Binx joined me, rubbing her nose. “I’m not smelling much—the stink of smoke and wizard magic is about all I can get.” She squinted for a moment, then sneezed into her elbow.
I stared at the ground—it was easier to talk when I wasn’t looking my teammates in the face. “All wizard magic smells the same to you, correct?”
“Yeah. I can’t smell a difference between April’s magic and the magic House Tellier used to put the fire out.” She paused, then added, “Except the scent of House Tellier’s magic is almost gone. Brody and I both smelled it last night.”
Mentally reviewing the facts we’d put together for the case notes, I nodded. “And you only smelled wizard magic? No fae magic?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t get here until House Tellier was already using their magic.” Binx turned so she could watch April as the wizard picked her way around burned shrubbery making her way towards us with her magical flames bobbing around her.
“Brody would have smelled wizard magic if it had been used in the fire when we arrived,” I muttered to myself.
“Maybe, but maybe not,” Binx said. “The humans refused to let us within the perimeter last night, and smoke is a potent scent. He might not have been able to smell it if he didn’t think to look for it.”
“But what about Grove?” I asked. “As a fae, he should have sensed it if House Tellier was controlling the fire.”
April clenched her fingers in a fist, putting her blue flames out, and her black wizard tattoo faded. “He would have had a very narrow window of time to think to check into it given that House Tellier arrived at the scene on your heels and immediately busted out their magic.” She checked to make sure her light brown hair hadn’t slipped from the neat bun she’d pulled it into for the night and glanced at me out of the corner of her eyes. “Do you think House Tellier is responsible for this?”
“There’s no proof,” I said. “Yet.”
“Okay, then what’s next?” Binx started to put her hands in the pockets of her pants, but the sky dropped a few leftover raindrops on her head, so she hunched her shoulders up in displeasure first.
I cocked my head, confused.
“You said yet,” Binx said. “That means you still think there’s a chance we could get some.”
I stared at Binx, simultaneously impressed that Binx had picked up on that detail and touched that she knew me so well that she was able to make such an accurate prediction.
She cares enough to pick up on my habits—that means a lot. I’ve got to figure out how to get everyone to stop with the ma’am thing, then we could be friends!
“Blood?” April asked.
“Yes.” I shook my head, clearing my mind and focusing. “I’m going to radio Sarge and ask for clearance to visit an additional location.”
“Oh?” Binx’s eyes gleamed in the low light. “What location?”
I rolled my shoulders back. “I’d like to visit House Tellier.”
Twenty minutes later I stood on the sidewalk of a human neighborhood, studying the mismatched building that was House Tellier. The magical abode could best be described as “farmhouse meets American colonial architecture,” and it stood out with its orange and yellow trim—House Tellier colors.
It had a fence—a rustic, wooden thing that only was about hip high—and a gravel driveway, with stone pavers that branched off from the public sidewalk and led up to the House’s front doors.
Is the House going to be okay with us approaching?
I hadn’t dealt much with wizard Houses, but I knew the basics: they were sentient and the wizards living within were all sworn to it and in return received magical protection granted by the House.
Houses were protective of their wizards, so I wasn’t sure House Tellier was going to like me—a member of a supernatural race whose entire existence was based on violence—prancing up to it.
“So.” April said, standing next to me and awkwardly playing with the braid she’d plaited her light brown hair into. “I didn’t say this before because I didn’t want Sarge to refuse your request, but I can’t set foot on House Tellier land.”
I swiveled to face her. “Sorry?”
April dropped the braid of her hair. “There’s bad blood between House Tellier and House Medeis, and if I walk up there, there’s a pretty good chance they’ll somehow misconstrue it and it’ll cause a wizard war.”