“I just don’t want her to waste her potential, is all.”

  Nadia crossed her arms on the counter, staring at me while we waited for Janine to return from her csses. I sat idle at one end of the counter, with sheets of parchment covered in runes and a half-finished letter to Berindal Academy between us. “If we were in Berindal and the right people knew she could perceive the essence of an obscure magic, she’d have her pick of tutors, schorships, maybe a career for life!”

  “And she’d be miserable, don’t you think?” Tobias stood at the other end of the counter, grinding up seeds of a wildflower known as the Haunted Whisper in preparation for his test batch of hearing-enhancement potions. “Like it or not, the promise of guaranteed work in a wizard town won’t tempt her away from these mountains. She’s like her father that way.”

  Nadia frowned, gncing at Tobias. “Maybe a little too much like Clint... The mountains didn’t care that he loved them in the end. A career in magic is safe and steady these days, safer than Clint’s Passguard work ever was.” She tapped at me with her pen, rolling me back and forth and watching my little fme of green mist flicker and swirl. “You’re the only magical thing she’d ever shown any interest in. Why can’t you convince her for me?”

  I made no promises. I mean, I couldn’t, but also I wouldn’t have in this case. Janine’s destiny was hers to discover, not Nadia’s to guide. Despite the magical resonance she and I shared, I admired Janine’s willingness to follow her passions instead of submitting to what natural abilities she might have coursing through her veins.

  For the st three days, Janine wore me outside the magic shop for a few hours at a time, as Nadia hoped some new experiences would break through my magical essence. Outside! I accompanied Janine throughout Quinn’s Peak, past the charming little cottages and shops and out beyond the town’s boundaries, where I could see the snow closer than ever before! I never felt the snowfkes when they nded on me, but I enjoyed seeing them drift to me like they were dancing a ballet in the sky.

  Janine and I would wander the icy forests for hours. She’d climb trees, point out the deer and hares hiding in the snow to me, search for Winterblooms and Gnomecaps for Tobias’ potions—anything except trying to coax any magic from me. During those treks, I was more ‘travel companion’ than ‘science experiment’. With Janine, I didn’t worry about my struggles, I just enjoyed the tours, and I enjoyed listening to Janine talk to me about whatever was on her mind, even if I couldn’t respond. Then she’d return me to her mother, where Nadia would study me carefully only to conclude that nothing had changed.

  “I wouldn’t worry about it, Nadia,” Tobias said, tapping his potion bottles with a wand to activate the magic embedded in the ingredients. “Those woods are pretty safe these days. It’s been, what, a decade since the Py’riel were st spotted nearby? Maybe she’ll try the Passguard thing for a bit, get bored of patrolling the mountains, and turn to spellcraft instead.”

  “You think so?”

  Tobias blinked, staring at Nadia in disbelief. “Of course not! Have you even met your daughter?”

  The sound of tiny feet thudding along the hardwood upstairs drew attention away from the conversation. The red-headed gremlin had awoken from her nap.

  Evelyn bounded down the stairs and into the front room, standing on her tiptoes as she peered over the counter. “Is it done yet? I wanna see it!”

  Chuckling at her eagerness, Tobias reached into his pocket. “Just like you wanted. It turned out pretty good, what do you think?” He pulled out a silver chain, and on the end of it, a red gemstone pulsed with a soft light at its center, wrapped in a silver wire.

  “Ooh! It’s pretty!” Evelyn squealed and bounced up and down, which made it hard for Tobias to actually put it around her neck. “Now I’m the Crimson Archer!”

  “What’s this now?” Nadia said, perplexed as she looked at her excited niece.

  Evelyn mimicked drawing a bow and arrow, pretending to shoot her aunt. “I’m the one that stops the bad wizard, I got an amulet that makes me never miss!”

  “It’s a character from a book series,” Tobias said when Evelyn’s expnation didn’t help Nadia’s understanding. “Based on a true story about someone from the royal guard, apparently. His relic turns him into a powerful warrior and gives him impressive archery skills. Cssic ancient relic behavior, really.”

  “Looks like you have competition,” Nadia said to me with a grin.

  I may or may not have been a little jealous at being upstaged by a silly glow-gem. Nobody hopped around in excitement at the idea of wearing me, and yet Evelyn was enamored with the simplest mass-produced gemstones from Lockesleigh Co.! However, I did like the sound of this Crimson Archer character. Maybe that’s what I needed... an example like this archery relic could help me figure things out for myself, even if the example came in the form of exaggerated fiction.

  Janine entered the shop from the back door, bundled up in her winter cloak, with Evelyn’s coat in hand. “Ready, Evelyn?” The younger girl’s fiery mane bobbed as she nodded.

  “Where are you off to today?” Nadia asked.

  “We’ve got a break in the weather, so I’m taking her to the library to pick up the new Crimson Archer book,” Janine said. How convenient for me!

  Nadia picked me up and put me around Janine’s neck, smiling. “I see, Evelyn’s new neckce makes a lot more sense now. Any green relics in these stories? Maybe a ‘Viridian Knight’ or something?” She put the journal in Janine’s hands as well, her smile diminishing as her daughter seemed almost repulsed by the notebook. “Please write something this time. Even if it’s that nothing changed, that’s just as important to know. And be careful, there’s still a lot of ice hiding under the snow.”

  I liked the sound of the Viridian Knight myself—with so many possibilities for my magic to take shape, being a relic that could craft a heroic knight beloved by the masses felt like a dream. Maybe then, people would tell legends about me! Janine favored the idea as well, I saw her eyes brighten the moment Nadia said it. Maybe that was why her mother suggested it—marrying magic to Janine’s interests seemed like a smart move.

  “We’ll be back by dinner,” Janine said, as the ‘Crimson Archer’ and the ‘Viridian Knight’ departed the magic shop on their perilous quest to the most dangerous pce anyone would dare venture—the library.