The soft chatter of the group as they sifted through the information researched, assembled and in the last throws of being put together to make sense out of everything came as a low hum as Maddy and her two escorts returned to the house.

"Ah, here you are," Sage said, smiling, "what did you do with him?"

"There is an old iron cage they were going to leave Charlotte to die in," Maddy said, "it's on another cliff facing the ocean," she shook her head, "cruel, evil people. We left him there exactly how they would have left Charlotte, with food and water for a week ... no more."

"Can he get out at all?" Sage asked, shaking her head and the kind of restraint Maddy had decided on.

"Not unless he is good at squeezing between iron bars, which I cannot get my arm through," Maddy said, "we're safe until someone lets him out."

"Who knows of the cage?" Sage asked.

"Just Charlotte's line," Maddy said, "we have until dawn, don't we?" Sage nodded. Maddy looked at her watch, "let's get to work; there isn't much time."

Sage nodded, turning to the table and motioning for the other three to join them, "We know when Charlotte came here, she brought the coronet with her," Sage said, "but we need to go back further to understand why all of this started in the first place and what madness turned it into what it is today."

"This will be a ride and a half, right?" Maddy asked.

Sage nodded, "It was for me," Sage said, looking at Avidan, "do you have your people lined up to help get the correct information out? It has to hit the media outlets all at the same time."

"I do," Avidan said, "as soon as we have everything put into place and send it through, they will do what they do best ... leak it to the world."

"Who is this exactly?" Maddy asked, concern in her voice.

"Connections," Sage said, "Avidan has the people we need to do this and now. If we don't, Maddy, everything we've tried to prevent will happen, and we won't have a leg to stand on. Everything Charlotte sacrificed will be for nothing."

Maddy exhaled and nodded, "Let's hear what you have."

Sage smiled pacing as she spoke, "To understand we need to go back to the beginning," Sage said, turning and striding toward them before turning and walking away; she continued doing this as she spoke, "According to Charlotte's father's journals, he was in leadership in an army who were fighting to protect and maintain order in their lands sometime back in the early centuries, from what I can tell ... some of the pages are dated while others aren't ... it was during the fifteen hundreds ... there was a particularly gruesome battle between the Celts and the Normans, or as we know them, the Vikings. The Celts won, but not without heavy losses. There were reports of bravery that deserved reward. When it was seen what items would be part of the reward, many names were put forward with the feats of bravery listed under them."

"Choosing from all of that couldn't have been easy," Avidan said, "continue."

Sage nodded before continuing, "Apparently, Declan Channing was also in the running, but when Charlotte's father … Patrick Cooper, was reported to have saved many lives at great personal risk," Sage said, "among those lives was the Chief Chieftan and his two sons there was talk of reward for these acts being immense."

"This doesn't sound like it's going to end well," Ben muttered, sighing and nodding for Sage to continue, "please…. continue."

Sage smiled, nodded and inhaled, "Many people testified before the Cheiftan regarding Patrick's acts of bravery; however, the last person to appear put Declan's name forward instead of Patrick's and spoke of everything Declan had done. There were questions and many hearings to ensure that what was said was the truth. Then, Declan's name appeared on the list of people receiving rewards instead of Patrick's. It looked as if he would receive the Magi's Coronet and all the lands and the title attached to it."

"Why would Declan put his name forward?" Maddy asked, frowning, "That is just … wrong."

"According to Patrick's journals, about fifteen years before, Declan had wanted to marry Charlotte's mother and attempted to blackmail her father into allowing the marriage," Sage said, turning and pacing again, "she didn't like Declan and had in fact fallen in love with Patrick and the banns were already out for their marriage when Declan tried to force the matter."

"That seems a little behind the times," Maddy said, shaking her head, "why would he do that when everyone knows the other two are getting married?"

"Charlotte's mother's dowry was a pocket of land," Sage said, "very fertile, well-forested land."

"Something Declan probably needed," Ben said, nodding, "and he didn't get it because Charlotte's mother married Patrick."

"Correct," Sage said, "so this time, he was determined to take what he wanted any way he could, not allowing Patrick to succeed again. However, the night before the ceremony, a servant from one of the houses that were all gathered at the place where the ceremony was going to happen was able to speak to the Chieftan's aide and tell him of the methods Declan had taken to ensure he received the coronet, title and the land that went with it all."

"This is worse than one of those mystery novels Maddy loves to read," Matthew said, blowing out a pent-up breath, "I take it Declan didn't succeed."

"No, he was imprisoned for the vile acts that he committed, and Patrick and his wife were awarded the Magi's coronet, the title of the dukedom and the extensive lands the family still holds today," Sage said, "Declan's twin brother declared he would take revenge on Patrick and his bloodline. Time passed, and Charlotte was born. She was guarded from the time of her birth. Growing into an intelligent, kind-hearted, highly skilled, beautiful woman. Apparently, she looked like her mother and consequently fell in love with Declan's nephew, who was the younger son and was nothing like his twisted twin brother. The bloodline usually had pigeon pairs, and only a few times were both babies male, so it was with Charlotte's husband and his brother. The younger son wanted to marry Charlotte, but his father would hear nothing of it. He wanted his son to follow in the family's footsteps of black-hearted treachery. He was more like his mother than father and wanted nothing to do with what the family considered a livelihood," Sage said, taking a sip of water, "we know that Charlotte's father approved of the match and secretly assisted with the marriage on his estate before gifting them with a section of land in a far off place, a ship and many other items to set them up wherever they landed. They could live in freedom, away from the Channing's. We know one of those items was the Magi's coronet, but we didn't know that the family signet ring was also part of the gifting."

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"That's what Jeffery was looking for in the pantry," Maddy said, "and would have found as well. How did they know where to look?"

"Guesswork," Sage said, "it was the only room Jeffery had not been able to search before I arrived."

"That's why he was in there," Maddy whispered, "the first day you were here. How did they know it was here? I didn't even know."

Sage nodded, "I'm guessing they discovered its existence during the past years," Sage said, shaking her head, "their resources are extensive. Moving on, we know the rest of the story of Charlotte and her family from the journals she kept," Sage said, "we know that his elder brother found him and what they did to the Cove," Sage said, leaning on the table and looking at the time line and moving one or two documents around, "that makes the line straight …" Sage nodded, "… we know that somewhere along the line help was asked for and the brother and his wife were taken from the Cove but not before setting up the trust," Sage said, looking around the group, "we know that Charlotte's first two children left at various times and never returned to live here permanently but Charlotte had another set of children who fulfilled that condition," Sage said, "the Cove is not involved a lot with the first world war it seems to be more of a sanctuary for pirates and smugglers but in the Second World War the Channings once more try and make the Cove theirs, trying to eradicate Charlotte's line by aligning themselves with, as you gentleman call them, the oppressors, their evil has free reign and they do some atrocious things to the Cooper line and anyone related to Charlotte's family," Sage said, shuffling through the documents Sage pulls a number out shaking her head, "what they got away with was insanely horrific but out of that came a third line carrying both names, one that Charlotte had started herself when she married, the double barrel name, Cooper – Channing," nodding to Avida, "this is all correct, scan and send this packet of info off and encrypt it, make sure its tamper proof."

Avidan scanned the documents in and did as instructed before sending it off and waited for a response to say that it was all there and had arrived, "They have it."

Nodding, Sage sighed, "All as we sent it, no tampering?"

"None," Avidan said, "what now?"

"Now to sort through this sordid pile of paper," Sage said, sinking into a chair and slowly lifting pages, "I've been putting it off as much as possible because I feel like I need to sanitize my soul after every attempt."

"What could they possibly be doing that is that bad?" Maddy asked, picking up some papers and sifting through them, "oh my word …." she muttered, looking at another sheet, "… do they have anything on their … resume … that is wholesome."

Sage shook her head, "According to Patrick's journal, the only way women were married to them was if the women were bought or enslaved or their families blackmailed. According to these reports and records, it was something the family did all the time, to people and families to have a line and offspring."

"Sounds like a delightfully wonderful bunch," Matthew sighed, shaking his head, "what exactly were some of the exploits during Patrick's time?"

Sage opened a notebook that sat at her elbow, "Let's see …" she murmured, turning a few pages, "… oh here it is," her finger ran down the page, "the normal set of the day, blackmail, robbery or pillaging, rape and …" she sighed, "… extortion."

"So the entire family gets into …" Maddy paused, "… what would you call that?"

"The family business..." Matthew chuckled, "... it sounds like a medieval version of the mob."

Maddy stared at him before shaking her head and chuckling, "Charlotte fell in love with the only good bean on the vine. She must have been a very tenacious woman."

"From what I've read of her from her father's accounts and her own writing…" Sage said, "… she was a woman before her time. Emotionally and intellectually strong and relentless in matters that held her heart."

"Just as well," Avidan said, looking at the laptop, "we need someone like that when it comes to this line of Channing's…" looking down at his phone, "… an encrypted text … there is activity on the Channing side … we have … three hours before they track us down."

"What happens after they track us down?" Maddy asked.

"The same thing they did to people they didn't like or those who got in the way of what they wanted. Not just during the Second World War but before," Sage said, shuffling through papers on the table.

"What did they do?" Maddy asked, looking at the men around the table.

"Terminated them and their line," Ben said, "with lethal force."

"That is …" Maddy inhaled sharply, "… not good."

"No, it isn't," Sage murmured, "here is what I was looking for …" she whispered, unfolding a map on the table, "… this is a map of the area before and during the war … and this one here is when the Channing's ran the Cove and put all those restrictions into place," Sage said as she pulled another map from the pile, "and here is a map after the war …" she unfolded a third map displaying the same area, "… tell me what is different."

The group looked at the maps, pointing out various differences until Maddy pointed at the area marked as the Cove on the pre-war map; holding her finger in place, she found where the Cove should have been on the post-war map and gasped.

"The Cove is gone," she whispered, "everything … village, bay, islands…. nothing is there …" Looking up at Sage, she shook her head, "… why?"

"That is what we need to put together quickly because I sense the safety of those who were and are hiding here is in jeopardy," Sage said, "the next thing we need to put together is what happened between the time this pre-war map was printed and the post-war map was printed."

"What do you mean?" Maddy asked, "Surely it's obvious … after the war, we didn't exist."

"Perhaps it is that simple, but I don't think so," Sage said, "If you didn't exist, nothing would be here. You are all here; the Channings know you're here, but someone struck this place from the public registry. It could have been to give the village and the Cove time to recover or many other reasons. Still, I keep returning to my initial question ... why strike it off permanently?" Sage asked, "I'm sure you know more about this part of history than you're telling us, Maddy. I sensed long ago that something happened, and you either heard the story, knew the story, or lived the story that everyone else heard."

"Why would you say that?" Maddy asked, concerned as she glanced at her father and the rest of the group.

"There is one thing I've learnt about this place," Sage said, "the truth is always buried under layers and layers of misdirect … for no other reason than to keep the place and the people safe. But if we're going to get it done in less than three hours, you need to uncork your knowledge base and add it to the pile."

Maddy stared at Sage before looking at her father, who shrugged, "You want me to break my promise?"

"You've kept your promise, Maddy," her father whispered, wrapping her hand in his, "it's time to step up the plate and join the courageous women who have gone before you."

Nodding, Maddy sighed, "Fine, I'll tell you, but don't you dare judge."