Josie took one last look around her new enterprise, talked with the freed women, and

asked Frenda to make sure they had clothes and food. She promised to check in with

the pair when she had time.

“You will do me proud,” said Seven. She hugged her sister. “June will be glad to help

you sort things out when we are in business.”

“Champion of order?,” said Three. She smiled softly.

“Not yet,” said Seven. “For now I am just an assistant like you, maybe a senior

assistant.”

“Three is a minion,” said Josie. “You are a sidekick which is almost a hero, but you

are still in a secondary role. We have to look at this thing for your other sister. Then

we have to get back to Hawk Ridge.”

“I am much better than a minion,” said Three. She made a pouty face.

“I think so,” said Frenda. She patted Three’s back.

“Be careful around the Exchange,” said Josie. “We gave them a minor bruise, but

there are more than a few goons running around trying to rob and steal from

commoners.”

“I know some people that I can use to do things to try to clear them out,” said Three.

Josie nodded. She had to trust in those she was picking to help her. If she had to hire

adventurers to dump bodies somewhere, she was fine with that.

“Two is waiting for us to try to help with her church,” said Seven. “I will talk to you

tonight.”

“Be careful,” said Three. “You can’t do magic yet.”

“I could if Jack wanted to give me something,” said Seven. “He is a bit mad, but he

would to protect June.”

“Where is Two’s church?,” said Josie. “We still have a lot to do.”

“The edge of the border with Gracius,” said Seven. “She helps people on both sides

of the border.”

Josie triggered her com to call the Enterprise. It acknowledged the call.

“Seven and I have to come aboard, Enterprise,” said Josie. “We have to visit Seven’s

other sister.”

“Affirmative,” said the machine. It activated the transporter and pulled the first

officer and her guest aboard. It fell back to standby mode as the humans came up to

the bridge.

Josie took the captain’s chair. She needed the town where Two lived so the ship could

sail down and drop them off to look at this last favor.

“Seven, tell the Enterprise where to go so we can knock this last thing out and head

home,” said Josie.

“Two lives in a temple on the border between Gracius and Marden south-southeast

of our current position,” said Seven. “They put a statue of a winged horse up close by

the main building.”

“Working,” said the machine. “Done.”

“Put it on the big screen,” said Josie. She wanted to look at where she was going.

A wooden building that had seen better days stood beside a pegasus statue. Another

building sat behind it. Then a small fence went around the whole thing. It looked like

the temple had some kind of orphanage with it. A symbol decorated the front, and

Josie took that to be the symbol of whatever faith was followed.

Josie stood. She wondered what she could do to help out Seven’s sister. Moving the

people would be easy. Improving their prospects would be hard.

“Pull back the view so we can see the surrounding area,” said Josie.

The image zoomed out to show the town up the road from the temple. Two forts faced

each other across a river to what Josie took to be the south. A dirt road hooked all of

this together.

“Let’s see what we can do,” said Josie. “If she is having problems, she might have to

move and open a temple somewhere else.”

“Do you think you can fix the problem?,” asked Seven.

“Physical problems,” said Josie. “If the temple survives on donations, and no one is

donating, I can’t force them to donate. I could, but as soon as they ran out of money,

or moved, the only thing I can think of right now would just stop, or switch to another

temple of the same faith.”

“Financial misuse is what the Society said,” said Seven.

“Maybe someone was using the donations for something else,” said Josie. “Let’s go

down and talk to your sister and see what we can do.”

The ladies went down to Transport Room One and beamed down to the gate. Seven

rang the bell. At times of worship it would be slid out of the way so the people could

enter at will.

A few women in gray robes came out of the temple. They looked at their visitors. One

of them was Seven’s twin. She frowned when she saw her sister in strange clothes

with a sword strapped to her hip.

“Sister?,” Two said. “I didn’t think you would be here for days.”

“We are settling some things before my new work starts,” said Seven. She waited for

her sister to come close enough to open the gate. “Part of that is helping you with

your problem.”

“I don’t know if you can,” said Two. “Let us go somewhere we can talk so the others

don’t find out what is going on.”

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She led the way down the road toward the town. She rubbed her forehead. She didn’t

try to engage in small talk.

Josie maintained her silence. She had an idea that someone inside the temple had

committed the wrong. Ideally, she shouldn’t have to do anything about that. She felt

that she would have to just to help Two out of whatever situation she was in.

Two stopped just out of sight of the temple. She clutched her hands together. She

didn’t look like she knew where to begin with her problems.

“This is Josie Fox, June’s mentor,” said Seven. “She’s here to help us if you want

help. We talked about this after the meeting with the Society.”

“I know,” said Two. “I don’t know if you can help, Mistress Fox. The temple is

missing funds, and we might have to close up. As the person in charge of the monies,

I will be dismissed and punished as a thief. I don’t know what to do.”

“How much are you missing?,” asked Josie.

“Almost seven hundred silver,” said Two. “I don’t know what happened to it. I think

someone was able to break into the vault box where we keep the money and took it,

but I don’t have any way to prove that and it would be my word against any other

person in the temple.”

“I can give you the money, and trap the vault box,” said Josie. “That will give you

your thief if he tries to break into the box again.”

“You can do that?,” said Two. “You will help me?”

“It should be a snap,” said Josie. “Matter of fact, I can trap the box so the trap resets

when the thief is freed from it. That way if there is more than one stealing, it will

catch them too.”

“That will be excellent,” said Two.

Josie’s com band beeped.

“Connection opened,” said the machine.

“Jack?,” asked Josie. “What’s going on?”

“I’m here with Eric Fass’s uncle,” said Jack. “He is looking for a secret formula in

Fort Devermore. I was wondering if one of your birds would be able to find it for him

so we can pull out of here without doing something drastic.”

“I can try,” said Josie. “Secret formula?”

“Yep,” said Jack.

“All right,” said Josie. “Let me change. I’ll send something to look for it. Hold the

line open, Enterprise.”

“Affirmative,” said the machine.

Josie took the band off and handed it to Seven. She changed into Zatanna. She called

on her firebird and sent it through the band so it could exit the other end and help

Jack.

A few moments later, the firebird flew out of the com band. The adventurers had

expected some kind of magic, but they were still taken aback by the screaming

phoenix.

“Follow it, June,” said Jack. “Thanks Josie. Got to go.”

“Connection ended,” said the Enterprise.

“Let me throw out another firebird,” said Josie. “We’ll at least know who took the

money before we lay our trap.”

She flung the bird out. She changed back and took the com band back from Seven.

She put it on as they watched the bird fly back out to the temple.

“You said you were missing seven hundred silver pieces,” said Josie. She scanned

the side of the road. “I might as well fix that too.”

She found a limb broken off from a tree. She dragged it back out on the road. She

broke off about half of the length. She frowned. The parts were still longer than what

she needed. She could trim it if she needed after she made the changes she wanted.

“What are you doing?,” asked Two.

“I am going to finance your missing money,” said Josie. “Then I am going to trap the

vault box. When we get back to the temple, you will know who stole the money. The

trap will just confirm it if he does it again.”

“I don’t know what I can do if he is a member of the priesthood,” said Two.

“Don’t worry about that part,” said Josie. “The trap will fix that for you.”

She pulled on Doctor Alchemy. She wrapped the shorter piece of wood with her

power. The circle of letters changed the wood into gold. She nodded as she let the

persona go.

“The first step into exposing your thief is get more money to be stolen,” said Josie.

She called on Zatanna again. She made a chopping motion with her hand and the limb

separated into gold coins with the Mage lightning on one side, and Josie’s angry

profile on the other. She formed a box out of the other limb, polishing it into

something simple to carry the new coins in. The coins flew into the box. She let the

persona go. “The second step is to let everyone know that you are replacing the silver

as bait.”

“I understand,” said Two. She picked up the box. “I hate to admit that I lost the other

silver. It will still make me look incompetent.”

“Don’t worry about that,” said Josie. “The protected box will fix that.”

“So we walk back to the temple?,” said Seven. “How long do you think it will take

to spring the trap?”

“Longer than what we have to wait around,” said Josie. “We still have other things

to do. Still, if the thief takes the bait and returns, everyone will know he did it.

Whether he can be forced out of the temple, is another matter.”

They started walking back to the temple. Josie and Seven heard a ding and a list of

quests were given to them as they neared the steps.

“The Society has given us our next jobs,” said Josie. “Let’s look at this vault box. I

can do that before we have to leave.”

“Four needs to be stopped,” said Seven. “The first quest is obviously what the Society

spokesman was talking about her stopping her research.”

“We need to get back with the others before we worry about how we’re going to

handle things,” said Josie. “We might have to divide these jobs up and deal with them

separately.”

“I am ready,” said Seven.

“What is going on?,” asked Two.

“The Society has given us our quests,” said Seven. “We will be protecting the world

from the looks of it.”

“There’s the bird,” said Josie. “Let’s go inside and put this gold up.”

“The vault is this way,” said Two. She led them inside and took them to a set of stairs

off the lobby of the temple. More winged horses and lightning decorated the walls as

they walked to a set of offices used by the clerics to take care of their mundane

affairs. She opened one door and stepped inside. The money box sat on a shelf with

a lock on it.

Josie inspected the box. She frowned at the scratches on the lock. Whomever had got

into it didn’t have a key at least.

“Who has a key for this?,” asked Josie.

“Myself, and Brother Marius, the head cleric,” said Two. “I am not sure if anyone

else has one.”

“Whomever broke into the box didn’t have one,” said Josie. “All right, I am going to

put the trap on so you know for sure who it was. I am also going to hide the other

box so only you know where the money is.”

Josie turned into Zatanna. She opened the vault box and dumped the remaining

silver and copper into her new box. She closed and locked it back. She put her curse

on it. She took the wood box and pushed it into the floor in front of the shelf. She

made a cover from the surrounding brick and then tested it to make sure Two could

open it after they were gone. She let the persona go.

“The bird will let you know who stole the money,” said Josie. “We’re going to have

to go.”

“When June and I open our office, we will be close enough to visit,” said Seven.

“Also Three has been put in charge of a charity. She might need your help in running

it.”

“Excuse me,” said Two. “What?”

“We’ll talk tonight,” said Seven.

“It was nice to meet you, Two,” said Josie. “Hopefully the next time I come through,

it will be under better circumstances.”

“I might have to call you back when your spell reveals the thief,” said Two. “I am

sorry about that.”

“That’s part of the job,” said Josie. She reached for her com band. “Enterprise?”

“Connection opened,” said the machine.

“Two to beam up,” said Josie. “We are going to need to get back to Hawk Ridge

as soon as we are aboard.”

“Affirmative,” said the machine.

They vanished in a cloud of blue sparks. The effect vanished as the door opened.

Brother Marius poked his head inside the office. He looked around.

“I thought I heard voices, Sister Boim,” said the cleric. “I must be slipping.”

“It’s all right,” said Two. She smiled. “I had some visitors earlier and they had to go.”

“All right,” said Marius. “I still have to look at the roof for repairs.”

“All right,” said Two. “Let me know and I will write out a receipt for anything you

might have to buy in town.”

“Thank you,” said Marius. He withdrew from the room, shaking his head.