Lenya concealed her horror behind the practised calm of a ritual practitioner. It didn’t do to show shock or fear in the midst of a ritual which might take hours to complete. Coal blundered into the house without as much as a hesitation. She held her breath for a moment and was vaguely disappointed when no explosion, spell or demon tore from the building to shred the young witch.
 
She ran a number of ‘kids these days’ style comments through her mind. There were few schools or institutions of any kind when it came to magical learning. It seemed depressingly common for youths to be reckless and full of their own power, convinced that their magic made them invulnerable. There might easily have been something as mundane as a hand grenade or other explosive trap on the other side of that door. Mundane enough to get one or more of them killed. Perhaps it would be best to view Coal as a sort of forlorn hope, like in Napoleonic times.
 
Reluctantly she followed the others into the house. Briefly she touched Azai’s shoulder.
 
“Let’s hear it,” she concurred with Max, keeping her eyes on the house.
 
“If our reckless friend there hasn’t already ruined whatever you had in mind,” she added dryly, pulling her coat tight around her slim body.
 
“If there are any watchers or alarms, they are certainly triggered.”