[Whee!] says Alice.

[I'll be there in a minute,] says Lazarus.

[Coming, plus two,] says Libby.

When everyone has assembled, through they go!

"We would like the door held, presently, but Alice won't be coming through," Bella says. "Did you want to see if you can grab ingot powers like witchcraft?"

Addy nods rapidly. "You didn't let me last time," she says reproachfully, holding out her arms as though for a hug towards Alice. "Congratulations on being a vampire, by the way, how new are you? You're very well-controlled around the humans."

"Few days. I have a magic air filter," he says, bounding toward her for an exuberant newborn-strength hug. "Don't smell 'em unless they want me to. Hi!"

"That is fascinating," Lazarus remarks.

"No, I can taste it," Addy objects. "Your gelato does things, for you. I can't do a thing with it because none of the help on offer is Addy-shaped. Why would I want to be immune to any sort of magic, even the mind-altering stuff? How in the world would I test it if it bounced off me?" she laughs. "Oh, that's really lovely, have you got another in the party? I can't suss you 'ingots' out from a distance like regular witches..."

"Ingot," says Lazarus, pointing at Alice, "ingot," Chris, "ingot," Bella, "ingot," himself.

"Well, I really doubt I can manage her," Addy says, waving at Bella with a dismissive frown. "C'mere?"

"No hugs, please," he says, orbiting closer.

"Eep," says Lazarus, raising his eyebrows.

She releases his face, holding up her hands in a nonthreatening gesture. "Oh, come on, you of all people should know that's not me threatening to literally drink your blood, can't you see how I work? Goodness! Everything's so pretty! I can even see magic on Her Majesty over there! I might want this one back again, if you're going through to my world," she says. "Oh, everything's so pretty."

"If I thought you were actually going to eat me, I wouldn't just be saying eep," he says. "I am slightly less ineffectual than that. You're still a little unnerving even when I know you're mostly harmless. And yes, isn't it?"

"It is," she gushes. "Bella is so terribly shiny... Oh my. Is that why he was turned into a vampire. What an odd way to arrange magic. But - oh! That must be the mate bond. I was wondering what would do that. Looks different when I'm using Marcus's power, let alone compared to Chelsea's... Goodness. Is that normal? Do you know? The... cuddliness?"

"I've only ever seen one mate bond," he says. "But I'm betting not. You know what his power's like. When the bond first showed up they had a little standoff before they got this friendly."

"Oh, I bet they did. Now I can't wait to look at Bella-back-home. I bet her witchcraft wasn't too friendly to her mate bond either, but as far as anyone knows it's there. But she's immune to Marcus so he can't check. Oh, and I've got to look at Marcus too - I wonder if I can arrange to keep this long enough to get to Safesun and back, given that I can't borrow one of your toes? It's such a pity you can't work over electronics, have you ever worked on that?"

"How would I work over electronics?" he asks wearily. "Look at my power, it just... looks. What it sees is not a thing that electronics transmit. I did find a way to use it at a distance, but it takes, what else, more magic."

"I am the expert on this sort of thing," says Addy severely. "Now, maybe ingots just don't grow the way witches can, but don't you even care? Haven't you even tried?"

"You are an expert on this sort of thing," Lazarus corrects firmly. "No, I haven't tried, but I'm telling you right now electronics is a dead end."