"Nope, that's about it."

Bella decides to see if she can "find" Lexi. "Area Search."

Nope.

"Nothing. Is there some step I could've missed or do I just not have it - installed?"

"Area Search," Bella attempts, still looking for Lexi.

She produces a little multicoloured blob of light that flits away in search of her sister.

"Cool. So spells are contagious," she says brightly.

"Bella, is this blob of light yours or the device's?" calls Lexi.

"It's mine! I'm learning spells!" Bella calls.

"You can make it go away," says Brilliance helpfully, dispelling his.

Bella wants-it-away, and it stops feeding her information. "Can I make those invisible?" she asks. "Or are they all glowy?"

"I've never done an invisible one," he says. "You could wrap it in a barrier, I guess."

"How do those work?"

"You remember when we went in that house and there was nobody there, even though there were people there? That's a barrier," he explains. "People and magic inside it can't see or touch people and magic outside it or vice versa, but stuff like houses and tables is still in both. If there was a way to put a kind of - one-way barrier around a search spell, then most people wouldn't see it running around. I guess anybody who's good with barriers could still tell."

"Okay. Is there an incantation for barriers?"

"You can do 'em without," he says. "Well, I can."

"Okay... how do I do them, then?"

"Want one," he suggests.

"If I want it around a finding spell, do I do the finding spell first or second?"

"Good question," he says, "never done it, no idea, maybe you have to do them both at once?"

"...Okay, I guess if I'm doing the barrier without an incantation that's not physically impossible." She focuses on her more complicated want. "Area search."

There's a feeling like a word being just on the tip of your tongue, and no spell.

"I - feel like I almost did it. Is that what being about to make up a new spell feels like? Should I come up with a new incantation?"

"Try that!" he says encouragingly.