Shift

SIXTEEN.1

Walter kicked all the patrons out of his shop and spent a few minutes drawing a transport rune on the dusty wooden floors. Blaze could tell he was an experienced caster; Walter's movements were sure and quick, and the rune circle—large enough to transport all five of them at once—only took twenty minutes to complete. And when they all arrived in the front parking lot of Le Lieu, they experienced nothing more than a slight jolt upon landing.

"I'm a bit concerned that those two illusions were able to find you," Walter said as he shut his spell book. He adjusted his large glasses and looked around the parking lot, as if expecting to see Vincent and Marie materialize out of thin air. "Typically illusions can't track people. Naven would had needed to give them a personal item of yours, or someone would have to be marked with some sort of tracking spell. Do you think they saw you escape and followed you out of Le Lieu?"

"I don't know. It's possible," Blaze said. The realization that they had somehow been tracked did worry him, but right now, he was more worried about facing Naven again. His heart pounded in his chest, thumping painfully against his ribcage.

Walter led them inside the building and, after flashing a card at the concierge, led them down a hallway. He looked down at his watch, a simple thing with an earthy brown strap, and tapped the cracked screen. "We're a little early, but I'm sure they won't mind."

"'Mind'?" Helio looked at him in disbelief. "We're about to barge into the Congregation and threaten them, and you think they won't mind?"

Lexi squeezed his hand. "We're not going to threaten them. We're going to convince them." She looked at Blaze. "Right?"

"Right," he said, glancing over at Kayden. She was by his side, only a few inches away; he wasn't sure if she was drawing nearer to him because of the Bonding Oath or something more. In her arms was Walter's laptop, which she held to her chest as carefully as a newborn.

She caught his glance and frowned. "What?"

"Nothing," Blaze said, turning away. The green bonding symbol glinted from his wrist, taunting him.

Oh quiet you, he thought, trying to stop himself from glancing over at Kayden again.

After a few minutes of navigating the hallways, Walter stopped in front of a single wooden door. "This is it," he said.

"Is it spelled?" Helio asked, rolling a piece of chalk between his thumb and forefinger.

"Doesn't look like it to me," Walter said. His eyes swept over them. "So, ready to rock and roll?"

No one answered. Instead, Blaze reached for the knob and pushed.

The door swung open easily revealing a plain conference room. The Congregation members were all seated at the table, eating lunch. A caterer with a cart of steaming pasta stood in the corner of the room.

Lucas Carsten's eyes flitted up at the doorway and his brows furrowed in confusion as he took in the scene before him. "Mr. Voyle? You're a little early. Your appointment is at 3:30..."

"Are these your grandchildren?" Nicholas Wheeler asked between bites of pasta. Blaze recognized his characteristic bald spot.

Russ Naven, who had been engrossed in his meal and hadn't bothered looking up when they had entered, now stood up, dropping his fork to the table. "Those are not his grandchildren," he said, his eyes narrowing into slits. "They're criminals."

"Criminals?" Lira Fallon asked, looking up at him skeptically. She dabbed at her red lips with a paper napkin. "They look like teenagers."

"The two girls are sanspotestas," Naven said, snapping his fingers twice. Two security guards, who had been stationed against the walls, rushed forward and grabbed onto them.

Blaze had had enough of being manhandled for one day. "Let go!" he shouted, trying to drive his elbow into the security guard's gut to no avail.

"What are you doing?" Carsten said, looking at Naven appalled. "They are all just teenagers! Have them released!"

"Lucas," Naven said, "they are not just teenagers. The two boys graduated from Sir Mallard's in April, and are therefore adults. And they have broken the law. Mr. Merg and Mr. Ruke have told these two girls about the potestas community without any sort of intention of marriage. This one," he added with a finger towards Blaze, "even cast a Binding Spell with the non-er to try to seduce her."

"It was a Bonding Oath," Kayden piped up. She looked furious. "I'm the one who made him cast it and he was not trying to seduce—"

"Quiet." Naven's eyes narrowed. "I had them detained earlier today, but they escaped. I even sent a pair of illusions after them, but they were unsuccessful in bringing them back. But now that they're here, I will make sure they are subjected to the harshest penalties the law offers—"

"Russ, are you mad?" Lira asked, standing up.

The room faded into silence for a moment, and everyone was still. It was as if the temperature in the room had suddenly dropped. Blaze even felt goose bumps rise up on his skin.

"How am I mad?" Naven demanded, his voice a stern hiss. "I am upholding the law, a law that these boys broke by telling them about us!"

"And you have broken it in turn by locking them up. You are a member of the Congregation, not law enforcement. If you thought it was a good idea to arrest them, you should have notified the proper authorities, or at the very least notified the rest of us!" Her eyes were like ice. "You are so hot tempered, Russ, and you continue to break from protocol. Carsten is the head of the Congregation not because he is the oldest, but because he is the wisest. You, on the other hand, have been crossing the line far too much recently."

Naven's face had lost a bit of color. "I was just trying to enforce the law," he said through clenched teeth.

"Well, you took it too far." Giving him one more look, Lira sat down in her seat.

Carsten sighed. "Russ," the head of the Congregation said quietly, "please find someplace to cool off." He looked at the guards who were still holding onto everyone tightly. "Let them go, and please escort Mr. Naven to his room."

"Don't treat me like a child," Naven said, struggling to keep his voice even. "I can go myself." He shut his briefcase and grabbed his plate of pasta. As he strutted out of the conference room, with a guard following a few feet behind, he gave Walter a hard look and disappeared down the hallway.

Carsten ran his fingers through his thinning white hair. "I'm very sorry for that," he said, pushing his plate away. "Please have a seat. Let's end lunch early and have this meeting about Mr. Voyle's book."

"Actually, Mr. Carsten," Walter said, sitting down. Blaze saw that his hands were shaking. "I came here to tell you that I'm going to pull my book from the presses."

The remaining members of the Congregation froze, clearly off-put by his announcement. Wheeler was the first to speak. "I... I don't understand," he said, staring at Walter with a mixture of confusion and anxiety. He picked up a copy of A Progressive Book of Magic, which had been lying on the table next to him, and flipped through some of the pages. "We've had a number of spell checkers and some of our best scientists look everything over. Everything seems perfectly safe. Is your press not working anymore? Because we are more than prepared to give you a number of new presses, state of the art. And each copy will be inspected by a government member so that they're guaranteed safe for the public."

"There's nothing wrong with the spells themselves," Walter explained hastily. "But they won't work for people who cast spells before the shift and are suffering from debilitating effects. Blaze and Kayden are an example."

Lira raised an eyebrow and her eyes fell on Blaze and Kayden. Blaze noticed that Kayden was running her nails on top of Voyle's laptop, scratching at the plastic. Eventually, Lira gestured to the table. "Please, sit." As they all drew chairs, she pointed a finger at Kayden. "You mentioned a Bonding Oath. What exactly happened?"

- - -

Sorry for the strange cut in this chapter; it doesn't exactly split easily! But oh Naven... you silly, silly man. Let me know what you think! As usual, votes and comments are greatly appreciated :) It means so much to me that you all read each week! <3Bdicocco