“But if we destroy the others and get him in the last one, he can be exposed. Maybe harmed.”
Axer nodded. “It's an easier plan to predict. But it's far harder to destroy something from the outside. Time is against an attack from without. A siege is not in our favor. As soon as we start destroying the pentagram, Stavros will know. He'll know when the first seal is attacked, no less the last destroyed. He'll have every precaution and shield he's been working on for thirty plus years in place.”
Axer tossed magic into the center. “No matter what, we’re going to have to split up. That’s the only way any of this works.”
“Absolutely not,” Olivia said, steel under her words.
“You know the end game, Price,” Constantine said wearily. “Alexi is right. And we're going to need people at the sites simultaneously anyway.”
“When did the two of you become friendly again?” she asked aggressively. I could feel in our bond that she had expected him to agree with her.
Constantine lifted a brow. “You expected me to be reasonable and consistent?”
She growled.
“We all have our specialties, Olivia, though usually no one cares about a specialty for hail,” Mike said, twirling a thread of wind around his finger, lips tight. “We need to cover all parts of this plan near simultaneously. Sacrifice is inevitable, but the end game can be ours if we commit. I know you are committed. I know you will play your part. The rest of us are committed, too, let us play ours,” he ended softly.
I looked away.
Olivia's lips pulled tight. “I don't like this plan.”
“I don't either,” I whispered. “But if we want to beat him, we have to do it before he knows we switched the game.”
“It’s a bad game.”
“The board was set before we were ever on it. We were never playing a good one, but we can make it ours.” I looked around the table and saw the determined faces staring back. Even Olivia's.
I looked at the magic displayed in the center of the table, with our circular plans swirling around it—with the sacrifices that we might have to make. So many parts with so much risk.
“Verrange is gone,” I said. “But Kaine could have put the Crelussa painting into play again already, elsewhere. It was likely Salietrex was a seal. Maybe Jauvine, too. Which means Stavros has a way to patch the seals or move them. But once you start loosening a pentagram hide, it is never quite as strong as the original. Like patching tape on a broken toy.” I looked at Olivia. “We have to hit simultaneously. But even if that plan fails, he’ll still want an Origin Mage to remake the entire construct completely. From scratch. Better this time. He'll want me.”
“I don't like this.” And it was interesting, here at the end, that Olivia, that Constantine, had been the two at different points in time—Constantine earlier, and Olivia still now—to be the ones to hold out so fiercely. “We almost lost you.”
“I know,” I said painfully. “But not this time. That's what we are doing—we are going to make certain every one of us is standing at the end.” I had to believe that. “Together.”
Grim resignation and a veil of determination descended, and she nodded sharply. “Yes.”
Asafa cleared his throat, the others exchanging short nods. “So, locating the remaining seals... Dagfinn? What do you have for us?”
Dagfinn didn’t hesitate. “Five sites. Two extremely likely candidates, the other three good options as second tier hits.”
“Pull them up,” Axer said.
Dagfinn enlarged the hologram.
It was interesting how the Bandits—a bunch of independent and rebellious troublemakers—had automatically deigned to listen whenever Axer spoke.
“Darpin Sloughs. Fels Hollow. Picquant Moors. Shayvale Castle. Spartine Prison.”
The oxygen in my lungs felt like it had been lit on fire. “Why the prison?”
Dagfinn blinked. “Why...not the prison?”
Someone elbowed him, and I heard “brother” harshly whispered.
“Oh. Ohhhhh, right. Well.” Dagfinn coughed. “Er, that’s one of the two… I mean—”
“It’s okay, Dagfinn,” I said gently. “Spartine Prison has a Kinsky?”
“It…has a Kinsky with the date and hit parameters you provided. Now, no one can see the symbols like you can, but Verisetti tried to hit the prison three separate times. The motive was attributed to prisoner liberation by the media each time, but—”
“But he was probably trying to destroy a seal.” I pulled my finger across the hologram, rotating it. I forced myself not to look at the prisoner section.
“Also, the location pinged as a hit on our earlier Basement list. A few people we were tracking went into the prison—Department folks—then disappeared, only to reappear elsewhere later.”
“There are ports inside the prison,” Axer said.
“Yes. But our flagged villains didn't go into those rooms.” He pulled up a subset of schematics. “Government specs are supposed to show all port entrances and exits, even restricted ones. It’s a violation of building codes, otherwise someone might add in magic somewhere, not knowing that there’s already a space, and next thing you know—” He made an explosion with his hands.
“You cross-referenced, and the unmarked porting room has a Kinsky,” Olivia said, getting back on topic. When Olivia decided she was in a plan, she was in.
“The unmarked porting room has a Kinsky,” Dagfinn confirmed.
Axer nodded, unsurprised.
“I know some people who can scout the sites.” Dagfinn looked a little furtive. “No names, but they hate the Dep—”
“Julian can help.” Axer sketched a communication rune and tossed it across the table. “He knows the security measures and can give a rough sketch of them. He is...taking a leave of absence from his duties, as well as being off island. He can help you gather information. He'd be pleased to do it.”
Will and Dagfinn exchanged uneasy glances, then looked at me. I shrugged. I didn't trust Julian Dare much either, but if he could aid us...
“Show me what you have on Darpin Sloughs,” Axer said.
Dagfinn brought that one up, and they started dissecting it as well.
I tuned out. I had little doubt we'd have the correct hit list by the end of the day. Axer could pull on all my knowledge, at this point, by just curling his magic with Constantine's and tapping into the right thought. I happily left him to it with full permission.
I tapped on Constantine's confidence games device instead. Patrick went suddenly silent next to me. I looked up to see him staring down at it.
Crime Families and Punishment immediately landed next to him. Disloyalty, Dishonor, and Death followed.
“You can't trust an O'Leary,” Patrick said, eyes on his family's device.
I nodded and tapped the con above Five Man Act on our list, scrolling through the parameters. “So, I've heard.”