Chapter ONE - Weebly

freedom. And here he was, scared of shadows on a
deserted lane. A part of him wished that on that first
day in the Dowser he’d had the sense to send away
Abner Berson’s man.…
“No.” He said it aloud, startling an elderly man who
hurried along through the darkness and mist in the
opposite direction.
This is what Sephira and the conjurer want, he
told himself. The beatings and the threats were intended
to make him give up. Or to kill him. They weren’t going
to succeed at either. This conjurer had to be stopped.
As Ethan had told Pell, spells cast without regard for life
were a threat to every person in Boston. No one would
be safe as long as this conjurer walked the streets.
Ethan forced himself to slow down, to stop peering
over his shoulder every other moment. By the time he
reached the Dowser, he felt better.
Stepping inside the tavern, he took a long steadying
breath. This one place never really changed. The same
people sat at the bar or crowded around tables, arguing
over the same matters, laughing at the same jokes. As
always the Dowser was warm and bright, and it smelled