“That’s a cheap shot, Asano.”
“You present such an easy target. I’ve heard that the Chinese and US branches are a lot more unified than most of the Network.”
“There’s nothing wrong with a strong national identity.”
“Fair enough. You know I’m Australian, right?”
“Australia is the kiddie pool. We look at you and see a man with infinite potential, but you’re stuck teaching the children to swim. Join the adults who already know how or you’ll never fulfil your potential.”
“Oh, I didn’t realise you could explain it with an easy-to-understand metaphor; you’ve totally turned me around.”
“Sarcasm is also cheap.”
“And you’re treating me like an uneducated white voter. We may keep voting our own idiots in, here in Australia, but we’re not America yet.”
“You seem to have a problem with my country, Mr Asano.”
“Mate, everyone has a problem with your country. You made children fear the sky and that was the president people liked. Do I even need to talk about this one? Everyone knows you haven’t read him in on magic existing because he hasn’t bragged about it on social media.”
“Mr Asano, you sound like a hipster art student. One semester of political science does not make you Noam Chomsky. Whatever you may think of my nation’s politics, our magical community is something else entirely.”
“For now.”
“If you remain here, Mr Asano, you’ll spend all your time lifting others up. Come with us and you’ll be the one who rises.”
“That’s a very capitalist pitch,” Jason said. “You’re proposing I choose selfishness over helping others.”
“You’re very high-minded for someone who tried to sell gold to Armenian gangsters.”
“Everyone’s a hypocrite, Mr Houseman. I’m not responsible for the largest military and the largest economy on the planet, so my selfish choices can only hurt so many people. Making selfish choices is your country’s political doctrine at this point.”
“We need to move on from this unproductive topic, Mr Asano. You can hate our politics all you like, but as you just pointed out, we have the money and we have the power. This is as true of magic as it is of everything else. If you ever want to get your friend home, you’ll need the greatest knowledge base and the largest pool of magical resources on the planet. That’s us.”
“Speaking of my friend,” Jason said. “You should call off your people looking for the chance to approach her separately. You won’t like what happens if they do.”
“You can’t threaten me, Mr Asano. We aren’t some half-baked French traitors trained in the worthless strategies that we forced on the rest of the world. Our silver-rankers are more than capable of fighting on your terms. I know you aren’t stupid enough to think you can beat one of them, let alone a small army of them. You can feel them around us. This is how many silver-rankers we had to spare just to come talk to you.”
“I’m not going to fight you,” Jason said. “I’m going to give the world the tools to stand up to you.”
“You aren’t as valuable as you think, Mr Asano. Don’t throw away a golden opportunity out of stubbornness. Think about your family. You can essence them up here, but we can make each and every one of them a powerhouse. They can all have mansions in Miami with a cupboard for monster cores in every one. We’ll turn them all into silver-rankers, guaranteed. No expense spared.”
“And all I have to do is clip a leash on my neck.”
“I’m not looking to put you in a box,” Lance said. “If you want to be a bigger fish, you need a bigger pond.”
Jason let out a laugh.
“You have no concept of how big the pond gets, Mr Houseman. This whole planet is the kiddie pool. Trying to impress me with how big and powerful your corner of the Network is will not work.”
Lance shook his head.
“It pains me to look at someone like you, with all you could be, running around like a racehorse with blinders on. All you can see is the narrow path someone else has put in front of you. I want to open your eyes and let you see the world.”
“As long as I see the parts the tour guide wants me to.”
Lance sighed.
“I didn’t want to bring this up,” he said, “because I knew it would be a delicate topic. Your friend, Farrah. She’s been through a lot. I wanted this to be a pleasant surprise after you signed on. We have expert counselling services that specialise in magic-related trauma. Our people can help her recover after the terrible circumstances she experienced because they have the training, the knowledge and the experience to give her the help we both know she needs.”
“You seriously think that I would trust your people to crawl inside her head?” Jason asked. “I think we’re done here.”
“Negotiation is a long road, Mr Asano. We’ll talk again.”
“Mr Houseman, I apologise for my ambiguity. I don’t think we’re done here. I know we are. Definitively. This is a hard no.”
Houseman stood up and adjusted his jacket.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Mr Asano. The time will come when you realise that we aren’t trying to recruit you because we need you. We’re doing it because you need us.”
Jason remained seated, spooning some cream from his iced chocolate into his mouth.
“That’s alright, Mr Houseman. The hard way is kind of my thing.”
Houseman left and got into the back of a black Mercedes that drove away. Jason felt the nearby silver-rank auras retreat.
“He said silver rank, rather than category three,” Shade observed.
“I noticed that too,” Jason said. “Did you spot that one aura?”
“The silver-rank one that was free of monster core residue?” Shade asked. “Yes, I did. It was holding back, mostly likely outside of what they believed to be the range of your aura senses.”
“It seems that he wasn’t lying when he said that I’m not as valuable as I think. The Americans already have the training methods for non-core advancement.”
“It’s not overly surprising,” Shade said. “If they could figure out the right meditation techniques, it wouldn’t be that hard. It’s unlikely they’re as refined as what Mr Remore and Miss Hurin have taught you, but it’s clearly above what the rest of the world has.”
“That makes sense,” Jason said.
He had learned that many branches had someone like Nigel who attempted to muddle through advancement without cores. They even swapped insights, the rest of the world not being as exclusionary to one another as the major powers. Jason suspected that, like anyone with looting powers, the Americans snatched up anyone who made real progress.
Being in Castle Reach already, Jason offered to pick Emi up from school. Erika agreed, especially since they were still living in Jason’s houseboat. When Jason and his niece arrived home, they heard music blasting from the rear of the houseboat.
Jason sensed Hiro in his cabin with the soundproofing to maximum, while Farrah and Taika appeared to be dancing on the rear deck. Farrah shut off the sound system as Jason approached, rushing up to him.
“Tina Turner is old!” she said.