Chompers sat in his circle, head bowed and a sob in the air.

Victoria stopped and looked at him. She didn’t seem scared, but she’d been a Practitioner longer than I had and she’d probably seen a lot scarier stuff.

“These guys are supposed to be really dangerous,” she said. “Worse than a lot of goblins and those can be bad. How did you catch him?”

“I beat him with a stick,” I said.

“Really?” Victoria said, so surprised a laugh escaped her. “Just like that?”

“It was an elf stick,” I said. “There must have been something special about it.”