Dy would be waiting at the bottom andshecouldn’t stay there indefinitely either.Clambering back into the driver’s seat, Cha poked without much hope at the grayed out path box.Nothing, of course, especially since for once it would be really helpful to get Dy’s advice.A sorceress could probably solve this problem.With a sigh, she considered her very few options, along with their pros and cons:
1)Give up and go home.
Pros: Much less chance of death.
Cons: No Azul, being a weaselly coward.
2)Go back down the mountain, fetch Dy, and bring her up in the passenger seat to see if she could sorcel their way through the wall.
Pros: Quasi-viable option.Could work?
Cons: More time, might not work, putting Dy at risk, leaving Big Betty alone, Dy might just pick Option #1.
3)Try ley riding the wall to the top and over.
Pros: Could work?Would be super fun!(excepting possible fall to their deaths.) Possibility of record-breaking feat, going down in history.
Cons: Much greater chance of death, for both of them.Might not work.Dy would definitely say no.
On Option #3, she decided the “might not work” and “could work” canceled each other out.Seemed like that was a math thing.And Dycouldn’tsay no, whereas if Cha and Katu went back down the mountain to fetch her, she might and likely would.If it were up to Cha alone, she’d absolutely attempt the wall circuit.So many good reasons to try!But she’d be risking Katu, too, which would be irresponsible.
She really did try not to be irresponsible, all appearances to the contrary.
“What do you think, baby cat?”she asked.“Is the wall a sideways ley line and should we try to ride it to the top?”
He made a snarl of eager agreement, as she’d known he would.Never expect a jaguar to turn down an exciting race even with the threat of death and destruction on the other side of the scale.That’s where she was supposed to come in.Too bad she was shitty at mature decision-making.
She was already considering the logistics.They’d go back down several turns, get their speed and momentum up, and use the tight acceleration of the ley line to “leap” onto the wall.With enough velocity, they could spiral upwards, shooting for the top and going over the edge to…
To what?Possibly a very steep drop.
But they wouldn’t know until they got up there.Maybe they could cruise along the top of the wall a ways, take in the sights.Maybe.If there was any “top” to cruise along.Impossible to tell from the bottom.
She’d just about decided to try it, opening her mouth to tell Katu her plan, when somethingglitteredviolently pink in the corner of her vision.The Moonruby wand.Sitting there on the passenger seat, shedding glitter like a fae sex worker high on human ale.Cha glared at it suspiciously.Had the thing actually moved?Or just…glitteredsuddenly?It wasn’t sentient in any way and it had never done anything like that before.Also, she’d been pretty sure she’d put the wand in its holster, the twin of the one still snugly holding the Cinnabar sword.
Surely it hadn’t gotten itself out.The wand shouldn’t be able to do that.Of course, it also shouldn’t be able toglitterlike that, seizing and holding her attention.Probably that was in Lesson Twenty-Seven or something.
“Can’t hurt to try,” she muttered, keenly aware that wasn’t true at all.She picked up the wand and shook it so pink sparkles shot from it toward the wall.“Open, says me!”she ordered.
Nothing happened.
Remembering how Azul had sung the magic, Cha glanced around, even though she knew only Katu was listening, and sang it out, “Open, says me!”
~15~
A Palatial Gig
The pink glitterformed a cloud like swarm of maliciously pretty biting flies, hung in the air a moment, then swirled onto the gleaming wall as if sucked there by a giant’s inhalation.They sparkled for a while, forming what could be the outline of a doorway big enough to admit a carriage, then gradually faded away, vanishing into the buttery surface and leaving no trace.
“Well, fuck me,” Cha declared.In disgust, she attempted to reholster the wand.
It stuck to her palm.
She held out her hand, fingers out flat, expecting it to fall.Nope.
She shook it hard.Nope.Stuck there as if glued—plus the shaking scattered even more pink glitter all over Katu’s once very nice interior.Infuriated, she held the wand outside the car and shook it harder, to no avail, then used her other hand to try to peel it off her palm.
That hand stuck, too.