“Hey, Jinnaari,” Thia kept her voice low. He’d stayed up, keeping watch with her, after they’d gotten things straight between them. “On the whole Helix problem. I think I have a solution.”

“Keep talking.”

She shifted, “In his journal, he mentioned he’s been curling up at my feet to sleep while in the ethereal plane. Granted, that’s more than a little creepy to me. Especially since he made note of my habits so he could know when I was likely to crash.”

“Yeah, that’s creepy. Want me to say something to him?”

“Not yet. Hear me out on this. What if I changed one of my spells out? I could swap out one, be able to go ethereal myself. A day or two later, wake me up an hour into your watch instead of later. He should be sleeping. I cast the spell, go into the plane, and cast the ritual to switch his alignment back to what it was before the Hags had him. He’s asleep the entire time, so won’t run out of range. I’d get it done, come back, go to sleep. He wouldn’t know what happened.”

“What spell would you lose, though?”

“Regenerate. I’ve not used it once since I originally memorized it. I think we could survive if I don’t have it available for a few days.”

He glanced back into the room then looked back at her. “It’s got merit. Give me a day or two to think on it. Switch spells if you want now, so it’s ready. I’ll let you know when I think the time’s right to do it.”

Thia nodded and started the process. Jinaari was right. The timing had to be perfect on this. Which meant she needed to be ready.

The hard part would be keeping to her normal routine. Until she read that book, she didn’t know she had one. That Helix could so easily see a pattern, and then plan his own rest around her habits, unsettled her.

“Hey, Thia?” Jinnaari said.

Raising her head, she looked at him, “Yeah?”

“It’s creepy, yes. But not nearly as bad as what Lolth put you through.”