Blaze watched as Kayden quickly excused herself and ran after her cousin. His stomach throbbed as she moved farther away, but he didn't do anything to stop her from leaving.

Helio stared at the door in shock. Blaze was surprised to see that he actually looked upset. But after a moment, Helio muttered, "Screw her," and stalked out of the building.

As the door swung shut, Walter Voyle whistled through his yellowed teeth. "Well... that was exciting."

Blaze had almost forgotten about the author. "I'm so sorry about him," he apologized. "He can be a bit of a jerk."

"Don't worry about it." Walter peered at Blaze through his thick glasses; Blaze felt as if a giant bug were examining him. Finally, the man smiled. "Unless you need to chase after him right now, why don't we speak in my office?"

Blaze nodded mutely and let the man lead him across the large printing area and through a propped open door on the right side of the room.

Blaze did his best not to comment on the state of the office. Blaze was not the neatest person in the world, but Walter's office looked like a trashed break room run by drunken college students. The room was cluttered with an odd assortment of furniture that looked like it had been collected over the years from garage sales, along with several potted plants, dozens of strange metal contraptions, at least five partially filled coffee mugs, a messy stack of pocket-sized editions of A Progressive Book of Magic, and plenty more miscellaneous trash.

Walter moved a battered laptop onto the floor, plopped himself down on a bright red futon, and gestured for Blaze to sit. Blaze settled into a beanbag chair, crushing stale crackers and a small toy bouncy ball beneath his butt.

Walter leaned over and dug around in a cabinet, pulling out a hot plate, a small collection of teabags, and a kettle already half filled with water. "Want some tea?"

"Er, sure," Blaze said half-heartedly, not wanting to be rude.

Walter plugged the hotplate into a wall outlet and turned the switch to high. "I haven't worked out a revised spell for boiling water yet, but the non-er way works fine in the meantime. Though..." He looked thoughtful. "I could possibly invent something better, a metal boiler infused with some heat runes." He smiled at Blaze. "I'm not only a writer, you know. I do have a penchant for inventing as well!" He gestured to the wall of strange metal contraptions Blaze had seen upon entering. "Stunning, aren't they?"

"Er..." Blaze mumbled. "Very."

Walter chuckled and laced his fingers. "So you never told me exactly why you're here. You and your friends asked a lot more questions than my usual customers."

Blaze sighed, thankful that they were finally getting to the point of their visit. He held out his wrist and showed him the mark. "That girl who was with me, the brunette... we got into a bit of a situation."

Walter tilted his wrist, examining the symbol through his thick glasses. "Altered spell results because of the shift. Common enough. Continue."

"Well, when I realized that my... er, your spell book hadn't been wiped clean by the Congregation, I thought that maybe the spells you had written were safe."

"Of course they're safe!" he exclaimed. "Otherwise they wouldn't be in print! The Congregation wouldn't allow it."

"But before the shift, they weren't safe," Blaze pointed out, a tad irritated.

Walter held up a finger. "There was a warning in the first one, in the foreword my wife and I wrote. We specifically said the spells were meant for after the shift." He looked pensive for a moment. "Looking back on it, that probably didn't help with the sales."

Blaze bit his tongue to stop himself from saying something rude. He wasn't sure if he liked the author; in fact, his blasé demeanor was starting to get on his nerves.

"Anyway," Blaze said, "since you seem to be the most knowledgeable about spell casting after this shift, we were wondering if maybe you'd be able to help us undo the spell we cast."

Walter frowned at him. "I'm sorry my dear boy, but there won't be a counter spell for that in my book. Or for any of the complications caused by the warp, for that matter."

"What do you mean?" Blaze demanded. "Every spell has a counter spell. The only time they don't work is if... if someone ends up dead." He swallowed uncomfortably. Carlos had popped back into his mind, his bright smile taunting him from his memory.

Walter frowned, his eyes hovering over the black kettle. "Believe me, I know that. My wife, Elise, worked with me to write the original version of A Progressive Book of Magic. We wanted to have the book ready and distributed to the public before the warp hit." His eyes dimmed. "There was a whole community of potestas who were prepared for that day. We reached out to the media, but were ignored. Same with the Congregation. So we advertised in our own ways, passing out fliers, warning the public. We had some great scientific minds in our midst, men and women who agreed that magic was heading towards a sudden shift, but they miscalculated the date the warp would occur on. We thought it would happen exactly eight years, eleven months, and 27 days ago." He turned away. "Elise passed away from a spell-related incident that evening."

"I'm so sorry," Blaze said quietly.

"There are some spells you simply can't undo," Walter said sadly, staring at the tangle of potted plants in the corner of the room. But then the kettle whistled and he smiled broadly. "Tea's done!"

As he got up to find some clean mugs, Blaze's frustration bubbled to the surface. "I still don't understand why you can't undo the spell we cast," he said as Voyle waded through the room. "No one died with this spell. It was just a Bonding Oath." His eyes landed on one of the pocket-sized editions of A Progressive Book of Magic within reach. He snatched it and flipped through it until he found the Bonding Oath page. "Look! It says here that if Kayden and I both agree to it, you could preside over a Breaking of the Oath Spell."

Walter dropped a tea bag into two mugs and the smell of chamomile slowly wafted across the room to Blaze's nose. He stirred the tea with a spoon and handed a Scooby Doo mug to Blaze. "Your spell was cast before the shift," he said finally. "That means it could only be undone before the shift took place." He sat down, took a sip from his own cracked mug, and pointed to the page Blaze was on with his pinkie. "This counter spell will only work on Bonding Oath spells cast after the shift."

Blaze stared at the pages, the words sinking in. He stomach churned. "So you mean... I'm stuck to Kayden forever?"

"I'm sorry," Walter said. "I mean, there are spells in here that may be able to lessen the symptoms. But the only way you could completely undo it is if magic shifts back to the way it was, and that is extremely improbable. And to be honest," he added, putting his mug down on the hardwood floor, "if that were to happen, I'd be more than a bit upset. Business is finally booming. If magic reverts back, my life's work—and, more importantly, my wife's life work—will have been for nothing."

Blaze couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Hold on," he said. "I'm not the only one with a problem because of this warp. There are other people who are suffering too. Don't you care?"

"Of course I care!" Walter looked hurt. "But a shift back to the way things are is simply not going to happen. Magical entropy doesn't work in that direction, and forcibly shifting it back would take a global effort. So for once, I'm trying to be progressive." He smiled at Blaze gently. "You should try too."

"I'd rather find a way to fix things." Blaze stood up and shoved his mug to Walter, nearly splashing him with hot tea. "I have to go."

"At least keep that," Walter said, pressing on the small book in Blaze's hand. "That's the new pocket-sized edition. Maybe you can use it to help with symptoms?"

Blaze didn't bother answering. He just clenched the book tightly and left without another word.

Blaze's stomach pulsed angrily as he pushed through the front door; he had been away from Kayden for too long and it was getting uncomfortable. Luckily, she wasn't too far away; he found her sitting on the sidewalk in front of a hardware store, her arm around a shaking Lexi. He could hear the blonde's half-choked sobs from down the road.

Blaze slowed as he drew nearer. "Hey, Lexi. You okay?"

Lexi shook her head, rubbing at her runny nose as Blaze sat down next to Kayden. "No! I don't understand how he could be like that!" she said through a sob. "I thought that he... I had such a good feeling about him." She hiccupped and covered her mouth in embarrassment. "Excuse me."

"Don't think about him," Kayden said, rubbing her cousin's back. Blaze noted that she looked a tad uncomfortable, as if she wasn't used to this sort of situation.

Lexi shook her head, pulling loose strands of her hair behind her ear. Her reddened eyes fell upon the small book in Blaze's hand. "What's that?"

"A complimentary copy of A Progressive Book of Magic Version 2.0. Pocket edition," Blaze said, holding it up so she could read the glossy magical cover. He noticed a sewer opening a few feet away and stood up. "You know, I think I'm just going to throw it away."

"Blaze!" Kayden exclaimed, yanking it out of his hand ferociously. "You can't just toss it out." She looked up at him curiously. "So will he help us undo the spell?"

"He says he can't," Blaze said, sitting back down. "Our Bonding Oath was cast before the shift and the altered spells in the book won't work on things cast beforehand."

Kayden cursed and buried her face in her hands.

Lexi frowned, looking between her cousin and Blaze. "So there's nothing you two can do?"

Blaze stared down at a cigarette butt on the street. "Not unless we can reverse the shift, but according to Mr. Voyle, that's impossible."

Kayden pressed her lips together. "I don't accept that. There has to be another way." She looked at the book in her hands, and with a shake of her head, slid it into the oversized pockets of her jeans. "Walter claims that he can't undo the spell, and maybe that's true, but there must be someone powerful enough who can do it."

"The Congregation has the most power out of anyone in the potestas community," Blaze said, "but you saw them at the conference. They're just as dumbfounded by the shift as everyone else. And everyone is already on their case about this. There is no way they would listen to us."

Kayden stared into the distance for a second, biting the inside of her cheek. Blaze could tell she was thinking of something, and when she turned to face him, her green eyes were as hard as stone. "They'll listen to me."

Blaze frowned. "What makes you think that?"

"Because I'm a non-er."

Blaze's jaw dropped. "No. We're not telling them that."

"We have to!"

"Kayden!" Blaze shouted. "Do you realize that the Bonding Oath spell I did with you was illegal? Non-ers aren't supposed to know about magic unless they've been born into a family or you're intent on marrying them! And the ones who find out accidentally are supposed to have their minds erased."

"Yes I know that," she said. "Which is why they'll listen to me. They can't ignore a problem like me."

"But I'll get in a shit load of trouble!"

Kayden sent him a frosty look. "In case you haven't noticed, we're already in a shit load of trouble."

Blaze clenched his hair. He could already imagine the look on his father's face when he found out. He would be murdered, chopped into a million little pieces and scattered across continents.

But at the same time, he knew that he wouldn't be able to keep Kayden a secret forever. She couldn't live under his bed indefinitely with him sneaking her food like a pet mouse. Silas Merg would find out eventually. But if they went to the Congregation about it, at least he could control when he'd find out.

Blaze groaned. "I don't like this option."

"Neither do I, but Voyle was a bust and this is the only thing I can think of."

He shook his head, but finally muttered, "Fine. Let's head to Le Lieu before I change my mind. They're probably still holding that teaching conference. We can catch them before it's over."

Lexi stood up, dabbing at her eyes. "What about Helio? We can't just go without him."

"I saw him storm down the street," Kayden said. "I'm sure we can find him." She looked down at Lexi. "Are you sure you can deal with him around? We could just go to Le Lieu on our own."

Lexi shook her head firmly. "No we should find him." She looked over at her cousin and cracked a weak smile. "I'll be fine. Promise."