April 22

circumstance, product, team, career, throat, trunk, term, applaud, white, plan

Captain Ogie got the team back to the Veil with a smooth jump and a minimum of nausea. I had to applaud the gods of circumstance that made Poa confess that he only pretended to see the magical glow.

Jasmine had found out our friends on the first floor couldn’t see the glow either. They weren’t career criminals, merely Headquarters’ employees looking to score a few boxes of the special product before inventory.

Jasmine and I huddled in my office after the others had gone. “My throat is as dry as parchment,” Jas announced. She grabbed a bottle of bitter porter and perched on the trunk that held blankets and pillows for overnight office stays. I plopped a white marshmallow into my mug of hot chocolate. I plopped a white marshmallow into my mug of hot chocolate. Chocolate and marshmallows: two more reasons I’d die to protect Half Light.

“We now have two decent clues. We know that someone high up in the Headquarters’ business is orchestrating something big,” I said. “And we know that this magic is as powerful as it gets, but the humans are as clueless as ever.”

“It’s high magic, no doubt,” Jasmine agreed. “We need a Researcher and a Banshee now.”

Contracted magic was costly, but we couldn’t move forward without it. No way could we pay for a long term. But I had the seed of a plan.