“So what really happened out there?” Coal’s next visitor, Natasha Crimson asked. She was tall and lanky, close to Cat’s height, with naturally brown hair that had been dyed a rich burgundy. Unlike Cat who had simply perched on the edge of his desk, Natasha had better manners, and was seated in the chair opposite Coal’s desk.

“The man lost his wife and child in a car accident and decided to use the Splice hole, a materiokinetic, and some ritual magic to resurrect them. I’m not sure who all his helpers were or exactly how they managed it, but I don't think it matters now,” Coal replied simply.

“Why not just use a necromancer?” Natasha asked.

“I suppose he couldn’t find one.”

Natasha gestured towards herself.

“Well he didn’t come to me until after everything had started going south. You’d think he’d have given up at that point. Maybe if he’d come to me first I could have sent him to you, but that’s what one gets for being proud.”

“Did you know what you were sending them into?”

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“I had an idea, but no, I didn’t know it was that bad. Amanda mentioned that the mimics didn’t seem to die once the ritual had been completed, which is needless to say a bit worrying.”

“You didn’t know he was planning on using them as sacrifices?”

“I had a feeling, but that’s all.”

“You weren’t worried.”

Coal shrugged. “I knew they could handle it, and I had a backup plan just in case. I always have a back up plan. You haven’t heard of mimics resisting fire before have you?” He brushed off her earlier questions, then asked his own with renewed focus.

Natasha shook her head. “You always have a back up plan yet you never tell anyone what it is. How’d you know they’d survive that one?”

Coal didn’t reply, he just smiled softly.

Natasha stood up and stepped towards him. “A physic? Do you have a physic?”

“Come on Tash, you know decent physics are hard to find.”

Natasha stepped closer to him. “Well yeah, but it’d be just like you to find one. Necromancers are supposed to be hard to find too and yet here I am.”

Coal just smiled again.

“You never tell me anything,” she teased.

Coal stepped towards her, gently placed his hands on her hips and pulled her close. “I told you all this.”

Before she could object Coal pulled her in for a kiss. When they finally pulled apart again Natasha changed the subject.

“I’ve got another job for them.”

Coal raised his eyebrows. “Really? You have a job for them.”

Natasha nodded “There’s this house, it has something of value on the inside but not all who go in come out. In fact, Kass is probably already familiar with it. I need them to retrieve something from within.”