Luka was at the station, wavering on whether or not to make the jump. Part of him still feared his magic, and what would happen, if wild magic swept in while he was mid-jump. Then again, maybe he was overthinking it. His fingertips pressed into the wall, when his phone buzzed.

He expected Alice, or maybe Hadley, but it was an unknown number.

"Well done," the message said, along with a link to a map. The pin was at the very edge of the city, and from what he could tell it was a scattering of buildings surrounded largely by cemeteries and forest, and it was going to be an absolute pain to get to.

He sighed, and did his very best to plan a route, which went something like this: The usual jump from West Medford to North Station, jumping from there to the absolute farthest point, at Forest Hills, from which he would have to switch to bus stations, which meant asshole magic. Traveling by bus stops tended to be more erratic than train and subway stations. This was because buses leaned very heavily on luck. Buses were notoriously late, or early, and never seemed to be present when you needed them. This shouldn't affect Luka much, when he traveled by magic, but the erratic nature bled into the magic, and made jumping risky, even if he could trust his magic. It could both negate the magic entirely or it could work, but place you somewhere you had never intended to go. Even then, the route ended with a 15 minute walk.

He made the journey, mostly without incident, forcing himself to make the first jump, after which they became easier, and finally arrived at an old farm house, held together by rotting white-painted wood panels. The windows were boarded up, which was hardly even a surprise anymore.

A guy in a suit and a fox mask was waiting in front of the door, and Luka wondered if it was the same fox from before. He wasn't taken inside. Instead, Fox Mask knocked on the door, and Garrett emerged. He smiled when he saw Luka, wide enough to show off his long canines. "Walk with me," he said.

Luka didn't particularly want to walk anywhere with him, but he complied, falling into step beside him.

Since their last meeting, Luka had imagined Garrett in monochromes. It was only now, when he was in close proximity and surrounded by natural light, that colors bled into the image Luka had of him in his mind. His eyes were steel gray, but they weren't colorless. Copper streaks shot through the gray and circled the iris. His hair was dark brown, but with a golden sheen where the sunlight reached out and touched it. He had it tied back when he saw him before, but now it fell in thick curls to his jaw. He had noticed the tattoo on his neck, but now that he cared enough to pay attention, saw that what had previously seemed like little more than a shadow on his skin, was a crown. Another tattoo was emerging from his sleeve, trailing words down the inside of his bicep. He could tell it was a quote, but with half of it hidden, he couldn't identify it.

For all the subtle colors in his features, there was nothing subtle about the way he dressed. He was in dark blue pants, but the short sleeved shirt he wore was furiously patterned in golds and reds and browns. It quickly became obvious how he was leading these people.

While he perhaps seemed too young, he possessed the confidence of someone who knew he was attractive and knew how to use it to his advantage. His eyes were framed in black, which made them look paler than they were. His lashes were thick and long enough to bring attention to his eyes, but it was possible he was also wearing eyeliner. It was all a costume, though. The colorful shirt, the jewelry dominating his fingers and wrists and neck. It was supposed to make him look effortlessly handsome and charming, but also a little curious, and it worked. It caught people's attention, drew them in, enough for him to convince them to stay.

"You know, I really hadn't expected you to take your apprentice down too, but I'm impressed."

Luka had nothing useful to say to that, so he said nothing. He was aware that this friendly act Garrett was putting on was a dangerous thing, and he had to be careful to stay on this good side.

"How many people do you have working on the inside?" he asked instead, shifting the conversation to something he could use. He could have guessed there were spies within the Academy, and perhaps even the Council, but it was too obvious for guesses. Garrett had to have a lot of influence, but not so much that he could take down the Council from the inside.

"Is this another one of those trust things? I am awful at those." Garrett mused. "I'm not going to tell you that, Luka. I know where your loyalties lie, and it's not with me."

"Have I not played my part convincingly?" Luka asked, sarcasm bleeding into his voice. "Here I thought I did so well, showing my devotion to the cause."

Garrett flashed him another one of those dangerous smiles. "Please don't take me for a fool, Luka. You're nothing more than a hostage, kept in line through blackmail. I need you, but don't make the mistake of thinking you can do anything to make me trust you. It will save us both some time."

"Fair enough," Luka agreed.

They were making their way to one of the adjacent cemeteries, he guessed, as the road came to an end, and he could glimpse a small chapel through the trees. The road was paved, but it was still odd, walking along this forest trail with Garrett. They had to both be uncomfortable, this far from the city. They left the clearing of the trees, and for a moment the sun seemed too bright. Emerald lawns and perfect rows of trees surrounded the lines of headstones all around them. A pair of crows were perched on the graves, like keepers of the dead. Garrett headed for the chapel, and Luka followed his lead. The chapel sat on a raised platform, and a low wall ran in a semicircle around it, broken by the few steps that led up to the entrance.

"What are we doing here?" Luka asked.

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"Business," Garrett said, and handed him a folder he had been carrying. "It's not as personal a betrayal this time, I promise."

Luka took the folder. "No, I mean, why are we here?" He emphasized 'here' as in, the cemetery, surrounded by the dead.

"Ah," Garrett said, smiling. "Privacy. I assure you, my threats are more subtle than this. Besides, if I wanted you dead, you would be."

"Privacy?" He raised an eyebrow, lifting his attention from the contents of the folder. It was profiles of Agents. There was a picture attached to each file, and a list of basic information.

Garrett said nothing. Luka returned to the folder, flipping through the papers.

"They don't like my involvement, do they? Your… followers?" He asked. He was starting to put the pieces together. They were targets, for whatever reason. Luka was meant to take them out. "You know Fox Mask nearly killed me."

"He won't hurt you again," Garrett said. "None of them will."

"And yet, we're having this conversation all the way out here." Luka closed the file, and handed it back. "No."

Garrett didn't take it. He placed his hands in his pockets. "You're not exactly in a position to refuse."

Luka shook his head. "I'm not killing anyone."

"I'm not asking you to kill anyone, Luka. These people have been tasked with keeping an eye on you, and I can't have people following you. How you deal with them is up to you."

"Wow," Luka deadpanned, "Thanks."

"You know the Council doesn't trust you," Garrett said, "They aren't sure they should trust your apprentice either. Even Hadley Thomas is too close to you to really be trusted in all this. Now that you've infected them both, they might have a better standing with the Council, though."

"They don't know I betrayed them," Luka said, a touch too desperately. Hadley wasn't stupid. He would know.

"They will." He padded Luka's shoulder, and Luka had to restrain himself from shrugging off the touch. "Let's head back."

They took the same path back, walking in between the heavy trees. There was something claustrophobic about forests, how they made the world disappear. Sound bounced off buildings, the evidence of people ever present, but it was swallowed by trees, forming a weird silence around them. He was tempted to break it, but forced himself to consider the three Agents, Garrett wanted him to get rid of. He might have asked Hadley to get them reassigned, but he didn't dare assume that was still an option. He could threaten them, hurt them, kill them, but the thought left a bad taste in his mouth. He could ignore the job, instead making himself harder to follow, harder to track, and just hope everything worked out. That was the stupid, naive solution, and hardly viable. He wondered if they would accept bribes, but figured they had been chosen for their loyalty.

He wasn't left with a lot of options.

The old wooden structure came back into view.

"Did you know that this farm was built as an utopian experiment?" Garrett asked. If Luka was being honest, he barely even knew where he was, let alone the history of the place. "It failed, of course, since utopia is hardly lucrative."

"Is that the lesson here? Peace is a pipe dream, so why even bother?"

"Maybe." He walked him to the front door, where Fox Mask was still posted. There were more buildings across the road. They looked more habitable, but still run down. He wondered why they had chosen to stay in the massive two story house that looked like it was falling apart. "Get Lewis," Garrett told Fox Mask, who disappeared inside.

Garrett faced Luka. "I want you to think about what you want from all this, Luka. You can stay stuck in the middle, if that's what you want, but it's not a good place to be."

"I want the infected mages to survive," Luka said.

"Most of them will, but is that all? When everyone are cured, you're done?"

"Yes."

Garrett's smile widened. "Right. Well, think about it."

"I don't have to. You say you want a revolution, but that's not entirely true, is it?"

Garrett shrugged. "What is it that you think I want?"

"Chaos. Bloodshed. Destruction. Am I close?"

"And you want peace? I know you're not that naive, Luka. You know what the Council has done, you've been persecuted as much as any other Rogue. I know you've seen what they're doing to the Angels. What they've done to every other creature of magic. Do they deserve peace?"

Fox Mask reappeared, with another man in tow. He couldn’t be sure it was the same guy, he had gotten a glimpse of before, but the hostility in his eyes felt the same. Luka assumed this was Lewis.

He was in the same dark suit as everyone else, but he wasn't wearing a mask, and his tie was multi-colored, almost a match for Garrett’s shirt.

"Maybe not," Luka answered, ignoring the newcomers. "I just don't think you care about any of that. I think you want to watch the world burn, and you don't care who burns down with it."

Garrett shook his head. "I want to see what will rise from the ashes," he said. "Imagine a new world, where we make the rules. Imagine a new order, where everything isn't decided by people born to power."

"Garrett," Lewis said. "Can we get this over with?"

Garrett appeared to ignore him, but led Luka to a bench sitting against the wall of the house. "Please, sit," Garrett said. "You understand, of course, that I can't allow you to be conscious for this."

"Sure," Luka said and sat down. He hoped this was about the cure, but he didn't know what else could possibly be happening. He didn't like the idea of being knocked out, but he accepted the necessity of it. It didn't even unsettle him as much as it probably should have. Garrett was a murderer and a liar, but the mutually beneficial thing they had going on between them, created a weird sense of trust.

"For the record, I'm still against this," Lewis said.

"Noted," Garrett said. For the first time, Luka heard a dangerous edge in his voice, and he watched him closely. "Now, do your job, before I decide your attitude is becoming a problem."

"My attitude isn't the one that's a problem," Lewis said, squaring up to Garrett.

Luka watched the power struggle unfold, fascinated. He wondered who this other guy was. He looked tiny next to Garrett, too young to have earned the kind of respect it took to speak to Garrett that way. There was something about the way he was dressed; similar to the others, but different, mask-less. Either he wasn’t someone worth recognizing, or he was someone Garrett really wanted people to recognize. Even if he had cared to, Luka couldn’t keep up with the Council children, so he didn’t know.

"Troops giving you trouble?" Luka asked.

Garrett didn't shift his attention to him, but held up a hand meant to silence him, to signify that he should stay out of this. He moved closer to Lewis, trapping him against the wall, his hand resting on his chest. The green glow of his magic swirled around the hand pinning him to the wall. Luka saw Garrett’s arm shift, as he pushed more deliberately, and could only imagine the pressure threatening to crack ribs. Lewis winced as the pressure turned to pain, and Luka could hear him breathing hard. The wood was audibly groaning at his back.

"Lewis," Garrett said slowly. "Knock him out. Now."

Lewis nodded, but didn't look pleased about it. He rubbed his tender ribs, once Garrett released him, and stopped next to Luka. His hand reached out to touch his shoulder, and Luka had to force himself not to flinch, not to fight, as magic surged between them. Luka felt himself be dragged under, and as much as his own magic wanted to retaliate, he had to suppress it and let the darkness overtake him.