The next afternoon Kim was with Mrs. Lowe and a captive Mannering in a carriage racing from Tom's shop back to Grosvenor square. Kim had learned from Mannering that recasting the spell as the Grosvenor Square wizards planned would burn out Mairelon's mind and she had to stop it but the trip back to Grosvenor Square seemed to take forever, though Hunch urged the horses to a speed far greater than was really safe on the crowded streets. Mrs. Lowe sat stiff as a poker beside Kim, radiating disapproval but not saying anything. Mannering had recovered from his daze an alternated between glaring balefully at Kim over his gag and making terrified whimpering noises. On the whole, Kim preferred the glares; as long as he was same enough to glare, she knew that the wizards in Grosvenor Square hadn't completed their spell.
It's a complicated spell, it'll take a long time. But would it take long enough? The picture of Mairelon turned empty-eyed, grunting, and helpless haunted her. Faster, she though at the horses. Hurry faster.
At last they pulled up in front of the door. Kim was out of the coach almost before it stopped moving. She checked briefly at the base of the stairs at the sight of Lord Franton in conversation with Henry the footman.
"Miss Merrill!" Lord Franton called in surprise as she darted past them and ran up the stairs to the ballroom. As she tore down the hall, she heard a muffled feminine voice rising toward a climax, but she couldn't tell whether it was Lady Wendall's or the duchesse's. The duchesse was supposed to be last. . . . She flung herself through the ballroom door.
The air inside was heavy with poser; the sharp, glittering structure of the spell nearly complete. The Duchesse Delagardie stood in one of the triangular points of the star that Kim had watched the wizards preparing. Lady Wendall, Lord Shoreham, Lord Herring, Renée D'Auber, and Prince Durmontov occupied the other points, and Mairelon himself stood in the center of the star. The duchesses had her back to the door, and her arms were raised in the final invocation.
Kim hesitated. To interrupt now would shatter the spell, and the enormous poser that had already been poured into it would recoil on the wizards, doing nearly as much damage as Mannering's spell would. To let them continue would destroy Mairelon's mind as soon as he was linked into the duchesse's spell, not to mention the six spell casters themselves into the bargain. As soon as Mairelon was linked to the duchesse's spell . . . but if the duchesse linked her spell to someone else, instead of Mairelon. . . .
Without pausing to think further, Kim picked up her skirts once more and ran forward. Mairelon saw her and took a half-step to meet her , then stopped, plainly realizing that to move any farther he would have to step outside the star. Renée and Lord Shoreham saw her next and frowned; then the other wizards-all but the duchesses. As Kim reached the edge of the star, she realized that the duchesse had closed her eyes to speak the closing words, and a tiny corner of Kim's mind sighted in relief. At least she wouldn't accidentally distract the duchesse and cause the spell to shatter.
Kim made an urgent shooing motion at Mairelon and pointed emphatically to the floor outside the star. If only he doesn't take a notion to get stubborn. . . . Mairelon hesitated and glanced at the duchesse; he knew, even better than Kim did, the possible consequences of miscasting a major enchantment. Frantically, Kim gestured again for him to move.
On the far side of the diagram, Shoreham frowned and shook his head, but Mairelon's gaze was fixed on Kim's face, and he didn't notice Shoreham's gesture. Move, move, get out of the star! And finally, his eyes alight with questions, Mairelon nodded and stepped sideways out of the diagram. As he did, Kim stepped into it, taking his place.
Mairelon turned, an expression of horrified comprehension dawning on his face. He reached for Kim, but he was an instant too late. The duchesse spoke the final syllable and brought her arms down in a decisive movement, finishing the spell.
Power crashed down on Kim, filler her to bursting and beyond, burning through her mind. Is this what it felt like to Ma Yanger? The room went dark and she felt herself sway. Far away, a babble of voices broke out, but the only one she could decipher was Mairelon's: "Duchesse! The counterspell, quickly!"
Three words blazed across Kim's mind like lightning bolts across a darkened summer sky, and then the storm of uncontrollable power passed. Almost gratefully, she started to collapse. Arms caught her as she fell; she struggled mindlessly until she heard Mairelon's voice by her ear and realized the arms were his. Then she relaxed into unconsciousness.
Her insensibility could not have lasted more than a moment or two, for the first thing she noticed when she began to recover was Mairelon's almost panic-stricken voice in her ears: "Kim! Kim?"
The second thing was Lord Franton's equally frantic, "Miss Merrill? Miss Merrill!"
"Mairelon?" she said hazily through a pounding headache.
"Thank god!" Mairelon crushed her to him, kissing the top of her head.
Tugging her right hand free from Lord Franton's grasp she wrapped her arms around Mairelon breathing in his familiar scent of soap and chalk. "It worked."
"Worked!" Mairelon pulled back, grasping her by the shoulders. "Have you gone mad?" He gave her the smallest shake. "Do you -"
"My Dear," Lady Wendall interrupted, "I'm sure Kim had excellent reasons for this most interesting interruption." She looked at Kim expectantly.
"Mannering!" Kim said. She tried to struggle to a sitting positing but gave up when her had began to swim. "He ain't piked off, has he?"
"Mannering?" Lord Shoreham frowned. "You don't mean to say you've located to the confounded fellow! Where is he?"
"I believe he is currently on the lower stairs," Mrs. Lowe said. Richard's man has him in charge, and I expect they will arrive momentarily.
"Aunt Agatha, you amaze me," Mairelon said. "How did you come to be, er, involved?"
"If you will assist Kim to one of the sofas, where she may be more comfortable, I am sure she will explain everything," Mrs. Lowe replied.
Mairelon promptly picked Kim up and carried her to the nearest seat. She did not protest; the headache was beginning to recede, but she still felt shaky and weak. Mairelon took the seat next to her so he could put his arm around her to support her and she leaned gratefully into his shoulder. Lord Franton pulled up a chair on her other side a worried expression on his face. Lord Shoreham, Lord Kerring, and Prince Durmontov pulled up chairs for themselves and the ladies, and they all sat down and looked at Kim expectantly.
"Um," said Kim, trying to decide where to begin.
