It’s an obsolete manual, so there’s no restrictions on loaning or viewing. Jamie will sign it out for me and then express post it down.”
Jamie was his professor friend, if I remembered correctly. “Did he say how detailed the book was?”
“No, but it’s titled Earth Magic: its Uses and Dangers, so that suggests a fair bit of detail.”
Belle frowned. “Earth magic isn’t wild magic, though.”
“Actually, it is. Earth became wild after a few cataclysmic events in the eleventh century.”
“And you know this how?” she said.
“Because I have a good memory for that sort of rubbish,” he said. “And because I sometimes did pay attention at school. When’s the High Council’s team getting here?”
“Sometime in the next twenty-four hours.”
Concern flitted through his expression. “Why are they taking so long? Why didn’t the council move the minute Clayton disappeared?”
“Probably because it wasn’t until my father was shot that they believed Clayton was actually a threat.”
Monty blinked. “When did that happen?”
“A few days ago. He’s out of surgery and recovering, though.”
“Fuck.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Despite what happened in Wodonga, I didn’t think Clayton would resort to a physical attack.”
“No one did, which is no doubt why he resorted to hiring a hit man—or woman, as it apparently was.” My voice was grim. “It does mean that you and Aiden could both be in danger.”
He frowned. “Aiden, I understand, given he’s your current partner, but why me? It’s not like I had anything to do with your family when this whole crooked deal went down.”
“No,” Belle said, “but you’ve stood up to him twice now, and while I certainly appreciated the punch that broke the bastard’s nose,
I doubt he did.”
“There’s not much I can do to counter a bullet.”
“The ghoul was protected against them,” I said. “So there obviously is a spell out there capable of doing just that.”
“No doubt, but it’s not one I currently know.”