"Um, ohhhhkay," Jon stammered. "That was easier than I thought."
Karyn nodded, taking a mental note of the direction of Zoë's departure. "Yeah. A bit too easy, maybe."
Jon blinked. "You think she drained it?"
The wolf-girl shrugged. "One way to find out."
"Yeah, but is it safe? She said she knew magick now. What if she booby-trapped it?"
Karyn stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Know anybody who can check it out?"
Jon snapped his fingers. "Yeah, I do!"
"This little bugger is what caused all the trouble?" Eddie studied the rock with amused, yet scholarly, interest. The Hispanic magickal prodigy rolled the rock around in his grip, stopping his study occasionally to toss a strand of his long, coarse black hair back over the shoulder of his too-loud blue and green Hawaiian shirt.
"Yeah, so be careful with it." Jon leaned over the table in the otherwise-empty alchemy lab, studying his friend's studying. He was determined to have no more mishaps.
"You didn't tell me "Tequila Eddie" was your magickal godsend," Karyn snarled in contempt, barely audible to anyone but Jon.
Eddie glanced up at the young lycanthrope. "Tienes una problema, amiga?"
"You haven't exactly got the best rep around here, amigo," she growled. "I'm still short brain cells from that little trick you pulled with the water fountains."
The young mage shrugged. "Woulda worked better if the worm hadn't gotten stuck in the pipes. Besides, I traced this thing in the first place, so you oughta be grateful for that, loba."
Karyn growled, letting herself get slightly furry for emphasis. "Watch how you say that."
A gentle hand on her shoulder calmed her animal side. "Karyn, calm down. I trust Eddie, you should too." His attention turned back to his friend. "Any luck?"
"It's a good thing you brought this to me, amigo. There's some kind of hex on it. Bad news is, there's no way of knowing what it does until it's activated."
Jon sighed. "Terrific. Any idea how to break it?"
Eddie shrugged. "Yeah, I wish I knew."
They all gasped when they realized Eddie still held the rock. It began to glow
