Mite paled. “They didn’t say that.”
“Not all of them,” Noa agreed. “Though there was one ghost who seemed particularly interested. . . . The shadows are like doors for them, you know. He said he’d use the shadow under your bed. He wore a big black hood, so I couldn’t see his face, but I think it looked a little like this.” She put two fingers in her mouth and stretched it wide while bugging her eyes out.
Mite made a strangled sound and went thundering down the staircase. “Julian!”
Noa fell back against the cushions, chortling. A moment later, Julian came up the stairs, an exasperated look on his face. “What’s this about you threatening your sister with ghosts?”
“I wouldn’t say threatening—”
“You don’t use your powers to frighten people.” Julian swept his cloak out of the way and sat on the edge of her bed. “That’s one of the cardinal rules of magic.”
This was the most hypocritical thing Noa had heard in her life. “You frighten people all the time!”
He frowned. “Only people who deserve it.”
“Mite deserves it. She’s a sneak.” Noa faltered, though, as she remembered Esmalda. She shoved that thought away. She didn’t want to worry about anything right now.
She was a magician!
“So the cardinal rules of magic.” She sat up and pushed the covers back. “What are they? I have to know now, since I’m a magician and all.”
Julian gently but firmly pushed her back against the pillows. “Before you run off and inhale every grimoire I own, we need to make sure you’re all right.”
“I’m fine.”
“I’ll be the judge of that. You were pretty badly scratched up. What was it that attacked you?”
“I don’t know,” Noa lied, because it didn’t sound very impressive to admit that she’d gotten into a fight with an otter, even if it had been a magical one. “But it was big.”
Julian stretched his hand over her, murmuring a few words in Marrow. “Well, you seem healed. A little tired, but that’s normal after you use a lot of magic.”
“I didn’t use any magic,” Noa said. “A bunch of ghosts came along and grabbed me, and dragged me back to the Beyond with them!” She lashed her arms out dramatically in a grabbing motion.
Julian looked thoughtful. “There are stories about ancient mages who traveled to the land of the dead. I always thought they were just stories, but perhaps those mages were able to speak to ghosts, like you. Your power may be different than the others. . . . Perhaps ghosts are drawn to it, even without you speaking their language. As soon as you released your power by reading that book, they came to you.”
Noa’s exhilaration was wilting at the edges. “Can we . . . stop them from doing that?”
“I expect so. There are methods you can use to control your power. And once you grow more confident in speaking their language, you should be able to command the ghosts, just as a fire mage commands flame. I’ll teach you.”
“You will?”
“Of course. We should start as soon as possible. Tomorrow, if you’re up for it.”
Her excitement blossomed again. She was going to have magic lessons with Julian! Normally, magician children went to Northwind Island, which was home to a magic school where they lived for a year, or until they mastered basic enchantments. Noa had often fantasized about Northwind Island, but this was just as good. “We should start now!”
“Not so fast, Noabell. You need to eat something. I’ve already sent for lunch.”
“Lunch?” Noa looked at the position of the sun and realized he was right—she must have been tired. “How did you know I was in Death? You seemed to have it all figured out last night.”
“Not exactly,” he said. “I knew something bad had happened. Reckoner practically dragged me out of bed, howling his head off. I found the book by the lavaplace, and I guessed that you had been there. I went to your room, but you were gone. So I used a blood spell to track your location—that sort of magic is difficult, and I wasn’t sure I could do it, given how much magic I spent on Evert. The spell told me you were in another world. It also told me you were dead.”
Noa felt cold. “That I was dead?”
“Yes.” Julian rubbed his face, which was very pale. “I panicked. If I hadn’t, maybe I would have found you sooner. What the spell told me was a contradiction—that you were alive somewhere, but also dead. So I invented a new spell—”
“Invented a spell?” Noa repeated. “Just like that?” She was used to Julian’s slapdash flair for magic, but sometimes he still managed to surprise her.
“Yes. A spell that would use our shared bloodline to allow me to communicate with you, wherever you were. If you had truly been dead, I wouldn’t have been able to do that—I soon realized that the first spell had actually been telling me that you were in the land of the dead, not dead yourself. I guessed the rest based on the myths and legends I’ve been reading about the ancient mages.”
“Are you going to explode, Noa?” Mite said, her head popping up from the stairwell.
“No, Mite,” Noa said. “Not all magicians are as dramatic as you.”
“I’m not dramatic!” Mite seemed to consider. “Or if I am, I can’t help it.”
Noa turned back to Julian. “We need to start making plans. We have one of the Lost Words! How shall we use it to get rid of Xavier?”
“You need to learn about your magic before we think about any of that,” Julian said. “Even then . . .”
Noa stared at him. “What are you talking about? What was the point of looking for the Lost Words if we don’t use them?”
“The point? The point was to find a weapon that I could use against Xavier. Not to turn my little sister into one.”
Noa’s fantasies crumbled and toppled like sandcastles. She had just found out she was a magician,
