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I leave Agency Headquarters and hurry back to the store I arrive to find Theo In his workshop destroying the wolfsbane elixir that he had created

I hesitate in the doorway “So you decided to get rid of it?” I ask him

“I thought about keeping so hands it could wreak havoc on the olf packs”

It warms my heart that Theo had invented that elixir especially for me I had never realized He had needed it for the dart he had given me to protect myself from the Wolf-Claw Killer And then I had allowed Alys to steal the elixir and misuse it I have told Theo about Alys There is no point hiding her froht be able to help et rid of her

He had told me it would not be so simple That if what I had told him was true, then Alys was part of me, a part of my personality that had dissociated froet rid of her, I would have to absorb her back into myself

He has spent the week consulting with his wizard, witch and ic that he needs to use It is an untested area that he is unfamiliar with He had been reluctant to share too er

This all means the spell we are about to try is coic of his own invention with partially blind advice from others thrown in

I have been wracked with nerves all week, and looking over to the pentagram that is carved into the stone floor in the corner of Theo’s workshop only ly scented herbs are scattered all around it already Sigils marked in white chalk have been drawn in two concentric circles around it Beastie is already lying beside it, as if standing guard

“Are you ready?” Theo asks me

I nod Nothing for it now except to take a leap of faith

I take a deep breath Trying not to think about what I araht run I step carefully over the concentric circles of chalk sigils and take a seat in the center of the five-pointed star I try to sit still and not fidget and not biteI want is for Theo to catch my nerves

“It ests

I shakedown makes me feel even more vulnerable

Little Mozz comes in and sits solemnly beside Beastie Theo strikes a ht Next he sets fire to the herbs in their braziers A strongly scented choking smoke rises from them

I only notice the gap in the circles of the sigils when Theo crouches down to begin filling them in with a stick of chalk He takes his time to carefully draw each one perfectly When he fills in the final sigil the flao out Theo says an oht is dim and unnatural