Author: Jamie Davis
Date: 2017-09-03 04:00:00+00:00
Description: Winnie's backed into a corner ... and she comes out fighting. The world’s magic continues to fail, but the middlings want their charmed items and Sable more than ever. They can feel the future coming—a future when the magic will be gone forever. Dust storms continue to pummel the cities up and down the eastern coast of the United Americas. The outer limits are a barren wasteland as magic continues to suck the natural world dry. It’s been a year and a half since Winnie took over as the head Sable trader for Baltimore and New Amsterdam. With the Philly boss joining her, the East Coast is hers. W
Publisher: Sterling & Stone

Table of Contents

Queen of Avalon

Copyright

Queen of Avalon

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Epilogue

Want to Know What Happens Next?

About the Author

Queen of Avalon

by Jamie Davis

Copyright © 2017 by Sterling & Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events, or locales is purely coincidental.

Reproduction in whole or part of this publication without express written consent is strictly prohibited.

The authors greatly appreciate you taking the time to read our work. Please consider leaving a review wherever you bought the book, or telling your friends about it, to help us spread the word.

Thank you for supporting our work.

CHAPTER 1

Winnie Durham jumped out of the car as soon as it pulled to a stop on the deserted road just outside Philadelphia. She looped her scarf up over her face to protect herself from the swirling dust around her.

Looking back, the land behind was populated by occasional dead trees marring the highway. The wasteland stretched as far as the eye could see. She turned and moved to the edge of the small rise beside the abandoned highway, creeping to the top so she could see over it to the ruins of an old amusement park about a quarter mile in the distance.

An ancient sign was still perched on the tall double poles: The Pike.

The park was surrounded by an old, rusted chain link fence. It was tall, topping at least eight feet, with barbed wire strung along the top in thick, twisted triple strands. Winnie scanned the deserted park and saw no signs of any guards. No one in sight.

She turned and slid back down the bank to the highway below. Her descent raised a small cloud of dust behind her — caught in the ever-present winds that swept the Barrens, then whisked away to join the swirling dust.

It never stopped.

Winnie climbed back into the car and closed the door to keep out the dust. Pulling her scarf down from her face and head, she shook her long brunette hair free, running her hands through the gentle curls to loosen it in the back where the scarf held it down. She eyed her friends with a smile.

“It’s just where the map said it would be, and the place looks deserted.”

Danny looked over from behind the steering wheel. He had the map spread out before him, propped against the wheel. He stabbed a finger at the map. “The exit leading to the parking area is just ahead. Should we park here, or move closer and take a chance that it’s not as deserted as it looks?”

Tris chimed in from the back, sandwiched between Cait and the newest addition to their group, Cricket. “Given what we’re here to do, I think we should get the vehicle as close as possible before we leave it. Once the dust storms kick up — like they always do later in the day — we’ll have a hard time getting everything back to the car.”

Winnie nodded. “Agreed. Danny, head for the exit and the parking lot. We’ll make another check from there for any guards before we go inside.”

Danny folded the map, not even trying to maintain its original shape. He handed it to Winnie, then gunned the engine, sending the car hurtling down the barren highway. Since the Barrens had claimed this part of the land years before, this section of the Philadelphia suburbs had been inhabited only by the hardiest of creatures and the few people hoping to avoid detection from city authorities.

Winnie flipped the visor down and checked her friends in the back seat using the vanity mirror. Tris was looking at her smartphone, surely going over their plan again, nervously running a hand through her mousy brown hair. Cait, taller thank Tris and with short-cropped blond hair, sat next to her with a confident air that never seemed to leave her. The former soldier had pulled a knife from somewhere in her clothes and was checking the point with a finger tip before returning it to its hidden sheath.

Cricket sat opposite Cait on the other side of Tris, filing his nails with an emery board. He was a short, thin man. Impeccably dressed in what he would probably call his casual outfit, the New Amsterdam charm runner was wearing a pair of black slacks, a crisp button-down shirt, a black leather jacket, and a baseball cap with the New Amsterdam Dodgers logo. Since the alliance, he’d attached himself to the team. The New Amsterdam chanter boss, Cleaver Yorke, had sent Cricket with Winnie to “keep an eye on her.” In the year and a half since joining them, he’d become an indispensable part of their team.

He must have sensed her watching. He glanced up from his nails and winked at Winnie before returning to his grooming.

She flipped up the visor, watching their progress as Danny reached the exit. The green highway sign still stood, half-buried in a bank of blown dust and dirt: The Pike, Visitor Parking. Danny turned off the highway and headed up a ramp leading to the amusement park, now just visible in the distance.

It had been a hard year. The riots had worsened, along with the tremors and storms that triggered so many problems with getting food and other resources into the cities from the factory farms out west. While non-magical middlings were still blaming chanters for universal problems, most of the demonstrations and riots were now directed at the government. And that was why they had to finish this job — continue what she’d started over a year before.

It was time for the Philly bosses to join them.

Danny turned off the road into the large, empty lot on the park’s south side. Winnie said an incantation and switched her vision to the magical spectrum, scanning the park again as they approached.

She didn’t see anything, but that didn’t mean there weren’t safeguards in place. That was what the team was for — she’d come to rely on each of their unique talents.

“You want me to park by the entrance gates or somewhere else?” Danny asked.

Winnie scanned the perimeter, spotted what she was looking for, and pointed. “There. Park next to the employee entrance at the far end of the lot. Right, Cricket?”

“Yes, ma’am. That’s where my Uncle Rudy says we’ll find the soft spot. He used to work security here about thirty years ago, back in The Pike’s glory years. People even came down here from New Amsterdam to check out the rides and shows.”

“You heard him, Danny. Let’s park and have a look around.”

“What if Uncle Rudy’s info doesn’t pan out?” Cait asked. She and Cricket didn’t always get along. Mostly because she still saw him as an intruder in the gang, remembering when he was working against them on Cleaver Yorke’s behalf. She still suspected that Cricket was working for Yorke rather than them.

Winnie turned and looked at Cait. “If this lead doesn’t pan out, we’ll find another way inside. You brought the tools, right?”

Cait nodded.

“Then we’ll get in there. Cricket hasn’t led us wrong yet, so have faith.”

Danny parked next to the nondescript employee entrance and they all got out. He popped the trunk and Cait grabbed a heavy canvas bag that clinked with the sound of metal on metal. The others all helped Danny unload a collapsible cart, which he unfolded and set up to push on four wheels. Cait set the heavy bag atop it, then Cricket followed with another set of empty canvas bags.

Winnie walked to small entry point and scanned from magical protections. Seeing nothing, she turned to Tris. “It looks like a conventional lock and security system. Can you get past it?”

“No sweat.” Tris smiled, then took a tiny screwdriver from her fanny pack and began to remove the cover from a small electrical panel next to the gate. Once opened, Tris closed her eyes and manipulated the air in front of the mass of wires. Winnie could see the magical flows, but couldn’t make sense of her complex weave. After a moment, Tris stood.

“The security system is down, but still reporting an all-clear to the monitoring service. Tell Cait she can cut the lock.”

“No need,” Winnie said, even as Cait pulled a pair of bolt cutters from the tool bag.

Cait paused. Winnie pointed to the lock and flicked her fingers upward twice. The rusted padlock popped open with a click.

“Show-off,” Cait said, dropping the bolt cutters into the bag.

“Why leave a sign of our passage if we don’t have to?” Winnie asked. “Come on, we’ve only got so much daylight left and still don’t know exactly where we’re headed. Cricket can lead the way. You came here as a kid, right?”

“Yep. Come on, follow me, kids. Stay together and no one get lost.”

They entered the park, eyeing the abandoned rides on either side.

“The Pike was best of the best in its time,” Cricket said as they walked. “Each of these rides ran on magic and offered fun and excitement that no other middling park possibly could. People saved for years just to come for a day.”

“Then everything went to crap,” Cait said. “With Director Kane and his implementation of the new DMC rules.”

“You might say that, kid,” Cricket agreed. “But in all fairness to him, there were signs that the magic was failing even back then. Several rides had spectacular collapses that caused serious injuries to the passengers. My uncle said it became harder and harder for the maintenance crews to keep up with the breakdowns. If Kane hadn’t shut parks like this down, they would’ve had to close on their own.”

Cricket stopped talking, pausing his tour to gather his bearings. He pointed at a small building with faded paint and signs displaying many kinds of candy and treats.

“I thought my uncle said the control center was here, but all I see is this concession stand.”

“Figures,” Cait said with a derisive snort.

“Hey, my uncle knew what he was talking about, Blondie.”

Cait bristled at the nickname Cricket always used to worm under skin. Winnie stepped between them, hands raised. “Don’t start, you two. Spread out and look around. Remember, things aren’t always what they seem.”

The five of them circled the low building. Winnie and the trio of chanters searched the wooden walls and flaking paint for signs of magical protections. It was twenty minutes before Danny chimed in with an observation that the chanters had missed.

“I don’t know what you’re looking for, but I think this might be it.” He pointed at a narrow door set in the wall next to a series of boarded-up food windows.

“Why?” Winnie asked as she walked over to him.

“Look at the keyhole for the deadbolt. The brass has fresh scratches around it, as if someone had recently used it. See.”

Winnie and the others leaned forward to look and saw the brighter scratches of freshly exposed metal, just as Danny had said.

Winnie clapped Danny on the back. “Score a point for the middling.”

Again, she muttered a few words and waved her fingers in front of the lock. It popped open with a click, then she pushed at the door. It stuck to the frame briefly but when she applied pressure, it popped open, then swung back to reveal a slender staircase leading down.

They were in.

CHAPTER 2

Cait led them down the dark staircase, followed by Cricket, Tris, Winnie, and Danny. He tried to pull the cart after them, but it wouldn’t fit through the doorway, or down the stairs, so Danny shouldered the heavy tool bag and handed Winnie the pile of empties to carry as they followed Cait down.

When she reached the bottom last, Winnie saw the others milling around a large empty basement with a few scattered pieces of broken furniture and an old rusted water heater in the corner. She walked around, her fingertips brushing the dusty walls.

“Well, this is a dead end,” Cait said, stating the obvious. But Winnie wasn’t sure.

“Maybe,” she said, then continued to walk the perimeter.

She could sense something. Their information wasn’t wrong. She was sure of it. Stopping at the water heater after the third pass, Winnie turned and faced the rusted hunk of metal.

She closed her eyes and raised her hands like a conductor collecting the orchestra. Then she gently swayed, moving her arms in fluid arcs. She could sense the chanters gasp as the magical flows around the water heater revealed themselves, unraveling like ribbons rolling off a spool.

Winnie opened her eyes and saw that the water heater had slid to one side to reveal a previously undetected doorway. She gave a weary but triumphant laugh and dropped her arms. “There you go. Just where we thought it would be. We just didn’t know where to look.”

Danny moved forward into the newly revealed room, glanced around, then turned to look at Winnie and the others. “It looks like it’s all here. Everything Colten and the Philly bosses have been hiding away.”

Cait and Tris joined him, sorting through the boxes, crates, and bags. Winnie watched her friends unzip two different duffels to reveal piles of bundled cash in neat bank wrappers. Cricket and Danny opened a crate and revealed a stash of military-grade explosives with Sable detonators. Winnie nodded in satisfaction — they’d found exactly what they were looking for.

Winnie turned to Cricket. “Go back upstairs with Danny and call in the truck. It looks like we’ll be needing more than the cart after all. We’ll get this sorted while we wait for them to show.”

“Got it, Boss.” The dapper chanter waved to Danny, then they headed back upstairs.

Cait was sorting through the military crates. She gave a low whistle. “Wow, Winnie. Some of this stuff is brand new while some of it dates back to the European evacuation twenty years ago. Colten and the Philly crew must have had quite the connection back in the day, or they found someone’s stash. A lot of this stuff was decommissioned by the army years ago as too dangerous for even military applications.”

“Good to know, Cait,” Winnie replied. “Pull those items aside as you find them. We’ll mark them for dismantling and destruction by the proper authorities later.”

“You’d trust the government to do that?” Tris asked.

“We don’t have the resources to do it,” Cait said. “If we turn it over to the army anonymously, they’ll take care of it for us.”

“Or they turn the entire lot over to Kane and then he uses them against the chanters in the Enclaves,” Tris said.

Winnie worried about her friend. She’d taken to hanging out with the chanter rebellion’s more militant factions in recent months. Some sections in each of the Enclaves had become more like armed camps. People who lived there were advocating armed resistance.

“Why don’t you focus on bagging the loose stacks of cash and piling all of the money over in that corner?” Winnie tried to distract Tris with an alternative task to avoid her volatility. “We’ll want to make sure the money comes in the car with us.”

Tris grumbled something under her breath but then set to work. Cait caught Winnie’s eye and the two of them traded a worried look. Winnie shrugged, helping the former soldier sort through the crates while they waited for the truck and additional help.

By the time the truck arrived, they had three distinct piles: the smaller pile of money, all zipped in bags either found in the room or brought down with them; two separate stacks of crates in the room that would need to be loaded into the truck — one contained the weapons and Sable tech Cait considered safe; and a smaller but much more threatening stack of older weapons that seemed dangerous even for military applications. Winnie wanted to make sure they kept track of that stack most of all.

“Cait, make sure you keep a running tally of the decommissioned stuff so we know that they’re all accounted for later on,” Winnie ordered.

“Already on it.” Cait was following each crate up to the truck. They were stacking those in last so they could be unloaded in a separate location before the full load found its final destination.

Winnie watched until the final crate was taken to the waiting truck, then she grabbed the last two bags of money with Tris and left the hidden room.

She turned, dropped her bag, and faced the now-empty storage room. Again, she closed her eyes, searching her memory for just the right configuration that would return the outer room to its prior condition.

Raising her arms, she called to the flows, and with a delicate touch, coaxed each magical strand back to its former position. She could have strengthened the magical protection with her own abilities, but she merely wanted to liberate the stash without leaving a trace of their passage. Let the Philly boys figure this heist out for themselves.

Winnie picked up the last bag before heading out right behind Tris. Part one of their heist had gone according plan from start to finish. She thought about how well their newly-integrated crew worked since she’d taken Cleaver’s oath of allegiance over a year before. Each job had been easier than the last as the gang learned to trust Winnie’s lead and follow her orders without question.

She walked back out of the concession stand and onto the gravel grounds. She looked around. Cleaver’s men had brought a couple more carts and hand trucks. They were wheeling the final crates across to the employee gate, where she saw the panel truck parked beside their car.

Winnie waited for the last of them to leave before shutting the door behind them and walking back to the car. She deposited the final bag of cash in the trunk next to the others.

“Do we have a tally of the cash?” she asked.

Danny shook his head. “Tris and I both tried to estimate what each bag could hold, but we didn’t have time to count all of it. Bills are bundled in different denominations from 20s to 100s, so each bag is different. Still, I think it’s safe to say it’s more than a million here.” He smiled. “Not too bad a haul for one day’s work.”

“No, not bad at all,” Winnie agreed, then turned to Cait. “All the crates accounted for and tallied?”

“Yep. The more dangerous pile is stacked so that we can unload it first. Have you thought about how you want to handle that?”

“I have,” Winnie said. “Cricket, do we have a safe house we’re willing to part with? Maybe one that the Red Legs might already suspect?”

“I think so, Boss.” He took off his cap and scratched his head. “There’s one back in Baltimore, and another one or two we could use here in Philly.”

“Use the one of the ones up here, then. That will help with the rest of our plans. Going all the way to Baltimore then bringing the rest of it back up here makes the chance of getting pulled over by the Red Legs twice as likely.”

“Agreed.” Cricket nodded. “I’ll make a few calls and get an address for you soon.”

“Make it quick. I want this all done by tonight. Before our meet up. It wouldn’t do to keep Colten Sico waiting for us.”

The crew laughed, including Cleaver’s additional men. Winnie felt good. The operation had gone off without a hitch.

It was time to put the rest of her play in place.

Time to take over Philly.

CHAPTER 3

Cricket came through as usual, and they were able to offload Cait’s cache of dangerous crates.

Tris continued to argue all the way to the abandoned safe house and throughout the unloading. Winnie finally had enough and pulled her angry friend aside while the crates were unloaded and stashed inside a row home on the outskirts of Philly. It was dark — neighbors knew better than to pay too much attention to what happened outside at night.

“Tris, you need to trust me.”

“This is a mistake, Winnie. It’s wrong for two reasons. First, you’re naive to believe that the military will retain control of these weapons long enough to destroy them. Kane will want to use them against us at some point in the future. Second, why shouldn’t we take the initiative and use the weapons for our own gains? It’s time we took the fight to the Red Legs.”

Winnie shook her head and gathered her thoughts. She didn’t want to alienate Tris, but was increasingly alarmed by her friend’s militant leanings.

“Tris, you’ve seen what using that kind of harmful magic can do to the world. You’ve had to repair damage to the magical matrix supporting our cities. That happened because of our overuse of magic. The ends don’t justify the means here. It just isn’t worth it.” Winnie tried to hold her friend’s gaze, hoping that her words would sink in. But Tris turned away as the final crates on Cait’s list were taken inside.

She looked back at Winnie, her eyes full of sorrow. “I hope I’m wrong, Winnie. I really do. But I strongly believe that this will turn against us all. You can’t fight a war half way. We’re battling for the lives of every chanter in the world. If we don’t use the weapons at our disposal, they’ll be turned against us in the end.”

Tris walked to the car, climbed in the back seat, and closed the door. Winnie shivered, wondering what would happen if Tris were right.

Cait and Cricket approached, breaking her train of thought.

“Everything’s loaded,” Cait said. “What’s next?”

“We have Cricket drop an anonymous call at the armory about the weapons here.” Winnie looked over toward Tris. “Hopefully, the army will have enough sense to take them into custody without alerting the Red Legs.”

Winnie checked the time on her way to the truck. It was going to be close, but she thought they could probably make their meeting in time. They had to make the most of this opportunity.

“Load up,” she said.

Cait and Cricket started calling to the men, ordering them back into the truck before they joined her by the car. Danny was waiting, ready to drive them to the next stop on their list.

He hooked a thumb toward Tris, sitting in the back. “What’s up with her?”

“She and I have a slight disagreement.” Winnie opened her door and changed the subject. “You know where you’re going?”

“I do,” Danny said, climbing into the driver’s seat. “This is the big one, Winnie. You nervous?”

She laughed. “I’ve been a nervous wreck all day, Danny. Even though everything’s gone fine so far, a thousand things could still go wrong.”

“Don’t worry, Boss. We’ve got your back.” Cricket clapped her on the shoulder from his spot in the back seat.

“Good to know, Cricket, and stop calling me ‘Boss’ like I’m some old guy you work for. I have a name. Use it.”

“Not gonna happen, kiddo,” Cricket chuckled. “I’m old school. And besides, it sets the tone for the guys in the gang. They need to see me giving you proper respect so they know to act right and not go against you.”

Winnie winced. Cricket had added that last bit for Tris, and she’d surely caught the snipe.

Dany started the car. They were onto their big move. Soon, they’d be confronting Colten Sico himself.

———

The deserted warehouse where Colten had chosen to hold the meeting was off the main highway to Philadelphia from Baltimore. It was dangerous to meet on his turf this way, but Winnie had to offer a show of faith. Despite its proximity to Baltimore and Winnie’s home region, Colten Sico had resisted her previous efforts at enticement. This was her final play to convince Colten to join her before she resigned herself to a takeover by force.

After the car and truck pulled up in the alley outside the warehouse, Winnie got out and looked around.

No sign of anyone didn’t mean that they weren’t being watched.

“Grab the bags from the trunk and one of the smaller crates from the back of the truck,” Winnie instructed her crew. “Once we have everything, we’ll go in.”

She kept a watchful eye on the rooflines while everyone gathered the bags and crate. She recognized Garraldi from the New Amsterdam crew on the truck, hefting the small olive crate. Cricket, Danny, Cait, and Tris each had a large duffle full of money. She gave one last check, then motioned for the others to follow her.

She knocked on the door. There was no immediate answer so, after waiting a minute, Winnie made a fist and pounded three times on the wooden door. Again, she waited. This time, she heard a voice on the other side, then the door opened wide enough for her to see the face on the other side. A bearded man looked at the crew behind her, then stepped back to let them all through.

The door opened into the warehouse interior. Winnie saw three black sedans parked in the middle of the open space. She kept walking without checking to make sure her crew was behind her. Of course they were following — she didn’t doubt any of them or their loyalty.

Colten stepped out of the lead car, levering his bulky frame out of the back seat while one of his men held the door. He was short, round, and red-faced. He walked to meet her, dozens of his men filing behind him.

There was no time to be timid. Winnie waved over one shoulder, gesturing with a finger for her crew to come forward. They stacked the bags and crate on the floor between Winnie and Colten, then returned to their positions behind her.

“I figured you’d be missing this,” she said. “So I’m bringing your property back to you. There’s more in the truck outside.”

Colten gave Winnie a curious look and waved one of the men forward to check the pile. He opened the topmost bag, pursing his lips in a silent whistle as he reached inside and pulled out two bundles of cash.

He returned the cash, then took out a knife and used it to open the crate. Inside were the unmistakable shapes of grenades laid in rows. The henchman stepped to one side and cleared the view for Colten.

The boss’s eyebrows climbed in surprise. He turned to Winnie, his expression stern. “Miss Durham, I have to say it’s a strange way to start a negotiation.”

Winnie forced a laugh. “I needed to get your attention, seeing as you’ve refused all my previous offers to talk.”

“You’re persistent. I’ll give you that.” Colten pointed to the pile. “I suppose you expect me to believe that you’re going to give all this back to me out of the kindness of your heart?”

Winnie shrugged. “It was meant to show you some of the many holes in your defenses, not to steal from you … though it would be easy enough to do that if I wanted. We did pull some of the more dangerous military gear from the stash, and you’ll not be getting that back.”

“So you get to keep the good stuff, that’s it?”

“No one gets to, Colten. Those weapons will be destroyed by the military like they should have been years ago.”

“Alright, you’ve made your point,” said the Philly Sable boss. “You have a solid crew behind you. So what?”

“It isn’t just my crew, Colten. You recognize Cricket from New Amsterdam. I also have agreements with Angelo ‘Iron Man’ Izzy from Chicago and Tyson Bizzell from Atlanta. Others are lining up behind me. So why aren’t you, Colten? You must have a reason.”

“We have it relatively easy here in Philly. We get along with our Red Legs. We have an understanding. As long as they honor their side of the bargain, I plan on honoring mine. That means not taking sides in this conflict.”

Tris stepped forward, pointing at the Philly boss, her finger shaking with anger. “You stand by while they round up your people, and you do nothing to stop them. You’re worse than they are. You’re betraying your own people!”

Colten stared at Tris. Cait and Danny stepped up to pull her back into the small group standing behind Winnie.

Colten turned to Winnie. “You seem to have some dissension in you ranks, my dear. Do you usually let your subordinates stand in your way?”

“We’re a team, not an army. My people are entitled to their opinions. Anyway, she’s not wrong. You are betraying your people, and worse, you’re being betrayed right back.”

Winnie held out her hand. Cricket pulled a thick manila folder from his jacket and handed it to her. She held it out to Colten, waiting until the boss stepped forward to take it.

He did, then flipped up the end to look inside. “What’s all this?”

“Proof that your ‘man on the inside’ with the Red Legs is planning to take you out in a raid in the very near future. I particularly like the part of his conversation with Director Kane where he says that you’ve served your purpose long enough.” Winnie gestured to the gear and money between them. “What good is all of this and your so-called agreement with the Red Legs if they plan on turning on you? You need to get in front of this. We can help you, provide you the additional support you’re going to need and the resources to stand up to the Red Legs in your city.”

Colten was scanning some of the documents. His face had drained of color, turning pale as he read through the papers.

“If you need more proof, there’s a data chip with a recording of the conversation with Kane in there, too.”

“How did you get this?” Colten asked, looking up at Winnie.

“You aren’t the only one with sources within the Red Legs. Mine are just more highly placed than yours.”

The warehouse was graveyard silent for several long minutes while Colten considered what Winnie had handed him.

She watched and waited, knowing what was in there. The contents were damning, not just of Colten’s Red Legs contact, but of the Philly boss himself. It was her ace, the card she’d hoped to keep hidden because it had the potential to expose Red Legs Inspector Victor Holmes as her source inside the DMC. He’d taken a big chance recording this then gathering copies of the other docs she’d handed to Colten. An inquisitive person with the right resources might be able to piece together where they all came from.

But it was worth the risk, especially after Tris’s outburst. Winnie hoped to bring Colten to their side without releasing the information, but her friend’s angry accusations had dashed that hope.

With the Philly boss in the fold, the East Coast would be united. The Chicago boss had signed on early, and without any coercion. Winnie had the chance to unite the entire nation. Given how pressure from Red Legs was continuing to grow, it was only a matter of time before Kane moved forward with the next step in his insidious plan. Victor had no idea what that might be, despite his digging, but there was no doubt it would be something terrible. He could only tell Winnie that Director Kane had a new Project X that purportedly dwarfed the scope of that first one. That was enough to scare the crap out of her. She had to be ready for the chanters — all the chanters — to finally fight back.

So, she waited for Colten, feigning patience while he considered this new information. She needed him more than he knew, and more than she was willing to let on.

“All right.”

Winnie cocked her head. “All right what?”

“All right, I’m in, Miss Durham,” Colten said.

“Call me Winnie. It’s time we worked together as friends and equals.” She held out her hand and took a step forward.

Colten met her step and shook it. “Equals, eh? I guess as long as I acknowledge you’re the boss of bosses, right?”

“There can be only one,” Winnie agreed. “But you’ll retain full control over Philly.”

“Fair enough.” Colten turned to one of his men and gestured to the line of cars. “Go fetch the Scotch from the back of my car. This deserves a toast.”

Winnie took a step back and waited while the liquor was brought along with two crystal glasses. She took the one Colten offered her and held it out while he filled their glasses. It was vintage — actual Scotch from Old Scotland, expensive and terribly rare.

Winnie hoped it was a good sign as she clinked her glass against his, raised it, then downed the shot of fiery amber liquid.

The deal was done and Philadelphia hers.

CHAPTER 4

Though Winnie tried to keep her elation for the day’s events in check, she couldn’t. It was the team’s best day in a while. Things weren’t good for chanters in the United Americas, despite the middlings wanting their charmed items and Sable more than ever. People could feel the time coming when there wouldn’t be any more magic for anyone.

Though she was mostly silent, the drive back to Baltimore was full of excited chatter. Getting Colten Sico and the Philly charm runners into Winnie’s outfit had been key to consolidating her power on the East Coast. It had been their overarching goal for the last several months. The lull in chanter roundups would resume at any time. Victor said it wouldn’t be long. The government had to respond to the continued unrest and infrastructure failures it kept blaming on chanters and their improper use of magic. The majority middling communities demanded answers and action.

Danny looked over at Winnie, reaching out with a free to squeeze her hand. “Want to share?”

“Sorry,” she said. “I was just thinking about what we had to do next.”

“And?”

“It’s time to start preparing for the next step to counter Kane’s plans. You’ve seen what Victor’s shared. There’s a new, bigger Project X. We know what that means more than anyone. It spells death for hundreds, maybe thousands of chanters if we don’t figure out what it is and how we can stop it.”

“I guess it was foolish to think we could sit back and relax after landing Philly,” Danny said.

Cait chimed in from the back seat. “What do you mean? We have to keep pushing back against the Red Legs, make sure they know we control the Enclaves and not them. It’s the only way to make them think twice about forcing chanters to do what they say.”

Tris snorted a short, derisive laugh. “You mean bide our time while the enemy gets stronger and stronger until they finally overwhelm us.”

“What’s crawled up your ass, Tris?” Cait asked. “I know you’ve gone all radical, but what’s up with the constant doom and gloom? That’s my job. You’re supposed to be the optimist.”

“That was before I spent the better part of last year trying to hold together the tech that keeps our city running. My colleagues and I are about finished. We can’t do much more. Failures will continue to worsen until we have another Boston or Miami or New Orleans. Those cities will never recover, and their surge of refugees into neighboring cities is adding additional stress to the systems.”

Winnie winced. Boston had been the first city to collapse after the magic began to fail, caving into a giant sinkhole under the city that no one had known about or predicted. Death and devastation had been absolute. Miami and New Orleans had been consumed in tsunamis that came out of nowhere and without any warning. Now both of those cities were barren wastelands, buildings and streets rapidly consumed by the surrounding badlands. Each time, it had been a failure of key parts of the city’s tech infrastructure preceding the cataclysm.

“You think something like what happened to those cities will hit Baltimore or New Amsterdam?” Cricket asked.

“Who knows?” Tris shrugged. “Those of us fighting to repair the systems feel like we’re all one mistake from the next disaster. The pressure’s too much. I’ve had two friends commit suicide because they couldn’t face the stress. Something has to give. We’re running out of techs. Once they’re gone, everything fails.”

“Maybe that’s what Kane is counting on,” Winnie said. “He wins every time the public outcry calls for more action to contain magic. We know that containment isn’t the problem. It’s the available supply of magic. Blaming chanters is only a scapegoat to cover the true problem. Kane knows what’s happening and wants to keep the remaining magic for himself.”

“What’s he going to do with it once he gets it?” Danny asked. “Won’t it fail for him, too?”

“Not in his lifetime,” Cait said. “If he somehow gathers the remaining magic for himself, he can live like a king while the rest of the country crumbles around him. He’ll be needed for even the simplest things — a tyrant’s rule from behind the scenes.”

“That’s why we have to stop him,” Winnie said. “It’s why we must remain united. With the chanters unified against him, he can never take the magic from us without a fight.”

“That’s why we should never have turned those older weapons over to the army,” Tris argued. “We’ll need them to fight the Director. It’s us or them, Winnie. We can’t do this by taking things halfway.”

“I’m not saying we should go halfway. If I can teach some of you to do what I can with magic, we won’t need the other weapons and tools. We’ll have the power in our own hands.”

Cait touched Winnie on the shoulder. “We’ve been over this before. You’ve tried to teach us. I can see how the flows respond to you, but I can’t make them do the same thing. It just doesn’t work.”

“I don’t believe it can’t be done by others,” Winnie said, shaking her head. “I’m nothing special.”

“I don’t think that’s true, and deep down, neither to you,” Cait replied. “You’ve been different ever since you destroyed the Harvester. You’re doing things that no one’s ever being able to do. Face it. You’re one of a kind.”

Winnie didn’t answer. She didn’t want to believe it. Her plan hinged on them being able to either find others who could do what she did, or train some of the stronger chanters to do it. If each city had a group of such people, Winnie was sure that the drain could be stabilized. The key was finding another like herself.

Winnie could grudgingly admit to being special, but not to being unique. She had to figure out what made her different. It wasn’t just her encounter with the Harvester. Cait and Tris had been strapped into that awful machine, too, and they’d never displayed such power.

Only one other person could help her answer this particular question. She needed her mother. Elaine had to know something that would lead Winnie to others like her. Of course, that meant speaking to her mother, something she had avoided doing as much as possible since their estrangement over a year ago.

Winnie bore much of the blame. She’d pushed back against her mother’s desire to protect her, to keep her safe, and that had driven a wedge between them. She still loved her mom and made sure the proceeds from their charm running were also used to provide for her mother’s long term medical care. Her rheumatoid arthritis was crippling, and her condition —  an awful, chronic, progressive disease — worsened by the year, even with the best medications and care.

She heard the others in the background, discussing their plans for a celebratory party with the whole crew once back in Baltimore. That was important for the team’s morale. They’d all worked hard to make sure the operation to bring Colten Sico into the fold came off without any problems.

Elaine could help her work this out, and Winnie felt an unexplainable urgency. She turned to Danny. “Can you take me off in the old neighborhood after we drop off the others?”

Danny glanced at Winnie. “I can, but why aren’t you joining the party?”

“I have something I need to do. Don’t ask me why.”

“You’re going to see your mother,” Danny said.

“I said don’t ask.”

“Never mind.”

Winnie knew he was annoyed. They both had bad relationships with their families. Danny had burned his bridges, although Winnie knew his mom still tried to reach out to him from time to time. She hadn’t gone to the same lengths to cut ties, but Winnie and her mother were nowhere near as close as they’d been. This would be a difficult conversation.

Danny dropped off his passengers, then drove to the Enclave in silence. He pulled up to Elaine’s apartment and looked at Winnie. “Do you want me to come up?”

Winnie smiled. “No, thanks. I need to face this alone. Besides, you know my mom doesn’t approve of us. I’ll catch a bus or a cab.”

“I’ll stay up. Just call me and I’ll come back and get you whenever you finish your chat.”

Winnie leaned over and gave him a kiss. Then she got out and looked up at the building, spying the light in her mother’s apartment.

She drew a deep breath and then headed inside.

CHAPTER 5

Elaine Durham took the kettle off the burner and poured herself a cup of herbal tea. She’d barely slept last night and was hoping the cup would soothe her mind before bed.

She set the kettle back on the table, then looked out her kitchen window as a car pulled away from the curb.

Elaine sat, sipping her tea, wondering what her daughter was doing that evening. Her thoughts often turned to Winnie. It troubled her soul that they no longer spoke. Winnie kept track of her, adding money into their joint account so Elaine could pay her bills. And she kept track of Winnie by talking to her friends’ parents. Tris and Cait talked to their mothers often, and those women shared what little they learned about Winnie’s activities. But still, she worried. Her daughter was involved with illegal activity, abusing Sable, and still seeing the Barber boy.

She heard a key being inserted in her door’s lock and turned to see Winnie opening the door. Elaine gasped, struggling to stand and greet her daughter.

“Mom, don’t get up. I can come to you.”

Elaine gave up trying to stand and relaxed back into her chair. Winnie crossed the room, then came over and leaned in to her on the cheek. She stepped back, and for a moment, there was an awkward silence as Elaine struggled to come up with something light to strike a conversation.

“Uh, there’s hot water on the stove. Get yourself some tea and join me.” Elaine patted the table.

“That sounds nice.” Winnie got herself a mug from the cupboard and a teabag from the canister by the stove. She poured herself some of the hot water, then came to the table and sat, gripping the mug in both hands as she looked around the kitchen. After a moment, Winnie reached out and added a few spoonfuls of sugar into her tea, then stirred as she stared at the steaming liquid.

“That’s a nice outfit,” Elaine noticed. “Is it new?”

Winnie looked down at her brown leather jacket and the blouse underneath. She shrugged. “I’ve had it for a little while, but I guess you haven’t seen it before so, yeah, it’s new.” She looked around again then back at Elaine. “How have you been. Are you getting all your meds?”

“Yes, I’m getting excellent care. Thank you for helping arrange for that. It’s very kind. I know you’re busy with your, uh, work and all.”

“You’re my mom. Of course I’ll take care of you. I always have.”

“And I appreciate that, Winnie. I just don’t know what you want me to say. It’s hard for a parent to let their child take care of them when they’ve spent their lives the other way around.”

“You don’t have to say anything. I was just telling you that I’ll always be there to take care of whatever you need.”

Elaine shook her head. “And what if I need something more than money? What then?”

“I don’t know, Mom. After the last time I was here, I didn’t think you ever wanted to see me again. I wasn’t even sure if I should come here tonight.”

“Winnie, I’m always happy to see you. All I’ve ever wanted is for you to be safe and well. I’m only trying to protect you from things you can’t understand.”

“I don’t need your protection anymore, Mom,” Winnie said, planting her head in her hands and rubbing her face. “I haven’t needed that for a long time.”

“And yet you keep doing dangerous things that make me worry about you. I keep track of you and your friends. I know that you’re in even deeper than the last time we talked. How’s a mother supposed to feel when her daughter is some sort of wanna-be kingpin?”

“I’m not a wanna-be anything, Mother. I’m trying to make it so that people like us can live without fear of persecution or death. Why can’t you understand that?”

“I only understand that you’re dabbling in things you can’t control.” Elaine looked up at Winnie, searching her eyes before she continued. “Are you still getting high on Sable?”

Winnie pushed back from the table and stood. “When are you going to understand that I know what I’m doing?”

“So that’s a yes. Don’t you understand the danger? There are things you don’t know about yourself, that you can’t know.” She paused, searching for words that would convince her daughter without driving her farther away. “You can’t use Sable. It isn’t something you can control, and if you use too much you’ll become like your….”

Elaine stopped; she’d said too much.

“Too much like my what? My real father?”

Elaine was shocked. Oh, my! Does Winnie know the truth?

“It’s not like I still believe that Morgan’s my sister. There’s no way I could have the power I do without being a pure-blooded chanter.” She looked down at Elaine, hands on her hips. “So who was my father, really?”

“Winnie—”

“Tell me. I deserve to know.”

“He was a fling, a person who isn’t in our lives. It’s over. He left before I knew I was pregnant. Then I met Morgan’s father and he was so kind. After we were together, I let him believe you were his.” Elaine looked down at her twisted, crippled hands. She started to say something else but Winnie interrupted.

“You only tell me he was a fling and that he suddenly left. Do you even know his name?”

“It’s not important what his name is. He isn’t in our lives and never will be. His life had too many complications, too many things that went wrong.”

“So you won’t even tell me his name? Are you telling me he was an addict? That doesn’t make me one, too, you know.”

“Don’t be a fool, Winnie. You know that Sable addiction is genetic. Yes. Is that what you want to know? Your father had a problem with Sable, too. It’s why he and I broke up, and why he left me. I wouldn’t put up with his problem.”

“So that’s it for me, too. You’ll cut me off and push me away just like you did to him?” Winnie shouted, pacing around the kitchen. “Does he even know about me? Does he know he had a daughter?”

Elaine nodded, searching for a way to de-escalate the situation. She didn’t want Winnie to become too inquisitive about her father, didn’t need to turn that rock over. The truth would kill her.

“He might know, but that doesn’t matter,” Elaine struggled for words. “He … he’s never showed an interest in returning to take care of us, even if he did know. He’s not worth the worry. We have each other. I’ve always said that. It has to be enough….”

“I can’t help but feel like you know more than you’re saying.” Winnie stopped pacing and fixed her mother with a stare. “What aren’t you telling me? Maybe I have siblings out there, others like me. I have to know.”

“There are no other children, Winnie. I’m sure of that,” Elaine lied. Nils Kane didn’t officially have other children, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have another bastard out there somewhere. “Why are you so interested in finding out if there are others like you, Winnie?”

Winnie sighed, then returned to the table and sat. She reached out and took Elaine’s twisted, gnarled hands. “I need to know because it might make the difference between living and dying for millions of people. No exaggeration. I know things about why the cities are failing. And I think I can help fix that, but I can’t be everywhere at once. If I can stop the failures from getting worse, I can diffuse the tension between middlings and chanters. Then everything will go back to the way it used to be.”

Elaine gazed into her daughter’s eyes and saw Winnie’s determination. She really believed she could do something to reverse the devastation. She’d become powerful in ways that Elaine didn’t fully understand, but could she truly do the impossible?

“I—I don’t know of anyone else like you, and I don’t know of any other brothers or sisters for you to try and find. I can’t imagine that your father ever had another child.”

“You have to tell me his name. It’s important. The planet depends on it. I have to talk with him, find out if there are any others. Maybe he has power like mine.”

She had to stop this line of questioning right away. Winnie couldn’t ever know the truth. Even if the knowledge of who he was didn’t tear her apart, Nils would probably use the information to hurt her.

“I can’t tell you because he’s no longer around. I won’t tell you because knowing who he is won’t make anything better, no matter what you believe. I’m sorry, Winnie. I just can’t.”

“You’re not sorry. You’re embarrassed. There’s a difference.” Winnie stood and took her mug to the sink. She turned back to meet her mother’s eyes. “If you won’t tell me this, I don’t think there’s anything else to say, ever.”

Winnie turned and walked to the door. She pulled it open then looked at Elaine one last time.

“I’ll lock up behind me so you don’t have to get up and do it yourself. Goodbye, Mom.”

Elaine watched Winnie shut the door. She heard the lock tumble back into place as her daughter locked it. There was scraping, then the brass key slid under the door to rest on the floor a few inches inside the apartment.

Tears welled in her eyes. She wondered if this was the last time she and Winnie would talk, or even see each other.

Elaine sobbed until she was finally snoring.

CHAPTER 6

Chief Inspector Victor Holmes tightened his tie in the mirror. The rank insignia on his collar shined in the reflection. News of the latest promotion had come down from the Director’s office a few day before. The letter from the office of the DMC cited significant work in controlling the spread of illegal magic in the Baltimore region as the reason for the promotion to the city’s senior Red Leg office. It was ironic that he continued to rise in power even as he secretly helped Winnie Durham and the other Sable bosses working to counter Kane’s efforts to control all magic.

The job came with his own luxury car and a significant pay increase. Morgan had been especially happy to hear about that last part. She wanted to move out of their apartment and get a house together. But given the current volatility, Victor didn’t think it was a good idea to make any major life decisions. Yet, Morgan was ever the optimist. And he wasn’t about to complain. He loved that about her.

He walked out to the kitchen to see Morgan setting two plates of eggs and bacon on the table.

“There you are,” she said as she sat. “I was just going to call you. Sit down and eat something, Chief Inspector.”

Victor smiled and sat across from her. “It looks delicious. Thank you.”

“Just don’t expect this every morning. We still need a fair division of chores, Chief Inspector or not.”

Victor laughed. “Point taken. Really, though, thanks for this. It makes the promotion that much more special.”

“I’m just excited that you’ll have access to even more information. Now we can really help Winnie. All of this intrigue excites me.”

Victor considered her words. Morgan was proud of his support for her sister and the city’s chanters. It had taken him a while to see things the right way, but he, too, couldn’t help but feel the same sense of excitement. The ever-present scent of danger was almost narcotic.

He and Morgan had discussed this at length, but he didn’t think she understood the true danger of their position. Being the Chief Inspector made it harder to slip under Kane’s radar, not easier. He would be in the spotlight and other ambitious types would be gunning for any opportunity to trip him up and knock him down. If anyone discovered his work to support the dissidents and rebels, losing his job would be the least of his problems.

There was also the little problem that he’d somehow been turned into a chanter himself, or at least into someone able to manipulate magic. While he couldn’t create charmed items on his own, Victor’s experimentation had led to the discovery that he could lift enchantments from other objects and turn them back into ordinary things.

This power had surely come from his connection with the Fae crater, hidden in the northeastern corner of the city. Situated in the abandoned industrial park where Kane first built his Harvester to siphon magic from chanters, Victor had visited the crater many times on his own. Each time, he came away with a renewed sense of wonder, marveling at the clear blue skies above. There were no dust storms around the abandoned steel mill, though that truth was hidden from the view by some sort of magical glamor that deceived the eye. Even Victor couldn’t see it until he was inside.

The crater was still his guilty little secret. He wanted to tell the others, but felt like it was supposed to stay buried. Victor would talk with the fairies and learn of their work to repair the broken land around them. When he asked about how they could repair something so utterly broken, they would laugh and tell him that it was their job. What else would they do? Victor couldn’t help but feel the significance of what was happening.

“Hello?” Morgan said, interrupting his train of thought.

“What?”

“You were lost in thought, somewhere else entirely. There isn’t something you’re hiding from me, is there?”

Victor wanted to tell her about the crater. Morgan deserved to know more than anyone, other than Winnie. “No, just thinking about work and everything that needs to get done. I’m also concerned about the Director’s scheduled meeting with all the city chiefs. He has something up his sleeve, but I don’t know what.”

“Can’t you do some digging and ask your sources at the Department headquarters?” Morgan asked.

“That’s the problem with this promotion, Morgan. It actually makes it harder for me to do that kind of investigation. I’m at a level now where people notice if I’m nosing around or asking questions in places where I don’t belong. They’ll start wondering what I’m doing and why I’m there. I can’t afford that kind of attention if we want to help Winnie directly.”

“So what do we do?” Morgan asked. “I suppose I can be more diligent in scanning communications coming in from my new position in dispatch and research.”

“That’s a good idea, but be careful. Don’t leave any trail in the system that could lead back to you if you go beyond reading incoming mail and other intercepts. Kane’s no idiot. He surely knows that Winnie has some sort of contact in the department — you’ll be suspected of collusion no matter what I can do to cover for you.”

“Director Kane thinks he knows where I stand and that I always toe the company line regarding chanters and the Sable trade.”

Victor winced, remembering when Morgan had realized what the Harvester was doing. Kane had chosen that moment to congratulate her loyalty. It was a chilling point in her life and had transformed her belief in what she’d been doing up to that point.

Victor changed the subject. “Can I drop you at the communications center on my way in?”

“Aren’t you coming into City Headquarters?”

“I have a meeting first. I’ll be back at HQ later in the morning.”

“What’s your meeting about?”

“Boring policy with some stuffy administrators. Nothing exciting.”

Victor didn’t want Morgan to know out about his multiple trips to the crater each week. He found the visits restorative. They helped him organize his thoughts and prepare for the subterfuge of his days trying to undermine the department’s work from the top down.

Morgan waved off Victor’s comment, grabbed the plates, and put them in the sink. “Pull the car around from the garage and I’ll meet you downstairs. I just have to put my face on.”

“Sounds good,” Victor agreed. “I’ll wait for you downstairs.”

It was time for another day of living more than one lie.

CHAPTER 7

Victor dropped Morgan off at the Red Legs building, then pulled into traffic and started towards the city’s northeast corner. He could feel the crater’s pull, tugging at him in some intangible way. He believed he might be able to find his way there even if he was blindfolded. The sensation was wondrous and strange. It intensified as he drew closer, until it was a tiny buzzing in the center of his chest, like it always was when he pulled into the steel mill’s abandoned lot.

He killed the engine and savored the sensation. It wasn’t unpleasant at all, more was like the feeling of glorious anticipation and exhilaration he’d felt before jumping from a high-dive platform as a child.

Victor drew a deep breath and got out of the car. He noticed the differences immediately. The sidewalk was now cracked and broken from below, crumbling at the parking lot’s edge. Wildflowers bloomed from the cracks amid lush tufts of brilliant green grass. The sky was clear and blue, no sign of the orange dust permitting the rest of the heavens.

Victor could smell the fragrant blossoms as he approached the main building, growing stronger by the step. Despite the outside changes, he was unprepared for what he found inside.

Previously, the door led to a catwalk surrounding a large central factory floor. There was a crater in the room’s center, containing the magical entrance to the other world. The Fae crater hadn’t expanded, at least not exactly. It was better to say it had outgrown its borders. The factory floor was now covered in lush grass. There were vines and even entire trees growing in past the catwalk and stairs leading down to the floor. He could see the flitting lights and tiny shapes hinting at the winged fairies he’d seen so many times before. But now, they weren’t staying in the crater; they were flitting all about around the cavernous room.

Victor stood, taking in the tableau unfolding below, smiling at its impossible beauty. Before he knew it, Victor found his feet wandering across the catwalk to the stairs.

A tiny voice sounded to his left. “Hello, Victor. I missed you.”

He turned and saw the tiny girl hovering next to his head, tiny wings like a dragonfly buzzing in the air behind her.

“Hello, Seelie. I missed you, too.”

“I’ve been watching. I see that you’ve discovered your talent.”

“That was your voice I heard when I removed the magic from that charm? You startled me.”

“I’m sorry. We are tied together and I can sometimes see what you are doing. I don’t mean to pry, but I’m curious about the world beyond this place.”

“I’m afraid it wouldn’t be kind to one such as you. I’m sorry.”

“The Lady had told us to keep to our work here. Someday, we can freely travel the world as we used to.”

Victor turned, looked to the clear blue pool in the crater’s center. “Is the Lady here now? I would talk with her again, if so.”

Seelie giggled, flipped around in the air, then hovered to a stop before him. She tapped the side of her head. “She talks to us here. And besides, talking to humans is hard for her. It has been, ever since our magic was stolen.”

“Magic was stolen from you? Who took it, Seelie? Tell me and I’ll find the thief. Then maybe I can to return it to you.”

The tiny fairy giggled again and pointed to Victor. “You all stole the magic, many years ago. The Lady has told us all the story.”

“I would love to hear about it, Seelie. Will you share it with me?”

“I guess so.” The tiny Fae shrugged. “Come. The others will want to be there. We love this story because we are part of the ending!”

Seelie turned and flitted over the balcony railing, now overgrown with deep green ivy, flying down towards the crater.

“Wait for me,” Victor called out, racing to catch up to Seelie. He didn’t want to miss a thing. This story seemed more than important, somehow significant, as if his quest were dependent on its telling.

He raced down the stairs, barely noticing that the lower landing had become a tiny hillock, covered with grass. The final flight of stairs was now a gentle slope downward. He focused on Seelie, unwilling to lose her. But Victor didn’t need to worry — Seelie stopped and waited at the crater’s edge, now a deep, grassy depression in the center of the room.

“Don’t worry, silly. I won’t start without you.” Seelie said when Victor caught up. “Come. This tale has more power when told at the water’s edge.”

“The story has power?”

“All stories do. A story can change history, make good people do terrible things, or turn evil on itself until it is good. The telling of a story in its proper place and time can gather and strengthen its power. You’ll see.”

Though the water’s edge was a small, clear blue pool from above, down here that pool became an endless lake, bounded by trees and mist on all sides.

“Please Victor, sit, and I will tell you the tale as it was told to me and my brethren.”

Seelie’s voice no longer had its childlike quality. Now it carried the weight of wisdom earned through the years.

“Long ago, before humans recorded the passing of time, the Fae tended to the natural world, maintaining balance between all things. Their magic was powerful and dwelt in all living things. Very early on, it was discovered that some humans had an affinity to manipulate the magic within them. These few became the bridge between worlds. We reached out to these humans, and with their help, we maintained the balance between light and dark. Only by keeping that balance could the world continue to thrive as intended.”

Victor heard the words, but he experienced them, too. He could see the peaceful interactions between the Fae and their human colleagues. He sensed the way balance was maintained by their actions. There were times when one or more of the humans tried to upset that balance by taking more than their share of magic. But the Fae and other human protectors always worked to restore the balance.

Then Seelie arrived at an intersection in the story … a place where Victor could sense multiple possible conclusions.

“Then came the fall, a dark time for mankind. On the fringes of a crumbling empire, men struggled against dark agents to control the future. A man named for the hawk — Merlin, to his friends — approached the Lady and requested a great boon of the Fae. He wanted the talisman that controlled all the magic so that he might set his people and all humans back on the proper path, towards a future of machines. The Lady was reluctant. This was a dangerous request. As long as the Fae possessed the talisman, they could maintain the balance. By giving it to the humans, they would surrender this power until its return.”

Seelie paused, and Victor realized he was surrounded by hundreds of fairies, all gathered to hear the story. While they’d been reluctant to come close before, they were quite near him now. A tiny boy turned toward Victor, waving with a smile. Victor waved and smiled back. He felt a sense of belonging that he’d never experienced before. Seelie’s voice drew him back to the story, and he let his mind sink inside it.

“Merlin was persistent in his pleas. The Lady had grown fond of the human and finally relented, giving him the talisman in a form humans could understand. He was to hold it for one generation only, using it and his own magical power to help a young king forge a regional sanctuary of order and light amid the chaos and darkness. He was to return the talisman back to the Lady at the end of his reign, by his own hand, as such things must always be given freely, without coercion.”

Victor, in his mind’s eye, saw the Lady hand a gray-haired and bearded man a shining sword with a golden hilt. As she released the blade into his hands, she offered her final words of warning:

“Guard this talisman well, Merlin. Great woe will befall both the land and mankind in the years to come if it isn’t kept safe.”

“I will, my lady. The talisman will be encased in stone until the time when the once and true king should draw it forth. I shall guide and counsel him through his reign and ensure that he returns it to you when his work is complete.”

Victor sat for a time, hearing these words play over in his mind. Then he realized that Seelie had stopped talking and that the other fairies were starting to disperse.

“Wait, Seelie, what happened next? That can’t be the end of the story.”

The fairy shrugged. “No one knows the end. When the talisman was given over, we lost the ability to control our magic and to foretell what might be in the future. The Lady told that the time of magic and machine were never meant to intersect. So now the world is slowly dying, as machines leach magic from the world.”

Victor thought about the talisman, the sword handed to Merlin all those centuries before. It seemed somehow familiar. His brow furrowed.

Seelie misread his expression. “Don’t worry, Victor.” The fairy flew forward and laid a tiny hand on his cheek. “The time has come when things might be set right. That’s why you’re here. You’re the once and future queen’s protector. You will help her recover the talisman so she can restore the world and return it to us.”

“But what if I don’t know what to do?”

“You’ll know, Victor. That is why you were chosen, why all of the queen’s companions were chosen. You’ll know because it’s the right thing to do.”

Seelie’s final words echoed in Victor’s head — on his way to the car, inside the cabin, and every moment through the rest of his day, walking through a world that was never meant to be.

CHAPTER 8

Winnie was excited to exert her newfound power.

Several bosses had sworn their allegiance. She still held out hope that there might be a way for the bosses to show the middlings that chanters could live peacefully with their neighbors without lawmakers resorting to the sort of laws and crackdowns that had been put in place so far.

She looked at her friends sitting in the back of her shop. Cait was sharpening a knife she’d produced from somewhere in her leather outfit. Tris was sitting with her nose in a book. Danny was playing cards with Cricket, losing, judging by his expression.

Things had progressed well following their mission to land Colten Sico’s loyalty. Winnie had received overtures from other bosses in the Midwest and on the West Coast asking for meetings to coordinate efforts. It wasn’t the same as the formal ties of her allegiance with the East Coast bosses, but it was a solid start. She glanced at the latest email from Diego Chavez, the San Angeles boss. It was time to try another part of her plan.

Winnie broke the silence. “Now that we have more bosses coming on board, we can push back against the Red Legs.”

Tris looked up from her book. The diminutive Sable tech had fire in her eyes. “We could orchestrate simultaneous attacks on Red Leg Precincts across the country.”

“No, Tris,” Winnie countered. “I’m talking about organizing peaceful demonstrations. We organize with some of the community outreach organizations in each city, groups like the Chanter Benevolence Fund. The CBF has chapters in every major city, and they’re known for their charitable focus. We want to organize without threatening the middlings any more than we have to. The Assembly has led us out onto this ledge, but we can turn around and walk the other way.”

“Winnie, after all they’ve done to us … ” Tris stood. “You of all people should know we can’t back down. If we could reason with the Assembly, then we’d have never had to face the Harvester. Have you forgotten what that thing did to you? To us?”

Winnie shook her head. “Of course I haven’t forgotten. But I don’t think we can fight them head-on. We’ll lose if we try. The Red Legs and Kane aren’t the Assembly. They can be reasoned with, if we prove that we’re reasonable.”

“I agree with Winnie.” Cait said. “If this comes to a war in the streets, everyone loses. We don’t have the manpower or the resources to go toe-to-toe with the Red Legs, not even with all the bosses on our side. This might be our best option to avoid any sort of armed conflict.”

“You’re all fools!” Tris picked up her book, shoved it in her bag, and marched out of the office toward the front door. “Your plan will backfire. Maybe then you’ll come to see things my way.”

Winnie watched her go.

The room was silent until Danny finally spoke. “When did she become the radical anarchist? She’s barely the same person.”

Winnie turned to Danny. “It’s been hard on her. All of the techs are exhausted, pushed to the breaking point. None of them want a repeat of Boston so they work until they collapse, then they take a nap and get right back to work.”

“There’s no way they can continue at that pace for much longer.” Cricket shook his head. “Something’s gotta break. Tris knows it and doesn’t want it to be her fellow techs. I can’t help but think she’s right.”

“That’s all the more reason to buy us time,” Winnie said. “It’s why I have to find others like me who can work to fix the problem, not just hold off the system’s inevitable failure.”

“You really think there are more chanters who can do what you can?” Cait asked. “You were only able to do that after the Harvester broke and surged all that energy through you.”

“I think it made me stronger, but I don’t think it changed my basic ability. Remember, I was doing things others said I couldn’t do before we faced that machine.”

Danny stood and dropped the deck of cards into his pocket. “I’m the odd one out here. But even if I can’t use magic, I do know something about how middling leaders think. They haven’t trusted chanters for a long time. If you do something, especially on a large scale, you’d best be careful. Anything goes wrong and that will only prove their fears were right, and justify their actions against you.”

“The kid’s right,” Cricket said, winking at Danny. “Even if he’s lousy at cards. We can try some sort of peaceful demonstration to voice our concerns, and using the CBF as a front is an excellent idea. They’re peaceful, and a charity. No one will feel threatened.”

Winnie nodded, feeling an internal sense of urgency. They had to find others like her before things spiraled out of control. There was a rising tension in the community; things had been heating up for more than a year, and now they were rolling to a boil. It was time to defuse the situation.

“Let’s get started,” she said. “We have to make this work.”

———

“Red Legs must go!” the crowd chanted as they marched through the streets.

The original group of a hundred or so demonstrators outside the CBF hall had grown to more than a thousand as the march progressed. Now, other voices were shouting in unison over the organizers, calling out for more radical outcomes.

Winnie watched from the front seat of Danny’s car. She picked up her phone and tapped to place a call.

“Cricket,” she said when the phone on the other end picked up. “What’s going on up there in New Amsterdam? Things are getting out of hand here in Baltimore.”

“People are starting to throw rocks and smash things,” Cricket answered from the other side. “The Red Legs and conventional police have formed a riot line ahead of the marchers, who’ve stopped about a hundred yards away from the. I think you need to head back to the apartment and check the TV coverage. If your marchers are getting rowdy, too, then the news stations are not going to be kind to us. We need to know what is going on elsewhere in the country.”

“Good idea. I’m hoping the CBF leaders can keep things from getting that bad here, but I’m not sure.” Winnie hung up the call and turned to Danny. “Take us out of the Enclave and head home. We need to get a handle on what is going on everywhere.”

“Done,” Danny replied. He gunned the engine of the sports car and pulled away from the curb. “It doesn’t sound like the demonstrators are playing nice in New Amsterdam.”

“I don’t like how things turned south so fast here, too,” Winnie added. “It’s like someone injected the most radical elements of the community into an otherwise peaceful demonstration. Who would do such a thing? We don’t need to give the Red Legs more of a reason to fight against us. They have enough hatred for us as it is.”

“Have you talked with Victor or your sister?” Danny asked.

Winnie shook her head. “We’ve been trying to limit our contacts with each other. Victor has been afraid someone would put two and two together and link us to them. It’s important to keep them on the inside and above suspicion for as long as possible. Their input has been invaluable to help us avoid the investigators here in Baltimore.”

“Well, you might want to call him tonight,” Danny suggested.

“I will. Let’s go home. We need to see what the reporters on TV are saying.”

———

“The chanter radicals are clearly using their power to supplement their illegal demonstrations,” the man on the TV said.

Winnie read the graphic on the lower part of the screen — Atlanta. He kept up the running commentary while a video of a crowd throwing bricks and even Molotov cocktails towards the police riot line on the other side of the square played.

“Several brave officers have been wounded and the Chief Inspector for the Red Legs in Atlanta has called for every law-abiding middling citizen to stay inside with their doors and windows locked until the current emergency is resolved.”

“No, no, no,” Winnie muttered as she switched channels to another news feed. This one was a local Baltimore station.

“… The police and Red Legs just started to fire tear gas and what they are calling ‘other non-lethal munitions’ into the crowd. Many are trying to flee but others are clearly using their magic to prevent the police efforts from affecting them. I see what I can only describe as bubbles of clear air around small groups in the crowd, keeping the tear gas out.”

Winnie’s phone chirped and she looked down to see a message from Cait. She was with the leaders of the Baltimore demonstration. It read: “Trying to evacuate CBF leaders now. This is a major failure.”

Winnie sighed and put the phone down. There was no way to stop the demonstrations from turning into full-blown riots now. She had to make sure her people stayed clear and didn’t get caught up in the aftermath that was sure to follow.

“You should get out now. Get the CBF leaders home safely and meet me at my place.” she texted in reply.

Cait replied with a thumbs up emoji and Winnie put her phone down. She watched the TV some more, switching channels occasionally to check on other national feeds. The news was the same everywhere. All the demonstrations had devolved into rioting at one level or another. She feared what the response was going to be from the Assembly and the Red Legs.

CHAPTER 9

“Director Kane, this committee has received alarming reports that seem to implicate you and your department’s policies and actions as being at least partially responsible for the current shift in weather patterns and unrest in our cities. What do you have to say for yourself, sir?”

Nils Kane fixed his baleful stare on the assemblyman who had directed the question, carefully considering his response. He had known this oversight committee hearing would be difficult, but he hadn’t prepared for this particular question. His control and influence over the majority of the committee members usually prevented such unfortunate lines of questioning. It was a sign of how the current unrest was alarming everyone, a manifestation of how much he’d lost control of things since his original plans had been upset over a year before.

“With all due respect, Assemblyman Burke, I can’t comment on unsubstantiated and nonspecific claims leveled against me or my department. If you would care to share your sources or give me a specific incident to investigate, I can direct my Inspector General’s office to investigate the matter and bring a full report back to this committee.”

The portly man from the Atlanta district held up a pile of papers for the cameras, then set them down with an audible thump, knocking his nameplate awry. “These are the reports in question and they have all been sent to your IG’s office for review. None have received any response to date.”

The assemblyman picked up a single sheet from the top and held it up for all to see.

“This report dates from a year and half ago in Baltimore. It purports that the Red Legs rounded up over two hundred chanters from the Baltimore Enclave and took them to an undisclosed location where they were reported killed in some sort of explosion. Why has there been no reply to a year and a half’s worth of inquiries over this unfortunate incident, Director Kane?”

Nils throttled his sigh. It wouldn’t do to let the other committee members see him upset. The fool would have to dig up that particular failure on the part of Nil’s operations to present to the committee.

“I believe I can shed some light on this incident, Assemblyman,” Nils said with a serpent’s smile.

There was a stir among the other committee members. Assemblyman Burke seemed genuinely surprised. He pointed to Kane and then to his paper. “Please, Director, don’t keep us waiting. Tell us how such a thing could happen while these poor people were under your control.”

“We were hoping to gather the worst chanter dissidents in one place, separate them from their less dangerous brethren. It was our hope that we could calm things down, stop the dissidents from using their magic to disrupt the city’s infrastructure and triggering catastrophic failures like we saw in Boston.”

Kane paused to let the gathered lawmakers remember the horror of Boston’s near total destruction, along with the rescue and recovery efforts that had followed. He saw the memory reflected in their expressions and barely stifled his smile.

“Our error was in underestimating the chanters’ resolve. They were far more radical than we gave them credit for. While we could detain them, we couldn’t keep them from using their magic. A mass escape attempt killed many of my loyal Red Legs, but still they were unable to flee. A final desperate act from the surviving chanters caused a magical overload to destroy my entire detention facility. The chanters perished, too. But before they died, their actions caused the onset of the widespread storms that are still plaguing the nation. It is our belief that the Enclave’s dissident elements are still propagating this destructive magic — that’s why our loyal Sable techs are unable to keep the city infrastructure failures from continuing.”

Kane sat back in his chair and looked to the chairman. The thin, gray-bearded man leaned forward as Kane embed a suggestion in his mind to move the proceedings along. It had taken a long time to build his influence over the key committee members so that he could magically plant thoughts and questions in their minds without them ever becoming aware. It was an ability he’d developed over time, while experimenting on prisoners under his control. Long, painful hours of practice paid off at times like this.

“Thank you, Mr. Burke. I think Director Kane has answered that question to the committee’s satisfaction.”

“But, Mr. Chairman, I have — ”

“I said that is enough,” Chairman Palmer interrupted Burke. “We are all aware of your sentimental leanings towards the welfare of chanters. Unfortunately, their behavior during our current state of unrest has demonstrated where their allegiance lies. I commend Director Kane and his Red Legs for their dutiful service in trying to keep our cities safe from the subversive, dangerous elements hiding within the Enclaves.”

Nils thought that he’d nipped that line of questioning, but another dissenting voice rose from the committee. This one from a woman named Felicity Graves. She represented the St. Louis region and was known for her chanter sympathies.

“Mr. Chairman, I’d like to hear the Director’s recommendations for how we should handle the chanters if they’re indeed such a dangerous group. I’ve seen him present no evidence that his efforts at detention have shown any positive effects over the last year. It’s only sown bad blood between chanters and middlings and increased the number of protests and strikes.”

Nils had tried over the years to generate influence over Assemblywoman Graves, as he had with the chairman, but she was a tough nut to crack. He could only plant the occasional light suggestion in her mind. She was incredibly resistant to his efforts, and that intrigued him. He longed to get both her and Assemblyman Burke into his experimental cells where he could finally exert his full will on them and see how long they lasted.

Perhaps someday.

“That is an excellent suggestion, Assemblywoman Graves,” the chairman said, to Nils’s surprise. “Director, perhaps you would like to share your plans for handling the chanter threat?”

Kane reached out with his sense of magical energy, trying to determine if someone else was attempting to influence the proceedings. It was unusual for the chairman to hit Kane with an unexpected question.

But Kane couldn’t see any magic other than his.

Could he have lost some of his control over the committee’s leaders? A dire situation and civilian unrest might be the cause, but he couldn’t rule out another influence. He would have to be careful.

“I believe our current efforts to root out the worst of the dissidents is fruitful and should continue.”

“Excuse me, Director,” the assemblywoman interrupted. “If that was the case, we’d see less unrest and breakdowns. But that isn’t what we’re seeing. We’re getting more demonstrations instead. More riots. More failures in the power, water, and other key infrastructures that threaten municipal operations. Explain your answer in light of this, please.”

Kane thought for a moment. He bit his lip to keep from smiling, thinking of something that might twist the woman toward his favor. “We’re employing several tactics, all worth continuing. Right now, we’re barely holding our society together. But I want to create a situation where we have no chanters within the city limits, at all. The Enclaves were a good idea at the time, because they managed to contain the threat. But those borders are collapsing, and we now must face a difficult decision.”

“And what is that decision, Director Kane?” the assemblywoman asked.

“I fear the time has come to separate chanters and middlings entirely. I also believe that the other government departments engaged in chanter-related activities would be poorly suited to managing the chanter threat as well as we have at the Department of Magical Containment.”

“So you don’t like the Magical Research Bureau’s suggestion to create camps in the barrens where chanters can live apart from the middlings?”

Perfect.

“Assemblywoman Graves. I think that is a terrible idea. Without the proper attention from our Red Leg investigators, I’d not like to think what type of warren for crime and corruption such camps would become.” He’d laid down the bait; now to set the hook. “Please, I beg you. Do not consider such an action.”

“Really, Director Kane?” Graves crooned as she leaned forward in her seat. “You don’t want anything to do with such a proposal? Perhaps that is recommendation enough for me to ask this committee to consider moving forward.”

Nils looked at the committee chairman, directing a subtle flow of magic toward him, focused on a single thought.

“That is an excellent idea, Graves,” the chairman said.

“It is?” the woman replied, perplexed by her adversary’s agreement.

“Yes, I think it’s an excellent proposal, and I’m glad you reminded me of the Bureau’s recommendation. This is an opportunity to finally get ahead of this chanter problem once and for all — don’t you agree, Director Kane?”

“Mr. Chairman, I would offer a more cautious approach,” Kane replied, maintaining his subtle pressure on the man’s mind.

“Nonsense. Assemblywoman Graves is correct in assuming your Red Legs are overtaxed, trying to track dissident factions across the country. It makes far more sense to separate chanters into manageable groups. Fewer locations where we can concentrate our efforts and contain the problem elements.”

“I would urge caution, Mr. Chairman. What about our techs?” Graves was clearly perplexed, probably concerned about the rapid action getting railroaded through the committee, ostensibly at her recommendation.

The chairman waved her off. “That can all be sorted out after the fact. Once we have all the chanters in one place, it will be easy to find those who are truly valuable to our continued welfare. In fact” — the chairman snapped his fingers — “we can use the Red Legs’ experience to our advantage here. They can gather the chanters and oversee management of the camps.”

Kane spoke into his mic. “Mr. Chairman, if I might offer a point of contention to this idea …”

“Director Kane, you should be thanking Assemblywoman Graves for her excellent solution. Now the chanter problem can be shared between your department and the Bureau of Magical Research. I’ll contact Director Margolis myself, tell her that we’re proceeding with her recommendation, and let her know that you’ll be her main contact. We will authorize the organization of these safety camps. Accelerate the timeline as you see fit. We want nothing else to threaten the safety of our cities.”

“As you wish, Mr. Chairman.” Kane finally allowed himself the smallest of smiles. If his plans continued to move in the right direction, he might be closer to getting her and others who could resist his control in the experimental chair sooner rather than later.

As he left the committee chamber, Nils pulled out his phone and tapped a text to Director Jane Margolis, telling her that she owed him a dinner at the capitol’s most expensive restaurant. He’d managed to pull off the impossible, despite her disbelief when he’d told her his plans. He’d managed to join their departments in a unified initiative, and with the committee’s full approval. She might even be happy enough with the result to enjoy a celebratory nightcap after dinner.

The plan was proceeding perfectly.

CHAPTER 10

Winnie sipped her wine and looked around the restaurant.

This was the kind of place she never would have set foot in a year and half before. Now, she had more than enough money to afford a place like this, and everyone knew she belonged. Even though she was a chanter at a time when chanters were looked at as troublemakers and dissidents by many, money and power made you glow. Winnie enjoyed the shine.

She smiled as Danny returned from the restroom. She’d fallen hard for this middling boy who had literally walked into her life a year and half ago. She loved his quirky smile and his handsome face.

Danny pulled out his phone and looked at the screen, then tapped something before returning it to his pocket. “Where were we?” He reached across the table and took her hand.

Winnie looked down at their braided fingers and gave him a squeeze. She smiled. “We were talking about taking a break, getting away for a few days. Just the two of us.”

“Ah, yes. I remember now. You wanted me to come up with a perfect romantic trip.” Danny paused, took a sip of his wine. “How about New Amsterdam? We could take in a couple of shows on the Broad Way, maybe stay in a decadent penthouse apartment with a view of the park. Not a bad way to spend a few days, and too much money.”

“That sounds lovely, Danny. I could use a break and it would be great to get away after everything. Recharge before we start concentrating on the Midwest and West Coast bosses.”

“That’s right. Everything will be here when we get back.” Danny checked his phone again, then dropped it into his pocket. He gave her a smile. “So, you’re pretty serious about this unified chanter leadership thing, aren’t you?”

“We’ve been over this. Especially in the aftermath of what happened with the riots, we have to organize even faster if we expect to fight whatever Nils Kane has in store for us next. We need a unified voice, and that means all of the bosses.”

“You’re so serious, Winnie. I bet you turn a trip to New Amsterdam into a working vacation with Cleaver. You need to relax, not work more.”

“Moi?” Winnie said in mock shock. “Why would I do that?”

“Because you get laser-focused on something and refuse to move from your target until you’ve nailed the bulls-eye. It’s infuriating. And endearing.”

They laughed themselves into a comfortable silence. Soon, the waiter brought their salads. Winnie took a bite, chewing while the recent plague of a thought bubbled to the surface. “There’s something else I want to look into when we get back.”

Danny looked up from his salad and cocked his head to one side.

“I still can’t help but think there are other chanters who can do what I do. It makes me wonder what else is possible. If I can clear the skies over an entire city for days, what could a two, or three, or an army of people like me do if given the chance?”

Winnie took another bite of salad and waited for Danny to answer. But she looked up and saw him holding his phone. Again.

Who was he texting? And why did he look so baffled every time he stowed the phone? She was finally about to ask, but Danny spoke instead. “What makes you so sure that there are people who can do what you can? I mean, you’ve seen no proof.”

“There has to be. Think about it. As magic wanes, we’ve seen more people come forward able stabilize it. Look at what Tris and her tech friends are doing to keep the cities from collapsing like Boston. It’s not the same as what I can do, but it’s also more than magic techs could do before she showed a few of them how to do it. Maybe I can teach others what I do. I have to believe that, Danny. Otherwise I’m all on my own.”

“But you’re not all alone. You have us. And you’re doing plenty. Maybe it’s like that dream you had with the strange lady who told you you were the queen or something. She seemed to think you could do it all on your own just fine.”

“Funny you remembered that. I’ve been thinking about she told me. Brigid said to ‘trust in my companions.’ I thought that you and Cait and Tris. Now, I think it means more.”

“Maybe it means you’re going to bring the other Sable bosses on board. She could have been referring to that, and it’s what you’re already doing.”

Danny’s phone buzzed again. He pulled it out and looked at the screen, annoyed. Maybe it was his mother trying to get him to come home. He dropped the phone in his pocket, no explanation.

“I think getting away for a weekend is the best thing we can do right now. We need it and deserve it. Then the bosses after that. If there are other chanters like you, I’m sure they’ll come forward.”

Danny’s pocket buzzed again.

“Who is that?” Winnie asked, moments from losing it. “Who keeps interrupting our dinner?”

“It’s Victor. He’s texted me like twenty times today. He says it’s important that he and I talk. Tonight. I told him I’d call him later.”

“What did he say?”

“I don’t care. I shut it off. Whatever he wants can wait.”

———

Victor started at his phone, waiting for a reply. When none came, he shoved the phone into his pocket and looked up from the dinner table at Morgan. They were in their apartment. She’d been excited for him to try her latest recipe. But Victor was distracted.

“Eat your dinner, honey. Danny will get back to you when he can.”

“This is urgent, more so now the riots. I’m afraid for what will happen next if we don’t act soon. There’s something in the air.”

“Wow, Victor.” Morgan grinned. “Could you be more cryptic or ominous? I’m sure it’s not that bad.”

“You don’t know Kane like I do, Morgan.”

“What? He’s settled down, and there’ve been tensions between chanters and Red Legs, sure, but the response has been proportional. Kane’s done nothing like he has in the past. Maybe he’s given up and is looking for a way to work out a solution.”

“The quiet is what worries me most. He only watches out for himself. I’m afraid that any solution he’s a part of will be more like the Harvester than any reconciliation with the chanter community. That’s why I need Danny. I think, together, we can convince Winnie to visit the crater. She has to see what’s happening there.”

CHAPTER 11

Danny excused himself, hoping that Winnie wouldn’t get agitated that he was going again. He knew he was pushing her, or more accurately, that Victor was pushing him.

It was strange for Victor to reach out at all, let alone with multiple 911s and several voicemails. Despite what he’d told Winnie, Danny couldn’t forget about the messages. Eventually, worry got the best of him and here he was, in the men’s room, turning his phone back on.

Another trio of urgent messages appeared on his device.

Clicking on one of the messages, Danny selected the return call option then put the phone to his ear.

Two rings, then, “Thank God you got back to me. What on earth took you so long?”

“Hello to you, too. I’m with Winnie. I didn’t want to be disturbed during dinner. What the hell is up, and if it’s so important, why not call Winnie?”

“I need your help. Winnie won’t listen to me. She needs us both to work on convincing her how important this is.”

“How important what is? You’re speaking in riddles.”

“It’s the Harvester. It didn’t just release all that magic at once, it caused something else to happen when it blew. There’s a … well, a sort … look, it’s hard to describe. But there’s another place connected to the mill now, a place that Winnie needs to see.”

“You’ve got to give me more than that. I can’t convince Winnie to go back there just because it’s ‘different somehow.’ You know what happened to her there. She can barely talk about it. People died. We lost our child. There’s nothing there for her, or me.”

“Danny, there’s magic happening there, magic like I’ve never seen or heard of. There are live creatures, things out of legend, in the crater. And that’s not all. It’s expanding. I’ve seen it grow over time.”

Victor sounded raving mad, which wasn’t in his nature. Danny had never liked the inspector. He’d come to their side later than everyone else, and Danny couldn’t forget what Kane and the Red Legs had done to him. He still had the migraines sometimes, though he didn’t tell Winnie as often as he probably should.

Victor had somehow removed Kane’s enchantment, but something inside him still felt broken. Headaches were a painful reminder of his ordeal. He was lucky they only happened every now and then. Winnie could still heal them if he told her, but he hated what it did to her. The last thing he wanted was something to pull Winnie deeper into forbidden magic. And it sounded like that’s exactly what was driving the crater.

“You’re quiet,” Victor’s voice interrupted Danny’s thoughts. “This is important, and I need Winnie’s help.”

“You don’t know what Winnie’s like around powerful magic. She can’t say no, and I’m afraid of what you’re describing. It sounds more powerful than anything she’s seen, and that girl has seen plenty. This could be the thing that sends her over the edge.”

“It won’t be like that,” Victor assured. “It’s powerful magic, yes, but it’s not like a Sable charm on a live subject. This magic feels — oh, I don’t know how to describe it. It just feels safe. It isn’t there to affect something, it simply exists.”

“I hear what you’re saying, but I’m not sure I can get her to focus on a place that she loathes. Besides, Winnie is obsessed with finding other chanters like her. She’s convinced that they might be able to help her stop the tremors and storms. She doesn’t have time for that, she won’t make time for this.”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you, Danny. Dust storms don’t exist at the steel mill. And the area seems impervious to earthquakes. The answer is there.”

“That’s crazy. Storms and tremors are everywhere. Winnie says it takes more power than she can summon alone to stop them for longer than a day or so.”

“There’s more to it than that, Danny. There are things I can only describe in person. Where are you? I can explain it to you both if I’m there.”

“We’re at The Half Shell, but don’t come here. Too many people know you and Winnie. If they see the two of you talking in public, it could compromise your position in the Department. We’ll come to you.”

“You could meet me at the steel mill,” Victor suggested.

“No. I won’t take her there unless it’s her decision. Somewhere else.”

“How about the shop? The other stores will be closed. I can meet you both there after your dinner.”

“That works, I guess,” Danny said. “I’ll come there on our way back home. She’s going to be pissed, but that’s on you.”

“It’s fine.”

Danny hung up and returned the phone to his pocket. He wasn’t sure what had Victor so fired up to get Winnie back to that place. He was still reluctant, but it was Winnie’s decision.

He’d take her to the shop after dinner. She could make her mind up then.

CHAPTER 12

Winnie thought Danny was much less distracted after he returned from the restroom. She appreciated that. His preoccupation with his phone was annoying, and that was the last thing she wanted to feel. They were in an excellent place, despite their external problems. Those, they faced together.

After dessert and the check, she and Danny left, then strolled through the quiet Fells Point neighborhood. Streetlights lit the sidewalk in pools. When they reached Danny’s sports car, Winnie leaned in and snuck a kiss.

Danny returned it then pulled away, smiling. “Come on, get in. We’ve got to stop by the shop on the way home.”

“What’s at the shop?” Winnie climbed into the sports car. “Can’t it wait until tomorrow? I want to go home.”

Danny sighed. He started the engine. Turned to look at her. “Win, I returned Victor’s call in the restroom.”

“Alright, what did he want?”

“He wants to talk with you. Tonight. He said it’s urgent.”

“Just tell me what he wants. I hate surprises.”

“He wants you to go with him back to the steel mill. He says he has something important to show you.”

“I’m never back there. Ever. Period.”

“I understand, but — ”

“Stop.” Winnie slapped her hand on the dashboard. “You know what happened to me there? To us? How can you even think about making me go back?”

“Victor wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. He needs to tell you what he saw, then you can make up your own mind. I’m not ‘making you go,’ I’m asking you to hear him out.”

“I don’t need to hear him out, and I don’t like you ganging up on me.”

“I’m not. I swear. Just hear him out. We owe him that. He’s been on our side, feeding us information and keeping us a step ahead of the Red Legs for over a year. If you say no, I’ll respect the decision.”

Winnie looked outside at the dark streets and intermittent pools of light, breathing, trying not to get angry. But Danny shouldn’t be pushing her.

The drive was silent, until Danny pulled up in front of the shop and Winnie turned to him sharply. “Five minutes. Then we’re leaving.”

Danny nodded and got out.

Winnie climbed out of her side, looking up at the Charmed sign above the shops door. So much had changed since she and her mom had first opened the store. That it was now being used to ambush her made Winnie want to fight.

She stepped inside and looked around. Victor was nowhere. “Well, where is he?”

“I’m here, Winnie,” Victor said, stepping out from the back office. “I didn’t want to stand in front of the windows. Come back here. I have something to tell you.”

Winnie grit her teeth and shot Danny a withering stare. Then she followed the inspector into her office.

Victor gestured to her desk chair.

“I’d rather stand. We won’t be here long.”

Victor cleared his throat. “I’m sorry for all the cloak and dagger, Winnie. I know you’re dealing with a lot. But there are things happening here in Baltimore that might be important to your fight, and you don’t know anything about them. Have you been back to the steel mill since that night?”

“No. And I don’t plan to.”

“I was afraid you’d say that.” Victor frowned. He looked worried. “I think you need to come with me and see what is happening there now.”

“I don’t care what’s happening there. You’re right. I’ve got too much going on to visit my past. I’m not looking for a catharsis, Victor.”

“That’s not what I mean,” he tried to explain. “I think there are magical things happening there that you need to see.”

“No. I need to find others like me. A fight is coming, and we need help if we’re going to win. That’s my priority.”

“With all due respect, Winnie, your priorities are all screwed up. You need to understand what’s causing all the breakdowns and failures. There aren’t any storms or tremors around the steel mill — isn’t that important to investigate?”

“If something needs investigating, you do it. That’s your job.”

“Dammit, Winnie, there are things there you need to see. I don’t have the frame of reference to explain it. This is deep magic that I don’t understand.”

“You can stomp your feet. Shout all you want. Try and cajole me. I’m not going back.”

“But why?”

“We all lost things there, Victor. Danny and I most of all. My cousin died at the hands of your Red Legs. Hundreds of chanters perished, just to fulfill some sort of twisted vision in Kane’s mind. I lost a child, a child I’ll never get a chance to meet or hold or love, all because of that place.”

Winnie turned scrubbed her tears. This argument was pointless.

Why were they doing this to her?

She stiffened at the hand on her shoulder. She looked to one side and saw Danny. She shrugged off his hand and spun back to face Victor again, tears still running down her face.

“Are you happy, now that you’ve opened a few old wounds?”

“No, Winnie,” Victor said. “I didn’t want to hurt you. I only came here because I believe you need to share this experience. I’ve seen something there that could make all the difference in our fight with Kane. I’m hoping it will make more sense to you than it did to me, with my limited knowledge and experience. I think the creatures there are trying to help us fight Kane, if we’ll let them.”

“Creatures?” Winnie asked.

“Fairies, sprites, will-o-wisps,” Victor shook his head. “I don’t know what you’d call them. It’s like another magical world is crossing over into ours around the crater. I’m not sure. That’s why I think you need to come and see it for yourself.”

“Fairies.” Winnie looked at Danny. “You brought me here so he could tell me he’s seeing fairies? That’s it. Come on, we’re leaving.”

Halfway to the door, Winnie saw Danny shrug at Victor from the corner of her eye. She reeled around, then, looking at Danny while pointing at Victor she said, “Don’t you take his side in this, Danny. He says he’s on our side but I’ll never trust him like I trust you.”

Victor stepped towards her. “I took an oath to follow you. I’m not your enemy.”

“Stop. You may be helping us and I’ll not turn that away, but never make the mistake of believing that I’ve forgotten you turning Morgan against me, or standing by while all those innocent people were murdered. It was your orders that rounded them all up to begin with.”

“Those orders were Kane’s, Winnie. Not mine. I didn’t know what he was doing there until that night, and by then it was too late for me to do anything.”

“So you say. That’s between you and yourself,” Winnie snapped. “You said you took an oath. I remember that. So, follow your oath now. I said I’m never going back to that place, and that’s final. If there’s something that needs investigating, then do it. I don’t want to hear another word. Do you agree, or is your oath no good after all?”

Victor didn’t answer for a long time.

Winnie waited, holding his gaze until he finally looked away.

“I agree. My oath is good.”

“Fine. Then it’s finished. Come on, Danny,” she said, walking toward the front door. “It’s time to go home.”

———

Victor watched Winnie and Danny leave. They killed the front lights, leaving him standing alone in the back office with only the desk lamp. Gloom was a blanket, reminding him of his failure.

“Don’t worry, Victor. Momma will come around eventually.”

He turned around to find the voice, but saw no one. “Are you sure, Seelie? She seemed so final.”

“She is confused. She doesn’t understand like you do. There’s still time for her to come around. You’ll see. Don’t give up.”

“I won’t. How can I after all you’ve shown me?”

Victor walked to the desk lamp and pulled the chain, plunging the room into darkness. Then Victor left the shop, closing the door closed behind him and locking it.

“Go home, Victor,” Seelie’s voice said, growing fainter. “Morgan is waiting up. She’s worried. Danny’s on our side. He’ll bring Winnie around. She’ll see things your way. He understands that you wouldn’t say all these things without a good reason.”

———

“You were pretty harsh back there,” Danny said, his eyes on the wheel.

Winnie didn’t answer. She wasn’t sure why she’d acted like that. Victor had been loyal since coming to their side and she had no reason to doubt him. But the thought of returning to that place clawed at her soul. There were too many ghosts.

Then, finally: “I know, Danny. He made me mad and I lost my temper.”

“It’s just a visit. He’s a valuable ally. Maybe you need this to put your demons away. We could go in the daytime. It wouldn’t be so ominous then.”

Winnie considered, then, “Yes. It would be different in the daylight.”

“Very different.”

Winnie pulled out her phone, pulled up Victor’s secret burner, tapped two words, then put the phone away.

Tomorrow morning.

CHAPTER 13

Elaine woke feeling the stiffness of her arthritis more than usual. It had been several days since her argument with Winnie. Again, she replayed the conversation, wondering if she could have steered the discussion in a better direction. She could never tell Winnie about her father. It would devastate her, cloud her judgement about Kane at a time when he was becoming more dangerous to chanters than ever before.

She switched on the television to watch the news while she paced her apartment to loosen her joints. She was putting the kettle on for tea when a familiar voice lit the background.

It is my fear that the chanter threat has risen to a new level with the recent riots in our city centers.

Elaine hobbled into the family room and saw Nils Kane on TV. He stood behind a podium covered in microphones, the Department of Magical Containment’s seal gracing the front.

A reporter off-camera asked a question. “Director Kane, what is your department planning to deal with the problem? I understand that numerous Red Leg officers were injured in the rioting and demonstrations.”

“You’re correct, Debbie,” Kane said. “Throughout the current unrest, our valiant Red Legs have been tireless in their efforts to peacefully resolve the problems at the heart of these unfortunate chanter demands. But the violent nature of both the protests and riots has caused us to rethink our approach. As our cities face an ever-growing danger from the magical failures, we have no one else to blame. Chanters must cease their illegal use of magic so that we can all be safer. Their consistent refusal to acknowledge their responsibility for our current state of affairs makes decisive action imperative, and urgently needed.”

Another reporter called out: “What action is that, Director Kane?”

“Starting this morning, Red Legs in cooperation with members of the National Guard will collect and transport all nonessential chanter personnel residing in the Enclaves to safety camps. There we may focus our efforts to limit their use of magic.”

Elaine stood aghast.

A surge of reporters shouted additional questions. One voice brayed above the rest: “What do you mean by ‘nonessential,’ Director Kane?”

“’Nonessential’ refers to any chanter who is not integral to the operation of our infrastructure. Any business employing chanters in the legal use of magic should apply for approval if they wish for their employees to be released from the camps. Existing registered techs will be given preference, and those we’ve already identified as particularly useful will be pulled out of the transports prior to their leaving. Understand, this is done for everyone’s safety. Once we’ve ensured that the chanters no longer pose a societal threat, they will be allowed a safe return to their homes. But rest assured, we will be rounding up those chanters living outside the law and put an end to their charm running once and for all.”

Elaine thought about how far Kane had gone from the man she’d known to the monster he was today. She remembered how they first met. He had been a refugee off one of the boats, only a boy at the time. She remembered a family across the hall from hers, fostering him after he arrived. He was quiet, rarely talking to anyone. Artos Merrilyn had been the head of the relief organization that saw to the care and disposition of refugees at the time. He looked in on young Ricky, as he was known then, quite often. Elaine remembered her parents wondering at the man’s interest in the boy. He seemed nothing special at the time, although, of course, that would change.

As they grew up, Elaine and Ricky had become close — inseparable by their seventeenth birthdays. He was everything.

And then he changed.

Ricky grew darker, his mood shifting from one day to the next, and always without warning. She became concerned when he’d disappear into his hideaway for days without light. Elaine remembered when she followed him once, banged on the door to his hideout, begging him to come out. He refused, and Elaine used a trick he’d shown her to get inside. She had worked the flows, patiently directing them into the keyhole until she eventually opened the lock. Walking down the long passageway to the room at the end, Elaine had found Ricky doing the unthinkable, killing living things to feed something bottomless in himself. Using Sable.

She turned and left him, running back up the passage and shutting the door behind her.

They stayed together for a few more months. Elaine tried everything to make him quit. But no matter what she did, Ricky continued to use. He never hurt people, always using his power on random animals, mostly mice and rats, draining their life in secret. Eventually, she ran out of options and she confronted Ricky about his addiction.

And that was that.

Years later, she heard a familiar voice on TV. The face was different and the name had changed, but she knew who it was. Her Ricky. He’d somehow risen to power in the middling government to become the Agency Director, charged with policing all magic.

Now, in the present, Elaine watched that man she’d once loved order the destruction of all she held dear. And now, finally, she knew what he was doing. She saw him for who and what he was.

Elaine had appealed to his humanity, begging him to leave their daughter alone. Now, as she listened to his press conference, Elaine knew he had no humanity to appeal to. She realized what it was he was trying to do … much like he’d done with the cockroaches.

She felt an Arctic chill.

She might have stopped all of this years before if she’d only followed through and called the authorities. Now, with Kane’s last statement, Elaine knew she had to warn Winnie.

She hobbled back to her kitchen table and picked up her phone. She dialed then put the phone to her.

Winnie didn’t pick up, so Elaine redialed.

Then she kept redialing until the first Red Leg banged on her door.

CHAPTER 14

Winnie watched buildings pass as Danny drove them to the steel mill. The knot in her stomach was getting worse. They had approached from underground the last time, in the dead of night, through sewer and steam tunnels. It was different in the hazy orange daylight, in a world plagued by constant storms. She looked up at the swirling dust and thought again about how she had to find someone — anyone — who could manipulate magic like her.

Winnie sat up straighter in her seat, noting a change in the light pouring into the car. The hazy orange glow was now a clear blue sky. An impossibly bright sun blazed in an instant. A line had been drawn across the sky, creating a barrier to keep the swirling dust at bay.

They were moments from their destination.

Victor was right. Something strange was happening.

Danny pulled into the parking lot and parked next to Victor’s unmarked cruiser. Tufts of rich green grass and wildflowers pushed up through cracks in the pavement. Winnie jumped out of the car and looked around. Outside, the boundary was even clearer. Swirling orange dust stopped as if striking a glass dome.

How could none of the news agencies be reporting this?

“It’s remarkable, isn’t it?” Victor asked, surprising Winnie from nowhere.

“I don’t know what to say. The last time I saw the clear blue sky was when I used my magic to push it all away.”

“I know. I still don’t understand all that’s happening here, but I can tell you for sure that it’s expanding. There was only a small spot directly over the mill building before. Now it circles the block. This is one of the reasons why you needed to come. If there’s a way to replicate this in other cities on a larger scale, I thought you might be able to figure it out.”

Winnie nodded and tuned her vision to the magical spectrum. Wisps came from the building’s center, like frayed strings pulled from a piece of fabric. They were random — she couldn’t connect them to any spell she knew. It was raw magic, without form or order.

She looked at Danny and Victor. “How do we get inside?”

“This way,” Victor said, then took them to a door in the side of the building leading to a long hallway.

Winnie and Danny followed him inside. She reached out to grip Danny’s hand as a wave of trepidation swept her. She’d lost so much in this place; knots of tension tightened her gut as she trembled at the memories.

Victor led them to a doorway that opened into the old steel mill’s central room. It was significantly different than she remembered. The air was fresh and clean. Bright sunlight filtered down from above. The scent of fresh wildflowers filled her nose.

She took a deep breath, looked down from the edge of the metal catwalk, and saw green everywhere, claiming metal and concrete as it yawned outward from the crater. She glanced at Victor and Danny — both men appeared awestruck, but Danny definitely more so.

Had she done this? And if so, how could she do it again?

This was what the world was supposed to look like. Nature in evidence like she’d never seen. The city had a few parks and plenty of trees, but nothing like this. Those frail plants were missing the vibrant life so present in this place.

“Come on,” Victor urged. “I’ll show you how to get down.”

Danny and Winnie followed the inspector to a stairway. Amazingly, halfway to the floor, it turned into a gentle, green, grass-covered slope leading to the broad meadow below. Insects buzzed from place to place as she started downward. They all had a sort of glow, and in the magical spectrum, Winnie could see the fine tendrils of magic emanating from each one. It was moments before she realized that they weren’t insects. They were tiny, human-like figures — an incredible sight that she had to take in.

Victor turned from the sloping hill below and looked back at Winnie, smiling. “I told you. There’s something special here, something you needed to see.”

“Yes, but this is — ” Winnie stopped, searching for the words to describe not only what she saw but the feeling it evoked. The sudden shift in her emotions as she stepped downward, going from doubt and fear to a sense of calm and peace, was jarring.

“Hello,” said a tiny voice from beside her as she stepped onto the grass.

Winnie looked to the side, startled by a tiny winged girl hovering in the air beside her. “Uh, hello … I’m Winnie.”

“I know who you are. Everyone here knows who you are.”

Victor laughed. “I see you’ve met Seelie. She’s a brave one. Seelie was the first one to talk to me, too.”

Winnie looked at the tiny face and saw something familiar. “I feel like I know you, like we’re connected somehow.”

“We are, Momma.”

Winnie stopped. They’d reached the floor of the mill, now covered in swards of grass and flowers. Winnie stood amid the lush growth, staring at the tiny figure bobbing beside her. She didn’t have the words to express what she wanted to say, and in the end, uttered a single, questioning word.

“How?”

Seelie shrugged and laughed. “I don’t know. One minute I was with you, and then I was here in this place. It’s a very nice place, isn’t it?”

“Yes … yes, it is,” Winnie replied.

“I met Victor and felt his connection to you. I helped him understand what he saw. Then I watched as he helped you. He’s very nice.”

Winnie glanced at a now-embarrassed Victor then turned back to Seelie. “What about the others here? Are they all lost children like you?”

“No, they are the others who were lost here before the change. The Lady brought us back so we could tend this place and help it grow.”

“The Lady?”

“You’ve met her before, Momma. She told you to call her Brigid. That’s one of her names. She has many, for all of the people in all of their places. We call her the Lady.”

“Are there many places like this?” Winnie asked, wondering if this was how she could find other chanters like herself.  “Where are they?”

“I think there used to be many like this, all over the world,” Seelie answered. “Now there is but one. When you broke the machine, you opened a place in the world for this all to exist again. It is so beautiful here. Thank you.”

Winnie looked around at the terror turned to majesty and smiled at Seelie. “Yes, Seelie … yes, it is.”

Winnie walked towards the center of the large room, heading for the crater’s edge. Danny and Victor fell in behind as she strolled through the ankle-high grass. Morning dew kissed her legs. Fairies flitted by, waving at Seelie while giving wary looks to Winnie and her friends.

“Why do they look at us that way, Seelie?” Winnie asked.

“They remember more of what happened here than I do,” Seelie replied. “It makes it hard to trust humans.”

Winnie gave a grim smile, nodding in understanding. She knew all too well what they’d endured during their final moments on earth. Maybe it was best that they didn’t trust humans — that might serve to protect the magic they made here.

“This place is changing the world outside, Seelie. Do you know why others can’t see it?” she asked. “Why haven’t other humans noticed the clear skies and come to investigate?”

“The Lady doesn’t allow others to see what is happening. Only the invited may come, and only they can see what is happening.”

“What is happening, Seelie?” Winnie asked.

“This is an opening to Avalon. It is both what was and could be again.”

“So that’s Avalon down there?” Winnie pointed to the crater, then stepped over the edge, tuning her senses to the magic around her.

She felt the difference immediately. The magic here was pure and unfettered. Compared to the magic in this place, the rest of the world felt like forcing her way through wet cement.

Winnie kept walking towards the pool. As she approached, the landscape expanded. By the time she reached the water’s edge, the tiny pool from above had expanded into a broad, mist-covered lake. The shores were lined with trees as far as the eye could see, trunks swallowed in the haze.

Winnie recognized this place: the shoreline from her dream. The place where she met Brigid. She looked around, searching the mists on-shore and across the water.

No sign of the lady in white.

“She’s not here, Momma,” Seelie said from behind Winnie. “The Lady only comes when someone she deems worthy is in need of instruction. She will not return. Few are those who see the Lady. Fewer still are those who see her more than once.”

“But I don’t know what to do except find others like myself!”

“She must have offered you council,” Seelie said. “Just as she did for Victor.”

“She spoke to Victor?” Winnie spun around to face him. “What did she tell you?”

“That I was your protector, meant to help you find a great talisman.” He shrugged. “I don’t understand it all, or how exactly I’m supposed to help, but I’m trying, Winnie.”

“A talisman? What talisman?”

“A sword, perhaps?” Victor said. “I’m not sure what’s real and what isn’t. Seelie showed me the time when magic was offered to mankind. There was a great sword, a king’s gift. It seemed somehow important, but I’m not sure I understand how a sword could help us today.”

“It doesn’t make any sense to me, either,” Winnie agreed, her voice bitter. “And it doesn’t help me find what I’m looking for. I was hoping there would be some clue, some link, to the ones I search for. Instead, I find this strange place full of riddles.”

Winnie was getting angry and she didn’t know why. She looked back at the lake before turning to Victor, Danny, and Seelie.

“Sorry. I need to think about this for a while before coming back.”

“It’s alright, Momma. It’s not always the right time to reveal what is sought. Your search will bear fruit if it is meant to be. I hope you return soon.”

Winnie looked at the tiny fairy child and smiled. “I’ll try.”

With that, Winnie started back towards the crater’s edge, her view shifting as she walked, narrowing with every step until she reached the edge and was again standing at the side of a grassy crater with a small pool of still water at the bottom.

“Winnie,” Danny spoke for the first time since their arrival. “Was that tiny girl really our — ”

“Daughter? In some way, yes. I think she was. But she’s much more than that now. I feel like she’s connected the present with eternity.”

She kept ascending the gentle slope until her feet touched the metal tread. The moment it did, her phone bleated and buzzed in her pocket — a slurry of missed messages loading all at once.

Same for Victor, judging by the way he dug at his pocket. The area must mask their signals. She pulled out the phone and saw several missed calls from her mother, along with a single voicemail.

Feeling a sudden ugly dread, Winnie tapped her phone to play the message, already running toward the parking lot.

CHAPTER 15

Elaine dialed again and again while looking out her kitchen window.

Police, Red Legs, and soldiers lined the street outside her building. They were grabbing at people as they ran by, tackling them to the ground, then herding their captives into waiting buses with barred windows.

Elaine could hear the screams from captive chanters and the shouts from the officers rounding them up.

She couldn’t believe what was happening. Kane was really doing it. He was going to take them all to camps somewhere.

She had to warn Winnie.

She dialed again, frustrated that she couldn’t get through.

There was a banging on her apartment door. Someone was demanding that she open up, let them search her place.

She knew she didn’t have long. This time, she went to Winnie’s voicemail.

“Winnie, it’s Mother,” Elaine said, taking a deep breath to calm her voice. “Kane did it. He’s rounding up all the chanters in the Enclave and taking them to camps somewhere outside the city. They’re at the door now. I have to open up or they’ll break it down.” She paused again, took another breath. “Winnie, honey, they are looking for you, too. And all your friends. Run. Hide. Get somewhere safe and stay there — ”

The wooden jam splintered. Red Legs in riot gear rushed into the room.

Elaine dropped the phone and hobbled as fast as she could toward the bedroom. A pair of hands grabbed her shoulders from behind and yanked her to the ground. Elaine only heard herself screaming for seconds under their swinging clubs before she lost consciousness.

CHAPTER 16

“Damn it, Danny!” Winnie cursed. “Drive faster!”

“I can’t go any faster! We need to stay behind Victor so he can escort us to the Enclave.”

The car lurched as Danny downshifted to navigate a curve before accelerating on the other side. She felt sick. They were too late. She could feel it in her gut. Her mother needed help, and Winnie was about to fail her.

She’d played the phone message over and over again, hearing her mother screaming at the end: Run, Winnie, run! until she was silenced by what sounded like a sudden blow, then loud shouting followed by a dead connection.

She switched her view to an app Tris had installed, allowing her to track her mother’s phone. It was still in her apartment. Even if she wasn’t there, her phone was.

The car slowed. Winnie looked the window toward some sort of police roadblock ahead. Victor had turned onto a side street. Danny turned to follow. Then Victor stopped his cruiser and Danny pulled up behind him.

“What is he doing?” Winnie sounded desperate, even to herself.

“Hold on, Win … ”

Victor jogged back to their car. Danny rolled down the window. “There are roadblocks surrounding the Enclave,” Victor said. “No one is getting in or out without official approval.”

“But you’re the city’s chief inspector!” Winnie shouted.

“Yes, and I can get through. You cannot.” Victor stood, looked around, then leaned back to the window. “Park here. You two can ride inside with me if you follow my lead.”

“We can do that,” Danny agreed. “Right, Win?”

“If we hurry. Mom still isn’t answering. I think they already got her.”

“If they did, there’s a chance I can still get them to turn her over to me,” Victor said. “It depends on who picked her up. Come on. We’d best get moving. I don’t want another unit to spot us talking in the open like this.”

On their way to Victor’s cruiser, Danny squeezed Winnie’s hand. “It’s gonna be alright.”

“How do you know? We could already be too late. You heard the message. She was yelling. And then nothing. If they hurt her, I’ll hunt every one of the bastards down and show them what an angry chanter can do.”

Danny gave Winnie a worried glance, then opened the passenger door.

Victor shook his head. “Get in the back. It has to look like I have you in custody when we go through the roadblock.”

Winnie and Danny got in the back as requested, sitting behind a plexiglass panel. There were slots permitting conversation and air flow, but it was clear that this was for detainees. Winnie tried the door from inside. The handle moved but the door didn’t open. They were trapped in the back with no way out.

“I hope you’re not trying to double cross us, Victor,” Winnie said. “This would be quite a coup, capturing us yourself and bringing us in during the big raid. Seems like that might be a feather in the cap of your career.”

Victor glanced at Winnie in the rearview. “Don’t be stupid. You’re safer back there than anywhere else in the city. Trust me. I’m on your side.”

Winnie didn’t answer. They’d reached the barricade. Several squad cars and officers blocked the road. Victor pulled up to the opening and lowered his window.

“Hello, Inspector,” the sergeant said. “I didn’t realize it was you.”

“That’s alright, Sergeant. How’s the operation going so far?”

“Beats me.” The sergeant shrugged. “We were ordered to choke the perimeter and keep everyone from crossing either way. Your Red Legs and the army are running things in the Enclave.”

“Good work. Give me your card and I’ll drop a line to your captain, tell him I was impressed.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” The sergeant reached in a pocket and handed Victor his business card. Winnie could see the city police logo and the sergeant’s name: Wilson. She was getting increasingly anxious and wanted Victor to cut his small talk short, even though she knew he had to play this on his terms to ease them through without suspicion.

The sergeant waved to one of his officers. A squad car pulled forward to open a path through the roadblock.

“Have a nice day, sir. Good luck on the operation.” The sergeant saluted. Victor returned the gesture, rolled up his window, and pulled away.

Winnie said, “They have the army in on this?”

“Seems that way. I had no idea. It must have come in from the capital this morning while I was at the crater with you, straight from Kane.”

“It did.” Danny was looking at his phone, scrolling through an article. He read aloud while Victor entered the Enclave. “The Director of the Department of Magical Containment this morning ordered all non-essential chanters to be collected and placed in ‘safety camps’ in order to protect the general public from the adverse effects of magic. It is believed that the continued use of magic by the chanter community in the nation’s enclaves has caused the climatological changes and earthquakes. Special units of the United Americas Army Military Police Division and Anti-Magic Warfare Division were attached to Red Leg task forces for this operation.”

They were passing buses being loaded with captured men, women, and children. They must have belonged to prisons and jails. One such bus was being loaded a block from her shop.

Winnie gripped her door and yelled to Victor. “Stop!”

Victor looked around, slowing to see the problem or threat. “What’s wrong, Winnie?”

“They had Cait back there. They must’ve picked her up at the shop. You have to turn around.”

Danny shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. We’re here to get your mom. We can’t do both.”

“Danny’s right. I only have room for one more of you in the back seat. I can get your mother. They’ll still be loading the buses, so we should be able to get them before they leave. I’m afraid that once they start for their final destination, I’ll be unable to intervene.”

“Cait first. Then Mom. We’ll think of where to put her when we get there. But we have to get Cait now.”

Victor sighed and put on his turn signal to circle the block and retrace their path. The bus was loaded and Red Leg officers and uniformed soldiers were milling nearby when Victor pulled up.

“Stay here and keep quiet. Remember: you’re prisoners. Sit on your hands so it looks like you’re cuffed. I’ll be right back.”

“Hurry, Victor. We can still get to my mom. We just have to hurry.”

“We’ll see. One thing at a time. Sit tight.”

Danny and Winnie sat on their hands as instructed, though Winnie thought it was needless since the windows were heavily tinted and no one could see inside. They watched Victor approach the soldiers. He pointed to the bus then back to his car. There was a brief discussion, then one of the Red Legs walked over to the bus and stepped inside. A few moments, the officer disembarked, leading a handcuffed Cait toward them.

She shuffled forward, her ankles shackled, trying to keep from tripping.

Victor pointed to his cruiser, traded salutes with the group, then led the single officer with Cait back to his vehicle. Danny and Winnie made room as Victor opened the car door.

“This one resisted capture and injured quite a few of our men, Inspector,” said the Red Leg. “You sure you don’t want me to ride along with you?”

“No, I’ll be safe enough with the prisoner barrier in place,” Victor answered. “Besides, she’s cuffed and shackled. She won’t be any trouble.”

“What did you need her for, anyway?”

“She’s a member of this city’s biggest charm running crew, and may be of use in capturing any compatriots who may have gone into hiding during this raid. Throw her in the back with the others. I’ll accept full responsibility.”

“As you wish, sir.”

Cait was shoved into the car. Her face flickered with surprise as she saw them, but she quickly recovered her scowl. Fresh bruises were blossoming on her face, and while she’d never admit to being in pain, she had clearly been beaten badly.

Victor gunned the engine. The bus began to pull away.

They were just in time, but still, had stopping been a mistake? Would they be able to rescue Elaine?

Victor passed something through a slot in the plexiglass — a key to Cait’s handcuffs and leg shackles. Danny grabbed it, then leaned over and removed Cait’s cuffs and shackles while Victor drove.

“You all showed up just in time,” Cait said. “I wasn’t sure what was happening. Red Legs and soldiers came pouring into the shop from nowhere. I managed to fight a few off, but there were too many. Have you heard from Tris?”

Winnie pulled out her phone and tapped out a message. She’d been so focused on her mom, and then Cait, that she had yet to check on Tris.

“She’s probably alright,” Danny assured. “I read that they’re rounding up non-essential magic users. The reporter stated that all Sable techs were being sequestered to keep them safe so they could repair failing city systems during the current emergency.”

“I can check on that later,” Victor said. “Let’s get to your mother’s. It’s not too far now.”

They drove the final blocks in silence. Winnie’s heart sank when she saw that there weren’t any buses and only a few Red Legs walking the otherwise deserted street.

Victor drove past the building and glanced back at Winnie. “Is there a back entrance that’s hidden from the street?”

“Yeah,” Winnie said. “Turn left on the next street, then take the first alley on the left. That leads back to the rear courtyard.”

Winnie checked her phone tracking app — Elaine’s phone was still somewhere in the building behind them. Victor followed her instructions and soon pulled into a spot beside a large dumpster, behind her mother’s building.

Winnie tried the door handle, forgetting she couldn’t get out from the locked cruiser. She fidgeted, biting her lower lip while waiting for Victor to circle around and open her door.

Once free, she darted from the car and up the concrete stairs. Victor and Danny called for her to wait, but she didn’t listen. She had to find her mom.

Winnie raced up the stairs rather than waiting for the antiquated elevator. Her mother’s door was hanging askew. She slowed as she approached.

Winnie entered her mother’s apartment.

The place was trashed. Whoever had come to take Elaine had obviously been looking for something. She called her mother’s phone and heard it ring from the hallway to the back bedroom.

The phone was on the floor in the hallway. Her mother must’ve dropped it during her capture.

Winnie sank to the floor and started to cry. Sobs wracked her body with violent heaves.

And that was where the others found her.

CHAPTER 17

Winnie watched the now-empty buildings pass as Victor drove his cruiser through the mostly-deserted Enclave. She saw the occasional police officer, Red Leg, or military car or truck with officers and soldiers standing nearby, but the buses were gone, and with them, her mother and everyone else she’d been trying to help.

Winnie felt empty, helpless to do anything to repair the hole inside her. She heard the others talking, but she didn’t really listen to the words.

“So where to next?” Victor asked. “I can’t keep you in my car, so we need a place to hide you while we figure out who else escaped the roundup from our crew.”

Danny held up his phone. “Cricket checked in. He was looking over a shipment at one of the safe houses. He’s holed up there, waiting for Winnie’s orders.”

“Tell him to hold tight. We’ll give him a meeting place soon,” Cait said. “Tell him that Winnie’s busy with something else. Let’s send a general message, get everyone to a safe location, hunker down until the sweep for stragglers is finished. Then we’ll consolidate our crew and figure out what we need to do next.”

“Good idea,” Victor agreed. “Once we’re past the roadblocks and into the city proper, I’ll need to drop you three somewhere safe, then report in to HQ. People are already starting to miss me. Morgan is covering for us, but there’s only so much she can do at her level.”

“Take us to the safe house where Cricket is hiding,” Cait said. “It’s on the outskirts of the entertainment district. There’ll be lots of people on the street. We’ll be able to blend in.”

“Yes, but there will also be alerts to watch for all of you, since you managed to slip through the cordon,” Victor warned. “And there’s nothing I can do to stop that.” He pointed at his dashboard terminal. “This says they’re looking for Artos and other members of his criminal enterprises. That’s all of you. There are probably other lists in New Amsterdam, Philly, and any other cities where the bosses have sworn allegiance to you. They should all be warned.”

“Cricket will warn Cleaver, if he’s still free,” Danny said. “The others should be contacted by Winnie. They need to know she escaped the sweep.”

Winnie rubbed her puffy, red eyes. “You don’t have to talk about me like I’m not here.”

“Sorry,” Danny said. “You were upset. We were trying to give you some space.”

“Thanks, but I’m fine. And you’re right — I need to contact the other bosses, especially Colten. He’s the newest, and most likely to strike a deal if we don’t reassure him first.”

Cait pointed to Victor’s terminal. “Can that thing get local news? I’ve been texting Tris. We were right. She’s been pulled in with a bunch of other techs. They’re all watching the news. She says we have to put on Channel 2.”

“Let me see what I can do.” Victor turned into an alley. “I think I can access the net and pull in local news by going … ” He fiddled with a small keyboard mounted under the screen and tapped a button on-screen — then the video began to play.

“Turn up the volume,” Cait said.

“Hold on … ” Victor fiddled with a dial on the side of the screen. They all fell silent as the reporter’s words filled the cabin.

“—buses are staged here, Gerry. We can see that they’re full, presumably with chanters from the Enclave raids. I’ve been told by a local Red Legs representative that the buses will be departing for the closest safety camp.”

Another voice chimed in — the station’s main anchor. “Vince, has anyone told you how far it is to the camp or the final destination’s location?”

“I’ve been told it’s a secret location, and will not be disclosed to the press or public at this time. We only know that it’s about four hours away.”

“Good reporting, Vince. Please keep us up to date. And for now, we’re on to sports and weather.”

The broadcast switched to commercial and Victor killed the picture. He turned in his seat, looking back at the people assembled in the back of his car. “What do you want to do?”

Everyone looked at Winnie. She fought to clear her mind, conjure a solution. She wanted her mother back, but needed to make sure that she and the rest of her crew got safely out of the Enclave.

“Right … ” Winnie cleared her throat. “Victor, take us to Cricket’s safe house. We’ll go there first, contact the bosses, see who made it into hiding and who didn’t. Cait, do we still have one of the plain white delivery vans? I can’t remember where they’re stashed.”

Cait started texting. “I’ll have Cricket check the garage and get back to us.”

“Then let’s head to the safe house first. If we have time we can take the van, see if we can follow the buses en route to this so-called safety camp.”

Victor nodded, pulled out of the alley, and started towards the safe house. They passed a few patrols while leaving the Enclave, but saw almost no one beyond uniformed officers and soldiers. At one point, Victor was forced to stop as a pair of Red Legs chased a fleeing chanter across the street. He was faster than the heavyset pair of officers in pursuit. But just as he reached the far side of the street, another pair of officers tackled him.

Winnie could hear his screams of fear and defiance as they passed.

They made it through the final checkpoint, with Victor merely having to slow down and press his badge to the window.

Officers milling around the roadblock were smiling, clapping their comrades on the back, clearly pleased with the day’s operation. Winnie thought about what Kane and his cronies had accomplished, finally emptying the Enclaves. She wondered if the devastation had been complete across all the United Americas. Surely they couldn’t have gotten everyone.

On the short drive to the safe house, Winnie was struck by all the middlings going about their lives. Families, businesspeople, and delivery men were all walking down the street as if there wasn’t a human rights atrocity unfolding just a few blocks away. The shock of their apathy angered her — Winnie realized, as she stared out the cruiser window, that her fists were clenched so hard, her fingernails had dug furrows into her palms.

“Look at them,” she said to no one in particular.

“Who?” Cait had her eyes out for any possible threats. She turned to see what Winnie might be talking about.

“All of them,” Winnie explained. “All the people who we used to think of as our neighbors, customers, fellow citizens. They could care less about what happened this morning. I’m sure some of them are just clueless and don’t even watch the news, but not all of them. So, here they are while the government rounds up every man, woman, and child in the Enclave, then runs them off to God knows where. They just don’t care.”

“Maybe for some of them the reality hasn’t sunk in yet,” Danny suggested. “Maybe they don’t understand everything Kane was saying in this morning’s statement, or what it means to people they know.”

“Don’t make excuses for them, Danny,” Cait snapped. “Winnie’s right. I used to think we were fighting for chanters and middlings alike. No more. We save our own, to hell with the rest of them. They can rot in this place. I hope it all sinks into the ground like Boston.”

Winnie felt some Cait’s ire, but couldn’t take it to such extremes. There were middlings out there who could be trusted, and others who had fallen for Kane’s line of lies and deceptions. Leaders in the Assembly and the Department of Magical Containment and the Director were at fault. It wasn’t the ignorant middling fool on the street who didn’t know any better.

Winnie wondered what they’d do, as the government forced them to live their lives without any magic. It was failing, and no matter what Kane did, it would continue to wane before it eventually faded away entirely. He might be able to somehow corner all the magic for himself, but there were no guarantees that he wouldn’t eventually run out as well.

Victor pulled into a residential driveway. The garage was open, with an open space next to a small white delivery van. He stopped the car and got out to open the rear doors.

“This safe house is blown now that I’ve dropped you all off,” Victor reminded them. “Someone in the neighborhood will wonder who you are, and why a Red Leg is dropping you off. They’re bound to call it in. Luckily, my car is unmarked, so they shouldn’t be able to trace it back to me. But you’ll have to pack up and move again once I leave.”

“Alright,” Winnie said. “We’ll let you know where we end up.”

“Better that I don’t know, Winnie. Just keep in touch and tell me what I can do to help. I’ll use my connections I have to pry whatever I can from whomever I know. If I find anything I think you can use, I’ll let you know.”

“Thanks, Victor,” Winnie said.

“I’m sorry we weren’t able to get your mother in time.”

“It’s not your fault. We had to get Cait, too. And judging by her voicemail, she was already in custody. We probably weren’t going to get her in time, no matter what we did.”

“Thank you.” Victor’s expression softened. He smiled. “I’ve got to go. Keep in touch.”

“We will,” Winnie said.

She and the others watched Victor drive off, then the small group of refugees headed into the small white house to plan their next move.

CHAPTER 18

Cricket was waiting inside, watching a small TV on the kitchen counter. Winnie walked over, stood next to the diminutive charm runner, and saw more coverage of the buses preparing for their drive to the safety camp.

“Anything new?” she asked.

Cricket pointed to the screen. “There’ve been buses pulling away in twos and threes for the last half hour. More have come to fill in the line as they left. Before each bus leaves, it’s boarded by a team of Red Leg enforcers. They must be searching the passengers one final time because every now and then they haul someone off when they disembark.”

“Who are they pulling off?”

“I’m not sure,” Cricket shrugged. “Newscasters are speculating that techs have been caught up in the sweeps, and they need them to run things here in the city. I’m guessing the newsies are right.”

Winnie watched the coverage for a few minutes, trying to get a handle on what was happening. No new buses were coming to join the ones in line. That meant they had little time to fully plan this operation. Still, the team was almost all here. They were missing Tris, but Winnie didn’t think they had time to attempt a rescue and reach the buses in time.

“We need to get to where they’re staging the buses before the last ones leave,” she announced. “Find where they’re taking these people, and fast. What if Kane has another Harvester out there somewhere … or something worse?”

Cait had been pacing from room to room, looking out the windows since. She turned to the group. “We also can’t stay here too long. Places like this always have at least one snoopy neighbor. It won’t take them too long to decide we don’t belong, especially if they’re watching the news like we are. I’d like to load up, get moving within fifteen minutes. Sooner, if we can manage.”

Danny turned to Winnie. “So, what’s the plan? We can’t just follow them in a plain white van all the way to camp. They’ll spot the tail for sure.”

“I may have a solution,” Winnie said. “Something I’ve been working on for a while. I think I’ve ironed out the kinks.”

Danny said, “Don’t tell me you figured out how to make the van fly.”

“Let me worry about it for now. You and Cricket sweep the house. Grab anything you think we’ll need if we manage to find the camp. Load everything into the van. We’ll need to smash and grab if given the chance. Cait can keep watch. Now go. I’m closing the garage door so any nosy neighbors won’t see us loading up, or how many people are on board.”

The team split up and started on their assigned tasks.

Cricket grabbed a few large trash bags, handed one to Danny, then started pulling crackers and other assorted food boxes from the pantry, before dropping them all in the bag.

Danny headed upstairs; Winnie headed through the kitchen to the attached garage, then went to pull down the overhead door. She saw a woman walking her dog. Winnie waved, smiling before she closed the door all the way.

Cait was right. They were way too visible here. They had to get moving.

She checked the van. There were several like this stashed around the city. They were used by her runners for transport and were always supposed to be kept gassed up. She turned the engine, just to make sure.

The van was larger than she would have liked. But Danny was right — they would stand out like sunlight at night if they followed the buses onto isolated back roads. Winnie hoped she had the power to pull this off. So far, she’d only tried this particular spell on things the size of a toy truck.

She closed her eyes and saw the van in her mind. She tried to think of it as a toy truck.

Winnie lifted her hands, called on the magic as she opened her eyes.

Her vision now tuned to the magical spectrum, she conducted the colored ribbons in the air to twist and bend around the large vehicle. The trick was to get the magic itself to do the work, enticing the flows to do something they didn’t want to do by prevailing on creative inclination rather than fighting to lace and weave the magic like she used to.

It took five long minutes, waving her arms and twisting her fingers despite her protesting joints. She finished, and vented a long breath, her T-shirt soaked with sweat.

She looked at the van, still in the magical spectrum, and saw fresh magic wrapping the surface.

One more thing to do.

Winnie pointed all ten fingers at the van, then brought them together, folding her hands so they were inverted. Ribbons and threads quivered around the van, then with a flip inverted in on themselves, portraying a mirror image of their prior form, all laid atop the van.

Winnie nodded and closed her eyes, shifting back to the visible spectrum.

She saw the van as it was before, but something nudged her gaze away, as if it didn’t want to be seen.

“What did you do to the van?” Cricket asked from the kitchen doorway. “It hurts my eyes to look at it.”

“That’s because you’re a chanter. To a middling, it will be unnoticeable. They’ll see the van, but it won’t seem important to them and they won’t remember it being there, even if they see it again.”

Danny entered the garage with a bag slung over his shoulder. He circled the van, passing Cricket. “Where did you want me to put this? I forget.”

“See?” Winnie said to Cricket. Cricket laughed.

“See what?” Danny asked.

“That’s a good trick, Boss-Lady. You just invented invisibility.”

“It’s not invisible, it’s un-noticeable. We should be able to follow the buses to camp without anyone realizing we’re there.”

Danny scratched his head. “Wasn’t there a van in here?”

Winnie laughed, looked at Danny’s puzzled expression, and laughed harder. She walked to the side of the van and opened the sliding door.

Danny saw the interior appear out of nowhere and smiled. “You made it invisible.”

“You’re proof that it works. I knew I kept you around for a reason.”

Danny and Cricket started loading their bags. “Gee, kid. I thought she just kept you around for your looks … ” Cricket pointed to the driver’s seat. “And your driving skills.”

He had become the crew’s default driver. He couldn’t use magic, so letting him gig as their getaway man just made sense.

Cait poked her head into the garage from the kitchen. “Dog-walking lady is going by for the third time, guys. Time to split.” She squinted at the van, then looked over at Winnie. “What did you do to the van? It hurts my eyes.”

“I’ll tell you on the way. Let’s get the rest of the stuff loaded.”

“I think we should load all the surplus military gear we have stashed in the garage, too,” Cait said. “There’s some surveillance gear in there we might be able to use later.”

“Good idea,” Winnie said. “Grab it.”

Ten minutes later, they were heading west toward Security Boulevard. The old road had gone mostly unused after the big interstate highway heading west from Baltimore was built. Now, it was a multi-lane parking lot for buses filled with captured chanters.

There were only seven buses left when Danny pulled the van into a side street off the boulevard, just outside the staging area. They watched the first four buses in the line pull away, then drove up the nearby ramp onto the interstate.

“Looks like that last three will be the final batch. We got here just in time,” Danny said.

Winnie was seated in the front seat beside him. She nodded, watching a group of Red Legs board the final bus. “There … ” She pointed at one of the officers. “Just like on the news shot. They’re searching passengers for anyone they don’t want to send away. Be ready, Danny. We’ll only have one shot to slip in behind them.”

Winnie was hoping that Danny could get close enough to attach a magical tracking device to that last bus in line, just in case they lost them on the highway. But she didn’t think they would slip away from them. Danny was an excellent driver.

Winnie turned back to Cait. “Have that tracker ready, Cait. You’ll have to activate it before you make the shot so I can direct the flows to follow once it’s attached to the bus.”

“Got it, Win,” Cait said, preparing what looked like a shotgun with a round, bulbous mushroom cap attached to the barrel’s end.

“They’re done searching.” Danny pointed at the disembarking officers. “It’s go time.”

The buses headed toward the ramp. Danny pulled out, accelerating to match the buses as he approached from another direction. It was time to see if there were any of Kane’s secret chanters in the group. They’d see the van immediately, since Winnie’s spell stood out to any chanter looking their way.

She hoped none of the passengers drew attention to the strange vehicle.

Danny pulled in behind the final bus. This was as close as they were going to get. Cait opened the sliding door and leaned out. Cricket held on to her belt, keeping her from falling out of the vehicle.

Cait aimed, then shot, firing the mushroom cap tracker at the back of the bus. Then she pulled the door shut behind her as Cricket tugged her back inside. The projectile inverted in flight to form a suction cup, striking the bus just over the rear bumper. Between the suction and the adhesive on the tracker’s surface, it stuck and held.

The tracker was about the size of half an orange, and could magically blend into whatever surface it attached to. The device faded from view. Winnie smiled.

She closed her eyes and drew in some energy. Then she opened them directing a series of flows at their windshield.

A transparent overlay of their route appeared on the glass. Danny gasped. There were blinking red and green lights on the overlay. He could still see well enough to drive, but now he could also see where the bus — the red light — was in relation to their blinking green beacon.

“That’s pretty cool, Win,” Danny said. “But next time, a little warning. It isn’t cool to surprise the driver like that.”

“I’ll remember that,” Winnie said, pointing to the overlay. “We can pull back a bit, now that the tracker’s in place. Just follow the red dot, and let’s see where these buses are headed.”

CHAPTER 19

They drove for hours, until well after dark.

They finally left the interstate, heading along a dirt road, hanging well behind the bus. Winnie didn’t think her spell would hide their headlights and Danny needed to see the twisting mountain road. The tracker was working, though, and they saw the bus clearly on the map on the interior of the windshield.

She looked behind her. Both Cait and Cricket were stretched out, asleep, on the bench seats. She wasn’t sure how either of them could sleep. Cait had once told her that in the army, you learned to sleep whenever possible — you never knew when the next opportunity might arise. She didn’t know what Cricket’s excuse was, but it might be a man thing. Danny could definitely fall asleep nearly anywhere.

“Winnie, they’ve stopped.”

She looked at the tracker map. The red dot had stopped moving.

Danny slowed the van and found a place to pull over so he didn’t catch up to them. “We need to get off this road. Those buses will have to come back this way at some point. They’re bound to see our lights unless we find some cover.”

Winnie looked at the overlay. It showed a few lines on the map that could be other paths off this main road, but their van wasn’t meant for off-road. They had to be careful. She pointed to a short offshoot just ahead, between them and the flashing red dot. “Drive up a little farther, Danny. Let’s see if we can pull off there.”

Danny nodded then slowly pulled forward.

They reached the spot on the map and found a small dirt track off the main road, barely wide enough for their van between the thick brown brush on either side. Danny carefully turned off the main dirt road onto the narrow path and drove until they could no longer see the road behind them.

He killed the van’s lights, then the engine. “Now what?”

“Now we wait for the buses to drive back out,” Winnie said. “Once they’re past, we can move up and see how close we can get to the camp. It’s only a few miles ahead.”

Danny yawned and looked back at Cait and Cricket.

“If you want to get some sleep, go ahead,” Winnie said. “You’ve been driving a long time. I’m wide awake and I can take the first watch. I’ll wake Cait up if I get tired. Go to sleep.”

“I think I will.” Danny took her hand. “Don’t worry, Win. We’ll find your mom. I promise.”

She smiled and squeezed his hand.

Danny reclined the driver’s seat. Winnie watched the darkness, her eyes on the faintly-glowing overlay waiting for any change. Their plan had gone well so far, especially considering how quickly they had pulled it all together. The team usually had a few days or weeks to plan their operations. Still, their fluid operation paid off when it counted. Winnie hoped it would still work that way, going forward. They’d need all the luck they could. In her mind, preparation and teamwork made helped you make your own.

Winnie settled back, listening to the soft snoring as it filled the cabin, watching and waiting.

She felt certain that, soon, everything would change.

———

The sun was just starting to rise when the red dot finally moved.

Winnie watched it come back the way it came, past them, back toward the interstate.

“Rise and shine, people,” she loudly announced. “It’s time for work.”

Cait popped up, scanning her surroundings for threats before looking at Winnie with a smile. The men were slower, slowly gathering their bearings as they woke.

Winnie waited while everyone stretched. She was tired but energized. She wanted to find out what lay ahead so they could figure out a way to free her mother. She also wanted to figure out what Kane was up to. It was impossible to believe that these camps were designed to keep chanters safe and their magic away from cities and middlings. He was up to something. She refused to believe that he’d surrendered his quest to hoard all the world’s remaining magic for himself.

Cricket and Danny climbed out of the van and went into the surrounding brush to relieve themselves. Cait leaned forward and looked at the overlay and saw the red dot headed back to the interstate.

“What now, Win?”

“I’m thinking we could use some of the surveillance gear in that military supply cache we grabbed from the safe house,” Winnie replied. “It’s all magic-enhanced. Between you, Cricket, and I, we should be able to get it working. Maybe we’ll be able to see what’s happening inside that camp.”

“I never thought I’d use all that training again after leaving the service.” Cait shrugged. “Who knew the world was going to turn upside down like this?”

“Not me. But at least we landed on our feet. I could never have done any of this without you and Tris.”

“I wish she was with us.”

“Me, too. At least we know she’s safe in Baltimore. We’ll figure out how to free her from wherever they’re keeping the techs once we’re back.”

Danny and Cricket returned. Winnie and Cait took their turns in the brush before returning to the van.

“Here’s the plan moving forward,” Winnie said, taking charge. “We’re going to drive forward and see what we can of the camp from the road. Then, we’ll find a spot out of sight, closer to the camp. We’ll use some of the extra surveillance gear from the safe house to figure out what we’re facing.”

“Will we try and force a breakout?” Cricket asked.

“Only if some unusual opportunity presents itself. I think this will require a lot more planning than what we’ll be able to do with our limited resources, so I doubt it. First, we find my mother. Then we’ll figure out what Kane is planning for the people in the camp. He’s up to something. There might be another Harvester machine, or something like it. Finally, we’ll look for a way we could break everyone out. But it all depends on what we find out while here.”

Winnie looked at each of her companions in turn, meeting their eyes to make sure that they all understood. Each gave a small nod in affirmation.

“Let’s get moving,” she said.

Danny got behind the wheel, with Winnie riding shotgun. Cricket got in the bench right behind them while Cait stayed in back, opening military cases and sifting through their contents. Danny carefully backed the van to the main road. Winnie disabled the overlay.

It didn’t take long to find the camp. There was a massive radio tower rising over the hills ahead. It looked like a larger version of the ones around Baltimore that carried cell signals. An array of parabolic dishes and antennas were fixed to the tower’s top and sides. Some were pointed down towards the camp, and others up at the skyline.

Then, rounding the road’s final bend leading into the valley, the crew glimpsed what they would be facing. Danny pulled over.

There was a perimeter fence around the entire camp, all topped with rolling coils of barbed wire. The valley floor was packed with buildings, divided into sections with wire fencing between each. A main road turned off the dirt track, leading to a main gate next to outbuildings that must have been barracks and offices for guards and staff.

“It’s huge,” Cait observed, staring out at the sprawling camp laid out on the valley floor. “There’s more than just the people from Baltimore here. This camp is big enough to hold all the chanters from every eastern city.”

“This will be more challenging than I thought,” Winnie said. “Look how the camp is split into sections. I’m guessing there are different areas for chanters from various cities.”

“If that’s the case,” Cricket said, “it will make it easier once we figure out which section is from the Baltimore Enclave.”

Winnie looked around and saw a level spot off the road where they might be able to park the van and still stay close to the hilltops surrounding the camp. That would allow them to deploy their surveillance equipment.

She pointed for Danny. “Back down the hill a bit, see if you can turn off the road and drive over to that flat spot behind the hill.”

“I think I can make it. I don’t want to get the van stuck. It’s not like we can call a tow truck way out here.”

Danny reversed about a hundred yards down the hill, then drove off the dirt road onto the hard ground, navigating the van around some brush and scrub trees. “I think this will work, unless it rains and turns all this dirt into mud. Then all bets are off.”

“It’ll do,” Winnie agreed. “We’ll worry about rain later. For now, let’s help Cait set everything up so she can start searching the camp.”

Danny parked so that the sliding door faced away from the road, shielding them from any middling eyes. Cait was already out and setting things up with Cricket’s help. One case had legs that extended from the base to make a table with a control surface when opened. Inside was a smaller box, filled with tiny drones shaped like insects. Some had wings and others multiple legs. Each could be controlled from the control surface.

Cricket opened another box which held two pairs of large binoculars that could be mounted on small tripods and used to observe the camp from a distance. He handed these to Winnie and Danny.

“You two can probably set up over there on the top of that ridge.” Cricket pointed up the hill. “You should be able to see the whole camp. Cait and I will stay here and prepare the drones. I’ll join you once she’s up and running.”

Winnie took one of the heavy binoculars with the attached tripod and handed the other to Danny. Then they walked the hill together, until they reached the top of the ridge line.

Cricket was right. It was an excellent vantage from which to monitor the camp below. She crawled the rest of the way so she wouldn’t be silhouetted against the sky and be seen from below. Laying in the dirt atop the ridge, Winnie setup the tripod and peered through to focus on the camp below.

It was time to find her mother.

CHAPTER 20

Winnie looked away from the binoculars and rubbed her eyes.

She and Danny had been scanning the camp and its occupants for nearly two hours. So far, neither had so much as glimpsed Winnie’s mother. There were thousands of chanters; they’d never find her mom.

The different sections appeared to be separated by city, with Baltimore chanters all in one area and chanters from other cities spread out in the adjacent sections. Each area was separated by a tall barbed wire fence. There was also a smaller section in the camp’s center, around the strange tower. Occasionally, Winnie would see a Red Leg guard pull someone from one section or another then march them to the central area. Some would leave and return to their original areas. Others were kept in the central section.

There must be a good reason for separating some chanters from others, but Winnie couldn’t focus on what that might be. Not without finding her mother first.

She brought the binoculars back to her eyes.

This time she saw two children, a boy and a girl, standing alone, looking back her way. She’d seen them before. They were about eight or nine, judging by their size. For some reason, they always stopped what they were doing and looked right toward her whenever she spied them. It was as if they could see her watching — odd, considering how far and hidden she was.

It had to be her imagination.

People continued to come and go from the building nearest the entrance. Winnie assumed it was some sort of cafeteria or meeting place — people always came from the barracks building to this one, then later returned to the outer buildings with a sandwich or drink. This was why Winnie and Danny had settled on watching these primary buildings, figuring that every resident had to pass through those doors at some point.

Winnie was watching what they’d named Section One, while Danny kept his eyes on Section Two. There were three other large sections in camp, in addition to the smaller central area surrounding the tower.

They were looking for any recognizable face in the crowd. That would help them determine which one was the Baltimore camp. Once they knew that, they could use the search drones to find Elaine. Cait had charmed each drone with a scent spell that could find anyone who “smelled” like Winnie in close proximity.

It was taking a while, because she had to charm each drone separately. She also needed a small drop of Winnie’s blood to use as a scent sample. It wasn’t particularly painful, only annoying when Cait would bring a drone to Winnie and hold out her hand to take a drop. It was only a pinprick, but twenty grew tiresome fast.

Cait tapped her on the shoulder again. Winnie held out her hand without taking her eyes from the binoculars. She felt the prick and tried not to wince.

“That’s the last one, Winnie,” Cait said. “Any more luck on finding out which camp section your mom is in?”

“No,” Winnie shook her head. “We’re just trying to find someone we recognize. Other than the two creepy kids I keep seeing, no one stands out.”

“What creepy kids?” Cait asked.

“They’re in the middle of Section One. I swear they can tell I’m watching them. They look up from whatever they’re doing and stare. Like I said. Creepy.”

“What if they have some sort of clairvoyant ability?” Cait asked. “It’s rare, but not unheard of. Maybe they’re tuning into you.”

Winnie looked away from her binoculars and glanced at Cait. “That makes sense. I’ve been spending so much time looking for my mom, I didn’t think about what might be making them look this way.”

“I think I found the Baltimore chanters.” Danny turned to Winnie. “Check out Section Two. I think I saw two people who own shops near your mom’s apartment. I remember buying stuff from them when we first started dating. You see anyone else familiar over there?”

Winnie turned toward Section Two, adjusting the focus knob and watching the faces going in and out of the central building. It only took a few moments before she recognized Mrs. Stone from the building next door. She followed her and identified several other faces, then looked away and smiled.

“That’s it. Section Two is housing the Baltimore chanters. Send in your little bugs, Cait. Let’s see if all that blood I gave will help your drones find my mother.”

“It will take a while to deploy them all,” Cait said. “They’re small, and even the flyers won’t get there fast.”

Danny scratched his head. “I still don’t get how these bugs will fool anyone. They look mechanical to me.”

“That’s because I haven’t activated them yet. The military came up with a special charm, transforming them into the size and shape of regional insects. They’ll scan the local fauna until they find a bug, then they’ll replicate it with a sort of visual overlay that hides their true form. It’s complex stuff. Too technical for me, though Winnie might be able to figure it out. I added the scent charm, but that’s about the limit of what I can do.”

Danny shook his head.

Cait laughed. “Just watch when I deploy them. It will hover for a bit until it reconfigures itself. You should be able to see the overlay as it happens. Then you’ll understand.”

“If you say so,” Danny replied.

Cait held one of the small, multi-legged drones on the palm of one hand. It looked like a short, stubby pen with six spindly legs. She reached over to the control table and pressed a button. The drone turned slowly in place about ten seconds, then shimmered in the air, like heat waves wafting off scorching pavement.

Danny blinked. One moment, there was a mechanical drone, then the next, he was looking at a small brown beetle on Cait’s palm. She lowered it to the ground and it scuttled over the ridge, towards the camp.

“One down, nineteen to go,” Cait said.

Danny laughed. “Well, that was impressive.”

“Wait until we have the camera feeds up on the monitor,” Cricket said. “We’ll be able to see and hear whatever we want.”

“That’s exactly what we need,” Winnie added. “We can find my mom and figure out what’s going on down in that central area around the tower.”

“I can tell the drones to go wherever you want, Win. Just say the word. I can send two drones to search that area if you want. The feeds are recorded independently, and the control kit has a separate monitor available to view two distinct sets of feeds.”

“Sounds good. Cricket, you take the central area and see if you can figure out what’s happening there while Cait, Danny, and I concentrate on Section Two, where we think my mother might be.”

“Got it, Boss.” Cricket went to the crate and started setting up the auxiliary monitor.

“Danny, I’m going to keep watching the camp. Something about those two kids is nagging at me. You help Cait, use the drones to find my mom. Then tag a drone to follow her so we don’t lose track.”

He nodded, then descended the slope to where Cait was setting up some other crates as seats. She was deploying the sixth drone. It hovered over her hand for a moment before changing into a tiny moth and flying north towards the camp.

Winnie returned to her binoculars, looking for the children.

She wasn’t sure which city they were from, but something about them was calling out to her. She found them playing with rocks in the dirt, right in front of Section One’s central cafeteria.

They both looked up. On a whim, Winnie waved, even though there was no way they could possibly see her.

To her amazement, they both waved back.

And the children were smiling.

They could see her. But how?

She closed her eyes, shifting her vision to the magical spectrum. When she opened them and looked back through the binoculars, she saw the familiar wisps. There were a few chanters casting simple charms. But the children were another matter. They had created a series of weaves around them, complex as any she’d ever seen, inverted to hide them.

That’s why she was tuned to these children.

They were like her.

They could conduct the magical flows in the same complex ways as Winnie. They’d even learned how to hide what they could do from normal chanters by inverting the flows, making them invisible to usual means of detection.

They didn’t just have to rescue her mother — they needed to rescue these two children as well.

She turned to Cait. “Any drones left?”

“Two more. I’m getting ready to deploy them now. Why? You have something else in mind?”

“I want one assigned to each of these two kids. They’re like me, Cait. I’ve found chanters who can do what I can do.”

Winnie looked back down the slope to her friends, beaming, filled with a sense of hope she hadn’t felt in a while. It was as if some sort of puzzle piece had fallen into place with her discovery.

Cait made a few adjustments to the controls before deploying the final two drones — one flyer and one walker. She let each go, then looked back at Winnie.

“Done, though you’ll have to come down here and help guide them to the right targets. We don’t have a blood sample or scent to home in on.”

“Alright. Let me know when they’re close. I’ll come down and we can lock them onto their targets. I’ll keep watching so we don’t lose them.”

Winnie brought the binoculars back to her face, but the kids had disappeared. She felt a surge of panic, moving the field of view left and right, frantically searching.

And then she found them.

Two Red Legs had the children by the hand and were leading them from Section One to the central section by the tower. Winnie told Cait to redirect the last two drones.

They went inside and the door shut. Winnie leaned back, muttering a prayer to any spirit who might tend to their safety.

“They just went into the central building, Cait. We’ll have to search for them there. I’m coming back down to help you. Danny, I’ll need you to watch the camp.”

Danny and Winnie swapped spots while Cait retargeted the final two drones. Winnie had to wait through a painful forever, but was finally rewarded with a video screen showing the first drone reaching the central building. It hovered by the main doors, then flew inside as a Red Leg left.

A few minutes later, the walker drone followed its cousin inside. Together, Winnie and Cait steered the drones from room to room.

The first seemed to have a series of examination rooms, filled with equipment. Each one had a long exam table. They found the children in one such room, sitting on the table with an attendant wearing scrubs standing beside them. The boy looked into the camera and wiggled his fingers in a wave. Unconsciously, Winnie returned it. The boy smiled. He was wearing a sort of cap with many wires, and the attendant was looking at a view screen on the machine to which the wires were attached.

“Well, well, well, what have we here?” Winnie heard the attendant’s voice. “You have the same readings as your sister, Jacob. Did you know that?”

“We’re twins,” said the boy. “Momma always said that made me and Fiona special.”

“She was right,” said the attendant. “You two are very special indeed. We only know of a few others who can do what you can.” The attendant removed the cap from Jacob’s head and set it atop the machine. “Where is your mother now? We should examine her as well.”

“She’s dead. She got sick and died last year.” Fiona sounded sad. Jacob reached out to hold her hand.

“Who takes care of you, then?” The attendant picked up a clipboard and started jotting notes.

“We take care of ourselves,” Jacob said with a puffed-up chest. “Fiona and I can do anything a grownup can do!”

“Momma told us to always stick together,” Fiona added. “That way we could have whatever we ever wanted.”

“Have you ever met anyone who can do what you do?”

Jacob pointed right at the camera. “Just the lady who’s watching us right now.”

Winnie flinched. Then she leaned forward, holding a finger to her lips.

Ssshhhh …

The attendant turned and followed Jacob’s finger. He waved his hand in a shooing motion and muttered, “Damned bugs.”

Fiona giggled and poked her brother. “I don’t think the lady wants us to tell anyone about her, silly.”

“I didn’t know,” Jacob said.

“You kids are funny.” The attendant set down his clipboard. “I used to have an imaginary friend when I was little, too. It helps when you lose someone. Now, I need you two to sit tight while I talk to my friends. Then we’ll get you both some ice cream. Alright?”

“We like ice cream,” the kids said together.

“Good. I’ll be right back.”

Winnie turned to Cait. “Have the walker follow him, Cait. Keep the other one with the twins.”

“Got it.”

Winnie switched to the walker bug, now in the hallway. It scuttled behind the attendant when he left, then followed him down the hall and through a series of doors to a large control room at the other end of the building. He walked to a man sitting at a desk overlooking a bank of consoles manned by about twenty people in lab coats.

“Two more that match our criteria. Twins, a boy and a girl.”

The man looked up from his desk at the attendant. “How sure are you? We’ve had false positives before.”

“Individual readings are off the charts, nearly where the Durham girl’s are speculated to be. They’re much powerful than the other one.”

“That old woman is in her eighties and of limited use. She’d die the first time we attempted extraction. These kids are much better, especially if they’re as powerful as you say.”

“I’ll forward you the readings by email so you can see for yourself.” The attendant looked around the room. “How is the general collection going? Is everything working?”

“Surprisingly well. The antenna is tuned perfectly, and we only had to make a few very small adjustments. The dishes are already siphoning energy from the residents and we already have a decent amount of mana stored in the underground tanks. I figure it will take about forty-five days to finish siphoning the normal chanters. We’ll want to keep those kids in here with us where it’s shielded, at least until the Director figures out what he wants to do with the special cases. Stick to those kids like glue, Randal. They’re our ticket to the big time.”

“Alright, I’ll get them set up with a room in the dormitory. I didn’t figure on being a babysitter, but you’re right. The reward’s worth the work. You going to tell the Director about this?”

“I’ll make sure we both get the proper credit, Randal. Don’t you worry.”

The attendant walked back toward the doors. Winnie set the drone to auto-pilot to follow him.

She turned to Cait — her friend had been listening. “We’ve got to get them out of here, Win, and shut this place down. The camps are just one big Harvester machine.”

“I know. And we can’t do it alone. Leave the gear and set the drones to auto-record. We’ll cover the crates with brush as best we can. We’re going to need help getting in there, and to do what needs to be done. We’ve gotta get back to Baltimore. It’s time for a conversation with Artos.”

CHAPTER 21

The drive back to Baltimore took hours, but that was a good thing.

There were many preparations and plans to put in place, if a raid like she planned was to succeed. She couldn’t free thousands of chanters without some place to put them. And the pure evil of Kane’s Harvester had apparently festered. Now he planned to steal the magic from every last chanter on earth.

“We’ll need Tris and a few of her tech friends,” Cait suggested. “They’re essential if we’re planning to take that machine apart and disable the tower.”

“There’s also all the Red Legs to contend with,” Cricket said. “Getting in won’t be as big a problem as getting out, once the alarm is raised.”

“So who do we take with us?” Danny asked.

“My mom and the twins, plus any of our crew who might’ve been caught in the sweep before getting underground. I figure we can bring about ten to twenty people with us. So if any of you have close family or friends you want on the list, add them now.”

“I’ll start the list,” Cricket volunteered. “I can contact bosses in New Amsterdam, Philly, and Atlanta to see who they might have that they lost in the round ups.”

“And I’ll reach out to Artos,” Winnie sighed. “See if he’ll accept my offer.”

“He’s still not happy with you taking over the Baltimore operation like you did,” Cait said.

“Artos knows what’s important.”

“How can you be so sure?” Danny asked.

“Because we don’t have any other good options. Artos has the knowledge and expertise to help us.”

Cait shook her head. “He doesn’t do anything for free.”

“Me neither. I need to impress upon him the need to join us again, to fight Kane. No one knows the Director better than Artos. They have some sort of connection that goes way back. It’s the only reason that Artos wasn’t snatched by Red Legs long ago. There’s some sort of arrangement between them, though I don’t understand it.”

“Doesn’t that scare you?” Danny asked. “If he’s connected to Kane after all that’s happened, won’t he just as likely turn us all in?”

“I said he’s connected. That doesn’t mean he’s on his side. He’s underground, too. And he likes the finer things far too much to stay there forever. I’ve got this.”

“Better you than me,” Cait said.

———

“I’m sorry, my dear, but why would I stick my neck out for you?” Artos chuckled. “I was willing to do that once upon a time, before you decided you were better off doing things on your own.”

Winnie opened her mouth, but Artos held out his hand.

“I’m sure you have good reasons for coming here, Winnie. The recent events are indeed alarming. I’m glad you and your friends were able to avoid the sweeps.” He gestured at his surroundings. “As you can see, I, too, had to flee.”

Winnie looked around. Artos’s place of last resort was an underground bunker in the badlands, just outside Baltimore’s habitable areas. That said, it was fully furnished and she’d seen at least ten rooms while being escorted into the former Sable boss’s library.

“I can see how you’re roughing it, Artos. You should see the camp. Barbed wire and a brand-new Harvester. Kane is planning to suck the life right out every captive chanter over the next forty-five days. And he will, unless we don’t do something about it.”

“What would you have me do, my dear? You’re the boss now.”

“I don’t have your expertise in magic or technology. I don’t have your connections in the middling government. And I need those things if we’re going to find my mother and rescue key members of the community. There’s also the little problem of disabling the tower and any of Kane’s machinery.”

Artos sighed. “He’s really created another version of that infernal machine?”

Winnie nodded. “We have a recording, if you’d like to hear it. Two scientists discussing it like they were planning on milking cows.”

Artos paused and looked over his bookshelf, stroking his close-cropped beard. Winnie waited, struggling to reign in her patience while her former mentor made up his mind.

Finally, he turned and looked her way with a wry smile. “You realize the battle won’t be done if you wreck his new machine. He’ll just keep on repeating the atrocity until he’s successful.”

“I do.”

Artos turned and looked at his books again. The old man was silent.

Winnie waited, saying nothing, hoping his answer wouldn’t take forever.

CHAPTER 22

Artos was awash with emotions, still feeling the sting of betrayal from when Winnie had taken his organization and then put him out to pasture in what she had generously called a “retirement.”

He’d been fighting Kane and his minions for so long, Artos had forgotten what it was like to truly relax and enjoy his free time. That adjustment had been hard to swallow, but now he was acclimated to how things were in the new world order.

He wasn’t completely out of the loop. He still had loyal underlings reporting back to him about how things were going with Miss Durham’s operation. He’d been surprised by how quickly she jumped in and started running things. Then he remembered how she’d been operating her mother’s business since her early adolescence. Winnie was a remarkable woman, which encouraged a different set of emotions alongside his residual anger. Artos felt pride in her achievements since she’d claimed Sable operations in Baltimore and drawn other bosses into her organization.

This little stripling of a girl had come from the humblest origins to become the one he’d been waiting for all those years, ever since his arrival in this time and place. He’d always imagined that he’d find and guide the future monarch, the wise counselor who stood to one side and showed the bull-headed youth the way to the truth. Instead, she’d resisted his efforts to guide her, forcing Artos to resort to more adversarial techniques. In the end, Winnie had ended up where she needed to be, but it had also led to his exile in this deplorable bunker, away from the life that he cherished.

Perhaps that was the price of his arrogance. He didn’t know. He only knew that Winnie was back, requesting his advice and expertise again. He wanted to leap for joy, rush back in to her good graces, but Artos knew that would be wrong. So, he made her twist in the wind like autumn’s last leaf awaiting the fall. Anger allowed him that much dignity. Besides, there was something important that he needed Winnie to do. And Artos had been wondering how that might happen when this little opportunity had dropped in his lap.

He turned to face Winnie, sincerity masking his inner glee. “My dear, I am touched by your desire to let bygones be bygones. It always pained me how we drifted apart. But I’m sure you understand that I must keep my pride.”

Wary, Winnie nodded.

Artos paused. He had to steer her carefully toward what must be done. In the end, it wasn’t the camps but Kane that had to be stopped. “We’ve always had our differences, but that’s never stopped us from working together when the situation dictated we do so. The people in those camps will die if we don’t do something. You’re missing the bigger target, Winnie. Kane will have all the power if we don’t do something.”

“But — ”

“I agree we have to save the chanters in the camps in the short term. But there is also the longer-term solution to consider. If Kane isn’t stopped, we’ll be forging some sort of rescue plan again a year from now.”

“How do you propose we do that?”

“We have to expose him for who he is. If we can show definitive proof that he’s a chanter himself, it will undermine all his power. The Assembly will have to rethink all their actions regarding magic and its uses.”

“I suppose you know where that hidden proof is located?”

Artos nodded and said, “I do,” but didn’t elaborate.

Winnie quickly grew impatient. “What are you hiding, Artos? Out with it — where is your proof?”

“In Kane’s private archives, in the Department of Magical Containment Headquarters building at the capital.”

“What?” Winnie couldn’t believe it. “You’re insane if you think we can waltz into the Red Legs’ headquarters and steal that information. That’s a suicide mission.”

“I don’t think so. You’ve assembled a unique team, Winnie. Between your resources and my information, we can do this. But I can’t do it on my own, and you need my help to free our chanter brethren from the camps. This is what they call a fair trade.”

Winnie was silent, studying his face. She paced the length of his bookshelf while Artos watched. He had all the time in the world, while she had so little. The chanters would be dead in the camps without her.

Artos resisted the urge to smile. He had her where he wanted her. She had no choice and he knew it.

“My crew isn’t going to like this,” Winnie muttered. She stopped pacing and spun to face him. “I can’t tell them about this second job until the first one is finished. I need them focused.”

“I understand, but you agree we must do both, yes?”

“Yes.” She sighed. “All I ever wanted was to sell my charms and improve people’s lives, Artos. Now everything always seems to rest with me, and it makes me want to throw up.”

“Please don’t vomit on my rugs, dear.”

“This is hard, Artos. And you’re one of the few people who understand the burden.”

“If it helps, please know that I have complete faith in you. You’re strong enough to shoulder this responsibility. If I didn’t think so, I would never have stepped aside so — uh — gracefully, shall we say?”

“If that’s the case, I don’t understand. You could have stopped me, but didn’t. Why?”

“Because, Winnie, you are destiny realized. Once upon a time, I might have been the hero, the avatar for magic. But that is no longer true. I was merely holding a place in this time and place until the one who would come after me: you.”

Winnie cocked her head to one side.

Artos smiled. “One day, my dear, I’ll tell you a long and drawn out tale of my life’s journey to where we are today. For now, understand this much: I am your servant and guide forward, if you’ll have me. Much must be done to save both the chanters and the world. Kane is one possible future. You are the other.”

“I don’t want to be the future, Artos. I just want my family and friends to be able to live together with everyone else in peace.”

“History doesn’t care about your wishes, my dear. That is the cruel fact that we all must face. When you are called to step forward and become an architect of history, you have no choice but to keep your foot on the path.”

Winnie was back to pacing, this time with a slower, measured pace, seemingly lost in thought. Then, “You said Kane is the other possible future. Is that why he opposes me, why he’s targeted me time and again?”

“It is,” Artos answered. “He sees you as the only true threat to his plans. It is why you are so important to what happens next. Are you ready to start planning the chanters’ rescue?”

“I am, though I wish we had some insight into Kane’s next move. It would help us find a way to stop him once and for all.”

“That is why we must undertake the second mission, my dear,” Artos sat down at his desk and began listing things Winnie would need to complete both missions. “I often wonder what goes through the mind of Nils Kane. I thought I knew, once. But that was long ago.”

Winnie came over to the desk and sat opposite Artos. “Let’s get started, then.”

CHAPTER 23

The amber liquid trembled as Nils tapped his crystal tumbler, lost in thought, pondering his plans. The country’s six camps had taken four days to fill. There were still a few stragglers to gather from the deserted Enclaves, but the roundup had proceeded with few snags.

He had expected more resistance, but they had gone peacefully, for the most part. Director Margolis’s idea to have the army supplement the Red Leg presence in each city had been a decisive tipping point. People were cowed by the show of military force and had boarded the bus like the sheep they were. Now they were in the camps, and the second part of his plan could begin.

Scientists and technicians could now activate the camp towers. That had been the genius breakthrough since the original Harvester’s destruction. Researchers had discovered that they could siphon magic through the chanters using a slower process that would weaken them over time, until they were bedridden and unable to resist. Then, he could crank the power and finish mining all of their magic.

Kane could also find others like Winnie Durham. Ever since he’d seen the video of her taming the dust and fire that day in the Baltimore Enclave, he’d been sure that she held the key to stopping the decay. If he could find others with her powers, he could train them to arrest what was happening. Then he would finally be in a position to disband the Assembly and claim control of the government himself.

His thoughts drifted back to Durham — or perhaps he should think of her as Winnie Kane. Nils winced at the thought, and swallowed another sip of whiskey, savoring the burn in the back of his throat.

It was just like Ellie to show up from nowhere and hurl a wrench into his life. Like when she had decided his experimentation with Sable was wrong. She had never understood him, or his ambitions for a better life where he would never be beholden to middling whims and idiot lawmakers ever again.

It was those early Sable experiments that had led him to build the Harvester all those years later. She could have come with him, stood by his side. They could have walked the path together. Instead, she’d betrayed him.

He’d taken his revenge, made sure she was among the first arrests. He had plans for her in the camp, too. She wouldn’t have an easy time in her final days. Kane would have to visit the camp and arrange a meeting. He wanted Elaine to know how her admission had altered his plans. He wanted her to know that he was going to take control of their daughter and use her abilities to mold the world to his liking.

A final kiss before death.

His intercom buzzed. He tapped a button. “Yes?”

“Director Margolis is here, sir,” said his assistant from the outer office.

“Excellent. Please show her in.”

He picked up the crystal decanter and an additional glass, then crossed his office to the sitting area nearby and set the Scotch and glasses on the table between. The door opened and Jane Margolis entered his office.

“Jane, my dear, it is so good to see you.”

“And you as well, Nils.”

“Have you eaten? I can have a late dinner brought up.”

“That would be perfect. I’ve been going over recent reports from the project all afternoon and haven’t had a chance to eat.”

“Excellent.” Kane looked at his assistant.

She nodded. “I’ll have the chef send up dinner for two, sir.”

“Thank you.” Kane led Director Margolis to her seat, then sat opposite her and lifted the decanter. “Scotch?”

She smiled. “Always.”

Kane poured her a drink. “You said you’ve been looking over the reports. I’m pleased with what I’ve seen coming back from the national teams. Getting the army to assist in the sweeps was instrumental to our success. Thank you.”

“I knew that uniformed soldiers in the Enclaves would send radicals into hiding. Without preparation, they never stood a chance against the soldiers, and they knew it.”

“Early tests of the collection towers have been positive as well. I believe that we’ll be ready to proceed with the next phase once we’ve screened all those we suspect might have additional abilities.”

“Agreed,” Margolis said. “My technicians have been pleased with the effectiveness of the diagnostic medical devices we’ve adapted to screen for additional abilities.”

“How many have been discovered so far?”

“About fifty — one or two per city.” Jane took a sip. “A pair of twins from Atlanta are of particular interest. They weren’t especially strong individually, but they’ve developed a sort of shorthand for their magic. Together, they might be as strong as the Durham girl.”

“That’s great news. I hope we find more.”

“I suppose it’s too much to hope we nabbed Durham in our sweeps?”

“Unfortunately, she evaded us,” Nils admitted. “And right now, we don’t even know where she is. There is still one possibility open to us. One of her known associates is a magic tech by the name of Tristan Wellings. We have her being watched around the clock, and are hoping to track Durham through her.”

Director Margolis stood and walked to the carved stone chair with the sword upright in its back. She looked back at Nils as her hands stroked the golden hilt jutting up from the ancient sculpture.

“You never told me where you found such a unique piece for your collection, Nils. It is truly remarkable. Almost an ancient throne, isn’t it?”

“I had it tracked down during one of the army’s expeditions in the aftermath of Europe’s fall. My family owned it for years, so it has a great deal of sentimental value. There is an ancient legend surrounding it, but it’s nonsense.”

“Legend? I love stories.”

“Once, in the early days following the fall of Rome, it was said that a mighty king would come — a monarch who would unify those lands lost to the darkness. They would be known by their ability to draw the sword from the throne, and all would bow before them as they vanquished the forces of darkness.

“It was all nonsense, of course, a bedtime story for children. Still, it belonged to my family for a long time and I remembered my mother talking about it before her death. I tasked a group of soldiers traveling through the Old Country to sweep for clues, then recover the artifact if possible. One of the perks to my job.”

Jane stopped stroking the sword. She grasped the hilt, giving the embedded blade a tug. But the blade didn’t budge.

She laughed; so did Kane. She looked at him, wagging her finger. “Don’t tell me you’ve never tried that.”

“Oh, I have, on numerous occasions. I still remember the first time. It’s sort of a rite of passage in my family. At the age of ten, all male children were brought to the throne to take their turn pulling on the blade. All have failed, as you can see, including myself.”

“What a wonderful family story to have. Too bad you have no children of your own to share it with.”

“Indeed,” Kane replied. “Indeed.”

There was a knock at the door, then Kane’s assistant entered, pushing a cart with two domed plates and numerous smaller dishes filled with salads, dinner rolls, and two large pieces of chocolate cake.

“Dinner, sir. Where would you like it?”

“Leave it there, Margaret,” Nils said. “The Director and I can take care of the rest. You may retire if you’d like. I have nothing else for you tonight.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Kane waited until the woman left, then he crossed to the cart and wheeled it to the two chairs near the throne.

“Let’s break bread and discuss our next steps,” Nils said. “If all goes as planned over the next month or two, we can finally move forward with ridding ourselves of the Assembly. Then it will just be you and I, my dear, with no one left to stand in our way.”

CHAPTER 24

Winnie left Artos and headed back to their new safe house at the city’s edge — it was time to gather the team, fill them in on the new plan. But first, they needed one more thing. They needed to bust Tris from the temporary prison where she and the other techs were being held. They were too important to ship off to a safety camp while the city crumbled around them.

Danny drove to the new safe house while Winnie thought about ways to free their friend. She was still thinking when they arrived back at the safe house — an office in a run-down industrial park. It had a garage entrance in back, large enough to hold their van and Danny’s car.

Winnie got out and punched the code to open the door. As the motor raised the overhead door, she spotted another unfamiliar car parked inside. She arched an eyebrow at Danny as he pulled past her. She checked again to make sure that no one was watching outside, then closed the door.

Familiar voices rang from down the hall as she and Danny approached the office hallway. In the small kitchen, Winnie saw Cait and Cricket talking to Victor and Morgan.

“Hey, sis,” Morgan called.

Things had been tense between them, ever since the night at the Harvester. Despite the passing of time, Winnie still felt the sting of betrayal, seeing Morgan in her Red Leg cadet uniform, knowing that she had been working with Victor all the time. Morgan had worked hard to right the wrongs between them. She’d been loyal since that night, working tirelessly to get them intel from the inside. She and Victor had both proven themselves many times over, but Winnie couldn’t help but still feel the sting.

It was strange. Even though she’d figured out that Morgan’s dad wasn’t really her father, Winnie still thought of her as a sister. They’d been working on that relationship, through good and bad, for so long that Winnie figured she’d always be the sister figure in her life. That was probably why the initial betrayal still hurt so much. But Morgan and Victor were loyal now, and their presence here must mean they had information to share. She was glad to have them along for this part. Winnie needed them for this operation to work like it needed to.

Winnie waved, then walked over to pour herself a cup of tea. She waited for it to steep, listening to the continuing conversation.

“The techs are being held at the Ambassador Hotel, downtown,” Victor continued. “They’re being treated well while under house arrest. They’re just not allowed to leave.”

“Can we get them out without bringing the whole contingent of Red Legs down on us?” Cait asked.

“That shouldn’t be too hard,” Victor answered. “There are only two guards positioned on their floor, watching the elevator and stairs to ensure that no techs leave. There are four others in the lobby to escort shifts to and from the pickup van every twelve hours.”

“Cricket,” Winnie said. “Do we have a count on how many of our people evaded the sweeps and are now hiding around the city?”

“Garraldi and his crew of four are down by the harbor. There are a few others here and there. I make it about fifteen in all.”

“Good,” Winnie said. “We’ll need them for the camp operation. First, we need to free Tris and any of her other tech friends who want to go with her. We can’t take them all. Someone has to keep the city running, and we don’t want to free the camp only to turn Baltimore into a crater.”

Victor turned to Winnie. “How many techs do you think we’ll need in the camp job?”

“I don’t know. Is there a way to slip Tris a message?”

“None of them have their phones anymore,” Victor said. “But, if I rotate Morgan in on the shift rotation, she could slip Tris a burner.”

“I can do that,” Morgan agreed.

“Great,” Winnie said. “Then let’s do that while we figure out how we’re going to break them out of that hotel.”

The team hashed out a plan to free the needed techs. Victor drew a basic map on a sheet of paper while Cait asked questions about the elevators and stairways off the floor. Morgan, Cricket, and Danny all chimed in with useful suggestions until they had a workable solution.

Winnie watched her team and smiled. They were getting along nicely considering the stress. She hoped the teamwork continued when it came to setting up the plan for the second rescue. Everything depended on it.

But for now, one thing at a time.

First, they had to bust Tris out.

———

Morgan’s shift ended. She waved to her relief halfway to the elevator. It had been two days since she’d started working here. She’d managed to slip Tris the phone her first day. That had been the easy part of the plan. She just waited until her partner took a bathroom break in one of the floor’s empty rooms. A tap on Tris’s door and she passed the phone off.

The rest of the plan was more difficult.

Cait and Cricket had handed her a series of charms to plant. Two were some sort of remote magic camera allowing Cait to monitor the hallway and see where the guards were at all times. The other two had to be planted in specific spots for the final plan to work, with one attached above the door latch to the north stairwell. Then the door could be opened from the stairwell side, and serve as a lock to secure it behind them when the rescue team escaped through the stairs.

The other set was to disable the elevators — one had to be hidden in each lift near the control panel. Cait told her it would short the magic operating the box and cause all the elevators to temporarily stop running. That would prevent any of the lobby Red Legs from coming up that way to help their comrades during the rescue.

On her way to the lobby, Morgan checked her phone for messages. She tapped one and saw two words. It’s on.

The timestamp read 10:30 p.m. It was happening tonight, while she was safely at home in bed. The plan would kick off at 2 a.m., when the night shift guards would be down to one awake in the hall and the other snoring in the spare room. They weren’t supposed to sleep, but the guards must’ve figured that no one would mind, and all the techs were too tired after their shifts to do anything anyway.

Victor would come down on them hard, use it to scapegoat their rescue. Morgan wanted to join the action, help in a concrete way to show she was truly part of the team. She knew it was more important to stay inside, but Morgan longed for the days before the Harvester, when everything had changed.

The elevator dinged, then opened. Morgan nodded to the newly arrived lobby guards on her way to the underground garage. She’d done her job, and had to go. Morgan couldn’t afford to be caught hanging around during the rescue. There would be questions, and she needed to be safely away from the scene.

She got in her car, whispering a prayer as she drove home.

It was up to Cait, Winnie, and the rest of the rescue team now.

———

The van pulled up in the alley beside the hotel.

Cait, Garraldi, Cricket, and Winnie got out. Danny leaned over, waving to Winnie as she closed the sliding door. He was supposed to wait by the alley’s hotel exit at the bottom of the north stairwell.

Winnie smiled and turned toward the others. Garraldi was working on the exterior lock, and with a faint click in the darkness, she heard the door open.

Light spilled into the alley as the big man opened the door and held it. The others rushed inside. Then he entered and shut the door behind him.

Winnie nodded to the group and they all started up the eight floors to where the techs were being held. She’d already texted Tris on the burner. She’d responded immediately. They were ready.

Winnie sent another message as they climbed. On the way up now. Be ready.

Winnie replied with a thumbs up, then returned the phone to her pocket. They were moving fast. She was already out of breath four floors up. Cait and Garraldi both seemed fine, but they both climbed rock walls for fun.

At the eighth-floor landing, Cait drew a small tablet from her bag and pulled up a display of the hallway from the other side of the stairwell door. A Red Leg guard was approaching.

Perfect.

Winnie tapped Garraldi. He nodded, reached into a pocket on his black vest, and pulled out a small square envelope. He stepped up to the door, his eyes on the video as he tore open the top and poured the white powdery contents into his palm.

Cricket gripped the door knob.

On Garraldi’s nod, Cricket opened the door and stepped back to make room for the larger man. Garraldi stepped through the threshold to face the surprised guard. He opened his mouth to sound the alarm but Garraldi lifted his palm and blew a cloud of the white powder in the guard’s direction.

It shimmered as it surrounded the guard. Then the man’s eyes rolled up into his head and he slumped to the floor, the white cloud still hovering around him as he fell.

Winnie motioned the others to go in. She followed, taking a moment to check the unconscious Red Leg.

Winnie rolled him on his side, facing the wall. That would keep him from choking on anything until he woke. The powder was ordinary cornstarch, charmed to cause a neuro-inhibitor effect. A short-term spell; the effect would wear off in an hour or so. The spell also had an amnesiac effect on short-term memory, so the guard wouldn’t remember seeing them.

Cait hurried down the hallway to stand outside the door to the spare room. Winnie tapped another message. It’s clear. Come out.

A few moments later, a door opened halfway down the hall.

Tris stepped out, then rushed over to hug her friend.

Winnie leaned close and whispered. “Danny’s got the van downstairs. We need to get the others and get going.”

Tris nodded then crossed the hall to another room door and rapped lightly in a particular rhythm.

The door opened. A tall black man exited with a bag slung over his shoulder. Winnie nodded, then followed Tris to the next door on the list. There were four other techs coming to help them on the raid. The others were all needed in the city and had volunteered to stay behind and keep the infrastructure running for as long as they could.

Once Tris and the four other techs were assembled in the hallway, Winnie motioned for them to follow her back to the stairwell door, still held open by Cricket. As they passed Cait, still outside the guard’s spare room, one of the techs loudly sneezed.

Everyone froze.

A voice came from inside the room. “That you, Jimmy? You need to get those allergies looked at.”

Cait waved them forward.

The other guard stepped onto the floor and looked around. He shouted, “Hey, you techs are supposed to be in bed!”

He spotted Cait and the others dressed all in black. Realization dawned on his face.

He reached for the radio on his belt but Cait was too fast, jabbing him in the throat with a blow from her stiffened fingertips before punching him in his solar plexus. He doubled over, gasping for breath through his bruised and temporarily paralyzed vocal chords.

Cait tore the radio from his belt and turned to the others. “Run,” she hissed.

Winnie tugged at Tris and they all started for the stairwell.

Cait raced right behind them. The big guard was back on his feet, loudly pounding the concrete behind them. He was surprisingly fast for such a giant man.

Cait pushed through the stairwell door, then stepped aside as Cricket pulled it shut behind them. He pulled on the knob while Cait leaned over and stroked the latch with her fingers, causing Morgan’s disk charm to flare with sudden heat.

Cricket cursed, jumping back and shaking his hand. The disk created a spot weld between the door and metal frame, fusing it tight.

Cait smiled at Winnie. Pounding boomed from the other side. The guard wouldn’t be getting through that door any time soon.

“Don’t forget to disable the elevators,” Winnie reminded.

Cait tapped her tablet once before she returned it to her pocket. “Already done. Let’s go.”

The others were already on the stairs, Garraldi and Tris in the lead.

Winnie smiled all the way to the ground floor. The plan had worked.

CHAPTER 25

Tris spent the ride back to Artos’s hideout reassuring the terrified techs. They were shaken by the sudden, unexpected violence and pursuit to the hotel.

Winnie shook her head, listening to Tris promise that everything would be fine. She wanted to laugh at an operation that had felt cleaner than a freshly rained on sidewalk. Sure, the guard had woken up and Cait had to put him back down, but no one had died, and they hadn’t left anyone behind who was supposed to accompany them. They’d outsmarted the Red Legs yet again. A huge success to Winnie.

The techs weren’t so sure.

“Tris, they’re going to catch us, I just know it,” said one diminutive, dark-haired woman. “Did you see that guard’s face? He was so mad.”

“But they didn’t catch us, did they?”

Winnie looked back over her shoulder. The woman shook her head.

“That’s right,” Tris continued. “We’re going to do much worse before this is over, Katie. You’ll have to work your brain around that sooner rather than later if we’re going to succeed. You’re our most powerful tech.”

“Besides you,” Katie said.

“I’m not so sure. I might be better at diagnostics, but you’ve got more raw power. I guess it’s a wash at work, but for what we might have to do … it could be essential. That’s why we all need to be on our toes and pay attention. We’ll be doing something that could save thousands of lives. I need to know I can count on you.”

“You can, Tris. I was just shocked. Everything happened so fast, you know?”

“Yeah, I do, but this is the type of work we’re doing. Tell me now if you’re not up for it. I promised my friends the best techs, and you’re all essential to freeing chanters at the camp in the western reaches.”

The tall black man jumped into the discussion. “When are we going to find out just exactly what your friends want us to do, Tris?”

“I can take that one,” Winnie said. “We’re headed to a safe location. Once there, we’ll be brought to speed on what each of you will be doing. This is an involved project and requires a level of coordination you might not be used to.”

“We can coordinate,” the man said. “How do you think we kept the city from imploding in on itself for the last year and a half? We can all do our jobs — whatever they are.”

“I like that attitude … ”

“It’s James.”

“Well, James,” Winnie said, nodding thanks. “You’ll have to coordinate between yourselves, and know you’ll be making up a lot of what you’re doing on the fly. We can anticipate some things, but until you all get in there and see what the machinery is doing, we don’t know what types of spells or technology we’ll need for the job.”

Winnie looked around the van at the team: Danny, Cricket, Cait and Garraldi. She pointed.

“We’ve been pulling operations together for a long time. We know what we’re doing, so you’ll need to follow Tris’s lead. Do as she says, when she says it. We’ll be in and out of that camp and on our way back to the city before you know it.”

Cait shot her a look, smirking behind a feigned cough. Winnie didn’t like pep talks. Cait knew it. She must have enjoyed listening to Winnie go on about their pending success. They both knew from experience how quickly things could turn against them. Then the lives on the line would be their own.

The van fell silent. Danny drove through the deserted early morning streets until they reached the city limits and drove through a hidden entrance into Artos’s underground bunker. He pulled the van beside the familiar black limo and killed the engine.

“We’re home,” Winnie said. “Cricket and Garraldi have rooms set up for you, but I’m afraid you’re going to have to double up. Space is at a premium here. I guess the builder didn’t plan on hosting an army.”

She climbed out and stood by the van while everyone got out. The techs were quiet, eyeing their surroundings in the concrete garage. Cricket and Garraldi gathered them up, then led Tris and the others to their rooms.

Danny came around the van and gave her a peck on the cheek. “I’m going in to get a bite. The sack right after that. You coming?”

“I’ll be right there,” Winnie replied.

Danny nodded then entered the bunker.

“I’m not sure they’re up to the task, Win,” Cait said.

“They’re tougher than they look. You heard James. He’s right. They’ve been holding this city together with charms and duct tape. They can do what we need them to. They have to.” Winnie poked friend in the shoulder. “Hey, thanks for taking out that Red Leg goon.”

“I’ve been watching your ass since we were kids, Win. It’s habit.”

“I’m not helpless.”

“I don’t know how you got along without me,” Cait said, shaking her head.

“You’ve still never told me why you let me and Tris hang out with you all the time when we were kids. You had to have had friends your own age to hang with.”

“Not really. I was never close to anyone before I met you and Tris. I was always too tall for my age and never fit in. I wasn’t girly. My friends played with dolls and stuff, and I liked being outside and getting in trouble. You and Tris never seemed to mind.”

“You were always so much fun. You waited for us when you went off adventuring in the neighborhood. That meant a lot.”

“It was fun having you two screw-ups around,” Cait said. “Besides, you both paid me back. No one wanted me around after the army disbanded the chanter division. You and Tris took me back like I’d never been away.”

“What did you expect us to do? You’re our friend.”

“You could have acted weird until I eventually stopped coming around. You know, like my family.”

Winnie put a hand on Cait’s shoulder. “You never told us what happened in the army. I know it’s bad, but I’ve never wanted to come out and ask. But after this last year and half, it’s time to get the unanswered questions out there, just in case.”

“Just in case we fail?”

“You think I’m being morbid, Cait? I’m not. You remember what we faced the last time? Well, this is a sun to the Harvester’s moon. Destroying the last machine nearly killed me.”

“It nearly killed us all.” Cait laid her hand atop Winnie’s. “This is going to work out. You’re the worrier of the group. That’s good when we we’re planning. You cover the bases. But now, the rubber needs to meet the road. Implementation is my job and I know we can get the job done.” She hooked a finger at the door leading inside.  “Provided we can calm those techs enough to finish the job.”

“Tris will get them in line,” Winnie said. “I just hope Morgan and Victor come through with the codes we need to get past the gates and into the central complex without have to force our way in.”

“Take the problems one at a time. Come on. It’s late. You’ll feel better in the morning. We’ve got a lot of preparation ahead of us if we’re going to head back out tomorrow night on this raid.”

“Honestly,” Winnie said on their way back toward the bunker’s living quarters, “I don’t know what I’ll ever do if anything happens to you. I’d be lost.”

“Don’t worry, kid. You’ll never have to.”

CHAPTER 26

A trio of vans pulled onto the highway from three different directions, all aimed west. Winnie leaned forward, checking the sideview mirror.

Both vans were behind them, just as they should be. She’d taken the trouble to cast the same obscuring spell on them as she had on their first van. They’d be unnoticeable to traveling middlings all the way to the camp.

She thought back to the last planning meeting earlier that afternoon with everyone who was coming along. The teams had all been divided up into their individual groups in the room based on their individual tasks. Garraldi and Cait led a team of enforcers Cleaver Yorke had sent down from New Amsterdam. They were going to take on the main guard house and barracks. Cait assured her it was a piece of cake, but with a guard force of nearly fifty Red Legs and technicians at the camp, Winnie wasn’t so sure.

“Let’s go over it again,” Winnie had said to the assembled teams, looking around the room and meeting everyone’s eyes. “Cait, you go first.”

“Garraldi and I will take the van with the reinforced front end and bumper and drive it through the outer gate, breaching it for all of you coming behind. We head straight to the barracks and the headquarter buildings on the outside of the main camp, where we use our gear to incapacitate the guards before they wake up. We deal with those guards and techs as we encounter them.”

Winnie nodded. “You have to keep them contained and off our backs,” she said, referring to the other two teams. “We will need at least five minutes to get in and get back out again.”

“Just don’t dilly dally while you’re in there,” Cait reminded the rest of the group. “We can do some of what you need, but we can’t work miracles. Eventually, the guards will recover from our stun spells. When that time comes, whether you’ve reached your final objectives or not, you’d better be on your way back out.”

“I have faith in you, Cait,” Winnie said. “You’ll figure out how to keep them out of our hair. Artos got us the gear we need to fight if we’re backed into a corner.”

“We’ll still be outgunned.”

Winnie turned to Tris’s group. She had the techs plus a couple of random crew members rounded up to supplement her team for security. “Tris, you’re up.”

Tris gestured to herself and the rest of the tech group. “We’re tasked with going after the central building beneath the tower. We have to dismantle the connection between the tower’s collection dishes and the enhanced Harvester set up in Kane’s basement. Our assistants” — Tris pointed to the extra team members — “will be paired up as extra security with each of the teams — extra cover while we disable the Harvester.”

“You have to destroy it, Tris,” Winnie said. “You know that, right? We can’t leave anything behind that Kane can use to fix or rebuild it or he’ll just kill everyone outright and we’ll have accomplished nothing.”

“You have to work fast,” Morgan added. “I’ve given Tris the shutdown codes I recovered from the central Red Leg database, but if the on-duty techs realize what the raid is doing — or that there might be a threat — they’ll go nuclear. They’ll crank the gains on collectors and kill every chanter in the camp, including all of you. It won’t take ten minutes.”

“No pressure or anything,” Tris said.

“I’m just saying … ” Morgan sat. She’d brought the codes in person and planned on driving out to the camp with Victor behind them, to run the surveillance drones and watch their backs.

“Thank you, Morgan.” Winnie turned to Tris. “The shutdown, the Harvester, then what?”

“Find the twins you’ve told us all about a thousand times.” Tris rolled her eyes. “Seriously, Winnie, you don’t have to tell me how important it is to find someone who can do what you can.”

“They’re important.” Winnie turned to Danny and Cricket. “You two know what we’re up to, right?”

“We help you get inside camp section two and find your mother.” Cricket looked up from trimming his nails with a pocket blade. “No sweat.”

“Don’t you two screw it up,” Cait said. “Keep her safe.”

“We follow her in while she goes magical mojo on the guards. Then we bring Momma out and load the van while we wait for the rest of you guys to finish your jobs.”

Much of the plan relied on Winnie being able to use her abilities to keep the tower and gate guards from interfering with the two rescue teams inside the camp. Cait couldn’t help. She’d be pinning guards inside the barracks.

Winnie had picked up some ideas while talking to Artos. He always knew about things she might be able to do based on rumors from the old days. This type of offensive magic had once, according to the older chanter, been common on the battlefields. Winnie wasn’t so sure how that worked, but the stuff Cait had learned in the army was different from what she and the others had learned growing up. So it sort of made sense.

“Morgan and Victor will be on over watch, checking the drone feeds and keeping us updated on what’s happening on the other sections of camp,” Winnie reminded them. “If you need help or need to check in, use your remote comms. They’ll relay in to the rest of us.”

Artos had also supplied them with enough headset comms to talk with each other, and back and forth with Morgan and Victor, on multiple channels. They could listen to all three groups and coordinate as needed. It was a great way to use their input without exposing themselves to being recognized by any Red Legs in the camp.

The group loaded the vans and started west. Winnie’s heart beat faster as open road left a wake behind them. This was it. The next twelve hours was everything.

It was time to fight the Red Legs.

Winnie checked her phone and the map tracker. They were a half hour from the camp. She checked her headset, wondering if it might distract her, or in some way dilute her magic. They had to communicate. This was a complex plan with many moving parts. Something might force them to pivot.

“Almost there,” Danny said. “How are you doing?”

“I’m going over the plan again and again. I keep wondering if we’re overlooking something.”

“Cait said we’d run into snags during the briefing. I think it was something like, ‘no plan survives the first minutes of a battle’ or something like that. We need to be ready to improvise. You’re good at that, Win. We’ve got this.”

“Yeah, but … ”

“No buts about it. Two hours from now, we’ll be on our way to the new hideout with your mom, the twins, and anyone else who wants to fight.”

“I hope Colton gets everything set up at The Pike. Baltimore will be hot after the rescue. They’ll know it was me, and I’m sure they’ll flip the city upside-down looking for us. It’s a good thing we came up with that as a fallback location.”

“Colton Sico knows how important this raid is, and what it means to the long-term fight against Kane. He’ll be ready. No one will know where to find us. It’s the perfect place to hide after the operation is over.” Danny looked ahead and pointed. “There’s the exit coming up. Why don’t you check in with the other vehicles? Make sure everyone’s ready to jump when we get there.”

“Good idea.” Winnie tapped her headset and started talking to the team.

This was it.

CHAPTER 27

Three vans and one unmarked Red Leg cruiser peeled off the highway, then barreled down the road toward the camp. They’d left the drone equipment behind. Victor and Morgan waited in the car until all the vans pulled to the shoulder to let them pass. He pulled the car forward to just past the lead van and saw the dirt track to the right, toward the ridge line and surveillance gear they’d been briefed about.

“Do you see the path?” Winnie asked in his earpiece.

“Yes. Looks sketchy.”

“It’s level to the ridge line. We got the van there, no problem. You’ll be fine.”

“Alright,” Victor said, pulling his cruiser onto the dirt track. “We’ll get set up, fast as we can. I’ll contact you the second we’re ready.”

Morgan reached over and put a hand on his shoulder. “It’ll be alright, honey. It’s a good plan.”

“No plan this complex is good.” Victor shook his head. “But it’s the best we have. I can’t help but feel like I should be down there with her. The Fae said I’m supposed to protect her.”

“You can keep her safe better from a place where you can see it all, Victor. She needs us up here, keeping everyone on track with the timeline.”

Victor said nothing. Worries swirled through his mind.

The car crept forward over uneven ground. It took longer than he wanted, but soon, he reached the gear. Everything looked just as Cait and Winnie had described. Untouched and undiscovered. Surprise was still on their side.

Victor pulled the car up next to the gear and got out. Morgan powered up the monitors and workstation, expertly orienting herself to the controls, watching the views change on the multiple screens as she dialed through the different drone cameras eyeing the camp below. He moved to the top of the ridge and peered over with a pair of binoculars he had found hanging from the monitor table.

Victor checked his watch. It was just after three in the morning. They were running a bit behind, but still in their window. He surveyed the camp through the binoculars once more before heading back to stand beside Morgan. “Is everything ready to go?”

“Yep, most of the drones are still online,” she said. “Diagnostic says the others ran low on battery power and went into hibernation mode. They’re programmed to automatically hide when they do that, so there’s little danger anyone discovered them in camp. We can make do with those that are still online. I’ve re-tasked them to spread the coverage. I’ll need five minutes to get them in position.”

“Then I guess we’re good to go in five.” Victor tapped his headset. “Five minutes, people. I’ll count you down. Check in by teams.”

He waited until all three teams said they were ready. He nodded and returned to the ridge to check the camp once more with his own eyes. He picked up the binoculars, then scanned the camp from the barracks and headquarters building outside the main gate to the central building circling the tower in the camp’s center. Everything seemed quiet. He glanced at his watch and nodded, then keyed the mic.

“All clear below. You’re good to go. Good luck and Godspeed.”

He heard the vans in the distance, racing away from their staging area.

He turned his binoculars back to the camp and waited for the action to start.

———

Cait heard the go order from Victor over the comm.

She tapped Garraldi on the shoulder. The big man pulled their van out of position in the group’s rear and passed the other two vans, heading up the road towards camp. They had their headlights off, so the guards wouldn’t see them coming downhill. They’d eventually hear the engines, but wouldn’t see the vans themselves because of Winnie’s spell. Each of the chanters had cast a simple starlight spell that magnified their night vision enough that they could see without headlights.

She checked her rifle and sidearm. Her team was the only one carrying firearms —necessary to keep guards pinned in the barracks if their stun spell wore off before the team had pulled back to the vans. She’d offered to arm some of the team, but Winnie wanted everyone to rely on their magic for this raid. Too much could go wrong with firearms if you weren’t properly trained. Cait’s team had weapons training, or at least familiarity.

Garraldi gunned the engine, cresting the hill then rolling down the road toward camp, gaining enough speed to ram through the main gate, then break through the internal barriers.

Cait braced herself, praying the reinforced bumper and steel ram they’d welded in front would do the job, without ruining the vehicle for their return trip.

They hit the gate and metal folded like paper.

Garraldi kept going, past the inner gate.

Then he swung around and pulled up beside the barracks.

Cait hopped out of the passenger side before he’d come to a complete stop. She yanked the side doors open. Her team of six poured out and scattered to their assigned areas. Two grabbed a box from behind the front seat then ran to the barracks. Another two grabbed a matching box and headed for the headquarters building.

She looked at Garraldi and nodded. He climbed out and then they headed for the barracks to oversee the stun grid setup next to the building’s electrical supply. Surely guards at the perimeter would have heard the crash.

Cait barely noticed the other two vans speeding into the inner camp. She had her own job to do. If she didn’t get this done in time, none of them would ever leave.

She raced to the side of the barracks. Two team members — a man and a woman — were setting up the stun box. It would tap into the electrical system and create a magical grid on the floor. Anyone stepping on the charged areas would be down for five minutes or more. But it was a one-time thing. Once all the charges had fired, they’d be vulnerable to any guards who’d managed to avoid them all.

She checked to make sure they’d attached it correctly, watching as they flipped up the failsafe and hit the activation button. She switched to the magical spectrum and watched the flows enter the electrical junction box on the building’s side.

Cait slapped them on the back. “Head back to the van and take cover. I’m sure some of the Red Legs will avoid the charges. Be ready for them.”

The two nodded and jogged back towards the van. Cait and Garraldi turned and ran to check on the headquarters team. She met them on their way to the van.

The lead member gave her a thumbs up. “The stun box is in place and activated, Boss.”

“Good. Now we wait for the other teams to finish their jobs while we hold the back door open. Head back to the van and get under cover. Shit’s about to hit the fan.”

Cait looked over at the main camp and saw a few muzzle flashes from the tower guards just before the shots found her ears. If Winnie didn’t have that under control, they’d be sniped in seconds. Cait bit her lip and headed back to her van.

Winnie was on her own.

———

Winnie watched Danny follow Cait’s team over the hill and down into the camp.

The gate collapsed under the first van’s assault. She gripped the door’s handle on one side and the armrest on the other as Danny drove over the collapsed main gate and then through the open interior one. Cait’s team sprinted from their van towards the barracks.

She jumped out. A mistake.

While the vans were essentially invisible to the tower guards, the occupants disembarking were not. The van’s side was pocked by three bullets in quick succession as the guards opened fire. Winnie froze, then worked past the shock, raising her arms and calling the magic to her.

People would die if she didn’t work fast.

She’d never used magic offensively. It felt awkward, like she was forcing the magic to work through a tiny hole in a wall. But Artos had warned her and Winnie was ready.

She opened her mind, coaxing the flows rather than forcing them. Slowly, surely, the feeling of forcing the magic disappeared. Clarity came in its place.

Winnie turned and surveyed the nearest tower. It was as if her vision had a zoom function. The guard was practically standing in front of her.

Winnie whispered, “Push,” reaching out with one hand, palm outward.

The guard’s eyes widened, then he was swept from the tower by a force he couldn’t see or comprehend. He toppled over the railing and tumbled twenty feet to the ground below.

Not waiting to see him land, Winnie turned to the next tower, then the ones after that, repeating her spell until each tower was neutralized.

Emerging from her fugue, she turned to see Danny and Cricket standing next to her.

“Anyone hit?” she asked Danny. He was to cover communications while Cricket watched her back. Right now, he was looking for targets.

Danny’s voice over the headset: “Any casualties, Morgan?”

A moment’s pause, then Morgan’s voice came over the channel. “Everyone’s good. All teams are moving in on primary targets now.”

Winnie turned to Danny and Cricket. “Let’s get in and out, fast. Cricket, take the section two gate lock while I watch for any guards we might’ve missed. Danny, you get ready to grab my mom when we reach her building. Don’t let her argue. Carry her if you have to.”

“Got it,” Danny said. Cricket winked. Then the three of them ran for the smaller gate to section two.

It was locked with a chain and padlock. Cricket was directing needle-like flows before he’d even reached it. The lock clicked open as he grabbed it. He unthreaded the heavy chain holding the gate closed and swung it open.

Winnie and Danny ran past him, through the gate. Her mother was in the second building in the row of three long barracks. She headed straight for it.

———

Cait’s van passed, then Winnie’s pulled out in front of them.

Tris pointed forward. Rich, her driver, pulled out, following the second van over the hill. She looked back over her shoulder at her team. It was the largest, with herself, the four other techs, Rich, and two other members of their charm running crew for security.

Their van was packed, rocking down the dirt and gravel towards camp. They needed the extra bodies. No one knew what the overnight staff would be like in the central building. They figured there’d be at least a few Red Leg guards and several technicians running the machinery and Harvester control panels. There could be many more.

The van rolled over the collapsed main gate, then Rich drove right to the giant radio tower. Winnie was right. Even in the darkness, it dominated the camp. And she knew what the terror could do.

Rich slammed on the brakes. They slid to a stop outside the central building around the tower’s base. Tris turned towards the back and pulled on her door handle. “Go!”

She was already out and the sliding door was open, but the other techs were swimming in mud.

“Come on people. This isn’t the time to dawdle. You’re not in the break room. MOVE IT!”

The first shots rang out. Bullets kicked dirt at their feet.

“They’re shooting at us!” Katie started to climb back in the van.

Tris grabbed her by the arm and yanked her back out. She pointed to the tower. “There’s no going back. If we don’t get in there and shut that thing down, we’ll all die. You’ve got to open the door for us. You know locks, Katie. It’s up to you.”

Katie looked around, fear like a flame in her eyes, then turned and sprinted towards central control’s main door.

They all remained crouched by the van, but the shooting had stopped. Winnie must have gotten all the tower guards.

“We’re in!” Katie shouted.

Tris motioned for the other two other charm runners. They came running, then joined Rich, who had peeked briefly around the open doorframe before darting inside.

She looked at the four remaining techs. “James, you go with Katie as planned. Find the main control room. Shut it down, by whatever means necessary. Morgan can guide you there if you need it. The rest of you come with me. Let’s find those kids, destroy the Harvester, and get the hell out of here.”

“Tris, give me a report,” Morgan asked in her ear. “Everyone alright in your team?”

“We took some gunfire, but it’s stopped. We’re going inside.”

“Got it. Good luck.” The comm went silent. Morgan was gone.

The first stages of this crazy rescue had gone off as planned. But that couldn’t last. She wondered what would go wrong first — something always did.

CHAPTER 28

Elaine couldn’t sleep. Pain was a constant torture.

She was in a bunk room with about fifty other women, bunks stacked three high, with only inches between them. Contorting her arthritis-stricken body to get in and out of the bed was an art of agony. The guards had refused to retrieve her medicine from the cabinet when they took her into custody in Baltimore, and now her body was screaming.

Her joints throbbed. She’d convinced one guard to give her a few pain pills, but they didn’t do much or even last long. Elaine had spent most of her time inside the barracks, playing cards with her bunk mates or discussing the sort of random gossip that spread surprisingly fast inside camp.

There was a commotion by the window — noises outside that sounded like firecrackers.

“Oh my God!” A teenaged girl pointed out the window. “The tower guards are shooting at something over by the main gate.”

Another woman rushed over and looked out. “Do you think someone is trying to break out of here?”

“I don’t know,” said the girl. “I can’t see what they’re shooting at. The guard must’ve been shot. He just fell out of the tower. He’s lying on the ground.”

Elaine tried to prop herself up and look towards the window. This wouldn’t be good for any of them. The guards had treated them decently enough, considering they were in a prison camp. They’d made a point, though, of emphasizing how that could change if anyone acted up or tried to escape. Now, they would all suffer for someone’s stupidity.

Gripping the sides of her bunk, Elaine struggled to swing her legs over the edge. The single window was already crowded, people craning to see outside.

Elaine went to the hallway. Maybe she could see what was happening better in the large common room. She levered herself up and shuffled towards the door, every move lancing agony through her knees and ankles.

Elaine kept pushing through. She reached the door and saw several others standing in the hallway, looking confused by the commotion. She could hear people in other rooms shouting about some sort of breakout and wondered if they were speculating, or if they could actually see what was going on from their windows better than the people in her room.

One of Elaine’s neighbors from the old apartment in Baltimore ran by. She called out. “Marian, what’s going on out there? I don’t hear any shooting anymore.”

The woman stopped and saw Elaine supporting herself on the door frame. “Someone said a bunch of rescuers in white vans just rammed the gates down. It’s a rescue, Elaine. Someone’s come to help us break out!”

“Rescue all of us in three vans? There are thousands of people in here. It’ll take a hundred buses or more to ferry everyone out, just like how we got here.”

Marian looked injured. She was in her thirties and flighty.

“I’m sorry, Marian. I was just talking out loud. Don’t listen to an old woman moaning about stuff she knows nothing about.”

“It’s alright, Miss Elaine,” Marian smiled. “Here, let me help you. We can find out together.”

The younger woman helped Elaine stand, supporting her as she shuffled down the hallway towards the common room. Others ran past, dodging them in both directions.

Speculation buzzed, with stories ranging from an army coup to overthrow the Red Legs to a rescue by charm runners coming to free their crews from captivity. The last idea made Elaine laugh out loud.

Marian looked worried. “What’s so funny?”

“How funny would it be if my Winnie was out there?”

“I think it’s a fight between the Red Legs,” Marian speculated. “A friend of mine said they all don’t get along. Some are jealous of the guards who get to live in the central control building instead of the barracks.”

Elaine shook her head. No need to waste the breath on an argument. But Red Legs didn’t fight other Red Legs. She knew that much.

Elaine looked up as they reached the common room. She pointed to one of the many long benches, then Marian helped her to sit.

There was a shout by the barracks entrance. Someone said to stand back.

The door burst inward and three people in black rushed into the room.

She recognized the nearest one instantly — that Barber boy. If he was here, then Winnie was, too. Elaine shifted on the bench, leaning forward to get a better view of the other two black-clad people by the door.

She saw Winnie. Her eyes were wild like when she’d quelled the fires. She’d clearly taken hold of vast amounts of magical energy.

The trio advanced through the crowded room towards the hallway.

Elaine met her daughter’s eyes. Winnie looked relieved, rushing forward and sweeping her mother into her arms. Elaine grunted at being lifted from the bench, before relaxing into the embrace.

“Winnie, what are you doing?” Elaine asked after overcoming his surprise.

“I came for you,” Winnie said, as if it wasn’t obvious.

She looked around, skittish. “What were you thinking? You could’ve been killed. I heard the gunfire. There are Red Legs everywhere. You have to get out of here.”

“Come on, Mom. We have to go.” Winnie turned to Danny and the small, strange man beside him. “Cricket, check the door and make sure we don’t have any visitors coming. Danny, take Mom to the van. Drive it to the central building so we can pick up anyone freed by Tris. Cricket will head there directly, soon as we get you to through the gate.”

Elaine was confused. If they came for her, what was going on with Tristan over at the central building? She tried to stop Winnie from ushering her towards the door. “Winnie, what are you doing here, really? You didn’t just come for me. If Tristan is here then Cait must be, too. What are the three of you involved with now?”

“I’ll tell you everything later. Right now, you have to go with Danny. We need to move fast and not waste time. Winnie stopped and touched her ear. She looked like she was listening. Then, “Got it, Morgan. Tell her to keep trying. I’ll be right there.”

“Morgan? So, you have your sister mixed up in this, too! Who else have you dragged into this mess, Winnie?”

Elaine opened her mouth for another round, but some invisible force hit her like a wave of cement before she could get a single word out.

She collapsed to the floor at Winnie’s feet. Elaine looked up. Winnie was straining, too.

So was everyone in the room.

Except for Danny. He looked around the room, confused as everyone bowed beneath the invisible weight. “Winnie, what’s going on? What’s happening to everyone?”

Winnie fought for breath, forcing herself to stand upright. “It’s the Harvester,” she said through gritted teeth. “Tris can’t get into the control room, and the techs must have activated the failsafe. We’ve got to get over there.” Winnie turned to the door, fighting through the pain quickly. She looked over her shoulder at Danny and Elaine. “Get my mom to the van. No matter what else happens, get her out of here.”

“I’m not leaving you.” Danny argued.

“There’s no way around it, Danny. If you get the chance to get away, you take it, whether I make it out of the control room or not. Don’t stay here and get caught with the rest of us.” Winnie gestured to Cricket. “Come on. We might need your talent with locks.”

“Got it, Boss,” the man said.

Why was this man calling her Boss, and what was the Harvester?

Danny leaned over and picked her up from the floor as if she weighed nothing.

“Can I come, too?” Elaine heard Marian’s voice from behind her. She turned to look at her former neighbor, her gaze moving from Elaine to Danny and back again.

“She’s been helping me,” Elaine said.

“Fine. I don’t care if she comes or not, but I can’t carry her,” Danny said to them both “She’ll have to make her own way to the van.”

Elaine forced a smile and nodded to Marian. It was getting harder to breathe, and she was growing weaker and weaker. It was a good thing Danny had picked her up. She would never have made it far without his help.

Marian struggled to keep up. Danny jogged past all the slumped people huddled towards the door. Winnie and Cricket had already left, headed, she guessed, to the central building beside the tower.

Elaine closed her eyes as she walked, whispering a prayer for Winnie’s safety.

CHAPTER 29

Tris beat her fists on the thick, reinforced glass wall between her and the control room.

“I don’t care how we do it, but we’ve got to get in there,” she said to no one in particular.

James stood next to her, alongside Katie and Rich. He shrugged. “I don’t know how we’re going to do it. The door was locked tight before we got here. They must’ve seen us coming on those monitors in there.”

“We’ve got to think of something. They’ve turned up the Harvester. We must be shielded in here, but everyone in the camp will be dead in ten minutes if we don’t do something fast. Come on, we need ideas.”

Tris looked around at the assembled techs. The best of the best. She’d chosen them for this raid on purpose and here they were shuffling around like puppies in the pound.

“People are dying out there! Our friends are dying. We have to do something! Remember, we can’t leave this building until we shut that thing off. Or we’ll die, too.”

Katie raised her hand.

“Just tell me your idea, Katie,” Tris said. “You don’t have to raise your freaking hand.”

“We could disrupt the power supply. We just have to find the junction box where it enters the building. It should be on this level. If we can find that, then we can probably locate the coupler that creates a magical field along with the electricity. If we direct our combined power against that and overload the system, that should shut the control room entirely down.”

“That’s a great idea,” Tris said. “James, you stay here with me. We’ll keep trying to get inside. The rest of you go with Katie and find that junction box. You’ve got less than five minutes to find disable it. Go.”

Tris watched her team leave, then turned back to the control room window, drew in her magic, and directed another blast against the glass. Even if she knew it wouldn’t work, Winnie had to try.

A small voice said, “Uh, lady?”

Startled, Tris turned to see the two kids standing behind her. She’d forgotten all about the twins. “Oh, I forgot about you two. Stay out of the way and we’ll get you out of here soon.”

“But don’t you want to get into that room?” The boy pointed at the window.

His sister nodded.

“I do, but this is grown-up work, so you two stay over there and let me work.”

“But, lady, don’t you need some sort of bomb to get inside?”

Tris was getting annoyed. His curiosity wasn’t helping. “Look, of course I’d like some explosives, but my friend Winnie is coming. She’s much stronger than me, and she can probably force her way inside. We’ll have to wait until she gets here if my other friend’s plan falls short.”

“You could just use this.” The boy held out his hand. Tris’s eyes went wide at the block of white clay or putty, wires jutting out every which way.

“What’s that?”

“A bomb,” the girl said.

Her brother nodded.

“But … ” Tris started.

“Sometimes, when we think of something, it just sort of appears.” The boy shrugged. “We thought you might need a bomb, so now it’s here. It is the right kind?”

Tris smiled, eyeing the item. If it was plastic explosive, a block that size would be plenty big. If she could get another two or three like it, she wouldn’t have to use the other techs to disable the control panels. She could blow the whole system to memory.

“I don’t suppose you could wish me up three or four more?” Tris asked.

“It doesn’t work that way.” The girl shook her head. “It only happens when we don’t try. We ask for toys all the time, but they never come.”

“Then this will have to do,” Tris said. “James, take them down the hallway towards the exit — far as you can get without going outside. I’m right behind you.”

Her companion nodded, then took the kids by the hand, leading them from the room. She turned and waved at the middling technicians. She raised the bomb, pointing to it, grinning ear to ear as she took in their shocked looks.

It was time to crack this room open.

———

“Winnie, get up! You have to keep going. You’re almost there. Please, Winnie.”

Winnie heard the familiar voice, pleading with her to keep moving. But she was so tired.

Winnie tried to remember where she was, what she was doing. She had to be lying on the ground. Gravel bit her skin. She wanted to let the exhaustion claim her.

“Winnie, dammit, get up.”

She recognized the voice now. “I can’t, Morgan. I don’t want to keep fighting. Leave me alone.”

“You’re almost there. Open your eyes and look up. You’ll see. The door is right in front of you. A few more steps. You can do it.”

“I don’t think I can,” Winnie muttered.

She opened her eyes and saw a gray metal door. It was close, but when she tried pushing with her toes to gain purchase on the gravel, her feet slid out from beneath her.

She inched closer.

“That’s it,” Morgan said. “I can see you. Do that again. Push with your feet.”

Winnie dug in with her toes again, pushing forward, feeling herself slide another few inches across the dirt and gravel. She drew up her feet and pushed again, then again, watching the door come closer until the cool metal kissed her face.

“You did it, Win. Now reach up and open the door. You’re almost there.”

She looked up and saw the door’s knob a few feet above her. Reaching up with a trembling hand, she managed to grab the knob and pull herself to her knees.

She only had a few more seconds of strength. She willed her fingers to turn the knob.

But they wouldn’t tighten like she wanted, and they slipped off the door knob.

An explosion rumbled on the other side of the door. The blackness claimed her.

———

Winnie felt hands lifting her from the ground. She opened her eyes and saw Tris holding onto her arms, pulling her up.

“Hey, sleepyhead. You shouldn’t fall asleep out here. There’s still work to do.”

“Yeah, well, I couldn’t help myself.” Winnie saw James helping Cricket to his feet. Katie was helping the twins into their van. The rest of the team was behind her, ready to load.

Winnie said the only thing that made sense. “You shut the Harvester down.”

Tris nodded. “The explosives got me inside. The rest was simple. We fed the system back into itself, like you did to the smaller version in Baltimore. It caused the overload and release of the magical energy back into the camp. Everyone should be feeling better soon.”

Gunfire crackled across the camp, coming the main gate.

Winnie looked toward the sound, her hand reaching up to touch her earpiece. “Morgan, tell me what’s happening.”

“Cait reported in. Guards in the barracks are starting to wake up and fight back. She says you have to get out now. She can only hold them back a few more minutes.”

“Okay, Morgan, tell her we’re leaving now. Just hold on a few more minutes.” Winnie turned to Tris as Danny drove up with the other van, with her mom sitting right behind him. “Tris, get the rest of your team loaded up and out of here. I’ll be right behind you. Cricket, let’s hit it.”

She headed to Danny’s van and climbed in the passenger side, surprised to find that her mother wasn’t alone. Marian, one of their neighbors from the old apartment, was sitting beside her. Winnie nodded, then turned to Danny when Cricket climbed inside and closed the door.

“Go. We’ve got to get out so Cait can disengage and pull back to her van.”

Danny slid the gear lever into drive and accelerated away from the central building.

There was a deep rumble. Winnie looked behind her and saw the walls cave in on themselves, the tower crumple and sink into the hole left by the crumbling building.

This Harvester — like the one in Baltimore — consumed itself and the ground around it, creating another massive crater in the center of the camp. Winnie felt satisfied, turning to watch the camp pass her on their way to the gates.

Cait’s team was loading their van, their blond leader waving for them to hurry as they ran past her toward relative safety. Cait turned, shouldered her assault rifle, and fired back towards the barracks. Two Red Legs spun and fell as her well-aimed shots took them out.

More guards poured out behind them. Several stopped to fire back at the retreating security team.

Cait turned to check on the last of her team as they climbed into the van.

Bullets riddled her body, causing it to jerk and stumble, as if some puppeteer was randomly pulling the strings of her body.

She fell to her knees as shots pocked the ground around her. Dirt sprayed everywhere as she pitched forward face-first onto the ground.

“No!” Winnie screamed.

Danny sped past. Winnie spun around to look behind her, but the view was blocked by Cait’s van and she couldn’t see a thing.

“What?” Danny asked.

“Go back! Cait’s been shot!”

Danny shook his head, accelerating past the main gate then barreling back onto the road behind Tris’ team. “No way, Win. It’s suicide to turn around now.”

“But — ”

“No.” Danny tapped his earbud. “Morgan, do you have eyes on Cait?”

The answer tore at Winnie’s heart. “I saw her go down. A few of her men pulled Cait into the van. They’re pulling out now and should be coming right behind you. Victor and I are shutting down. We’ll contact you once we’re back in Baltimore.”

Winnie sank back into her seat.

Cait had to be alright.

They couldn’t afford to stop and check on her now, and there was nothing they could do that Garraldi and the security team couldn’t do, if she was alive. Red Legs would be gathering resources and giving chase soon. They had to be far away before that happened.

They were supposed to split up and take different paths to their rendezvous at The Pike. Winnie took the comm from her ear as she heard Morgan shut the system down, then she lowered her head and sobbed.

Cait had to be alright.

She just had to be.

CHAPTER 30

With all the vans taking different routes to Philadelphia, the return trip was excruciating.

Everyone in the van had seen Cait fall and knew how close she and Winnie were. Because they had all agreed to stay silent with their phones until their rendezvous, there was no way for Winnie to contact Garraldi or anyone in Cait’s team to see if she’d survived her wounds. Hours were spent watching dark shadows pass them as they drove the northern.

Cricket produced some sandwiches from the common supplies them passed them around. Elaine tried to hand her one of the wrapped packages, but Winnie waved her away, still staring out the window.

“Winnie, love, you have to eat something. Your strength is sapped.”

“I’m not hungry, Mom.”

“Your mother’s right,” Danny said. “We might need you and your abilities again soon. You can’t keep going all night without eating, especially after what the Harvester did to you.”

“I should have gone back to help her,” Winnie said.

“Then you would’ve been shot, too.” Danny put a hand on her arm. “Garraldi and the others got her into the van. You going back would have endangered everyone. Stop second guessing this, Winnie.”

Marian said, “Where are we going? It’s not like we can go back to the Enclave.”

“Philly,” Cricket said. “We got a new hideout set up there where no one will think to look for us.”

“We hope,” Danny qualified. “We’re going to lay low while planning our next move. The other camps are bringing their Harvester programs online soon. If we don’t stop them, chanters in the other five camps will die.”

“That thing you destroyed was stealing our magic?”

“Kane wants all the magic for himself,” Winnie answered Marian.

“What would he do with it?”

“Use if for himself. He’s a chanter, like us. He’s hidden it from the government but we’ve all seen plenty of evidence.”

“That’s awful.” Marian fell silent and started eating her sandwich.

“What’s going to happen to the other chanters in camp?” Elaine asked. “Won’t they fix the Harvester and start siphoning everyone’s magic again?”

Winnie shook her head. “The magic’s too volatile, and doesn’t want to be contained. When we break the controls that are keeping it stable, it feeds back through the system and essentially triggers a meltdown within the equipment. According to Tris, who’s spend a lot more time figuring the theory of it all, the magic backlash makes a location too unstable. They’ll have to build another camp, tower, and Harvester. That’ll take more time and resources than Kane currently has.”

“He has all the country’s resources at his disposal,” Elaine said.

“But he doesn’t,” Danny argued. “He has to do all this in secret. He’s filling the Assembly with fears of a chanter threat. He hasn’t told them anything about his pet project because he knows they’d never agree to the wholesale slaughter of every man, woman, and child chanter. They’d demand he find another way to fix the country’s problems.”

“And the cities are failing, no matter what the techs do to stabilize the failures,” Cricket said. “He doesn’t have a lot of time left before it all falls apart.”

“Which is why we have to find a way to expose him,” Winnie added.

Danny looked from the road to Winnie. “You sound like you have a plan.”

“I do. Well, Artos does. I had to agree to help him in exchange for his aid.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Danny sounded worried. “What does he want?”

“I didn’t tell you because we had to focus on the job. I didn’t want people worrying about what we had to do next.”

“Good Lord, Winnie. This sounds ominous. What does he want us to do?”

“Raid the DMC Headquarters in the capital, find the proof that Kane is a chanter so we can expose him to the Assembly. We also need to destroy the database there with all the chanters’ names.”

“Oh, is that all?” Cricket sighed from the backseat. “I thought it would be a suicide mission or something.”

Winnie surprised herself with a burst of laughter. It felt pleasant and unexpected. But, quickly, her mind turned again to Cait. She changed the subject. “How much longer, Danny?”

He glanced at his watch. “We should be there around eight in the morning. Another three hours or so. I’m fine driving. The rest of you should try and get some sleep.”

“You’re probably right. I don’t feel much like sleeping. I’m exhausted, but my mind is still racing.”

“Try. Close your eyes and calm yourself. Artos taught you all those mediation methods. Try some. We need you awake and ready when we get to The Pike.”

“I’ll try,” Winnie agreed, not believing that she could.

Closing her eyes and trying one of Arto’s mind-clearing exercises, her tension eased. She slowly relaxed.

The last thing Winnie remembered was the pavement’s expansion joints rhythmically rumbling under the tires. Then, the first snore found her.

———

Danny laid a hand on Winnie to wake her. She lifted her head and looked around.  The sun was up and its brightness surprised her. She blinked her sleep away. “Where are we?”

They were on a deserted road. It looked like the barrens surrounding the cities, rather than the wilderness and scrub brush of the western mountains.

“We’re almost there, maybe five minutes from The Pike,” Danny answered. “Why don’t you start waking everyone? We had the longest route back, so the others should already be there if everything went according to plan.”

Winnie sat up and stretched. She remembered Cait and her mood turned somber again.

Had she survived?

Winnie heard movement behind her. She turned to see her mother sit up on the bench seat. There were three seats in the back, and each of the occupants had claimed a seat. Marian stretched, waking up next to an already wide-eyed Cricket. He smiled when she caught his eye.

Danny turned off the main path onto the access road to the abandoned amusement park. A large rusted sign stood crooked on the road announcing, The Pike: The World’s Eighth Wonder.

Winnie considered the arrangements that were supposed to be waiting for them. Philly’s Sable boss, Colten Sico, was supposed to have set up a cache of supplies and furnish a few of the buildings with beds and equipment. She hoped he’d come through as promised. Winnie generally trusted the bosses that had sworn their allegiance, but Colten was the newest one, and she didn’t know him as she knew Cleaver. She wanted to call the New Amsterdam boss and tell him how their operation had gone, though it was probably a good idea to wait until they made sure the camp was all clear and they got some new burners.

Danny pulled up to a delivery gate. One of the men from Cait’s team was standing guard in the shade of an overhanging roof. He opened the gate and Danny drove through. Winnie scanned the man’s face as they passed, trying to get some read on what might have happened to Cait, but his stoic expression revealed nothing.

She looked down at her trembling hands and clenched her fists to stop them.

They followed the access road between a group of storage buildings until they arrived at a large structure with a sliding garage door. Another of one of their crew — this one from Tris’s team — pulled the door back to allow their entry. The other two vans were already there, as expected. Once Danny stopped the van, Winnie was out and racing across the room to where Tris and a group of others stood with their backs to her.

She forced her way through the crowd and followed their eyes.

Cait lay supine on a beat-up leather couch. She was pale. Her eyes were closed, but she was perfectly still.

She was dead.

Falling to her knees, Winnie grabbed her friend’s hand, cold to the touch. She held Cait’s hand between hers and squeezed.

Cait couldn’t be dead. She and Tris had been her constant companions for so long; it didn’t feel right that she was gone.

Red splotches blotted Cait’s chest where the bullets had pierced. Other than those obvious signs of trauma, she looked at peace. Her face held no expression. No wince or grimace of eternal pain. Just Cait. Dead.

A hand fell on her shoulder. She looked up to see Tris standing behind her, tears flowing.

Danny came forward and put his hand on her other shoulder. Tears welled in his eyes, too. She turned back to look at Cait again, lost in thought.

A voice cut through her grieving. “We tried to bring her back, Boss.”

Garraldi standing off to one side. The big man had been crying, too.

“I’m not blaming you, or anyone here, Garraldi. I know you did what you could to save her.”

“I told her to go get in the van, boss. She covered me while I climbed into the driver’s side. When I looked for her, she was down. It all happened so fast.”

Winnie stood and crossed to where Garraldi was standing, separated from the others. She reached up, put her hand on his shoulder, and looked into his eyes. “You brought her back. That was all you could do. It has to be enough.”

Winnie wiped away her tears with the back of her hand and turned to face the teams. Some, like Tris’s techs, hadn’t known Cait and were somber but clearly not affected like the rest of them.

“Cait wouldn’t want us to stand around weeping over her,” Winnie said. “Get your vans unpacked, then settle into your bunks. We’ll meet back here in an hour and tend to Cait’s burial. We can all say a few words then. For now, get to work.”

The team dispersed in ones and twos, ambling back towards the vans to unload. After the last of them turned away, Danny came forward to embrace Winnie.

She wept for her fallen friend, hidden from the others.

She would have to lead again soon enough. For now, she grieved.

CHAPTER 31

Cait’s brief graveside service was held just after dusk. Garraldi and other members of his team found a landscaped area, overgrown with tall grass. They dug a shallow grave and created a marker from sheet metal. One of them etched the metal: Caitlyn Marr — Soldier, Friend, Leader.

Winnie smiled at the fitting epitaph. Cait would’ve appreciated it. Nearly everyone who knew her had stories to tell. After the service, Winnie stayed behind while Garraldi and two of his men shoveled fresh dirt onto her freshly-wrapped body.

She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath, breathing in the cool evening air filled with magic, letting the flows direct her for a change.

Moments passed, then she opened her eyes.

What had been bare dirt mounded over the grave was now covered with a blanket of blooming wildflowers. Lightning bugs fluttered from flower to flower, flittering under the moonlight. She smiled and looked one final time at her best friend’s grave.

“Goodbye, Cait.”

Winnie turned and found her mother, Danny, and Tris all standing behind her.

“That was beautiful.” Elaine came forward and embraced her daughter, kissing Winnie on the forehead before turning around and walking away.

Alone with her two remaining companions, Winnie took Danny’s hand and wrapped her other arm around Tris’s shoulders. Then they walked back to their temporary home.

They had plenty of work to do. They needed to make sure that the other bosses knew that the East Coast Harvester had been disabled. They needed to know how powerful she was. How capable. They had to plan for the next operation, to ensure that Kane was exposed as a fraud. It would gut his operation, and hopefully end his evil plans for good.

“Where are the twins?” she asked. “I haven’t seen them since we got here. Did you get them, Tris?”

“I did. They’re with Katie and James. I didn’t think we needed to have them standing around watching us grieving over Cait. They’re settled in their room together.”

“I need to meet them,” Winnie said. “There’s so much I want to ask.” Winnie looked at Tris’s strange expression, then, trying to decipher her thoughts. “What, Tris? What is it?”

“You were right, Winnie. We needed to get them out. They can do things I didn’t think anyone could do.”

“Like what?” Winnie practically whispered.

A beat, then, “They can create matter, Winnie. It shouldn’t be possible, according to our understanding of science and magic, but I saw it with my own eyes.” Tris pointed to the wildflowers. “And I suppose they’re not alone. How did you do it?”

Winnie shrugged. “I don’t know. I just wanted to do something special for Cait. I thought about it, and her, then the magic did as it wished.”

Tris looked pained.

Winnie laughed. “You’re the scientist here, Tris. You want to know how it’s done so that maybe it can be replicated. But I don’t tell the magic what to do, it just knows. My job is to let it do as it wishes.”

“There has to be a way to use it to stabilize the city’s failing magic.”

“What did the twins do?” Winnie asked.

“They made a bomb. Out of thin air.”

“What?” Danny and Winnie said together.

“It happened so fast,” Tris said, shaking her head. “I didn’t even see them do whatever it was they did. We couldn’t get in the control room, no matter what we did. So the boy handed me a brick of plastic explosive with a detonator already wired to go. At first, I didn’t think it was real.”

“A bomb?” Winnie repeated. “I thought I felt an explosion just before I lost consciousness. But my mind was so foggy I just wasn’t sure.”

Tris nodded. “After we used it to blow our way into the control room, I told the twins to hold off making anything new until we got back here.”

“Well, then,” Winnie said, “I think it’s time I met our little guests.”

———

Winnie and Danny walked the hallway towards the rooms Colten had prepared for the team. One of the littler rooms had two small mattresses on the floor. That was where they’d stashed the twins. Katie and James were standing at the doorway, talking to the room’s occupants as she approached.

“You both need to get settled in and ready for bed,” Katie said. “James and I will be right across the hall if you need anything.”

A little girl’s voice rang from the room. “You aren’t going to lock us in here, are you?”

“No, Fiona, honey,” James assured the children. “We aren’t going to lock you up at all. Just don’t go wandering off. If you need something, come get one of us.”

“Everyone getting settled in?” Winnie asked, smiling at the two kids.

“We were just getting Fiona and Jacob ready for bed.” Katie turned to the children. “Kids, this is Winnie and her friend Danny. She’s kind of in charge here.”

“I’ll bet they’re as tired as the rest of us are.” Winnie looked at the children. They didn’t seem much older than seven or eight. “What do you think? Are you tired?”

“Not really,” Fiona said. “You don’t look old enough to be in charge.”

Winnie laughed. “I know exactly what you mean. And that’s exactly how I feel most times.” Winnie sat on a folding metal chair beside the mattresses.

“She’s like us,” Jacob said. “She can talk to the magic, too.”

Winnie leaned forward, elbows to knees so she could be closer to their level. “That’s an interesting way to put it, Jacob. Why do you call it ‘talking to the magic?’”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “We talk and it answers. What do you call it?”

“I guess I just call it magic.” Winnie smiled. “I agree that we’re alike, though. That means we should stick together. Where’s your mom and dad?”

The children traded glances. Winnie got the odd sense that they were somehow communicating.

“They’re gone,” Fiona finally said. “They haven’t been around for a while. We live together, just Jacob and me. We’re big kids.”

“Yes. Indeed.” Winnie glanced at Danny then stood. “Well, let’s get you two tucked into bed. We can talk about this more in the morning.”

Danny helped Winnie get the kids into bed, then they stepped into the hallway together.

“Danny and I will be just down the hallway on this side. Please let us know if you need anything. Otherwise, we’ll see you at breakfast.”

Winnie killed the light and closed the door. Then she and Danny went to their room. It also had two mattresses, but Winnie had pushed them together. There was a pair of folding metal chairs in there. Winnie sank onto one and turned to Danny.

“Remarkable kids,” she said. “Kind of makes me wonder about … you know.”

Danny said nothing.

“I’m sure it won’t always be easy,” Winnie said. “But tonight sure felt great. They seem to be acclimating well, at least so far.”

“I think they are good support for each other, though it was creepy when they just sort of stared at each other for a while. You know they were talking. Was that magic of some sort? I couldn’t tell.”

“Not any sort that I could detect. I’m sure it’s a twin thing, you know, sharing a womb and all. It builds some sort of bond that we don’t understand.”

Danny nodded. “Makes sense. It was still weird, though.”

Winnie changed into her nightgown and neatly piled her clothes in the corner, then settled in the bed and pulled the blanket up around her. Danny changed into a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, then turned off the light and joined her.

Winnie stared at the shadows, thinking about the twins. She fell asleep wondering who her next ally would be, and how she might find them.

CHAPTER 32

The dream was always the same.

Winnie was in a wood-paneled room with walls that climbed into the darkness above her. A bookshelf lined one wall and a pair of stuffed leather chairs flanked a long table on the other. The room was long and narrow, its ends barely visible in the distance.

As with every other time she had appeared within this room, Winnie was drawn to the strange stone sculpture beside the two chairs. It looked almost like a throne, rough-hewn from a single grey rock. The stone seemed to vibrate from inside when she touched it.

Her hands grazed the rough stone, then wrapped the sword’s golden hilt. She couldn’t remember grabbing it, nor who had put it there. But Winnie was sure it hadn’t been there before.

A breathy voice crooned in her ear: “Pull it out, if you dare.”

She turned but saw no one behind her. Winnie blinked and found herself gripping the hilt again.

Her entire body buzzed.

“I can tell you’re afraid,” the breath voice said. “You know if you pull that sword free, the world will be no more.”

She let go and looked behind her. Again, she saw no one.

Winnie turned forward to face the stone throne. Before she knew what was happening, her hands were pulling the sword free. What sounded like a thousand distant voices sang with joy. She smiled, drawing the blade from its stone sheath until only the tip was still in the stone. But it was stuck there.

Winnie frowned and shouted at the voice. “Let it go. It’s mine.”

“No. It belongs to me, and I’ll not let you have it.”

The sword’s hilt became white hot in her hands. She let it go and screamed in agony.

Winnie found herself sitting up in bed, breathless and staring at her outstretched hands. She inspected her palms for any sign of burning, but saw only pink, healthy skin.

The screaming hadn’t stopped.

Winnie looked to her right and heard that it was coming from the room next door, the voices muffled. She jumped up and scrambled out, racing down the hallway to the twins’ room.

She found them in bed, staring sightlessly ahead, screaming in tandem. Katie and James were there, but they couldn’t seem to calm the children.

“It’s like they can’t see us,” Katie said. “They’re asleep and awake at the same time.”

“What do we do?” James asked.

Winnie watched them, tuning her vision to the complex swirl of ribbons surrounding them both. The pattern swirled and twisted in on itself, rotating around them. “There’s some sort of spell around them,” she shouted over the screams. “I need to unravel part of it, so I can see inside.”

She closed her eyes to draw in her magic then opened them again to guide her work. She took a slender thread of magic and directed it to slide within the twisted weave until she could lever it to pry the other ribbons apart.

A window appeared within the spell circling the twins. Winnie leaned forward to peer inside.

The room in the twins’ vision was instantly familiar. The wood paneling, the long bookshelf, and especially the strange stone sculpture with the sword hilt jutting up from the throne. She was wondering how the children could be sharing her dream when something shifted in the darkness behind the throne.

She saw why the children were screaming. An evil creature crouched behind the throne. Fear and dread came in waves, washing over Winnie as she watched. She fought down the urge to scream, forced herself to turn away from the shadow creature to face the children.

“Jacob, Fiona, look into my eyes. You can trust me. Look at me.”

At first, they didn’t. Fear caused them to shift, to try and look around her.

“Look at me, guys, in the eyes. It’s Winnie, your new friend. I promised to watch over you. I’m here now, but you’ve got to trust me.”

Jacob met her eyes first, then Fiona.

Their expressions softened, their gazes losing their vacant quality.

Winnie felt a sudden pull, and then she was back in reality, in the small storage-area-turned-bedroom. The swirling barrier was down and she was kneeling on the floor between the beds. The children jumped into her arms, burying their faces in her chest as she pulled them close. Sobs racked their small bodies. Winnie soothed them, her voice soft; she saw the relief on the other adults’ faces.

Winnie wondered how the dream was being reflected by the children, and what was the creature in their dream that wasn’t in hers? She wanted them to stop crying so she could ask, but right now, that was the wrong thing to do.

She had to let them cry it out, then get them back to bed. There would be time for questions in the morning.

———

Winnie entered the makeshift cafeteria in the main garage area. Several tables had been set up, with hotplates being used to prep breakfast for the assembled crew. Someone had doctored a schedule of sorts, and today the cooking duties fell to Tris and her techs. Colton had had fresh eggs delivered, along with ham and vegetables. Katie and James were on the job, cooking omelets for the assembled members while Tris and her other two techs put bread and butter on the tables.

A small blond tech by the name of Cynthia dropped a loaf of sliced bread and plate of butter at the table where Winnie and Danny were sitting alone.

“Thank you, Cynthia,” Winnie said. “Too bad we don’t have a toaster, eh?”

“I can look for a toaster if you want, Ms. Durham.”

“Please, Cynthia, call me Winnie. We’re all in this together, right?”

“Uh, yes, ma’am — uh, I mean, Winnie.”

“That’s better. How was your night?”

“I was creeped out by those kids and their screaming, but I slept all right once you got them settled, I guess.” Cynthia paused, seeming to consider. Then she said, “Have you ever seen anything like that magical barrier? You seemed to know exactly what to do. None of us were able to get through it.”

“I didn’t go through it as much as peek around to see what they saw. They were having a vivid nightmare. It was new to me, too. I got lucky.” Winnie avoided any mention of her own dream. Her crew was still reeling from Cait’s death and didn’t need another mystery to occupy their minds.

“I’m glad you were able to help them. Maybe you can show me what you did so I can help the next time.”

“Sure thing, Cynthia. We’ll have to find some time over the next few days.”

The tech smiled and nodded, then continued setting bread on the tables. Danny nudged Winnie. She turned to see the twins enter the room from the corridor leading to their room. Winnie waved them over to join her and Danny.

The children skipped over. Winnie was glad to see them in such happy spirits.

“Hi, Winnie,” Jacob said. “Something smells good. What’s for breakfast?”

“Eggs and ham, or you can have an omelet if you want.”

“We like eggs,” Fiona said, sitting across from Winnie and Danny. Jacob climbed up onto the chair next to his sister.

“How did you two sleep after I left you the second time last night?” Winnie asked.

“We did alright,” Fiona said.

Winnie sensed fear in her voice. She pressed forward with her questions. “Do you remember your dream last night, Fiona? The one that scared you?”

The girl nodded, but said nothing.

“Have you and your brother had that dream before?”

Again, Fiona nodded. Jacob sat silently beside her.

“I’ve had a similar dream. In fact, I had one sort of like it just last night.”

Jacob leaned forward. “You did?”

“Yes. Mine was scary, too, but not as scary as yours.”

The kids seemed to relax, seeming to appreciate someone else sharing their worries.

“I have a question for you, if you’ll let me ask it.” Winnie waited for them both to nod. “Have you seen that place in your dreams before?”

Fiona said, “It’s a bad place, Winnie. We keep seeing it and don’t know why.”

“I see it, too, so you’re not alone,” Winnie reassured her. “Has the shadow monster been in your dream the entire time, as well?”

“No, Jacob made the monster come,” Fiona said.

“I did not.”

“Yes, you did. It came when you tried to touch the sword,” Fiona explained. “The monster told you to stop. He said that it didn’t belong to you.”

“I didn’t know,” Jacob said, more subdued.

“It’s alright, Jacob. I touched the sword in my dream, too, and a scary voice wanted me to stop.” Winnie didn’t tell them that she’d nearly pulled it free.

“Do you know where the scary room is?” Jacob asked. “Do we have to go there?”

“That’s a good question,” Winnie replied. “Let’s make a pact. Let’s agree to tell each other whenever we have the dream about the scary room and if anything seems different. Then we can face it together. How does that sound?”

“We’d like that, Winnie,” Fiona said. Jacob nodded, agreeing with his sister.

“Good. Now eat up. You need your strength. My friends will be working with you over the next few days — we’re going to see what you can do with your magic. It’s going to be busy, but I’ll make sure we have time to eat together each morning.”

Winnie thought about what she hoped to learn from the children about their magic. She only hoped they could regroup and gather their strength in time to pull it off.

CHAPTER 33

The following two days passed quickly with the team at The Pike taking stock of Colten’s stashed supplies, preparing for a long stay while the country was looking for them. Winnie learned of successful raids on the other camps by her allies. Daily reports detailed the destruction of the other Harvester towers and related machinery. While they couldn’t evacuate chanters from the camps, they could ensure they wouldn’t all be murdered by the Director’s evil machines.

Winnie spent several hours each day working with the twins, learning what they could do. She was surprised to find that their powers relied on each other. Alone, they were unremarkable in power and ability. She suspected that, with training and exercise, she could bring out their innate solo abilities, but Winnie focused on what they could accomplish together for now.

Fiona was the more talkative. Jacob was the better listener. If she could explain herself and what she wanted in a way he understood, Jacob could explain it to his sister using their unspoken channel. It was strange, speaking to Jacob but getting questions from Fiona. Still, they progressed, and she found ways to trigger their matter creation if she posed her request in a way that conveyed genuine need. This was how they must have survived for so long on the streets alone. If they needed something like food or clothing, they made it with their magic and a series of thoughts.

Garraldi took over Cait’s duties as Winnie’s head of security. She felt her friend’s absence the most during these meetings. They all did, but for her and Tris, it was most profound. The three of them had been inseparable since childhood. Cait had had to watch out for the younger girls until she’d joined the army. Then, of course, she’d resumed the role upon her return. Without her watching out for them, even with Garraldi’s capable input, Winnie couldn’t help but feel vulnerable.

On day four at The Pike, Morgan and Victor came to join the meeting with the four chanter team leaders. Winnie had been wondering how to broach the next part of her plan — the assault on the Department Headquarters — and decided to work up to it slowly, cover the mundane stuff with team leaders first.

They were seated around one of the tables. “What’s the status of your team, Tris?” Winnie asked. “Everyone settling in?”

“There’s been a bit of grumbling about the accommodations. James complained that we all had hotel rooms in Baltimore. Don’t worry, I shut it down. Nothing to worry about. They’re just complaining because they’re bored.”

“Maybe we could try and repair one or two of the rides,” Winnie wondered out loud. “At least that would give them something to do.”

Tris smiled. “That might just work. Katie said she wondered how the big carousel in the center of the park worked. It might be worth a trip to check out its condition.”

“Good. That will keep them busy for a while.”

“Sounds like you have a plan for what we do next,” Tris said.

Winnie dodged the question. “I’ll save that for the end of our meeting. Danny?”

“The vans are all in good shape. They all have at least a few bullet holes, but none of the bullets hit anything vital. So everything’s running. We might draw some attention, especially in the security team’s van. That one took the most damage. I’d like to see if we can get Colten to supply us with some other transportation. Then maybe we can drive into the city without inviting too much attention.”

“I’ll reach out, get him on it,” Winnie said, adding a note to her clipboard. “Cricket?”

Cricket laughed and leaned back in his chair. “Our supply situation is great for now. We’ve got enough canned goods to last us months. Colten also laid in a supply of military-style MREs. That gets us good for up to a year. I worry most about fresh food to supplement our supplies. If Danny can get us some transport that won’t stand out from Colten, I’d like to head into Philly to try and buy more eggs, vegetables, and meat.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll get Colten to expedite the additional transport options,” Winnie said. “Garraldi?”

The big man shifted in his seat, still getting used to his leadership role. “The Pike is a great place to hide. There’s no one for miles, and since it’s been abandoned for years, there’s no reason for anyone to come out here. As long as we don’t do anything to draw unwanted attention, we should be fine for the time being. I’ve still got watcher and alarm spells, gear spread around the perimeter. If anyone comes snooping, we’ll have enough time to reach the underground shelters.” He paused, seeming to struggle, then, “Cait filled me in on her plans, and taught me a few of her camouflage spells before we — well, just before everything happened. I’ve got us covered from anyone snooping around if we have to hide in the shelters.”

“Great work, Garraldi. Keep me up to date with any security concerns. That’s our first priority.” Winnie turned to the Victor and Morgan. “How are things in the city?”

“There’s been a bit of a backlash against the Assembly. Officially, we’re calling the demonstrations against deportations ‘peaceful town hall meetings,’ but they’re often contentious and the people want to know what’s happening to their chanter friends and neighbors. A good number of people aren’t buying the government bull.”

“What about the reaction from the Department about the raids?” Winnie asked.

“They’re not saying much, even in the Department’s official back channels,” Morgan explained. “Victor might be able to tell you more. He’s plugged into the leadership more than I am. But for street cops and Red Legs, it’s mostly out of sight, out of mind.”

Winnie looked to Victor.

He shrugged. “Like I said, everything is officially peachy at the camps. No problems at all. Unofficially, the city chief inspectors are questioning the entire process. Of course, they don’t know about the Harvesters, so they’re wondering about the need for camps at all. They felt it was better to keep chanters in the cities than ferry guards to some remote location in the middle of nowhere for weeks at a time.”

Winnie saw her opening. “Looks like the unrest has set things up rather nicely. We’re in a good spot to move forward with part two of our plan. If we don’t expose Kane, he’ll just build another Harvester. We need to be proactive, not reactive.”

“What did you have in mind?” Danny asked.

“Artos helped us on our raids. He gave us the supplies we needed from his stash, aided us with planning and getting the resources to need to move forward. But he did that because he needs our help to expose Kane as a fraud.”

“Yeah, but how do we do that?” Tris asked. “He’s holding all the cards.”

“I know, but that also makes him vulnerable. Arrogance will be his downfall. Artos told me that Kane has always kept meticulous records about his various projects and plans. They’re quite detailed apparently, and would expose him as a chanter if released to the public.”

“You’re telling me he kept a record of his plans and experiments somewhere we can get to them?” Tris pressed Winnie. “There’s something you’re not telling us.”

“He keeps these records somewhere at the Department of Magical Containment in the capital, because that’s where they’re most secure.”

Everyone spoke at once, spouting objections and concerns over the proposal.

Winnie raised a hand to shush them. “I didn’t say it would be easy, but after our raid, I think we have the team here to pull it off.”

“Don’t you remember how we lost Cait in that raid?”

Winnie flinched at Tris’s comment as if it were a punch to her gut. “You think I’ll ever forget? I’ve spent hours since we got back second-guessing what we did.” She swallowed her bile, looking from face to face among the leadership team. “This is a war, people. We might have started as petty criminals, but we’ve turned into the only armed resistance willing to fight a genocidal maniac. We must be willing to take a few risks. Kane has foolishly kept proof of his true identity a secret from the Assembly. I’m sure a few of them know, but the bulk will be shocked. We have to stop him. We owe it to Cait, and every other chanter he’s killed. Whatever it takes.”

Victor shook his head and looked up at Winnie. “It’s nearly impossible to get into the Department if you’re not a Red Leg or staff member. Even Assembly members are required to have escorts while inside.”

“That’s why you and Morgan are going to help. We need Red Leg uniforms for the entire team, and for the two of you to gather all the intel possible on the building’s layout, and where Kane is likely to have hidden his secret files.”

Everyone looked at the renegade Red Legs. Victor glanced at Morgan. She reached out to grab his hand.

He sighed and turned to Winnie. “What did you have in mind?”

“It’s going to be complex and require the whole team. I want to do it during Kane’s upcoming address to the Assembly on the state of the nation.”

“That’s five days from now,” Victor cautioned. “Will we have enough time to get everything together?”

“I think so,” Winnie said. “A lot depends on you getting the uniforms and IDs required to get us all inside. Can you do it?”

Victor looked at Morgan.

She shrugged. “The uniforms might be tricky, but I can pull off the IDs easily enough. I think we can do it.”

Winnie nodded, then went over the plan, refining it until everyone knew what they needed to do. Afterward, everyone scattered, leaving Winnie alone. She walked outside and looked up at the moon, peeking through the swirling orange clouds above. Another five days and this would all be over.

If everything went according to plan, Kane wouldn’t know what hit him.

CHAPTER 34

Nils sat at his desk and replayed the video again.

He watched Winnie Durham crossing the open ground towards the Harvester building at the center of camp number one. He saw the moment when the Harvester became too much for her, and when she fell to her knees, drained. Somehow, she kept crawling forward, making it to the building’s entrance before collapsing outside.

Then the feed went black as raiders inside the building broke through his defenses to destroy the Harvester yet again.

He’d come so close to defeating her, and yet somehow, she and her gang of criminals had pulled off the impossible. He rewound the video to the beginning and played it again.

The girl was so powerful. He’d checked the other videos — the other chanters in the surrounding camp areas had all been overcome by the Harvester. Several of the weaker chanters had died. But Winnie Durham was too tough for that. She pushed through no matter what he threw at her, and even succeeded when she, herself, was beaten. It was infuriating.

Nils remembered what Ellie had said when she had come to confront him. He’d done some checking on her claim that Winnie was his daughter. Though the timeline was right, he wasn’t convinced. He needed to meet the girl face to face again to confirm her identity. That wouldn’t be easy to arrange. She’d never accept an invitation to chat.

After some consideration, Nils tried the one thing he’d been avoiding, the option he could only use once. The spell he’d placed in Daniel Barber had a hidden component, and Nils was still reasonably sure he could breach the boy’s mind to read his thoughts. But it would only work once, unless he got the chance to reinforce his connection.

He leaned back in his padded leather chair, staring at the ceiling before closing his eyes. He drew in the magic required to power his connection to the boy and reached out with his mind, searching for Barber.

The search took longer than expected. Nils was about to surrender when he a spark lit the darkness around him. Homing in on that light, he soon found himself inside the Barber boy’s mind.

He searched his recent memories and soon found that there’d been a meeting of some sort. He peered through the hazy connection, replaying Danny’s perception of the event.

The boy had spent most of the meeting with his eyes on Winnie — not surprising given their relationship. Then the conversation turned to talk of Kane himself, and the Director paid special attention to what was being said.

Long moments later, Kane opened his eyes and looked around his dark office. So, they planned on coming here, right into his clutches. He’d been surprised to discover Victor Holmes working with Durham and her gang. He supposed that Bennett girl — the chanter’s supposed sister — had something to do with it. It would be a shame to try the chief inspector for treason, especially when Kane himself had promoted him. Still, it would be interesting to let them believe they were succeeding, then catch the whole gang, including Holmes and his floozy.

Nils stood and crossed the room. He reached the wall of shelves behind sculpture, then reached up and removed the book The Magical History of Europe. There was a small lever behind it. He reached up and tugged it with two fingers.

A faint click, then the latch released. A small section of shelves popped open to a small room. Stepping inside, Nils surveyed the stacks of journals set on the table. Years of research; experiments on unsuspecting middlings like Barber’s parents, in order to perfect his ability to control the ordinary humans around him. There was also the schematic he’d created to siphon magic from other chanters, the machine that had eventually become the Harvester.

It was foolish to keep such records. Winnie was right — the revelations in this room could ruin him, politically and personally. But he was reluctant to destroy them, even knowing her plans. He wanted to leave a record of his achievements behind. Future generations should know who had saved the world. Nils would go down in history as mankind’s savior.

Nils smiled, leaving his secret room intact, closing the bookshelf door behind him. He might even let Durham get that far before pulling the rug out from under her. It would bring such great satisfaction to see the look on her face when it all fell through and she knew without doubt that all was lost.

CHAPTER 35

Artos sat, watching the news reports on Kane’s recent activities. The reporter had unprecedented access to the Director and asked him during a walking tour of the Department Headquarters what he wanted as a result of his new reforms and the creation of the safety camps.

“Sally, that’s a great question,” Kane said, walking alongside her down a long marble hallway. “My greatest hope is that we can somehow find a solution to our current troubles that allows our chanter neighbors to return safely to their homes. Many have depicted me as a terrible man who hates chanters. But nothing could be farther from the truth. My driving goal has always been the overall safety of our great nation. If we can somehow find a way to stabilize magic again, I want everything back to normal as much as the next man.”

“Do you think that is possible?” the reporter asked. “Can the magic be stabilized?”

“Time will tell, Sally. In the meantime, I’d like to show the public that we’re not the thugs we’ve been made out to be. We’ll be holding a three-day open house here at the headquarters building this coming weekend. Red Leg officers will be holding workshops, setting up exhibits to entertain and educate our visitors, young and old. I hope you and your camera crew will return to cover that event.”

“I think we’ll have to. Why have you decided to open the building to the public? This seems a bit sudden.”

“There have been many reports about the status of our safety camps. We’ve denied those erroneous reports, but many people still believe them. So, following my staff’s advice, we’ve created this event to prove that we’ve nothing to hide.”

Artos picked up the remote and killed the TV. He was concerned about Kane’s sudden change. It couldn’t be a coincidence that this open house was happening on the same weekend as Winnie’s planned assault.

Did Kane know? Could there be a mole in Winnie’s organization? Artos had never trusted Victor Holmes’s sudden change of heart, regardless of Winnie’s assurances.

There were sources inside the DMC that only Artos knew about. He’d put them in place ago. They’d sworn to be ready, to serve him without question when the time came. He feared that time had arrived.

Picking up his phone, Artos dialed a number he’d set to memory long ago, never thinking he’d use it. Once activated, Artos would never be able to use this person again.

“Hello,” said a woman’s voice from the other end of the line.

“It is time, my dear. The codeword to activate the sleepers is ‘talisman.’”

“It’s been so long,” she said. “Are you sure it will work?”

“It must. We have no choice. Watch for my call this weekend. I’ll have instructions then.”

“Yes, sir. Talisman it is. Good luck, sir.”

“Good luck, indeed.”

Artos hung up and waved to Mr. Gunderson, standing nearby. His servant came forward with a freshly poured snifter of brandy. Artos sipped the amber liquid, savoring the fire as he swallowed.

Talisman was activated. He’d just placed all his chips behind the slim chance that Winnie Durham was the one he’d been waiting for.

If he was wrong, then the world was over.

CHAPTER 36

Victor lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. Morgan rolled over to throw her arms across his chest, then she stretched up to kiss him tenderly on the lips.

“You should get some sleep, Victor,” Morgan said, stroking his chest with her fingers. “There’s a lot happening over the next few days. Winnie’s depending on us.”

“I know.”

“Are you having second thoughts?” Morgan propped herself up on one elbow. “So much of what Winnie’s planned hinges on us.”

“They’re not second thoughts in the sense that I don’t want to help her. Things have come too far to turn back now. We know that Kane’s a monster, and that we have to stop him no matter what. I used to have everything planned. I knew what I wanted and how I’d get it. Then Winnie came into my life and everything went out the window.”

“But you’ve come so far. We’ve come so far, Victor. Do you regret us?”

“No.” Victor softened as he stroked her cheek. “I would never have met you if not for your sister. I don’t regret that at all. If only my whole life before that hadn’t been working so hard to defend a lie, maybe I could’ve stopped all of this from happening to begin with.”

“Victor,” Morgan said, her tone sharp. “You had no way of knowing you were following a crazy man. Kane has everyone fooled. You learned the truth and followed your conscience. You kept working for what you thought was right. You’ve saved lives with your hard work. And you’ll save more when you help Winnie.”

“Then what?” Victor disentangled himself from Morgan, swung his legs over the side of the bed, and sat up. The cold hardwood kissed his bare feet.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that once we help Winnie, we’re out,” Victor said. “Out of a job, out of this apartment, out of options. Up until now, I’ve had a plan. I’ve set goals and reached them all. But there are no more plans or goals after this. We’ll be beholden to Winnie and her crew for everything we need going forward.”

“You don’t know that, Victor. We’ll be part of the crew, not outcasts begging for charity. Besides, once we expose Kane, you might be recognized as a hero. You might even be able to remain a chief inspector.”

“That’s a bit optimistic, isn’t it?”

“I’m always optimistic when it comes to you. You know how much I love you. And no matter what happens, I’ll stay by your side. We’ll find a way through. I have faith in you. And us.”

Victor didn’t immediately respond, thinking about how much his life had changed. He’d been used to living a life on his own. Now he had her beside him, every day, offering support and cheering him on. Even now, after being a couple for over a year and a half, he still thought it might all slip away in an instant.

It didn’t matter. He could swallow his fears of being abandoned, or of losing Morgan. It didn’t change his charge as Winnie’s protector by the Lady of the Lake. She’d given him his marching orders and he had to follow through no matter the outcome. He had to believe there was a reason for it all in the end.

Victor pulled Morgan to him and kissed her passionately. “Thanks,” he said, releasing her from the embrace.

“What for?”

“For being by my side, and being my compass.”

“That, my dear, is all I want to do. I’m here for you.”

Victor checked his watch. “We have to be moving in an hour if we’re going to meet Winnie for the final planning session. Should we get moving?”

Morgan gave him a mischievous glance. “I’m sure we can find a way to occupy ourselves for an hour.” Morgan pulled his face to hers.

Victor smiled, swung his legs up, and got back into bed. He fell back into Morgan’s embrace, thinking about how much he loved this woman, enjoying their final hour before they started off to help Winnie on her quest to stop Kane once and for all.

CHAPTER 37

Winnie spent the final day before the raid making sure the teams were ready and looking in on the few who were staying behind to keep things ready for their return. Two of those remaining behind had become dear to her. Jacob and Fiona had settled into their routine at The Pike and had even tried to help when asked. Elaine had taken over childcare duties, freeing the rest of Tris’s team to focus on what they needed to carry out their part of the plan.

Winnie stopped by their room and saw them playing with her mother. Elaine had apparently found a small rubber ball and was teaching them jacks with the ball and a handful of paperclips.

The children laughed as she entered. Without a flash, sound, or any sort of fanfare, Jacob extended his hands to reveal a pile of small, shiny metal jacks. Elaine laughed aloud. Winnie couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen such a genuine smile on her mother’s face.

“I’m glad to see the three of you getting along. How do you two like my mom?”

“She’s tons of fun!” Fiona said. “She has lots of stories.”

“She’s tried them all on me first, so you’re only getting the good ones.”

“Who knows,” Elaine laughed. “I might even tell you some stories about this one when she was younger.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Winnie said in feigned shock. “We shouldn’t corrupt the children with stories of my misguided youth.”

“Not all of your stories are so bad. And besides, if I’m like the grandmother here, well, then that means I get to spoil them.”

“Don’t go spoiling them on my account. It looks like they’ll be staying with us for a while. We should set up some long-term rules when I get back.”

“Where are you going, Winnie?” Fiona asked.

“I have to try and stop the bad man who put everyone in that camp. We’re trying to find the things he’s hiding so we can show the world all the awful things he’s done.”

“When will you be back?” Jacob asked.

“A few days. It’s not that far away — down at the capital.”

“Be careful, dear.” Elaine squeezed her hand. She looked at the twins and gave Winnie a cautionary glance.

She didn’t want Winnie going to Kane’s seat of power, and was adamant. But Elaine wouldn’t argue with her in front of the children. Fine by Winnie. She didn’t want to hear it all again anyway. Elaine was obviously hiding something, but whenever Winnie confronted her, Elaine dug in her heels and told she wasn’t welcome down that road of inquiry.

Winnie squeezed her mother’s hand and smiled.

Then she left. There was still so much to do.

———

Winnie surveyed her crew the evening before they left for the capital. The crew had grown from the days when it was just her, Tris, Morgan, Cait and Joey, adding Danny, Cricket, and Garraldi to the core team. They’d gathered members from Artos’s Baltimore crew, Cleaver Yorke’s New Amsterdam crew, and even Colten Sico’s Philly crew. In the last few days, she’d gathered more stragglers from the Baltimore runners, who’d been hiding after the chanter roundups. The full team now numbered more than twenty, including Victor and Morgan, who’d arrived early that morning.

Everyone was here.

Everyone was ready.

It was time to lay out exactly what she expected from them all.

“Good evening, everyone. I’ll try to be brief — I don’t like talking any more than you like sitting here listening to me.”

A wave of smiles and chuckles passed through the assembled crowd. Winnie waited for them to settle again, then continued.

“Tomorrow we’ll be entering the lion’s den, so we can take the fight to Kane himself. This time, we’ll make sure he knows how vulnerable he is, and we’ll do it on the very day he’s opened his headquarters to the public. Before, we were going to enter as Red Legs or building technicians, in uniform and with ID. But the open house allows for a much easier penetration, so some of you will be going in as civilians, then attending to your tasks once inside.”

“Tris,” Winnie continued. “You and your team will enter as one of the organized tour groups. Artos has arranged for you to meet your tour at the train station and take the group buses to the Department Headquarters building. There, you’ll enter the building and proceed on the tour to the designated point. Once you arrive outside the sky bridge to the Assembly Hall, your team will separate from the tour and locate the hidden uniforms and IDs that will identify you as approved techs. This will give you access to the building systems and enable you to monitor our progress and provide support as needed.”

Tris nodded. “We’re ready to go, Win.”

“Good.” Winnie turned to Garraldi. “You and your team will be in charge of securing our exits. We’re not planning on fighting our way in, but we might be fighting our way out. Victor will bring you into the building. You’ll be in uniform as a Red Leg, and must act the part.”

“We have your back, Boss,” Garraldi said.

“I know you do.” Winnie turned to Victor. “You and Morgan will be our inside contacts. Morgan, you’ve been assigned to the communications room. You’ll oversee things from your vantage there and coordinate our efforts if and when we need to make changes.”

“And I get you and Cricket into Kane’s office,” Victor chimed in. “We’re ready for this, Winnie.”

Winnie nodded, then she looked around the assembly to address the entire group.  “That leaves me and Cricket to get in with Victor, then out with the files so we can expose Kane as the fraud he is. The Director is scheduled to make an announcement of some sort during the open house in the main hall on the building’s first floor at noon. That’ll be our chance to get into his offices, find the hidden files, and get out again before he returns. Cricket, I’m relying on your skills with locks and finding hidden doors to help once we’re inside. Danny, you’ll keep an eye on Kane’s announcement. Tell us when he’s finished so we know how much time we have in his office.”

“I should be with you upstairs,” Danny said.

“We’ve been over this,” Winnie replied. “Too many people upstairs during the Director’s speech will draw unwanted attention. You’re better off downstairs. I’m counting on you to warn us if he leaves.”

“If there’s something hidden in his office, I’ll find it,” Cricket said.

“Good.” Winnie finally smiled. “We all know our jobs and what we have to do. I expect to see us all back here in two days, celebrating. The first van leaves in a half hour. Take care. See you all soon.”

The team dispersed. She worried about so many moving pieces, but the core of the crew had worked well on the camp operation and she trusted her team leaders. This was the best she could do.

Winnie turned and saw Danny staring at her, his expression unreadable.

“You can’t come with me,” she said, walking over to Danny.

“It’s not that, Win. Something about this plan feels … off. I can’t put my finger on it, but something’s not right. I wish we had more time.”

“I know. Me, too.” Winnie reached out and took his hand. Their fingers intertwined and she allowed herself a moment to believe that the two of them were alone in the world.

He pulled her close and wrapped her in his strong arms. “I worry about you when you’re not close to me. I hate being apart from you, even for a few hours.”

“We have a little more time,” Winnie said, pressing her body against his. “Ours is the last group to leave. We’re taking the early morning train down from Philly. Come on, let’s use our private room to forget about all of this for a while.”

Danny grinned and led her towards their room.

CHAPTER 38

Winnie waited for the final group to load up for Philly in the last of Colten’s vans. This one was black, and missing the bullet holes like those they’d used to raid the camp. They were near the small garden area where they’d buried Cait. Winnie found herself wandering over to the small plot in the middle of the paved amusement park. The flowers over her grave were fully bloomed and pungent.

She thought about Cait, her eyes growing misty. She wouldn’t have wanted to miss this job. It was the first time in a long while that Winnie was working without the tall blonde by her side. Garraldi had stepped in and assumed Cait’s responsibilities, but it wasn’t the same and Winnie felt her friend’s absence like a gaping wound.

Danny approached Winnie from behind and gently set a hand on her shoulder. “She’s still watching over you. You know that, don’t you?”

“I guess so. But it’s not the same. She would have made our entire plan better just by being there. Now I have to go and do this without her.”

“Garraldi has a handle on it. I know it’s not the same as having Cait, but he has the experience and training to pull this off. That’s one of the reasons Cleaver lent him to us in the first place.”

“I thought it was just so he could keep an eye on me,” Winnie replied.

“That, too. But he takes his oaths seriously. He swore allegiance to you and that means giving you his very best.”

Winnie considered just long enough to realize that Danny was right. Cricket, Garraldi, and the rest of the New Amsterdam additions had been rock solid throughout the last year. She’d grown to count on Cricket’s input when planning. She hadn’t had the time to grow as close to Garraldi, but Cait had. She’d made him her second, and that counted for something.

“Come, on, Winnie.” Danny tugged on her arm. “It’s time to load up. We’ve got a train to catch.”

Winnie spared a final glance at Cait’s grave, then followed Danny to the van. She got into the front passenger seat, turning to check on the other passengers in the back. The team had split into small groups, the first having already left the evening before. They’d be staying in a motel for the night then taking taxis in the morning.

Cricket smiled at Winnie as she climbed in the van, then went back to reading something on his phone. There were two of Garraldi’s security team there as well, already dressed like Red Legs.

“Everyone ready?” Winnie asked as Danny started the van.

Everyone nodded, and Danny pulled out.

Winnie looked out her window and saw Elaine, her friend Marian, and the twins standing by the open garage door. Winnie waved at the small group assembled to see them off. Under the overhead floodlights, she could see her mother’s pinched face, determined not to cry. She waved once and turned away, wiping her eyes.

Then Winnie looked away, too.

———

Tris and her team stayed at the same motel as their tour group. They’d arrived late the night before and had all settled into their rooms. She wondered if any of them had even slept. She’d had a fitful night full of troubling dreams, though the details were scant.

She’d abandoned her bed after an hour of tossing, then worked on her laptop, practicing hacking into the building’s systems which she’d need to do flawlessly once they were all inside. She’d loaded several encryption cracking programs created especially for this operation. They integrated with her magic in such a way that both the tech and the charms were enhanced. It was something she’d developed in the last year as a way to stabilize Baltimore’s infrastructure. Now, she was using that same technique to break down rather than intensify a building’s systems.

She didn’t regret it a bit. This was necessary to bring Kane down.

Tris checked the time and decided it was already late enough to get dressed and head to the motel’s dining room for breakfast.

A few other members of her tech team were already up and mingling in the lobby. She had her bag over one shoulder, stuffed with clothes. Anyone inspecting it would figure she was a student on tour with the others. Tris nodded to her team members and entered the dining area. She looked around, assessing the options.

“Feel free to dig in, sweetie,” said a gray-haired woman, setting a platter of donuts onto the counter. “I’m still setting up, but if it’s already out, you can put it on your plate!”

“Thank you.” Tris picked up a plate and started spooning scrambled eggs onto it. Then she made her way down the line, piling more onto her plate. Soon, she was scarfing her breakfast, surprised to discover how hungry she was. When her plate was half empty, James joined her.

He sat there, stuffing bites of waffle into his mouth, loudly chewing, saying nothing until Tris finally shattered the silence between them.

“I’m glad I could convince you to come along. We couldn’t do this without your help.”

“You focus on the computer interface, Tris. I’ll make sure the rest of the team does their job on the building’s systems.”

“Just be ready for the unexpected. Kane and his cronies have a way of staying step ahead of where we think they should be. I can’t see him opening his building for tours without extra security.”

“Garraldi and his guys will have our backs.”

“Yeah, but there’s only so many of them. We’ll be in Kane’s center of power. I’ve brought a few extra hacks to deploy just in case. I suggest you think about what else you can do on the magic side with the other building systems. You’ll be on your own in that control room while I’m tapped into the computers.”

“I’ll be ready,” James assured her.

The room was quickly filling as travelers opened their eyes to rumbling stomachs. Talking was no longer safe. They finished their breakfast in silence.

Soon, they would see how ready they were.

———

Victor gave Morgan’s hand a squeeze as he dropped her off at the front entrance. She had to be in early to check in at the communications centers as one of the Red Leg specialists scheduled to help manage the festivities. Victor wasn’t due until several hours later, when he and the other chief inspectors were to attend a VIP reception before the official open house.

Morgan had a rolling suitcase to stash in an empty second floor utility closet. It held the building tech uniforms for Tris and her team to change into after gaining entry with their tour group. He hoped she could get it past the security checkpoint. It shouldn’t be a problem, since she’d stayed overnight in a hotel and would likely have a bag of her own.

“I’ll be fine, Victor,” Morgan said, returning his squeeze. “I’ll be hiding among a bunch of dispatch operators in the call center. No one will know what I’m doing, much less pin it on me.”

“Just be careful, my love. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“You be careful, yourself. You’re much more exposed than I will be.”

“Regardless, I don’t want you staying in that communications room any longer than you have to. Once operations are wrapping up and people start leaving, you need to get the hell out of there. The second Kane knows I’m involved, he’ll add two and two and then realize you’re in on it as well.”

“I’m not a martyr, Victor. I’ll make sure I’m safe. I plan on being one of the first ones out of the building if things start to break down.”

“I don’t believe you, but I guess that has to do.”

Morgan gave him a final squeeze, then climbed out of the unmarked cruiser. She retrieved her rolling suitcase from the back seat and waved once before heading into the building.

Victor watched her go, then headed back to his hotel. He checked his watch — 8 a.m. The team should be assembling in their staging areas soon.

Four hours to go.

Victor still needed to check out and retrieve the rest of their bags — real suitcases and a dummy bag with Red Leg uniforms for Garraldi’s extra team members. He’d have just enough time to drop that off and make it to his reception with the other chief inspectors.

The plan relied on the extra Red Legs in town. None of them would know each other, so security checkpoints would be unable to verify everyone with anything other than their IDs. Morgan had taken care of getting everyone’s badges into the system — that should be enough to gain them all access to the required areas.

Victor hoped Winnie and Cricket could quickly find what they were looking for and get out of Kane’s office. She seemed confident in his ability to find the hidden location. That would have to be good enough. It wasn’t like he could do anything else to help them, beyond getting them into Kane’s office and silencing the outer office assistant.

Victor went over the plan in his head, knowing it would all happen fast.

Thinking now would help him stay prepared for whatever was going to happen next.

CHAPTER 39

Winnie and Danny each changed in one of the station’s small restroom stalls just minutes after disembarking from their train, assuming the roles of visiting Red Legs from Philadelphia.

She pinned the ID badge on her uniform pocket, realizing how great a job Morgan had done on their identities. She was now Fredericka Knowles — Desk Sergeant from a Philly precinct. She picked up the bag with her street clothes, stood on the toilet to stuff them behind one of the overhead ceiling tiles, then left the stall.

The bathroom was otherwise empty. Winnie looked at herself in the mirror. She saw a tall, distinguished officer in service of the DMC. She donned her hat and left the restroom.

Danny was waiting across the crowded hallway. She approached him, noticing how people automatically got out of her way, offering ample room for her to pass.

“Weird, right?” Danny said. “I guess people really don’t like Red Legs.”

“Can you blame them?” Winnie asked as they started down the concourse.

The plan had them catching a cab from the train. But that changed when they left the station and stood on the street corner, waiting for a cab.

A voice called out: “Hey, we’re almost full here. You coming?”

A Red Legs lieutenant was standing by a small bus, waving them over to join him. Winnie and Danny traded a glance then followed his wave.

“Come on, come on,” he called as they approached. “We’re supposed to be on our way already. Get in.”

Danny said, “We’re headed to the open house at Headquarters?”

“Guess you two didn’t get the memo either. Shuttles are running back and forth from HQ to the train station all day. Union got the Department to pay when we found out everyone was supposed to cover their own taxis. You can’t order a bunch of officers to attend something and not pay for their transport!”

“We didn’t know,” Winnie said. “Thanks for catching us.”

She tugged at Danny’s arm, then the two of them boarded the bus. There was no way they could refuse his offer and avoid suspicion.

Winnie found a pair of open seats and sat. There were a couple dozen Red Legs on board with them — all discussing the upcoming event.

“So, where are you two in from?” asked a heavyset officer one seat in front of them.

“Philly,” Danny replied. “You?”

“New Amsterdam all the way.” The guy had sergeants’ stripes like Winnie’s. “Name’s Terry Albright.” Terry reached over the seat and shook hands with Danny and Winnie.

“I’m Fredericka, Fredericka Knowles,” Winnie said.

“You can call her Fred,” Danny said. “I’m Bartholomew Scott. So, how are things in New Amsterdam? Busy, I bet.”

“Not so bad since we got the chanter scum shipped off to the camps. Now we’re tracking stragglers and trying to shut down the remaining charm running operations. How about you two?”

“About the same.” Winnie shrugged. “So, what have you heard about this thing today? We were told to come down, but our watch commander didn’t tell us much more than that.”

Terry looked around then leaned close. “Well, you didn’t hear it from me, but I gotta brother who works down at HQ — highly placed. He told me to ‘be on my toes.’ He said the Director has something planned for today that’s going to ‘really shake things up.’”

“Oh, yeah?” Danny raised his eyebrows. “What kind of thing?”

“I don’t know. But my brother thinks it’s awfully strange how fast this whole open house thing came together. There was nothing said a month ago during the regular planning meeting, then all of a sudden, BOOM. There’s a major event and the building is gonna be open to the public for the first time.” His voice fell to the softest whisper. “My brother says Kane’s laying some sort of trap, though who would be crazy enough to cross that guy is beyond me.”

“I know what you mean,” Danny whispered back.

Terry laughed, then poked Danny in the arm with a conspiratorial wink. “I hope they save some of the fun for me. I miss thumping chanters. Even thought I’d try and transfer to one of them camps for guard duty.”

“Yeah,” Winnie agreed. “The world is getting boring.”

“You said it, Fred. Who knows? Stick with me and maybe we’ll get to knock some heads.”

The bus lurched to a start and pulled into traffic. Terry turned back around, eyes front.

Danny found Winnie’s hand. She grabbed hold and squeezed.

———

Tris stepped off the tour bus and looked up at the massive granite and marble building stretching into the sky. She recognized the structure from the news. There were always reports by journalists from the different news agencies, standing out in front of the Department’s grand entryway. Now that she stood here herself, Tris was unprepared for how big the building was. She wondered how they would ever find their way around, even with the maps and floorplans she and her team had studied.

A tug on her sleeve returned her to the street. James was standing beside her with a pair of techs.

“It’s a lot bigger in real life,” Tris said.

“Sure is,” James agreed. “How are we supposed to find our way to the control rooms?”

“We’ll stick to the plan.” Tris looked around at the other techs; Beth-Anne, Katie, and Monica. “Right?”

They nodded and Tris offered what she hoped was a confident smile, making a mental note to give Winnie a piece of her mind once this was over. She should never have agreed to help Artos.

She gestured for James and the other techs to follow her as she turned and joined the rest of their tour group. The leader had a stiff, triangular flag on a stick and was waving it around to gather the group’s attention calling, “Follow me, follow me.”

Tris followed at the tail end as the tour led them through the doors to the first checkpoint. This was where Morgan’s alternative IDs would be tested. The tour was supposed to be a group of teachers in town for a convention, but the only thing Tris knew about being a teacher was that she didn’t want to be one. She hoped no one asked her any questions about her classes in Jacksonville, which was where her fresh identity was from.

The entry door guards looked bored as the group filed through metal detectors, inspecting them all with their handheld spectrum cameras. Tris almost laughed as the guard scanned her for illegal magic.

“You catch many people with that thing?” she asked, trying to lighten the mood with the taciturn guard. “I can’t imagine anyone would be stupid enough to bring a charm into this place.”

“You’d be surprised, lady,” the guard said without breaking a smile. “People are dumber than you think. Move along.”

Tris nodded her thanks, then moved through the checkpoint. She noticed some sort of commotion in another line as a member of their group argued with one of the guards. They’d found something on her and she didn’t want to give it up.

“I don’t know why I can’t have that. It’s a baby monitor. It lets me hear my kids back home with my husband.” The woman was holding what looked like a standard set of earbuds.

Tris tuned her vision to the magical spectrum, examined the earbuds, and immediately saw the telltale glow of a charm laid atop the object in the woman’s outstretched hand.

“No magic enters this building, period, ma’am.” A Red Leg sergeant took hold of her arm. “You’ll have to step out of line for a more thorough search.”

“But my tour group — ” The woman stammered.

“I’m afraid your tour is over for today. Come with me.”

The woman grew frantic, trying to pull away from the guards now flanking her either side. One pulled out a stun gun and touched it to her neck. She spasmed, then went limp in their grasp.

The other members of the group gave the guards a wide berth as they proceeded away from the checkpoint. Others standing in line began to surreptitiously dump items from their bags into the nearby garbage bins. Tris shook her head — middlings could be such idiots sometimes.

“Did you see what they did to that woman?” Beth-Anne whispered.

“I did,” Tris replied. “She was an idiot and got what idiots get when they don’t know what trouble they’re in. Don’t gawk, for God’s sake.” She reached over and nudged Beth-Anne forward. James and Monica fell in beside them. The tour guide was saying something. Tris strained to listen over lobby’s clamor.

“… We’ll be heading upstairs for our special tour of the building systems that keep our operations constantly moving. Then we’ll return here for a speech from Director Kane himself at noon. Follow me, and no wandering off.”

The leader waved her little flag, then turned and headed for a broad staircase leading up to the second floor.

Tris looked at her watch: 10:15. Right on schedule. If everything went according to plan, Morgan should have already dropped their building maintenance uniforms and IDs off in the second-floor store room.

Things would be kicking off soon.

CHAPTER 40

Garraldi checked his watch and looked around the empty office at his team. They were all dressed in Reg Leg uniforms and looking every inch the part. It helped that they had all been enforcers for their various organizations before joining Winnie’s crew. Cleaver and the other bosses had all been asked to send their best to watch over to the woman the New Amsterdam boss called “Queen Bee.”

He had to admit, Winnie was a formidable woman in many ways. That had been evident from their first meeting, when Cricket had picked her up in Baltimore. She’d constantly proven herself to be the type of leader he was happy to follow ever since, so Garraldi hadn’t minded a bit when Cleaver’d asked him to join her security team.

Cricket hadn’t even minded being put under Cait, after getting to know her. But now, he was in charge and was desperate to make sure he didn’t let Cait down or drop the ball in any way.

“You guys all know what you’re here to do. When the shit hits the fan, we’ve gotta be ready to hold the exits open so Winnie and the rest of the team can get the hell out.” Garraldi looked around at the assembled team. “You wait until the all clear signal from me, Victor, or Morgan. Then clear out as best you can and get back to the rendezvous. Any questions?”

“Yeah, Garraldi,” said a red headed brute from Philly, raising his hand. “Who’s buying the beer when we get back after this crap-fest falls apart?”

“Vincent, that’s an excellent question from a smart ass like yourself,” Garraldi said. “The last guy back buys the beer, so do your job and then get the hell outta here when the time comes. Lord knows, once the alarm starts ringing, this place is gonna come down on us all like a ton of bricks.”

He met each of their eyes, gauging their resolve, ending his sweep with Vincent. The Philly enforcer nodded back at him.

“Alright, you all know what to do. Victor made sure you were all added to the duty rosters at the assigned exits. Take your places and wait for the signal. Now get outta here.”

The last of them left the room and Garraldi checked his watch one last time. It was 10:59 — everything should be in place by now.

He picked up the special comm unit given to him by Morgan and in a low, even tone said, “Team two heading to positions now.” Anyone listening would think it was just another Red Leg team working the event.

“Copy, team two. All operations are GO. Repeat. All operations are GO.” Morgan’s voice came calm and clear over the radio. Garraldi didn’t know her well, but she was Winnie’s sister, so he supposed she could be trusted.

He checked to make sure his sidearm was fixed to his hip. If felt weird to be carrying openly. His weapons were usually tucked away, out of sight in various places on his person. Now, he could wear most of them on his belt. He still had a few odds and ends stashed in his clothing, because it never hurt to prepare for any eventuality.

Garraldi closed the door then headed down to the lobby.

He had to get there early, and into position before the Director addressed the open house.

———

“What do you mean ‘it won’t open?’ Try again!”

Tris stood beside Monica, watching the corridor for any sign of someone coming.

“I mean, it’s got some sort of magnetic latch holding it from the inside,” Monica said. “I’ve never seen a lock like this on a simple access hatch. It doesn’t make sense.”

“Kane’s a paranoid freak. He’s made this place harder to access than any building I’ve ever seen. Try again. But this time, with elbow-grease.”

It was 11:30, and they were running behind. It had taken longer than expected to get James and Beth-Anne into position. Now she and Monica were being delayed by another needless obstacle.

Who had locked the access port to an air conditioning duct? Tris shook her head. A paranoid freak, that’s who.

They had retrieved their maintenance uniforms and IDs a half hour ago. Since then, they’d encountered a series of unexpected setbacks. She was lucky they’d padded their schedule. Problem was, they’d used their cushion up and had to move fast if they expected to help Winnie and the others escape.

“Got it,” Monica’s triumphant voice rang from behind her.

Tris looked over her shoulder and saw the access door open. Monica was already stooping to crawl through. Tris turned to follow. She was about to join her colleague when someone tapped her from behind.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing? There’s no work planned on this system today. Everything’s locked down until this ridiculous open house is over with.”

Tris stood then turned to see a tall, thin man in a uniform like hers. He stood with his hands on his hips, glowering down at her.

“What do I know?” Tris shrugged. “Some bigwig’s got his panties twisted because he can’t get comfortable in his office upstairs. I was ordered down here to make some adjustments.”

She waited for the supervisor to answer while thinking of another way to deal with him. Fortunately, the man was alone.

He scratched his head. “It’s that idiot Hanson on the 10th floor, isn’t it?”

Tris shrugged again. “You want me to stop, I will. I don’t know who gave the original order — just that no one wanted to miss the big speech, so it fell to me, the new girl.”

He looked around, then back at Tris. He leaned forward to read her ID. “Alright, Lewinski, hurry up and finish the job. I’ll check on you after the speech. Don’t screw up. Hanson is friends with the Director, and he’ll rat you out if you make a mistake.”

“Good to know. Thanks for the tip. Have fun listening to the speech.”

“Yeah, yeah,” the supervisor said, waving her off as he turned to leave. “It’ll be the same old crap about service and patriotism. Finish the job, Lewinski. Screw up, it’s your ass.”

The man walked back down the corridor then turned from sight.

Monica poked her head out of the access hatch. “Is he gone?”

“Yep, he’s lazy, like most supers. He didn’t want to miss his chance to hobnob at the Director’s speech.” She looked down at Monica. “It’s down to the wire. Make room. I need to get in there with you before someone else comes along and wonders what we’re doing.”

———

Winnie looked around the grand entry hall, smoothing her tunic with one hand. The entry was massive, with a broad stairway winding up to the second level. Large projection screens allowed everyone to see the Director’s speech from any spot in the room. Winnie nodded to the second level balcony. Danny looked over and saw the stairs, too. They only had to get away from Terry, their erstwhile tour guide. The New Amsterdam Red Leg had taken it upon himself to show the visitors from Philly around, and introduce them to his brother.

They couldn’t pull away without arousing suspicion. Now, he was dragging them around the lobby, showing off this trophy or that statue, all on the way to his brother’s position in the main hall. Winnie pulled out her phone — 11:35. She had to think of something or risk losing their window. Cricket was surely already waiting.

“Let’s go up there and get a picture of the crowd,” Winnie said to Danny, pointing to the balcony.

“Great idea.” Danny tapped their guide on the shoulder. “Terry, why don’t we meet up with you and your brother after the speech? We’re going to watch from the balcony.”

“Great,” Terry said. “We can bust skulls another time. You’ll see a lot better from up there. Have fun.”

Danny smiled and shook the sergeant’s hand. “Thanks for everything, and good to know you.”

Winnie watched Terry thread his way back through the crowd, then breathed a deep sigh of relief.

The express elevator to Kane’s office was located on the second floor. People moved out of their way as they pushed through the crowd. Soon, they were standing on the second level, looking down at the crowd and small podium located on a small stage set up for Kane’s speech.

“We need you upstairs before Kane gets down here.”

“I know,” Winnie replied. “You see Cricket anywhere?”

“No,” Danny said, searching the crowd. “He should be here by now. Should you go up without him?”

“I can’t search that office alone.” She craned her neck, looking around. “Stay here. Watch the speech from this location. You can use the comm Morgan gave you to call me when he starts back up to his office.”

“But you don’t have Cricket,” Danny objected.

“We’re running late. He’s probably already upstairs waiting on me. Stay here and watch for Kane. I’ll be fine.”

Winnie gave Danny’s hand a squeeze of reassurance, then she marched off to find the elevator that would take her to Kane’s inner sanctum.

CHAPTER 41

Winnie stepped off the elevator and looked down the long hallway. Doors were evenly spaced along the wood-paneled walls. Kane’s office should be at the far end.

A voice spoke from behind her. “I thought you got lost, Boss.”

Winnie spun around to find Cricket in a Red Leg uniform, a bit too large for his diminutive frame. “Aren’t you a little small for a Red Leg?”

“Oh, sure, make fun of the short guy.”

“Have you seen Victor?”

“He went down to Kane’s office to see if he’d left. He was going to signal me when you stepped off the elevator, in case we had to go on without you. You got here just in time.”

“Better late than never. I hope all the others are in place. It’s time to check in with Morgan.” Winnie pulled the small radio from her belt and dialed the special frequency Morgan had programmed into it. “Top floor, checking progress.”

After a brief pause, Morgan answered. “All arrangements in place and progress is satisfactory.”

“Copy. Top floor out,” Winnie answered, then killed her radio.

Morgan had given the all-clear. It was time to get moving, retrieve the files from Kane’s office, and get out of here.

Winnie turned towards the end the of the hallway, wondering where Victor was. A woman in a smart blazer and skirt stepped out of one of the doorways. Victor stepped out a moment later and waved a hand in their direction.

“Time to go, Boss,” Cricket said, starting toward Victor.

“I saw him. Let’s go.” Winnie followed Cricket down the hall.

Her heart pounded as she entered the Director’s office. Victor was already inside.

“I just sent Kane’s assistant off on an errand. She should be a few minutes. Kane is downstairs.” Victor glanced at his watch. “His speech should be starting soon.”

Winnie smiled. Their plan was going to work.

———

Tris and Monica watched Kane approach the podium. Video was being fed to monitors in every part of the building. They could watch from their position in the small control center — an emergency control point in the event of a major disaster such as a fire or bombing, where responders could control the elevators and send firefighters or other responders to the pertinent floors. Tris had used a backdoor into the building’s magic systems to access the main controls without the computer password usually required. She now controlled all access, up and down.

Kane’s voice came through the small video monitor mounted on the wall. Tris glanced at the screen as the Director spoke. A text box faded below, displaying his name and title.

“Citizens of the United Americas, I am Director Kane. I welcome you to this first ever open house to view the inner workings of your Department of Magical Containment. This video broadcast is being sent to screens within the building and our capital at large, but it’s also being beamed to televisions across the country. We want you all to see our hard work on your behalf. This department works tirelessly to serve you all, keeping you safe from the dangers of unfettered magic. This danger is true and ever-present. As you shall soon see, this country is under assault from subversive terrorist elements, even as I speak to you now.”

Tris got a queasy feeling. It was as if Kane knew they were in the building. She picked up her comm to call Morgan.

Monica reacted to something behind her.

The door opened and four Red Legs poured into the small room.

A hand holding a stun gun reached out and touched Tris on the arm before she could pull away. Every muscle spasmed. She dropped her radio and slipped from her chair to the floor. Two of the guards swung clubs at Monica as she screamed.

Then, the world went black.

———

Garraldi and his team watched the speech continue on the monitor mounted by the building’s southernmost exit. Another roving patrol was approaching. He prepared to hand along Morgan’s password. He heard Kane’s words as he drew the forged ID from his pocket for the officer in charge.

“But never fear,” Kane continued. “I have foreseen the attack on this building. My Red Legs are prepared to take down these subversives. We are eliminating the threat as I speak. Observe the monitors to see one such group — disguised as our own Red Legs — as they’re taken into custody.”

The view changed, now showing a long hallway. It took Garraldi seconds to recognize that it was where he was now standing.

And then he saw his own face staring back at him.

He turned to his men, hoping to warn them, but it was too late.

Garraldi reached for his sidearm, but was swarmed by a wave of guards pouring in from the stairwell doors on the exit’s either side. He struck out with his elbow at the first approaching Red Leg and was rewarded by a satisfying crunch to the man’s nose.

The attacker went down, immediately replaced by two more and others coming from the opposite side. Garraldi swung around, working to shake the hands from his body.

The clubs descended, battering him to the floor.

Soon, he lost consciousness.

Garraldi’s final thought before the darkness overcame him was how he’d failed Cait’s charge to watch over Winnie.

———

Morgan was fixed to the screen, watching as Garraldi’s team was swamped by a horde of Red Legs. She had tuned out the Director’s speech and reached for her comm switch to change the channel to the all-hands circuit.

A hand fell atop hers on the console. She looked to see a tall officer standing beside her chair.

“I don’t think we need you calling for help, Officer Bennett,” the woman said. “There’s no one left to call. We’ve taken care of your conspiracy. Your compatriots have been captured. You’ll all be taken to court and charged with treason.”

Her mind swam. She looked around for a way to escape. Everyone in the room was looking at her. Guards by the door were coming her way.

Morgan tried to reach the comm switch; she had to warn the team.

She winced, then yelped in pain when the woman guard gripped her wrist and twisted it to an awkward angle.

“You swore an oath, Officer Bennett. You swore to protect and serve the people of this nation.” The woman’s spittle sprayed Morgan’s face. “I’ll relish watching your execution most of all.”

Morgan tried to stand, tried to run, but the guards pushed her to the floor and kicked her with everything they had.

She cried, trying to block the many heavy blows. Her arm snapped under a steel-toed boot. She looked up one last time before a blow struck her in the back of the head and turned everything black.

———

Maria Ford, the Director’s personal assistant, was annoyed.

She’d been sent off to pick up a special report from the executive mail room at the behest of Chief Inspector Holmes. The man was a respected part of Kane’s inner circle. But when she reached the mail room, Maria found no package waiting. It had taken a while to verify. The staff was all busy watching the wall screens.

She heard Kane’s voice, but tuned him out, trying to manage her anger at being kept waiting. She finally got the supervisor to look through the incoming packages for anything resembling Holmes’s request. After long minutes of searching, he returned to Maria empty-handed.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Ford. There are no packages or letters matching that description. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“Nothing at this time.” Maria pointed to the monitors. “What’s happening? Is the speech already over?”

“Oh, it’s all quite exciting,” the supervisor said. “Director Kane has just exposed a plot to attack the building during the open house festivities. Chanter terrorists must’ve been planning to blow the place up or something. There was video footage of Red Legs descending on attackers throughout the building.”

Maria felt suddenly cold. Had she been away from her desk too long, and missed something the Director needed her to do?

The supervisor saw her expression. “Don’t worry, Ms Ford. Everything is fine now. The Director says all the attackers are in custody, thanks to our valiant Red Legs. It’s great to be on the right side of things, isn’t it?”

“Uh, yes. Yes, it is.” Maria felt sick to her stomach. “I need to get back. I’m sure the Director will need my assistance when he returns.” She turned to leave.

“Make sure you tell him how hard we’re working down here,” the supervisor called behind her.

Maria checked her watch as she hurried down the hallway. She’d been away for more than fifteen minutes. Was that long enough to access the Director’s office without her knowledge?

Surely the chief inspector couldn’t be in on this plot?

Her heels clacked on the marble floors as she made her way back to the outer office. Once there, she saw no sign of Inspector Holmes, but the double doors to the interior office were open. Her shoulders slumped. She’d failed in her duties.

Maria could hear Director Kane’s angry voice booming from inside.

She was just about to go in and see what was happening when her phone rang. She glanced at the screen and blanched at the number.

She tapped the screen to answer then listened to the voice speak a singular word: “Talisman.”

CHAPTER 42

Winnie and Cricket opened the office doors and entered Director Kane’s inner sanctum. This was the center of power against which she’d fought for nearly two years. This was the man responsible for all the death and destruction against the chanters for whom she fought.

She scanned the room. It was longer than it was broad. A sprawling bookcase occupied one entire wall. She grazed the room with her eyes, stopping when they reached the massive throne sculpture.

She stared in disbelief. “It can’t be,” Winnie whispered, not even realizing that she’d spoken aloud.

“What, Boss?” Cricket was standing beside her. He glanced up, curious.

“I’ve seen that sculpture before.”

“So?” Cricket pointed at the throne. “It’s too small to hide his files. We’re looking for a door to another room.”

“That’s the stone chair from my dream. And the twins — they’ve dreamed about it, too. I don’t know why, but it’s important.”

Cricket gripped her arm and swung her around to face him. “I need you to focus. Maybe the chair is important, but we’ll have to work it out later. Right now, we have to find the secret room and get out of here. We don’t have much time.”

“You’re right. Let’s split up. I’ll check around his desk at the far end. You check on this end. We’ll meet in the middle.”

Cricket nodded and got to work. He was running his hands along the walls, searching for signs of a door or misaligned paneling. He’d shown Winnie how to do the same thing. She walked to the far end of the room to search the walls, using her hands and eyes. But her attention kept drifting back to the sculpture.

She tried to remember what she’d done in the dream. Something about the sword.

Cricket had moved to the wall of bookshelves and was checking the seams between the bookcases, efficiently working his way towards the center of the room.

Winnie dragged her attention away from the sculpture, continuing to search for a room, a hidden filing cabinet, or anything that might indicate where Kane was hiding his files.

Cricket shouted with glee and pointed to the wall. “I found it. There’s a door built into this section of the shelves. We just need to find the latch that holds it closed and we’re in business. This has to be it.”

Winnie was glad one of them could pay attention. She hurried to where he stood and looked at the bookshelf. But she didn’t see anything. She raised an eyebrow and glanced at Cricket. He pointed, then ran his hands along the wood between bookshelf sections.

“See, the seams don’t match up the way the others do. There’s a bit of a gap, too. This is the door, I’m sure of it.”

“So, what next?”

“We have to find the catch that opens it,” Cricket explained. “It’ll be a lever or a button to depress. Something like that.”

Winnie felt along the tops of the books, using her fingers to probe behind them, searching for the lever Cricket was sure had to be there. He was searching on the lower shelves but Winnie thought it would be something at eye level for her or perhaps a man of Kane’s six-foot height. She was about to move to a new shelf when her fingers brushed something behind one of the books.

She stopped and looked at the book — a thick, leather-bound tome entitled, The Magical History of Europe. She pulled the book out and reached into the gap to find a round lever behind the book.

Winnie slid the lever to one side then heard a click. The bookshelf section popped open a few inches. Winnie stepped back as Cricket gripped the shelf’s edge and pulled.

It swung open to a small room with a table and a few filing cabinets on the other side.

“Damn, Cricket, we found it!”

“Did you ever doubt me?” Cricket smirked.

“Come on, we’ve got to find the files that prove Kane’s a chanter, then we can get out of here.”

Cricket entered, then Winnie followed. He started with the filing cabinets while she shuffled through the papers on the table. There was so much here, and they didn’t have long to mine the most damning evidence.

She found several mentions of magical experiments and eventually discovered one detailing the spells Kane personally used on his prisoners. She found another description of the Harvester as a concept to capture magical energy from chanters.

Winnie scooped everything into a bundle and looked over at Cricket. He was still only halfway through his files. Winnie pulled out her radio and dialed Morgan. She had to check in and see how much time they had.

“Top floor checking in on progress,” Winnie said.

No answer.

She waited a few seconds and repeated her request. “Top floor checking in on progress.” She turned to Cricket and shrugged.

“Maybe this room is shielded or something,” Cricket suggested. “Try from outside.”

Winnie nodded and held the radio to her mouth as she walked back into Kane’s office from the hidden room. “Top floor to communications — come in, Morgan. Are you there?”

“I don’t think your friend will be answering, Ms. Durham.”

Winnie froze and turned.

Nils Kane stood there, flanked by a dozen Red Leg guards. Two of them held Victor and Danny — both with their hands cuffed and mouths gagged. Their eyes conveyed the words their mouths could not. They implored her to run, do anything she could to get away.

Since Kane and his Red Legs blocked the room’s only exit, Winnie didn’t see escape as an option. Her eyes darted around the room, searching for something, anything she could use to escape or defend herself.

Her gaze settled on the strange sculpture and the sword hilt jutting from its body.

The sculpture was only a few feet away.

Kane must have seen her eyes dart to the sword. He laughed. “Oh, don’t be fooled by that, my dear. It’s an old art piece that’s been in my family for years. That old sword won’t come free, no matter what you do. Believe me, I’ve tried. Unfortunately, my dear, there’s nothing you can do.”

“I won’t just go along without a fight, Kane.”

“I didn’t think you would.”

Cricket charged from the small room, trying to reach Kane.

With a slashing motion, Kane sent flows of magic coalescing around Cricket and forcing him to the floor. “Are there any more traitors in there, my dear?”

Winnie shook her head. She reached out with her mind, drawing in as much magic as she could, wove a fist of air and sent it at Kane.

He laughed, and faster than she thought possible, wove a counter spell and batted the magical punch aside. “My dear, you can never best me at battle. I’m much more accomplished at my use of magic than you are.”

Nils pulled in magic for a counterstrike. Winnie could see his undeniable power. It was daunting. At the last instant, she managed to draw in enough strength for a magic shield. It blunted but didn’t stop Kane’s attack, striking her with enough force to knock her down.

Winnie tried to stand, rebuild the shield which had shattered under the Director’s blow. But before she could rise, another strike slammed her between the shoulders, driving her to the floor and knocking the wind from her body.

Winnie couldn’t stop him. At least, not with her magic.

She didn’t know what to do, but refused to stay down.

She’d fallen behind the sculpture and she used the rough-hewn rock to find handholds to pull herself slowly back to her feet while Kane moved into position.

As Winnie pulled herself up, her hand grasped the hilt jutting above the back of the throne. She yanked it in an effort to regain her feet and felt the blade shift a bit in the stone.

She managed to stand, then turned to see Kane drawing fresh magic for what must be an even more powerful attack.

Without thinking, Winnie pulled upward.

The blade slipped free of the stone with no resistance.

Kane stood, frozen, staring in disbelief.

Then he suddenly swung his arms towards her, releasing his massive attack. Winnie cried out and held the sword in front of her, reflexively slicing the air between herself and Director Kane.

The blade somehow cut through the waves of advancing magic, parting them as the bow of a ship might split the waves.

The magic slid harmlessly past her, dissipating into nothing.

Kane fell backwards when he saw what she did with the sword. His eyes were crazed, his expression almost concerned as he stared. “Give me the sword, Winnie.”

“I don’t think so,” Winnie said. “This sword might be our ticket out of here.”

“That sword has been in my family for centuries. It belongs to me.”

Kane gestured with one hand at the Red Legs behind him. Two of them unholstered their sidearms and pointed them at Victor’s and Danny’s heads.

“Release the sword or I’ll have your friends executed in front of you. You have until ten to decide.”

Winnie looked from Kane to Danny and Victor. Both shook their heads, telling her to not give in. But how could she not?

“Ten … nine … eight … seven … ”

They might live if she turned over the sword, though they’d surely all be executed as traitors eventually anyway.

Kane continued to count down as Winnie agonized over her answer.

A woman in a dark blazer and skirt entered the room behind Kane and the Red Legs, drawing her attention and distracting Kane. He glanced over his shoulder, then turned back to Winnie, smiling.

“She’s no help for you, my dear. That’s my assistant, Maria. She already knows what I’m capable of doing. Now, where was I? Ah, yes. Five … four … three … two …”

Kane never reached one.

Maria shouted a single word, pulled a gun from under her blazer, and fired at the two guards aiming pistols at her friends.

“Talisman.”

CHAPTER 43

Winnie stared, confusion washing across her.

She’d been about to give the sword to Kane when the woman burst into the room. Her well-placed shots dropped the two guards about to execute Danny and Victor and her single shouted word seemed to have an even stranger effect.

Four of the Red Legs from the group’s rear pulled out their pistols and started shooting the guards in front of them.

Danny and Victor fell to the floor as bullets started flying.

Winnie was afraid they’d been hit by one of the bullets, but she saw Victor wrestling to free his hands with the keys from a downed guard’s keychain. Danny was trying to push himself away from the action on his belly.

A bullet whined past her head. She dove behind the stone throne to avoid the crossfire.

After a few seconds of rapid fire pistol shots careening around the room, the shooting stopped, and Winnie poked her head up around the throne.

All the guards were down, save three in the back. They must be with the woman who’d freed them. Victor had managed to free himself and was unlocking Danny’s cuffs.

The woman was barking orders to the three guards still standing. “Get all the wounded Red Legs cuffed so we don’t have any wannabe heroes. I’ll see to our charges.”

She circled around the pile of moaning and writhing bodies on the floor to approach Kane, crouched to the floor, as shocked by the events as Winnie.

“Get up,” the woman said, gesturing with her pistol. “Don’t try any magic or I’ll have to kill you, no matter what Artos wants me to do.”

“Maria?” Director Kane said. “You’ve served me so well. How could you betray me like this, after so many years? What is Artos paying you?”

“Nothing, you fool,” Maria said with a loud burst of laughter. “Not all of us are sheep waiting for slaughter by you and your kind. There are middlings like myself who know what you are. Now, we have what we need to discredit you once and for all. With the recordings I’ve made of you casting spells and trying to murder that girl, you’ll be finished once and for all.”

Maria walked to the bookshelf then reached up to retrieve a book. She pulled it down and flipped it open. The interior was cut out; a camera was secreted inside, capturing video through a hole in the spine. Maria removed the camera and looked over to Winnie, still crouched behind the sculpture.

“You can come out now. We don’t have much time. There are only a few of us in the building, and my other compatriots are working to free your friends. We need to leave. Now.”

“What about him?” Winnie pointed to Kane, thinking of all the people who’d died at his hands. Thinking of Cait. “Why can’t we kill him? He deserves to die for all that he’s done.”

“No argument from me, but I have strict orders from Artos. He’ll be a martyr if we kill him. Those who dislike or distrust chanters will use it as a rallying cry to enact more rulings against you. He must live to be discredited.”

Winnie approached Kane, crouched on the floor. She leveled the tip of her new blade to his throat. One thrust would end the world’s greatest evil. One jab and this could all be done.

“Daughter,” Kane said, looking up at her with a sinister stare. “Would you kill the man who gave you life, Guinevere?”

“What are you talking about?” Winnie said. “Are you insane?”

“I suppose I don’t blame Ellie for not telling you about me. Once I became the Director, she couldn’t tell you your father was a monster.”

“Don’t listen to him, Winnie,” Danny called out. “He’s lying.”

“But, Dear,” Kane said, standing, “You know that I’m not.”

Winnie kept the blade leveled at the base of his throat as he stood, struggling to absorb his words.

“I’ve never lied to you, and I’m not lying now. I didn’t know myself until last year,” Kane explained. “Your mother pled with me to spare you. She’s a remarkable woman, you know. Ellie always knew what I was capable of. I think that’s why she ended our relationship before telling me about her pregnancy.”

“It’s not true,” Winnie whispered. Her arm quivered with the effort of keeping the heavy blade extended.

The burn of exertion crawled up her shoulder and across her back. She had to kill him soon, before she ran out of strength to do it.

Winnie tensed her muscles, prepared to deliver the killing thrust.

Victor stepped forward and took her by the arm. “Maria’s right, Winnie. You can’t kill him now. He’ll face his retribution, just not today. We must go before he reclaims the upper hand and we’re captured. We have more than what we came for.” Victor gestured to Maria’s camera and Winnie’s sword.

Danny reached down and slid a nightstick from a guard’s belt, then took two steps and smashed it onto Kane’s head.

The Director’s eyes rolled up in their sockets and he fell to the floor at Winnie’s feet.

“You said we couldn’t kill him, not that we couldn’t knock him out. He was stalling to keep us here. Like Victor said. We need to jet.”

Winnie turned to Maria. “Where to?”

“The north stairs. They’re being watched by my men.” Maria turned to the three standing guards. “Pick up Garcia. He’s still alive — we might be able to save him once we’re clear.”

Two of the three picked up their groaning companion and dragged him towards the door. Maria followed. Winnie and Victor helped Cricket to stand. He was woozy but could walk.

Danny dropped his night stick, picked up two pistols, then handed one to Victor to replace those that were taken away.  The four of them left the room, following Maria and her compatriots to the north stairs and freedom.

Winnie caught up to Maria and her trio of Red Legs, and overheard the woman on her phone.

“I have her. She’s well. Yes, yes, I have the evidence we need. I’ll bring it to you as soon as we get everyone out of the building … yes, I’ll tell her.” Maria hung up the call, then turned to Winnie as she pulled open the stairwell door. “That was Artos. He says you did excellent work today.”

“Yeah, but he saved the day,” Winnie admitted.

“You didn’t know your group was betrayed before you ever got here. There was still a good chance you’d succeed. My team and I were just the backup.”

“We were betrayed?” Winnie said. “By whom?”

Maria shrugged, letting go of the stairwell door as Danny passed her, then started downstairs, leaving her and Winnie in the rear. “I’m not sure. Somehow Kane got word of your raid and set his trap. Artos is still digging into it.”

“Artos and I need to talk about his running plans behind my back. We should’ve known his plans.”

“Why? So the spy in your group could expose my team as well? It was better that he keep it all to himself until you needed to know.”

Winnie couldn’t argue with the logic, even though she was annoyed at being kept of the loop. She wondered what she’d say the next time she and Artos saw each other as she trudged down multiple flights to the ground floor, periodically joined by a Red Leg from their side every couple of floors.

When they reached the lobby, Winnie saw Tris, Morgan, Garraldi, and the rest of them clustered by the stairwell, waiting.

“Winnie,” Maria said. “Go out that door and board the bus that’s pulling up right now. It will take your team back to your rendezvous. Just tell the driver where to drop you.”

“What about you?” Winnie couldn’t believe the woman was going to stay.

“I’ll be taking another way out. I have one more thing to do. There are a lot of people here for the open house.” She held up the video camera. “I’m going to make sure this gets played on the building’s broadcast monitors before I leave. That should send the first arrow sailing into the Director’s downfall.”

“Well, make sure you give yourself enough time to escape.”

“I will.” Maria pointed to the sword. “Keep Excalibur safe. There’s more to be done before we can properly heal the world.”

Winnie looked at the sword. If felt odd to be walking around with such a blade in these modern times. “I still need to figure out what it’s for.”

“Artos is the one who told me. He should be the one to tell you.”

“Oh, I plan on having a long talk with Artos when I get back to Baltimore,” Winnie assured her. “Be careful. I hope we see each other again.”

“Time will tell.”

Maria waved to her group of Red Legs then started back up the stairs.

Garraldi opened the stairwell door. Bright sunlight streamed in, causing him to squint as he looked outside. “The bus just pulled up, Boss. We should go.”

Winnie nodded and gave one last glance up to the middling rebels who’d rescued them from certain ruin. Then she followed her team out of the headquarters building into the bright light of midday, carrying the magical sword.

She needed to get back to Baltimore. Artos had a lot of explaining to do. Maybe this sword she’d pulled from the stone — the one Maria had called Excalibur — belonged to someone else, someone not of this world.

It was time to seek out the Fae and the Lady, Brigid.

Winnie had found the talisman they sought.

EPILOGUE

Artos, Danny, Morgan, and Victor watched Winnie climb down into the crater. The moment she passed over the edge, there was a shimmering.

She looked farther away, as if she’d crossed into another place.

Then she approached the pool at the center, with faint lights from the Fae flitting and hovering around her. She carried Excalibur in a scabbard and belt angled over one shoulder across her back, a gift from Artos.

“It’s remarkable, you know,” he remarked.

“What is?” Victor asked.

“That all of this has come full circle. It took a long time, but the world is finally on a path back to where it belongs.”

“You act as if it’s all over and done with,” Danny said. “Kane took control of the capital and has rallied the army to his cause. Our plan to discredit him worked to a certain extent, but he almost seems stronger than ever now that he’s disbanded the Assembly and sent the senators back to their districts.”

“We won a battle, but the war is far from over, Artos,” Victor said. “Kane has the army on his side, and that’s a powerful ally. They’ve dug in around the capital — there’s no way to get him out without going through them. We don’t have the resources to face them head on. It’ll be a bloodbath if we try, and he knows it.”

“I’ll agree that the war isn’t over,” Artos said. “But you don’t give Winnie enough credit. You’re her champion. You should have more faith.”

“I have faith, and a practical mind. She needs to understand what we’re all up against.”

Morgan looked at Artos. “You speak about my sister as though she’s some sort of legend. But she’s only a girl trying to stand up for what’s right.”

Artos shook his head and smiled at Morgan. “She’s far more than that, my dear. Winnie’s the one we’ve all been waiting for. The true once and future queen.”

He turned and stared down at Winnie’s distant figure, seemingly far away through the shimmering curtain of air surrounding the crater.

“She’s much more than that,” he murmured again to himself. “Winnie Durham is the Queen of Avalon.”

WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

An evil far greater than man has returned, and there is only one person who can heal the world and repair its failing magic…

After facing impossible odds and reclaiming Excalibur, Winnie Durham seeks the Lady of the Lake to return the talisman. But the Lady has other plans.

“Rise, Guinevere, Queen of Avalon, and take back your blade,” the Lady said. “The time has not yet come for you to return Excalibur. There is more to be done, more for you to do.”

And so, Winnie’s quest continues, as only a descendent of Merlin can answer Excalibur’s calling.

A calling that the entire world’s survival depends on.

CONTINUE WITH BOOK FOUR IN THE BROKEN THRONE SERIES:

Click here to get STOLEN DESTINY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jamie Davis, RN, NRP, B.A., A.S., is a nationally recognized medical educator who began educating new emergency responders as a training officer for his local EMS program.  As a media producer, he has been recognized for the MedicCast Podcast (MedicCast.com/blog), a weekly program for emergency medical providers like EMTs and paramedics, and the Nursing Show, a similar program for nurses and nursing students. His programs and resources have been downloaded over 6 million times by listeners and viewers.

Jamie lives and writes at his home in Maryland. He lives in the woods with his wife, three children, and a dog.

Jamie’s other books include the Extreme Medical Services series, The Eldara Sister series and the upcoming Accidental Traveler series.  You can check them out at http://jamiedavisbooks.com.  His Broken Throne series is published by Sterling & Stone LLC.