Cecilia smiled warmly. ‘One of our members, Frankie, is a Dreamer. She has seen the Fire-Mage’s arrival for many nights now. She tells me it is growing clearer and clearer with each passing day. Once the Fire-Mage arrives, we will be able to follow her lead to battle!’
Raucous cheers and applause made the windows rattle in their frames. Jack covered his ears and waited until the noise died down.
‘So you’re telling me that you’re basing all of your information on a dream someone had?’ said Jack, loudly.
‘Frankie is a Dreamer,’ said Cecilia. ‘Her dreams show the future-’
‘And what if Avalon doesn’t have a battle plan?’ said Jack. ‘What if she is coming for another reason?’
‘Why else would she come to Concord City, unless she wants to destroy the Realm?’ said Cecilia. ‘Regardless, tonight we are going to sort each and every member into a group based on their Power. The group categories are as follows: Offensive, Defensive, Crowd Control, Healing, and Infiltration.’
The next hour was spent splitting all of the H.W.L members into their respective categories. Jack, of course, was put into the Healing group, with three others. They did not have healing Powers like Jack, but were as equally useful. One man, called Ned, had the ability to grow various herbs and fungi, which, when eaten, reduced pain and anxiety.
Kenneth Redding was placed in the Offensive group, because of his ability to attack with Fire, (though this was not said aloud).
Xara was placed in Crowd Control, as her ability to project holographic images of herself meant that she could be stationed at many places at once. Not only that, but she was a trusted member of the Realm, and could distract others during the infiltration.
R?ven was asked to join the infiltration group. Her ability to transform into a bird meant she could quickly and easily slip past guards unnoticed. Not only that, but she could knock everyone out cold once she was inside, clearing the way for the others.
Cecilia appointed herself head of the Infiltration squad, and gave every other group a ‘team-leader’. Jack was not the ‘team-leader’ of his group - Ned was, probably because he was far older than Jack.
Next, Cecilia produced a large map of the realm headquarters, which had been drawn from a bird’s eye view. Jack suspected that R?ven had studied the layout of the grounds and relayed it back to Cecilia to create the map. Jack could have done the same; after all, he did patrol the perimeter every single day.
The next map showed a detailed layout of the interior of the Realm headquarters, something which only Xara could have accurately described. It was drawn in excessive detail; every desk, chair, office, plant, and sector was labelled.
Jack felt his attention slowly slipping as the infiltration team placed markers on the map, showing where each group would be situated during the attack on the Realm. It was all severely boring, and by the end of the meeting, Jack had no idea what half the plan was. Several times, R?ven had to nudge Jack in the ribs to get him to pay attention.
‘The Defence team will need to be placed strategically at these points here, here, and here.’ Cecilia was pointing to various spots on the map. ‘Jack, I’ll need you to do some research on the various Powers of the guard.’
Jack wasn’t listening, and R?ven kicked him in the shins.
‘Ow! What was that for?’ he hissed at her.
R?ven nodded towards Cecilia, a meaningful look in her eyes.
‘Oh,’ Jack snapped his attention to the front. ‘What was that again?’
Cecilia sighed. ‘I need you to find out what Powers the guard has,’ she said. ‘Each and every one of them.’
Jack raised his eyebrows. ‘There are over fifty guards.’
‘So take notes,’ she rolled her eyes. ‘Xara has already catalogued the Power of every employee of the Realm and given them to us. Over four hundred names. Once you have done the same, Jack, you will need to give the list to the head of the Defence group.’
Jack nodded in agreement, wondering how on earth he was supposed to ask every single guard what their Power was without getting caught. Perhaps there was a record he could check.
Come to think of it, it was very likely that there was a list. Perhaps Ethel knew where he could find it. After all, her father was a commanding officer.
‘I have an idea,’ Jack muttered to R?ven. ‘But I’ll need your help.’
The meeting continued for another two hours, until it was three o’clock in the morning, by which time Jack was forced to leave and sneak back into the Guard’s camp as his next patrol started at four o’clock.
~
Jack was certain that no one had paid any attention to where he went at night. The guards were allowed to do as they pleased when they weren’t on duty so long as they respected the reputation of the Realm. Attending H.W.L meetings was definitely not considered as a respectable activity. Ethel was always sound asleep when he left the base camp. Or so he’d thought.
The following night, when Jack was getting ready to go to bed, Ethel poked her head up to his top bunk.
‘Hey,’ she said.