Mahkir hadn't moved from beside him the whole time, watching the box with real attention, ears forward, tail still. The field around them had gone properly dark now, Fenhollow's last few lights gone behind the rise, the air carrying nothing but cut grass and the horse's own warm smell where it grazed a short way off.
"You don't have to be here for this," Ant said.
You're joking, right. Mahkir's tail flicked once. Last time you tried one of these without me half a cave nearly came down on top of us. I'm staying.
Ant laughed once, short, then let it go. Andy's voice was still sitting in the back of his head, plain and certain of itself. If there's a version of this where you're stronger, and that's the difference between winning and losing, then not going isn't caution. It's negligence. That had been about the trip to Fenhollow. It applied just as well to the gem now sitting cool in his palm, small enough to lose in a closed fist, and he'd been putting off actually trying it since the moment he'd bought it.
[ MAGIC GEM ]