Meanwhile

Seth climbed through the bush clumsily, distracting Lucie from her thought.

"What the hell happened to you," she asked, examining his torn, singed clothes.

"The asshole fired three homing bolts. I defended against one but there were two more! Who does that?!"

"To be fair, you shot her in the ass first..."

Seth didn't seem impressed, but accepted her point. "I figured she'd think it was Hugo. Anyway, did you see anything useful?"

Lucie thought to herself for a while.

"Luce?"

"Hm. So she had no magic signature when she left, but she had a very powerful one in the car. There was one thing I saw, but surely it's not ... possible?" She asked herself.

"But it must be if we saw it.."

"I know. If this is what I think it is, it could revolutionise magic -- in maybe a bad way, but certainly a profitable way." Lucie trailed off as she considered it.

Seth watched her think.

"It looked like some kind of ... collar? Choker? How does it work?"

"I know where they live," Seth said.

They looked at each other excitedly.