Magic Revelations

You feel a little hesitant about the situation as it could be a trap even if Rene doesn't believe it to be. Logically though it seems like it would be easier to trap you if you weren't aware of an incoming trap. You didn't know she existed until that letter, so why announce her presence and then attack you. Why not just attack first. The more you thought about it the less you felt insecure about the situation. You resolved yourself to keep alert for any sign of deception, but hopefully that wouldn't be necessary for future visits. Casually you took out the map she had sent to see what street you needed to take to get to her home. You quickly determine you need to go up a couple more streets, but something on the map startles you. The X that showed your position previously at the clothing store has moved. It looks like it is currently where you are on the street.

"What in the fuck..." you say out loud to yourself as you stare intently at the map.

Only one way to test this. You run forward to the next street watching the map as you go. Slowly the X trails along on the map until you stop running, showing your current position the entire time. Alarm bells ring in your head. There are two possibilities that pop into your head. Either she's somehow able to track your movements, or there is something going on with this particular piece of paper to show your location. Thinking quickly you place the paper on the ground to see what happens. The moment your fingers leave the paper the X marking your location disappears from the map. You let out a deep sigh of relief and chuckle to yourself at how worked up that got you. Thinking about it the likelihood of her being able to track you wasn't something you doubted was possible, however displaying that ability on a map did seem unlikely. You quickly pick up the paper and the X appears again. Curious about the spell you focus intently on the paper. You can feel a small trickle of magic being drained from you. It is such a small amount that you are replenishing it almost instantly. You focus on where the magic is going specifically.

It takes you several moments of confusion as you stare at the X, but you eventually notice the spell. It is very small, and its purpose is unsurprisingly to show that X on the paper. You pull out the letter you received and attempt to replicate the spell. In the place of "Sincerely" on the letter you focus your magic into producing the word "Love" on it. On your first attempt you successfully change the text, but the moment you release the spell you notice it reverts back to the original text. So there has to be a way to make the spell permanent on the letter and draw magic from the holder. You focus back on the map and carefully study the X again. You finally notice what appear to be tendrils coming from the spell. They almost look like they are woven into the paper itself. You look back at the letter and replicate your previous spell. This time you focus on the spell and the paper, almost as if they are one thing instead of two. Slowly tendrils spread from the spell and weave themselves into the paper itself. You then release the spell. To your chagrin the spell stays active as it draws a tiny tiny amount of magic from you.

Curious again you focus on the tendrils of the spell and push back on them. Slowly the tendrils shrink to nothing. When you release the spell the original text appears again. A big smile creeps onto your face as this has ramifications beyond just what you've done to the letter. You are excited to re-examine Yvette's collar the next time you have a chance. You might be able to remove the pain spell from it, and even more exciting you might have just found a way to remove the collar entirely, or at least it's a good start towards that goal. However, maybe removing someone else's spell isn't possible you wonder. You quickly look at the map again and focus on the tendrils as you attempt to push them back into the spell. This time there is resistance, you push and push, but every time you gain ground the moment your focus moves to a different tendril the other one grows back. "Shit" you say out loud as you abandon your attempt which earns some questioning looks from those walking past you.

Maybe you just don't have the focus needed to do this yet, but you suspect that this isn't the problem. You noticed as you attempted to push the tendrils back into the spell it was using your magic to do it, additionally when the tendril regrew it also used your magic. It was like you were fighting against yourself. What you needed was a way to cancel that effect, or at least a way to prevent the tendril from regrowing into the same spot. Maybe if you put something in the place of the tendril as it retreated it wouldn't be able to regrow again. An idea pops into your head. Focusing on the map you create your own spell to replicate the spell there. You hold that spell above the one currently there and also focus on pushing a tendril back into the spell, when that is accomplished you make your spell put a tendril back into that same spot. Next you focus on another tendril and examine the results. To your delight the original spell can't regrow its tendril, although you can feel it trying. You proceed one after the other until you accomplish your goal. You release your focus and all that remains is your spell. You then force its tendrils back and release your focus and the spell disappears leaving the map completely spell free.

"YAH" you yell out pumping your fist. You quickly notice the concerned looks from others.

"Sorry...just...really good news" you explain pointing to the map. Everyone gives you one last look and then they continue about their day. There was one concern you had with this. This is a relatively minor and simple spell, yet it took considerable concentration. So much that you have a slight headache forming. A stronger spell, which you suspect Yvette's collar to have, might be out of your league at the moment. Still, it's more than you had hoped for, because in reality you had no clue where to start when it came to removing Yvette's collar, and now you did. Smiling you looked back at the map. It was detailed enough that you didn't think you'd need to redo the spell again, so you left it as is and started your walk to Nadine's home with a bit of pep in your step.