The four students had the information they needed. They knew which mansion Felix was in, the rich leader of the Baronblades holed up in the River Place District, one that overlooked the water and was known for its lavish states. There was strategy in choosing a location like that, which Ghost pointed out as they followed Kanda toward the district before reminding Alistair of what they planned to do.

Ghost: Kanda’s not going to like this. She’s really not going to like this.

Alistair: No, she is not.

Ghost: But we’ve been over it. We know what to say, we know how to make this happen, and we have decided what will happen next.

Alistair: Damn.

Ghost: You are correct. Just be willing for things to get messy.

After passing through a narrow street filled with merchants, they reached the district, the entrance of which was lined with enormous trees that cast shadows onto the lane beyond. Juno took over from there.

“Wait, I know this place,” he said to distract Kanda. “Yeah, hell yeah, I had a buddy that lived here. Ooh, a candle shop. I have been needing a candle, you know, especially after I do some of my morning business, if you get what I’m saying.”

She turned to find Juno looking in the window of a shop that made custom wax candles.

“Juno,” Kanda said, “we have—!”

Zola blasted Kanda with her wand before Daisy could respond. Her attack immediately put Kanda to sleep, the girl falling to the right as her summon melded into a card that slammed into her chest.

“Serves that bitch right,” Zola said as she kept her wand trained on the older girl.

Earlier, while Kanda interrogated the Baronblade trainee, Juno had given Zola the sleep inducing card back. He had been bluffing when he said he could only use it once per day.

Ghost took over from there and immediately crouched next to Kanda. He checked her vitals out of instinct, and then dragged her into the alley.

“Are you sure—?” Juno asked before Ghost cut him off.

“Guard the entrance, Wraith. Make sure no one spotted you. Be prepared to do some damage if anyone asks any questions.”

“Damage? Um, sure, you got it,” Juno said in his best Ghost impression.

Ghost turned to the other girl. “The rope.”

“I still can’t believe they were selling this at the Mystic Mercantile,” Zola said as she brought the rope over to Ghost.

This had been one of the things that Zola had revealed to Alistair and Juno before Kanda had arrived at their dorm, a little tip she had learned from one of the upperclassmen who worked at the Wraithen Archives. Binding Rope was generally used for certain kinds of summons, ones large enough that are needed to be an additional apparatus to help force them into card mode.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“As you can imagine, if we put her to sleep in Solaria, she will wake up relatively quickly. But, if we tie her up with this, and we make sure she can’t draw too much attention to herself, it will actually prevent Kanda from using her powers,” Zola had explained.

“Should we really just leave her in the street somewhere, though?” had been Juno’s question upon hearing this.

“It depends on how we tie her up,” Alistair had said, repeating Ghost’s words.

Now, he understood exactly what the assassin meant as he bound Kanda in a way that she wouldn’t be able to move even if she tried. He produced red swaths of fabric to blindfold and muffle Kanda. Once that was done, he stepped back to admire his handiwork. “That should do.” He turned to Juno and Zola. “Watch her.”

“You got it,” Juno said in his Wraith voice. “Don’t be long.”

Ghost moved deeper into the alley as he got his bearings. He knew some about this district, and the way it fanned out into the catacombs. He just needed to find one of the entrances. It took him a few minutes, but he finally located one not far from Kanda’s current position. “We are in luck. I really didn’t want to just leave her in the alley,” Ghost told Alistair. “She’s already going to hate us after this.”

“I can live with that.”

“You might regret those words one day. If it were up to me, we would kill her alongside her uncle. Easier that way.”

“You keep telling me that.”

“If you think you walk away from this without her wanting to kill you, you should think again.”

“She won’t… I don’t…” Alistair stopped. “I don’t know. I don’t know what will happen after this. But we have to get to that point first.”

“Finally, something we can agree on. She’s not going to be happy. She’s especially not going to be happy when we leave her here because we certainly can’t bring the raging hormonal goddaughter of a famed murderer with us across the border. It’s too much of a wildcard. We also can’t leave her for too long, you know, in case she actually dies. Don’t want that either, or, you don’t. Personally, I don’t care.”

“I’m not the type to kill her.”

“You are the type now, Alistair, but it won’t sit well with your friend, so I can see why you would be reluctant. Telling one of the Baronblade trainees who inevitably shows up at the mansion is one way to do it; or, we make the announcement pending on how this goes. Either way, we let them find her, but we make sure we’re gone or going when she’s found.”

“Got it.”

“The other option would be to send a raven to someone I know. Either way, she’s not going to be happy. But this will help us in the end, especially in dealing with Felix.” Ghost quieted as they reached Kanda’s body. She was still bound and sleeping, the older girl surrounded by Juno and Zola.

“Is it far?”

Rather than answer Juno, Ghost scooped Kanda into his arms and moved toward the entrance to the catacombs.

“We will guard you,” Zola said, as she moved to his right. Juno did the same on his left, his wand drawn, hand a bit shaky as he laughed nervously to himself. Soon, they reached the catacomb entrance without disturbing anyone aside from a few cats that had spotted a rat.

“There it is,” Ghost told Juno as he nodded to a wooden door. “Open it, and we’ll put her inside. Zola, mark the area.”

Juno did as instructed by propping the door open and moving aside. Ghost carefully placed Kanda at the top step. There were so many things that could go wrong here, but Ghost had already assured Alistair that this would work. For his part, Alistair wasn’t so confident, but he had grown to trust the assassin for better or worse.

Before they left, Zola tied a red scarf to a pipe jutting out of one of the brick buildings to mark the spot. “There,” she said. “In the alley past the candle shop, marked by a red scarf.”

“Good. Next up, Felix,” Ghost told them, still in control of Alistair’s body. “Quickly, and with as much force as we possibly can. Last chance to stay back.” He glanced from Juno to Zola. “Well?”

“I’m with you,” Juno said in his Wraith voice.

Zola nodded. “Let’s do this, and get to the border.”