Reagan slipped away a few minutes later, with a clear mission to “retrieve Tabitha.” She was only gone a short time before the two of them reappeared down the steps, clothes damp with rain and looking in various states of disrepair.
Lyra jerked upright from her seat, nearly dropping the phone she'd been borrowing. A little of Akiko's computer skills and she was hooked up to the messages forwarded from her device back home—but it made no difference. Bonnie hadn't said anything. Because, of course, she was out there right now, maybe even hunting other mages.
Everyone rushed over to Tabitha, embracing her with various levels of affection. Not all of them had the same affinity for her, or the same level of relationship. Even so, everyone welcomed her back to them. With Lyra lingering in the rear, squeezing her hands together.
“Opalescence tells me you chose to come into danger,” she said, when Lyra finally had her turn. “You leapt after my sister and saw to her escape.”
She nodded weakly. “I figured you wouldn't be able to get to her,” Lyra said. “And I was there, so...”
Tabitha hugged her tight, uncharacteristic for the usually dignified girl. “You've proven yourself more than a friend to my family tonight, Miss Harper. I assure you, I will never forget this. Whatever you ask, it will be yours.”
She blushed, avoiding her eyes. Now if only she could leave out the hard parts...
Tabitha released her a few seconds later. “Of course, I shall be fascinated to hear the details, when we have more time. I imagine it must have taken considerable talent to avoid that team. But for the moment, it is enough to know she is safe.”
“She is,” Starlight said. “I made sure of it. She's in a safehouse with some friends of mine. They'll keep her where no mortal can harm her until the dust settles from this... invasion. When you have a plan for keeping her hidden from discovery, I can get them a drop-off point. I'm sure she'll have a phone again soon if she doesn't already.”
“Right.” Tabitha looked thoughtful, one hand on her belt. A pair of scissors protruded from within, covered in the delicate etching of Atlantean symbols. Her magical tool. “I may need your help with that endeavor, Reagan. There might be a handful of memories to alter.”
Reagan nodded. “Anything you need. Memories can be delicate but not impossible.”
“Did you learn anything about the ones hunting us?” Akiko asked. “The... witchfinders?”
“No, unfortunately.” Tabitha slumped into her seat at the table with the others. “They played all their cards remarkably close to the chest. All their questions were about my sister—who she knew, when she started acting strange, whether or not she had killed anyone.”
She leaned back in her seat, working her magical tool delicately in one hand. Whether she was actually casting with it, or just playing with something familiar, Lyra couldn't say. “Now that I consider it, they did have a point about my sister's behavior. She has been acting strange since summer ended. But no magic, I'm quite convinced of that. I'll take a closer look next time we're together, see if there's something I missed.”
The conversation drifted for a few minutes. First Tabitha needed to hear everything Lyra had already admitted to the others—about her girlfriend's warning, her involvement in the night's affairs. She was fortunate that Tabitha didn't hold anything against her—she had saved Isabelle's life, after all.
Would they blame Bonnie for whatever suffering her organization inflicted on the other parts of the Pentacle? She would have to wait and find out.
“I passed the message on to the rest of the council,” Akiko said. “Which means the other Orders have it now too. Not sure what the chatter is, that's not my area. We followed protocol, now we see if the others believe. Heirarch Tan did, and the council is responding. That's our duty—we can turn to more important tasks.”
“More important than our enemies sending an army of hunters against us?” Tabitha asked, indignant. “I'm not convinced there is such a thing. They tore my home to shreds looking for signs of magic. If they had any idea what they were looking for, I might not have been released.”
“Or if your parents didn't have more money than God,” Reagan muttered. “Doesn't hurt to know the governor.”
“Well, no,” Tabitha admitted, as though it were an afterthought. “But the point stands. We're obviously under attack here. Given the method, I suspect the Seers. I can't imagine anyone else with the resources and inclination to get this done.”
They all eyed Lyra then. Without a word, she knew exactly what they were thinking, even if none of them said it. “I had nothing to do with it,” Lyra said. “Scan my memories if it would help, Tabitha. Bonnie's people knew that mages were moving in Canterlot. She came back from a fight with them the same night I Awakened.”
“What do they know?” Reagan asked. “They're not stupid. Whatever they have must come together into something like a reason to try and wipe us out. Then a plan.”
She hesitated. Whenever she spoke with Bonnie about her work, there was always the same implicit promise that these secrets stayed between them. She could always confirm none of it had ever been shared. What would she say the next time?
“They don't know about different Orders. They think there's two kinds of witches, what they call 'aligned' and 'unaligned'. Their definitions are obviously wrong. Unaligned mages are us—they know we have an organization, with different levels and traditions and authority.”
“Aligned are the Seers?” Akiko suggested.
“No. They're... something I've never seen. Witches who think magic is evil, they're cursed, and who are trying to kill as many other witches as they can. Like... deranged serial killers. Those ones the hunters leave alone, but I've never even heard of one. Do people like that really exist?”
“Yes,” the others said, in perfect unison.
“Unfortunately,” Starlight finished. “They're—well, maybe we'll talk about how I got into magic some time. Not tonight, feels like we've got more important things to worry about. Do they know anything else?”
Lyra shook her head once. “Nothing definitive. They don't really know how our powers work, how many of us there are, or how to identify us. They have some machines that can find a spell if you're casting one—something to do with the brain—but as long as you aren't casting a new spell, we just show up as human. That handgun I sometimes carry, it's one of them.”
“Sure.” Reagan rose from her chair, removing another bottle from the fridge. This one wasn't water, and she flicked off the metal lid against an opener mounted to the cooler. “But why are they attacking us? Those guys know about vampires and werewolves and all the rest. Why bother with the Pentacle?”
“We don't know it's just the Pentacle,” Akiko said. “Maybe the Seers got hit just as hard. Or maybe it's the Guardians they're after, or the Mysterium. If they suspected some of the experiments I've heard about...”
Lyra shrugged. “My girlfriend talked about... people going missing. Homeless, mostly. Runaways, orphans. Then showing up later, looking half dead. Only when they brought them in, they were all the way dead. Almost thought she meant ghouls, but Bonnie knows better. We went through that whole process together.”
“I don't think it matters what motivated them,” Akiko said. “This attack is perfectly timed to make charging the key and opening the ruins as difficult as possible. Whether or not the Seers are responsible, we have to ensure they aren't successful. When the storm comes tomorrow night, we need to charge the relic.”
The result was far less an explosion of anger than Lyra might've liked. But then—she already knew this was coming. They had one test of how her friends would respond. Impossibly, they were still willing to accept Akiko's insane plan.
Only Tabitha put up much of a fight. “After what they did to me—and my family. It's clear there's no one they wouldn't target, Akiko dear. If we're discovered out in the storm, regardless of what we're doing or how visibly we invoke the Mysteries—they may bring us in and confine us. If there are enough witnesses, not even Reagan's magic could get us out.”
“We will need to make some revisions to the plan,” Akiko said. “I've had the last few hours to compare notes with the information we're hearing from the other Orders.”
She settled a binder on the table in front of them, then flicked it open. The interior held several maps of the city and surrounding area. Most notes were concentrated not in the city, as with the last version of this plan, but the surrounding mountains.
“These hunters will be limited in the same way as any human organization—constrained by infrastructure and deployment. We can capitalize on the differences between them and our own group to ensure the greatest chances of mission success.”
“That's a mouthful,” Starlight muttered. “Maybe run that by us in English? Or High Speech—either one would make more sense.”
Akiko glared up at her. “Our enemies can't send an army into the mountains. The roads are poor, and the trees will cover us from detection. But if we're low enough, we should still get a similar amount of lightning. Enough to open the key. Plus, all the wildlife will mean Lyra can have eyes on every way in and out. They'll never be able to sneak up on us. Whatever small number they send into the hills, if it's any at all, we should be able to hide from. I believe I could diffract our heat-signatures from observation with little effort. Visual confirmation should be impossible with the severity of the storm.”
“Wilderness in a storm.” Tabitha tapped her magical tool on the table a few times, just loud enough to keep Akiko from talking. “I know we lack many of the... restrictions as a large military force. But we aren't immune to the climate either. We'll be swallowed by the mud, battered by the rain, and subjected to whatever landslides or other hazards wait out there. Ritual magic may be nearly impossible in those conditions.”
“Without a powerful alchemist, I'm sure they would be,” Akiko said. “But with your talents, I'm sure we could keep the worst of it at bay. Of course we don't have to fear the lightning—all of that will go into the artifact. If something happens—we'll have to react in the moment. Our cabal is stronger than ever—we have every Path now, and even our newest member has shown herself to be incredibly capable. Lyra faced the hunters and escaped. With Reagan's magic, we could be off that peak in an instant if we had to.”
“So long as there's no ambush,” Reagan said. “I can't do vulgar magic with so many witnesses. You do not want a paradox with teleportation, not if you like keeping all of your limbs.”
Akiko flipped through to the next page. “We'll have enough warning for that. We can do this, girls. We have the time to get out there, the means—and a good reason. We can't let the Seers take this key.
“We already know what will happen to it if they get their hands on it. No one in the Pentacle will ever see it again. More of the past will be destroyed forever. Only this time, we'll be at least a little complicit, because we let them do it. We have to embrace the magic while we still can.”
Lyra groaned, folding her hands together. “And you would go out there without us if we didn't,” she said, very quietly. “No matter the danger. Wouldn't you?”
Akiko didn't have the decency to look embarrassed as she spoke. “Of course I would. Completing this labor is not optional. The degree of danger we face isn't relevant. I would go unless the odds were near certain I would be discovered and killed, and they aren't. They would be even better if you all decided to join me.”
“We will,” Reagan said, taking her hand and squeezing tight. “If you think it's that significant, then I agree. We'll go. Together. We'll win.”
One by one, the others nodded their agreement. Even Tabitha, who had seen the scope of the danger against them. If she was going—then Lyra had to agree.
I'm sorry about this, Bonnie. I hope we don't see you tomorrow.