Echoes (The Familiar and the Mage Book 4)
Author: Raconteur, Honor
Date: 2018-12-08
Publisher: Raconteur House LLC

Table of Contents

- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- Epilogue
- About the Author

Published by Raconteur House

Murfreesboro, TN

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

ECHOES

Book Four of Familiar and the Mage

A Raconteur House book/ published by arrangement with the author

PRINTING HISTORY

Raconteur House mass-market edition/ Dec 2018

Copyright © 2018 by Honor Raconteur

Cover © 2018 by Katie Griffin

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

Purchase only authorized editions.

www.raconteurhouse.com

Gargan fitted our needs perfectly. It gave us the distance I needed from my family, a safe place for Rena to relax, and of course it was beautiful up here. I couldn’t imagine a more perfect place to live. I felt a little like a child at times, but rubbing elbows with giants would do that to anyone. Rena didn’t seem to mind it at all. The giants regarded her with a healthy amount of respect, though, because of the destructive power she harnessed. I’d always suspected my wife had the mentality of a giant, and fate had just chosen to put her in a petite human body for laughs.

With Toh’sellor safely housed and watched around the clock, much of Rena’s stress disappeared completely. We were given a month and a half’s leave to go settle in Gargan, and we used it, hauling all of our luggage up with us. Vee’s builder met us the day after we arrived, listened carefully to our needs, and designed a house for us in the same week. He created something we thought very smart in its layout, including an extra bedroom for guests, and then an outer room large enough for giants in case we had new friends stay over. Every part of the house worked well for humans, but had vaulted ceilings and furniture that we could turn and manipulate to accommodate people with much longer legs. Clearly the man knew his business, and we signed a contract with him immediately to start building.

To help cut costs down, Rena actually dug the foundation site, which so impressed our contractor that he hired her to do three other sites for him for a deal. It saved on construction costs for us, helped him, and we were all happy.

I currently stood on the outskirts of the construction site with a cup of green tea in my hand, watching as the last of the foundation was put in. Supposedly, our new house would be finished in three months. At the rate they were going, it might actually be sooner. Which, really, would be best. We were staying in Chi and Vee’s guestroom up here and it felt very…temporary. After moving about so much in the past three years, I wouldn’t mind actually having my own space to call home.

Our new house was not in the middle of the city. In fact, it backed up against the side of a mountain, giving us trees and a small babbling brook in the backyard that made everything serene and peaceful. We’d chosen the lot because it was cheaper, not necessarily because it had the best location, but I did like the idea of not being surrounded by loud city sounds at night. The giants were not a quiet race. Not by any stretch of the definition.

Chi beckoned to me from the road, an irrepressible smile on his face that spoke of trouble. My adrenaline perked its head up, interested, as we hadn’t gotten into trouble in quite a while. “Yessss?” I drawled at him.

“Wade, Hugo, and Quincy want to train with us,” Chi informed me, nearly bouncing on his toes.

The three giants in question were Vee’s cousins through some sort of tangled family line that I didn’t even try to follow. I’d met them the first time Rena and I had come up for the wedding and they were great fun. Already turning toward him, I asked, “Training how?”

“You know how we did that running and leaping thing in Heaberlin?”

“That thing that got us in trouble?”

“Yeah, that,” he agreed, as if the memory of being in trouble with both of our wives was not worth mentioning. Then again, he’d been severely sleep deprived; he might not remember it all that clearly. “I mentioned it to them, and they said leaping from a building is fine and all, but what if something happens here? What if they need to throw us to the right area?”

I saw where he was going with this. “Are we playing hot potato with giants?”

Chi’s grin came out more demented than a sagging jack o’ lantern. “And we’re the potato.”

“That’s a terrible idea,” I responded, returning the grin. “What time?”

“Now?”

“Now’s good.” I headed toward their house, switching out the mug of hot tea in my hand for weapons, then followed Chi toward the lake.

Gargan was mostly farmland, mountains, and lakes—a stretch of green and blue as wide as the eye could see. A frankly beautiful country with copses of woodland here and there to break up the scenery and offer wind breaks. Our own house was being built near the training area for the giants, which was really nothing more than a cleared stretch of land at the base of the mountain. Giants, after all, used earth magic to train with. As long as they had dirt on hand, and water to cushion a fall, they were happy.

Wade, Hugo, and Quincy waited for us. Hugo and Quincy were the largest giants I’d ever met, somewhere above ten feet, their shoulders nearly wide enough for me to stretch out and sleep on. They were bodybuilders who specialized in giant’s magic, and frankly? I would not want to piss them off in a dark alley. I don’t think the alley or I would survive the experience. Wade looked a little small in comparison, but in truth he wasn’t, topping at over nine feet tall, his build leaner and solid. Wade was the darkest of them, with his chocolate colored skin, also the jokester of the group and the one that usually had the best ideas.

“There you are,” Hugo greeted, throwing his arms out expansively. “We put in a post for you to aim at.”

“I see that.” I eyed the post in the center of the area, nothing more than a ten-foot pole, perhaps a foot in diameter. It looked roughly jammed into the ground, like a discarded giant’s plaything. “So, who’s throwing me first?”

Quincy let out a booming laugh. “I knew I liked you. Come here, little man, I’ll toss you.”

Coming up to live with the giants? Best. Decision. Ever.

As Chi headed for Hugo, he called over his shoulder, “Everything has to hit the top two feet of the post or you lose.”

“Like I’m going to miss something that big.” I was totally going to throw something wrong, though, I knew it. People didn’t realize how much of knife throwing depended not on your arm, but on your back, your sense of balance. Being tossed into the air lost you half of that balance and made it so much more challenging. I thought about this as Quincy seated me on his forearm, his right hand against my chest to steady me, ready to launch. My feet dangled several feet above the ground, which likely looked ridiculous. I just had a buzz of anticipation and didn’t care if it did. The three giants stood in a rough circle around the pole, about twenty feet away from it on all sides, which meant Chi and I would be more or less aiming in their direction, trying to hit the pole. Should I warn them that they’d be in the line of fire?

Naw, they were big boys, they could duck.

Wade, the only one not with an armful of human, stomped out a rhythm against the dirt, and I could feel the vibrations as he threw a little earth magic into it. On the third stomp, Quincy chucked me toward Wade at the same time Hugo threw Chi. The wind rushed around me as I flew through the air and I had so much fun riding that adrenaline spike that I almost forgot to throw something.

The dagger hit the pole, barely in the right spot, but stayed there. I couldn’t spare it more than a glance before I landed against Wade’s broad chest. In fact, I had two seconds to rest there before he shifted me about and threw me again. It felt rather like a tilt-a-whirl and a rollercoaster at the same time.

Then Quincy upped the game by throwing a pillar of dirt at Hugo’s feet, making him skip backwards. Hugo ripped out a curse, chortling in glee. “You play dirty, Quincy!”

“No other way to play!” Quincy retorted, mouth stretched from ear to ear. His foot came up even as he caught me, slamming it into the ground, this time directing an attack at Hugo. Hugo laughed, dodged, then swore when that put him out of range to properly catch Chi. He had to lunge for the archer, catching him by an arm and a leg, like a toddler that had dived off something. Chi spluttered indignantly at the position.

“What is this, Battle Hot Potato?” I demanded of Quincy.

The giant blinked dark brown eyes in the most innocent expression possible. “Isn’t that the only way to play?”

“Absolutely,” I agreed with a straight face. “Pray continue.”

“You’re a fun human,” Quincy informed me, laughing.

“But not as fun as my wife, right?” I shifted in his arms, getting ready to be thrown again, my hand reaching for the knives strapped at my thigh.

“Your wife is so little, so cute, but she carries so much destructive power. She’s a giant at heart. Of course we like her. If she hadn’t married you, I’d make a play for her.” Quincy threw me forward like he hadn’t just tilted reality on me.

I threw the dagger, swore when it clipped the pole instead of landed, then focused on catching Hugo before shaking a fist at Quincy. “You said that on purpose!”

“It’s good for a husband to be rattled now and again.” Quincy gave me a wink, his expression pure evil. “Makes him appreciate his wife.”

“You’re just trying to make sure Chi wins!” I accused him, even as Hugo threw me toward Wade.

Quincy let out a laugh that came from his belly. “Of course. Chi’s family.”

“Aww, Quin,” Chi crooned, letting out three arrows at once and of course hitting the top of the pole without trouble, “I love you too.”

I was going to accidentally-on-purpose put a dagger in both of them next throw. Just see if I didn’t.

“What is going on here?”

We all stopped as Vee came onto the scene, Seton in her hands. Eyeing the setup, the arrows and daggers in the top of the pole, and the way we dangled from a giant’s arm, she didn’t even wait for an answer. “You’re playing Battle Hot Potato aren’t you? Chi, really.”

“It’s good practice,” Chi defended himself, free hand coming up in a warding gesture.

I opened my mouth to back him up, not that I had any idea of what to say.

“Yes, it is,” Vee acknowledged, still exasperated. “So why didn’t you invite me in? I’m the one who throws you two the most.”

Oh. We weren’t in trouble? Oh good. I sometimes forgot that Vee’s sense of ‘dangerous training’ didn’t always match with my wife’s. “Ah, want to join us, Vee?”

“Sure. Let me put Seton down.” Vee looked as if she’d been out running errands, in her more casual clothes, dark brown hair done up in a loose twist that gave her feminine charm. Before coming up and staying with her, I’d rarely seen her out of uniform. It was easy to see, when she was casual like this, how Chi had fallen for her.

The other three giants shifted to include her into the ring and with a gamine smile, Vee demanded of Hugo, “Throw me a husband.”

Snickering, Hugo did just that, and it wasn’t my imagination that Chi looked more relaxed during that throw than any other. Then again, he was used to his wife catching him from ridiculous heights.

The game continued, and while Vee didn’t throw out giant attacks like the others, she did have to dodge them while catching us. I let the giants worry about that, as I barely had the room to think about angles and force to get my daggers into poles. I was down to my last one, and tempted to have them pause so we could count and mark the score before continuing, when I heard the thing I dreaded.

“Lady and gentlemen, what are you doing?”

My wife had this talent for saying things in a sweet tone that sounded like honey covering lava. We all stopped dead, which meant Wade did not catch me properly, and I had to scramble to catch his arm and elbow, leaving me hanging on him like a monkey. Not dignified. Then again, when was I ever?

The look on my wife’s face was studiously neutral. Fortunately for me, most of Rena’s attention seemed directed at Vee. “I expect this sort of shenanigans out of those two, but Vee? What part of this seemed like a good idea?”

“I throw Chi all the time,” Vee defended herself, putting a hand to her heart as if hurt by the accusation. “And we normally do it under battle conditions. Of course this is perfect practice.”

Rena swept a hand in my direction, face twitching for a moment before smoothing back out. “That’s not why I’m questioning. I’m asking why didn’t you put a cushioning spell down first? There’s no sense in taking risks during training.”

“We weren’t going to drop him,” Wade defended, looking outraged at the idea.

“Says the man that just failed to catch him,” Rena riposted with saccharine sweetness.

Wade looked down at me, still clinging to him like a monkey, with an ‘oh sards’ expression. I glared right back at him. Yeah, buddy, you ain’t doing us any favors here.

“I’m not saying it’s not a good idea. Just don’t be stupid about it.”

“What did you just say?” I blurted out. Wait, really?! She wasn’t going to stop us?

Rena let her forced seriousness go and laughed. “I agree with Vee. You’re going to get thrown in battle conditions, it’s better to practice it now. Anyway, I came up to tell you that Maksohm just bought tickets for all of us,” Rena informed the group generally. “We leave in two days for Foxboro. Try not to break each other before then.”

Turning on her heel, she left again, shaking her head and muttering something that sounded suspiciously like exasperated laughter. I kept my eyes on her as she trotted up the sloping road, not even breathing hard, and with a proud smile on my face. When we’d first met, the idea of her jogging anywhere would have scared the daylights out of me, much less uphill. Just walking had sometimes made her gasp for breath. Now she ran without thinking about it, without worry. She didn’t even look at all flushed by the exertion.

She was still recovering a little from that mad stunt she’d pulled in taking Toh’sellor down a second time. The healers had promised she was basically well, but the strain on her body from unleashing her magic sometimes showed itself. Usually in the form of fatigue. She tired more easily than she should these days. But with every day, she gained more strength, and seeing her moving now was a silent testament that she was basically well again.

If only I could convince her to stop pulling mad stunts like that. She has no appreciation for just how panic-inducing it was to see her go down like that.

Then again, maybe she did. I looked around at the group of hot potato enthusiasts with new eyes. “Maybe…Vee, maybe we should put that cushioning spell down?”

Her face lit up into one of relief. “Let’s. In fact, I’ll just put the cushioning spell around the two of you. That’ll do. Then we’ll go back to it.”

There, see? We can be responsible adults.

Despite Bannen’s wishes, we couldn’t stay up in Gargan forever. We spent eight days on various trains and ships traveling down to Foxboro to report in. We still had to pick up Emily, too, assuming she’d done the necessary paperwork to transfer onto our team. She might not have quite gotten her orientation training done yet. I knew she’d join us, though; she’d promised me she would. I was quite happy about it, as having another girl on the team to balance out the testosterone would be very welcome, and I missed working with Emily.

Not to mention we needed a healer. All of us got hurt far too often.

Three days into our trip, I finally found a window of opportunity to speak with Maksohm alone. Everyone made noises about finding lunch and wandered out of our train car, heading for the dining car in the back.

I caught Maksohm’s eye before he could follow them and lowered my voice. “Got a second?”

“More than one,” he encouraged, alert to my expression. “What?”

“Bannen is…not fine.” I sighed the words, feeling the weight of them press against my heart. “But he won’t speak to me about it. I think he doesn’t want to worry me. Or that, I don’t know, that it will pass in time.”

Maksohm’s dark eyes narrowed and he leaned a little further in, his entire attention focused on the conversation. “How bad is he?”

“Not bad,” I hastily assured him, then grimaced, “which is part of the problem. He doesn’t feel like it’s anything to complain about. But he’s been plagued by nightmares for months, and he’s not sleeping a full night. Sometimes he has mild anxiety, too. I think it’s mostly the familiar bond going spastic on him, but I’m not sure.”

“So it’s not just Chi who needs help, is what you’re telling me.” Maksohm ran a hand through his hair, looking away for a moment to stare blindly at the opposite wall. “I suspected he wasn’t completely fine, but I also thought he had a handle on things. He was functioning better than everyone else, at least.”

“He does better when he focuses on something. But with us being between missions like this, it’s more obvious. He doesn’t have anything to distract him.” Feeling like I shouldn’t stop there, I added a warning: “Z’gher’s culture doesn’t encourage people to seek outside therapy for problems. You find an older person you trust to speak to. But there’s no one here who really fits that.”

Maksohm blew out a heavy breath and I could see the weight of yet another worry settle on his shoulders like a millstone. I felt bad about it, because the last thing I wanted to do was worry him, but at the same time we couldn’t just keep ignoring it. Bannen was not going to get better that way.

People always think that Bannen was the one who got me into trouble. That he was the bad influence. Actually, for me, he was the responsible one. That’s been true since day one. Sure, sometimes he was reckless, because at heart he’d always be a thrill-seeker, but his priority had been and always would be me.

The thing that no one seemed to realize about Bannen, though, was how he responded to Chi. Bannen was a thousand times more reckless around him. Everyone knows that doing stupid and dangerous stuff was way more fun when you had someone trailing after you and telling you, that’s a terrible idea, I bet you can’t even do it. The reverse held equally true, too. I wasn’t even sure what the root of it was, honestly, just that if I wanted one of them to do something? I got the other to instigate it. Worked like a charm every time.

Which, really, was my only prayer of getting them to talk with someone.

“If it helps any, I think we can use this to our advantage? Chi’s more likely to go to therapy if Bannen’s going. And if we pitch it to Bannen that we’re using his cooperation to get Chi to go, he might do it without too much fuss. Chi really worries him.”

Lifting a hand, Maksohm see-sawed it back and forth. “I can see why you think that. They do play off each other. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to try. Shall I ask?”

“I think it’ll come better from you,” I admitted sheepishly. “He already knows I want him to go to therapy, so if I broach the subject, he’s more likely to distract me and make a run for it.”

“Right.” With a determined look on his face, Maksohm cracked his knuckles into his other palm, like he geared up for a fight. “Then let’s try it.”

We reached Foxboro just as summer kicked in, and that was poor timing. The sea breeze helped cut down on the heat some, but there was a reason most of the city was crafted with thick adobe walls. The streets got hot enough to sizzle an egg, and the sun beat at anyone unwary enough to leave the cool shade of a building. And this was barely a week into the season! I couldn’t imagine what it would be like during the height of summer.

Choosing to not live in Foxboro was a very wise decision on our part.

We’d traveled light this time around, just a suitcase for each of us, and we hired a rickshaw to carry us to headquarters, as none of us wanted to lumber up the very steep hill. As we rode, I inquired of Maksohm, “What are they going to have us do next, do you know?”

“I haven’t heard any word of a mission that needs your particular skillset,” he admitted to me, glancing thoughtfully at the pink building as it came into view. “Not that I’m really in the loop for such things. I have no doubt there’s something that the director needs us for, however; otherwise we wouldn’t have such a strict check-in date.”

True.

“It’s not Toh’sellor and it doesn’t involve monkeys,” Chi announced cheerfully, eyes crinkling up in the corners, “and that’s all I currently care about.”

Bannen waved a fist into the air. “Here, here.”

The rickshaw pulled to a stop in front of the main doors and we all hopped down, giving the driver a tip and collecting our bags. It still felt a little strange to walk into this building in MISD blue, but I had a feeling the uniform would feel like a second skin in time. As we walked inside, Maksohm directed us to a set of offices on the ground floor where we did the paperwork to check in and notify our bosses we were mission-ready.

At least, that was our intention.

The agent sitting behind the main desk looked up at us over her half-moon glasses. Filing cabinets crowded in behind her like stodgy sentinels, and thick stacks of paperwork sat on top of her desk, all of it encroaching on her personal space. It gave her the air of a crochety librarian. Or maybe it was the stern expression on her creased face that gave me that impression. “Excuse me, agents. But where is your Form 32-A?”

Maksohm, Vee, and Chi all winced.

“We just arrived in town an hour ago,” Maksohm sought to explain to her, manner hopeful. “We, ah, haven’t had a chance to do anything else.”

“Hmph.” Reaching behind her, she snagged out several forms from a lower desk and handed them to him. “See that these are done. Also, I have a transfer form submitted here from an Emily Garner. She’s been given a stamp of approval from the director to join your team, but I need you to review and sign it.”

Maksohm heard the underlying, You will properly review it before signing, otherwise I won’t accept it as clearly as the rest of us. His smile became somewhat fixed. “Yes, ma’am. Ah, is there a schedule available for—”

Anticipating his next question, she collected a clipboard that hung from a hook on the wall and handed it smartly over, all the while staring at him in a not-quite-glare.

“Right. Thank you.” Maksohm put it all together in a pile under his arm and shooed us into the next room, which only had a table and about eight chairs.

I had a bad feeling about that Form 32-A. It felt rather like an argument that hadn’t started yet. And the way that Maksohm stayed planted near the door, barring all chance of escape, did not waylay that notion one bit.

Bannen noticed it too, and his expression went cagey as he glanced between everyone. “I have a distinct feeling that I’m not going to like this form, and the way that Maksohm is hovering near the door, like he’s going to tackle me to the ground, that’s not helping my nerves any, so while I love all of you like siblings—except for my beautiful wife, of course—I’m going to make it clear right now: I will run over all of you to escape if I have to.”

“It’s a general health and wellness form,” Maksohm informed us with careful neutrality. “I’d half-forgotten it, as it’s been so many months since we were here, but after a major mission like the last one, we have to be declared fit for duty. I think I can get us in for a quick physical today, as there’s two different doctors on duty with open slots, and we should be cleared soon enough.”

Oh. Was that all? Wait, that couldn’t possibly be all, it didn’t explain why Chi looked so mulish. I caught Vee’s eye and gave her a confused hand-gesture, which she rightly interpreted. Pointing to her head, she mouthed silently, Mental health.

In other words, a mental checkup too? Huh. I’d talked to Maksohm about this on the way down here, but I didn’t think it would happen this soon. Had he had a chance to sound Bannen out about this at all?

Maksohm was an old hand at dealing with stubborn teammates, so he handed out the forms and ordered us to fill things in before covertly dealing with the health and wellness forms. I glanced at him periodically as I bent over my thin stack of forms, judging how much trouble would head our direction soon. From the growing frown on his face, it would not be pretty.

He stepped out three times to talk to the agent in the other room, submitting things, bringing in another batch of forms, soap, rinse, repeat. We were in there for at least two hours doing all of the paperwork before he came back with an expression that boded trouble.

Not that he seemed willing to go into it now, as he said instead, “Everyone done?”

“More or less,” Vee answered, handing her stack over. “What now?”

“I’ve been informed these will take several hours to process, so I vote an early lunch, then we check in at our favorite B&B before returning mid-afternoon. I have several of you slotted for a health and wellness checkup starting roughly at three, so we’ll need to be back before then.”

Thankful to be done—Maksohm hadn’t been kidding about how much paperwork the MISD ran on—we turned everything over before quickly escaping the office. I think we all were of the opinion the scary agent at the desk would catch us if we didn’t put some pep in our step. As we left headquarters, suitcases once again in hand, Maksohm stepped in closer to me and confided, “A message from Director Salvatore was passed along to me. It says: Need you to investigate possible third Void Mage in Sira.”

I startled so badly, I nearly tripped over my own feet. “A third Void Mage?!”

“I thought three Void Mages at once was impossible?” Vee queried in confusion, leaning down so she could read the note over Maksohm’s shoulder.

“I’m trying to remember all of those history lessons that Mary drummed into Rena’s head,” Bannen said aloud slowly.

“That should be difficult,” I snarked at my husband-familiar, giving him a pointed look over my shoulder, “since you honestly weren’t paying attention most of the time.”

“Guilty,” Bannen admitted cheerfully, not at all embarrassed.

Since he wasn’t helpful, I filled the rest of the group in. “Not impossible, just extremely rare. It’s only happened once, and even then it only lasted for three days. The oldest Void Mage died shortly thereafter.” I worried at the bottom of my lip. “I realize Master Mary’s old, but she’s not at death’s door.”

“I sure hope not,” Bannen pitched in fervently. “Mary is in fact one of my favorite people and I’d hate to lose her so soon.”

“Maybe this isn’t a Void Mage. I realize the director didn’t say much in this,” I waved a hand to indicate the message, “but the way he phrased it makes me think he’s not so sure of this claim.”

“I’m certainly not sold.” Maksohm nodded decisively at some internal conclusion he’d come to. “Let’s get more information on this. You might need to check on this in person.”

“Sounds good to me. We don’t need to assemble the team for this, do we?”

“I wouldn’t think so. It’s not like we’ll be fighting anything.” Shrugging, Maksohm headed back down the hill. “Let’s go to the bed and breakfast first, drop off the luggage, then follow up on this after lunch.”

We went to the wharf for lunch, as they had the best collection of hole-in-the-wall restaurants that served amazing seafood. We sat in the shade of one of them, munching through our fried fish and chips, but it was hard for me to enjoy the food. Another Void Mage…really? That seemed entirely impossible, but if it really was the case, it would be a historical moment. As far as I knew, nothing like this had happened before, not really. I found myself impatient, shifting on the wooden bench like it was crawling with ants.

“Maksohm, will you please call the director,” Bannen requested dryly with a pointed look at me. “She’s not going to be able to settle otherwise.”

“I can see that,” Maksohm allowed, expression sardonic.

I flushed, caught out, but not apologetic about it. I wanted an answer, sard it.

A mirror hung on the side of the building, a little grimy from being outside, but Maksohm apparently found it serviceable enough. Pulling out his grimoire, he spelled the mirror to be receptive toward magic, then placed a call to our director. The call connected and Director Salvatore took one look before stating brusquely, “You’re calling about the possible Void Mage?”

“Yes, sir,” I responded hopefully.

“I’ve no time to talk now. Call Nora Maksohm.”

Eyebrows arching, Maksohm agreed, “Of course.”

The mirror abruptly went blank.

“Hopefully that wasn’t an emergency,” Bannen muttered rhetorically.

Vee snorted. “There’s always an emergency, trust me. Alright, apparently Nora knows something about this. Let’s see if we can catch her.”

Trying again, Maksohm called his cousin. It took a few seconds before Nora came into view. She was sitting at a desk, supposedly hers, and she lit up in a smile. “Why hello there, my favorite people. How is everyone?”

“We’re doing well,” Vee answered with a smile of her own. “I’ve got the house half-furnished. Chi’s completely taken over the kitchen, which I have no intention of fighting him over.”

Nora chuckled. “I wouldn’t. The man knows how to bake. Has construction on your house started yet, Rena?”

“It has. In fact, they got the last of the foundation before we left. We hope they’re going to finish ahead of deadline.”

“Good, good. I expect to see it when it’s finished. I think I recognize where you are. You’re in Foxboro already?”

“Arrived this morning,” Maksohm filled her in, idly dipping a chip into his tartar sauce. “We’re still in the process of doing our paperwork, though. We just called because the director sent us your direction about the report of a third Void Mage?”

Nora lowered her voice a notch, leaning in a little to share her words in confidence. “The way I hear it, it’s about a little boy up on the very northern tip of Sira. We sent an agent up to verify, but we’re still waiting on his results. From the initial report we received, he was cautiously optimistic it was a different type of Void Mage. A lot of people are very anxious for there to be one more of you, Rena.”

My smile morphed into a troubled frown. “A little boy, you say?”

Bannen might have slept with eyes open through a lot of those history lessons, but even this part he apparently remembered. “Then it’s even less likely he is. Almost all Void Mages are females.”

Nora’s head jerked back in surprise. “Truly?”

“No one’s quite sure why, but every recorded Void Mage we have in recent history were female. We have legends of male Void Mages, but the documentation on them is so scarce as to be almost myth.” I spread both palms out in a shrug. “The odds of a male Void Mage are extremely low.”

“Now that is something I didn’t know. Interesting.” Nora’s head cocked a little as she took this information in. “Director Salvatore will likely want you to go up and double check our findings, but at the moment we’re in a waiting pattern until our agent on site gives us his take on the situation. I think your priority at the moment is getting cleared for duty.”

I had a feeling she’d say that. “Well, for now we’ll get back to it. Want to meet us for dinner?”

“Absolutely. I assume you’re at our favorite B&B?”

“Of course,” Maksohm assured his cousin. “Where else would we go?”

“Yes, deities forbid you try somewhere new.” Nora snorted and promised, “Meet you there at six.”

Another Void Mage…. I’d dearly like to go up and check into this personally, but the idea of boarding a train right now made me vaguely ill. And we still had to be cleared for duty.

That, I had a feeling, would prove to be quite the battle.

We trooped back to headquarters just shy of three and reported back into the office where the scary paper-pushing lady sat. I had this feeling that when Maksohm said ‘health and wellness’ checkup, it wouldn’t be anything pleasant, but I could put up with a doctor prodding me and admiring my manly self for a few minutes. Of course, it also included therapy; I knew that, as he’d spoken to me about how to get Chi to go. My wife seemed to think that if I cooperated, Chi would as well. Why she thought that, I didn’t know, but Rena was sharp concerning people. And I had to admit, Chi had scared the ever-loving daylights out of me last mission by being so sleep deprived. I did not want to go through that again.

Packets with our names on them were handed out by the scary lady, then Maksohm retrieved both mine and Chi’s, and that did not bode well. It meant he expected trouble from us and I hadn’t even done anything this morning. That he knew about.

He pulled open the envelopes, glanced over the top sheet for both of us, and then braced himself like he expected a fight. “Bannen,” Maksohm informed me with an authoritative you-shall-obey tone, “you have a therapy session in ten minutes. Chi, you’re to wait for him, as your session is immediately afterwards.”

Yup, had a feeling. I stared at the packet in dismay. It had a room number and the therapist’s name on the top, written in very bold ink. Couldn’t I just pretend to go? Wouldn’t that be enough to get Chi through the door?

“Why is it just me and Bannen?” Chi demanded of our team leader.

“I did mine immediately after the battle,” Vee answered smugly.

“Yeah, that’s not something to be proud of,” he answered, face scrunching up in a grimace.

“Neither,” Vee gave her husband a very pointed look, “is using your teammate as a security blanket.”

Offended, Chi put both arms around Rena’s shoulders and hugged her to him, which made Rena snicker and hug back. “Excuse you very much, my Rena is an awesome security blanket.”

“Therapy,” Maksohm maintained, prying Chi off of Rena and shoving him toward the door. “Both of you. Go.”

Chi slung an arm around my shoulder and gave Maksohm a reassuring smile. “It’s alright, I’ll take him. Come on, my brother.”

I protested, because I was fairly certain this was not the plan, and I felt all sorts of betrayed. Pretend to go to therapy. Wasn’t that my agreement with Maksohm? Chi didn’t care about my protests, dragging me along anyway, then paused when we hit the stairwell. He leaned in to murmur, “Therapy’s mandated in the MISD if you encounter a bad enough situation and live through it.”

This now made more sense. Toh’sellor would definitely count. Maybe I just had to survive one session? “So you’ve been through this before.”

“To be more correct, I’ve gotten out of this before.” Chi waggled his eyebrows at me.

“Oooh. Gotcha. What did you do last time?”

“Stared at a wall and refused to speak for three months. She eventually signed off just to get me out of her office. But I’m thinking, we could probably get this one to crack faster, especially if we go in together. I don’t know a therapist named Clara. That means she’s new.”

New therapist? In the MISD? I almost felt bad for her. Not bad enough to skip using every trick of making her crack and send us away, of course, but a smidge bad. “Alright, here’s the plan. I’ll go in first, get the layout.”

He shooed me on. “Be the spy you were meant to be.”

Snorting, I went up ahead. Mentally I sent up a prayer the woman was at least halfway decent and possessed the patience of a saint. She’d need it to deal with Chi. What I’d say to convince him to at least give her a shot—well, I had a whole therapy session to come up with a game plan.

Before I made it to the second story office, I pulled on Serious Face, as it wouldn’t do to give the game away this early. I knocked ever so politely on the door and got a call to enter in a light, feminine voice. She even sounded nice.

This would go so poorly.

The room was decorated with the idea of ‘soothing’ in mind. Pale blue walls, potted plants in the windows, comfortable chairs in a circle in the center of the room with lots of pillows. The therapist sat in the center chair, near the window, a pretty woman with an upturned nose and brown hair cut in a short, tousled way. She wore the MISD blue, but without the jacket, her white shirt sleeves rolled up as if to make the session more casual.

I had a feeling I might regret this. But Chi was a buddy, I should at least try and help out, right? Right.

“Agent Hach Xian Liang, correct?” she asked with barely a glance up at me. Pointing her pencil toward a chair, she directed, “Sit.”

“I go by Bannen, actually,” I corrected her, sitting, although not at my ease. I stayed on the edge of the chair because something about her expression and body language suggested she didn’t want me here, and that made me agitated in turn. Weren’t therapists supposed to be friendly?

“I’ll address you by your legal name, Agent.” With another glance at me, she flipped the top sheet over on her clipboard, eyes scanning through it. “You’re here for a wellness check, according to your form.”

“Right.” Please just sign the thing.

“So you have nothing you want to discuss? No symptoms, no concerns?”

“Ah, well, my only concern at the moment is about my teammate, Chinnadurai Franklocke. He’s, ah, got some pretty bad insomnia while out in the field. Makes him go loopy.” I didn’t want to throw Chi under the bus, but I had the feeling he wouldn’t tell her about this, and she might do better with a head’s up. Assuming she could pull her head out of her clipboard at some point and focus. “Last mission, it got to the point that he couldn’t sleep at all. Went three days without it before Rena figured out he’d sleep like the dead as long as he could hold onto her.”

Clara stopped writing and turned those baby blues on me, cool and analytical. “Hold onto her…how?”

“We actually ended up in a kitten pile, all four of us,” I admitted cheerfully. “It’s the most insane sleepover I’ve ever seen as an adult, especially with Vee being so tall, but we managed somehow. It got him to sleep, at least.”

“Agent Hach, that is entirely inappropriate behavior,” she informed me, voice flat, and went back to writing. “I don’t encourage you to do it again. I’ll speak with Agent Franklocke about this as well.”

Ah, regret. You came faster than I anticipated. That gut feeling that she wasn’t a good therapist came back stronger than ever and at that point, I saw no reason to try and cooperate any further. If this woman couldn’t be troubled to look me in the eye, or respect my culture, or the attempts I made to help a friend in trouble, then she was not someone I wanted to speak with. Much less confide in.

Yup, I was done.

“What are your symptoms?”

“Right now? I’m experiencing a very strong case of ergophobia.”

She lifted her eyes again to give me a flat look. “You are not funny, Agent.”

“I’m hilarious,” I disagreed with flash of teeth that might be mistaken for a grin. I forget where I’d learned the word, but I remembered it just because it was a convenient excuse for paperwork situations. Although I did feel a certain fear of my workplace environment at the moment—mostly the fear I’d be forced to come back and talk to this woman.

“Please stop throwing random terms at me. What are your symptoms?”

“Chaetophobia.”

Clara’s eyes roved over my many braids and if possible, became even more frustrated. “You clearly do not have a fear of hair.”

“I have a very real fear of losing my hair, does that count?”

Growing impatient, she flipped to another page and listed off, “You’ve been summoned twice as a familiar, spent the past three years outside of your home country through no choice of your own—”

“Excuse you?” I spluttered. Where had she gotten that idea? Rena was entirely my choice!

“—battled Toh’sellor twice, and you mean to tell me that you have no symptoms?” She finished in a triumphant manner, as if listing all of that out made her point. “You’re clearly suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Well, if she wasn’t going to listen to me, why should I listen to her? “Wise sage, give me what I need to banish the darkness from my mind!”

“Agent Hach!” she snapped.

“Have you ever wondered why everyone says ‘housewife’ or ‘house-husband’ when ‘house-spouse’ is not only gender neutral, but also rhymes?”

“Agent,” she hissed.

“No, okay, I do have a serious question,” I assured her with a completely straight face. “So, if you put art on your walls, you’re sophisticated, right? If you put art on your body, that makes you a delinquent? Why? I don’t understand.”

Clara fell to glaring at me.

I could feel her temper about to explode. Any second she was going to throw me out of here. Just one more push… “Then again, if you put bodies on your wall, you’re a serial killer. I guess there’s no winning, huh?”

“Good day, Agent. I’ll be seeing you again tomorrow morning for another session.”

Half the battle won, then. I grinned, gave her a little waggle with my fingers, and escaped like my tail was on fire. Gaining the hallway—and thereby freedom—I saw Chi lurking near the waiting area next door and made a beeline straight for him. “Chi. It’s not good, man.”

Chi’s hopeful expression morphed into a frown. “Like on a scale from nice to psycho, what are you rating her as?”

“Judgmental. I don’t have any experience with therapists, so you tell me if I’m off, but is it normal for therapists to never make real eye contact? To not even listen to what you’re experiencing before diagnosing you? To ignore your preferences on how you want to be called?”

Grimacing, Chi stared at the closed door. “No wonder she was free on short notice. She’s a bad therapist.”

“So, not normal. Great. She said I’m due for another session tomorrow morning. I got the impression she wants to wash her hands of me, though.” I waggled my eyebrows at him. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

Chi cracked his neck to either side, grinning like a feral raccoon. “This will take me ten minutes, max.”

“Go get ’em, champ.” Should I feel sorry for the wolf about to enter the lamb’s door?

Naaaaw.

We ended up at the cafeteria afterwards. It was mostly a default for me and Chi. If there was downtime to be had, we either ate or trained. Rena was supposedly doing a physical checkup while I was in ‘therapy,’ and I was eager to hear her results. I mean, she looked peachy fine to me, but I wanted it validated that she was good on a cellular level.

At this time of the day, the place was only about a third full, the rows of tables and chairs for the most part deserted. The service bar didn’t offer actual food, more like snacks and deserts, but I made myself up a sandwich, snagged two slices of pie, and a hot green tea. Chi did something similar before sitting across from me.

Lifting my mug, I toasted him. “To a song well sung.”

Cackling, he clinked mugs with me. “I do approve of my music selection as well.”

Maksohm stormed into the room, spotted us, and made a beeline. I knew that expression quite well. He stomped to our table, eyes flashing fire, arms crossed over his chest, before zeroing in on Chi. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t have you both killed. One good reason. I have something in place to blame the government with already—no point in having a plan unless you get to use it—and this seems like a very good reason to use it.”

“Because that would be a vast overreaction?” I offered. “And you’d make Rena sad.”

He ignored me. “Chinnadurai.”

Chi spread his hands to either side, artless in his ignorance. “I went to therapy. I talked to the lady.”

“You sang your answers to her, Chi.”

“I have a very nice voice,” Chi responded with false modesty.

“He actually does,” I chipped in. “I listened in. I’m actually surprised, Chi, you could have been on a stage with a voice like that.”

Maksohm stared at us, for once perfectly speechless.

I braced an elbow on the table and confided to Chi, “I think we broke him.”

“It was a long time coming. Kind of surprised it didn’t happen sooner.” Chi offered Maksohm a cookie. With a groan, our team leader took it and bit into it viciously. “There, there, Dah’lil.”

“You’re feeding him sugar.” Rena appeared from behind me, taking in the sight with justified worry. Maksohm had been on a diet the past three months to keep his girlish figure, so seeing him eat anything sweet was a sure sign of trouble. “Chi, what did you do?”

“I was good,” Chi defended himself.

Rena didn’t believe him. She was a smart woman that way. “Let me change my question. Dah’lil, what did he do?”

“He sang to his therapist,” Maksohm answered around a mouthful of cookie. Shoulders slumping, he mourned the crumbles in his hands, the cookie well gone. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

“I don’t know how you would’ve.” Rena snagged another cookie off of Chi’s plate and handed it over to Maksohm. All of us accepted the theft as payment due, and Maksohm ate that one, too. “That’s not something any sane person would’ve expected.”

Leaning back in my chair, I commented, “I don’t think sanity is really a stat we have to take into account any longer. I blame you, Chi.”

Chi pumped a fist into the air. “Yeah!” The other two swiveled their heads in his direction, expressions a mix of confusion and disbelief. “What? I’m going to be blamed anyway. I figure I might as well enjoy being blamed.” He grinned, unashamed. “It’s working for me.”

“And that’s all that matters.” I held out a hand, and Chi slapped his palm against mine.

Emily joined us at the table from somewhere, eyeing us all in turn. “Really? I thought it was just the sleep deprivation, but Chi’s just as bad as Bannen?”

“You get used to him,” I told her.

“That is the worst thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“Our relationship is still young, Em.” As she groaned, I turned eagerly to Rena. “So? Did the doctor say you’re spiffy?”

Rena plopped into the chair next to mine, the most delighted expression on her face, literally trumping when we were told that she could have a permanent team. “I am in the best physical condition I’ve ever been in in my life, according to the doctor. No trace of strain in any of my organs, my bones have recovered their density, and he said I now have the right health to meet field requirements.”

“Really? They let her out even though she was sick?” someone muttered behind me.

Frowning, I cast a glance backwards but there were two tables of agents behind me, and I couldn’t see the source. Ignoring it, I focused on my wife again. “That’s great news, honey.”

Someone else at the table behind me made a comment that had others rumbling with hard edged laughter. I cast them another glance, not liking the vibe I got from them. Had I missed something going wrong in the world? A few people glanced Rena’s way and I didn’t like the flat glares or sneers on their faces. I hadn’t heard there was any opposition to Rena and I joining the MISD. What was going on here?

Then again, in any large organization there were bound to be the jealous ones. As long as they kept their comments to their own little pocket, I could ignore them.

Even after sleeping on it, my physical exam results made me entirely too happy. Bannen had never known me healthy, not until this past year, as it had taken years of being bonded to him before the effect of my magic balanced out. He’d shown me how happy he was about it last night, and the memory of that brought a smile to my face.

I wished he had as good of luck with his own exams. The physical exam he of course passed with flying colors—I would have been shocked if he hadn’t—but it didn’t seem like he cared much for his therapist. He’d not looked at all happy to go to another therapy session this morning. I had a bad feeling that he would clam up on the woman and not talk at all. For all that my husband chatters, he could be incredibly difficult to get information out of sometimes.

While Bannen was in his therapy session, I ran a few errands. Mostly because I hadn’t been able to complete all of the paperwork before to switch from my maiden name to my married one. It required going to multiple offices and then filling something out in Archives, of course, because nothing about being in a large organization was easy when it came to this sort of thing. I didn’t mind, though. It gave me a better orientation of the building. I’d mainly been here to attend meetings, so I only knew how to reach about four different places inside of headquarters. Which was a little ridiculous since I was a full agent now.

As I walked down the hall, my ever-growing file in hand, I passed by two agents I barely recognized. Simons? Simonson? Something like that. I gave him a friendly smile, and his companion, not that I remembered her name.

“Wait, Agent Rocci—” Sim-something said, flinging up a hand. The sandy blond hair and stocky build rang a bell with me, but I honestly couldn’t place him. Not in any of the battles with Toh’sellor, I knew that much.

I stopped, curious. “Yes?”

Shoving three books into my hands, he ordered, “Return these to the library for me.”

I was headed in that general direction, so I didn’t mind and shrugged agreement. “Sure.”

That wasn’t the reaction he wanted and his brown eyes narrowed to slits. “Excuse me?”

Ummm…why was he mad? I realized I was low on the totem pole for agents, being brand new, but I wasn’t a probationary agent either. Even if I was, the MISD didn’t stand on ceremony for things like this. As long as you followed the commands of the senior agent in charge of an operation, and weren’t completely rude, they didn’t really care how you phrased things. This man might have a few years on me, but he wasn’t a special agent. We were basically the same rank. I wasn’t sure what he wanted from me and stared back at him, confused.

The brunette female agent took a step forward, one hand on her curvy hip, putting us more in direct line of sight with each other, and the full curve of her mouth spoke of jealousy and smugness. “You need to correct your way of speaking to a senior agent, Agent Rocci.”

What on earth was going on here? Was I missing something? “It’s, ah, Hach. Actually. I got married several months ago. And how did you want me to respond?”

“Yes, Agents,” a dark voice purred. “How did you want her to respond?”

We all jumped a little, none of us realizing that Maksohm was nearby. I swore the man could sneak up on a jungle cat when he was of a mind to. His skulking skills were on par with Bannen’s. He moved away from the doorway he’d been half-hidden in, and even his stride looked predatory, his dark eyes flashing with anger. I got a bad feeling from it.

He flipped up the cover of the top book, eyes scanning the library entry card, then with a flick of his fingers let it close again. The way he stared at Sim-something made the man squirm like he had a lizard in his pants. “Make the new agent turn in overdue books, Simeon? Really? Is that the kind of behavior I should see from a veteran agent?”

Simeon flushed and looked anywhere but up.

“And you, Dewar, encouraging this behavior?”

Dewar shrank back, also not daring to look up.

Maksohm crisply took the books back out of my hands and shoved them into Simeon’s. “Go, both of you, before I lose my temper. But if I catch you harassing any member of my team again, I’ll report you both, and I won’t be kind about it.”

They skedaddled with more speed than dignity. I stared after them, a little flummoxed. They were trying to harass me? “Why?”

“Because you’re on the fast track to gaining Special-Agent status in the next year,” Maksohm explained with a growl, attention turning back to me. “And you’re famous in the organization and a favorite of the bosses. You really didn’t think they were trying something with you?”

“Well, no?” I still felt bewildered that anyone would be irritated enough to even try. It wasn’t like I shoved my status in people’s faces or made a big deal out of things. “I didn’t even know their names.”

“Ah, Rena.” He put an arm around my shoulders and hugged me to him. “You’re entirely too nice for your own good, sometimes. I see why Bannen’s so completely protective of you. You’re filing paperwork to change your legal name here, right? I’ll go with you.”

“You don’t have to,” I denied, feeling like an imposition. “Even if someone else tried something similar, it’s not like petty harassment is going to do any harm.”

“Really.” Maksohm quirked that expressive eyebrow of his. “Tell you what, why don’t you explain that to Bannen.”

“Oh, heck no,” I denied fervently. My husband had no sense of humor about things like this.

Eyes sparkling with laughter, Maksohm tightened his grip on me and turned us both, heading forward. “Then I’ll go with you and keep the pesky flies off.”

Resigned, I stayed under his arm. “You do that.”

“You know what I like best about running with Bannen?” Nora asked.

“No, what do you like best about running with Bannen?” Chi replied, grinning.

“This isn’t going to end well for me, is it?” I asked.

They both ignored me, which took real effort, because they were running along either side of me, Chi on my right and Nora on the left. They had a talent, however, for talking around me. It was nearly an artform.

“Having to wait at the corner of every street for the walk signal!” Nora chirped, glaring at me out of the corner of her eyes.

“May I remind you that the last time we just willy-nilly tried to run through, someone tried to run you over, then I had to snatch you up, then Chi had to grab both of us, and we ended up in a mud puddle the size of the ocean?”

“It’s pre-dawn,” Chi observed sarcastically. “What kinda traffic are you seeing here that we’re not?”

“I seem to recall,” I put a finger to my chin, staring up at the sky thoughtfully, like a wise sage drawing upon an ancient memory, “yes, I do seem to recall these words. Right before we ended up in that giant mud puddle.”

“Dry spell,” Nora retorted, flinging her arms far and wide.

“Yes, absolutely, the mud puddle was the point I was trying to make,” I deadpanned back at her. I don’t think she realized how close my heart had come to stopping, seeing that taxi nearly plow her over. It seemed stupid that after fighting some of the biggest and baddest monsters in the world, that it would be a stupid accident near home that killed Nora. But she had no fear of traffic. It was part of the reason why we went running with her whenever we were in Foxboro. It encouraged life. “Not your lack of coordination at pre-dawn.”

Nora gasped and put a hand to her heart, affronted. “You did not just go there.”

“He totally did,” Chi disagreed, his mouth gaping open. “She could throw you, Bannen. I think I should point this out. She could throw you into the harbor. Can you breathe underwater? I don’t think you can breathe underwater.” His ability to continue talking despite how long and how fast they’d run was very impressive. Then again, the man routinely followed Vee. “If you could, I’m sure you would’ve brought it up by now. Because you do bring up things you excel at.”

“Especially if it involves beating things up. The man’s a braggart,” Nora agreed. She cracked her knuckles, one hand pounding into the flat of her other palm. “I, meanwhile, am the soul of modesty.”

“I’m trying to back you up here,” Chi told her, sounding distinctly disapproving, “but there is nothing I can do with a lie that big and that blatant, Nora.”

“I know you can’t breathe underwater,” Nora said, unconcerned. “You flap in the water like a beached whale.”

“I’ll take my chances. You kill me, you’re stuck dealing with him alone.” Chi jerked a thumb my direction.

“I’ll just send him back to Rena,” Nora shrugged. “He’s the team’s problem, anyway. I just walk him sometimes.”

“That’s real civic minded of you,” Chi agreed.

“If you’ve got enough breath to talk, we’re not running fast enough,” I observed.

“Meh, we’re at the coffee stall, it’s time for early breakfast and shooting the bull.” Chi pulled up to the little wooden shack on the wharf, ordering donuts and coffee for all of us. Nora and I stretched a little, although I wasn’t feeling winded, just warm and limber. And tired, honestly. I hadn’t gotten a full night’s sleep in a long while. I kept hoping that enough exercise, enough time, would settle my subconscious mind and let me sleep properly. It hadn’t happened so far.

We took one of the wooden benches nearby and settled in. Accepting the hot cup and warm donuts, I dug into both, letting the sugar rush help offset my lethargy. I think Nora realized something was up, that we had something to talk to her about. She watched us as she tore into her own breakfast. I got a full donut down, drank some of the coffee, and only then tried to feel her out on it. “Nora. You know anything about the new therapist, Clara?”

“I’ve run into her in the halls a few times,” Nora responded slowly, eyes studying me and Chi. “Seems nice enough. Pretty. Why?”

“We both got assigned to her the other day,” Chi pitched in around a mouthful of donut. “It was…what do you say, Bannen? An unmitigated disaster?”

“Not quite, but close enough,” I admitted sourly.

Nora pointed a finger at both of us, eyes going wide. “Wait, both of you? Who in thunderation thought that was a good idea?”

“Maksohm said everyone else is full up for the next six months,” I explained.

“Oh.” Nora chewed absently on her bottom lip, still giving us that intense study. “Why the disaster?”

“She diagnosed me with PTSD without asking any questions?”

Chi swallowed his mouthful and added, lip curling up in disdain, “And she read me the riot act for snuggling with Rena.”

Nora planted both elbows on her knees and let her head sink into her hands. “Oh man. Did you tell Dah’lil this?”

“Yeah, tried. He’s…not listening.” Not that I blamed him, really. We’d raised something of a fuss about going into therapy to begin with; he likely felt we really hadn’t tried to talk to the woman. And I admit, I’d only told her that one thing, but she’d shut me down so fast on that, the issue that was the most important, that I didn’t feel like I could talk to her about anything else.

Nora’s brows screwed up in a doubtful expression, which granted, was fair. Our team leader was an amazing listener. That was why he’d gotten the job of team leader in the first place. This was just one of those rare times when he wasn’t paying attention as closely as he should have been. Something struck her, and her mouth opened in a silent ah. “Probably because of Rena.”

My cup stopped halfway to my mouth. “I’m sorry, what about my wife?”

She gave me an odd look in return. “You don’t know?”

“Nora. Would I be asking if I knew?”

“Oh, right. You probably haven’t experienced it, they don’t see you in the same light. They figure you just got dragged along with her.” Nora grimaced and took a sip of her coffee, looking out over the water. “Rena’s shot up in the ranks of the MISD very quickly. Mostly because of her magic and how she dealt with Toh’sellor, but the other agents, the petty-minded ones anyway, they don’t see it that way. They’re jealous of her. The pettiest of the lot tried to do some low-level harassment yesterday. Rena didn’t seem to think much of it—”

I groaned, because of course she wouldn’t, Rena didn’t operate on those lines.

“—but it got Dah’lil’s panties in a twist. He had some very sharp words with a few agents and their superiors. I know he went around with her yesterday as she got her paperwork straightened out, too. Just to keep the flies off.” Nora lifted one shoulder up in a shrug. “He might not have been paying attention to you because of that.”

Chi ran a hand roughly through his hair. “I see the problem. Not sure about the solution, but I see the problem.”

“Gents, I think you need to do one more session with this woman,” Nora advised, and that glint in her eye promised evil fun. I perked up hopefully. Nora normally didn’t instigate mischief, but she always came up with good ideas. “But do a group session and insist that Maksohm go in with you. He’ll take it as you trying to cooperate and go all big brother on you. I guarantee this. That way, he can see for himself how badly this is going.”

“That’s a great idea.” My group session was scheduled for later. Which gave me plenty of time to talk to my wife and get a list of names of just who was stupid enough to mess with her.

Rena and I had a nice, long talk about the harassment thing. She promised to stick with someone else while we were in Foxboro until the stupidity died down. With that kind of assurance, I felt better about going into the group therapy session.

We didn’t say any complaints to Maksohm before going in. I listened to Nora’s advice on this one. All I told him was that the therapist said individual sessions didn’t work for me (not a lie) and that I would feel better if he came in with me and Chi to the group session (also not a lie). Maksohm was the most natural big brother in the world, so of course he immediately agreed.

Mid-morning, we waltzed up the stairs to Clara’s office again. As we went up, I leaned in to whisper in Chi’s ear, “First one to make her crack buys drinks tonight.”

“Done.” Chi rubbed his hands together in evil glee, expression filled with anticipation, and bounded up the stairs.

Maksohm, coming up behind us, either heard something or he suspected it. “I expect the two of you to actually tell her a real concern.”

There was a fine line between the spirit of the law and the letter of the law. I could walk that line better than any circus performer in existence. “Absolutely.”

Maksohm sighed. He didn’t believe me.

That was alright. I didn’t believe me either.

As we walked into the office, Clara greeted us with a professional smile. “Agents, welcome. It’s Agent Maksohm, I believe? You’re their team leader?”

“Yes,” Maksohm answered, coming around to shake hands with her. “They asked that I come in for this session. It’s frankly a bad idea to put these two in the same room without some sort of equalizing force, so I agreed.”

I sank into the two-seater couch, Chi taking the cushion next to me, and had to tamp down an evil grin. I knew just how to start.

Clara, for once, didn’t immediately pick up the clipboard. With that fixed smile still on her face, she regarded the two of us. “Who would like to start?”

“Vee used me as a blunt weapon to hit monkeys with last mission,” Chi volunteered immediately.

“And she felt very bad about that,” I said, lips twitching.

“I felt worse.” Chi stuck his tongue out at me.

A muscle jumped in Clara’s jaw. Score one.

“To be fair,” Maksohm inserted with an apologetic smile, “that actually did happen. And Chi has a phobia of sorts with monkeys. It’s a culmination of bad experiences.”

“I see.” Clara picked her clipboard up and scribbled a note. “What else?”

Maksohm’s expression twitched into an open frown before he caught himself and smoothed it out. I gave myself a mental pat on the back. Even he found it strange, that she didn’t address what Chi had said, just demanded the next thing on the list.

“Chi jumps off of things he shouldn’t and I get blamed for it,” I stated with a mock-glare at my friend.

“I love that this is your response,” Chi retorted with an eyeroll. “Not that I’m in danger, but that you’d get blamed for it, like that was the issue.”

“Says the man that got Wade to throw him up a three-story building.”

Lifting a hand, Chi stared me down in open challenge. “Every person that has been thrown by a giant.”

“Excuse you,” Maksohm couldn’t help but respond, affronted but amused, if that smile was anything to go by. “I do not have giants throw me, it’s a matter of professional respect. And neither of you can fly, so being thrown anywhere is a bad idea.”

“I don’t see the problem,” Chi riposted, grinning. “I haven’t hit the ground yet.”

“He takes about a year and a half off my very mortal life every time he pulls that,” I complained aloud. “I get yelled at every time.”

“I’d say we should just let him fall one of these days,” Maksohm said thoughtfully. “But Vee would get him if we don’t.”

Clara cleared her throat. Quite pointedly. “If we could get to the actual issues that brought you to me? You both have PTSD, which is no laughing matter—”

“Excuse you very much, I do not.” I’d show her post-traumatic stress disorder in a minute. “The only fear I have is of my wife going down, again, in front of me. Stop her from doing that and I’ll be peachy keen.”

Maksohm frowned openly at her now. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to tell you your business, but I don’t believe that Bannen has PTSD either. He’s actually the most even keeled in the team.”

Clara flipped two or three pages on her clipboard and rattled off, “You were summoned to a different continent, made into a human familiar without any understanding or training for what that meant, forced to break the familiar bond, summoned again, escaped assassins, battled Toh’sellor twice, forced to watch as your wife went into a Mind Down on two separate occasions, and was severely injured yourself on multiple occasions protecting her. All of that in the past three years. Of course Agent Hach has PTSD.”

I caught Maksohm’s eye, my expression saying clearly, See the problem?

From the way his brows compressed in a straight line, he certainly did. “He has a small problem with insomnia, and sometimes slight anxiety because of the familiar bond creating a ruckus, but that’s it. Those are his only issues. Why don’t we talk about why he can’t sleep first?”

“I’m not in the habit of having my diagnosis questioned, Agent Maksohm,” Clara informed him with her mouth in a flat line.

He ignored her, eyes on me. Something about his expression said that he understood now why Chi and I had dragged him in here. But he still thought it was because I wasn’t communicating properly with her. That she’d gotten impatient with us. That wasn’t it at all. Okay, it was only partially the reason. I wasn’t sure why he made us sit through this farce any longer. I wanted out.

“Tell her why you can’t sleep,” he prodded, switching to take the chair next to my end of the couch. Probably to thwart any attempts on my part to run for it. More fool him. I would use him as a launching pad to get to the door, I was not above such childishness.

“I can’t sleep,” I bit off, overenunciating each word, “because my wife can’t sleep. She’s the one that needs these sessions, Dah’lil.”

“And she has them, with a different therapist,” he returned peacefully. “And that’s not why you can’t sleep, Bannen. I’ve seen you up even while she’s peacefully sleeping.”

“I don’t like you anymore,” I informed him flatly. “You’re a traitor and a fiend. I’m throwing you to the big fishies in the oversized bathtub. If a giant sea serpent comes at us, I’ll cover you in molasses so you’ll be swallowed up smoother. You will go straight down its gullet and pay rent in its stomach, and I won’t even shed a tear or lend you money so you won’t get evicted. I will yell ‘I told you so’ as you digest, and I’ll remember to forget to put flowers on your tombstone every year.”

Of course he didn’t take a word of that seriously, just stared right back at me, eyebrow quirked. “Hach Xian Liang, do I need to go get your wife?”

Ouch, full name, huh. “That is not at all friking fair, and what did I do to piss you off, huh? I’ve been good! I haven’t done any arrow dodgeball with Chi or anything.”

“Really. Have you been good, or good at it?” Maksohm asked the question like he already knew the answer. Which he likely did. Because Rena tells him everything.

“Arrow dodgeball?” Clara asked, trying to keep up with this conversation.

“They did this about five months ago,” Maksohm explained, not taking his eyes off of me. “They were on an open field, Chi firing arrows at him, Bannen either catching or dodging him. If Bannen could reach Chi without getting directly hit, he won.”

Clara’s eyes went round. “That…that was a game?”

“It was training, and I was trying to wear Chi out so he could sleep, you know this,” I protested. And I probably shouldn’t have said that last part. “We promised to put corks on the arrows next time.  Actually, now that I think about it, how come both Chi and I are assigned to her? That’s, that’s just cruel and unusual punishment, right there, inflicting both of us on her. At the same time. For shame, Maksohm, really, I thought you were a nicer person than that. This woman will need therapy herself after we’re done with her.”

“Why don’t you let me worry about Chi?”

“He’s managed to alienate most of the department, hasn’t he,” I guessed dryly.

Chi puffed his chest out in a proud manner.

Seeing a beautiful opportunity, I latched onto Chi and snuggled in against him. Because he’s my brother-from-another-mother, he didn’t miss a beat, pulling me more snuggly into his side. Which felt a little odd, I was used to snuggling curves, not muscles. “If we can’t play arrow dodgeball, you’ll just have to keep sleeping with us.”

Chi sighed gustily against my hair. “I do love sleeping with you two.”

Clara’s pen ratted an irritated staccato against her clipboard. She was not happy with this turn of events. “Agents, kindly stop taking the piss—”

Ignoring her, I kept rolling. “I just can’t sleep without your hard, warm pecks against my cheek.”

“And the thought of not being able to run my fingers through your daffodil-smelling hair keeps me awake at night,” Chi rejoined.

“Then I’ll just have to rub my hair in your face until you dream of sunshine and unicorns.”

“No need, I’d rather just dream of your biceps and slight tummy chub, Banny.”

“Excuse you, ChiChi, I haven’t had any chub in months since Rena cut me off of biscuits every morning.”

“Agents!” Clara snapped, sounding impressively outraged. “That is quite enough. Stop messing about, I need actual information, not this ridiculousness.”

Maksohm growled out a curse, half-resigned. “That’s it. I’m calling Rena in here. Maybe she can keep you two on task.”

“Agent Maksohm, I would prefer that you not call Agent Renata Hach in here,” Clara informed our team leader, “seeing that she has an unhealthy relationship dynamic with Agent Franklocke.”

Maksohm blinked at her. Blinked again. “What? Where on earth did you get that idea?”

“Agent Hach has already informed me that he let his wife sleep with Agent Franklocke on the last mission.”

“It sounds so wrong when she puts it that way,” Chi mourned.

Upping the antics, I wailed, “She doesn’t understand us, Chi!”

Chi patted my back, hiding his face and gave a choked, “It’s alright, I’m here for you.”

“Agents.”

I gave it ten seconds before she got fed up and threw us out.

To our therapist, Maksohm apologized, “I’m so sorry, give me one minute to straighten this out.”

I kicked my heels outside of the therapy session in the waiting room. Bannen had spoken to me at length about this therapist, but I wasn’t sure what to make of all his complaints. He didn’t like the idea of therapy to begin with. In fact, he’d mostly agreed for Chi’s sake. He might have given up on the idea too quickly, or he might be valid, and I wasn’t sure at this point which way the wind would fall. I was glad that the boys had agreed to take Maksohm in with them for a group session, at least. My harried team leader had requested that I stay here in the waiting room, nearby, just in case.

Poor Maksohm. He really caught the short end of the stick when it came to stuff like this. Feeling a little bad, I of course agreed to help him, mostly because I feared that at some point either Chi or Bannen would make a break for it. Not that he was likely doing anything constructive in there, but still. I might need to save the therapist.

Nora and Emily had chosen to wait with me, mostly to keep me company. We sprawled over the cushioned chairs and couches arranged in a square. Nora seemed to think something else was up, interestingly enough. Nora leaned in, her dark eyes scrutinizing me. “How are you doing, Rena?”

I heard the slight emphasis on ‘you’ and my fleeting thought to give her a casual ‘fine’ died. She honestly asked as a friend, which deserved an honest response. “I’m doing better, a lot better. With Toh’sellor in a secure facility, I’m not plagued with as many nightmares about it. And the coping techniques Vee taught me help on the nights that are rough. I think it helps, too, that our house is being constructed now. I feel like I’ll have my own home to go to soon.”

“There’s a certain feeling of displacement when you don’t have a space to call your own,” Emily agreed with a wry face. “You realize that because I’m on your team, and you’re all up in Gargan, that I’m now stationed in Gargan?”

“You’ll love it,” I promised her faithfully, grinning. “The giants are great fun. They’re awesome neighbors.”

“I sure hope so, ’cause I’m stuck there regardless.” Emily didn’t sound bothered by this overly much, but then, she’d never been that far north before either. The only time she’d left this continent was for my wedding and the fight with Toh’sellor. Both times she’d only been there a few days before returning to Corcoran. She had no personal experience to judge anything by, and because she was Emily, she was willing to wait until she saw things with her own eyes before coming to any conclusions.

The door to the waiting room abruptly opened and our harried team leader poked his head inside. “Rena!”

“And that’s my cue,” I sighed, standing. “I’ll catch up with you two later.”

They waved me off and I followed Maksohm back into the room. Chi sat cross-legged next to Bannen, arms crossed over his chest defensively, which made his already muscular arms look even larger than usual. There was a smile on his face, as if he weren’t taking anything seriously, but I recognized that hard set to his jaw. It spoke of pure stubbornness and only cemented further as I entered. I took one look at him and had to wonder, what did Clara do to put his back up so badly? Before, he wasn’t inclined to talk, but now he was clammed up tighter than a buried treasure chest. Bannen looked about the same, and the mulish set to his jaw did not promise anything good. They weren’t taking this at all seriously.

Not sure what to do in this situation, I took the chair next to my husband, angling to focus on him. My first priority lay with Bannen and Chi, not what Clara wanted, and I let him know that silently as I looked at him. He might have relaxed a hair but not enough to actually pry his mouth open and speak. Sarding deities, I might need backup.

“Agent Maksohm, I repeat,” Clara said in a flat voice, “I do not approve of yet another person joining the group at this time, especially not the person who instigated the trouble to begin with.”

“I’m sorry, but it’s not possible to straighten this out without her. Rena’s key to the whole thing. Rena,” Maksohm requested in a deliberately neutral tone that I recognized instantly. My ears pricked, as I only heard him speak like that when he didn’t agree with what was being said around him. “Can you please explain why you and Chi ended up in the same bed on the last mission?”

“I’m not interested in the reasons,” Clara informed us flatly. “There is a certain degree of behavior that is not acceptable. If there was an issue, and Agent Franklocke couldn’t sleep, then he should have been pulled immediately from field duty and sent in for proper treatment.”

I stared at her, somewhat aghast. My therapist was warm, delightful, and a very excellent listener. Nothing at all like this woman. Did she seriously just say that she wasn’t interested in listening to her patients? “We weren’t in a situation where we could just stop and send Chi home—”

“Both of these men shouldn’t have been serving,” Clara cut me off, words cold and brutal. “They both have severe cases of PTSD. This will require years of treatment, treatment that was delayed because you were enabling them.”

Excuse me? I blinked at her, absolutely certain I could not be hearing this correctly. Bannen didn’t have PTSD. He wasn’t exhibiting any of those symptoms except nightmares, and even his anxiety was tied in with the familiar bond more than anything. Had she really just pigeon holed him into a diagnosis after two sessions?

“You’ll be both ineligible for field service until I sign you off,” Clara informed us all.

“Yeah,” I said, deliberately borrowing one of my husband’s phrases, “that’s a healthy serving of not happening.”

Chi snorted, humor flaring in his face for a moment. “That’s a Bannen-ism right there.”

“Hey, married to the man, been around him for three years, things are going to rub off.” I waggled my eyebrows at Bannen, got him chortling again because of course his mind took that line and went straight to the gutter with it. It lasted three seconds, then his eyes darted to Clara and he went rigid and defensive again.

Yeah, this wasn’t about him being a pest, or not wanting therapy. He honestly didn’t trust this woman, and nothing I or anyone else said would change that. Being in therapy with someone you couldn’t confide in? Recipe for disaster. After hearing what she’d just said, the assumptions she’d leapt to, I didn’t blame him. I caught Maksohm’s eye and I could tell his patience had evaporated at that point. He saw the question in my eyes, nodded permission, and I took both Bannen and Chi’s hands, pulling them off the couch. “I’m making an executive decision. Sorry, Therapist Clara, but I don’t think you are a good match. They’re not comfortable speaking in front of you and that does no one any good. No offense, but I think we need to try them with someone else.”

Clara’s expression said she took all the offense. “I beg your pardon, but they have to go through me. They can’t be released for field duty otherwise.”

“Not quite, there are other methods.” Maksohm gave her a smile that he didn’t at all feel.

Chi’s hand tightened in mine and I felt bad, because I was set as a watchdog to make him stay in here, and yet his instincts were right. This woman was more interested in checking off boxes than really speaking with him.

Her pretty eyes hardened to chips of ice. “That is not your call to make, Agent.”

Wow. Pissy, much? “You’re correct, but our team leader has already made it.” I murmured back from the side of my mouth, “Run for it, guys. I’m right behind you.”

Both men sped out of the room so fast that air vacuumed in their wake. I turned sharply on my heel, waving a hand over my shoulder as I did so. “Have a good day, Clara.”

Hopefully I didn’t get us all into a lot of trouble doing that. Even if I had, well. Them’s the breaks.

I wrapped both arms around my wife and squeezed the stuffing out of her. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Why?” Rena answered dryly, a little short on breath, although she readily hugged me back. “Because I broke you and Chi out of therapy?”

“You’re such a rebel,” I responded happily. “I knew I liked you for a reason.”

We stood in the training yard, off to the side, because after being glared at for nearly an hour, Chi wanted to blow off some steam. He and Vee were currently tearing up the place, arrows flying all over. Maksohm kept a shield around us so that we didn’t become the victims of friendly fire. Our team leader sat on the bench, one leg drawn up to his chest, and frowned as he watched the pair. His expression did not suggest he thought of happy thoughts.

Turning in my arms, Rena studied him for a moment before offering, “I didn’t suspect anything either, not at first. I mean, I thought she was only doing her job.”

“But I should know when to trust their instincts,” Maksohm sighed, sounding a decade older.

After I’d escaped, Maksohm investigated our former therapist, speaking with numerous agents, and got a few interesting stories about Clara. Turned out there was a reason why she was free when the rest of the therapists were scheduled out for the next four months. She was the type that liked to take people apart just to figure out what made them tick, but wasn’t so good at putting people back together again. I’d sensed something off about her, but I hadn’t been able to put a finger on it. Maksohm and Rena, they might force me to do things for my own good, but they respected my wishes too.

Now, of course, Maksohm felt bad about shoving things ahead so quickly instead of properly double checking. I didn’t really blame him, though. Why wouldn’t a MISD-approved therapist be a good choice for us? Still, I could practically see the guilt oozing from him.

Rena did too, as she went and joined him on the bench, putting an arm around his shoulders and hugging him to her. “It’s alright, no damage done. We’ll find someone they both are comfortable speaking with. As for me, well, Vee’s coping techniques that she taught me has helped bunches. And that therapist that squeezed me into the group therapy was amazing. I can wait for a more permanent therapist too.”

The way he looked at her, Maksohm didn’t agree, and I wasn’t sure I did either. Rena’s nightmares had definitely improved, but I still found her up more often than asleep. Her insomnia was becoming normal, and that alarmed me. I wanted my wife well rested, thank you, not plagued with night terrors.

“There you are!” Nora came out of a side door, a shield up to protect her against Chi and Vee’s antics, crossing to us with a smile on her face. “So…how was therapy?”

“I had to pull both of them out,” Maksohm answered her crossly, mouth drawing back into an almost snarl. “Does that answer your question?”

Nora winced, the veins of her neck popping out for a moment. “That bad, huh.”

“Stop judging, sod it. I was trying to get us all cleared quickly so we could get out of here. No one wants to be sitting around in headquarters. You get volunteered for the unpleasant jobs.”

Grimacing, Nora flicked an acknowledging hand his direction. “He does have a point.”

“They refused to talk to her at all, and really, I can’t blame either of them. She’s too judgmental. I wouldn’t trust anything she said to me either.”

Finally, he said it. “Why put me and Chi in with the same woman?”

Maksohm winced, hearing the ‘are you crazy?’ in my voice very clearly. “It’s not like I had any other options with Chi. He’s managed to alienate every other therapist.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me,” Nora muttered darkly. “He can be a certifiable pest when he puts his mind to it. He would not look at therapy sessions in a positive light. Dah’lil, what are the odds you can get these two signed off?”

He opened his mouth, dark eyes darting toward her, then focused on me. I read the concern in his eyes, knew that he was remembering the same thing I was. That we shared the same worries and fears where Chi was concerned.

Five months ago, when we were chasing after Toh’sellor, it had been difficult. Terrifying, exhausting, with us hopping all over the continents with literally no warning. Chi’s childhood abandonment had come back with a vengeance, leaving him sleep deprived and his judgment shot. It had taken days for Rena to figure out how to get him to sleep, and it ended up with the very interesting arrangement of all four of us sharing a bed several nights in a row. I didn’t mind doing that, not to help a friend, but at the same time I didn’t want that kind of weight resting on Chi either. It could crush a man’s soul, given enough time. And what if, heavens forbid, we stumbled into another situation similar to that one?

“You shouldn’t just get him signed off,” Emily stated, tone soft but firm. “I saw what he was like. You don’t want an agent in the field in that condition.”

Maksohm gave her a nod. “You’re right. Which was why I tried to push this forward. But it’s clearly the wrong therapist for him and there’s no other options. The only thing I can do is get someone to sign off on him transferring to a private therapist outside of the MISD.”

My ears perked at this information. “That’s possible?”

“They don’t like to do it, it’s more expensive, and the therapist has to be vetted to keep things confidential,” Nora explained, expression thoughtful, “but yes, it is. I thought Chi looked tired and a little frazzled, but you all looked tired by the time I caught up with you. Was he really that bad?”

“I need alcohol for this conversation.” Maksohm sank into his seat, slouching and not looking up from the ground.

Nora caught my eye, her brows furrowed in concern, and mouthed, That bad?

Worse, I mouthed back.

“Well. Then I agree, we should probably get some help to him. Although that does put a wrinkle in things.”

I might be a new agent, but even I had instincts, and they stirred watchfully. Nora had not tracked us down here with Emily just to see how therapy sessions were going.

Rena apparently had the same thought, as she asked, “What?”

“You remember that possible Void Mage? I actually followed up with the agent doing the testing after you called, as I was curious what he had to say about matters. He’s on his way back, in fact, and what he reported to me was…conflicting. The boy definitely has magic, but it’s not quite like a mage’s magic, and he apparently doesn’t see things the way he should. Our agent in question left highly confused on whether he was a Void Mage or not, but to be fair to him, he’s never interacted directly with either you or your Void Mage master in Turransky, either. He might not know what he’s looking at.” Nora made a face before admitting, “He basically was coming back from a mission when the rumor was reported to us and we had him swing by and check on it. He’s not really an expert in these matters.”

Now this made more sense. “I’ll happily go up and take a look,” Rena assured her. “But I’m not sure when I can get up there, not at the rate things are going down here.”

“Yes, which is why I’m now not sure what to do.” Nora pursed her mouth in thought, glancing at her cousin. “Dah’lil, I think it might behoove us to take a break from this. It might do a world of good to let Bannen and Chi step back, regain their footing, before broaching the idea of therapy again. Bannen doesn’t need to be cleared in order to go out and double check a report for us, right?”

I thought this a fabulous idea. Yes, please send me away from the crazy lady with the clipboard. Pretty please?

Maksohm didn’t agree immediately, instead meeting Nora’s eyes thoughtfully. “Where exactly is this supposed Void Mage boy?”

“Northern Sira. And I do mean right on the northern coastline.”

“So, in other words, it’ll be at least a week there and a week back. I might be able to get a request in for a different therapist for Bannen in two weeks.” The fact that we much prefer me up and moving over waiting around in one spot went without being said. “Rena, what do you think?”

“I think I’m the only one qualified to say one way or another.” Shrugging, Rena splayed both hands out. “I think two weeks away from all of this is a good idea. Nothing’s urgently going on at the moment—”

Three people knocked on wood as soon as she said that.

“—and while I’m not excited about spending another two weeks on a train, I think we’ll survive. Do you want to put the request in today?”

“I might as well. It’ll take a day or two for someone to review and give us an answer.” Maksohm glanced at the two not-quite-trying-to-kill-each-other. “We’re certainly not going to be doing anything remarkable here, so I think it’ll be approved. Emily, what do you want to do? Go or stay?”

“I think I’ll stay.” Emily’s head canted a little, expression shrewd. “No offense, Agent Maksohm, but in some ways I know better than you what Bannen needs. I was there for the beginning of it, after all. I think I can help you find a therapist he trusts enough to talk to.”

“I will take all the help I can get,” Maksohm assured her with a crooked smile. He shot me a look but I couldn’t disagree with Emily’s assessment and shrugged.

“It actually might be a longer reprieve than that,” Nora corrected. “We received a request in for Rena. They’re working on putting in a bypass up near Gargan and they want her help with the demolition through the mountain.”

My eyebrows arched into my hairline. Technically, we were allowed to do outside jobs with the MISD as long as our bosses approved it first. It was more like a consulting gig, really, but it created goodwill between the MISD and other companies/governments/people-of-influence, and that was always a good thing. We had some people still upset with us in corners of the world, after all, and making nice helped smooth that over. I didn’t expect a railroad job to be approved, but now that I thought about it, it made sense. Cutting down travel time for MISD agents was always a good investment for the future.

“This is a civilian matter, and technically we wouldn’t be involved, but they sent word here, as they weren’t sure how else to reach you.” Nora retrieved a letter from under her arm before holding it up so we could read it. “It’s from Greenway Railroad Company. They want to tunnel through a mountain and create a bypass into Gargan.”

I leaned over Rena’s shoulder to read the letter and my lips pursed together as I let out a low whistle. “Those are quite the generous terms.”

“I’ll say. And the job isn’t that difficult.” Rena let out a happy humming noise.

“Well, not difficult for you, at least.” Any other magician would find it deucedly difficult.

“Like I said, usually the MISD wouldn’t do work like this,” Nora continued, lowering the letter so she could see us again. “But in this case, having a bypass to Gargan would actually benefit us. It’ll make travel easier for our agents. We’ve been granted an exception so Rena can take it. In this particular case, you’re deemed a consultant, so you can take the terms and pay they offered.”

My money-pinching wife grinned at Nora like a shark spying bait in the water. “Good. I can use it for the house. I’ll take the job.” Rena’s mouth pursed a little as she thought. “I don’t think we’ll need the whole team for this, do you?”

“No,” Maksohm admitted. “No need to haul us up there just to sit around and watch you work.”

“Here’s the Void Mage report,” Nora added on, taking another file out from underneath her arm. “Agent Hollensbeck did a quick portal to hand over the file to me, although he’s taking the long way down himself. Can you combine trips?”

“Sure,” Rena promised her easily. “We can do that, send word back down on what we find, then continue up, tunnel through a mountain, and call it a day.”

“Sounds like a fine enough plan to me. Plan to leave in about three days, alright? And if you do see something strange, or if you find he really is a Void Mage, tell us. We’ll sign him on in a heartbeat.”

Rena gave her a casual salute. “Roger that.”

I retreated to the bed and breakfast with Bannen in order to review the information and start prepping for the trip. Maksohm assured me that because we were doing a simple job, not a mission, we didn’t need to be cleared for duty, but that he’d submit the necessary paperwork to keep all of our ducks in a row. I knew he’d also start the process to request an outside therapist while he was at it, although he didn’t say so.

We commandeered the dining room table for our use, as it was the easiest place to work, and the quietest at this time of the day. We had about two hours before dinner, which gave us enough time to review everything, or so I hoped. The file wasn’t that thick.

Bannen spread the packet open and strewed the contents in front of us. A frown beetled his forehead, the kind that said he found something confusing. If he were smiling, then I’d be worried, because smiles always meant trouble. He liked trouble.

Plopping down next to him, I put a chin on his shoulder so I could read what was in his hands. It seemed a general evaluation report of magical aptitude.

“Wifey, does this make any sense to you?”

“It certainly does. I’ve seen so many of those I’ve lost count. It’s a generalized magical evaluation report. It shows what strengths and weaknesses a child might have and gives an overall rating to their talent. This child rates rather strongly.” My eyes went back to the top of the page and I regarded it with pursed lips. “Agent Hollensbeck. I don’t think we’ve met him, have we?”

“Not that I recall. A shame we can’t speak directly with him, but he left us a note saying he found the whole situation confusing.” Bannen picked up a smaller piece of paper from the right pile and handed it to me.

Accepting it, I read aloud: “Magus Renata, I performed the examination of this child myself and I don’t believe him to be a Void Mage. That said, his talent and perception is very odd. His creative magic is strong enough, but he does have better talent for destruction than most magicians. I also believe that he has an ability of some sort that mimics the perception of your eyes. He can describe what something is composed of with remarkable detail, although he lacks the vocabulary to explain it very well. I suggest you evaluate him again yourself. It might be that he has a Void Mage ancestor. Regards, Hollensbeck.”

Lightly flicking the paper with a fingertip, Bannen asked, “Is that possible?”

“Didn’t you pay any attention to Mary’s lessons? Did you sleep through all of them?” I asked in exasperation.

“No,” he assured me with a bright smile I didn’t trust one iota. “Just most of them.”

My husband would never be the scholarly sort. I let it go with a sigh. “No, it’s not possible. A child of a Void Mage is not automatically a Void Mage, nor do they inherit any of the magical traits of one. He just apparently has a talent that is similar to mine. What, I dearly want to know.”

“Well, you will, soon enough.”

True. The question would be answered as soon as we got up there. “Something bothered you while you were reading, though. What was it?”

“This.” Bannen tapped a finger to the top of the page.

I stared at it, my own confusion making itself known. “Dagwood, Age 8, Residence: Seagrove. That’s it? What’s his last name? Address?”

“You don’t need either in Seagrove.”

“You’ve been to Seagrove before?”

“No. No one actually visits Seagrove, just passes through. And if you blink while passing, you miss it, it’s that small.” Smile crooked, he pointed at the paperwork. “Seagrove is a fishing village at the very northern tip of Sira. Any more north and it would fall off into the ocean. It’s maybe twenty houses altogether and everyone is related to everyone else. No one has a last name up there. No one needs one. There’s no streets, no signs, and no inn within a two hours’ radius of the place. I got stuck there once overnight because of a rip in the main sail and thought I’d go mad. It took me hours to get proper help and I had to go into a neighboring town, only slightly larger, to find it.”

Oh dear. This sounded less than promising. “So…what are the odds that magicians come out of this place very often?”

“Hollensbeck actually looked that up for us,” Bannen informed me, pointing to another piece of paper. “Last one was about six generations ago. And he didn’t pass the Tests.”

Lovely. “So these people are likely very, very excited that they have a legitimate magician in their midst, have limited understanding what a Void Mage is, and will not take a correction from me well.”

Bannen nodded along to each point I made and agreed equably, “That about sums it up.”

I hated it when I was right sometimes. Groaning, I rubbed at my forehead, already feeling a headache coming on. “This should be a barrel full of laughs.”

Two days later, we boarded a sleeper train traveling north, leaving our teammates behind in Foxboro. I knew Rena wasn’t keen on the idea of being on a train for five straight days—neither was I—but there wasn’t any way around it. Everyone else made no secret of the fact they were glad to miss this particular trip. Maksohm made noises about possibly doing some training with Emily, get her more accustomed to working with them as a unit while we were gone. I thought it wise. They might as well while waiting for us to return and get all of that red tape cut.

The trip to Seagrove was actually rather straightforward. Coming up from Foxboro, it was a five-day trip to the last train stop by sleeper train. From there, we’d take a cart for several hours to reach Seagrove.  It wouldn’t be a direct route, but it was direct as ships and trains offered. I did not look forward to this trip one iota but there was no helping it. The MISD wouldn’t accept the word of anyone but a Void Mage in this case, and I couldn’t very well ask Mary to travel all this way on what was likely a fool’s errand.

We might have stayed in Njorage a day longer than strictly necessary. I felt the universe owed me time to soak properly in hot springs and lounge about getting leisurely massages. But we only allowed ourselves that day before hopping back on the train, arriving at the last station, then renting a cart and traveling the last leg to Seagrove.

Rena was not used to riding, not really, and we had two large suitcases, making a cart the only sensible decision. That said, I regretted it almost as soon as we left the main highway. The road here was little better than a muddy rut. With potholes in it. And rocks jabbing out randomly. Did absolutely no one try to maintain the roads out here?

Grumbling, Rena commented, “I think I see now why you hated it up here.”

I winced as the cart went over another rock, jostling us into each other. “Not much to like. And it has to be at least ten degrees colder up here. I know we’re further north, but not that far north.”

“Sea breeze, perhaps?” Rena offered.

I’d always noticed the air coming in off the sea was cooler. “Probably.” I eyed her sideways for a moment before turning my attention back to what the locals laughably called a road. “The whole trip up here, you haven’t made a peep about how you want to play this.”

“I have absolutely no intention of arguing with the locals.” Rena’s tone was quite firm. “If I go in, evaluate him, and discover that he’s a regular magician, I’m not going to try to persuade the village he’s not a Void Mage. I’ll just tell them I’m reporting back to the MISD and they’ll make a decision what to do.”

“Fair enough and I’m not arguing that. But we already have an evaluation saying he’s got magic talent. No one in that village is going to know how to train him. Shouldn’t someone try to take him out, introduce him to a master?”

“Probably, but that’s not my job.”

I frowned at her. Wait, now. Was that a good idea?

Rena noted my frown and tried to reassure me. “I’m sure that they’ll step in, find him a master to train under. The MISD doesn’t let talent go to waste. They just want a second opinion, a verification that a regular magician can teach him.”

I accepted this with a nod. “Alright. How long is this going to take?”

“The evaluation? About an hour. Why, do you think we can skip in, do the evaluation, and leave again without needing to stay overnight?”

“I’m hoping that it works out that way, yes. Nora said point blank it was difficult to find someone to put her up for the night the one time she was here.” I gave an exaggerated look around before rolling my eyes expressively. “Normally I don’t have anything against camping outside, but up here?”

“Where there’s more stones than grass and it gets unreasonably muggy? Yeah, I’ll pass, thanks.”

I agreed, although I had a bad feeling this wouldn’t be the easy in and out we hoped for.

Calculating things on one hand, she asked, “We’re still, what, two hours away?”

“More like an hour and a half.”

We kept trundling along, that hour and a half feeling like a small eternity before the first hint of houses popped up along the horizon.

I wasn’t kidding. Seagrove was literally so small that if you blinked, you’d miss it. The houses were tightly made, formed of stone and mortar, and clustered together like chicks under a hen’s wings. Everything was of the same stony construction, which meant everything was the same color, giving it a very drab appearance. It also smelled strongly of fish, ocean, and cold stone, which didn’t make it any more inviting. I could tell from Rena’s expression she felt completely unimpressed with the place, but then she’d grown up in cities most of her life. I’d been to a place as small as this before and had a better handle of how closed off a place like this was. Oh man, this was going to be rough. Anti-fun, even.

The one thing going in our favor was that Seagrove, because of its proximity to Z’gher, almost had my homeland’s culture. I could tell that instantly when we entered because people dressed similarly to myself. There might be some cultural differences—in fact, I’d lay good odds on that, but hopefully enough in common to smooth the way.

I pulled the cart off to the side of the ‘road’ and tied the reins off. Rena and I both hopped down, looking around, trying to figure out who to speak with. We got more than a few curious looks but no one seemed likely to approach us.

We got two feet into the village when an older man with a slightly stooped posture and weather-beaten skin stopped us with an out flung hand. “Who are you?”

Despite the caustic, warning growl, I gave him a bow. “Elder. My name is Hach Bannen. This is my wife, Renata. The MISD sent us up to take a look at your young mage.”

He liked the manners I showed him, but his suspicion for some reason doubled. “MISD already sent an agent up.”

“Yes, sir,” I agreed promptly. “Hollensbeck. He was a little confused at the results and asked my wife, who is also a mage, to come up and take a look.”

“Nothing confusing about it. Boy’s a Void Mage, like that other girl.”

This reaction just confirmed for me that the village didn’t really know anything about Void Mages. They couldn’t even recognize the one standing in front of them. “Hollensbeck knows nothing about Void Mages, sir. We do. So do you mind if we take a look?”

“You do, eh?” His voice rose, enough that others popped their heads out of windows and doors to see what was going on. People gradually clustered around us, and while none of them seemed hostile, it gave me a general uneasy feeling. “And how do you know about Void Mages?”

Frustrated, Renata stepped up, pinning him with a look. “Because I am one. Now, can I please examine the boy?”

I’d kind of hoped she wouldn’t say that, and we could skip in and out of here with no one the wiser, but…ah well. Resigned, I let my wife take the lead on this.

The old man spluttered, staring as if she’d just announced the sky was falling. “You’re a Void Mage? Bah! The only one is a young girl, over in Z’gher.”

“I’m from Corcoran, actually. My husband-familiar is from Z’gher. Rumors never get the facts right.” Rena pinned a smile on her face and flipped the lapel of the light jacket she wore over to show the mage credentials pinned to her collar. “See?”

He bent and peered at them for the longest time, seeing not the usual circles and lines, but instead a single circle with a black center. We’d had to get it customized and made for Rena from a jeweler, as of course no other place made something like this. Mary actually designed it for us, a newer version of her own pin.

The old man stared, and stared, and finally one of the women behind him got impatient and hip-checked him out of the way in order to get a look of her own. He went sideways, spluttering, rubbing at the abused skin, but no one paid any attention to him.

“We don’t know any of those mage symbols,” the matron informed her. “Can you give us some other proof?”

Rena cocked her head, thought about, then nodded. “Alright.” She turned her head a bare two inches, the incantation falling readily from her mouth. I had no idea what she aimed at, but everyone looked in that same general direction. In a half a minute, one of the decorative shells hanging from the corner of the roof disappeared in a wisp of smoke and ash.

Half of the onlookers jumped, jerking back in alarm. The other swore and looked at Rena as if she’d just sprouted horns.

The matron nodded, as if satisfied. “I’m Dag’s aunt, Autumn. You come with me, I’ll take you to him.”

Glad to escape the paranoid old man, I obeyed with alacrity. Autumn’s wide build cut a swathe through the watching people and she chattered over her shoulder as she went, “You ignore Blue. Man doesn’t believe anyone until he’s proven it himself. We’re glad to see someone else from MISD, as that last agent didn’t know what to do with Dag. Said it was strange what the boy could do. Didn’t think he was a Void Mage, either, which we thought was strange, as Dag’s powerful good at destroying things. But you’re a Void Mage, you say?”

“That’s right,” Rena confirmed. She cast a glance over her shoulder, as did I. Everyone in the village chose to follow us. Rena was apparently going to have a crowd of onlookers for this test. That did not fill my heart with joy.

“Then we’ll let you tell us what he is. We’ve got no real experience with magic in these parts, aside from traveling magicians getting stranded every so often.” Autumn left the last two houses, facing the docks and rocky beach, and put both hands around her mouth to shout out, “DAG!”

A boy with dark brown hair, tousled from the wind, popped up from where he had been working the nets and yelled back, “WHAT!”

“Come here!” Autumn shook her head and turned before calling again, “Everest! You too!”

Another man who had been sewing on fishnets dropped everything in his hands and made his way forward. He looked nearly as old as my father, but I realized part of that was the life he’d lived, prematurely aging him. His dark hair looked similar to the boy’s, but other than that, they didn’t seem at all alike. Still, I assumed this to be Dagwood’s father.

Dagwood himself scampered nimbly over the rocky shore, the thin soles of his shoes slipping a little on the slick rock, although it didn’t slow him down much. He barely looked his age, he was so skinny, and a little short in my opinion. My attention was caught on his eyes the most, though. Those clear grey eyes looked remarkably like Rena’s.

My wife caught the resemblance too, as she shared a quick glance with me, head slightly canting, expression asking, ‘Do you see that?’

I nodded to her in a minute dip of the head. I certainly did. I know she’d said that Void Mages didn’t pass down anything genetically—their child either was or wasn’t a Void Mage—but those eyes really made me question that theory. I tried to keep that off my face, as I had at least a dozen people examining every facial twitch of mine. This was truly getting unnerving. What would they do if we didn’t give them the answer they wanted?

“Everest, Dagwood, this is Renata Hach, the Void Mage,” Autumn introduced with a proud smile at us, as if she’d magically produced us herself from thin air. “I didn’t catch your name, young man.”

“I’m Bannen Hach, her husband-familiar,” I introduced myself with a quick bow and smile.

“Well, now, pleasure.” Autumn caught Dagwood’s arm and pulled him forward. “She needs to examine you, honey.”

“Again?” he whined to his aunt.

“Be still, son,” Everest commanded gruffly. “Magus, if you will. I surely want this question answered, if he’s a mage or not.”

“Oh, he’s certainly a mage, that’s not in question,” Rena answered in an absent tone, her eyes already at work. “A strong one.”

Dagwood perked up. “Am I really? You can tell by looking?”

“Rena’s eyes can see everything,” I explained to everyone listening, mostly so that my wife could focus. She was terrible about talking and examining something at the same time. “Seriously, anything. Never, ever bet her on how far something is, either. She can tell you the exact distance. That’s why, Master Everest, Mistress Autumn, the MISD sent her up to examine him. She doesn’t need to do a traditional examination, as her eyes alone can tell her everything she needs to know about him. We also know that she can confirm if he’s a Void Mage, although it would be a historical moment if he is, as most Void Mages are female.”

Everest looked disappointed by this. “They are?”

“Very, very rare to get a male Void Mage,” I explained patiently, feeling some sympathy for him. “Which is why the MISD were confused by the report of your son. But Rena can confirm this for us.” I paused, waiting for her to chime in.

She stared hard at the boy, brows drawing together.

Uh-oh, I recognized that look. She’d gotten lost in some tangent. I poked her in the shoulder. “Rena, honey, pull back.”

“Not spiraling down,” she answered readily, still with that look on her face. “I’m just examining something. Give me a moment.”

I didn’t expect that response. What exactly was she seeing that confused her so? Perhaps the boy’s eyes? Hollensbeck said they’d reminded him of Rena’s eyes. Settling into a parade rest, I waited patiently. The crowd murmured to each other, restless, but also waiting. The bond thrummed a little, also rearing its head, not quite easy with this crowd. I eyed them sideways, mentally planning an escape route if we needed it. Small town people never reacted in quite the way you’d think they would.

Then we waited some more.

When five minutes ticked by, I poked her in the shoulder again. “Rena.”

“This is seriously strange.” Blinking, she finally lifted her head, switching to Turranskan to speak with me. “He’s not a Void Mage, but he has the eyes of one.”

She wasn’t pulling my leg, was she? “Wait, are you serious?”

“Perfectly. It’s why he’s so good at destroying things, I bet.”

“I thought you said that a Void Mage couldn’t pass down any traits to a descendant.” The crowd murmured again, pressing in closer, straining to understand us.

“Pretty sure I’m still correct on that. This is just a talent of his magic that’s manifesting.”

“Soo…” I glanced down at the boy, who seemed fascinated that we spoke in a foreign language. “Where does that leave us? Can the MISD just find him a master?”

“No.” Rena grimaced as the word left her mouth. “It would be like training up under a man like Tarkington, who’s a good master, but doesn’t understand what you’re seeing or how to properly train you to use the ability. I don’t wish that kind of master on this child.”

Since she had lived through that herself, and it took Mary to properly train her, I understood perfectly. “So what do you want to do?”

“Either way, we can’t leave him here. We’ll have to either train him or take him to Mary.”

Yikes. I really didn’t know how to feel about this. But I didn’t think this news would go over well with the rest of the village. I shifted to put my self solidly behind Rena, ready to defend her if necessary.

Switching back to trader’s tongue, Rena explained to the aunt and father, “Your son is not a Void Mage.”

“He is too!” Blue pushed his way through and got right into Rena’s face. Or he tried, at least. I moved faster than he did, blocking him with a forearm. He tried to shove past me, and I planted my feet, not moving. Frustrated, he glared up at me and then chose to lean around my torso, voice rising as he argued, “He’s a Void Mage. He can destroy things!”

Rena let out a patient breath. I could hear it gusting out. “Any magician can destroy things. I’m afraid that’s not a valid argument. If you’ll let me finish—”

Another woman tried to shift in closer, pressing, and I had to move again, blocking her. She looked kin to Dag with her dark hair and round face. “But he doesn’t destroy things like a magician would, does he?”

The crowd murmured and nodded agreement.

Yeah, I had a feeling it would be like this. I cast Rena a quick glance, not sure how she wanted to handle this, just wanting to move soon. The bond pulsed unhappily over my wife being surrounded on all sides with angry people. I was in total agreement with it.

Rena decided to not argue with the villagers and continued speaking with the aunt and father in her reasonable tone. “Dagwood’s magic is manifesting in a peculiar way, so that his eyes can see the world the same way that a Void Mage’s would.”

That got the crowd going again, some of them in surprise, others confusion. But it stopped them from trying to press forward, at least. I held steady even as I kept an eye on Rena.

“Dagwood,” she knelt to put herself more on his level, pointing to a large grey stone nearby, “when you look at this rock, what do you see?”

“Lines and stuff.”

“Lines and squiggles, sometimes numbers?”

Dagwood lit up. It reminded me of someone who had finally found another that spoke the same language. “Yeah! Can you see them, too?”

“And erase them,” Rena answered with a reminiscent smile. “Ah, I remember that early stage. It gets confusing at first, because you see so much all at once, and it’s hard to focus your eyes properly. I bet you trip over stuff a lot.”

Dagwood nodded, not bothered by this. “And walk into stuff.”

Seeing how the adults were worried about this, I assured them sotto voice, “She still does that. It’s just something they get used to, don’t worry about it.”

“So he IS a Void Mage!” Blue argued loudly, at such a volume that it nearly set my ears to ringing.

Rena ignored him. “Master Everest, I know that’s not quite the answer you wanted.”

Everest shrugged, hands splayed, and he looked more bewildered than anything. “I don’t know what I expected. Do you—”

“Oi!” Blue tried to push past me again, harder this time, using nearly his full strength to do it. It rocked me back an inch before I could get my back into it, stopping him dead. Frustrated, his face turning red in growing anger, he tried to get out of my hold. “You move, I’m not arguing with you! Everest, don’t you let them blind you like this. Your son’s a Void Mage and if you let them say otherwise, they’ll just use him to their own ends!”

“What ends?” I demanded, exasperated. “It’s not like he’s less because he isn’t a Void Mage. Didn’t you hear Rena? He’s still a powerful novice mage.”

“He’s a VOID MAGE!” Blue bellowed and several other voices joined in, echoing this.

“Oh for the love of—” Autumn reached around me and smacked Blue in the back of the head. “You stop being stubborn, you old fishmonger. What do you know of magic? What do any of us know of magic? Two agents from the MISD came out, neither of them say he’s a Void Mage. This girl is the Void Mage herself we heard of in rumors! If she says he isn’t, I’m satisfied.”

“As am I,” Everest declared, glaring at the whole village. “Magus Hach, what can we do about Dag’s training?”

Rena reached out and put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Dagwood, you need training, but a regular mage won’t be able to really help you. They’re not going to understand how your eyes work, and how that affects your magic. I think the best thing that you can do is come with me. I’ll see if my master will take you on as a student.”

Everest stiffened, a little alarmed by this. “But what if she doesn’t?”

“Then I will,” Rena assured him, standing again. “Master Mary likely will not object, it’s just that she’s very old, and she might not have the energy to complete another student’s training. But I promise you, sir, he’ll have a proper master one way or another.”

Autumn and Everest shared a speaking look, one of unease, but I didn’t understand where the hesitation came from. Then I realized, belatedly, what the problem likely was. “Do you have the means to pay the apprenticeship fees?”

With a sad shake of the head, Everest dropped his eyes to the ground, slightly ashamed.

That didn’t surprise me. People did good to eat up here. I looked to Rena, finding my wife staring hard down at the boy. Her uncertainty shifted into determination as I watched, mouth firming up in a way I recognized. “Then let’s do this. I’ll ask the MISD to cover the costs. In return, Dagwood, you’ll be required to work the first five years after you’re licensed with the MISD.”

That set the villagers talking again, but this time in happier tones. I still wasn’t sure what the argument was, why they were so insistent that Dagwood be a Void Mage, but the promise of him training under a Void Mage and working for the MISD apparently axed the problem off at the knees. Or at least, it did for Blue, as he finally stopped pushing against me and took a step back. I still got glared at, though. Not all was forgiven.

Dagwood’s father looked heartened by this offer, as did the aunt, but I still reassured them, “It’s a good workplace.”

They took that as the golden truth, considering we were both in the MISD blue.

Dagwood lit up, nearly vibrating with excitement. “Do I get to wear the uniform?”

“No, you’re required to wear the uniform,” Rena corrected, biting her bottom lip to keep from laughing.

“And fight monsters?”

“Only on good days,” I assured him, also trying not to laugh. “Bad days they make you do paperwork.”

“But it pays well,” Everest said, tone questioning.

That alone told me where the priority was for this man. He didn’t want his son stuck in this village, eking out a living for the rest of his natural life. “That it does, sir. They pay quite well.”

Relieved, he nodded and knelt down next to his son, taking the boy by both shoulders. “Dag. I want you to be a mage. You go with these people, sign on to the MISD, alright?”

For the first time, doubt entered Dag’s expression, his mouth hovering between smiling and frowning. “You won’t go with me?”

“I can’t, son. You’ll be apprenticed to someone else. But when you’re grown and ready, you come back for your family.”

Expression clearing, Dag gave his father a slightly uncertain nod. “Will.”

“Good.” Everest drew him in close, hugging him hard enough that Dagwood likely felt squished, although he didn’t utter a word of complaint.

Sensing something still a little awry here, I cleared my throat and offered, “You’ll still see your son about once a year.”

The way they jerked around to stare at me, mouths agape, told me my instincts were dead on. “No, really, it’s required that apprentices have two weeks off every year to see their family. Maybe not this year, as we’re a ways into it, but you’ll see him next.”

The way that Rena looked at me, then them, said she didn’t understand why they were confused. But then, to her, all of this was common knowledge. I doubted anyone in Seagrove had been apprenticed to anyone outside of this village in living memory.

“Well, thank you, Master Hach,” Autumn stated, putting a palm to her heart and breathing out a heavy sigh. “I feel better knowing. Dag, let’s get you packed up. No sense in you lingering here a day longer when you have things to learn.”

I thought to argue, as surely the boy would like to have the afternoon and tonight to say goodbye before leaving with us, but at the same time, there wasn’t a good place for us to stay the night. Either way, I chose not to argue, as this was their call and not mine.

The villagers stepped in, some of them offering to either help or send something along that Dagwood might need. We lost half of the crowd due to this and I steeled myself against any odd thing they tried to send along with Dagwood. Right now, I was all about avoiding conflict up here. Blue stayed to glare at me. I think the man didn’t know how to let an argument die.

As aunt and boy went to pack, Everest cleared his throat and ducked his head diffidently to Rena. “Can I ask a few questions, Magus?”

“Of course,” Rena assured him immediately, both of them standing again.

Letting my wife largely dole out explanations and reassurance, I basically stood by and looked decorative. Then the obvious question occurred to me. Rena said to take him to the MISD and sort it out, but we weren’t going directly there. Did she plan to bring him along on the job?

I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

I didn’t have much in the way of experience with children, being one of the youngest in my family, but being around Bannen’s family had taught me a simple truth: children were not made to be quiet. Quiet was usually an indication that something was very, very wrong.

Dagwood’s silence as we traveled away from his home that evening was understandable. He didn’t know either of us, or what to expect in his immediate future. I hadn’t pushed him. We went to bed in a very small hostel that night, then got up again early the next morning to catch the first train heading northwest to the coast. It was a short trip, barely more than a few hours before we got off, which landed us at the ferry dock to cross the channel into Z’gher.

Most of the time, Dagwood stared about with wide eyes. He clearly had never seen the world before, and I kept grabbing him by the shoulder, maneuvering him around obstacles before he could crash into them. He couldn’t seem to keep his attention on where he was going, too busy staring at everything else. The ferry dock here wasn’t even that big, barely a small town. I wondered how he’d handle seeing a large city, like Foxboro.

This time of year, the channel water was a bit choppy because of all the rain and storms blowing in. The ferry was delayed as a result, but only an hour, so we found shelter in a nearby café and ordered an early lunch. Huge picture windows faced the channel, which captivated Dagwood’s complete attention. Bannen and I sat opposite of our guest at a little round table, coaxing the boy to eat.

Not knowing the food I ordered, Dagwood was hesitant to try any of it but finally consumed most of a sandwich, although he ignored the fruit. Typical boy in his tastes, then, only wanting meat and starches. Or maybe that was the only thing he semi-recognized?

Still, I had no questions from him. I didn’t think this was quite right. The boy surely had a million things he wanted to know. I poked Bannen in the side, indicating Dagwood with a jerk of the chin, silently telling him to do something.

Bannen stared at me with considerable exasperation and mouthed, ‘Like what?’

I didn’t know what, just something. I poked him in the ribs again. He knew children better than I did, surely he knew of a way to get Dagwood to open up.

“So Dagwood,” Bannen started casually, sipping at his tea. “I think we forgot to tell you a few things. We’re not actually heading straight back to MISD Headquarters.”

Dagwood’s grey eyes darted between the two of us, and he reached up to tug at the shaggy brown hair tumbling over his ears. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. Rena has another job to do first. We’re going up to the mountains near giant country; Gargan.”

Sitting on this for a moment, Dagwood stared down at the table, then his head came back up hopefully. “Are we fighting monsters?”

What was it with little boys and fighting? Seriously.

Chuckling, Bannen shook his head. “Not this time, sorry. She has to open up a hole in the mountain so they can build a railroad line through it.”

“Oh.” Dagwood went back to staring out the window.

Well that attempt worked for about two seconds. “Have you ever met a giant, Dagwood?”

He shook his head, attention drawn briefly back to me.

“We have a friend of ours that’s part giant, Vee. She invited us up for the holidays one year and it was quite fun. I felt like a child the entire time, they were so huge. I barely came up to their bellybuttons.”

“Vee is in the MISD too, she’s an agent we worked with while fighting Toh’sellor,” Bannen pitched in. “I think you’ll meet her at some point, her and Chi. In fact, maybe they can help us figure out what to train you in.”

Dagwood’s head drew back in confusion. “I thought I’d learn magic.”

“Well, sure, but you learn combat skills too.” Bannen smiled, and Dagwood’s attention visibly cemented on the conversation. “All mages do. It helps them with using combat magic later on. And it’s a good backup, in case you can’t work magic for some reason. So, what do you think you want to learn? Archery? Hand-to-hand? Swords?”

“All three?” Dagwood asked hopefully, literally hanging on to the edge of his seat.

I found this response funny and had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. “Might be tough to do that at first, we’d have to find weapons your size. But Bannen, don’t you think he can start hand-to-hand training now?”

“Sure, I can teach him the basics until we get him to Gill.”

You’d think we’d just offered the boy a sack of gold. I had the feeling we’d tapped into some dream of his, of being a soldier. Maybe because he understood that better than being a magician, having very limited experience with magic. Or perhaps because he had an inherent interest in destroying things. Most men of my acquaintance did, for some reason. “Tell you what, Dagwood, let’s do a little training with magic too. I can give you exercises that will help you control your eyes, so it’s not so overwhelming.”

“That’ll be good,” Bannen agreed, inclining his head to me. “It’s dangerous to be easily distracted when fighting someone. Your eyes are powerful, if used right. We should train them too.”

I didn’t realize I needed this backup until a little wrinkle disappeared from between Dagwood’s brows. Apparently he hadn’t been as keen on the magical training until linked to combat. Oh boy, Mary was going to have her hands full with this one. I had a notion that it would be like raising a young Bannen, or a young Gill. She might skewer me for volunteering her for this.

A porter came through the café, calling out, “Ferry to Z’gher, all aboard!”

“That’s our cue,” I noted, gathering up my bag and standing. “Dagwood, have you been on a ferry before? No? First rule, then, don’t fall off.”

Dagwood gave me a grin that did not reassure me. I had a feeling he was half tempted to jump in just for the adventure of it. His father could have warned me that his son was a rapscallion.

Perhaps thirty other people also boarded the ferry to cross the channel. We had a few animals, as well, mostly a dog and some sheep, and one parrot that squawked out interesting insults if anyone jostled his cage. The people seemed irritated to be crossing in such drizzly, miserable weather. The ferry had a covered overhang to sit under, but it wasn’t large enough to seat everyone, leaving more than a few clustered around the edges, taking what shelter they could.

“Really glad the ride is only about an hour and a half,” Bannen mentioned idly. He stood with his back to the sea, protecting me and Dagwood from the worst of the rain and sea spray. “By the time we arrive, it’ll be what, about seven hours till sunset? We’ve got time to move on, except that it will land us in the middle of nowhere if we leave now. You think we should catch a train or stay here for the night?”

“Stay here. I need to send another message to the railroad and get more information. All they gave me was the outline of where it was, who the foreman was, and the pay. But I need to know travel details, if we need to find our own way up there or if someone from the job site will come down to fetch us.”

“That’ll take time, to get a telegram to them and back. Let’s stay here, then. Dagwood and I will work on a little training while you’re playing tag with the new boss.”

Agreeable to this, I shrugged. “Fine. Get his hair cut too while you’re at it.”

“Cut?” they objected in unison, wearing nearly twin expressions on their faces that clearly questioned my sanity.

Patience. I must have patience. “Gentlemen. Unless Dagwood is interested in braiding his hair back—and it’s basically long enough to do it—then I suggest a haircut.”

Bannen, of course, didn’t believe in cutting hair and was intrigued by the idea of braiding it. He reached a hand out to ruffle Dagwood’s hair one way, and then another, nodding to himself at whatever mental image he entertained. “Maybe not full braids, but definitely we can do a few to draw the front of it back—”

Ducking away from that hand, Dagwood glared, shaking his head firmly and guarding his head with both hands. “No way. Braids are for girls.”

I bit my bottom lip, determined not to laugh because I knew that line was going to get quite the reaction.

Sure enough, Bannen glared right back. “Braids are not for girls, they are for warriors, and everyone in Z’gher wears them. Where’d you get that stupid idea, anyway?”

“Only people in my village who wears braids are the girls,” Dagwood argued back.

“Kid, your village is like fifty people, you can’t judge what’s fashionable or not by fifty people.”

“Braids are for girls,” Dagwood maintained, chin jutting out stubbornly.

“Are not.”

“Are too.”

I watched them argue, in each other’s faces, ignorant of the fact that everyone around them silently laughed at their exchange. I didn’t feel the slightest bit of surprise that Bannen had fallen to an eight-year-old’s level. Vee and I had already established last year that Bannen and Chi were perpetually twelve, after all. What was four years either way?

When they progressed to the point of just yelling, “Not!” “Too!” at each other, I interceded with a firm hand over each of their mouths. “Stop. You’re literally being laughed at by everyone on the ferry, which is ridiculous. Bannen, it’s not your head, you don’t get to decide what to do with Dagwood’s hair. Dagwood, it’s your choice whether you want to pull your hair up or get it cut, but we have to do something, it’s hanging in your eyes all of the time.”

Bannen licked my palm, which I expected, because he’s still a child. I stuck mine out at him, making him laugh, and finally lowered my hand to wipe it on his shirt.

“Hey!” he protested, chuckling and ducking away from me.

“I don’t want your slobber, you can keep it,” I informed him. “Dagwood?”

The boy stared up at Bannen, eyes narrowed for a long moment, then nodded decisively. “I’ll get it cut short.”

“Alright, then.”

“Prepare to disembark!” the ferry master called out.

As Dagwood turned, grabbing his bag and settling it on his shoulder, Bannen waggled his eyebrows and lifted a hand. I gave it a very soft high-five, firmly biting back a chuckle. He really was good with kids.

Aside from settling Dagwood on a haircut, the mock-argument seemed to loosen him up a little. Perhaps he felt more connected to us, or at least, he knew where we stood with him. This time, as we left the ferry, he grabbed my arm to keep from losing me in the crowd. I shifted my hand to hold his and gave him a wink. “Good idea. Don’t want to lose you.”

“Yeah.” He walked at my side, hand sometimes pulling in mine as people crowded in around us.

The ferry dock had more people around it, the street crowded along the water front by restaurants, hotels, and street kiosks. Bannen had been here a few times, so he led the way. I just followed, making sure that I had Dagwood and my bag. Bannen had the two larger suitcases tucked under each arm, carrying them about as if it was only a minor inconvenience. Better him than me. Moving just one nearly flattened me.

Dagwood watched him for several minutes. “Those are heavy.”

It took me a minute to realize he meant the suitcases. “Yes, very heavy. We crammed a lot in there. It’s why he’s carrying them and not me. Just one weighs as much as I do.”

“So he’s not a sissy?”

Absolutely positive that Bannen could hear every word of this conversation, in spite of the noise of the street cars nearby, I answered candidly, “He’s not. You heard about how I defeated Toh’sellor, right? Well, what the rumors didn’t say was that it took Bannen and a large team of MISD agents to fight all of the minions to get me to Toh’sellor. I wouldn’t have been able to get there without them. They fought for two days straight against monsters of all sizes.”

Dagwood seemed only half-impressed by this. “Big monsters?”

“Some of them.” I cast about, looking for something of comparable size, but most of the buildings next to us were only a story or two tall. Off in the distance, however, there was a clock tower and I pointed to it with my free hand. “See that big tower over there, the one with the clock in it? Some of them were that tall.”

That impressed him. He stared at it so much that he tripped over a street trolley track and nearly face planted. Only his grip on my hand saved him. Without more than a grunt, he pulled himself back up and kept walking as if nothing had happened. “But he didn’t fight Toh’sellor?”

This lack of reaction to nearly falling disturbed me a little. I remembered when I was very new under Tarkington’s care being like this. I was so accustomed to falling, to losing track of where I was and the surface of things, that it didn’t bother me after a while if I ran into something. It hurt, but the pain was something normal, or at least it was a normal consequence of being outside. His eyes looked ridiculously similar to mine, but I hadn’t realized how much until I saw him interact with his environment. With a small jerk of my head, I mentally returned to the conversation. “No. That was my job, after all. It took a Void Mage to be able to deal with Toh’sellor. Swords wouldn’t do anything to it.”

“Oh.” He digested this for a moment, then asked seriously, “When I grow up, can I defeat something like it too?”

“Perhaps. You’ll certainly have the potential to. Depends on how well you train.” There, that should be the right answer, to encourage him to pay attention to something aside from swords.

As Dagwood mulled on this, I returned my attention to Bannen and the street we were on. He’d gotten off the main road and onto a slightly smaller side one that seemed to be hotel road. I counted seven just within throwing distance. “Where are we going, anyway?”

“The Golden Crown Hotel. It’s a chain hotel business along Z’gher’s coastal cities. They’re usually decent to stay in and don’t charge outrageous prices.” Bannen used his head to incline it further along the street. “There’s a telegraph office about five doors down, or at least there used to be, so you can go there.”

“I’ll settle into a room first, then go.” I felt better about leaving these two alone now. Before, I felt like I had to be ready to intercede, in case he proved too much for one person to handle, but Bannen seemed to have Dagwood figured out. More or less. “While I’m there, should I send a telegraph to your parents, tell them that we’re safely on another job that doesn’t consist of monsters?”

Bannen shot me a grateful look over his shoulder. “I love you.”

Laughing, because I knew very well how much his parents hassled him about taking ‘dangerous work,’ I assured him, “I’ll do that, then.”

We got the haircut out of the way first, because I knew very well that if I put it off to later, it would never happen and then Rena would be peeved with both of us. Dagwood looked sharp with his hair buzzed close on the sides, the top part a little longer and combed to the side. It made me realize that the rest of his clothing looked shabby in comparison and was at least a size too small. Likely my wife would realize this as well at some point—if she hadn’t already—and make sure he had new clothes before we took him to Mary and Gill’s.

I had no interest in changing too much at once with him. He dealt with enough change at the moment, no need to add to it. So instead, as we left the barber’s, I steered us toward a small city park in the main square. “Let’s take a break, do a basic lesson on hand-to-hand.”

“Okay,” he agreed readily, a bounce entering his stride.

Dagwood reminded me so much of myself at that age that it was a little scary. Mostly because I remembered what I got into at that age and to this day I wasn’t sure how I’d survived most of it. My job was to keep him alive until we could take him to Turransky, after all. I didn’t think Dagwood would make that easy. Diverting his attention, keeping him occupied so he didn’t find mischief, was my main goal on this trip.

The city park had geometric shapes of grass cut up by sidewalks and pretty flower boxes, with a single fountain in the middle of it. We found a patch of grass no one was on and then I put him side by side with me for a moment. “First, stance. You want your feet to be about shoulder width apart, it helps you stay in balance that way. Angle your body so you face an opponent sideways, it helps limit what they can hit. Right, like that. Now, front hand up to guard, other hand here around waist level to guard as well.”

He followed my instructions, but it didn’t stop him from peppering me with questions. “Why have my hand near my stomach? Which hand do I attack with?”

“You keep your hand there so that if someone tries to punch you, or kick you, you can either block it or catch them. And you attack with your front hand, your legs, and sometimes that off hand, depending on how you move.” These were good questions, and I smiled hearing them, because it meant he was thinking. Smart fighters lived longer. “Good, now that’s a good stance. Remember this. This is the basic stance you always fall back to. Okay?”

“Okay,” he assured me seriously. “How do I punch?”

“Give me a fist.” I waited for the basic mistake, saw it, and pulled his fingers apart. “Don’t put your thumb in the center, you’ll break it. Always goes on the outside. Yes, like that. Now, punch my hand. Harder. Good. Don’t overextend, you’ll upset your balance, and if you’re off balance, you’re screwed.”

He punched my hand again, but it had no force in it. Well, not compared to an adult. This child had been working with fish nets since he could walk. He was naturally stronger than most children his age, and I was sure that if he got in a fight with someone in his age group, they’d have a very different opinion about his strength.

I got his punches into the correct form, let him beat up my palms for a while, then switched to how to kick properly. I felt the force a little more there, but legs were always stronger, so that was no surprise.

We went a good two hours with this practice, varying it up, me randomly throwing a punch at quarter-speed so he could practice both punching and dodging. He was sweating by the time I called a halt, and I had faith I had worn him out enough that he would behave tonight. Mostly. I put nothing past kids.

“I think we’re good for today. We’ll practice again tomorrow. Good job, Dagwood. You’ve got talent.” It wasn’t empty praise. He really picked the techniques up quickly.

Pleased with himself, he gave me a grin. “Swords next?”

“Nope, swords your size are hard to come by. I’ll leave that up to Gill. But we can do knives next,” I offered in compromise. “Knives are actually better in close quarters than swords. Say you’re fighting in an alley; knives work better, swords are harder to maneuver in that tight space.”

Mollified that he would still get something sharp and pointy to play with, Dagwood accepted this with a nod. “Now?”

“Need to go shopping for one.” As he couldn’t have mine. Ever. I glanced up at the sun, but we still had another hour before we needed to meet Rena back at the hotel. “Let’s find a marketplace and see if we can find a good one for you.”

Happy with this idea, he readily followed along. I found myself warming up to the kid. He hadn’t cried, thrown a fit at leaving his family, or been a pain. But sometimes, Dagwood looked a little lost and sad, which naturally he would be, as he’d left everything he’d ever known. He had to miss his family at least a little at this point.

I’d left home at nineteen, to a totally different culture, with people who were relative strangers, and it had been a little overwhelming at times. I knew people apprenticed children at the age of eight all of the time, sometimes to a master in a totally different country, but it didn’t make it any easier on the child. Feeling a little sympathetic, I tried reaching out. “Which do you prefer, anyway, Dag or Dagwood?”

“Dag. Named after grandda. Dagwood’s old,” he stated decisively.

Family name, eh? “Dag it is, then. Rena and I both go by nicknames as well.”

He twisted his head up to look at me, interest piqued. “You do?”

I paused the conversation as we crossed the street, as it contained enough traffic to flatten the unwary. But once across and to the other sidewalk, I responded, “Yup. Bannen isn’t my real name, it’s Xiang Liang.”

Dag’s mouth worked around that, failed, and his nose scrunched up in aggravation. “That’s hard to say.”

“I know it. It’s why I go by Bannen. No idea what my parents were thinking when they named me that.” Not that it’s an uncommon name in Z’gher, but that was beside the point. “Rena’s full name is Renata, but she rarely uses it. But if you want a mouthful, you should try our friend Chi’s full name. It’s Chinnadurai.”

“That’s hard to say too. But he goes by Chi?” Dag frowned, head shaking a little back and forth. “Isn’t that kinda girly?”

“Not really. In Z’gher, Chi is a man’s name. Chi is actually what we call the force that flows through your body.”

“Really?” He ruminated on that, turning it over in his mind.

Dag was really stuck on this ‘girly’ thing, wasn’t he? I tried to remember if I had done that at his age, but growing up with so many sisters, cousins, aunts, and a mother who could beat the snot out of me, I didn’t think of girls as weak. Marrying Rena had not changed that opinion, either.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spied a market place, and we dove into it. It took about twenty minutes to find the right type of store, then another few to select the right kind of knife. I chose something with a good weight that was nice and dull to practice with. Then another that was similar in size with a very sharp edge. After paying, I handed the dull knife to my student and warned, “I know it’s going to be very tempting to run around randomly stabbing things. Don’t. If you can prove to me you’re responsible with this one, then I’ll give you the better knife.”

Dag eyed both knives, a slight pout forming. “I can’t use it at all?”

“Sure you can. When you’re practicing. Which means you can stab things I say you can stab.” The smith watched this exchange with a smile on his face, which he tried to cover with a hand. I gave him a quick grin as I put a hand on Dag’s shoulders and twirled him around, marching for the door again. “Thank you, Master.”

“Anytime,” the smith called back to us, laughter vibrating in his voice.

Not at all pleased to have only one toy that might or might not cut things, Dag tried bargaining as we left the marketplace. “But what if we run into monsters?”

“If we run into something dangerous, I will give you the sharp knife,” I promised. Not that I would ever let him near danger if I could help it, but that was not the argument I wanted to enter into at the moment. I’ll stick to one argument at a time, thanks.

“But what if you can’t get it to me fast enough?”

“Then we’re screwed and we’re all going to die, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“Bannen,” he whined at me, pulling on my arm.

Rolling my eyes, I prayed for patience. “Dag, we’re heading into giant country, alright? The odds of monsters are practically nil because even monsters are afraid of giants. Practice hard, don’t go stabbity on me, and you’ll get the other knife before we leave for Turransky. Alright?”

Pouting, he trudged along at my side. I didn’t for one second imagine I had won the argument, he was just thinking of a different tactic to take.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have bought the second knife at the same time. I just knew from experience that if you didn’t teach a child a healthy respect for a knife’s edge, it would not go well later. I had a nice long scar on my arm to prove that.

Gill and Mary were seriously going to have their hands full with this one.

Rena beat us back to the hotel by a good margin. I found her in the downstairs dining area with a half-eaten plate of cake in front of her. Sometimes she gorged on sugar when things have gone terribly wrong, but in this case a smile lingered on her face that bordered on smugness. Whatever goal she had in mind, she’d apparently achieved it.

I leaned down to kiss her, a pleasure I indulged in often, then settled into the chair next to her. “You got that done quickly, if you’ve already had dinner.”

“No, I’m just having dessert first,” she responded, her attention going to the boy climbing into a chair next to me. “Well, Dagwood, I have to say that looks very sharp on you. It makes you look older.”

“Does it?” Dag patted his hair with a palm, pleased with this compliment.

Funny how children always wanted to be older, and adults always wanted to be younger. I wasn’t yet at the stage where I wanted to be a different age, but I imagined it would creep up on me eventually. “So, wifey, what are you so smug about?”

“I asked very nicely what our accommodations would be for the trip up there, and they’re sending me free train tickets, a hotel pass good for two nights at a specific hotel, and the foreman is to meet us at the train station in three days,” she informed me before popping another piece of chocolate cake in her mouth.

“Of course,” I responded dryly, because this woman could convince a beggar to give her the shirt off his back and leave him the impression she’d just done him a favor. If Z’gher would just hand the national budget over to Rena, their financial crisis would be solved within a year. I could guarantee it. “Well, that’s heartening news. I do enjoy trips I don’t have to pay for.”

“Right?” she agreed amiably. “And how did the training go?”

“I’m talented,” Dag informed her seriously.

Rena, to her credit, only blinked before accepting this very boastful declaration. “Are you, now? Bannen said so?”

“I did,” I confirmed, trying to catch the eye of a waiter so I could order food. The lunch at the café had been light and hours ago. I was half-starved at this point. “He’s got good reflexes, good balance, and knows how to think. Smart people make the best fighters. I bought him a knife—” seeing the alarm on her face, I hastily added, “—two knives, one of which has a dull edge, one sharp. If he properly handles the dull knife, then I’ll give him the sharp one.”

Relieved, she nodded. “Sensible.”

Proving he’d been thinking of counterarguments, Dag inserted hopefully, “I promise not to stab people.”

“It’s not just people I’m worried about, kiddo,” I informed him. I remembered being eight with a knife in my hand. Everything had turned into a target. “Rule stays. You don’t go stabbity with the knife you’ve got, you’ll earn the other one before Turranksy.”

Letting out a forlorn sigh, Dag’s shoulders slumped and he went back to pouting.

Seriously. Kids. I’d have to keep an eye on him so he didn’t find a way to sharpen that knife. In his shoes, at his age, that would have been my next game plan.

Finally I caught a waiter’s attention and we ordered dinner. Dag’s pouting did not last long enough to interfere with his appetite, although he didn’t eat enough to really satisfy me. Rena seemed to take his pickiness in stride, so I let it go. Kid would eat when he got hungry. My job was to make food available regularly.

The hotel brought a cot up into our room, settled at the end of the bed, for Dag. I liked this hotel chain because the rooms always had enough space to put extra cots in, the beds were usually soft enough to actually sleep on, and everything was clean. Most hotels of my acquaintance couldn’t boast all of that. This one for some reason had been painted in various shades of yellow, but other than the questionable color scheme, I had no complaints.

We took turns in the attached bathroom getting ready for the night. While Dag washed up, I sat on the bed next to Rena and conferred in a low voice, “So he actually prefers to be called Dag. Apparently Dagwood was his grandfather’s name, so he feels like it’s an old man’s name.”

“Ah. Got it.” She sat with her hip touching mine, voice also low. “He didn’t give you any trouble after we split up?”

“Not a lick. He’s well mannered for his age, just rambunctious. And I can handle rambunctious. You seriously don’t mind him going up with us?”

She waved this concern away. “It’ll be an easy job and it gives him a chance to see more of the country. That will be crucial later on.”

“True enough. It seems like that’s all MISD mages do, is travel. Did you send word to Mary and Gill?”

“I did, although of course the message will take a little longer to get to them. I told them where I’d be in two days, so hopefully they can send a message ahead.” Rena shrugged, and I understood. Telegram tag was always a fun game to play when throwing travel into the mix.

“What about the MISD?”

“Ah, Salvatore and I did talk about Dag. He said he’ll gladly pay for the apprenticeship fees with the understanding that Dag is contracted to work for them for five years after passing the Tests. Apparently the MISD do this on a fairly regular basis. He’ll have the paperwork shipped over to Mary’s and to Dag’s parents so everyone can sign it. He understands that I’ll bring Dag to Mary myself after we report in and sign our official paperwork.” Making a face, she admitted, “I wish we could just portal from one place to another instead of doing all of this traveling.”

“No way to do it, not with all of our luggage and three people.” The limits of portal magic drove me crazy at times. It took an insane amount of magic just to send people through, never mind everything else. It’s why the MISD constantly sent their people to various places via trains and ships. They’d wear out their mages in transportation magic otherwise.

Groaning, she acknowledged, “I know. I just wish someone would come up with a better method.”

Dag came out of the bathroom, hair wet, clothes sticking a little due to not properly drying himself after getting out of the bath. He stared at us uncertainly, as if not sure how to take us whispering to each other.

Extending a hand, Rena caught his arm and drew him in a little closer, including him in the conversation. “I reached my boss today and told him about you. He said the MISD will cover your fees, so you’ll be an MISD agent when you grow up.”

Pleased by this news, Dag grinned, bouncing lightly on his toes. “With the uniform? And a sword?”

“Absolutely.” Rena didn’t point out that as a mage, he wouldn’t need a sword. Smart woman, to avoid that argument. “Tomorrow, on the train, let’s start working on controlling your eyes, alright?”

Making a face, he agreed reluctantly. “Okay.”

“And in between you doing that, we’ll work on close-quarters fighting,” I threw in, knowing very well that we’d have to wear the kid out somehow or he’d find things to get into.

Brightening perceptibly, he agreed happily, “Okay.”

Nuance was a wonderful thing. It took the same word and made it clear which one he really wanted to do. Rena shook her head, resigned, and shooed him to bed with both hands. His heart might be on physical fighting, but I had an idea he’d catch onto the magical end of it soon enough.

Traveling with a child presented certain challenges I hadn’t prepared for. Bannen seemed to know what to expect and had a list of things for Dag to do throughout the journey, which kept the kid from literally climbing the walls. When he needed a break, we’d switch out, and I would throw mental puzzles and pre-magical training at Dag. Because of him, I only got to read one of the three books I’d brought along for this trip.

My mother once told me that children were very distracting. Understatement of the century.

Still, the ride north wasn’t a bad one, and I knew when we got close. I recognized a few landmarks, and then we got into the mountainous region of Cloudland. The mountains here were steep—sometimes almost treacherously so. The railroads had tried to build a tunnel through them before but failed, hence why they’d built a track around the base of them. The attempt happened fifty years ago, so I wasn’t sure what the story was on that first failure, but apparently they thought my magic would get them through the obstacle.

We arrived at Mountain Point Station mid-afternoon. I had never felt so relieved to get off a train in my life. After nearly doing nothing but traveling, my back felt like one long knot of tension. Stepping off onto the train platform, I moved out of the way so that other people could unload and stretched my arms over my head. The stretch helped only a little. I’d have to talk Bannen into working me loose tonight, if we had enough privacy in the construction site to allow that. Mountain Point was the only town within miles and it was, unfortunately, also a fair distance from our worksite. It would take a three-hour ride by cart to go up the mountain and reach our final destination. I had no idea what our accommodations were going to be, just that we would stay in Mountain Point overnight. We’d head out early in the morning with the foreman.

Which was really a shame, as that didn’t give us much time to really see the town, and it looked charming. It had all sorts of cute little shops with different wares, restaurants, and the like. They were all dainty in shape, the store fronts wide open to accommodate the summer weather, with some of the wares displayed right on the sidewalk. It apparently thrived on tourists, as everything looked neat as a pin and the colors of the buildings were pretty and attention-grabbing. It might be a small population of four thousand people altogether, but I bet every street looked picture perfect at all times.

Dag came to stand at my side, looking around in avid curiosity. “This the place?”

“Not quite,” I corrected. “See that mountain looming over us? We’re going up there.”

“How far?”

“I’m not sure,” I confessed, staring at the rather steep mountain slope with consideration. “Not far up, I think. It doesn’t make sense to go up something that steep and then go through it. But we have to get to the base of the mountain, and I understand that’s a bit of a trip.”

Dag frowned at me, turned to stare at the mountain again, then pointed at it. “But it’s right there.”

“Distances like these are tricky,” I explained, not sure how to put this into words he’d understand. “Big things like this? Because they’re so big, they look close, but it will actually take some time to reach it. About three hours, or so I understand.”

He did not seem sold and the frown deepened, pulling his eyebrows together into an almost solid line. “That long?”

“That’s what the telegram said.” The almost cryptically worded telegram. Granted, every word cost money, so people sent very short messages, but the man I’d exchanged information with was brusque to the point of rudeness. I dearly wished I’d been able to hold that conversation in person, but he’d refused to pay for a mirror conversation.

Perhaps because of the odd exchange, it made the job seem a little strange. I had the uneasy feeling I hadn’t been told something crucial about this job, or there was something they chose to leave out. Although I couldn’t imagine what. I still didn’t think it dangerous, but I harbored a notion or three that it would not take the four or five days I’d mentally allotted. We might very well be late taking Dag to his new master.

I stopped on the platform so Bannen could catch up with us. As I stood there, I studied our surroundings, trying to get my bearings. We were scheduled to meet up with the foreman at—wait, what? Stepping closer to the sign board, I read it through quickly. Petition to stop all construction on the railroad? And it had a good two hundred signatures on it.

Did we not have the necessary rights to work here? No, surely not. I wouldn’t have gotten permission from the MISD to come up here if they didn’t have the proper work permits.

Right?

Bannen caught up to us, bags in hand, carrying the heavy and awkward things as if it were no real burden. My husband’s strength never ceased to amaze me. I gave him a smile. “All in hand?”

“Got everything,” he assured me with a quick smile of his own.

“Bannen,” I pointed to the petition, gave him a second to read through it himself. “That worries me.”

Blinking, he put the luggage down to free up a hand, flipping the top two sheets to scan all of the signatures. “Yeah, no kidding. What kind of crap is this? We do have authority to work up here, right?”

“I’ve seen all the right paperwork for it, but I’m starting to wonder. Is this just a protest from the people in the area? Why, though? The bypass might affect their business some, but they’re still the one of the few towns in between Privita and Gargan. For travelers, it’s still one of the few places to stop and rest. And right now they’re on a smaller line, the bypass would give them a main line.” It might affect their bottom line some, granted, but not that much. Surely not enough to protest like this. Unless there was something else going on I wasn’t seeing?

Bannen’s mouth dipped down into a frown. “Where’s this foreman?”

“He’s supposed to meet us for lunch at a place called The Corner Market. We’re a little early, so I suggest we go to a bathing house and get a good soak in before we spend the next week camping out.” My favorite thing ever in Z’gher were the public bathing houses. I could, and have, stayed in one for three days straight and refused to come out.

Knowing my feelings on this, Bannen eyed me sideways. “You realize you have an hour, max, that you can spend in there.”

“I know,” I assured him placidly.

“You also know that if you don’t come out within that hour, I will come in after you,” he warned with a glint in his eye.

He would, too. “Yes, yes.”

“Alright. Let’s go find one, then. We can ask our questions about this petition when we meet up with the foreman.”

After a blissful hour in a hot tub, I no longer felt so stiff. It took willpower to pull myself out of the bath and into clothes again, but I didn’t regret it. It seriously might be the last bath I saw for the next week. Washing with a cloth and pitcher of water was not the same, not even remotely.

Perhaps I should talk Bannen around to putting an open-air bath in our backyard.

I came out of the public bathhouse to find both boys waiting. The area across the street held a small park with benches and such, and they’d commandeered one of them. Dag sat upside down with his head hanging over the edge. Didn’t the blood rush hurt? Apparently not.

Bannen greeted me with the wave of a hair brush, an open invitation if I ever saw it. I nearly skipped across the street, bundling my dirty clothes under my arm as I went. “Yes, please.”

“Right bag’s open if you want to stick them in there,” he instructed.

I knelt and crammed my clothes inside, then promptly locked it shut. We’d have to do laundry after this job—it was going to get desperate soon. But it wasn’t a worry I had to think about just yet. I scooted about to sit on the bench so that Bannen could braid my damp hair. “Can you do the crown plait?”

“Sure.”

Those magic hands came into my hair, combing, twisting, flipping it. I always loved it when he did this, it felt good. I let my eyes fall mostly closed and enjoyed the sensation.

“Don’t start with me, Dag,” Bannen warned, a near growl in his voice.

“Sissy,” Dag stated smugly.

What was this? I opened my eyes, not daring to turn my head, and saw from my peripheral vision Dag making smug faces at Bannen, even going so far as to stick his tongue out at one point.

“You brat.” Bannen shifted his weight—I could feel the tension through his fingers—then his leg snapped out and he knocked Dag sideways on the bench, making the boy squeal and laugh.

With his head on the wooden bench, his legs nearly on the ground, Dag twisted about to point and laugh again. “Sissy!”

“Do not fight around my head,” I warned the two of them. “I will make your hair disappear if you even try it.”

Both of them paused and stared at me. Well, I couldn’t see Bannen, but I felt his gaze on the back of my head. Dag’s mouth screwed up, one eye squinting. “She wouldn’t really.”

“She totally would,” Bannen disagreed with complete conviction.

Still seeming half-sold on this, Dag drew his head back a little, righting himself on the bench. “You’re afraid of a girl?”

“Kid, let me tell you an age-old wisdom. A wise man both loves and fears his wife. He lives longer.”

Dag just looked at him, in the cynical way only children could manage. “You’re afraid of her because she can kill monsters like that,” he said with a snap of the fingers.

“No,” Bannen corrected blithely, “I especially fear my wife because I’ve seen her take down monsters with a lazy blink of the eye. But don’t think she’s above extracting revenge. She’ll make you bald and laugh about it for days.”

Amused by their exchange, I decided not to say anything, just let them roll on without me. Bannen made a show sometimes of ‘being afraid of my wife’ but he knew good and well I’d never harm a hair on his head. Pranks in the middle of the night, now, that was another matter altogether.

The last pin went in, securing the braid to my head, and I gave it an experimental shake to make sure it was secure and would hold. Nothing budged. Perfect. Standing, I brushed the seat of my pants off, mostly out of reflex. “Thanks, honey. Alright, shall we find our hotel and go get dinner? I expect the foreman should be there soon.”

“I’ve got bags if you’ve got boy,” Bannen stated, hands already reaching for our luggage.

As that sounded fine to me, I reached a hand out to Dag, which he took without much fuss. The Mountain Inn had more the size of a large bed and breakfast with perhaps a dozen rooms on offer. The man at the polished front desk had the caramel colored skin and dark hair of the giants, but not the height, which made me suspect he had a giant far back in his ancestral tree. He looked at us over half-moon spectacles, taking in our uniforms with suspicion. I didn’t take that as a good sign. Now what?

“Agents Hach?” he asked the question as if he already knew the answer, which he did, as I’d booked our rooms via telegram in advance. “And who’s this?”

“An apprentice, Dagwood,” I supplied. “Our room has a cot for him?”

“Yes, Agent, as you requested. You’re here to investigate the railway construction?”

I shared a speaking glance with Bannen. What in the wide green world? “Is there something amiss?”

The man’s thin lips tightened. That was not the response he’d wanted. “Then why are you here?”

“We’re working in conjunction with the Greenway Railroad Company,” Bannen answered slowly, eyes narrowed in suspicion. “They hired us to help with the construction. Master, I saw the petition at the station. Do you mind filling us in?”

His mouth went impossibly flatter and instead he handed us a key attached to a small metal fob. “Your room is up the stairs and on the right; Room Four.”

Right. He had no intention of speaking to people who were apparently on the railroad’s side. I’d gotten odd vibes about this job before, but they were becoming creepy, crawly tingles now, and I didn’t care for it.

Not feeling entirely welcome at the inn, we basically threw our bags into the room, locked the door, then headed out for an early dinner. The foreman had designated our meetup at a local restaurant near the station.

The Corner Market was aptly named, just a small shop on the corner of the main street that, while offering a small outdoor seating area, seemed to be more of a general store than a café. I stepped in through the open doors and found a counter with food selections to my left and aisles of pre-packaged food stuffs on the right. It offered a small selection of sandwiches, soups, and something called dons. The place was clean and smelled good, so I had to assume the foreman chose this spot for a reason.

I looked the handwritten menu over carefully, but the dons were what caught my attention, as it seemed there were more options there. It wasn’t written in Z’ghan, but it had that flair in its pronunciation. “Bannen, what’s a don?”

“You’ve had this before,” he informed me, coming up to stand at my side. “You know those big bowls with rice, meat, egg, and sauce? That’s a don.”

Ahh, I knew what it meant now. Eo’ma just called them bowls when she offered me one. Did different regions of Z’gher call them different things? We were technically on Z’gher’s border still. “Then the gudon, is that the beef bowl?”

“Yes.”

To the boy at my side, I assured him, “You’ll like these. They’re quite tasty. Although they come in chicken and pork too.”

Dag absently licked his lips, staring across the counter at the steaming plates kept warm in the pans. “Beef sounds good.”

Of course it did. Being from a fishing village, Dag had never had beef before this trip. Once discovered, he wanted it for every meal. Shaking my head in amusement, I caught the owner’s eye and ordered three gudons, three drinks, and whatever he recommended for dessert. Not that I really wanted sugar, but I knew a single don would not fill Bannen’s stomach.

Food ordered, I sat outside and enjoyed the nice weather. It still had an edge of overly warm to it up here, despite it being this late in the day and I hoped that the worksite wouldn’t be sweltering during the night. I detest sleeping in muggy heat.

As I sat there, a man in rough looking pants, shirt sleeves rolled up, and a battered hat came up to the table. He looked clean enough, if harried, beard neatly trimmed, and his tanned skin was clean. Still, he gave me the impression of having just left a work site of some sort. “Magus Rocci?”

Standing, I extended a hand. “It’s Hach, now, actually. I got married. Are you Foreman Sumner?”

“Just Mack’s fine, Magus.” He gave me a smile, showing white if crooked teeth. “And who’s this?”

“Then please, call me Rena. This is Dagwood, a young mage in training,” I introduced, putting a hand at Dag’s back. “Dag, this is our boss-on-site, Foreman Sumner.”

Mack looked outright worried about Dag, lines deepening around his eyes and making him look a decade older. Still, he shook hands with the boy. “Pleasure, Dagwood.”

“Just Dag,” the young mage instructed, gamely trying to be adult and greet the boss properly.

Not sure why Mack would be against having a child on site, I took a stab in the dark and assured him, “My husband will watch Dag while I’m working. You won’t need to worry about him being underfoot. I took charge of him on the way up here, as he’ll be training with the MISD upon our return.”

“Ah. Well, hopefully that should be fine, Rena. Just…” he glanced around and lowered his voice. “Be careful. We’ve had some spooky things happen up at the site, and there’s some legends up here that will raise the hair on your neck. Keep the boy close, is all I’m saying.”

Interesting. Maybe this job had been given to me not just because I’d be faster at it. What in sard’s name was going on up here? “What legends?”

Mack took a seat, still looking worried and tired. “They’re a bit conflicting, but there’s stories of creatures that live in that mountain, and they’re supposedly territorial. No one’s seen them, as they don’t like sunlight, and they keep to themselves. The legend is so strong in these parts that no local will even build near the base of the mountain. This town is as close as people get.”

I’d encountered some strong beliefs in my time when out on different jobs, but that didn’t match any myth or creature I knew of. “No description of these animals at all?”

“I can’t get anyone to give me a straight answer on that,” he admitted, making a face. “Rena, I’ll be frank, the main reason you’re here is because I literally can’t hire local help. And the few men that I hired on to bring up here with me? They’re not enough to do the job with. We’d be here for the next century trying to tunnel through on our own. I spent two weeks arguing with the higher ups to bring a mage on, said it would be more cost effective, and they finally settled on you. Do me a favor? Do this quickly so I can go home?”

Working up here was that uncomfortable? I would think the locals would support another train line through here, as it would mean more business, but apparently that didn’t outweigh their superstitions. If that was the case, it would be just as hard for me to work here as the original crewmen. No wonder I’d seen that petition, though. That now made more sense. “I’ll certainly do my best.”

At that moment, Bannen joined us, extending a hand. “I’m Bannen Hach.”

Standing, Mack shook hands, eyeing Bannen thoughtfully. “Mack Sumner, pleasure. You’re her husband?”

“And familiar,” Bannen confirmed, all charm and ease. “It’s a long story.”

“I’d certainly like to hear it. But save it for the trip up. We’ve got three solid hours before we can make it back on site. I suggest you grab what food you want to eat the next few days from the market, that way we’re ready to leave first thing in the morning.”

Ah, hence our location. Our food hadn’t come out yet, so I looked to Bannen. “Keep an eye on things. I’ll shop.”

He waved me on, only putting out one request as he took a seat. “Don’t make the shop owner cry, alright? It’s an ugly thing, seeing a man cry for mercy.”

We retreated to the inn for lack of anything better to do. Now that we’d met up with Mack, I had the thought of perhaps doing some quick laundry or going for another, longer soak. Maybe both? We had another two or three hours before it was a reasonable time to go to bed, after all.

I put the key in the lock and turned it, deciding I’d be responsible and do laundry first. That would pay off better in the long run—oh sards. “We’ve been robbed.”

Bannen abruptly shoved past me, taking in the mess of our suitcases strewn about the room, his hand on his short sword as he worked his way through the single room and the attached bathroom. I watched him go, then regarded the mess on the bed. The thought of someone breaking in didn’t scare me as much as it angered me. I’d been in more dangerous situations than this, but seeing my belongings pawed through and tossed around, it gave me an icky feeling. Like I’d been violated somehow.

Leaning around my leg, Dag took a peek into the room. “Thieves got in? But the door was locked.”

“Yes, that speaks of an inside job,” I responded through gritted teeth. After our experience with the man downstairs, checking in, why did we still stay at this inn?

Bannen came back out of the bathroom with a grim look on his face. “They’re long gone and I see no trace of whoever did this. Let’s call the police in.”

Not that it was likely going to do any good. Still, there were procedures to follow. “Alright. You do that. Let me see if I can figure out what they stole.”

“Be back in a minute,” he promised. “Dag? This is one of those times you can stab someone. Anyone not in uniform that tries to sneak up on Rena, stab first, okay?”

Dag liked this order a lot. I think Bannen gave it to him mostly to keep him focused and out of trouble, but I had no doubt Dag would go stabbity on anyone that tried something nefarious. “Okay!”

Shaking my head—why were all the men around me fighting fanatics?—I carefully shifted things aside to see if I could get a good inventory. I didn’t see any missing clothing items, which didn’t surprise me, as who wanted dirty laundry? My books were still there, as were Dag’s keepsakes. My TMC was still here, oddly enough, as that would fetch a nice price on the black market. Frowning, I went through the pile on the opposite side of the bed, the break-in not adding up. The important, valuable things were all here. So why…?

It took me a minute to realize the obvious. The one thing I didn’t place a lot of value on, even though it was important at the moment. “Sarding son of a Bauchi.” Realizing I shouldn’t use that language in front of a child, I cast a guilty look at Dag. “Don’t repeat that.”

He grinned at me. “Dad says that sometimes too.”

Okay, so I wasn’t the only bad influence in his life. I could live with that.

Coming in closer, he peered over my shoulder, head cocked. “What did they take?”

“Our work papers. Specifically, the contract I have for the work here,” I answered darkly. “That is…problematic. Not that I need it, per se, and other people have a copy of the same contract, but if someone from the town comes up and demands that we show proof that I’ve been granted permission to work up here? I wouldn’t be able to. It would delay us by several days before we could get it straightened out.”

“Oh,” he responded, face screwing up in a doubtful frown. “But it wouldn’t stop you.”

“Right. I can’t figure out why they’re delaying me. Or if it’s part of some plan altogether.” I hated unknowns. Especially with a small child on hand to protect.

Bannen came back to us, his footsteps light. “Policeman is coming. What did they take?”

“Our work contract,” I answered, turning on my heels to look up at him. It took a second for the full ramifications to hit, but I saw it when they did, as Bannen went from angry to outright pissed. “Yeah. Exactly.”

“We’re not staying here tonight,” my husband informed me flatly. His hands unclenched and clenched at his sides, as if fighting the urge to hit something. “And let’s change out of uniform and not mention anything MISD when we switch inns.”

A wise precaution and I nodded instant agreement. “Alright. Dag, let’s both get changed while we wait on the policeman.”

Although, honestly? If this was a representation of how the town felt, I didn’t hold out much faith about the policeman taking our situation seriously.

The rest of the night did not go well. Rena wanted to strangle the very unhelpful policeman who arrived. We managed to switch inns before it got too late at night, and then spent a good majority of the night tossing and turning. I came awake at every unfamiliar noise.

Spoiler alert: new inn meant a lot of unfamiliar noises.

We were not bright eyed and bushy tailed the next morning, to say the least. Mack came and got us just after breakfast and thankfully had a cart pulled by two mules for us to load everything into. Rena had bought an unholy amount of food for us, packed in a crate with ice, and another bag full of bottled drinks. I found this amount a little ridiculous until I remembered she was trying to feed both me AND Dag. Kid could eat a man out of house and home when the mood struck him.

Rena found time to send off a telegram and report the theft of the work papers and request another copy sent up. She did not want to work without those papers, and I didn’t blame her, because right now? With this situation? We might have to prove we had the right to work up here. And the locals weren’t of the mindset to just take our word on it.

With a steady hand on the reins, Mack guided the team out of the town, which I was very thankful for. Mountain Point did not seem to like us much. My concerns grew as he headed toward a road that strongly resembled a switchback trail. I’d expected a job site to have a proper dirt road at least, but the branches of the trees we passed actually brushed the sides of the cart. We ended up tucked in the middle of the cart to avoid being randomly swatted by nature.

I didn’t know anything about railroad construction, but didn’t they need to bring a certain amount of lumber up with them to lay down tracks with? Railroad ties, iron tracks, lots of nails, that kind of thing? How could they possibly bring any of those supplies through this narrow trail?

This job smelled worse and worse, and it wasn’t fried chicken.

Catching my wife’s eye, I exchanged a look with her, and I could tell from her face that she entertained similar thoughts. With an inclination of the head and a wave of both hands, she urged me forward, so I shrugged agreement. Putting my back to the front corner, I put myself easily within conversation level and threw Mack a dangling line. “So, Mack, you said you couldn’t hire any locals?”

“Stupid legend,” the man grumbled, glaring at the back of the mules’ heads as if they’d personally insulted his mother. “Not only can I not hire any help here, but some of the locals have gotten it into their heads to sabotage us. We brought dynamite along with us the first week, only to find it all soaked and ruined the next morning. Supplies go missing, I can’t recount how many tools have disappeared, and even with guards up, we sometimes have trouble with the food too. My men are frustrated, want to go home, and I don’t blame ’em.”

“Which is why you were able to convince your bosses to hire Rena.”

“Sure. Can’t demo any other way. Can’t keep the supplies to do it, can’t hire the labor I need, no other way to do the job.” Turning in the seat, Mack assured Rena directly, “It’s only hassling and theft. No one’s been hurt and I don’t believe it’ll escalate to that, so don’t worry for your safety or the boy’s. And I think once you get through the mountain, and nothing happens, this nonsense will die down and we can get back to building the line.”

“I see,” she responded with a thoughtful frown tugging at the corners of her mouth. “I hope you’re right.”

I took the silent warning he offered to heart. I wasn’t as convinced that it would only be hassling and theft, not after what happened last night. The policemen weren’t helpful and that…was not reassuring. Fortunately, I slept light under such conditions, so I should be able to hear any thieves come in.

Still with an eye on the trail, Mack continued hopefully, “How long will it take you to go through the mountain, you figure?”

“Entirely depends on how big the tunnel needs to be,” Rena informed him bluntly.

“Tunnels have to be thirteen feet open circular space,” he responded promptly.

“Ah. In that case, about a month, I think. I looked at a map on the way up here and measured out the breadth of the mountain, but I wasn’t sure where my starting point would be. It might take a little more than that, or a little less.” Scooting up on her knees, she pointed ahead. “About where do I need to start?”

Mack also pointed dead ahead. “You see that one tree standing above the others? Has a dead branch jutting out of it?”

We hit a random clearing, strong sunlight shining through, and Rena had to shield her eyes with one hand to see it. “Yes.”

“Go down about ten trees to the right, and that’s roughly where you’ll start.”

“Ah. Then likely about two weeks. I’m tunneling through the thinnest part of the mountain.” Sinking back, she asked him innocently, “Will that work for you?”

A blind man could see how pleased Mack was with this answer. “Yes, ma’am, that will do just fine.”

Dynamite and tunneling by hand would have taken months. Rena’s speed put manual labor to shame, but then magic normally did. I felt more than a little relief that we wouldn’t be up here for too long. The woods seemed nice and all but I felt the heebie-jeebies just imagining who might be tracking us, playing hide and seek behind the trunks. I would not be sleeping well on this leg of the trip, I could see it now.

As if remembering she had a temporary student, Rena turned, pulling Dag’s attention to her. “While I’m working, especially the first day, work alongside me. I’ll teach you how to recognize what you’re seeing.”

Dag looked a little doubtful at this, as if he couldn’t imagine that would be very fun. It likely wouldn’t be, so I tried to back my wife up a little. “This is important info for later, kid. Think about it. Say you’re up against an enemy fortress, and there’s all sorts of bad guys for you to defeat, but their defenses are too strong. Easiest way in is to break down a wall, right?”

“Right,” he agreed seriously.

“Well, where do you think they get the stone to build a fortress from?”

Blinking at me, Dag pondered that for a moment before staring up at the mountain. “Here? Really?”

“Sure. They quarry stone from the mountains all the time, it’s standard practice.” Good, hooked him. I tamped down an evil smile. “So how are you going to know what to destroy in your spells if you don’t learn the rocks’ names now?”

This seriously worried him, I could tell from that look on his face. Finally, he gave Rena a game nod. “I better learn them now.”

Rena’s face twitched as if she desperately subdued a smile. Sagely, she nodded back. “Wise of you. Besides, it might not be a fortress. Bannen, remember that time we were fighting assassins and they sent us through that portal?”

“Man, do I ever,” I groaned. That was not one of my fondest memories. We’d almost died that day, several times.

Leaning forward, Dag’s eyes darted between us. “Assassins?” he breathed, eyes lighting up. “What happened?”

Of course he wanted the story. Well, it would keep him entertained and give him even more motivation to pay attention to Rena later, so what was the harm? I obligingly weaved out the tale, not blind to the fact that Mack also avidly listened in. Then again, while the story was entertaining enough, it also gave him some rather crucial information that Rena had done this before and an indication of what her limits were.

“Will assassins come after me too?” Dag asked. Because of course that was what he took away from the story.

“Highly unlikely,” Rena assured him, eyes twinkling with suppressed laughter.

Dag slumped for a moment, disappointed, then rebounded two seconds later. “But if they do, or if an evil bad guy sends me through a portal into a mountain, I can get back out?”

“Absolutely,” she assured him.

Pleased by this, he beamed before launching into the next question. “What kind of rocks were there?”

As those two fell into a geology discussion, I leaned over the back so I could talk to Mack one-on-one. “Rena’s magic has improved over the past three years, but do understand she has limits still. If she goes into a Mind Down, it will take weeks for her to recover. So when she calls a stop for the day, please respect it.”

“I will, sir, don’t you worry about that.” Mack listened in on the conversation before asking cautiously, “Your son, he’s a Void Mage as well?”

Did I seriously look old enough to have an eight-year-old son? I mean, come on, I would have had to conceive him at fourteen. “Not our son. He’s from Seagrove, actually. We picked him up on the way here so that he can go study under Rena’s master. And no, he’s not a Void Mage, but his eyes work similarly to one’s. He can see the world the same way they see it, which makes it rather impossible for a regular magician to train him.”

“Ah. Makes sense.” Lowering his voice, Mack said with a wink, “That one’s going to be a right handful. I pity his master.”

“Don’t I know it,” I agreed cheerfully because he would soon cease to be my problem.

“Bannen.”

Turning at my wife’s hail, I responded, “Yes, darling?”

She scrunched her nose up at me because she hated it when I called her that. Which was, of course, why I did it. “I think we shouldn’t overload Dag’s poor head just yet. So let’s split this up a little. I’ll take him in the morning and work, you come get him for lunch and then do training. Sound good?”

In other words, she didn’t think she could keep him focused for more than three hours before he went squirmy on her. She likely pushed three hours, honestly. Dag hadn’t been raised in an environment where children sat and studied. He’d been active and working since he could walk. It was a kindness on her part that she started that pattern now, of learning instead of constantly working. “Sure. Actually, Dag, training up here will be great fun. I can show you how to best fight in a forest.”

He actually rubbed his hands together, excited at the idea. “With knives?”

“Of course with knives, what do you think we bought them for?”

Dag giggled. A high pitch, girly giggle, not that I was about to point that out.

This kid seriously reminded me of me at that age. My siblings hadn’t been much better. I was just trying to keep one alive and I struggled. How had my parents raised five of us without losing either their hair or their sanity?

We swapped information and stories throughout the three hour ride up. I say up, but it was a very gradual climb, and it more or less plateaued at one point. The trip was actually quite pleasant, as the weather wasn’t too hot or cold, but perfectly pleasant under the shade of the trees. I liked weather like this. Made me feel at home.

Abruptly we entered an area that had obviously been cleared, with several logs stacked off to the side, a neat row of tents two deep, with a makeshift kitchen tent on the opposite side. Someone had dinner going, I could tell from the smell of it, but it didn’t seem all that appetizing. Mack had given us good advice earlier on buying our own food. To the right, coming up the gradual ridge, was a proper dirt road two wagons wide. This must be the area the new railroad tracks would occupy.

A few men had been gathered around a central fire, and at our entrance, they stood up and came closer with hopeful looks on their faces. Mack pulled the wagon up to them and stopped it there, introducing us with a wave of his hand. “Fellas, this is Renata Hach, Void Mage, her husband Bannen, and the little boy’s an apprentice mage by the name of Dag.”

With pleased smiles and ducks of the head, they came forward to greet us, hands outstretched.

I hopped out of the wagon for a round of handshakes.

“Westley,” a thin blond with freckles and a ready smile introduced himself, handshake firm. “Demolitions expert, not that I’ve gotten to blow anything up on this job.”

“Jeffries.” Gruff man, thick afternoon beard, with a glint in his dark eyes that looked like he wrestled bears for the fun of it. “Structural engineer.”

“Lloyd.” Obviously the cook, with that stained apron tied around his waist, and I’d bet that nose had been broken at least three times. “Medic.”

“Pleased to meet all of you,” I offered, turning to give Rena a hand. Or at least I intended to, but my wife chose to put a hand on my shoulder instead and use me like a balancing post as she hopped down. Dag just jumped because of course he didn’t need help with something silly like getting off a wagon.

Pointing to the tent at the far end, Mack instructed, “That one’s yours. We have a roped off section behind all of the tents for privy and bathing. There’s signs on both so people don’t get them confused.”

From the chortling and the eye-rolling on Lloyd’s face, there was a whopper of a story on why they now had signs. I would get it later. I found it very strange that we had multiple tents up but only these few men. Where was the rest of the crew? Even if they’d planned to hire a lot of laborers here, this wasn’t enough specialists to do the job. Were some of them let go when Rena was brought on? It didn’t make much sense to me.

Rena stared at the mountain surface, still covered with vines and stubborn greenery, her head cocked in that particular way that said she was seeing far below the surface. In pure habit I came to stand directly at her side, blocking her from interference, smiling and explaining to the men gathered around us, “Give her a minute. She’s analyzing what the mountain is composed of.”

Pushing the hat back on his head, Mack scratched at his forehead, studying her for a moment before asking me, “She do that often, just stare off into space?”

“All the time. It’s why she needs a human familiar.” That and for other reasons I was not about to explain to relative strangers. I kept my manner easy going, smile deflecting deeper questions. “She always means to just take a glance, get a gauge of things, and then gets sucked into studying the details.”

“This is going to be more complex than I thought,” she abruptly announced, eyes still facing straight forward. “You’ve got metamorphic rock, argillite, limestone, dolomite, and sedimentary rock all mixed in. Well, some of it’s in layers, but you get my drift.”

I translated this with no effort. “In other words, your spell is going to be more complex because of the mix of different rocks and it will take you a little longer to cast each time.”

“Mmm-hmm,” she agreed absently, frowning now.

The foreman didn’t seem happy to hear this, so I rephrased it for his benefit. “Not difficult, just more tedious.”

“Ah.” Mack gave her another uncertain look. “Well, if she wants to study it a while, she can. We’ll get the mules put away and dinner out, if dinner’s edible.”

“I tried,” Lloyd maintained, affronted. “And I don’t think it’s inedible.”

I pegged Lloyd as being pressganged into being the cook. Likely they’d planned to hire a local cook along with the rest of the crew and had been soundly thwarted in their efforts. I might have to take this duty on so we all didn’t starve up here.

In a sing-song rhythm, Rena weaved her spell aloud in words I couldn’t understand, although after so many years they were familiar to me. As she spoke, the magic around her came more alive to my eyes, stronger, although I doubted anyone else aside from me could see it. Still, the men all paused to watch her, curious after hearing bizarre rumors about the Void Mage.

With a click of the tongue, she released the spell and every vine and plant poofed out of existence at once in a perfect arc, exactly as if she had just created a template for the railway tunnel. Turning to Mack, she asked seriously, “Is that the right shape and size?”

Mack stared at her for a long moment before visibly jerking himself back to reality and turning to see. I knew that reaction all too well. He’d just taken what she had done to the next level and realized that if she wanted, she could destroy everything here down to dust and no one could stop her. To his credit, he only had that five second loss of composure. “Well,” Mack stopped, cleared his throat to remove that hint of squeak, and tried again. “I’d have to measure it, but that certainly looks right.”

“If you could do that either tonight or early in the morning?” she requested with a smile. “That way I know if I can just continue or if we need to make adjustments. And you’ll need to tell me the exact placement of course.”

“Of course, of course.”

Acting as if nothing at all was wrong, my wife offered to me, “If you’ll cook dinner, I’ll get us set up in the tent.”

Since I did not want to eat what I could smell coming from that kitchen tent, I agreed with a shrug. “Sure.”

“Can I help?” Dag asked hopefully.

I gave him an odd look. “Since when do you like to help prepare dinner?”

“Since I like knives.”

Fair enough.

Dinner was met with many a happy exclamation, which didn’t surprise me much. My husband cooked well and apparently no one else in the crew could do more than the basics. We cleaned up and retired to our tent with cheery good nights to everyone. I had Dag set up in his own sleeping bag on one side, Bannen and I on the other. The tent was big enough to accommodate six people, which meant three with their luggage had room to wiggle around in.

We shucked off coats and boots, changed into something more comfortable to sleep in, and settled in. I snuggled close to Bannen, partially because he was a portable heater and partially so I could speak to him in whispers. He slung an arm around my waist, drawing me in closer, so we pressed in chest to chest.

“I’d love to, wifey,” he informed me drolly, “but it’s a little hard to get in the mood with the squirt over there watching.”

I smacked him on the chest. “Will you be serious?”

With nothing but the camp fire casting light into the tent, it was hard to see his features, but I could feel the tension riding high in his body easily enough. “Seriously, though, you sensed it too?”

“Something’s off up here.” I kept my voice very soft to avoid it carrying further than our tent. “Mack has been perfectly upfront about the problems they’ve had on this job but, at the same time, I feel like he’s hiding something. It’s like he’s deliberately being blunt and truthful to prevent us from asking questions or thinking too deeply about things. I tried asking more questions about the legend, but he skirted around the topic completely. Why is talking about this unnerving to him? It ties into the thefts, right? It’s like the natural questions are the ones he doesn’t want me asking.”

“That’s it exactly,” he agreed, his thumb tracing idle circles at the base of my spine. “Rena. Are you sure we should do this job without backup?”

“Not at all,” I confessed frankly. “I have a distinctly bad feeling about this whole thing and I don’t like it. I kind of want to contact Vee, ask if she and Chi can come up and keep us company throughout the job. I can contact her via TMC tomorrow.”

“If they’re still in Foxboro,” Bannen said slowly. “It would take them five days to get here, though.”

True, we had to think of that possibility as well. “Doesn’t hurt to ask, though, right?”

“No, it doesn’t. Still, it’s a little strange to just call her up and say ‘we have a bad feeling, can you come up?’”

He did rather have a point. “Does sound rather unprofessional, doesn’t it? And how would we explain it to Mack?”

“That’s my second concern. Do this. Get some work done in the morning, at least start, and then tell him that there’s something you’re seeing that’s a little weird. You want to consult with another mage, yadda yadda. Call Vee privately and ask for a favor. Chi’s likely bored down there anyway, dodging therapists. He can come up and help me train the squirt while you’re working.”

Dag abruptly appeared on my waist, elbows digging into pressure points I’d rather not have elbows in, his whisper a little too loud. “Chi’s the archer, right? Can I get a bow?”

“Only if you go back to bed,” I ordered firmly.

Sulking—I didn’t have to see it to know he was—he crawled back to his sleeping bag.

Bannen’s plan didn’t sound all that bad, and I could honestly tell Mack that something up here bothered me. I just didn’t have to go into details about what. “Okay. I’ll work in the morning and then call her when I break for lunch.”

He put a chaste kiss to my forehead. “It’ll be fine, wifey. My senses are tingling and telling me there’s something dangerous up here, but it’s not imminent. I think we have time to call in for reinforcements. And we have to consider that maybe we’re just being paranoid. Toh’sellor might have warped our brains a little.”

I understood what he meant, but instinctively didn’t agree with it. “But you don’t really think that’s it.”

“More like I really hope that’s all it is,” he sighed, sending warm air brushing against my face. “For now, sleep. We can’t do anything else tonight.”

Sound advice. I wasn’t sure if I could take it, but I was game to try. Settling in a little more into the pillow, I closed my eyes, trying to relax and failing miserably at it.

Please, please let this just be paranoia talking.

I rolled out of bed the next morning, did a quick wash up, and ate a delightful omelet that Bannen cooked for me. Feeling a little better about things in the morning light, I went to the rock face with Mack and Jeffries. It wasn’t a clean drop, of course, the mountain edge wasn’t a cliff but a gradual slope and I took a minute to really examine the area. “Gentleman, how much of this dirt slope do you want gone?”

“All of it,” Jeffries informed me, his hands rising to illustrate his point. “From here to there, it all needs to be perfectly flat. As flat as our campsite area.”

“Alright.” I focused, drawing out the template of what needed to be done in the spell, with the appropriate designations for which types of soil and quantity. It disappeared in an instant, leaving a freshly turned path of flat ground in its wake. I could tell from their faces that this display of magic both fascinated and unnerved them. People typically responded like this to my magic, and while it still bothered me a little, I didn’t react to it anymore. “Is that correct?”

Jeffries cleared his throat, carefully avoiding my eyes by studying the ground intently. “That certainly looks right but I’d have to measure it to be sure.”

I tapped the side of my eyes and gave him a cheerful smirk. “Trust me, it’s correct down to a millimeter. Part of a Void Mage’s eyes is that we can measure everything very accurately.”

“You mentioned this before on the way up,” Mack ventured, his eyes studying mine. “You said that Dag had your type of eyes, which was why a Void Mage had to train him, even though his magic is different from yours.”

“Correct. Dag sees the world the same way that I do, and because of that, his approach to magic is completely different from magical norms. It’s better for a Void Mage to train him, at least initially.” Mack seemed curious about all of this but Jeffries shifted from foot to foot, clearly uncomfortable. It might be better to just move on, satisfy Mack’s curiosity later. “But we’re getting off-topic. Slope and grade correct here?”

“Yes, Magus,” Jeffries assured me. “Now, I drew out the markings for the tunnel entrance this morning. See those two red chalk lines? Tunnel side walls should match those. Bottom of the tunnel should match this grade, and the top of the tunnel should arch at its highest point at fourteen feet.”

Sounded simple enough. I centered myself more squarely with what would be the new opening, following Jeffries’ instructions precisely, and created a template for the tunnel only six inches deep. I figured that would show the men what I’d done but give me room to correct something if I needed to.

Jeffries actually jumped a little when the rock disappeared into nothing more than wind and dust. He stared at it, skin going a little paler, eyes too wide in his face. People were normally uncomfortable with my magic, but this seemed a little too extreme. His reaction worried me. Was there something that this man knew that I didn’t?

If Mack realized Jeffries acted a little off, he didn’t let on, just spoke to me. “I’ll need to actually measure it for the official reports. It doesn’t go over well with the bosses if I say stuff like: I eyeballed it and it looked fine.”

“Go ahead,” I encouraged him, not at all offended. As Mack moved ahead with a measuring stick, I decided to prod Jeffries a little. “Jeffries, is something wrong?”

“What?” He jerked a little, eyes skittering to mine and away again just as quickly. “No. No, nothing wrong. I’m just, ah, not sure about tunneling this way. I’m worried that there won’t be any structural support in there. It’ll lead to a tunnel collapse eventually.”

“I admit I hadn’t thought of that.” Perhaps that was the reason why he looked so unnerved? He could see with his mind’s eye what would happen? “I can alter the template so that I leave in structural support beams of stone as we go. Would that help?”

“Y-yes,” he agreed, then paused to clear his throat, looking only slightly mollified. “Yes, I think that would. Say, posts about a foot square every eight feet. Is that doable?”

“Certainly. Will that be enough, do you think?”

“No, we’ll have to go back in and add timber supports for the roof,” Jeffries denied quickly, “but it will certainly help and keep the tunnel from collapse long enough for us to get in there.”

“Then I’ll make sure to add them in at regular intervals. I’d rather a mountain didn’t fall on my head while I’m in there.” I gave him a wink, trying to put the man at ease, but it just bounced right off of him. Why was he so nervous? It only validated the paranoid theories of last night.

I was seriously calling Vee the first chance I got.

Mack came back to us, tucking the clipboard under his arm as he moved. “Perfect, Rena. Go ahead with this.”

“I will, but Jeffries has requested that I put support beams in every eight feet. Do I put those closer to the sides?”

“Yes. We need at least nine feet clearance in the center for the train to pass through,” Mack explained. “So two feet in on either side should be fine, but no more than that.”

It would only distribute the weight some. No wonder Jeffries said they’d have to go back in and add support beams for the ceiling. “Alright. Let me start, then.”

I only dug nine feet in, leaving in the support pillars, because I wanted them to take a look and tell me if any adjustments needed to be made. I couldn’t recreate stone, so I wanted to be sure everything was correct the first go ’round.

Mack and Jeffries both gave me approval, and now that I knew precisely what to do, I felt it time to give Dag a lesson. Turning, I found him reluctantly cleaning dishes with Bannen. I should probably rescue the situation anyway; all Dag really did was slosh water all over the place. “Dag!”

His head came up, a hopeful smile on his face. “Lesson time?”

“Yup. Come here.” I extended a hand and caught his shoulder once he was close enough, maneuvering him so that he stood directly in front of me. Leaning down a little, I put my head level with his. “Now. Open your eyes and really look beyond the surface. What do you see?”

“Lines and squiggles and numbers,” he dutifully responded. “But I don’t know what they mean.”

“Let’s take a line at a time,” I suggested patiently. “Now, you see that section right in front of you? The one with three lines, with three circles at the end, with a number of 64?”

“Yeah?”

“That’s metamorphic rock.” I ran him through each one, then pointed to others, asking him to identify them. He picked them up fairly quickly, and once he had them all down on this level, I destroyed it, working a little deeper into my new tunnel, then asked him what this set of schematics meant. I deconstructed only a couple feet at a time instead of the full distance I could, but this was good learning practice.

We worked our way steadily inside doing this, with Dag getting more comfortable with every layer, confidence growing as he pointed out what each section was made of. It helped too that he could see the results with his naked eye. If I ever possessed any doubt that he saw the world the way I did, this lesson put it to rest. Only our eyes could see like this.

Some fifty feet inside, Dag pointed to a section just out of the area we worked in, toward the center of the mountain. “What’s that? That weird glowy energy.”

It took me a moment to spot it, faint as it was through the layers of all the schematics. Then I did see it and instant recognition flooded through my system. I’d seen that energy too many times, battled it too many times, to not know it instantly.

Toh’sellor.

My conscious mind rejected what my eyes told it. Toh’sellor was under tight layers of barriers in Westhaven, no trace of it could possibly be found here at the top of Z’gher’s border. My emotions went jittery as I faced a nightmare I thought well and buried.

Sards.

I could feel my emotions ramp up to jittering panic, threatening to overwhelm me. I forced myself to take a deep breath, touching each finger in turn to my thumb. Grey stone. Scent of smoke. Taste of tea lingering in my mouth. My panic eased as the grounding techniques helped center me, letting me think rationally again. I had a sneaking suspicion of what I saw, what it meant, but I was going with my gut reaction on this one.

Whirling, I grabbed Dag by the arm and pulled him to the entrance, yelling as I went: “EVERYONE OUT! OUT NOW!”

“Wh-what’s going on?” Dag demanded of me, although thankfully didn’t pull from my grip but admirably tried to keep up with my longer legs.

Bannen appeared like magic at my elbow, hand on sword, eyes sharp on my face. “What?”

“There’s remains of Toh’sellor’s energy here,” I answered succinctly, still urging people out, not that many had followed me in, thankfully.

Alarmed, he looked behind us, and of course was greeted with nothing more than blank stone. “You sure? Never mind, stupid question, of course you are. Old energy or new energy?”

“Don’t know. Fairly sure the former, but I want that verified.” I dearly wished I knew, but that would take more investigation. And I frankly didn’t want to do that until I had a proper shield around us and more mages than just me. We left the dimness of the tunnel abruptly into clear mountain air and sunshine, and I pushed everyone well clear of the entrance, calling out loudly as I did, “MACK!”

The foreman came at a run, looking more than a little worried, if confused at my obvious panic. Skidding to a stop in front of me, he asked urgently, “Tunnel collapse?”

“No, worse.” I took in a breath, forced myself to breathe before I had a breathing attack. I hadn’t had one in years but I certainly felt like having one now. “Mack, I saw traces of Toh’sellor’s energy in there.”

All color just drained out of his face. Zombies had more color. “T-t-toh’sellor?”

I caught his shoulder with my free hand, giving him a hard shake. “Mack. Mack, listen to me, this is very important. I need to contact the MISD. If I can’t reach them by TMC, then I’m going to give you a list of names, you telegram the director and tell him to send them to me at all speed.”

He nodded jerkily, as badly animated as a string puppet, eyes searching mine for reassurance. “But you can defeat it?”

“Certainly, I can, but I’m not actually convinced it’s in there. I think this is residual energy.” I believed every word I said, but at the same time, with something like an unknown quantity like Toh’sellor, you didn’t take chances with it. I wanted to investigate this properly. “But it’s dangerous just to come into contact with its energy. I’m only seeing residual energy at the moment, and I’m not about to take chances. I need a proper shield up around me before going back in there.”

“Of course, of course,” he hastily assured me. “Write out what you want me to send, I’ll go straight down and get the telegram out.”

I thought about it, thought about all of those practice sessions with Mary on how to connect with a magical device over long distances without frying said device, and grimaced. “Before we do that, I’m going to try my TMC. I might be able to connect to someone.”

A tug on my hand drew my attention down to Dag, who stared up at me with wide-eyed fear. Or was that excitement? He looked a little of both. “Toh’sellor’s here?”

“Was here, or is still here, that’s the question. It’s trapped under a lot of rock at the moment,” thankfully, “otherwise I’d be able to answer that question. The energy that you saw, that was part of it. Do I need to tell you that if you try to dig your way in, I’ll murder you?”

Hastily he shook his head, free hand up in surrender. “Promise I won’t.”

He’d better not, otherwise I really would strangle him. I was in no mood for little boy antics right now.

I walked away from them, a few feet to give me some privacy. A simple connection, for only a few minutes, that was all I needed. Hopefully I didn’t shatter the device. That happened about half the time when I initiated contact.

I couldn’t use enough creative magic to sustain this for long, especially not over this distance, but used what I had. Director Salvatore answered gruffly, “Renata, what is it?”

“Sir, can you call me back?”

“Yes. End it.”

Relieved, I dropped the spell and waited a heartbeat, then two, before the TMC went live with his voice. Praise be he didn’t give me any flak about that. He was good at working around people’s shortcomings.

“Well?” he prompted impatiently.

Deep breath. In. Out. “Sir, I’m up at Cloudland Mountain. I started tunneling this morning and just came across traces of Toh’sellor’s energy.”

Salvatore spewed out a string of curses that would make a sailor blush crimson. “That’s not funny, Agent!”

“Really wish I was joking, sir,” I responded, my heart still racing a mile a minute. “Sir, there’s still a lot of rock between me and that signature, and I can’t tell without a closer look if it’s active, recent, or just a residual amount. It’s very possible that Toh’sellor had sent a branch of itself up inside the mountain and residual energy is all that’s left of it.”

“Which theory are you going with?”

“Residual,” I confessed, my agitation rising so that I openly shifted from side to side. “I don’t want to take a closer look, though, not until I have Dah’lil up here to properly shield me.”

Salvatore took the first reassured breath I heard from him in this conversation. “I’m relieved to hear you had the sense to back off and call for help first. My agents live longer that way. No one’s in there now?”

“No, it’s clear, I got everyone out.” I may be severely overstepping my bounds but I rushed ahead anyway. “Sir, I want my team. I’m ninety-nine percent sure Toh’sellor isn’t in there anymore, but—”

“Renata Hach, if I hear you did go in without proper backup, I will put you on half-pay for the next century,” he informed me flatly, although the slightest timber in his tone suggested he was pleased with my demand. “I’ll call them. You set up a perimeter, sit tight, and make sure that everyone’s alive by the time help arrives. Clear?”

“Crystal, sir.” I still felt rattled, as I never thought to come across traces of Toh’sellor over here, but I was far easier with it now. Help was coming. Good, reliable, wonderful help. “Sir, one thing, if there is still a Toh’sellor in there, I know that it’s not nearly as large as the original. About the size of a shard, I would imagine, as it’s still contained by the mountain. If that is the case, permission to engage?”

“Engage and destroy,” he ordered firmly. “But if it’s any larger than that, tell me, I’ll send more reinforcements.”

I had absolutely no problem with that order. “Yes, sir.”

Salvatore paused the conversation long enough to bellow for the agents’ roster sheet. “Agents Franklocke Inc. are actually in Heaberlin right now. I expect they can portal to you by sunset. I’ll call them now and give them a briefing. If something goes wrong before that point, retreat to the nearest town—that’s Mountain Point, correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Retreat there at the train station and meet up. We absolutely cannot lose you.”

Half the reason why I willingly signed with the MISD was because this man really tried to be a good boss. I smiled and nodded. “Yes, sir. I’ll take no chances with anyone up here.”

“Good. Dah’lil Maksohm and Emily Garner are a little further out, but I’ll portal them to you as soon as I can.”

“Sir, one more thing. We’re experiencing strange opposition up here.”

“Define opposition, Agent.”

“Our room was broken into the first night we reached Mountain Point and the work papers were stolen. Just that, nothing else. The policemen here were not sympathetic, either. There’s a petition as well to stop the line from being built.” I hesitated, not sure whether to bring up legends or not, and chose not to. That was unsubstantiated rumor and nothing more at this point. “I’m not sure why, no one’s willing to talk about it, but I feel like I need those work papers. If things go truly sideways, I might need them.”

“You likely will. I’ll have another copy made and sent up with Chi and Vee. I don’t like the sound of this, Rena. It sounds like trouble’s brewing up there. I’ll investigate matters on this end, too. We shouldn’t be having this kind of trouble. Anything else?”

“Just that at the moment, sir.”

“That’s enough. Try not to escalate it. Salvatore, out.”

The TMC went still in my ear. I took it off, replacing it in my pocket. I closed my eyes for a long moment, pulling myself together, forcing myself to breathe evenly. When I opened them again, I found Bannen right in front of me, eyes steady on mine, complete faith reflected in them. I knew without words that he’d protect me. He knew without words I’d do the same for him.

Mack broke the moment by clearing his throat. “Uh, Rena? Is it really safe to stay here?”

“It is,” I assured him, turning and giving him my most professional expression. That mask hid a lot of my insecurities. “There’s no trace of energy out here. I barely saw it inside the tunnel. Trust me, Mack, the least sign otherwise and I will be kicking people onto the trail. We need to wait for my team. They helped me defeat multiple shards and Toh’sellor itself. They’re experts in this.”

That reassured him and he pulled himself up, squaring his shoulders. “Right. What can we do?”

“Get a tent pitched, something that a half-giant can sleep in. Vee’s tall. Help me get lanterns set all along the front of the tunnel. While we’re working, I’ll tell the crew what to look out for. Toh’sellor’s energy has peculiar effects on its surroundings, it’s impossible to miss for anything else. And remember—” at this, I looked down at Dag’s upturned face “—that we have another set of eyes we can count on. Dag, you’ve already spotted it once. Can you spot it again?”

Dag gave me a determined look, earnest and so terribly young at the same time. “You bet I can.”

I didn’t doubt that he would be sharply aware of everything inside that mountain now, if for no other reason than he wanted to see the monster for himself. “Good. You help me be on the lookout for this. Bannen,” turning to my familiar, I ordered, “I need something to mark a line with. I don’t want anyone crossing it until the team gets here. I’m not risking anyone because curiosity got the better of them.”

“You leave that to me,” he promised.

Rena had expected Vee and Chi first, but Maksohm and Emily arrived before them. A portal opened just at the trailhead and Maksohm stepped neatly through, a bag on one shoulder, a crate balanced on his other hip. Emily followed right behind him, a suitcase also in hand. He must have strained the weight allowance of a portal to its maximum to bring that much through, as neither of them looked light. They’d managed to portal up here in eight hours, which was impressive in its own right.

As soon as he stepped clear, I moved to take the crate, as balancing that on a hip with one hand had to be awkward. “Maksohm, Emily. You’re a welcome sight.”

“I bet I am,” he stated as he sat the bag down.

Emily asked knowingly, balancing her marmoset in the crook of her arm, “How’s Rena?”

“Rena’s fit to be tied.”

From behind me, I heard her light footsteps, her voice cross. “You bet I am. I can’t even get in there to get a good look. I’ll die of frustration at this rate. Dah’lil.” Rena reached over and gave him a firm hug. “Thank you for coming so fast.”

“I’m happy to come,” he assured her, assured us both as he hugged her back hard.

She stepped back from the hug in order to hug Emily, both girls holding on tight for a moment. Letting go, Rena gestured toward the mountain. “Our problem lies in there. How fully were you briefed?”

Maksohm frowned at the dim opening. “The very basics. Give me details.”

Obligingly, Rena did so, her hands rising in illustrative gestures as she talked. Emily stayed right next to them, listening intently. Knowing very well what mages were like when they put their heads together, I went with the more practical route and hefted the crate over to the new tent next to ours, slinging it inside and then retreating back for Maksohm’s bag. He handed it over with a nod of thanks, not breaking stride in the conversation.

Dag tagged along with me, tugging at my shirt as I moved. “Who is that?” he whispered loudly.

Seeing that Mack also hovered nearby uncertainly, I waved the man closer so I didn’t have to repeat myself. “Sorry, they’ll introduce him properly once Rena gets them fully briefed. Those three tend to focus on the problem first and foremost. That, gentlemen, is Special Agent Dah’lil Maksohm and Agent-Healer Emily Gardener, both mages with the MISD. Maksohm is the finest barrier specialist they have, and believe me, that’s saying something, as there’s many agents good at them. When we went around destroying shards of Toh’sellor, Maksohm shielded us against Toh’sellor’s energy and enabled us to get close enough for Rena to destroy it.”

Mack let out a low whistle. “That’s impressive. I’ve heard the stories. Some of those shards were two stories tall and Toh’sellor itself dwarfed them.”

“Exactly,” I confirmed. “I guarantee you that with him here, we’re in no danger. Emily is a childhood friend but also a healer who helped us subdue Toh’sellor the second time it went out of control. Both of them are very, very good at what they do.”

Putting a hand to his heart, Mack admitted, “I feel better hearing that. I haven’t breathed easily since Rena told us what was in there.”

I glanced down, surprised Dag hadn’t asked me another question yet, only to find him staring at Maksohm with open fascination. Right, of course, he could see the agent on a magical level. “He looks really different from Rena, huh?”

Dag nodded absently, agreeing, eyes still studying in minute detail. “He’s strong.”

Some part of me had always wondered how Rena compared to other magicians in terms of sheer strength. Mary had never given me an answer when I asked her, and Rena wasn’t the type to boast, but Dag could see it and didn’t know to dodge the question. I hunkered down next to him and whispered, “How strong? As strong as, say, Rena?”

“No. Close?” he offered. “But she’s stronger.”

Ha! Knew it. My chest puffed out in pride.

Finally, Maksohm realized he’d been a little rude and cleared his throat, heading toward us. “My apologies, I got completely sidetracked by the problem. I’m Special Agent Dah’lil Maksohm of the MISD.”

“Mack Sumner,” the foreman responded, accepting the offered hand in a firm shake. “Very glad to see you, Agent.”

“I’m sure. We’ll try to figure this out quickly, sir, and rest assured that we’ll pull all of you at the slightest hint that it’s become dangerous.” Bending down to put himself more on Dag’s level, he offered his hand again. “You’re Dagwood?”

“Yes, sir.” Gamely, Dag accepted the handshake even though his own palm was swallowed by the adult’s.

Maksohm looked him over a little curiously. “I’ve heard a lot about you. I understand from Rena that you spotted the energy first, is that right? That’s very impressive.”

Dag’s chest puffed out a little. He looked entirely too pleased with himself. “I’m going to be an MISD agent too,” he informed Maksohm, tone a little boastful.

“So I hear. I’m glad, we’ll need talent like yours in the future. Can I count on you to help Rena keep an eye on that mountain?”

Becoming as serious as an eight-year-old boy could, Dag promised, “You bet.”

“Good.” Straightening, he requested of Mack, “Please introduce me to everyone else. Let’s lay some good groundwork while we wait for Vee and Chi to arrive. Dagwood—”

“Dag’s fine, sir.”

“—Dag, then, will you come with me? I want you strictly at my side and watching the mountain while I put the initial barriers in place.”

Pleased as punched to be asked, Dag nodded vigorously and tagged along as the men moved off, going to the watching crowd hovering near the cook fire. I found it a little strange Maksohm had asked this of Dag so soon upon meeting him, and stepped in closer to Rena to ask in a low tone, “What’s he doing?”

“Partially testing him, see how sharp Dag’s paying attention,” Rena answered just as quietly. “Partially to see how well he can obey orders. If Dag can’t stick with us and stay under protective shielding, one of us will have to take him out of here.”

I did not like that idea, because I knew very well that it would have to be me. Rena couldn’t leave, and everything in me revolted at the idea of leaving her side in this situation. “He’s been great at obeying so far.”

“I know, and I told Dah’lil I didn’t think Dag would be a problem, but you know how cautious he is.” She chewed absently on a thumbnail, staring after them. “Still, if it gets bad, we need a place of safety to send him. Do you think Vee can portal him to Gargan, have him stay with her family?”

“I’m sure they would.” I liked that option a lot better. With Gargan being so close, it wouldn’t take a lot of magical energy to portal a small child through. “We’ll ask once she arrives.”

Letting her head thump onto my shoulder, she complained against my chest, “I really, really don’t like this.”

I rubbed a soothing circle on her back. “I know, I know. None of us do. I’ve been praying it’s just a leftover spot of energy from when Toh’sellor was defeated. It hasn’t been all that long, and you told me once magical energy takes a while to fully dissipate.”

“Toh’sellor’s energy wasn’t even magical, but something else entirely, and I don’t know how long it would take.” Sighing, she lifted her head and stared at the tunnel entrance. “There’s too many unquantified variables here. It’s giving me hives.”

Knowing how orderly Rena liked things, I didn’t doubt that. “I promise you a two day stay in Njorage’s onsens after this is done.”

“I’ll hold you to that, don’t think I won’t,” she warned, but it brought a smile briefly back onto her face, which had been my whole goal. “I do feel infinitely better now that Emily and Dah’lil are here. Maybe Vee and Chi will arrive soon too?”

“I’m keeping my fingers crossed.”

No one felt at ease in the camp and the men on the crew secretly kept bribing Dag to come over and take a look at the mountain, see if anything had changed. I noticed at least three different occasions, and perhaps I should have put a stop to it, but it not only gave Dag good work experience, it boosted his confidence. I tried to not interfere with anything that would raise a child’s confidence.

Rena caught it too but watched from afar, letting it continue as she, Maksohm, and Emily discussed the best way to breach the tunnel. Seeing how this played out, it gave me an idea of how to solve a logistic problem of my own.

Lloyd and Westley had Dag sitting with them near the fire, all of them with their backs toward me, and I approached with plenty of noise to avoid spooking them further. I’d normally play with their nerves, but those were stretched to the breaking point already. When I took a seat on one of the logs, the men looked abashed, although I didn’t blame them for the paranoia.

To Dag I asked, “Helping them keep an eye on things?”

“Yup,” Dag answered, more than a little cocky. “Bannen, when your other friends get here, will there be fighting?”

“Maybe, maybe not. I doubt we’ll do it tonight—you want full daylight when you fight something like Toh’sellor.” I had to pitch this right, otherwise it would go over like a lead balloon. “Dag, I need you to do something. You’ve got the best eyes here, you’re going to know when things go pear-shaped. If Rena does uncover a shard, and we do have to fight it, I want you to warn everyone here and lead them straight down the mountain.”

He listened seriously, showing maturity above his age, watching my expression like a hawk. “What about all of you?”

“Trust me, we’ll be fine, we’ve got Maksohm covering us. But you might have energy splashing this direction, and that’s seriously dangerous. It will ruin your whole day.” To the waiting men, I instructed, “Head straight for the train station and meet us there if something does happen. We’ll have to temporarily relocate, contact the MISD for more support, and then tackle it again.”

Westley swallowed loudly, Adam’s apple bobbing in his thin neck. “You think that’s what’ll happen?”

“This is absolutely worst-case scenario, nothing more. I give it low odds of playing out like this. If there really is a shard of Toh’sellor in there, we’ll be able to tackle it. But we don’t know the size of it now, so I want to plan for the worst and hope for the best, you get me?” They all nodded, some more hesitantly than others. I didn’t want to scare them, but prepare them, and I felt I had succeeded. “Dag. When we go in, you stay right in this spot and watch from here. Any closer puts you and them in danger.”

“Okay,” he promised and I could tell from his tone, he meant it.

Something that sounded like a herd of elephants crashing through the woods came up the trail at a rapid pace. Having run alongside Vee before, I knew that sound very well. No one else recognized it and they spun around in alarm, hands reaching for weapons. I hopped up, spreading my arms wide and reassuring them, “It’s fine, it’s fine, I’ll bet you that’s Vee. Giants make a horrendous amount of noise when they’re sprinting.”

As if on cue, I could hear Chi’s plaintive call echoing through the woods: “Vee, wait for me! I can’t keep up with those long legs of yours!”

“Run faster,” was his wife’s unsympathetic response.

I chuckled. “Yup, that’s them, alright.” Cupping both hands around my mouth, I called loudly, “About time you two showed up!”

It took a few seconds more, then Vee came into view, her pace slowing as she breached the clearing. She didn’t look at all winded despite the fact she had what looked to be both hers and Chi’s packs on her back, as well as another bag in her hand. Chi came puffing up behind her, weapons slung along his back, uniform shirt already the worse for wear from the sweat, and a dark scowl on his face as he looked at his wife.

“Would it have killed you to go just a hair slower?” he demanded of her.

Vee patted him on the head, like an errant puppy. “Yes, it would. Blame all those baked goods you keep stuffing in your mouth. Bannen! Rena! Wow, even Dah’lil and Emily beat us here.”

“You’re slow,” Maksohm informed them with a wide smile on his face.

We all converged in the middle, exchanging handshakes and sometimes hugs, relieved to see each other for varying reasons. Dag, naturally curious, drifted up to the group and stared wide-eyed up at Vee. We’d told him the stories but it never sinks in just how big a giant was until you saw one in real life.

Chi, of course, spotted him and sank down onto his haunches. “Secret love child!”

Dag and I spat out in unison, “Ewwww.”

Chortling at his own joke, not fazed in the slightest, he greeted Dag cheerfully. “Hey there. I’m Chi Franklocke.”

Trying to be adult, the little mage thrust out a hand in greeting. “I’m Dag.”

Accepting the hand, Chi shook it solemnly, a hint of mischief in his eyes. “Dag, eh?” Tilting his face up to mine, he asked, “Secret love child?”

“Chi,” Rena said in exasperation, coming around to stand behind Dag and putting her hands on both shoulders, “you know very well he isn’t. I’d have to have been an eleven-year-old mother to have a child this age.”

“With love, all things are possible,” he assured her gleefully.

Apparently Bannen liked this joke too much to let it go. “Absolutely, he’s our secret love child and has inherited a healthy talent for magic and a Void Mage’s eyes.”

“No, truly?” Vee went down on a knee to get a better look, which still made her tower over Dag, but at least she didn’t loom quite so much. “Wow. They certainly are similar. That’s amazing. Dag, do you know if you have a Void Mage ancestor?”

“Wouldn’t matter if he did,” Rena corrected. “Remember? Nothing of a Void Mage’s magic is hereditary, not even their eyes. It’s just an interesting manifestation of his magic, is all. But Vee, Dag was the one who spotted the energy signature first, so we can’t discount whatever he sees. He’s still learning to decipher the schematics of the world and what it means, but I’ve gone over every type of rock inside that mountain. He knows them well. If any of you hear him say that he sees something strange, heed him.”

“We certainly will, young Magus,” Vee assured Dag directly, nothing about her tone or expression the least bit condescending. “Report to any of us if you see something, alright?”

Dag seemed a little awed that a mage would ask him for help and it took him a second to find his voice. Then he squared his shoulders, craning his neck to meet her eyes directly. “I will.”

“Good.” Standing again, Vee looked around at the group and asked, “Are we going in tonight for a look?”

“I’d like to,” Rena answered honestly. “I’m not sure if any of us will get any sleep otherwise. We have another thirty minutes or so of daylight left. If we’re quick, we can go in and take a good look and at least get an answer before we lose the light completely.”

“I’m for it,” Maksohm agreed readily. “Bannen, Emily, Chi? I figured you’d agree. Alright. Vee, that last tent on the row is yours. Throw everything in there. As soon as you’re ready, we’ll go investigate.”

Words could not express how much better I felt having my team with me. Part of me still didn’t believe that an active shard of Toh’sellor lingered in there, but whether there was or not, I had the right people to combat it. I knew Bannen agreed with that one hundred percent, as he looked less inclined toward homicide.

We all gathered up weapons, Chi downed half a canteen of water to recuperate from his mad sprint up here, and I knelt down to give Dag some last-minute instructions. “Toh’sellor’s energy isn’t like anything else in the world. That strange mixture of gas, and dust, and chaotic energy. You remember what that looks like?”

Dag nodded faithfully. “I do. It looked all snarled, like a kitten played with it.”

I had yet to hear a better description than that. “Yes, exactly. There’s nothing clean about Toh’sellor’s schematic. If there is something in there, you’ll see it out here, as it will be a larger, more intense version of what you saw before. Alright? If you see that, you take everyone down the mountain immediately. When it’s safe, we’ll come fetch you.”

“Okay.” Dag stared hard at the mountain, looking a little uncertain, but his chin tilted up in a determined slant.

It seemed a bit much, to leave this kind of burden on an eight-year-old, no matter how smart he might be. Still, I didn’t have anyone else to trust and I didn’t want to send him away from us if I didn’t have to. This was probably a false alarm. But previous experience kept us from taking the situation lightly.

Tousling his hair, I stood and headed for the mountain. The workers already had their instructions, Mack especially, so I passed by them without another word. Bannen fell in at my right side, and Maksohm lifted a barrier as soon as I was close enough to him. Vee and Chi took up positions at my back and left side, as usual, with Emily and Dax positioned in the center with me, and I couldn’t begin to describe the relief I felt having them surround me like this. I’d never been harmed with these five watching my back. It might’ve been foolish, but I felt like little in this world could prove a real danger to me with these people at my side.

We marched further into the tunnel, Vee keeping a mage light hovering above our heads. The bright white glow cast eerie shadows along the smooth rockface. I ignored that and looked beyond the surface, into the land of power, elements, and numbers.

It took no effort for me to spot the haze of energy. I tunneled further in at full range, Vee hitting the area with a wind spell to clear the dust so people could breathe without choking. Tunneling in went much faster with her here to clear the air, thankfully. Before, I had to wait a few minutes for the dust to settle before I could continue. I was grateful for it, as each minute that it took dragged at my already tight nerves. I wished, for the millionth time, that I could put my spells on a grimoire like other mages. It would make my life so much easier. Unfortunately, my magic flat didn’t work that way and nothing I did could convince it to conform to normal magic traditions.

Another hundred and sixty feet into the mountain, a good twenty feet from the energy, I stopped and stared hard. Everyone stopped with me, holding their breaths, waiting to see what I would say. It was clear to me at a glance, but I looked beyond, not wanting to make assumptions or speak carelessly. Still, there was nothing else to see at this juncture. “This pocket of energy is dormant, just a trace residue.”

Chi let out a breath. “That’s great. No sign of a shard or anything?”

“Not at this point,” I admitted slowly. “But you know what this looks like? A fallen minion. The energy was just trapped there because it got caught in the rocks.”

They all exchanged glances that spoke volumes.

“Rena.” Maksohm took in a breath, let it out, and asked the obvious question. “Can you confirm whether a branch of Toh’sellor is up here or not?”

Grimacing, I tasted the words, hot and sour before I said them. “Not at this point.”

“Do you feel that if you continue to tunnel, you’ll be able to answer that question?”

“I sure hope so. Otherwise I have to dismantle a mountain range to get an answer.”

“It’s completely sexy when she says stuff like that,” Bannen observed to Chi with a manic smile, “because I know that she can literally do that.”

“Dangerous women are hot,” Chi agreed in perfect accord.

I ignored the byplay. Their bantering was how they dealt with the stress of having a potential danger nearby that they couldn’t actively attack. “For now, I vote we back out. We don’t have any real daylight left and I can say for certain that there’s no active energy of Toh’sellor in our immediate vicinity. It’s safe enough for tonight.”

Relieved, Maksohm dropped the shield and motioned us back out. I trudged, feeling exhausted even though I technically hadn’t done a lot of magic that day. The emotional rollercoaster was no doubt to blame for it.

“Did anyone actually check on Toh’sellor’s status in Westhaven?” Emily abruptly asked.

“Yes, actually,” Maksohm answered steadily. “I called Magus Trammel while I was packing up. He assured me that Toh’sellor has been completely contained since its arrival in Westhaven. It hasn’t even grown a millimeter since Rena saw it last.”

Of course, I’d heard from Maksohm already about this, but I had a feeling I knew why Emily asked the question. “Em, this energy that I’m seeing, it predates the first time we battled Toh’sellor. I think this was one of the side branches that it sent out all over the world. The difference here is that there shouldn’t be any trace of energy after so many months have passed, which is why I’m freaking out a little. There’s either something about this mountain that resonates with Toh’sellor’s energy and preserves it, or this was the one shard that Toh’sellor sent out that managed to become independent before we took the main body down.”

“You know, those two options are just so appealing, I’m not sure which one I’d rather go with,” Chi drawled sarcastically.

I shrugged, as I had to agree with him, but I didn’t have anything but the truth to offer.

“It’s like being offered two different types of poison,” Bannen agreed with saccharine sweetness, growing more sarcastic with each word. “Which would you prefer, the yellow lemonade poison or the red cherry delight poison? They’re just both so appetizing, aren’t they?”

“Why, good sir, I would always choose the red over the yellow,” Chi responded acidly. “Red will match the blood as it spills all over the ground.”

“An excellent point.”

Now they were just being ridiculous. “Trapped, dormant energy isn’t going to kill you.”

“Will it straight jacket us with our own arms?” Chi demanded. “Or grow tumor buddies, like we’re in a plague? I know Blanks got new fingers out of that deal, but I’m quite attached to mine. Literally.”

“It doesn’t even have the energy to do that,” I promised him. “If it did, I wouldn’t say it was safe to stay tonight.”

“Camping out near a mountain with a possible Toh’sellor Jr. stuck inside,” Chi groused, shoulders hunching in. “I think I’ll skip sleeping tonight. I’ll work on my poetry instead.”

“If you go sleep deprived and punch drunk on me again, I will clock you in the jaw and put you out like a light,” Vee promised him darkly. “If Rena says it’s safe to sleep, it’s safe to sleep.”

Chi glared up at his wife but didn’t argue. Or at least, didn’t argue loud enough that she could hear what he actually said.

I had a feeling that Maksohm would be putting a shield up around the entire camp tonight. Otherwise none of us would be comfortable about sleeping so close to the mountain. Not even me.

I did not sleep well that night. None of us did. I could hear people getting up and down throughout the night. Somewhere near dawn I dozed fitfully, but when the light got strong enough to shine through the tent flaps, I got up and dressed quickly. Bannen took over cooking breakfast, which involved a rice porridge with pumpkin in it. We all ate, me more than most, trying to compensate for the lack of sleep. I’d need the energy soon.

Maksohm sat on a log next to me and asked in an undertone, “What do you want to do today? Keep tunneling forward?”

Part of me just wanted to dismantle the mountain until I made sure that there was no active part of Toh’sellor inside of it. But that wasn’t reasonable. “I was hired to come up here and carve out a tunnel inside the mountain. I think I should keep doing that and keep a sharp eye out while working. I can’t guarantee that Toh’sellor’s energy is in any specific direction, after all, and just carving out chunks blindly will bring the mountain down on top of our heads.”

“And drain you badly in the process,” he agreed with a troubled sigh. “I wish I had a better solution to offer but you’re unfortunately correct. We’ll pace ourselves with you. Should I keep a shield up?”

“Just in case?” He could hold shields all day without really tiring, so I didn’t feel bad about asking. Keeping up a shield would let me actually focus and work and potentially keep everyone else from jumping right out of their skins.

“I’ll do that, then.” Maksohm eyed the mountain as if it had personally insulted his mother. “Just when I think we’re done with Toh’sellor, it somehow rears its ugly head again.”

Bannen dropped down to a comfortable seated position at our feet, bowl in hand, and groused, “Tell me about it. I really hope this is just a false alarm, though. I’d much prefer that than having to fight another Toh’sellor in close quarters.”

“We all feel that way,” Maksohm assured him darkly. “Alright, in fifteen minutes, let’s resume tunneling.”

I finished up eating, attended to nature, then thought to check in with Dag before we went back to work. Keeping him here seemed like such a bad idea now, but I couldn’t risk having him portaled anywhere. If something really happened, we’d need all of the magical energy that we could get. It was a sticky situation and I didn’t know the best call to make.

Vee caught up to me and leaned in for a low-voiced conversation. “Rena, about Dag—”

“I know,” I groaned, hands spreading in a helpless shrug. “But what do I do? We can’t portal him out right now, we need to reserve our energy. It’s not safe to keep him here, but I don’t know where else to send him unless your mother will watch him.”

“I’m sure she will, but that wasn’t what I was about to say. Dag is adamant about staying here and helping us keep an eye out. He’s been amazingly well behaved for his age, and very focused. I think we should respect that and keep him here. At least until we’re sure if Toh’sellor is inside or not.”

That was not at all what I’d expected her to say. “You really think so?”

“Apprentices start taking on responsibilities at eight,” she reminded me. “He’s safe enough out here with the men, right? And he can help safeguard them. He’s done everything we’ve asked of him, Rena. Trust him a little.”

She was right. It was just hard because my maternal instincts were flaring up, saying I needed to safeguard that child. I had a responsibility to do so. Blowing out a breath, I rubbed at both of my eyes with the pads of my fingers, trying to think while sleep-deprived. “Alright. Let me talk to him.”

Vee patted my shoulder, bracingly, which meant she nearly sent me flying to the ground. “One more thing, though….”

I gave her a curious look as she trailed off. “What?”

“When you were in Gargan, did you hear anything about the cenebre that live in this mountain?”

That did not sound promising. More like, the way she asked that question while shooting troubled looks at the mountain didn’t inspire good and happy things. “No…? We heard about legendary creatures, but not a specific name. Why?”

“There’s a lot of old legends and stories about a magical race of monsters that call this mountain home. According to the stories, they were incredibly difficult to defeat and we nearly lost half our population before a truce of sorts was worked out. No one of Gargan would willingly even climb up this mountain, much less try to claim it.” Vee leaned in closer to confide in a low tone, “Two different railroad companies have been petitioning for years to tunnel through Cloudland Mountain and create a bypass to Gargan. The Elders on the Gargan Council have fought them off every time. I’m surprised you’re here, frankly. I didn’t think they’d gotten permission.”

Remembering the petition and the stop work order I’d seen posted, I suddenly doubted they had. “They might not have. They might have decided to just pay the fine instead.”

Vee’s face screwed up in a sour way. “Wouldn’t that be just like them? Sards, so we’re here illegally?”

“Might be. I’d say it was almost a moot point at the moment, as I need to tunnel in a little more just to verify that no offspring of Toh’sellor is in there. But Vee, this creature you mentioned?”

“The cenebre? Yeah, nasty pieces of work. I’m not all that sure if they still exist or not,” she admitted frankly, casting another worried look toward the mountain. “No one’s seen them in the past hundred years at least. They could have died out and we wouldn’t have known it.”

“Or they could be alive and well.”

Vee shrugged helplessly, her hands splayed to either side, palms up. “Them’s the breaks.”

“You’re just full of good news, aren’t you?”

“Wouldn’t you rather know of potential trouble?” Vee asked me, her expression saying very well that she knew which I’d prefer.

“Well, yes, but I want less potential trouble. Is that so much to ask?” Grimacing, I went to find Dag.

The little boy sat next to the kitchen, his eyes trained on the tunnel opening and his face scrunched up in thought. When I dropped down next to him, he didn’t take his eyes away from whatever he was studying and greeted me with, “I couldn’t see from here if the energy is gone or not.”

“Yeah, the tunnel stretches in too far back.” But kudos to him for trying. “Dag. I need to go back in there with the rest of the team.”

“Yeah,” he agreed and spared me a glance. “I’ll keep watch out here. Don’t worry, if there’s trouble, I’ll take them all back down.”

Since when was he the appointed leader of the rest of the adults? I sensed Bannen or Vee’s doing in this, somehow, as that seemed the sort of directions that they’d give a child. Then again, neither of them had been children for long growing up, turning to adults too quickly. They seemed to think all children were capable of more because of it. “Right. I’m trusting you to do that. I’m not convinced Toh’sellor’s actually in there, it could be leftover energy, but I might be wrong.”

His grey eyes, so like mine, glowed with earnest fervor. “I’ll help you destroy it if it’s in there.”

Why was he so adorable? Not about to dismiss him or his offer, I ruffled the back of his head. “I’m counting on you. Keep a close eye on me as I’m working, okay?”

“Okay.”

“I dislike this pattern that is developing,” Chi informed me as we marched along at Rena’s side, our weapons at the ready. Never mind that we had nothing to shoot at. It was the manly version of security blankets, and we felt better having them in our hands.

“What pattern?” I asked, a touch of black humor drawing the right side of my mouth into a smile.

“The ‘let’s go through narrow tunnels’ pattern. Which one did you think I meant?”

“The ‘let’s figure out if Toh’sellor is here’ pattern.”

“Oh. I hate that pattern too, but I specifically mean the one where we keep going underground, in tunnels, that are spooky.” Chi’s voice rose as his agitation started spilling out of his mouth. “I hate tunnels on general principle, they call them fatal funnels for a sarding good reason, but there’s no high vantage point for me in these places. Especially if Rena’s tunneling it, the sides are perfectly smooth, and there’s nothing for me to climb, and it’s about as comfortable as fire ants holding a dance party under my skin.”

Vee put a hand on his shoulder, gripping, shooting him a sympathetic grimace.

I shared his opinion on the matter, though. Being in close quarters with no line of sight on Toh’sellor or even a guarantee it was in here was enough to give me the willies. I didn’t like willies.

Emily stroked Dax’s head in a soothing manner as she voiced what I thought. “What disturbs me more is that there’s a possibility of other shards of Toh’sellor somehow surviving.”

“Right?” I agreed with her, a shiver dancing along my skin. “I mean, if there really is a part of it lurking in the mountain somewhere here, doesn’t that mean there’s a possibility it could survive other places too?”

Maksohm shot me a look. “Both of you, stop. I want to be able to sleep peacefully at some point before I die. Can you not stir up even more trouble?”

“You think I like the thought?” I shot back, although I regretted saying anything, a little.

Another chunk of rock disappeared ahead of us, Vee’s wind spell carrying the dust outside so we could breathe clean air. Nothing shouted Toh’sellor to us, so we kept moving at a stop-and-go pace as my wife steadily tunneled our way through.

“Actually, the more I think about it, the more I believe that we’ll hit an answer fairly soon,” Rena offered. She paused before spellcasting, taking the canteen from her waist and drinking it down.

That sounded reassuring. I crowded in against her back, sneaking in a cuddle. “Yeah? Why’s that, honey?”

“Toh’sellor doesn’t like stone.” She leaned her head against my shoulder, chin tilting up so she could meet my eyes. “Remember? It always warps stone if there’s absolutely nothing else to work with, and even then not very effectively. I think there was something inside this mountain that drew it here, but with all of the rock surrounding it, there wouldn’t be any place for those minions to go. So there must have been a cave, or a cavity of some sort in here with lifeforms, but they would have died out quickly, as there’s no other power source to feed Toh’sellor or room for it to grow with.”

“I really, really like that theory. Why didn’t you think of it earlier?”

“Too panicked,” Rena admitted with a grimace. “This didn’t occur to me until just now, actually, but the further in I go, the more stone I see and little else. I mean, there’s vents and pockets, but that’s—Vee? That’s a very strange look on your face.”

Turning, I looked up at our friend and Rena was right, that was a very strange look on our friend’s face. Vee looked torn between panic and disbelief, as if she’d just heard something she couldn’t quite reconcile with, but was deathly afraid was reality. Her mouth opened and closed, then she snapped her mouth shut, looking around her as if afraid something might pop straight out of solid rock and shout boo.

Chi grabbed her hand, hard, face drawn into lines of concern. “Wifey? What’s up?”

“There’s…” she trailed off, still looking around her anxiously. “Rena. That pocket of energy, you said that looked like a minion that had gotten trapped in the rocks. Right?”

Slowly, Rena nodded confirmation. “Right.”

“Why did you say minion?”

“There were traces of something with an animal’s footprint mixed in with the energy. Warped, of course, but it was there.”

Vee said something that would have gotten her arrested in Corcoran. She gripped Seton hard enough that the familiar shot up a line of colors in protest and she immediately loosened her fingers with vague apologies. “Sorry, Seton. Sorry. Look. I’m…I just had a disturbing thought. You heard about the legends before I came up, right?”

My attention sharpened on her. “Yeah, Mack mentioned that on the way up here. He said it was why he couldn’t hire any locals to help, no one would get close.”

Rena stopped dead and regarded her thoughtfully. “The monsters you mentioned earlier?”

“Cenebre,” Vee stated softly, looking disturbed. “No one’s ever gotten a good look at them, but legend said they were winged creatures as dark as night. They never expose themselves to sunlight, that’s their one weakness. But they can phase through solid rock, in fact they do so regularly, it’s how they travel. They normally nest in mountains and won’t leave their territory unless disturbed or attacked.”

Disturbed or attacked…like we were disturbing their territory right now by tunneling through it? No one said it but everyone clearly thought it, and the glances we gave each other spoke volumes.

“I hope I’m not right,” Vee added quietly, her grip on Chi tightening. “It’s just, when you said ‘lifeforms inside of the mountain’ that’s the only thing I could think of. Nothing else really lives in here.”

It was easy to overlook the missing parts of the picture. I hadn’t realized it until she said that, but in our time here I had seen precious little wildlife. No deer, skunks, squirrels, barely even birds or insects. I hadn’t thought much of it—what wildlife would be comfortable around a man’s campsite after all? Especially up here, where the animals weren’t used to seeing men at all. But the birds and insects and squirrels, those creatures knew no fear. We should have at least seen them. It was the end of June, this place should be hopping with babies and animals.

Unless, of course, a big, bad predator kept them all at bay.

“Rena, I really can’t prove anything one way or another.” Vee looked around uneasily once again. “But I think we should keep a sharp lookout for them. Even if the legends are wrong, something up here drew Toh’sellor’s attention.”

“Yeah.” Rena blew out a steady stream of air, looking even more stressed than before. I hugged her tighter around the waist, wishing I could help. We were all now thoroughly spooked. “Well,” she said with false brightness, “on that thoroughly creepy note, let’s keep tunneling through the possibly monster-infested mountain, shall we?”

My wife went back to tunneling, but the irritation I felt before was nothing compared to the paranoia I had now. I did not think Vee was wrong. She might not be entirely right, there might not be legendary creatures up here, but there had to be something up here for Toh’sellor to latch onto. That was just the way it worked—the chaotic creature needed animals to form minions with. It wouldn’t have burrowed into this much rock without something drawing its attention.

The close quarters of the tunnel had felt only vaguely claustrophobic before. Now I felt the mage light above our heads totally inadequate for our purposes, the light making more shadows than anything, obscuring anything behind us. A cold trickle of sweat went down my back and I had to fight to keep from leaping out of my skin at every twitch of sound.

Emily kept shooting me glances, puzzled and worried. After the third time, I growled, “Z’gher’s culture has a lot of superstitions, alright?”

“I didn’t mean to make you jumpy, Bannen,” Vee said with a wince, apologetic.

“Congratulations. You did it anyway.”

My team leader still gave me an odd look. “You fight monsters and assassins and mad mages all of the time.”

“And I know what I’m up against with them every time,” I shot back. “I’m not trapped in a fatal funnel with possible legendary creatures that can move through solid rock with my precious wife right in front of me!”

“Ahh, it’s Rena you’re worried about,” Maksohm responded, as if it all made sense now.

“Of course it’s Rena I’m worried about!” I came close, but I didn’t smack him in the back of the head for saying the obvious.

Despite my better judgment, we kept tunneling. Chi started facing backwards to the group, guarding our rear, which made me feel marginally better. Vee added another mage light to the front, Maksohm threw one up toward the back, and it cut down on the amount of shadows. That also helped. I felt less inclined to crawl out of my own skin.

I judged us to be almost nineteen hundred feet inside of the mountain by that point. I wasn’t sure if this distance was a good or a bad thing. It either indicated we weren’t going to find trouble, because surely any creature would have noticed us by now, or we were so far gone that there was going to be a swift and brutal attack. Flip a coin, it could go either way.

Rena didn’t see anything though. I knew she didn’t because she kept speaking her spells, her words never faltering. I saw no hesitation in her and really, it was her eyes more than anything else that I trusted to spot trouble first.

Another chunk went down. The dust swirled around our feet and waists, the wind spell clearing it out, and Rena…didn’t immediately launch into the next spell.

Was she tired? She’d been casting for about three and a half hours. Maybe she wanted to stop, get lunch, pace herself? I stepped in closer, question poised on the tip of my tongue.

“Sarding son of a Bauchi,” my wife swore viciously. “DOWN!”

We all dropped instantly, Maksohm throwing up a shield around our heads even as he sank to his haunches. Just in time, too, as something large and winged smacked right into the shield before skittering off.

And then proceeding to fly into a solid rock wall as if it were thin air.

“What…that wasn’t a bat, right?” Chi asked, voice shaking. “Sards, that wasn’t a bat, way too big. Vee?”

The half-giant’s eyes were wide enough to swallow her face. “Cenebre. Had to be. No other creature matches that description. Maksohm, we have to get out of here. Now.”

We all more or less agreed on that point and scrambled back up to our feet, running flat out for the tunnel entrance. Never had eighteen hundred-something feet seemed so long, so impossible to quickly cross. I knew Vee restrained herself to match our pace, and how she was able to control her panic that well, I didn’t know, but I respected it.

I kept an eye overhead for cenebre as I demanded, “Vee, how sure are you about them hating sunlight?”

“If the legends are accurate, sunlight damages them,” she answered, also staring hard at the entrance. “We’re safe during daylight.”

But not at night. She didn’t need to say that aloud. We all heard it.

Vee kept swearing as she ran with us, feeding us answers before we could ask the questions. “The cenebre are highly territorial, they’ll attack anything that comes in, and they’re quick to retaliate if you don’t respect their boundaries. My people had the worst time fighting them off because of that.”

I didn’t like the conclusions I drew. “How much trouble, exactly?”

“As in they’ll attack the nearest human settlement, or they’ll just attack us if we stay in their territory?” Maksohm demanded of her.

Vee winced. “Not sure? But likely the former.”

Maksohm swore, the rest of us more or less joining him, as that didn’t sound like a barrel full of laughs to anyone. Then we swore again as another cenebre swooped in over our heads, screeching in warning before disappearing into the opposite wall. We all sprinted a little harder until we tumbled through into glorious sunlight.

“Rena!” Dag ran up to us, catching her hand, his eyes as big as saucers, the words tumbling quickly out of his mouth. “What was that? It was like a really big bat, but it went through the stone like it was nothing.”

Of course he’d seen it, it was only twenty-something feet away, his eyes could manage that just fine. As Rena ducked down to answer his questions, my eyes sought out Mack. A lot of little things that had bothered me before now made worlds of sense. I could see it in his face, his very pale face, read it in the way he stared at the mountain, his body trembling. “Mack.”

Gulping, he shot me a look. “I didn’t…didn’t actually believe it. It was just a rumor. You have to believe me, I thought it just a rumor.”

Maksohm strode for him, catching the man’s collar and giving him a hard shake. I’d only seen Maksohm this royally pissed once before, but he was ready to commit murder right then and there. “You knew something was in there. Don’t sell me that line, I’m not buying it. You knew, your company knew, and you sent us in there anyway.”

Unable to refute that, the foreman shut down, staring at the ground without a single rebuttal on his lips.

Chi came up to stand at my side, but he still had an arrow cocked and ready to fly. Our archer wasn’t going to just trust the legends were accurate about sunlight. “Guys, look, I’ve hit my limit with all of this. I’m supposed to be on vacation, where I can kiss my wife and bake things that are bad for me, not deal with monsters from legends. And we still don’t even know if Tohsie’s in there or not. I’m not taking both of them on at once. Maksohm, how about we all go down, away from this monster-infested mountain, and report this in? I’m strangely not excited about dealing with this mess with only one team.”

“Me either,” Maksohm growled, prying his fingers away from Mack’s collar. I think what he actually wanted to do was choke and shake him for a while. “Vee, Emily, help me set up a quick perimeter barrier first. There’s a good chance we’ve riled them up so badly here that they won’t stay in their mountain come nightfall. If they leave, I want to know about it. And you, Foreman, you and I get to go back down and talk to my bosses and explain just how stupid you’ve all been. I can promise you, your company is going to be blacklisted and pay a very hefty fine for the events of today. You’d better pray that it doesn’t result in property damage and an attack on Mountain Point. If it does, you won’t ever be able to find work in this field again.”

“How sure are you that they’ll attack?” Mack demanded of Vee as we piled into the wagon. Only Vee and Maksohm didn’t join us, which was good, as there was no room for another person. I sat in Bannen’s lap as it was, with Dag positioned on the middle of the cart’s floor, dodging people’s feet.

“Ninety percent sure,” Vee responded tartly. She meant it as a rebuke to him but her worry underscored every word. I heard that more than anything.

“Maybe them flying over your heads was just a warning?” Mack asked desperately, lifting the reins in hand. He turned us toward the trail with a sharp slap of the reins, desperate to move even as he demanded for reassurances. The rest of the crew watched her hopefully as well, although they didn’t seem to really believe her answer would be a good one.

Vee stayed next to the slow cart effortlessly, glaring at him all the while. “Only if we’re very, very lucky. How lucky are you normally, Foreman?”

Swallowing audibly, Mack didn’t answer.

Even with us beating a hasty retreat down, it still meant three hours in a wagon on a steep and twisty trail. Bannen fidgeted, itching to move, but unwilling to leave my side. I kept his arms firmly around me, grounding us both. Maksohm had portaled ahead to Mountain Point, needing every second to get people moved to more defensive locations and under protective barriers. Everyone else stayed with us, Emily connecting me via TMC to Director Salvatore.

One could say it wasn’t going well.

“Clarify this for me, Agent,” Salvatore growled, sounding more pirate-like than usual. He actually sounded like he was on the verge of spitting on his hands, hoisting a black flag, and slitting a few throats. “Is Toh’sellor in there or not?”

“I can’t say one hundred percent either way, but I’m ninety-nine percent leaning towards ‘not.’ I saw traces of a Toh’sellor minion near the front of the mountain, and yet nineteen hundred feet inside, an animal flies over our heads, completely free of Toh’sellor’s energy. That’s not possible if there’s a shard of Toh’sellor anywhere in the area. It takes up everything within a radius of itself. If there are animals flying about unmolested, then what I saw was old energy trapped inside of the rock.”

“Is that possible?”

“Honestly, sir, we’ve never experienced anything like this before. Toh’sellor was only ever in one mountain range, and it was there for so long that everything in that area is permeated with its energy. I’m reporting to you exactly what I’m seeing and trust me, I’ll pass along this information to Magus Trammel at the first opportunity, as any scrap of intel is helpful at this point. But gut instinct says there was a shard up there, yes. It’s gone at this point. The only way to know for absolutely certain is to take the mountain down.” I almost didn’t say it, chewed on my bottom lip, debating the wisdom of saying it, but really? I’m the Toh’sellor expert. I had to trust my instincts. “Sir. Can I be perfectly frank with you?”

“Agent, I demand it at this moment. What are you not saying?”

“Seeing any trace of Toh’sellor scared the ever-living shenanigans out of me. If I’d been calm enough to think about it for a second, I would have realized Toh’sellor couldn’t be up here. Its shards all connected back to the main body, it wasn’t able to detach from the host. Since we have the host under lockdown, there’s no way for a shard to be up here.”

There was a ruminative pause where I could only hear him breathing heavily. “Thank you, Rena. That was very frank and it puts a lot of my fears to rest. Alright, so you think the shard up there is long gone, probably when you took down the host the first time?”

“That’s my guess, sir.”

“I trust your guesses over everyone else’s. Alright, we have one problem solved, then, or at least Toh’sellor is now a non-issue. Now, what’s this other creature that you’re panicking about?”

“Vee’s really the one to talk to,” I admitted frankly. Our giantess ran ahead of the wagon, keeping everything clear, ready to attack if necessary. I think she was too keyed up to sit still, really. “But this is what she told me. The creatures are called cenebre. They’re a legend up in these parts, huge creatures that are bat-like by nature. They prefer darkness, damp caves, and can apparently phase and fly through solid stone at will. They’re known to be highly territorial, which is why no one in this area would come up to work on the railroad.”

“And you saw one of these?”

“Yes sir. Two, to be precise. Not for more than five seconds, but they flew over our heads. It was huge, easily as large as an eight-year-old child. Vee was half-convinced the cenebre were just a bedtime story until we all saw it. Then she hustled us all out of there.”

“That begs the question, how territorial are they?”

“I have no answer, sir. According to Vee, very. The legends aren’t accurate about these things and they’re older than the hills. No one’s seen a cenebre in living memory.”

“How far did you get inside? How much did you disturb the area?”

“Absolutely no work had been done before I’d come up, as the men on site couldn’t get any laborers up there. I barely did anything the first day, as we stumbled across Toh’sellor’s energy fairly early on, so they might not have noticed me carving into the mountain. I did more work today than any other time, and we were eighteen hundred and ninety feet in when we saw the first one.”

“That’s barely inside their area.”

“I know,” I admitted gloomily. That didn’t bode well for us. “Dah’lil put up a barrier around the mouth of the tunnel before we left, but….”

“Doesn’t do much good for creatures that can phase through stone. That ability, is that confirmed?”

“Yes, sir. It entered and exited the tunnel by flying straight through solid stone. The rock was like air to the cenebre.” Which also alarmed me. If it could do that to the stone of a mountain, then what would prevent it from entering people’s homes?

Salvatore apparently had the same thought, as he turned downright grouchy. “I can’t get help to you tonight. There’s no one close enough to your area. The best I can promise is in two days. Can you hold out that long?”

“We’ll certainly do our best, sir.”

Vee slowed so that she jogged alongside the wagon, then gestured for the TMC.

“Ah, sir? Vee wants to speak to you.” I handed it over and listened in unabashedly.

“Director,” Vee greeted, tone clipped and business-like. “I just had a thought. I’m not a historian and I’m certainly not up on the legends of Gargan, but an Elder would certainly know more about these creatures than I do. He might even know how we get them to calm down and stay inside the mountain. Yes, sir, I know exactly who to call. My mother’s brother’s sister-in-law’s older brother is an Elder.”

I snorted softly at this rattling of relationships. For a giant, that was practically straightforward.

Vee’s expression slipped into one of relief. “Yes, sir, I’ll call him immediately. I don’t know if he can get to us tonight, the trains will likely stop running soon. Yes, sir. Here’s Rena.”

I accepted the TMC and slipped it back over my ear. “Here, Director.”

“Answer one more question for me. The company that hired you for this, did they know?”

“Their foreman had heard the rumors. The company itself I think suspected, as they were…very odd in their communications with me and overly generous.” Honesty forced me to add, “It could have been frustration on their end, as the work had been at a complete standstill for weeks, but…I think someone up there knew about this. Hiring the Void Mage for tunneling through a mountain is a little excessive, really. Other Mages could have done something too. I’m just more efficient than they are.”

“I suspect you’re correct. I’ll handle them after we have this situation sorted. Make sure to keep record of all damage and how many hours everyone has to work to avert this disaster. I’ll take it out of their financial hides.”

I really liked this man some days. Glancing up, I saw Vee move ahead, a small mirror in her hand as she called home for help. “Yes, sir.”

“Salvatore, out.”

Taking off the earpiece, I handed it to Emily, then gripped her hand hard. She needed the reassurance, as she looked a little white around the eyes, a little paler than normal. “How you doing, Em?”

“I don’t like bats,” she responded in a high, thin voice.

“Yeah, I know, it’s why I’m asking. You like bats about as much as Chi likes monkeys.”

Emily’s marmoset familiar sat up in her lap, chittering at me in rebuke.

“He doesn’t mind you, you know that,” I responded in exasperation. “You’re nice to him. It’s the mean monkeys in Njorage he doesn’t like.”

“You’re fine, Dax,” Chi assured the marmoset from his perch on the side of the wagon. He had bow in his lap, arrows notched but not drawn, ready to take down anything suspicious. “You’re intelligent, nice, and cute. It’s those mean dastards in Njorage that bite people for no reason that I hate.”

Soothed, Dax chittered to him for a moment before relaxing back in Emily’s hold. Emily translated for him, “I like you too, but I’d like you more if you shared your peaches more often.”

Chi snorted, eyes rolling. “Right. I’ll do that.”

“Don’t,” Emily dissuaded, wrinkling her nose at Dax and getting a glare in return. “He’s already a pig. He’ll be a hundred pounds at this rate. Alright, back to the problem: we have to hole up in the town tonight. What are the odds we can protect everyone?”

“It’s not that big of a town,” Bannen murmured, and I could just hear the wheels turning as he thought of numbers and logistics, “but still, there’s not many of us, either. Only three mages who can create barriers and that’s a lot for three mages to cover. If we can manage to cram everyone into one large building—what do you think, Rena?”

I did the math, calculating square footage compared to the rough population size of the town, and frowned at the answer. “We’ll be straining past our limits to manage it. I don’t know how feasible that is. Hopefully Dah’lil can get even several hundred on board a train and heading out, otherwise we’ll be in trouble come nightfall.”

“You know,” Chi said rhetorically, looking at no one in particular, “when someone predicts that something horrible is going to happen, I want them to be wrong. Just once, let them be wrong.”

Lifting a hand in the air, Bannen drawled, “Seconded.”

Emily lifted her hand as well. “Thirded. Motion carried.”

I was pretty sure that wasn’t how that worked, but was too sympathetic and amused to tell them so.

It might seem strange, but part of me—a large part of me—felt relieved that all I had to deal with was monsters. Toh’sellor and monsters did not a winning combination make. I would take one without the other any day of the week. It didn’t make the situation any safer for the town, of course, not in the immediate sense. But I found myself echoing Chi’s wish: for once, could our prediction of something going terribly awry be wrong? For once, could the monsters stay in the dark instead of coming out and attacking?

Vee turned in her tracks, stopping and beaming at us. My attention sharpened on her and I sat a little straighter, hopeful. That look on her face was very promising.

“What, wifey?” Chi called to her, also catching her expression.

“Vaughn, Wade, and Hugo are all coming,” Vee answered, her smile stunning in its relief and happiness.

I recognized all three of those names, and could put faces to them. Vaughn was the Elder Vee idolized, Wade and Hugo two of her cousins—and usually the ones enticing Bannen and Chi into various antics. I knew all three men to be very strong in giant’s magic, ferociously loyal in their support of family, and stalwart in their defense of the young. There was not much that could tackle a giant and win. Three giants? It put the odds back in our favor. “When can they get here?”

“The train’s not running our direction, but honestly, moving by earth magic is faster at this point. They’re running as fast as they can and swear they’ll make it before sunset.” Vee crossed herself in a silent prayer of thanks. “I owe them.”

We truly did. I’d make sure they got paid consulting fees for this, even if I had to pay them myself. Not that they wouldn’t have come anyway to help, but still I wanted to reward them for their help somehow. “Vee, call Director Salvatore, maybe we can get consultation fees for those three.”

She perked up, nodding in support of this, and immediately called back toward Foxboro.

Bannen heaved out a breath of relief. “Thank all deities, gods, spirits, and pink hippos. I feel so much better with those three coming.”

The problem I hadn’t known what to do about reared its head when Dag shifted at my feet, turning to put both of his hands on my knees, his face turned up so he could catch my eyes. “Rena, are the giants really big? Vee said that she’s short for her family.”

Sards, what was I to do with Dag? I couldn’t just send him to safety, we were conserving every drop of magical power we could, in anticipation for tonight. I could put him on the train, but who would I trust him with? I didn’t know anyone in this town outside of my own team. Would he be safe enough with us? Could we safeguard him properly in the fight that was likely to come? “Yes, they’re huge. Vee barely comes up to their collarbones.”

“Oh. If they’re that big, then the monsters can’t hurt them, right?”

I wished fervently I could deny it, but…well, if wishes were horses. Shaking my head, I explained gently, “The monsters are very clever, very hard to fight. The giants avoid their mountain for a reason. Having three giants fight with us only evens the odds more in our favor. Dag, listen, it might get very dangerous soon. I don’t want you in danger but I don’t think we’ll be able to send you to a safe place, either.”

“Stay next to me,” Emily encouraged him, surprising both of us. With a warm smile, she put a hand on his shoulders. “Dag, your eyes will be very helpful for me. If someone’s hurt, you can see better than I can how they’re hurt, or if there’s anything stuck in a wound. Can you stay near me, help me heal people? You can watch my back too while I’m healing, make sure nothing sneaks up on us.”

It was my turn to breathe out in relief, almost dizzy with it. The safest place in any fight was in the back lines, with the healers, as they were in the least vulnerable spot. Emily would likely have her hands full tonight, but as we’d discovered, giving Dag something to focus on and do kept him away from trouble. Assuming he agreed.

Dag’s eyes narrowed, those clear greys seeing the world more accurately than most of the adults around him. “I can do that?”

“We discovered it with Rena,” Emily explained to him, reacting as if she were speaking to an adult. “When we first fought Toh’sellor, Rena was able to see if any trace of its energy had infected people. She directed the healers on what to do, as she could see the problem better than we could.”

“Oh.” Dag considered that, then shrugged. “Sure, I can help.”

“Thanks, Dag. That’s a load off my mind. It’s a bit much, just one healer for this situation.”

Also unfortunately true. I caught Dax’s eye and the marmoset gave me a nod, silently promising to keep track of the boy too. Hopefully between them, they could keep Dag focused and away from the front lines.

I glanced up at the sky through the multiple branches above us, the leaves obscuring most of it, but I could still see the sun. We had maybe seven hours until sunset but not more, not this early into summer. Seven hours to somehow get everyone under cover, barriers up, and defenses set before the setting sun stole whatever safety the light had given us.

It was not enough time.

Chaos reigned at Mountain Point. We could see it as we crested over the last rise in the road. Rena sat tense and still next to me, watching. I could see the worry crease in her face, aging her. I shared the worry. I remembered the math well enough from the first battle with Toh’sellor, of how many mages it took to erect a barrier around an area, and how many people could be crammed inside of it. The math was definitely not in our favor here. I saw hundreds of people running along the streets, often with children or something precious wrapped in their hands, ducking in and out of buildings. Most of them seemed to be heading for a central point, though, a building closer to the northern edge of town.

Maksohm was supposed to commandeer a place to put people for tonight, but we didn’t know where. Vee apparently realized the problem at the same time I did, as she used the TMC in her ear to call him. I could only hear her side of the conversation, but I didn’t like the way her hand tightened on Seton, or the way her jaw set in lines of determination. “We’re on our way. Yes. He’s already on his way here, I don’t know how to reach him while he’s en-route. We’ll just have to do the best we can.”

“I never like those words,” Rena muttered to me, her tone barely above a whisper. “It usually prefaces trouble.”

I couldn’t disagree there. Granted, our best was fairly good, but this place had a lot of innocents to protect. I didn’t think we had enough manpower to safeguard all of them.

Turning to us, Vee directed, “Town Hall and the church next to it have been commandeered for our use. Maksohm says both buildings barely hold everyone. He got everyone onto the train that he could, heading for Gargan, but it could only seat three hundred people. There weren’t that many passenger cars. He also estimates, at max, that we can get four more trains’ worth of people out before sunset, which would be an additional fifteen hundred people or so.”

Not sure if I wanted to ask, I trotted the question out anyway, “And that leaves how many for us to defend?”

“Roughly twenty-two hundred.”

Wincing, I informed everyone in a somewhat rhetorical manner, “That’s a lot more people than I’d hoped she’d say.”

“It now makes more sense why Maksohm had to split them up into two buildings.” Rena frowned, and I recognized that calculating look on her face as she did some sort of math in her head, along with the grim way her mouth scrunched up.

I didn’t need to ask what she’d just calculated: how long three mages could maintain shields over two buildings. With a half-wince of anticipation on my face, I asked, “How long?”

“Three hours, max,” she answered, expression bleak. “That’s before they go into a Mind Down.”

Thunderation, I didn’t like that number. That left a lot of darkness to face. Chi caught my eye and I could tell he was not happy about this, not one bit. I couldn’t even suggest portaling to anyone because taking this many people out of the area in one night was impossible. Not even feasible. Salvatore was arranging backup for us but even they couldn’t get here in the next seven hours, not this quickly. We’d barely managed portal hopping while chasing Toh’sellor, but that had been on a different emergency level than this.

The streets of the town looked mostly abandoned by the time we actually put wheels to pavement. Many a task had been left, doors open, vendor’s stalls still sitting along the side without anything closed up, their wares out in the open without protection. I could smell more than one pot boiling over, the strange blend of half-burned food mixing into the air. My eyes went from one window to another, automatically double-checking that no one was still inside a business or a house, that they’d pulled out already. Nothing moved, nothing suggested the buildings were occupied, but I couldn’t help but check anyway.

With the town barely boasting thirty-eight streets, it didn’t take us long to reach the main square. Here, the crowd was so dense that it quickly proved impossible to stay in the wagon. Mack parked it off to the side and we all hopped out. People looked askance at us at first, then they registered the blue uniforms that Vee and Chi wore and quickly came toward us, asking all sorts of questions. With Rena and I out of uniform—we hadn’t thought to wear them this morning—they didn’t question us. I found myself glad for that, as most of the questions they asked, I didn’t know how to answer.

People who had carts or horses got on them and ran for Gargan, assured that they’d find refuge with their giant neighbors. Vee directed traffic out of town, I could hear her even from here, very faintly. I estimated another three hundred headed out that way but that left us with over nineteen hundred people still left to somehow cram into two buildings and protect tonight. I had to say, I wasn’t looking forward to it.

It quickly became bedlam, voices rising in fear and anxiety, words shouted over another’s, straining to be heard. Vee grew more frustrated as she couldn’t even decipher what was being asked; Chi didn’t even try, just forced his way forward.

As we forced our way through the crowd, I heard more than one voice raised as someone shouted something along the lines of I told you so! Why’d you do something so stupid and poke the sleeping monster! Which, really, I couldn’t blame them. In their shoes, I’d be yelling recriminations too.

We found Maksohm at the foot of the Town Hall stairs, looking beyond harried, his hair standing up on end as if he’d yanked his hands through it repeatedly. On spying us, he requested, “Bannen, you’re loud, shout directions for me. I need anyone who lives south of Main Street to go into the church, everyone north to come into Town Hall.”

“Got it.” Turning, I went over a few steps so I didn’t burst his ear drums, and then cupped both hands around my mouth to bellow, “EVERYONE WHO LIVES SOUTH OF MAIN STREET, TO THE CHURCH! EVERYONE NORTH OF IT, GO INTO TOWN HALL! I REPEAT, ANYONE WHO LIVES SOUTH OF MAIN STREET, INTO THE CHURCH! ANYONE WHO LIVES NORTH OF IT, INTO TOWN HALL!”

“Bless your lungpower,” Maksohm praised me, patting me once on the shoulder in thanks. “I’m about to lose my voice. Wait a few minutes and then do that again.”

“Where do we stand?” Rena asked him, her weight shifted forward as if she prepared herself to spring any direction he pointed her to.

“I’ve got about half inside at this point,” he answered her steadily, still using arms to direct people in like a train conductor. “The mayor and his people are at the church directing there. People are not at all happy, but grateful for the protection and are moving as fast as they can, it’s just a lot to cram into two buildings at once. I think we’ll have everyone under cover by the time darkness hits, but it’ll be a near thing. Chi, I need you and Rena to find a good vantage point for you two to work from. Somewhere high, good lines of sight.”

As they were our effective long-range fighters, that order made complete sense to me. Rena cast me a look, made sure I heard this, and I gave her a reassuring nod. “Go, we’ll handle matters down here.”

The familiar bond pitched a fit, rattling anxiously about her going out of sight.  I thumped it, trying to make it behave. We had hours of daylight left, she wasn’t in any danger in this crowd, and Chi had her back. Rena was fine.

Me, I might be trampled to death by anxious and frightened people, but my wife was just dandy.

The bond kept rattling, growing more and more anxious, and I thumped it harder. My heart pounded, a loud rhythm that drowned out all other noise, and my breath started shortening to the point I felt like I was choking.

Stop it. Stop it, you stupid bond.

A strong hand caught my arm, and Maksohm stepped quickly into my view, dark eyes anxiously scanning my face. “Bannen?”

“Get her back,” I rasped out, nearly choking on the words.

“Okay, breathe,” he instructed. “Deep breath in, hold it for three seconds, breath out. Do it again. Ground yourself.”

I knew how to do this, mainly because Rena did it, and I followed his instructions desperately, as I couldn’t afford to have an anxiety attack right here. I found three things in my line of sight, three scents, touched three things with my fingers, tasted three things in the air, using all senses until I felt the panic receding. I felt a little foolish for it, because who panicked just because their wife walked out of sight?

He stayed planted until I stopped vibrating like an eel out of water, his grip never lessening on me. “Alright? What set you off?”

“Rena walking off,” I admitted on a calmer exhale. “Stupid bond. I’m alright, Maksohm. Go back to organizing this mess.”

Those sharp eyes of his weighed me, evaluating, then apparently reached the conclusion I told the truth. I had no doubt he’d keep an eye on me, but he agreed. “Alright. Still need Rena?”

I shook my head. The panic was receding. I no longer felt like clinging to my wife’s shadow.

“Then help me sort people out.”

“Sure.” I felt grateful for something to do, something to turn my mind to. Sards, I really had to get this bond-anxiety sorted somehow. I couldn’t afford to react like this during a battle. As much as I hated to admit it, maybe my teammates had a point about the therapy. Assuming that they could find me a good therapist, and not another Clara, at least.

It wasn’t something I could do about now, at any rate. I took a couple more steadying breaths and resumed yelling instructions at the top of my lungs.

Dag stared up at me curiously, his hand tangled at the bottom of my shirt. “You okay?”

“Yeah, little man, I’m alright.” Eight-year-olds probably didn’t understand anxiety attacks and I didn’t want to explain it. I gave him a half-truth instead. “You know how I’m Rena’s familiar? Sometimes the familiar bond pitches a fit if she’s out of my sight. Like now, when there’s danger coming. I just have to thump it and make it behave, is all.”

“Oh.” He tried to look wise but I could tell the explanation only partially made sense to him. Shrugging, he chose to accept it and inquired, “Can I help you yell at people?”

“That is entirely the nicest offer I’ve gotten today,” I informed him, charmed. “Here, hop up on my shoulders so they can see you, and yell your lungs out.”

With absolute confidence that I wouldn’t drop him, Dag climbed up onto my shoulders, hands gently on top of my head, situated comfortably. When I stood to my full height again, I could hear and feel him draw in a deep breath before he yelled with commendable lungpower, “EVERYONE WHO LIVES SOUTH OF MAIN STREET, TO THE CHURCH! EVERYONE NORTH OF IT, GO INTO THE TOWN HALL!”

Nothing, absolutely nothing in the wide world, was louder than a screaming child. I think my eardrum just burst.

“Dag,” Maksohm observed at my side, “your new job is to yell at people. You were equally as loud as Bannen, and he’s the biggest loudmouth I know.”

“Hey,” I protested, not sure if I should be insulted or complimented.

Dag, at least, took that as a compliment and said cheerfully, “Okay. Tell me when to yell again.”

“I certainly will.” Maksohm had the gall to wink at me before he shifted to the other side of the door to continue to herd people through.

For the next six hours, that’s all we did, stand there and yell and herd people into the right buildings. I could hear them shuffle about inside, moving to allow for the influx at the door with a minimum of cursing, so I took that to mean things were settling as well as could be expected. Some people were smart enough to bring food in with them, and they either shared or called to others to grab food before coming inside. Which was a good thought, as we’d be stuck inside until morning. A few people left again, grabbing food or some other essential item before returning, which messed up our lines. I could see Maksohm’s eye twitch whenever he spotted a familiar face.

The sun set slowly, so slowly over the tops of the buildings, turning the sky into a wash of purples and oranges and reds, the air growing steadily comfortable as night descended. As slowly as that process seemed to take, it also felt like it passed in the blink of an eye.

Dag yelled at Maksohm’s signals, and I slowly lost whatever hearing I preserved for my old man years. With my ears still ringing, I watched the last of the townspeople enter the double doors, then set Dag back down on his feet. We had perhaps another hour of daylight left to spare, which meant I needed to find my wife and figure out where she and Chi had set up shop.

“Vaughn!” Vee nearly squealed in delight before bounding right off the church steps and racing for the giant trio who had suddenly appeared from a side street.

“Whoa,” Dag whispered at my side, his eyes going round with wonder. “They’re huge.”

“Those three,” I informed him dryly, amused despite the tenseness of the situation, “are full grown giants. Vee’s only part giant, remember? Come on, let’s meet them properly. Vaughn, Wade, Hugo!”

“Bannen,” Wade greeted, striding forward, his hand outstretched and clasping my forearm in a tight enough grip to threaten bone. Worry creased at the corners of his dark brown eyes, but I noticed more that he’d taken the longest part of his brown hair and braided it along the side, similar to my own in style. He noticed my look and his grin winked out at me. “Looks stylish, right?”

“Absolutely,” I agreed with a pointed look down at Dag. I resisted the urge to say ‘see, braids are cool’ because I’m older and wiser than him.

Dag stared up at the giant doubtfully. “Braids are for girls, though?”

“Are not,” I argued immediately. Okay, not much older or wiser. Wade chuckled, more at me than Dag, and I stoutly ignored it. Move along, mouth, don’t linger here. “Dag, this is Wade, one of Vee’s cousins. Wade, this is an apprentice mage, Dag. His eyes are as good as Rena’s, so if he sees something strange, he’ll report it to you. Please heed him.”

“Like our little Rena?” Hugo came around to clasp a hand on my shoulder in greeting, then bent at the waist to extend his hand to Dag, who somberly took it, despite being dwarfed by the giant. I swear, Dag was the size of Hugo’s forearm. Even for a giant, Hugo was on the large size, as he liked to body-build. Blue eyes turning dark in the waning light, Hugo looked Dag over carefully. “Then you sing out, little mage. We’ll hear you. Bannen, where is our Rena?”

I still found it endlessly amusing the giants adored my wife so much. Just because she was destructive, too. They approved of anyone who packed as much destructive force as Rena did. “Up somewhere, she went in search of a good vantage point.”

“Good,” Vaughn declared, shifting around to greet Maksohm, our team leader trotting up to us. “Agent Maksohm, I’ve reviewed every tale I know with these two as we ran here. There’s two things the cenebre were known to avoid. Sunlight, of course, and anything of a fiery nature. One tale I know of, from the very early days when our people first encountered them, holds that they used mirrors and torchlight in order to keep the beasts at bay during the night.”

Maksohm and I shared a look, because that sounded feasible, or would if we could pull enough mirrors together quickly. “You think it will work?”

“The angles of it will be tricky, but especially if you can spell light on the mirrors?” Vaughn shrugged his massive shoulders, a tendril of grey hair escaping the pony tail at the nape of his neck. “Even if it doesn’t work, we need to see them coming, and it will provide enough light for that. I think it will be our best option of riding this night out without many causalities.”

“Then let’s gather up some mirrors.” Turning to me, Maksohm ordered, “Go into Town Hall, I know there’s mirrors throughout the building, and have people gather them up and put them in front of every window and doorway. I’ll spell them when I can get there.”

“Have Emily help our building, you focus on the church,” I disagreed, afraid he was spreading himself too thin. “Wade can help us.”

He didn’t even think about it, just nodded. “Go.”

Dag turned and raced ahead of me, already calling for mirrors as he went. I hoped people would respond to him but realized it would come better from an adult’s mouth and jogged after him. Wade kept up by just stretching out his legs. The showoff.

“Elder Vaughn said that the cenebre were unleashed by Rena?” my giant friend queried with a doubtful look on his face.

“Not on purpose,” I assured him hastily. I didn’t want him to think we’d been reckless or brought trouble down on our own front stoop. “We didn’t know anything was up here. Rena was contracted by a railroad company to put a tunnel through the mountain as a bypass to the established line. We thought we were doing everyone in Gargan a favor.”

“Ahh,” he intoned darkly. “This makes more sense. The railroad corporations, they’ve talked about a bypass for years, tried to get our permission to build it. We refused every year. Sometimes we tried explaining, not that they wanted our explanations. Of course they’d go for the newest people in the country, the ones that don’t know better yet.”

“They actually approached the MISD first.”

“Who also didn’t know,” Wade grumbled darkly. “We had no proof to offer the outside world, just legends and stories, and nothing had touched us in living memory. But one of the hard rules of Gargan is to avoid that mountain. It’s nearly sacrosanct, in fact.”

That much? With good reason, as we now knew, but hearing that made me squirm uncomfortably. “So…how mad is everyone that this happened?”

“Not your fault,” Wade assured me and patted me reassuringly on the shoulder, hard enough I almost lost my balance and staggered into a beautiful faceplant. “And you called us the minute it went wrong. That means you’re not in trouble. You can’t be held accountable to a rule you didn’t know.”

I was perfectly okay with not being in trouble. It was a rare thing in my life. I chose to savor the moment while it lasted.

Dag burst through the main doors and yelled at the very top of his lungs, “WE NEED MIRRORS!”

“What for?” a voice called back, not in a tone of challenge, but hope.

Wade strode through, having to duck a lot to clear the doorway, and grinned at the people staring back at him. They looked alarmed, anxious, hopeful. “We’ve come to help,” Wade announced in a voice that echoed like a crack of thunder, vibrating and rolling down the long hallway. “Lit mirrors will repel the beasts. Gather up everyone in the building and set them in front of windows and doors. Quick-smart, now, we’ve no time left before the sun leaves us completely.”

As people leapt up, scrambling to obey, I issued a quick, silent prayer. I reeeally hoped that mirrors were effective. Better yet, make them be completely unnecessary.  Let ancient legends be wrong sometimes, amen.

I heard them before I saw them. Sitting up in the bell tower of the church, Bannen on my right, Chi on my left, we had our eyes peeled toward the east and the mountain. Still, even with my eyes, I could hear them coming through the clouds before I actually saw them—the sound of wings cutting through the air, the slight hollow rush of it overlapping as many bodies flew toward us. Both men stayed poised at my sides, their attention on the sky, hands lingering on their weapons.

Vee and Vaughn stayed below at the ground level, with Maksohm, Wade, and Hugo at Town Hall to help there. I’d chosen the church just because it had a higher vantage point and I knew that I’d need it. I’d had to wash the sill of bird droppings first, which had given my anxious nerves something to do while we waited for the sun to set. It seemed a silly thing to do now that they were coming for us.

“Darn, I hate using my ‘I’m right’ so early in the day,” Chi lamented with a sigh that sounded as if it came from his soul. “I know Vaughn said that they’d follow our scent train and come after us, but geez. We left their territory and didn’t kill anything, doesn’t that count for something?”

“Apparently not.” I looked at the cenebre rushing toward us, becoming clearer in my vision every second, with a sort of grim resolve. We had low odds of this night ending in our favor.

His head tilted up toward us, Vaughn called out in his deep, mountainous voice, “Rena, you see them?”

“I do!” I called back, straining to be heard, “but they’re barely more than shadows! They’ll have to be closer!”

He grunted, not surprised, and went back to staring intently at the sky.

As loud as we were, I knew everyone inside the building had likely heard us. They’d opened all of the windows, partially for air circulation, partially because of the mirrors. Maksohm wanted a way to run around the building and renew or tweak the light spells on the mirrors, and leaving them in an open window was the easiest way to do that. He’d lose too much time if he tried crawling over people inside. Plus, this way people could tilt the mirrors as necessary. It worked better all around. And it wasn’t like the windows were any kind of detriment anyway.

I heard the townspeople murmur, the stink of fear rising. I tried to ignore it as best as I could, as I didn’t need the distraction, nor did they.

Bannen leaned in closer to my side, kissing my temple in an absent gesture of comfort and affection. “You’re fine. The wards will stop them long enough to give you time to cast.”

“I know.” And I did, but I still liked hearing those words. They relieved some of the pressure.

No one was quite sure of the physical makeup of the cenebre, and because of that, Maksohm had used his strongest barriers around both buildings.  I prayed it worked. Giant’s magic worked so different from modern magic that the giant ancestors who had last fought the cenebre didn’t try to use any sort of magical shielding. We had no basis to judge from.

“Seriously, why are they attacking?” Chi grumbled. “We left.”

Vaughn apparently heard him, as he answered in a dark rumble, “Not the right way to look at it, Chinny. Say a man stormed into your house and broke something—perhaps he broke all of the windows—would you just let him leave again? Or would you chase after him and extract some vengeance?”

That unfortunately made sense. “So by tunneling in, I broke their windows.”

“More or less, not that our Rena can be blamed for that. You didn’t know better.” Vaughn’s tone suggested he knew exactly who to blame for this snafu and he would address his grievances with the appropriate party as soon—and as loudly—as possible.

The cenebre drew closer, turning from mere splotches against the dark clouds to the size of bats. I couldn’t make out anything but generic lines at this distance, yet I still stared resolutely upwards, ready to form a spell to take them down the very minute I had enough information to do so. My plan, rough as it might be, was to delete all carbon and water from their bodies. Every mammal had that in common, and I knew from the brief glance I’d had at one earlier in the tunnel that they were mammals, so I hoped this plan would work. It would be the easiest thing to cast, the quickest, and I needed speed now like I never had before.

Closer, now, more the size of cats than bats. Lines of energy grew visible but not close enough for numbers. Maksohm had the barriers set as close to the building as he could get, only giving himself three feet of room on all sides. I knew the cenebre could get in my face if they chose. If I let them. I really didn’t want them that close, honestly, because I had no desire to test the barrier’s integrity.

My heart sped up, its beat almost a war drum in my ears. The air felt warm and sticky against my skin up here at this elevation, the night air not giving any coolness, but I didn’t really feel it. The adrenaline surging through my body shoved such details to the background.

Closer still, the distance no longer skewing my perception of their actual size. I could almost make out numbers—there! Now I could see them. Carbon 12, water 20 liters. They moved so quickly, with such speed as they dove straight for us, that I didn’t think I had the time to get a full incantation off before they hit that barrier. I spoke quickly, the words tumbling and ramming into each other, nearly tangling my own tongue. This time, at least, I could give a general direction instead of pinpoint precision. I told my magic to attack anything in the sky.

With a purr of delight, I felt my magic warm in my chest and fly out in response, as eager to destroy as a bloodhound after prey. I watched it wing forward, beautiful and destructive, obeying my command. Good, good, get all of them—

I barely had the thought half-formed when something slammed into the right side of the building, all along the roof. An audible screech rent the night air, then a cracking sound that put chills up and down my spine.

Bannen whirled, throwing knives in between each finger in his right hand, ready to defend me. He blocked my view of the roof so I couldn’t see what had happened, and that nearly panicked me. “Bannen, what?!”

He swore viciously for a moment before shifting enough that I could duck around him and see for myself. “Now, I’m not an expert, but that looks all kinds of bad.”

Oh. Yeah. That rather did. A cenebre stretched along the spine of the roof, its narrow snout open in a snarl, the slitted pupils of the eyes gleaming in the darkness like a cat’s. It had both bat-like wings spread in a threatening manner, claws digging into the slate tiles underneath its paws. Bannen flicked his daggers at the thing, each landing in a slightly different spot in its bared throat, and it died in a gurgled screech of pain.

“That,” Chi observed with false calm, “is just going to ruin my whole night.”

Swearing, I lurched for the front of the tower and screamed, “DAH’LIL! THE BARRIER ISN’T WORKING!”

“How do you know—?!” he called back, cutting himself short as something impacted the building down below at an angle that I couldn’t see. Then he started swearing.

“That’s a good indication,” Vaughn observed tightly. “The mirrors aren’t deterring them either. Maksohm, drop the barriers. Time to do this Giant style.”

I didn’t know what that meant and had no time to question it. If the barriers didn’t work on these things, that meant I had no safety net, and I needed to cast as quickly and often as possible. The barrier abruptly dropped as Maksohm released his grip on it, and even though I knew it wouldn’t help to keep it up, my stomach dropped out when it did. I hated it when those foreboding feelings came back with smug I told you so’s. Dastards.

Vee’s voice rose as she casted a variety of fire spells, Maksohm joining her, although I couldn’t see anything from this angle. The fire blazed through the night sky like fireworks, hitting their quarry with stunning accuracy. I didn’t have a precise headcount but it sounded as if they were clearing out what remained of the first wave. Spying another flock coming in at us hard from the northeast, I went back to spell casting as fast as my mouth could move. As I spoke, I could hear the boys talking to each other, both of them closing in like living shields at my sides.

“Well, mother hugger, I don’t think I brought enough arrows for this party. You, Bannen?”

“Definitely did not bring enough daggers for this, no. It’s embarrassing, not having enough party favors.”

“Right? We’ll have to make sure we’re properly packing next time. Sards, it’s hard to see until they’re right on top of you. Where’s Dag when I need him?”

“Vee stole him. Whoops, take that back, Hugo’s got him.”

I resisted the urge to glance down to see what they meant by that. I needed to keep an eye on Dag, as much as I could, but I had to trust the others to help me do that in situations like this. When I got the last word out, only then did I glance down and found Dag sitting on Hugo’s shoulder like a giant parrot, one of the big man’s hands wrapped around his thighs to keep him in place, the other wielding earth magic as he stomped, moved, and gestured to a beat. His magic flared up and sent small chunks of cobblestones whistling through the air as swift and deadly as arrows. I’d never really seen much earth magic in motion, perhaps a handful of times, and they’d always moved massive amounts of dirt at a time. I’d thought of giant’s magic as strong and bulky, but this put paid to that impression. Apparently, giant’s magic meant they could move earth as they wished, and in whatever size and quantity they deemed necessary.

Dag, at least, seemed to have the time of his life. Even over the roar of the cenebre, the screams of alarm from the people below us as they used mirrors to deflect the monsters, the shouts of the giants as they coordinated with each other, I could hear our boy apprentice yelling out directions to fire in. He clearly played in his element, as he had giants as allies and monsters to battle—the stuff of little boys’ dreams.

He was seriously another Bannen. I might need to pay Mary to raise that one.

That two seconds was all I could spare and I focused again on the sky. The flock ahead of me—twenty-three to be precise—had come in close enough that I feared they’d go right through the building in the next few seconds. Six of them dove down, heading straight for the building, and I focused on them because there was no way for me to catch all of them. They veered, going every possible direction, some of them already escaping my line of sight. My magic flared, determined to get to the ones right in front of me first, and barely made it by the skin of my teeth. They poofed out in a cloud of fine dust, scattering in the wind.

Chi’s bow sang as he quickly took out three headed for us. I didn’t duck, although instinct nearly sent me down to my knees. I latched onto the stone sill in front of me to keep my feet.

“Chi, are the arrows working?” I demanded. It was the one question I hadn’t been able to ask, fearing the answer.

“Not a hundred percent,” he answered tautly, the strain visible in the tense way he held himself. “If they see it coming, they can sometimes phase through it. But most of the time, they’re focused on the fire spells, or on the mirrors, and I can get ’em.”

That was something. I’d been afraid conventional weapons wouldn’t work at all. It had to be frustrating him, though, that he didn’t always hit what he aimed for. Chi hadn’t had to worry about hitting a target in decades. I was grateful he could at least hit some of them, as I couldn’t catch them all, no matter how hard I tried. They just moved too fast.

Head turning, I panned the area, feeling my mouth dry out slowly from speaking so much and all of the yelling I’d been doing. I had a canteen of water at my waist but I didn’t dare uncap it at the moment. There was another flock of them, I could hear them in the wind, but with the storm clouds rolling in, I couldn’t get a visual of them.

Where…where? Anxiety clenched my gut tightly, a sick, twisting feeling. I knew they were here, somewhere off to my right, I just couldn’t lay eyes on them. What I couldn’t see, I couldn’t destroy.

“South-east, four o’clock,” Bannen directed me sharply.

Head turning, I spotted them. Someone pointed a mirror in that general direction, which helped for a brief second, then they jerked the mirror another way. I couldn’t see from this angle well enough to protect the sides of the building, but from the sounds of it, Maksohm, Vee, and Vaughn had things well in hand. Or at least I hoped so. We had our hands full up here.

Several screams sounded below us, and I could feel the building shiver as if something had passed through it. Sards, they’d gotten past our guard somehow and through the building itself?! The giants bellowed orders at each other, and I heard the inhuman cries of the creatures as they were killed, but I heard other human sounds of pain and the cries of the dying mixed in. I just knew that we had casualties in that moment and my heart broke. Even doing everything I could, it didn’t mean we’d get through this unscathed.

I cast again, taking out that flock, then again as another approached due east. How many were there? The nest of them had been unmolested for centuries before we came along. With no natural predators and a whole mountain to claim as their own, how many of them existed in the flock? How many would they send against us? All questions I needed answers to, but there was no one who knew.

The air abruptly went still, all sounds of combat dying. I could hear a few screams and cries of pain, Emily’s voice calling for people to help her move someone. We hadn’t come through that wave of attack unscathed, although I prayed no one had died because of it. I wasn’t naïve enough to believe that prayer would be answered, though. It rarely was.

The absolute silence of the rooftop felt like a graveyard. Or the beginning of a haunted story. I saw nothing, no hint of movement in the clouds, nor did I hear the beat of wings on the wind. The question stayed poised on the tip of my tongue: Is it over? I didn’t ask it. I felt like it would break the moment and invite trouble on my head if I did.

“I don’t…hear anything,” Chi ventured cautiously, craning his neck in different directions. “That surely couldn’t have been all of them.”

“We might have forced them into a temporary retreat,” Bannen opined, although his tone was doubtful. He didn’t really believe it.

I glanced at both men. Hard to read in the scattered lighting from the ground, I felt unsure of what they were thinking, only that it wasn’t pleasant. “And the only way for us to know for sure is…how? Stand up here all night in the humidity waiting for them to show up, and likely driving ourselves to either nervous breakdowns or heart attacks?”

“You know,” Chi observed to Bannen deadpan, “when she describes it that way, it just has such amazing appeal, you know?”

“Doesn’t it though? Oww, wife, that’s my rib.”

I did not let up the pressure, poking my finger into his ribcage even harder, because I wanted an answer, not these two bantering.

Groaning, he squirmed away from me, pulling my wrist to the side to escape a hole being drilled into his side. “Yes, it probably means we’ll be on watch the rest of the night. I don’t think we should all stand here, though, let’s take it in shifts. HEY, MAKSOHM!”

“WHAT, BANNEN?”

“RENA DOESN’T SEE ANYTHING ELSE COMING. WANT TO TAKE THIS IN WATCHES?”

There was a beat as Maksohm mulled this over and consulted someone else, his tone audible, but only half of his words discernable. Then he shouted back, “YES! CHI, TAKE FIRST WATCH, THEN BANNEN, THEN RENA.”

That was sensible order, really. Chi had the sharpest eyes here aside from Dag and I, and he was sure to spot something if the cenebre rallied in the next few hours. If not, odds were they wouldn’t come again at all tonight, and letting me take the longest shift to sleep would leave me well rested to tackle the situation tomorrow. At least, I hoped that was his logic. I wasn’t sure if I should ask to clarify.

Bannen doffed his shirt, leaving him in an undershirt, and wrapped it around me, and I nestled against the side of the tower. Even in the height of summer, the stone had just enough chill to it that I felt it, but the shirt offset that and I hoped that even curled up and half-upright like this, I could catch at least some sleep. Bannen settled in next to me, and I pillowed my head on his shoulder. I wasn’t in the least sleepy, adrenaline still rushing through me, but I knew I should rest while it was on offer. I drank deeply from my canteen before passing it to the others, and they all rehydrated as well before settling in.

It was going to be a long night.

By the time the sun rose, I felt drained of all energy. Rena had panda eyes, Chi was sliding into being dry drunk, and the rest of our crew was some mix of the three. Staring blearily at the lightening sky, and the sun peeking out just over the side of the mountain, I wished strongly for hot tea. Coffee. Maybe just the grounds. Just pour them in, a little hot water, I’d swish and swallow. It would be fine. “Just for the record, I’m firmly against bats now. Chi, your thing might be monkeys, but mine is bats because black things with wings that can fly at me and go through shields like they don’t even exist and try to take my head off? Not a fan.”

“Bats are now my thing too,” Chi promised darkly, then yawned. “I don’t care if these things weren’t bats. They looked close enough that they had a bat as an ancestor, and I don’t like them. They aren’t getting any birthday cards from me.”

Rena, being the practical one, used the wall and my arm to lever herself up to her feet, huddling inside of my shirt. The dawn air had a slight nip to it. I felt it more now, as we’d been standing around idly for the past few hours. Fighting warmed up the blood, but standing watch cooled it. A shiver danced along my skin. I’d love to get my shirt back but my wife looked the wrong side of cold. I’d let her keep it until we could get inside somewhere.

“I haven’t seen any sign of them since dawn threatened,” Chi observed, sounding almost idle, “so it seems like legend had it right and they really do hate sunlight. Just in case, let me hang out here, maybe you two go down and find out how we fared?”

Part of me dreaded finding out. I’d heard a lot of blood-curdling screams during the course of the night, more than a few voices raised in either pain or grief, and even with Emily working full load, we only had one healer. She couldn’t possibly have saved everyone. Grimly, I nodded, then opened the trap door in the floor and climbed down the ladder.

The immediate area below, square and small as it was, had no one in it. Take a single foot outside of that, and I barely found enough floorspace to put a foot down without either stepping on someone or tripping over a leg. It was insanely packed, so much so that I felt glad we’d been posted up on top instead of inside, as I did not like crowded conditions for long periods of time.

The building itself showed little damage, but I could see the toil of the night on the faces and bodies of the people around me. People had bandages on, clothes torn, bruises forming visibly on their skin. Mirrors lay discarded carefully on top of the tables, ready to lift again at a moment’s notice. As Rena and I stepped down, all eyes turned toward us, silence rippling out in a small wave.

“Is it safe?” A woman with a small child asleep in her lap caught my sleeve, holding me hostage, her dark eyes intense with emotion. “Are they gone?”

“Haven’t seen a shadow of them in two hours,” I answered honestly. “We think they retreated with the dawn. Safe enough, for now.”

She hoped for a different answer, I could see it in the bitter twist of her mouth, but nodded, accepting the truth I handed her instead.

The front door opened, I could hear it, then a voice boomed out, “Bannen, Rena, you down here?”

“We are,” Rena called back, crowding up against my back. She didn’t have the room to step around me. “We’ll come to you.”

“Alright. Ladies and gents,” Vaughn called to the rest of the building, his voluminous words echoing effortlessly through the building, “we think the cenebre have retreated for now. We’re going to wait another hour to make sure, then we’ll temporarily release you to go to your homes. Be aware that people are coming from Gargan and the MISD to help us, and we expect them to start arriving today. We won’t face the cenebre short-handed like this again. We’ll do whatever it takes to stop this from reoccurring, but be patient, we’ve not fought these things in hundreds of years. It might take more than one try on our part.”

Only weariness met this announcement and a few strangled curse words. It wasn’t the best of news for us, either, as that meant Vaughn didn’t have a plan. I liked plans. They tended to get the job done.

It took hopping, giant, stretchy leaps, and a few dance steps I’d half-forgotten I knew, but eventually we made it to the door. Vaughn reached out and grabbed our arms, lifting us the rest of the way so we didn’t have to fight the last ten feet of the foyer to freedom. “You’re a bro,” I told him gratefully.

Chuckling, he sat me down, then picked up my wife like she was a toddler and held her to him. Rena snuggled right in with a sigh of relief. “You’re like a heater,” she complimented him, purring in true contentment, eyes at half-mast.

“It’s why I came,” he assured her, voice rumbling with amusement, a grin tugging at his mouth as he looked down at her. “To keep you warm and beat up legends.”

“And we’re glad you did,” she assured him happily.

Vee, Wade, Hugo, and Maksohm all drifted out from different doors and joined us at the front. I didn’t see Emily, which didn’t surprise me, but more alarmingly, I didn’t see Dag. “Vee, where’s the squirt?”

“Fast asleep,” she informed me, jerking a thumb toward the church. “I got him squirreled away with Dax. He did good until about three hours ago, but when nothing else came at us, the adrenaline wore off and he fell asleep on me.”

“It was rather funny,” Wade tacked on with a wide grin. “He was stretched out over her shoulders like a cat, not at all worried she’d drop him.”

I’d be worried. Vee did drop people occasionally. Which was fine for me, I had superior reflexes, but I hadn’t trained those into Dag just yet. But as long as he was fine and in a safe spot, I wouldn’t worry about him just now. “Good. Maksohm, hate to ask, but what was our casualty rate?”

“Sixteen dead, about thirty wounded,” he answered, taut and drawn. “Emily nearly put herself into a Mind Down before I could stop her. I’ll be very glad to have reinforcements come in. I spoke with Director Salvatore not two minutes ago and he assures me that they’re being portaled up as quickly as he can manage it. I expect the first wave in about three hours. We’ll get fifteen agents before sunset.”

That sounded infinitely better than what we’d been working with last night, but still sadly insufficient. I didn’t say that because Maksohm’s frown told me he already knew the obvious.

“I don’t know how many are coming from Gargan.” Vaughn used his free hand to scratch at the stubble on his chin, a salt and pepper blend, apparently not bothered that my wife showed no interest in standing on her own feet. “I left word for some of the warriors to come, the ones sufficient in giant’s magic, but I don’t know how many can respond. We’re in planting season for summer vegetables right now.”

Feeding giants took full time dedication so we all understood how important it was for everyone to be on deck for planting season. Even those who weren’t farmers by trade had family gardens to start.

“Vaughn,” Maksohm started, then stopped, brows furrowed as he worked through what he wanted to say. “Something you told Chi last night stuck with me. You drew an analogy between what the cenebre were doing and what a man would do. That if a man broke into our house and broke our windows, we’d chase after him.”

“Yes, so I did,” Vaughn agreed, bushy eyebrows arching a little in question. “That is how animals work too, and I do not think the cenebre much different.”

“Taking this thought another step, if a man broke into my house and broke my windows, I’d certainly chase him, but I’d also forgive him if he came back with new windows. Or fixed what he’d broken. Not all animals work on that theory, but some of them are intelligent enough to be bargained with. Are the cenebre?”

Vaughn rocked back on his heels for a moment, a low sound vibrating in his throat as he hummed and considered. “I do not know. The records have it that they’re as intelligent as a rodent. They don’t have the intelligence to be bargained with. But I believe it’s worth a try. It is not wise to beard the lion in its own den, or to follow a snake into its burrow. I do not want to try to clear the mountain of the cenebre by fighting it. My ancestors tried this. We have a whole ballad that sings of the battle and the many losses they incurred. I do not recommend it.”

If a giant, who shared my opinion that danger was fun, thought it a bad idea, I did not want to do it.

Chi leaned over from the bell tower and called down, “But Vaughn, I thought crawling through a monster-infested mountain was your idea of a good time!”

The giant laughed and pointed a finger up at him. “Sarcasm suits you well, little cousin, but I know you’re not that crazy.”

“Shut it, I’m totally that crazy, especially after staying up all night shooting at things that I believed were part of a child’s bedtime story. That could randomly phase through my arrows if they concentrated. Right now, in fact, I’m eighty percent exhaustion, ten percent sarcasm, and twenty percent of don’t care.”

Rena, of course, added that up and pointed out in amusement, “That’s a hundred and ten percent.”

“Twenty percent of me doesn’t care,” he repeated blandly.

“Should’ve seen that coming,” she observed, more to herself than anyone else. “Well, I’m with Vaughn, I do not like the idea of going into that mountain and fighting with scary cenebre. That does not sound like my idea of a good time, oddly enough. But I’m not sure how, to extend the metaphor, you plan to fix those broken windows? I poofed the stone out of existence, it’s not like we can shovel it back in.”

“No,” Vaughn agreed in a tone that didn’t really agree at all. “But we have the ability to close it up again, I think. If I put enough people up on top of the mountain, we can awaken its energy and cause the tunnel to collapse back in. Done carefully, we will only disturb that section.”

Giant’s magic could move an incredible amount of dirt or stone, especially when they linked energies and worked together. I’d seen groups of six men literally move a hill that was in the wrong spot for them to plant. It took them a good three hours and some sort of complicated footwork that looked more like a dance than magic, but they’d done it. I had no doubt that if they put their minds to it, they could manage to collapse Rena’s tunnel without too much effort. “Are the three of you enough to do that?”

Vaughn cast a considering glance at Vee, which she caught, and she lifted both hands in the air and shook her head violently in denial. Huffing out an understanding breath, he answered me, “No, we’ll need at least one more, I think. We’ll have to wait for one of our brethren to get here. Maksohm?”

As the most senior agent here, all of this fell under Maksohm’s leadership, and it was nice of Vaughn to respect that even though he was definitely the most senior person here. Maksohm spread his hands in a shrug to either side as he craned his neck to look up at the Elder. “You’re the expert on these creatures, not me. I think that it’s certainly worth a try. How long will it take for you to do this?”

Instead of answering, Vaughn asked Rena, “Your tunnel was how large? Exactly.”

“Eighteen hundred and ninety feet long, thirteen feet wide, fourteen feet tall,” she rattled off.

“Hmm, we’d be there all day if we tried to fill that in. I don’t think they’d take kindly to us stomping around on top of the mountain for ten hours.”

“Maybe just the entrance?” Maksohm suggested. “Prove that we’re not interested in going back in.”

“It’s not a bad thought. I think it will work, and if we do just the first twenty feet inside the entrance, it would take an hour at most,” Vaughn answered, free hand see-sawing back and forth. “Maybe two, depending on how stubborn the stone is. And if we have to fight off cenebre while trying to collapse the tunnel.”

I feared that last one the most. Although they seemed very determined to stay out of the sunlight, so maybe if we stayed outside, we’d be fine? I crossed my fingers and hoped for that strongly. If all went well, and Vaughn’s plan worked, we still couldn’t just leave tomorrow. We’d need to stay two or three days to make sure that the cenebre were content to stay in the mountain after this. Two or three days of resting on a knife’s edge sounded exhausting. I felt every ounce of exhaustion from fighting and running for the past twenty-two hours.

“Maksohm, when’s nap time?” When my team leader quirked a very eloquent brow at me, I realized I probably could have phrased that better. Then Chi snickered and I knew I could have phrased that better, or at least used a different tone so I didn’t sound like a whiny two-year-old. “You know that thing inside your head that keeps you from saying stuff you probably shouldn’t? Mine’s broken.”

“Fortunately for you,” Maksohm retorted, his admirably straight face hiding the fact he laughed on some internal level, “I figured that out a while ago. Yes, Bannen, we will all have nap time at some point today before we go face the big, scary monsters up in the mountain.”

“Sounds like the best offer I’ve had all week,” Rena muttered to Vaughn. “I ask you, why do children get designated naps when adults need them more?”

“A question for the ages, my Rena,” the Elder answered with a shrug that lifted her a half-foot further into the air. “I feel a nap coming on myself. Let’s tell people they can go home and rest first, then hope that some soul has pity and offers us food and a pillow.”

We had people to temporarily settle back in their homes, breakfast to find, and logistics to put in motion in order to protect the town. The train was coming back in, already on its way, but it would take a few hours to get there. As soon as it did, we’d ship more people out, just in case. While waiting, we might as well eat. I could tell my husband was tired, his feet dragging as much as mine, but we couldn’t really stop and rest until the other MISD agents got here.

Thankfully, they did somewhere around noon and hit the ground running. The mayor helped find food for all of us, one of the restaurant owners opening his place up and feeding us for free, which we all heartily appreciated. The food did much to restore me, and my stomach stopped threatening to chew on my backbone, although I still wanted a nap.

It didn’t look like we’d get one.

We just didn’t have enough time. It took three hours to trudge back up to the mountain, and here we were with only about eight hours of daylight left. We literally had enough time to go up, try something, then race back down again. If it didn’t work, we needed to be in place to protect the town. If it did, we wouldn’t know it until sunset.

More battles have been won and lost in history due to logistics. I never really appreciated that until now, facing our own logistics in this battle.

Maksohm trotted off as soon as the first senior agent—or at least a senior-enough-agent—appeared on scene. I assumed he was briefing the woman so that she could take over. That part went more or less past me because the rest of our expected giants arrived well before the train did, sprinting the entire distance in and using earth magic outrageously in order to boost their speed. They came to a halt at the train platform, a little winded but pleased they’d arrived in such good time. I recognized only three faces out of the five but that didn’t bother me. I really loved the three people I knew. Running up the stairs of the platform, I waved an arm over my head. “Piper, Quincy, Blaine!”

“There’s our Rena.” Quincy took two long strides before sweeping me up in a careful hug, which I appreciated, as he could squash me like a paper cup without meaning to. Even among the giants, Quincy was on the strong side. I threw both arms around his massive neck, barely reaching all the way around, avoiding his bushy beard so I could breathe. “We came as fast as we could.”

“You came just in time,” I promised him, then relaxed and leaned back, perfectly confident he wouldn’t drop me. “We need to leave in about ten minutes to go up. Did someone brief you?”

“Just that the cenebre had been stirred up and attacked the town, that’s about as much as we know,” Piper answered, coming around her brother to see me properly. She was ‘short’ for a full giant, meaning she was only eight feet tall, and slender. Piper had also won the earth-moving competition in Gargan for five years straight, which made her the ideal person for this situation. “How did this happen?”

“I’ll tell you the story on the way up,” I promised faithfully as Quincy put me back down.

Vaughn strode forward and called to them all. “Good, you all made it. Oscar, Rosa, you come with me. I’ll introduce you to the MISD agent in charge here. You’ll stay and help protect the town in case we fail tonight. Piper, you come with me. Quincy, Blaine, stay or go?”

The two men shared looks, then did a round of rock-paper-scissors without any discussion. Quincy won, and he announced to his Elder with an admirably straight face, “I’ll go with Rena.”

Awww, I was the prize? That was flattering. Either that or being able to take on legendary monsters was the real treat. Come to think of it, second option was more likely.

“RENA!” Maksohm called to me from somewhere behind. I turned to look, spotted him sitting on the cart’s bench. Everyone else he’d already gathered, as it held Bannen, Chi, and Vee, with Maksohm at the reins. Emily was nowhere in sight, nor should she be, as she was still tending to the wounded from last night. For this, we’d all voted she was better off in town than up the mountain.

“I take it we need to leave now,” I translated without any effort.

We all moved toward the cart, and I could tell from the look on Quincy’s face that he didn’t think the giants would fit. I knew for a fact they wouldn’t. At least, the draft horses pulling the cart couldn’t manage that kind of weight while going steadily uphill. Not on that kind of incline. “You going to run up?”

“I think we better,” Vaughn opined with the same dubious look on his face. “In fact, why don’t you four nap while we drive up? Maksohm will fill us in.”

“That I will,” he agreed, turning on the bench and waving a hello. “Piper, Quincy, thanks for coming. I’m not sure how we’d manage this without you.”

Bannen extended a hand, which I took, letting him pull me into the cart. I settled in at his side, glad they’d already arranged themselves so we could all more or less curl up along the floor of the wagon and nap. Vee and Chi faced one direction, Bannen and I another, and it was definitely a tight squeeze, but we made it work. We’d slept in tighter quarters than this. “Dag?”

“Wade’s got him. He wants his eyes here on scene in case we don’t get back before nightfall. That and the kid needs to sleep. He lasted longer than most of the adults.”

It was the safer option, to leave him here, and I was glad of it. Glad, too, that Bannen helped me keep track of him, as I apparently needed help in that region.

I ignored the conversation between our giant friends and Maksohm as we headed out, the cart giving a single lurch as the horses got it in motion. The wheels on the paved road made a soothing, constant sound, and I could feel my eyes getting heavier by the second. I wasn’t at the point of true exhaustion yet, where my very bones ached, but that peeked around the corner. Better rest now, while I could. I might not get a chance to later.

“I’m so tired I could eat a horse,” Bannen sighed, snuggling me into his side, adjusting us both so he could rest more comfortably.

Chi was pillowed against Vee’s shoulder, and looked completely asleep, but muttered a response. “I identify as a horse and this offends me.”

“I identify as offends and this horses me,” Vee added in, completely nonsensically, with a straight face. Her eyes never opened either.

Bannen, not to be outdone, deadpanned, “I offend horses, identify me.”

“I think the main question here is why you would eat a horse if you were tired?” I glanced between the three, expecting another round of nonsense, and was met by snores. Right. Clearly, that was their last hurrah before naptime.

Closing my eyes, I settled down. I didn’t really fall into a true sleep, more like a deep doze, as sometimes when the cart hit a rut in the path, I felt it jar through me. But I never truly surfaced, either. It felt like fifteen minutes passed when someone tapped my shoulder, and I blinked, yawning and stretching like a waking cat. “We here?”

“We are,” Quincy informed me, putting both hands under my armpits and lifting me free of the cart like a child. “So this is the site of madness, eh? You left everything behind when you ran.”

“We did,” Bannen answered thoughtfully, face pulling into a frown. “Which likely isn’t helping our case any. Maybe we should pack it all up and send it down?”

“Chi and I will pack it up and I’ll portal some of it down,” Vee offered. “Rena, maybe you can just destroy the rest? Like the tents and the camping gear up here, we don’t really need any of that. Just personal belongings need to be taken out.”

She brought up a good point. It sounded perfectly logical, too. Her gamine grin matched mine because that wasn’t the reason why we thought it a good idea. Any further costs that we could incur to the negligently stupid company who’d caused this situation sounded good to us. “Let’s pack it up. Vaughn, just so we don’t get in the way, where do you plan to set up?”

“On top, I think.” Vaughn’s eyes drifted over the area, and the incline of the mountain that covered my tunnel, measuring it. “Yes, I think that best. We can do Eagle Swooping Down that way.”

Piper, Quincy, and Hugo all shared looks that spoke of excitement. I had no idea what exactly Eagle Swooping Down meant but I understood roughly what it referred to. Part of giant’s magic was not only being able to move earth, but to move it through coordinated efforts with other giants. Through the many centuries that they’d been practicing their craft, the giants had developed a series of movements, almost a dance step in order to achieve these coordinated results. I’ve seen them in play a few times before, the first being when we spent the holidays with Chi and Vee. It was highly impressive, actually. When the giants synchronized like that, every gesture, every step, every shift of their body weight was perfectly in tune with the rest of the group. It was stunning to watch visually. More so to watch on a magical level, as the sheer amount of force and energy they manipulated was breathtaking.

Maybe if I was fast enough destroying things down here, I could properly watch while they worked up there.

With that goal in mind, I quickly dove into the nearest tent. I shoved everything out that looked remotely like a personal belonging, then went to the next tent. Bannen followed after me, ducking through, and demanded, “What are you in such a hurry for?”

“I want to watch them,” I explained, not even looking up. That suitcase, the blanket looked like a handmade quilt…yes, that was it out of here. “Shove this out.”

“Really,” he drawled, snorting in amusement, “you’re moving this fast so you can watch them. Well, alright, I grant you it’s fun to watch. I’m not sure if you have enough time for that, though, they’re already partway up the incline.”

Giants could move quick as a rabbit when they were of a mind to. I shot my husband a pointed look. “Maybe I will if you’ll stop yakking and help.”

Holding up his hands in surrender, he bent to the task.

Our own things, Bannen packed up instead of just shoving them outside of the tent. Chi and Vee did the same with theirs, of course, and I didn’t expect anything different. Even with me racing around, I missed it when our giant friends actually made it to the right area. Fortunately for me, they paused and yelled down a few questions to Maksohm, making sure they were dead center over the tunnel. It bought me the necessary time to destroy all of the tents, the cookware, building supplies, and any other odds and ends still lingering. Aside from the suitcases of belongings, nothing up here indicated that humans had been camping out except for the remains of the cook fire pit.

Turning, I craned my neck up to watch them. I couldn’t see everything from this angle—a few trees blocked my view—and I couldn’t see their feet at all. Still, I watched raptly as they all lifted their right foot, arms coming up and stretching out to touch their neighbors’. They were synchronizing with each other. Vaughn let out a low hum, so subterranean in depth it vibrated through the air.

Then they moved.

Their feet lifted to almost their chests and came down with an impact that shifted the mountain so forcefully I felt the aftershocks even where I stood. It didn’t move the tunnel, more like it woke up the mountain, saying: You’re moving soon, get ready. It was a call to action.

As one, the giants lifted up into the air, graceful as dancers, their legs and torsos spinning, landing on one foot, arms spread up, one lifting above their heads. I saw the tunnel shake visibly, the air around it thrumming, the stone about the area shuddering as it shook itself loose of its moorings. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that the we’d be in for an avalanche shortly.

They spun the other way, landing on the other foot, then lifted up, both knees rising into their chests, landing in a crouch before springing up again, arms lifting far above their heads before slashing down. All of the stone visibly moved when it did that, shifting up in a fluid motion, and not in a way I expected, as I thought they’d bring the roof down. Instead, they took earth from both sides, only some from the top, filling in the tunnel a foot in every direction.

All four of them spun in place, lifting up and repeating that same sequence again, and the earth moved another foot and a half, more energetic this time. Then again. Again. I could see Wade and Quincy losing a little patience, and the next time they came down, it was with more force than before.

I literally went flying.

Bannen tried to catch me, but he’d lost his footing too, and we both went down in a tangle of limbs. Vee managed to keep her feet, barely, and she caught both Maksohm and Chi before they could go down.

“Hey!” Vaughn scolded them. “We’re trying to collapse a tunnel, not flatten a mountain!”

Bannen snickered in my ear even as he wallowed back upright. “I love that they can accidentally flatten a mountain.”

“Let’s just hope they don’t, that will open a totally different can of worms.” Digging my elbow into the ground, I pulled myself into a sitting position but stayed on the ground. That suddenly seemed the safer place to be.

Two more of the spinning, jumping movements and the tunnel narrowed down to something that I could barely pass through. Maksohm cupped his hands around his mouth and called encouragement. “You’ve almost got it! Another three feet or so!”

It was actually more like four and a half…well. I don’t expect everyone to eyeball measurements like I do. Either way, I feel like they only needed to execute it twice more—whoops, make that once more, and they’d have it.

With a call in unison, they touched hands, legs lifting up in a slight hop, this time more tempered than the previous jumps. They only went up about two feet before landing, and the ground jumped and skittered, the stone of the mountain shifting like mud until it closed up the tunnel entirely. Aside from the missing green detailing where the tunnel entrance had been, it was like I’d never worked any magic here at all.

The giants paused, one leg up, perfectly balanced, their hands lifted up equal to their shoulders. Vaughn called down to us, “That do it?”

“That did it!” Bannen assured him loudly.

They didn’t just stop dancing, though. Each giant replaced his foot, gently, spinning in place and drawing their arms through the air in a swift glide. It was a thank you to the earth for responding to their call, an assurance that they were done, the earth was where it needed to be. Then they paused, stood still with heads bowed for several seconds, lingering in that pose.

We all held our collective breaths. This had seemed like the opportune way to fix the problem, but would filling in the tunnel and removing any traces of humans here be enough? It hadn’t been a calm way to fill it in, they’d shaken most of the mountain doing it. Would the cenebre take further offense at that? Or realize it was a peace offering?

The answer wouldn’t come to us for hours yet. I glanced at the sky, realized we had maybe four hours left to us before complete darkness hit, and rolled up to my feet. Offering a hand up to Bannen, I muttered, “Hopefully that worked and didn’t just make things worse. That was more intense than I figured it would be.”

“It probably left the cenebre with ringing ears,” he agreed with a shrug. It was his eyes that gave away his own concern. “But it either worked or didn’t. Let’s get down while we can.”

We passed the night in complete and utter stillness. I mean, literally, holed up in the church and Town Hall again, the entire populace holding their collective breaths. We were on shifts again with me taking first watch, Chi taking second, Rena taking third.  Sometime about midnight, I more or less figured that the cenebre weren’t interested in coming after us. We’d apparently undone the damage, fixed our mess, insert other idioms here. The cenebre were appeased.

When dawn broke out over the horizon, it felt anticlimactic in the extreme, but we were all so tired and grateful we weren’t about to look that gift horse in the mouth. I personally was so glad I could have cried. Instead, I raided my wife’s secret candy stash in the bottom of her suitcase, in the shoes that she didn’t think I checked, and popped several lovely pieces of caramel in my mouth.

Dag, because he was a little boy, and thereby had the same nose as a bloodhound, immediately latched onto my side and gave me the closest approximation of puppy eyes I’d ever seen on a human’s face. Since we sat at the bottom of the church’s bell tower, squirreled out of sight of everyone else, I stared at him suspiciously. “How did you know?”

“Heard the wrapper,” he answered promptly, then opened his mouth like a baby bird. Chirping noises included.

“Will candy buy your silence?”

His mouth went that much wider.

Dubious about this, I popped a piece into his mouth anyway, watched as he smugly chewed. I hadn’t intended to share my stolen goods, but needs must. It wasn’t like much was left in the bag, anyway, only about a dozen pieces. We plowed through it pretty quickly.

Rena, because she had terrible (or excellent, depended on how you looked at it) timing, popped her head around the doorway at that moment and ordered, “Scoot, I want into the suitcase.”

I shifted my legs to the side and up the wall, back flat and my heels balanced on the stone so that my legs were way above my head. The stretch felt nice, actually, after a full night of being crammed into tight quarters. I paid no attention to Rena’s digging until she asked suspiciously, “Did you eat my caramels?”

Silently chewing the rest of it, I finally swallowed. “First of all, I don’t appreciate your accusations.”

She eyed the bag I’d shoved under my back, because of course nothing escaped her notice, and her expression went flat. “Bannen.”

“Rena,” I returned benignly.

“You owe me a bag of caramels, and if you’re wise, you’ll replace it before we leave.” The vein twitching near her eye indicated she would take her missing sugar rush out of my hide.

I lived in a more or less constant state of danger so that didn’t alarm me. Much. Unduly. I chose to focus her attention on the other part of her statement. “We’re leaving?”

“Dah’lil’s speaking with Director Salvatore now,” she unbent enough to explain, closing the latch of the suitcase with more force than necessary, “but the gist of it, from what I heard, was that they didn’t think we needed to stay up here. They’ll leave the MISD posted for a few weeks yet, just in case, but if the cenebre didn’t attack last night, they don’t think they will again.”

“That’s more or less what I think too.” Shrugging, I pulled myself around and twisted into a half-kneeling position, getting ready to rise. “Are we heading back down, then?”

“Yes. Dag comes with us. The director wants to do the paperwork for him before we ship him off to Mary’s. That much I know for a fact.”

I’d hoped to check on the house since we were so close to home, but alas, that didn’t seem to be in the agenda. Ah well. “Do we know for a fact that Mary will take him, then?”

“Not yet, I still need to call and ask her, but fairly sure. Either way, Dag, you need to come down with us.”

Dag shrugged, unconcerned either way. He had survived monster battles and had caramels for breakfast, all was right in his world at the moment. “Okay.”

Leaving the suitcases for me to handle, Rena backed out of the narrow room, heading for the outside. She called out an all clear to people as she went, which I heard Vaughn echoing at a much louder volume next door. Wanting to get out before it became a grape press through the door, I snagged suitcases and boy, Dag skipping ahead of me and out the door.

I barely cleared the stairs when I heard Maksohm call out in a no-nonsense tone, “Bannen!”

“Oh deities, what did I do?” I asked, which was probably not the right response, but sometimes my mouth got ahead of me. Quite often, if I was being honest with myself.

He gave me an odd look. “Yes, what did you do?”

“You really think I’m going to confess if you don’t know?” Not that I knew why I said that to begin with. Maybe it was the caramels. “What, Maksohm?”

Still with that suspicious look, which grew even more suspicious after I tried to deflect him, he made a sign that said he was watching me. “Did Rena tell you we’re leaving this morning?”

“She just said that we’re probably leaving today.”

“Director Salvatore has made it clear, he wants us down in Foxboro as quickly as possible. We’re hopping the first train over and catching a sleeper train.” An evil smile graced Maksohm’s face. “I gave him a full report of everything that happened up here and the Powers That Be are not pleased. They are taking the Greenway Railroad Company to court and charging them with negligence, failure to disclose vital information, fraud, and sixteen cases of murder through negligence. They also plan to sue for general damages. We—and that includes Vaughn—are the witnesses for the trial. We’re to head back and report in so they have material witnesses and facts to prepare the lawsuit for.”

“I’m not generally a fan of trials, but I’m completely behind this one. Sleeping on a train for two or three days straight also sounds blissful.”

“Doesn’t it?” Chi agreed, coming up to stand next to me. He yawned, stretching both arms over his head. “Oh man, do I need sleep. What about you, secret love child, you coming with us?”

Dag gave him quite the glare for calling him that. “Yes. I have to do paperwork, Rena said.”

“More like she’ll do paperwork for you,” I corrected in amusement. “She likes paperwork.”

From somewhere near the church, my wife yelled, “I HEARD THAT BANNEN HACH, AND BITE YOUR TONGUE!”

“Or at least, she prefers doing it over you making a hash of it and her being forced to re-do it,” Maksohm translated dryly.

I shrugged, as it was the same difference to me. It ended up with me not doing paperwork, which was a favor to mankind in general, really.

Maksohm shook his head, setting the argument aside, and ordered his team in a loud voice that reached everyone between both buildings, “Take your luggage to the train station. We all need to be there within an hour.”

I assumed he’d need that hour to get us tickets, double check with the agent in charge on sight, and other Responsible Agent Adult Things. Leaving him to it, I collected suitcases and boy, and went in search of breakfast.

Because I was a good husband (read that as because I wanted to live), I bought breakfast for my wife as well. I found her at the train station, sitting outside on one of the wooden benches, a mirror held in Vee’s hands so that she could speak with Mary. At least, I heard Mary’s voice even from the stairs, so I assumed that’s what they were doing. Rena’s back blocked most of my view.

“—don’t doubt your eyes; if he has this ability, then we’d certainly need to train him as a Void Mage. At least in the beginning,” Mary said slowly, clearly thinking aloud. “But he’ll need more traditional training as well. I think he should start off with me and then train under a different master.”

“That’s more or less what I think, too. Can you take him, or do I need to?”

“Rena, I doubt you have the time this early on in your career. And the house is too quiet since you two left me. I don’t mind taking the boy on. You said his name is Dagwood?”

“Goes by Dag,” I pitched in, coming to sit behind Rena. I handed her a basket of biscuits smothered in gravy and got a sweet kiss for my thoughtfulness. See? Being a good husband paid off. With my wife’s mouth now occupied, I tugged Dag around and into view of the mirror. Vee helpfully changed the angle so that master and apprentice could get a good look at each other. “Dag, this is Mary, Rena’s former master in Turransky. Mary, Dag.”

Dag took in the very wrinkled, white-haired old woman and his face screwed up in a doubtful expression. “You’re a Void Mage?”

“I am,” she answered in amusement. “Don’t worry, age doesn’t stop us any. Dag, I can see even from here the resemblance of your eyes to a Void Mage’s. You might be the first case of a mage having some similarity to a Void Mage. I’ll have to check the history on that one.”

I had no doubt she was right. Since I had her, though, I thought it might behoove me to drop some hints. “Mary, is Gill about?”

“He is. He was in the garden—oh, no, here he comes. Gill!  We’ve got a young one heading our direction.”

Gill’s heavy tread announced him as he entered the living room and ducked down to put his head at his wife’s level. His clear blue eyes looked out, saw Dag, and widened perceptibly. “Well, now. Haven’t seen eyes like that before on a boy.”

“He’s not a Void Mage,” his wife informed him quickly. “He just sees the world the way we do.”

“Dag, this is Gill,” I introduced them. “You know how I’m Rena’s familiar? Good, well, Gill is Mary’s. It’s normal for a Void Mage to call a human familiar, you see. Now, despite appearances, you absolutely cannot assume that Gill is past his prime.” I winked at the man as I said it, getting a guffaw from him in return. “The man can still kick my butt. He’s slower than he used to be, but he knows more tricks. Gill, I’ve taught him the basic stances and some knife work, but I leave training him up to you. He’s got a good fighter’s sense, so it shouldn’t be too much effort.”

Dag, of course, looked all sorts of excited about this. “Can we do swords next?”

“Have to find one the right size to fit first,” Gill ruminated, his eyes sizing Dag up. “I think I’ve still got a practice sword about the right length. I’ll look. But sure, lad, when you get here, we’ll start on swords. Never too early to start on swords.”

This was music to Dag’s ears. He openly beamed at the man, glowing under that promise.

Mary, of course, eyed him with a sort of resigned amusement. I think she knew in that moment just what she had signed herself up for.

“It’ll be a good month before we can get him to you,” I tacked on, then grimaced as the logistics of traveling down to Foxboro then across the continent flashed through my head. “Or more. We’ve had some trouble here, and we have to report in and do Dag’s paperwork with the MISD before we can head to you. Did Rena tell you the MISD are picking up the tab for his apprenticeship fees?”

“She did,” Mary allowed.

“Okay, good. Anyway, you’ve got time to prepare for him.”

Rena stopped eating long enough to tack on, “I’ll have him do all the basic drills while we’re traveling. He’ll have some fundamentals in him that way.”

Nodding, Mary agreed to this, her eyes going back to studying Dag carefully. The boy squirmed a little under her intense regard, not that I blamed him. I didn’t think Void Mages realized just how penetrating their gaze could be. It felt as if you literally could not keep any secrets from them. It was alarming. “Dag. You’ll be a long way from home. I’ll arrange it so that someone installs a mirror in your parents’ home, so you can call and speak to them once a month.”

Dag lit up at this offer. Me, I kicked myself. We had not one, but two mages go through his hometown, and neither of us had thought to do this. What was wrong with us? Surely we shouldn’t have missed the obvious. I could tell from Rena’s face she kicked herself as well.

“Thanks, Master Mary,” he answered shyly, ducking his head.

“You’re very welcome. Rena, get him to me when you can, but don’t stress about it. I know a lot is going on over there.”

“Understood, Master Mary. I’ll let you know when we have a firm idea of our arrival.”

I waved goodbye as the connection was cut.

“Was that Mary?” Maksohm asked, ascending the stairs with a tired tread. The man had panda eyes impressive enough for an actual panda. I was frankly amazed he still thought straight, much less moved. “Sards, I wanted to talk to her.”

“It can wait,” Vee counseled with a head to toe sweep of him. From that expression, she shared my concern regarding our illustrious leader. “Maksohm, are we set to go?”

“We are. We’ll take the train down to Estok, cross the channel, then take a sleeper car down Sira until we reach Alyadar.”

That sounded like a lot of sitting to me, which would likely include an antsy eight-year-old and a bored Chi. I definitely needed to pick up some sort of distractions at our first stop; otherwise this trip would result in murders. Preferably not mine.

As if on cue, the rest of our team and Vaughn arrived almost in the same moment that an incoming train blew its whistle. Talk about mad timing. I knew that in three days, I’d be heartily sick of being on a train, and going slowly stir crazy, but right now all I saw was the offer of sleeping coming toward me.

Sleep. Sleep was good.

It took seven full days to make it back down to Foxboro, and I was so very relieved to get off the train. For once, Bannen wasn’t half of the problem. Chi and Dag combined were a terrible, terrible mixture and I vowed to never let them be cooped up in the same place ever again. Dag wasn’t old enough to have good judgment on what might be a bad idea, and Chi had no compunction about getting his youngest counterpart to pull pranks.

The only thing that kept a murder from happening was Maksohm.

When we finally did get to Foxboro, it was too late in the day to do anything, so we checked into our favorite bed and breakfast for the night. The next morning we basically stumbled into uniforms and went through the motions of getting breakfast into us and washing the sleep from our faces before splitting off into different directions. Bannen, Chi, and Dag went for the training yard to burn off energy. Emily went with them because we didn’t really trust Bannen and Chi alone with an eight-year-old. Shenanigans would ensue. Vee, Maksohm, Vaughn, and I headed toward the administrative part of the building in order to report in.

We’d actually spent most of the train ride writing our reports of what had happened. We’d even stopped in Estok long enough to just portal the reports ahead of us, as Salvatore needed them sooner rather than later. I wasn’t sure what outcome our reports would help dictate, but I had a vague suspicion that it would be used in the lawsuit.

I followed Maksohm in through the side door of headquarters, noting that the place seemed busier than usual. There had to be a good dozen agents scurrying through the halls with vaguely harassed expressions. That…did not bode well. Now what had gone wrong?

“I vote,” Vee looked around us suspiciously, “that we check in, get our paperwork, and skedaddle before someone can volunteer us. I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t want to—”

Maksohm lifted a hand to his ear, the other staying her. “Yes, sir? Yes, we just walked in—oh. Already? Which room? Understood, sir.”

In dark amusement, I noted to Vee, “Too late.”

“That man has timing that’s positively occult,” Vee growled. Her shoulders slumped as she let out a sigh of resignation.

“Conference Room A, second floor,” Maksohm instructed us, waving a hand in a general circle to signal us to follow. As he headed for the stairs, he filled us in over his shoulder, “We have apparently missed the first day of mediation. Greenway Railroad Company does not want to go to court—companies never do, it affects their public image—and they’ve requested mediation instead. Our reports have been helpful but not quite helpful enough, and the company is trying to use plausible deniability in this case. We are to back up the MISD’s side of the suit.”

I thought briefly about bringing Bannen in from training, as he was amazing in court rooms and arguments. But honestly, I wasn’t sure we needed him for this. Maksohm was no slouch in arguing, neither was Vee, and I was mad enough to make my point heard. At the top of my lungs if need be.

Conference Room A sat at the very top of the stairs and Maksohm didn’t even knock, just opened the door and went straight through. Vaughn cracked his knuckles, his head stretching to either side in an aggressive move. Was this a fight?

Stepping inside, I paused at the head of the table and got a good look at the players. I didn’t recognize more than two faces, Director Salvatore and Agent Howell from our legal division. They sat on the right side, the left with men in very expensive suits, only two of whom had paperwork in front of them. Two lawyers and some executives would be my guess. I took in their cold, indifferent looks, the polished way the lawyers had settled their paperwork around them, and realized Vaughn had the right attitude.

This was definitely a fight.

Director Salvatore stood and gestured towards us. “I believe that we can get somewhere. These are our agents on site. Special Agent Dah’lil Maksohm, Agent Renata Hach, Agent Violet Franklocke, and Elder Vaughn Castlerock from Gargan. Please, be seated. This is Mr. Ballantine, CEO of Greenway Railroad Company, his VP, Mr. Weber, their attorney, Mr. Sazonov, and our mediator, Mrs. Arco.”

That put faces to names, at least.

“I’m afraid the only testimony that we really require at this time is that of the woman we hired to do the job, the Void Mage—” Sazonov inserted with a faint smile. That expression made my skin crawl.

“I am the Void Mage,” I interrupted, more abruptly and with a harsher tone than I intended. Standing my ground, I put up with the surprised stares this got me and lifted my chin. “Void Mage Renata Rocci Hach. Mr. Sazonov, I believe that I exchanged several telegrams with you regarding the accommodations included with the job.”

He flushed, as well he should. I’d used my maiden name in the beginning to avoid confusing him, but still. He should have made sure of the players before he stepped out on the field. I didn’t know what was in question here, what they were claiming, or why the director thought our eye witness testimony would resolve the problem. I did know that I didn’t like this atmosphere one iota. It reeked of trouble. “So, I’m here. What’s the question?”

Mrs. Arco, the mediator, looked as if she had three kids and a nice husband somewhere, her figure portly encased in a nice suit. That impression lasted right up until she gave me a shark-like smile. Never mind the exterior, that was a formidable woman. “For the record, Agent, are you recently married?”

“I am. Hach is my married name.”

“I’ll update the records to reflect that. Everyone, please sit. Agent Hach, I would like to clarify a few matters with you. You were hired by Greenway Railroad Company approximately one month ago in order to tunnel through Cloudland Mountain near Mountain Point. At that point, what were the terms of the contract as you understood them?”

“I have a copy of the contract if we need to go over it again,” I started, because I’m not about to get into a nitpicky battle of commas and punctuation with these jerks.

“Not necessary, we’ve gone over it,” Arco assured me dryly. “What were the terms discussed with you?”

“They wanted a bypass train line through the mountain to connect directly with the Gargan station. I was to tunnel through and was given a month to do the job.”

“Was hazard pay included?”

I blinked at her, as that hadn’t been brought up at any point. “No. Nor was it offered.”

“Were you at any time advised that there were any dangers, either because of the job or because of the environment?”

What in the world was she getting at? “No. Not until we arrived.”

“Explain that,” Arco suggested, and when the lawyer at her side tried to speak, she cut him off with a sharp glare.

Was this a mediation or an arbitration? She acted more like an arbitrator, as if she had the authority to judge on this case. I was slow to answer, more careful with my words. “When we arrived at Mountain Point, the foreman of the job came down to fetch us. Mack Summers is his name. He informed us that he hadn’t been able to get any workers hired on because there were rumors of legendary beasts living in the mountain and none of the locals wanted to disturb them. There were multiple petitions in process to stop construction in Mountain Point, and several not-so-peaceful protests such as robberies and vandalism to stop construction. He said that he’d been on site for weeks before finally convincing his bosses to hire me.”

The lawyer cleared his throat and with an eye on the mediator, smoothly offered, “The company sometimes experiences difficulties hiring labor for projects. Hiring Agent Hach for this job was not unusual considering the complications. It doesn’t mean we understood that the rumors of a legendary monster living in the mountain were fact.”

“Really?” Vaughn gave him a flat scowl. “So what about the negotiations you’ve been doing with us for, oh, about forty years now? And us telling you ‘no’ because the cenebre call that mountain home, and we’d prefer they leave us in peace? What do you say to that, young man?”

“You were never able to offer proof that those legends were true,” Sazonov argued back. “An agent who lives in Gargan obviously didn’t give credit to them—”

I threw up both hands. “Whoa! I have been living in Gargan a month. I do not know every legend or facet of the country. I do not claim to be an expert. Besides, you didn’t contact me through the Gargan Council, you contacted me through the MISD with an outside job. That is worlds different.”

“So it is,” Salvatore growled, glaring at every man on the opposite side of the table. “By doing so, you made the MISD culpable in this disaster and responsible for it. Which the MISD does not appreciate.”

Neatly said.

Sazonov flinched ever so slightly, just the faintest hint of a grimace around his eyes and mouth. He leaned in to whisper something in the CEO’s ear. The CEO’s expression turned grim. I took that to mean that the lawyer was telling his boss that we had them dead to rights on this. If nothing else, they needed to play nice, or risk making the MISD as a whole their enemy.

Vaughn cleared his throat to get their attention, his bass voice deeper and rougher with anger. “Because you did not heed our warnings, we lost sixteen souls. We suffered damage to Mountain Point. I had to come to the aid of my cousin and my new countrymen, and fight something that we were poorly equipped to handle. The cenebre are not aggressive by nature, they must be provoked, and by sending ignorant people in there to invade their territory, you provoked them.”

“She is the Void Mage,” Ballantine gritted out between clenched teeth, flinging a finger in my direction that quavered slightly in anger. “If there was anyone that should have been able to handle them, it would be her!”

His lawyer elbowed him in the side, a little too late. The CEO subsided, still glaring at me, as if this whole thing was somehow my fault.

I glared right back at him. “You sent me into battle while thinking it was nothing more than an excavation. We lost sixteen people because I’m not superhuman, I can’t defeat everything that comes at me, especially when I don’t know there’s danger to begin with! Did you really hire me for this job thinking that I would just take the monsters on for you?”

The smug look on Ballantine’s face made me want to punch the CEO right in the nose. “But you did fight them off.”

An audible snap went through the room. I thought for a second it was my temper until I realized that Vaughn’s grip on his armchair had snapped the wood in half. He glared hot enough to melt steel. The CEO’s smugness faltered, and his lawyer hastily jumped in before it really did become a fight.

“I think the point that Mr. Ballatine is trying to make is that while there was some danger to the population of Mountain Point, there is benefit as well. You were able to destroy a good number of the cenebre in the area, meaning that part of the nest is now cleared out. It wouldn’t take much more effort to continue the job—”

I could not believe my ears. They were negotiating us finishing the tunnel? WERE THEY OUT OF THEIR EVER-LOVING MINDS?! My mouth fished for words, my reaction so emotional I couldn’t form a complete sentence that didn’t begin and end with swear words. Where was Bannen when I needed him. He could swear a man into a quivering mess when he put his mind to it.

Vee slammed both hands against the table as she stood, thundering at them, “You rank, stuffed cloak-bag of guts, I’d beat you if it wouldn’t infect my hands!”

Then again, I had Vee, and she could swear like a sailor. I grinned at her, silently cheering her on. Get ’em, Vee!

“I can’t decide if you’re a flesh-monger, a fool, or general collection of clay-brained deformities. You sent my sister-agent in there with nothing for backup except her husband-familiar, put us in a dangerous situation where we barely were able to rest, doing nothing but fighting for forty-eight hours straight, and then demand that we go back in there and finish the job?! Your sin isn’t accidental, but a trade, is that what you think?!”

Arco tapped a hand on the table’s surface, and the expression on her face promised legal pain. “I must say that I agree with Agent Franklocke. Gentlemen, let’s be clear on this—this isn’t a negotiation for a breach of contract for a job not completed. It’s a breach of ethical responsibility and negligence in said contract, a violation committed on your side. You violated the good faith clause in Gargan by not securing either the appropriate protections for Mountain Point or advising the government in Gargan of your intentions. There is no, absolutely NO, possibility of you getting the bypass into Gargan. Cloudland Mountain is off-limits.”

Ballantine shared a glance with his VP and it was clear that was not the answer they wanted. Ballatine tried again. “But surely the Gargan Council and the MISD can see the benefits—”

“What benefits?” Salvatore demanded.

At the same time, Vaughn growled, “No benefits to be had.”

The men paused, blinked at each other, gestured for the other to go ahead. Salvatore gave Vaughn a nod and continued with his point. “We’ll need to station MISD agents round the clock for the foreseeable future to make sure that the cenebre stay in their mountain. You are going to cost me manpower that I can ill-afford, not to mention the fees of housing that it will cost to station them there. Just safeguarding the town will cost us. There’s no question of us being able to protect the entire bypass line if it was completed—it would be entirely impossible.”

“And doing that would open all of Gargan to attack,” Vaughn pitched in. From the expression on his face, he willed lightning to hit the men of the Greenway Railroad Company. Either for enlightenment or destruction, he didn’t care which. “My people already fought the battle with the cenebre once, we’ve no desire to do it again. It cost us dearly enough the first time. You do not have permission to build in Gargan.”

Ballantine blanched at that, as well he should. Vaughn was an Elder on the Council, his word was law, and he could speak for all of them if the occasion demanded it. He’d told me as much on the way down, that he had permission to speak for the entire Council if it meant stopping anyone else from poking at the cenebre’s nest. I didn’t think he’d actually be forced to do that, but stupidity and greed knew no bounds. “It’s a moot point, anyway, we had to close the tunnel to get the cenebre to stop attacking us. There’s no way that anyone can touch that mountain without life and death consequences.”

“We are discussing,” Arco reiterated with a scolding look at the men, “how much the payout will be for the damage your negligence caused. The possibility of finishing the project is off the table.”

I silently promised them that if one more word passed anyone’s lips about finishing that tunnel, I’d start smacking heads together. Or turning them bald. They really shouldn’t upset an already angry mage. That led to short life expectancies.

“If you want to have the MISD’s aid in the future—” Salvatore started.

“—or do business again in Gargan—” Vaughn pitched in, voice a low rumble like an incoming storm.

“—you’ll start by paying for the mistake you’ve made,” Arco finished, completely in sync with the other two men.

VP, CEO, and lawyer all exchanged looks and sighed, resigned.

That’s right, you mammering, shard-borne scuts. Paying for people’s deaths wasn’t the best retribution, but it was a good start to the damage they’d done, and I wasn’t leaving this room until they’d paid dearly for it.

I’d often claimed that if a government wanted to straighten out their budget, all they had to do was put my wife in charge of it. Everyone thought I was kidding until the mediation between Greenway Railroad Company and the MISD. Rena managed to get millions in retribution for damages. The mediator was so impressed that she’d offered Rena a job on the spot. I think if my wife hadn’t already been a highly sought-after Void Mage, she might have taken that job offer.

With that settled, we went to Turransky and dropped Dag off with Mary, which went rather well. Of course, that might have something to do with the arsenal that Gill had waiting for the kid. Dag took one look at all of the sharp, pointy things lined up on the bed and just about fainted with excitement. Mary, for her part, seemed happy to have someone in the house to train and fuss over. We gratefully left a hyperactive boy in her care and, without any guilt whatsoever, returned to HQ in Foxboro.

I might end up missing the rascal, but we’d see him once a year when we took him home to see his family. It would be an adventure in and of itself seeing him grow up. I really was curious what he’d be like as an adult. Hopefully as terrifying as Rena. The world needed more people like her.

The bed and breakfast here was fast becoming a second home with all of the time we spent in it. Rena barely did more than throw her bag inside our room before announcing she was headed for the bath, which I translated to mean she wanted three hours of uninterrupted alone time. She even took a book in with her.

I wanted company and to catch up with people, so I wandered back down to the dining room, following the sound of voices. Chi, Maksohm, and some other male voice I didn’t know.

“—I’m fine,” Chi insisted, not at the top of his lungs, but getting there. “There’s absolutely no need to do go to therapy. Just get someone to sign me off.”

Because of everything that had gone down in the past two months, I’d forgotten a little detail. A minor, inconsequential thing. Therapy. Sards, we still had that hanging over our heads, didn’t we?

“Chi,” that unfamiliar voice said in exasperation. “Son. You’re not superhuman and we don’t expect you to be. What happened to you as a child would shake anyone up. I’ve tried to get you proper help for years. Why are you ducking this so hard?”

“Bannen’s been through worse and he won’t go either,” Chi retorted.

Way to throw me under the bus, man. I debated actually entering that last foot which would put me in view, because did I really want to get in the middle of this? I mean, I was all for helping a friend, but I think Chi was on his own here. The last time I tried to help, I got dragged in too.

A step behind me had me whirling, but not fast enough. Vee could move like a cat when she wanted to. Latching an arm around my waist, she hauled me down, announcing as she moved off the stairs, “Caught the other one!”

“Vee, don’t be mean,” I whined at her, squirming. “Put me down.”

She ignored me. She was good at that. Probably lots of practice in dealing with Chi.

I got plopped into a chair at the dining room table like an unruly toddler, which smarted. I glared up at her, then Maksohm, because therapy? I knew I needed it, I had things to sort out if I was to properly protect my wife, but today? Not on my to-do list.

Maksohm lifted both hands in a placating gesture. “Not a new therapist this time. I found two people that I think you can actually talk to. These two are veterans, ones from the MISD, who have retired and turned into counselors. I had to schedule them far in advance, and the director leaned on them a little to squeeze you two in. Trust me, these two will get it.”

“I’m reserving judgment on that.”

“Son,” the man I didn’t know glared down at Chi as if he were being difficult just for the sake of it.

Chi glared right back. “Dad.”

Wait, so this was Chi’s adoptive father? He looked more dignified than I’d expected, or maybe it was the greying hair and the close-cropped salt and pepper beard that gave that impression. This was Ensign Franklocke, huh?

Sensing my regard, he turned and gave me a quick grin. “You must be Bannen Hach. Pleasure. I’m Ensign Franklocke, this one’s father.”

“Yes, sir, I know who you are. Nice to meet you too.” Then I realized why he must be here, and turned a glare on Maksohm. Pulling in the father to make Chi behave? Now that was low.

Maksohm, well able to read my face, defended himself mildly, “If you two would just cooperate, I wouldn’t have to pull such tricks. Chi, at the very least, can’t you talk to your father about all of this?”

My friend muttered something that might, possibly, in another life, could have been a yes.

Maneuvering around the table, Vee came to kneel next to Chi’s chair. She leaned in to kiss him softly, her hand cradling his cheek as she said softly, “Honey, I want you to be at peace. I want you to be able to rest. If that required slaying a dragon, or finding some mythical plant to turn into a medicine, you’d do it, wouldn’t you?”

Chi shrugged and grumbled, “That’s ’cause I could shoot it and be done. I don’t want to talk to anyone but you.”

“And I’d love to help you with this, but you’ve already told me everything, and I don’t know how to help. I can’t fix this for you.” Vee held his eyes, steadily, not backing down.

That moment felt intimate, like I saw a side of their relationship that normally happened behind closed doors. I almost looked away but something about them compelled me to watch.

Her sincerity undid his stubbornness, and with a sigh, Chi capitulated, “Fine. I’ll go. When?”

“Now,” Maksohm answered with a victorious smile. “Ensign knows where to go, just follow him.”

Sighing, Chi pulled himself out of his chair and shot me an analyst’s salute, a silent good luck.

I’d need it too. Sards, with him going, that only left one target: me. I glared at Maksohm because while I agreed with him, I didn’t like to be forced into it. That was a disaster last time. I reserved the right to choose my own therapist.

“Your counselor is waiting for you at the bar next door,” Maksohm informed me, a smug tweak to his mouth.

Bar? “Wait, alcohol is involved with this session?”

“Rena said you’re more likely to talk if alcohol is involved.”

Well, she had me there. I still wasn’t sure about letting him choose yet another therapist for me. What happened if I didn’t like this one either? Although Maksohm had probably been more careful selecting the second one.

If nothing else, I supposed it was worth going for a free drink. Still suspicious—there was a catch in there somewhere, I just couldn’t put my finger on it—I responded, “Fine. I’ll go. Who is he?”

“She,” Maksohm corrected with an amused quirk of the brow, “is Kate Townsend.”

Still ambivalent about how this was working out (because I got this feeling I’d been tricked), I left the bed and breakfast through the front door and went immediately to the left, where the bar sat. I’d been in there a few times with the team, as it’s a nice place with warm wooden beams and floors, pleasant vintage alcohol, and good snack food. Wandering inside, I noticed that there weren’t many people inside—nor should there be at this hour. It was barely mid-afternoon, the evening crowd hours away from coming in. The lone woman in the bar sat at a middle table, a pint of something in her hand and a plate of fried crisps in the center. She spied me and took a quick sweep with her eyes. I did the same. Retired, yes, I could see that in the lines of her face and the gray at her temples, but nothing about the woman was soft. She was all hard angles and planes, only her brown eyes showing any warmth.

She reminded me, strongly, of the women that had raised and trained me. Perhaps because of that, I liked the initial impression she gave me, and I wasn’t as on guard with her. Making my way to the table, I held out a hand, which she stood to clasp strongly. “Bannen Hach.”

“Kate Townsend. Well, sit. What will you have?”

“Ale’s fine.”

Townsend called out an order for me, sitting as I did. I think she was surprised to see me here, and I was just as surprised to be here. This was not how I’d foreseen the day going. Did Maksohm choose this woman knowing that I’d do better with someone that reminded me of the women at home? It seemed like something he’d do. My team leader was clever that way.

The ale arrived and I took a sip, pleased at the flavor. Good stuff here. I took a longer pull and licked my lips in satisfaction. “You’re not just going to sign me off.”

“I don’t think you’re tipsy enough to start our session yet,” she responded, eyes crinkling up in humor.

“Can’t argue.” I took another drink, as chatting idly with a new friend over a pint of fine ale was totally within my wheelhouse. I could be friendly as long as she wasn’t demanding I pull my heart open and bleed all over the table. If I liked her enough, I’d consider really talking to her, but I wasn’t making a snap judgement on this yet. “Just answer me a question. You know my history, right?”

“I do. The whole list of things you’ve lived through in three years from being portaled to a different continent to fighting and surviving a battle with Toh’sellor—twice.” She sipped at her alcohol, eyes thoughtful as she watched me.

“So tell me, what exactly does talking about it do? I know why it happened, I was mostly in control of myself for the bulk of it, so how does telling the story again do any of us any favors?”

“Because you’re not telling me the story. You’re telling me what you experienced during the whole process and you don’t have to edit it for me. You can vent about it, you can say whatever you wish to, and in doing that, you can see the experience for what it really is. You can connect the trauma to your symptoms. When you understand the connection, that’s when you can see why you’re emotionally reacting the way you are, the cause of it, and manage those emotions better. Sometimes, all you really need is to understand why your brain is reacting the way it is, and then that fear and stress reaction can either fade with time or disappear altogether.”

That made a lot more sense than ‘it feels better to talk about it,’ which was what I had gotten from everyone else. “So why is it different than talking to my wife about it?”

“Bannen.” She looked me like a teacher would a particularly dense child. “You don’t tell your wife everything. You love her, don’t want to worry her, or upset her, so you automatically censor yourself with her. In the best intentions, of course, but you do it anyway. Just as she censored herself to avoid worrying you.”

Well, well, well, if it wasn’t the consequences of my own actions. She had me dead to rights there. The saying went that sometimes it was easier to talk to a complete stranger than a friend, and it was for exactly that reason—because there was no emotional investment there. No feelings to potentially hurt, no one to safeguard. I knew Rena sometimes bit her tongue around me. I did the same with her. In the best of intentions, of course, and sometimes that came back and bit us in the arse.

“Besides,” she tacked on oh-so-innocently, “if you can manage your emotions and symptoms better, doesn’t that in turn help your wife? Through your familiar bond if nothing else?”

In admiration, I breathed, “That’s evil. You’re evil. Are you really using my weak point against me?”

“Is it working?”

“Of course it’s working, that’s why you’re evil. There is absolutely nothing I wouldn’t do for Rena if it would help her, the whole world knows that, otherwise I wouldn’t be bound to her. Twice over.” Maksohm was apparently more clever than I’d initially given him credit for. Of course he’d find a woman who could play me like a fiddle. I was either too sober or not drunk enough for the rest of this conversation, and I knew which way was the easiest one to go. I abruptly drained the pint, clipping it sharply against the table’s surface. “Alright, Townsend. I think I’m drunk enough. Let’s start this show.”

She snorted a laugh. “Agent Maksohm warned me you’re a character. Alright, Bannen Hach, start from the beginning. How did it feel to be portaled from Z’gher to Corcoran?”

“You’ve got time to start there? Really? Because that’ll take a full day to tell, and it’s already mid-afternoon, and it might be midnight before I can even get us out of Corcoran and into the Turransky part of the story.”

She called out for more ale and eyed me in challenge. “Bar’s not going anywhere.”

Now this was my idea of a good therapy session. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Dear Reader,

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~Honor

Honor Raconteur is a sucker for a good fantasy. Despite reading it for decades now, she’s never grown tired of the magical world. She likely never will. In between writing books, she trains and plays with her dogs, eats far too much chocolate, and attempts insane things like aerial dance.

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ADVENT MAGE NOVELS
Advent Mage Compendium
The Dragon’s Mage ♫
The Lost Mage

WARLORDS (ADVENT MAGE)

Warlords Rising
Warlords Ascending
Warlords Reigning

THE ARTIFACTOR SERIES

The Child Prince ♫
The Dreamer’s Curse ♫
The Scofflaw Magician
The Canard Case

THE CASE FILES OF HENRI DAVENFORTH

Magic and the Shinigami Detective

DEEPWOODS SAGA

Deepwoods ♫
Blackstone
Fallen Ward

Origins

FAMILIAR AND THE MAGE

The Human Familiar
The Void Mage
Remnants
Echoes

GÆLDERCRÆFT FORCES

Call to Quarters

KINGMAKERS

Arrows of Change ♫
Arrows of Promise
Arrows of Revolution

KINGSLAYER

Kingslayer ♫
Sovran at War ♫

SINGLE TITLES

Special Forces 01
Midnight Quest

*Upcoming