pte

keep every predator at bay, she had tied the lock to a somewhat more sophisticated shielding spell. Once the lock was in place, the shielding went into effect. A shifter may be stronger than a normal human and for all s

tside, or even the shattered vase, could make it. She set the clothing to the side and swept up the broken glass, carefully watching where she placed her bare feet. When she thought she had gotten all but the smallest slivers, she

moving to the chair, she gathered up her clothing and dumped it in the washing machine. She put everything, including her shoes in the machine and

her laundry and added it to the items the washing machine already contained. She poured in a capful of deterg

contained. Both jars held small pouches that resembled tea bags. One of the jars was labeled Wash, while the other was labeled Dry. She pulled the Wash jar do

lf, thinking of the different herbalists she would have to visit, dividing up her purchases so that no one would know exactly what went into her mix. Even though the subterfuge annoyed her, she was quite proud

han their creator. More importantly, they could be set with the barest touch of casual physical contact. Even shifters, who had no magical ability of their own beyond the changing of their fo

and in response proceeded to spy on every mage they came across. They claimed self-defense and in the

especially when her back had been turned. The problem with attempting to remove the trackers was that most were fairly resilient. Some blockers could be soa

mpletely, removing it from the cloth. It relied on a two part system, one which blended with cold water in

e spell remained. She had forgotten to clean out the lint trap once and as a consequence had been forced to buy a new dryer as the remnants of the destroyed spell had reformed as something completely different and invaded the drum. Given the invasion, she hadn't even been able to dispose of the dryer in a nor

aranoia. She shivered, having no desire to repeat that nightmare again. Given her schedule had not brought her into contact with any mages or shifters prior to laundry day, she had been forced to

y something when she saw him at the building's monthly co-op board meeting. Finding out that her polite, mild-mannered neighbor spent his free time crafting obscene porcelain figurines had been quite a sur

James' presentation on appropriate holiday door decorations, " Ivy said to herself. She walked back into the l

she reminded herself. The spray bottle looked as though it contained a mix of ground up pearls dumped into artificially bright lemon juice. While the concoction was i

had been cleaned. Thankfully it did not require a black light, the markings appearing on their own. If no markings showed up, then the chair, or whatever else she sprayed, was clean. If they did, she would have

hed set of kitchen chairs. Each had been picked up cheaply at the local thrift store and was

ed the spray nozzle and found herself hoping that she didn't find any trace of a tracker on the chair. She realized

y played a starring role in them. "Not that I would ever admit that to anyone, " she said as she began spraying the chair

and a half. Nothing appeared. Ivy turned the chair around and sprayed the back. Again she stepped away and waited for ninety seconds. Nothing. She sat

tact. She used the rag to wipe the chair down out of habit, even though very little of the liquid was left on the surface. She put the cha

he back even though Ivy had never connected the line. She sprayed everything down, figuring the spray wasn't all that likely to damage the plastic. She again waited for a reaction. There was none a

deliberately not looking into the living room at her reading chair. Knowing the flash drive was there was like having an itch she knew she shouldn't scratch, at least not yet. While her clothing

uld be dry before the hour was up, but also knew her concoction worked better if the neutralizer ran the full h

he cold wet with dry heat, " she told herself. "I'm almost out of bread anyway." Decision made, Ivy pushed away from the counter and took down her large mi

act of putting fire, even if it was the electrically generated sort, to use for her comforting something deep inside. The rest of the world seemed a step removed as

the heater's first use of the season. "I changed all of the filters, " she said, reminding herself that nothing was in fact burning despite the smell. Iv

The rinse cycle had stopped and she transferred the clothing to the dryer. She added the dry her

ound. She didn't think they would take too much harm from either the heat or the beating. Satisfied that step two was in motion, Ivy went

s possible, the rules for presentation were drummed into all of them and needed to be followed. As Ivy pushed her more casual att

that looking as though one was going to a funeral when dealing with the Council was considered rude. She shook he

sunglasses and taken directly to the Shadow Council. After the ruling they had been allowed to return to the house, dealing with gathered mourners and kindly offered covered dishes, most of which they w

ry and a black dress aside. The remembered anger at their callousness she swallowed down, as it would

ce, continuing to search her clothing, focusing on the moment. Nerves wer

hat came to her mid-calf, so she thought it would count as demure. The color was a dark gray with royal blue piping, so she thought it counted as sobe

suit jacket rather than either the black or gray ones. She figured with gray shoes it would stil

ss it up, " Ivy decided. "Nothing expensive though." She remembered her grandmother's admonition to never look either too poor or too prosperous in front

sandwich bread was done and she punched it down and set it to rise a second time. The cinnamon raisin didn

down and untangled chains, as soon as the box was closed everything became tangled again. "If this were a cop show, the detectives wouldn't be able to tell

indow. Fat flakes of snow were pouring from the sky like damp duck feathers. This was

table and picked up the remote control for the television. She turned the tv on and flipped around until she saw something featuring local weather. She set the remote

table as though it were of little concern. A free floating tracker could only last an hour at best so she decid

e looked for a broach to liven up her ensemble, all the while ignoring the flash drive. She tr

. "It's the weather equivalent of a seven car pile-up I guess, " Ivy said as she watched the w

and don't go out if you don't have to. Back to you Trina, " the weather man said. The

mera, addressing the audience directly. She shivered theatrically for the at home audience. "Brrrr, I know I'll be staying at home tonig

. He talked about a winter wonderland and the magic of the first snowfall, before cutting to images of the city's d

map like a general ordering troops. Her grandmother had favored the radio for announcements and Ivy remembered huddling around the kitchen table with the others waiting desperately to hear if their school was closed

ugh luck, but two were unlucky for some reason she couldn't remember, making three the ideal. When she thought of the television at such times it was always

hnology he got to play with at work. There had even been a couple of field trips to the station after the new Doppler syst

s some things don't change, " she said with a smile. She wondered if she would get lucky and have her summons cancelled due to weather. She put the tangled

er as he had always done. "I promise I won't even throw snowballs at Silas Kensington." Satisf

ther to Alex's Superman. Although it was often debatable which was Lex and which was Superman, neither being known for their attempts to triumph over the forces of evil. He and Alex competed at everything and they were close enough i

e of it. She would have one brief flash of humor and then the reality of the separation would sink back in, se

ich bread dough had again doubled in size, she punched it down and put it into the greased loaf pan. She brushed an egg wash over the top and slid it into the oven. I