Maps. Schematics. Arcanist blueprints.

Julia had expected the library in town to have a bit of an unusual history, allegedly relocated brick by brick from Wales at one point. But to learn that there was a good chance it was a cover story to rebuild the Asqualia Research Center underneath the lake and serve as a secondary repository, blew her mind.

And they should have seen it coming, when they found Ergath’s book collecting dust in a storage room. Odds were good, it wasn’t the only oddity in that building.

“Who else knows this library’s history?” Levine asks quietly while looking at every blueprint they’d managed to get from the town archives earlier in the morning.

“Town historian, maybe a few old-timers,” Nick suggests. “Including the magical Kin population, maybe a few more. The point is, the library is just window dressing. The facility is under Flotsam Lake, and that’s a geographically massive area to search, especially for underground passages.” He gazes at the inert golem sitting on the table, and taps a finger gently on a schematic. “If we activate that golem, King and company might get a bead on what we’re up to. They might also be able to ping its location, and get a general fix on where it is. I think Kyle made a tactically sound choice.”

“I don’t understand. How would King know about the other golems?” Angela asks.

“King seems to be practically omniscient,” Julia grunts. “He doubled me over and kept me from beating him into the floor, because he likely knew I was the biggest danger to him. He walked away from a four-on-one fight. Plus, he brain-domed the other golem instantly, even with the optic camo on the golem. I say, he’s got magic that allows him to know when he’s being watched, eliminate digital trails, and follow others. Those would all be in alignment with his current status as a master spy.”

“Possible. We know how he wiped the data, a digital mana converter worm virus to wipe the phones, and the memory cards.” Nick sighs and glances at the now defunct memory cards sitting in a stack. “I still say there might be some recoverable data on those.”

“Dumb question. Would it wipe a VHS tape?” James asks, and Levine opens his mouth to speak, then puts a finger to his lips.

“That is an interesting idea. The information is stored in a different format on a magnetic tape. It’s possible that it wouldn’t be affected. VHS recorders were never a reliable or top ten risk back in the day, when people incidentally witnessed magic. A thought for another time. What I do know, is that King is likely tracking us. He can’t track us here at this house–it’s warded, plus a massive radius around it. The question is how he’s tracking us.”

“Nah, that's a coincidence. He was bee-lining it to the school to stop Val in her scorched earth policy of getting rid of evidence and bodies,” Drenar counters. “I also think he deliberately let us hear the details at the cabin. Maybe to see what we’d do.”

“But again, why?” Angela pressed further.

“He’s closer in alignment to the goals with Crosomer,” Drenar suggests. “Those two work together a lot closer than Val. Plus they still have some plans for us. These guys are just wired differently.”

“So, what’s our play here? We go in, get the records, get out?” James asks.

“Burn ‘em, maybe. I like that idea, to be thorough,” Drenar says grimly. “Let’s assume the library is the way in. How do we find the entryway?”

“Use Julia’s mana sight. If there’s arcane circuitry, that might be the path. Mana scopes might be…problematic for us,” Nick says uneasily. “They’re not as sensitive.”

“Hang on. Julia, have you explained this one?” Angela asks her. She winces when she allows her vision to unfocus just a little–and then the world is awash in blue and white.

“I got hints of it in the past week, before I knew what it was--color would wash out a bit, but I can see what I think is mana energy. I can sort of see outlines of magic around you guys. Like little circulatory systems in your bodies that align with the regular ones. It’s...a little trippy,” she says with a beaming smile. “Forgive me if I stare. It’s fascinating, and–oof…a bit much. I can only do it for a minute before I get a tension headache.”

She surveils the room to give it a test. It overlaps with her normal vision, and the rest of the color of the world seems washed out, like someone bled out everything but blue, black, and white. Drenar is standing there, looking stoic, and she can see an outline of blue through his body. Small filaments are connected to slightly larger nodes. There are more within the core of his body, aligning with the circulatory and nervous system.

“So, what's it look like?” he asks after a few seconds. “And, should I be concerned with you staring at me with the intensity of an apex predator?”

“I’m not predatory.”

“Your nickname is Tsundere. It’s like the default setting! When you grin, the world shudders, and that was before you went full dragon mode,” he scowls.

“Way to be a rain cloud on my sunny existence!” she counters with a tap on his nose for emphasis, and he scowls deeper. “Nah, everything is in order there. I think. It's just like Levine was saying.” She peers around the room, and frowns when she sees James' outline. “Uh, there's blue in you, James.”

“I know. I'm a sad man, surrounded by super-powerful dragons and wizards,” he sighs.

“No I mean, there's blue in you. Mana filaments. Now, when I look at you, then I look at Angela–”

She has to shield her eyes for a second when she looks at Angela, and everyone looks at her with intrigue.

“Yes, we get it. She's the cooler Shalinde twin,” James grouses. She squints and gently tries to dial back that feeling, and feels a slight tension headache. She steps closer to Angela, who is raising an eyebrow.

“Julia, you've been acting pretty weird here beyond the baseline Tsundere experience–”

She steps and pokes Angela's chest, right where her heart would be, right where there's a shining--something there.

“Girl, we're friends, but the personal space thing, save it for a private room! Not in front of everyone,” Angela sighs.

“Um…how should I feel about this?” Drenar asks while tapping his dagger--he keeps doing that like it's his new stimming technique, and she can hear that dagger ringing every time he does!

“You shouldn’t feel about this,” James utters with all the frigidness of a polar vortex.

“Oh, right.” Julia hastily withdraws her hand. “Guys? There's this silvery blue mass in her heart. I don't suppose that's, I dunno, mana cancer?”

“Mana cancer isn't a thing!” Nick rebukes. Levine however, does look intrigued.

“Nick, go get a scope from the armory. I think I need to see this, too.”

“They're not as effective as you might think–”

“Lad, just go get it.” Nick darts off to the barn and Julia winces–she’s been trying to hold this vision focus too long, and color floods back into the world that feels like stabbing brightness, and she takes a step back. Angela is looking down, frowning.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“You saw something? I feel fine.” She taps her shirt for emphasis, then looks at James. “Is there uh…something really troubling about this double reveal?”

“Weird stuff happening to us on a routine basis? Nah, I've just resigned myself to a fate of normal and mundane being burned out of my vocabulary. Wait, does this mean I can use magic?!” James exclaims. “I'm a little fuzzy on what a mage can actually do, considering all the dragons in the room who seem to have a suite of abilities baked in.”

“We’ll get into that in a minute. I’m curious about this. Short version, anything that requires mana activation, you should be able to use. Actual magic’s a bit more of a tricky thing to describe when not tied to heritage abilities like dragons have. Mages have more generic abilities, the arcane barrier generation being one of them.”

“So, what about me?” Angela says after trying to remain calm. It's incredible how chill she can be, even in the face of the unknown.

“I've a theory, lass. Your brother is a nascent mage, and probably hasn't tapped into his potential yet. Your Awakening would have profoundly jump-started your mana generation, and based on the fact that all your draconic powers kicked in well before you Awakened, it's impressive.” Nick darts back in with an accessory scope that looks blocky and colored in black polymer material, and the lens glows lightly with silver light. He hands the device to Levine.

“Most of the time, these scopes are not sensitive enough to see the inner core of a person’s mana. It's typically too faint, compared to arcane circuitry. This, however–” he trails off when he peers through the scope. First at her, then at Drenar, then at Angela, and he lowers the scope slowly. “That is…Nick, take a look.”

“What am I looking…for…” he peers through at Angela, who is standing there looking more and more uncomfortable. Nick takes a look at the switch and dials of the scope, and tries again. “Okay, that’s weird.”

“Can we rule out magical cancer, please?!” Angela demands anxiously.

“Okay, again, magical cancer isn’t a thing,” Nick retorts. He's got a stick up his backside again, she likes cooler Nick, who lets her fire giant, dangerous guns and autobows. “Second off, it’s not a mass. It’s a crystalline shard of mana. Normally, mana is in-solution in the body, with very small filaments and nodes present. This is…larger than those. This is what you can see in dragons and kitsune after a few hundred years. Sometimes even wargens, at the tail end of their life, or elven. Seeing it at your age, after you just Awakened…is a little unusual. But not unprecedented.”

“So, it’s totally fine?” Angela's apprehension melts away as quickly as it does for Julia. Losing a bestie to cancer of any kind would suck.

“Yes, this has been observed before–it’s even expected in older dragons. Tally it up as a little unusual. Both Drenar and Julia also have a more developed mana circulatory core than I would have expected, too. Either due to heritage, or the device. Joey’s going to have a field day with you three once the pending crisis is over," Nick says with his usual reserved tone.

“Uh, dragon science? Yay!” Julia would normally be a little worried about being the one experimented upon and studied, but then again, she wouldn’t be alone. “Spill the beans, she’s cute! You two must have hooked up!” He keeps up his calm composure and even smiles. He does have an expression other than stoic or annoyed!

“Purely professional, I assure you. She’s also got a razor-sharp wit. Just…make sure she’s topped off on coffee,” he cautions. “She needs it for her level of zen focus. Also, I don't quite understand why so many people assert that I’m somehow…desirable.”

“It’s the cool factor. I also want a bomber jacket, like yours,” she declares. “Okay, we’re wasting time. We need to find a way down to Asqualia, and fast. How do we know if we’re being tailed, first question?”

“That’s where I come in. My presence will be missing at my office sooner or later, so we have a limited window of opportunity. Nick, we need to flush out the pursuers.” Levine is tactical and to the point--exactly what she needs!

“I can think of one. Jackie.” All eyes turned to Evan. “She’s the one that relayed to Jonaleth about what I am, most likely.”

“Um, when you say ‘flush out’, I sincerely hope you don’t mean doing something that involves injury, or worse,” Angela says worriedly.

“Hang on. Are we sure about that? Who else has been aware of us? Hell, I’d vote Kelly if we wanted to apply that metric,” Drenar states. Julia turns to glare at him.

“You are so dense, Drenar. Why would she do that? She’s our friend!”

“Look, I’m saying that whole situation at the ranger station felt a little too convenient, now that I’ve had time to process it. King using her as bait would fall in his playbook.” Julia feels a spark of plasma coil down her arm–is he being dumb, or paranoid? Probably the latter, she figures.

“I’m gonna punch you if you suggest that again,” she growls.

“Okay, who else then? I wasn’t sold on the theory, but we can’t rule it out,” he states with surprising restraint.

“For a long-term tracking of us? That could be any number of people. Jackie is a known associate of Jonaleth, who is now in custody. I’m not sold on that one either, she’s too recognizable,” Nick counters softly. “Drones could track you, but that would require constant monitoring, fuel upkeep, and logistics. Levine, what’s your take on this one?”

“First, we need to ditch the phones,” he states firmly. “Everyone, personal phones. I need to rule this one out, for an abundance of caution.” Everyone hands over their phones, then Nick packs them in a heavy case. “Good. I’ve got burner arcanlinks. Take these and use them, they’ll all be synched up.” They grab the small earpieces which look extremely subtle. Julia notes that it is surprisingly comfortable around her ear, she barely even feels it against her skin.

“What about magical tracking?” Angela asks. “If we’re giving off massive magical auras that Julia pointed out, we stick out like sore thumbs.”

“Only other Aurans have that ability, and I only know of one other, personally speaking,” Levine muses. “Mana scopes are a closer range scope only, the aura drops off exponentially the further the distance you are. So, you can’t really use them effectively at longer distances, the outline becomes too faint. I think we need to bait out someone.”

“I’ll do it. They’ll expect me,” Drenar states boldly.

“No. If you’re alone, they’ll know something is up, King knows you travel with Nick and the others, and has likely relayed that to his subordinates. This is a man who knows this game very well, Drenar.” Levine ponders the idea for a minute, then smiles. “I’ve got it. We’ll lure them out at the promenade. Nick, we’re running a two team effort. We’ll flush out the trackers, you need to be ready to find Asqualia. We’ll be the distraction team.”

“A split team? What if the Talons get trigger-happy?” Evan asks worriedly. “Drenar’s spell shielding is good, so is Angela’s, but um…being in a flurry of gunfire is still unhealthy.”

“No, that runs counter to their goals, and Crosomer would utterly murder King if that happened,” Drenar pushes back. “Let’s assume for a second that King is pushing us to find Asqualia, because he either wants another ingress point, or wants us there for a specific reason. We need to outplay this creep. We split our efforts–my guess is, the library has a secret entrance. Nick will take the golem, and the second you find a way in, and we take out the observers, we go for it. Angela, you’re with Evan and Nick and James. Myself, Julia and Levine will be on the distraction team.”

“Actually, you’ll have another task,” Levine says, and shows great hesitation.

“Um…what exactly?”

“When we make our move, I need you to short out the Promenades’ teleportal system.”

Everyone turns to stare at Levine. “Say that again?” Julia asks warily.

“I’ve got a plan. One that flushes out the Talons handlers, and gets us into Asqualia,” Levine responds with a wolfish grin. “Today is scouting. Tomorrow is breaking stuff.”

“Ah Fates, I thought you were the level-headed one,” James groans while pinching the bridge of his nose. “If I die on this mad quest, make sure my Magic cards go to Angela as the sole inheritor.”

“Great inheritance, brother. Learn to fry some mages quickly, will you?”

“Levine, that’s cutting it pretty close. Are you sure we can take that risk?” Drenar asks.

“We need to be unpredictable, like you put it before. We need to time this move as closely as we can to disrupt their activities, get inside Asqualia, warn the staff, and hope that Joey and Kyle have found the saboteurs on their end. I hope that Lavernius isn’t in on this…that girl from last night, Kelly? She’s going to be devastated if this one pans out true. It’s also possible that King was manipulating us then, too.” Levine makes his tacit assessment.

Julia doesn’t know why everyone’s looking to Drenar and her. “So, whose call is it?” she asks boldly.

“I vote for this plan. Guys, there are risks with this plan that include, you know, death. Show of hands, are you all in on this?” Drenar is the one to put the question out. Maybe he will make a decent leader, someday. It just takes a true crisis to make him less passive.

Much to Julia’s satisfaction, everyone raises their hand at once. Even James. Drenar dips his head after seeing this, and turns to Levine. “Well, there we have it. We leave in twenty minutes. Let’s get ready.”