CHAPTER 21

Lily, who sat across from him, shook her head. "I don't see why you have to go," she told him with no small amount of anger in her voice. "Literally anyone else can go. Amir is still out there, and it bothers me that we haven't heard from him. If he's put any sort of force together, he is watching for you to leave the house."

"I know. But even if he is, he won't be able to force his way through. Based on Eulalie's explanation, only people who become seriously lost ever slipped through. Never anyone with a purpose. What do you think?" He addressed his question to a crystal ball on the desk. Inside the ball, he could see Ratu reclining on an ornamental chair.

"I agree with this assessment," she declared. "The geas here lets people onto the land, but they can't see the truth of things. I attempted to scry the location earlier, and it is practically unreadable. In fact, that map of the boundaries you have is insufficient. Much like the greenhouse, the land itself is bigger on the inside. Even if Amir could track you to Oregon, he couldn't track you directly."

The succubus scowled. "But what about here? Once he knows you're gone, what's to stop him from dropping by and storming the place?"

Mike looked at Ratu, then back at Lily. "We actually have options, but that's going to depend largely on you. Ratu, do you want to explain?"

"No." The naga lifted a cup of tea to her lips. "She needs to hear it from you, not me."

He frowned, then looked at Lily. "This is actually something that Ratu and I have been working on for a while. Ever since the whole Underworld incident, we've been working on different ways to keep the Society guessing, and we think we have a solution."

With a natural pause, he hoped that Ratu would take over. She did not.

"So," he continued. "Ratu got the idea from a magic bag of marbles. I'm...not even qualified to try and explain the theory behind them. Apparently, she has found a way to make it look like I'm in two places at once."

"And that involves me." Kisa spoke up from the corner of the room, which caused Lily to jump.

"Fucking sneaky-ass kitty cat," the succubus swore, placing a hand over her heart. "I forgot you were there."

Kisa stuck out her tongue in response.

"Kisa is my familiar," Mike explained. "We aren't entirely certain what that entails—"

"Other than constant fucking," Lily added.

"Once you go cat, all others fall flat," muttered Kisa, her tail twitching.

"But what it means," Mike interrupted with a raised voice. "Is that Kisa now has a soul signature similar to my own. That's actually a by-product of the, um..."

"Constant fucking." This came from Reggie, who nodded sagely. "A beneficial side-effect of maintaining your harem."

"They're not my harem. Please, everyone stop interrupting." Mike noticed that Ratu was laughing into her sleeve. "And you're not helping."

"I'm not buying it. A similar signature doesn't mean shit." The succubus crossed her arms. "You aren't selling me on this idea."

"Similar won't do the trick, but this will." He opened the top drawer of his desk and pulled out a silver band. "Ratu has enchanted this bracelet to amplify the signature. We tested it a few times and it seems to work."

"It almost works," Ratu added. "Amir cannot scry within the geas. At best, he will be able to see that Mike is in two places at once as long as he is on his own property."

"Which means he will need visual confirmation," Lily said, realization dawning on her face. "So, if he comes around..."

"Then we need someone who can look like me," Mike finished. "What do you say? Wanna play dress up for a bit? You can even boss everyone around and put on a good show."

"There's still a hole in this," Lily told him. "If they're watching the house, then they'll notice that the sundial isn't being turned."

"Tink is already on it. She is making a replica of the dial top that rotates. You will have to go out every day at a certain time and spin it."

"And a simple, non-violent scanning spell will reveal that I'm not you."

"Unless I'm with you." Kisa now stood in front of Lily. "Which they might not notice. Going unnoticed is my thing."

Lily looked down at Kisa, then up at Mike. "You really thought this through, didn't you?"

He laughed. "It's not like I've just been sitting around doing nothing. Especially with Sarah roaming about. Protecting this place is my number one job."

The soul of Sarah the witch had been trapped inside of a necklace after she had died trying to kill him in the greenhouse. During last year's siege, it had been recovered by Sarah's mother, Elizabeth. Nobody had any clue what happened afterward. It was possible that Sarah had learned her lesson and would be content being a proper cunt somewhere else entirely, but even he doubted that.

"So then why go?" Lily asked. "If protecting this place is your number one job, why not send someone else?"

Mike looked at the others, then wandered over to the window. Out in the yard, he could see the fairy lights sparkling in the garden. Centaurs moved around the perimeter, making sure to give the Jabberwock a wide berth.

"Two reasons. The first is that I've noticed that the geas here isn't working properly here either." He thought about all the people who had wandered into his yard recently, but that wasn't what bothered him. "Yesterday, someone tagged this place on I*******m. The Radley Estate, they called it. Cecilia was in the picture. She looked like a regular person, but that's just it. People used to come here and not see any of you at all. You were invisible. But now? It isn't the case. The neighbors could hear us last night, and that was hardly the noisiest we've ever been. I need to know why it isn't working properly, and the fact that a similar effect is happening in Oregon may be a clue. As the Caretaker, this is my problem to fix."