"Why yes, Miss Reid, I can certainly get that taken care of for you," Margrave's voice said over the phone. "Though I would advise you to reinforce the Hall's outer wards as soon as possible, as it may take a day or two for me to arrange repairs to the wall and installation of a new gate."

That was something that hadn't occurred to me.

Ariana, Sparkle, Ken and I were in my study, which was still the only place in the Hall with a phone. At least it was no longer a rotary phone, but a modern office phone…which was why Margrave was on the speaker instead of the handset. Once we'd established that Margrave was indeed still awake at nearly one o'clock in the morning, more than willing to help, and he'd exchanged polite greetings with Ariana, we'd dived right into the problem at hand.

Seated across the desk from me, Ariana nodded and put down her steaming mug of coffee. "I didn't think of that. Emrys usually takes care of that sort of thing for us. Can you handle it?"

Pacing back and forth near the door, Ken grunted. "She can handle the basics, but nothing too complicated yet. I think I can walk her through reinforcing the outer wards though."

"I would offer to send an expert in wards," Margrave said, "but your family has traditionally been very secretive about the Hall's magical defenses. I feel it should probably stay that way."

"I'll handle it," I said, feeling a bone deep weariness creeping up on me. "Somehow. What about electronics for the gate? Security cameras, a remote opening system, that sort of thing?"

"Excellent ideas, Miss Reid," Margrave said. "I approve wholeheartedly of adding mortal security to the Hall's defenses. I shall make the necessary arrangements. I must point out, however, that you may be short on time. You said you believe this event to be related to one Bellinus von Einhardt, yes?"

I sighed. "Honestly, Margrave, I can't imagine anybody else who'd want to do this. He's the only person outside of the Hall I've encountered since arriving that's been less than friendly, and who's been insisting on entry into the Hall since I first met him. He tried to mind control me twice, according to Sparkle - "

"He did!" Sparkle confirmed from where she was leaning against the phone.

" - and came close to losing his temper at the pub earlier this evening…last night…whatever. Hard to believe that was only a few hours ago. Margrave, do you know anything about von Einhardt?"

"Summers & Winters no longer does any business with wizards of the International Consortium of Organized Arcana," Margrave said stiffly. "Collectively, they have proved themselves far too untrustworthy to continue a professional relationship with. Beyond that, our confidentiality clauses prevent me from sharing anything I may or may not know about the man. My sincerest apologies, Miss Reid, there is simply nothing I can tell you about him. I can, however, tell you that summoning a construct of the sort you described would leave even the most powerful and experienced of wizards too exhausted to do more for a day or two. Assuming he was involved, you have a bit of breathing room."

"That's good to know," I said, rubbing my eyes. "All right. Thank you, Margrave. I think that's all for now."

"Very good, Miss Reid. I shall see to the arrangements for repairing your front gates and adding mortal security measures. Expect to hear from me within a day or two."

"Again, thank you, Margrave. I'll speak with you soon." I waited until I heard the line click, then hung up myself and slumped back in my chair.

Ariana finished her coffee. "If you'll take my advice, kiddo…get a few hours of sleep, then get up and do what you can to buff up the wards."

"Sound advice," Ken agreed, watching me with obvious concern. "You look exhausted, Caley."

"It's been a very long day," I said, feeling every minute of it.

Ariana smiled and rose. "That sounds like my cue to go. Lord knows what kind of trouble Emrys will have gotten into while I've been here. Ken, if you'd be so kind as to direct me to the appropriate door?"

Ken gave me a long, searching look, then nodded. "Of course. If you'll just follow me..."

Ariana paused in the doorway as Ken disappeared into the hallway beyond. "Get some sleep, Caley. Men like von Einhardt don't wait to move any longer than they absolutely have to."

I sighed heavily. "Thanks for coming to the rescue, Ariana. I'm not sure I could've done that without you."

She flapped a dismissive hand at me. "You did the heavy lifting. Good night, Caley."

"Good night, Ariana." As she closed the door behind her, I realized I was smiling. If Ariana Pendragon thought I had done all right, and wasn't just being polite, odds were good I'd done pretty well.

Sparkle flitted to the center of the desk blotter and looked up at me. "You look done in, Caley. Ariana was right, you should sleep while you can. Wadsworth and his clan will be hard at work stabilizing the wards right now, and you'll need to be fresh to strengthen them."

Rationally, I knew she was right. I could feel how drained I was after the complex spellcasting I'd done. Well...time would improve my stamina, practice would improve my skill, and experience would improve my response time.

But who knew how fast von Einhardt would move. The Hall's defenses were breached...moving now, before the gates could be repaired, would undoubtedly make it easier for him to get in...

"Caley?"

I came fully awake again with a start, realizing I'd slipped into a half-doze in my desk chair. "Yes...thank you, Sparkle. Bed is definitely the only reasonable destination right now. Come on."

By the time I made it around my desk, Sparkle was in her teenage form and met me by the door. Instead of just walking beside me or taking my hand, she slipped under my arm as naturally as if I'd meant to do it myself, nestled against my side, and fell into perfect step with me.

A few steps down the hall, I realized that her warmth and vibrancy was seeping into me from the contact, making me feel...not more awake, but at least more alert and steadier. Enough that I'd make it to my room without falling down exhausted, at least.

"Thank you, Sparkle," I murmured, then kissed her cheek.

She smiled at me, glowing warmly. "You're very welcome, Caley."

Even with her support, and in spite of the Hall graciously placing it only a few doors down the hall, I was drooping by the time we arrived at our bedroom. Sparkle got me undressed and into my night clothes, tucked me into bed, and I was asleep almost before my head hit the pillow.

I was rudely awakened some indeterminate time later by the deep, discordant BONG of the Hall's alarm. Its first peal jolted me fully awake, and had me swinging my bare feet out from under the blanket before I realized what was happening. Sparkle, who was still teen-sized and had apparently been cuddled up under the blanket with me, was likewise out of bed on the other side, looking startled.

I ignored the fact that she was naked. Not only could I not blame her - I wouldn't want to sleep in one of her dresses either - this wasn't the time to either satisfy my curiosity about possible anatomical differences or to admire her body. Nor was it the right time for me to waste any portion of my brain wondering about my own sexual orientation.

"That can't be good," I said, giving my head a shake to clear it and heading for the closet.

"No," she said from behind me, "definitely not."

I'd barely made it to the closet when the bell sounded another resonant, slightly off-key BONG that practically had me leaping into jeans and pulling on a tunic (being the simplest articles of clothing I could lay hands on quickly). I stepped into a pair of trainers without bothering with socks, and headed for the door.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Sparkle was already back in her purple silk fairy dress before I turned from the closet, and Ken was arriving from the hallway before I reached the door.

"Wadsworth reports the wards are under attack again," Ken said without preamble. "More strongly this time."

I paused for the briefest of moments to digest that. I felt alert and not as badly drained as I had earlier. "How long was I asleep?"

"It's just eight o'clock in the morning," Ken said. "So at least six hours."

"I thought that - "

I was interrupted by another discordant BONG...it really did sound like the TARDIS cloister bell, some part of my mind decided. By the time this one faded, I was out in the hall, walking for the front door at a good clip as I buckled my sword belt on over my tunic. I barely remembered grabbing it as I hurried out of my bedroom. Sparkle was trotting along beside me, my staff hugged to her chest, and Ken was drifting along ahead of us.

"Boy," I said as I finished buckling the belt shut and threaded the loose end around the belt and into a knot the way Ken taught me, "that's better than coffee."

Ken gave himself a little shake. "Yes, the imperative to protect the Hall created by the bell are quite potent. One of your ancestors laid the enchantments on it herself, before my time. To be honest, I'm not even sure where in the Hall it is. This is actually only the fourth time I've experienced it."

"I remember it ringing when the Hall went into lockdown after Mistress Chessie's parents died," Sparkle said quietly. "Then its compulsions acted on us differently...I couldn't leave Mistress Chessie's side - not that I would have - while Ken and the brownies rushed around locking everything up."

That was interesting. Was the Hall using that enchanted bell to communicate urgent instructions to us? Something to look into another time.

We arrived at the front door. I took my staff from Sparkle, braced myself for whatever I might find, and stepped outside.

The barricade I'd magically built from the remains of the gate and fallen trees obviously hadn't been any kind of challenge. As I stepped out under the portico, von Einhardt's black Bentley rolled to a halt on the far side of the wide drive. The front end looked scuffed and a bit battered, making me wonder if von Einhardt had just battered his way through the makeshift gate without magic.

Sparkle moved to stand beside me, on my right, and gave me an encouraging - if rather nervous - smile. Behind me, unable to join us outside, Ken said, "Please be very careful, Caley."

I glanced over my shoulder. "Try to reach Ariana and D.T., and maybe Margrave for good measure. Any help you can get here would probably be good."

Ken nodded and vanished. In his wake, the front door slowly swung shut. I heard the lock engage, and felt a little better. While it might have cut off my best avenue of retreat, it would also keep von Einhardt out, and made a firm statement to that effect.

I took my staff in my left hand and planted it firmly on the ground, leaving my right hand free to cast spells or draw my sword. Without another word, Sparkle and I squared off against the Bentley, standing just under the leading edge of the portico. The sky was obscured by ominous gray clouds, and it began to drizzle very lightly. Somewhere in the distance, thunder rumbled.

The driver's door opened, and the man himself stepped out. He reached back in, pulled out his black felt homburg, neatly put it on his head, and gave it a bit of a tap to seat it in place. He collected his cane, hooked its head over his left arm, turned toward us, and took a few steps forward.

"Your front gates appear to have had a difficult night," he said conversationally. Then he smirked, and it was an ugly, unpleasant expression. "You look a bit ragged around the edges yourself. Too much to drink at the pub, perhaps?"

"I was up late learning about the attack on the Hall's wards, and then dealing with a giant boar," I said dryly. "I don't suppose you know anything about either of those events."

His smirk widened for a moment, briefly flashing even white teeth in a predatory expression. "Oh yes, a great deal about them. In point of fact, I've made an extensive study of Oakwood Hall's wards and observed how they've changed for more than a century. After straining them last night, and the damage my associate's boar did to them and your gates, it was - at last - almost no effort at all to enter the grounds this morning."

He'd given me four interesting pieces of information, probably intentionally and thinking them of no import: He was much older than he looked, which probably made him more dangerous than I'd thought; he'd been studying the Hall's defenses since long before I was born; he had personally assaulted the wards the night before, after leaving the pub; and he hadn't been the one to summon that giant boar, which meant he wasn't as magically worn out as Margrave, Ken and Sparkle had expected.

Or as magically worn out as I felt. Six hours of sleep without a meal at either end just hadn't been enough rest. But I was on home ground, and he was not. That would have to be enough.

Assuming it came to blows. There was an outside chance it wouldn't, or that help would arrive in time to make him think twice about doing anything stupid.

Yeah, right.

Still, the longer I kept him talking, the more I stood to learn and the better a position I might be in. "I do hope your associate didn't put too much effort into that boar. We made quick work of it."

Von Einhardt made a dismissive gesture and, as I'd hoped, kept talking. Perhaps he was feeling full of himself this close to his goal. "My associate's exhaustion doesn't matter in the slightest, nor does any effort you had to put out to stop the beast. All that matters is that it did its job, and did it well. When I returned this morning, the wards were weak, and your gates destroyed."

He smirked again and added, "And that barricade you raised was quite the pitiful effort. Still I suppose I should compliment you on being able to do it at all. I know young spellcasters who have studied magic for years without being able to do something like that by themselves."

"Caley is going to be a superb spellcaster, and a fantastic Guardian!" Sparkle declared with a mixture of pride and anger.

Von Einhardt looked amused. "Such an advocate you have. But befriending the servants? Perhaps instead of bludgeoning my way past you, I should offer to take you under my wing. Teach you proper behavior for your station."

Sparkle huffed, so I touched her bare arm for a moment, trying to communicate without words that she needed to be patient and calm. It must have worked, because some of the tension left her and she took a half-step back.

Von Einhardt seemed to appreciate that. He lowered his left arm, let the head of his cane fall into his hand, and planted the end of it on the ground. "Miss Reid," he said seriously, "there is no real reason for us to be at odds. I admit that some of my conduct has been...unfortunate. But I have been working on gaining entry to Oakwood Hall for longer than you can imagine, and your family has been uncommonly obdurate about allowing me entry."

He paused for a moment before continuing, "You seem to be an intelligent and talented young woman...why can we not work together? Surely you wish to discover the secrets of your ancestral home, and there is more here than one person could learn in several lifetimes. Two working together might accomplish what one could not."

He presented this offer as if it was the most logical and reasonable thing in the world, ignoring that he'd tried several times to take control of my mind, had assaulted the Hall's wards, and had gotten someone to summon a giant boar to smash down the front gates. All so he could get access to Oakwood Hall.

I understood - however imperfectly - that the Hall represented a tremendous amount of power. But what inside could he possibly be so eager to get at?

I needed to keep him talking. Why not just ask?

So I did.

"If you don't mind my asking," I said in the same polite, conversational tone he'd used, "what is it that you want to find in there?" Then, considering what I'd seen of the man so far, I added, "What could someone of your skill and means need so badly and with such urgency? If you've waited this long, why act so rash- "

Before I could finish what I was saying, and before I knew what had happened, my back struck the wall beside the front door and I fell to my knees on the stone patio. My staff clattered to the ground beside me as I let go of it involuntarily.

Then Sparkle was standing over me, between me and von Einhardt, her arms spread and her hands glowing with bright purple energy.

"Fool girl!" von Einhardt spat. "You have no idea the vast wealth of power and knowledge your family has hoarded and wasted by not using it!" He actually shouted the last three words.

As I rose to my knees, grabbed my staff, and pushed myself to my feet, he took a steadying breath and continued more calmly. "I have spent the last hundred and forty-seven years of my life studying everything there is to know about Oakwood Hall! What little we know of its contents and potential tell me that it cannot possibly just be a doorway to other places around this world. There must be more!"

"So, what?" I asked, probably unwisely. "You're just hungry for more power than you already have, and this looks like the best way to get it?"

He slashed his free hand through the air in a dismissive gesture. "You cannot possibly be so naive as to believe that." He narrowed his eyes at me. "You know...or you've learned enough to suspect the truth of this place. Tell me what it is! Let me in, let me study it, let me learn to wield it, and I will let you share in the bounty."

"Why should I?" I asked, ready now to throw up a shield if he attacked again. "It seems to me that I don't need your help to do that, and after what you've done so far I can't believe you expect me to trust you. Or to believe that's all you want."

That seemed to set him back on his heels for a moment, because he blinked in surprise. Then grunted. "Fair. I am no such fool." He narrowed his eyes. "I believe that Oakwood Hall contains within it somewhere the answer to two of the greatest mysteries in Human history: the true nature of the universe, and the secret of true immortality."

My eyebrows went up in surprise.

"Yes!" He said eagerly. "Let your curiosity bite into those!" He took a couple of steps forward, spreading his hands wide. "The greatest mysteries of all time, ours to solve! Just let me in!"

Fire blossomed over his open right hand as he added, "Or I will simply destroy you and take what I need."

"Why the urgency?" I asked again. "Why now?"

"Irrelevant," he said dismissively. "Stand aside, or I will remove you from my path and tear down every wall of this miserable building until I find the answers."

I set my feet and gathered energy. "I won't."

"Neither will I," Sparkle said firmly from where she still stood between us.

For a moment, I was sure von Einhardt was about to just attack. Then he took a deep breath and let it out. "Killing you will slow me down, and I will need to wait another century before the time is right again..." He made a frustrated noise and glared at me. "If you will not be intimidated, there must be something I can offer you in trade..."

"I doubt it," I said.

He spat words in a language I didn't recognize. Then a slow and entirely unpleasant smile spread across his face. "Yes, that's what I can offer you. Give me entry to Oakwood Hall, and I will teach you how to raise your father and mother from the dead."