The next few days are spent uneventfully. Neither political nor personal developments revealed. After the first night, Rachel finally agrees to deactivate the expensive shield generator in favour of Allia’s stockpiled barriers around the house. Unfortunately, the parents are forced to leave them after being called away to work, but they promise that the mysterious protector is still watching over the house.

  The girls mostly work on assignments from school, with materials taken from Allia’s bungalow by Gerrald, and spend the rest of it just reposing together. They enjoy the chance to spend so much time together, and fill the quiet moments with idle chitchat.

  Finally, it’s time for the school assembly.

  The parents have to work during it, so the girls walk together by themselves. Hundreds of students converge together at the gym where it’s being held and there’s a nervous energy from all of them as they gape at the changes the attack wrought on their beloved school. Trees splintered, verandas collapsed, art destroyed and buildings completely restructured to deal with the damage. Two of the buildings are completely gone – demolished to be built up from scratch.

  The students murmur amongst themselves as they wait in the gym until the school’s president – an elderly man with a bushy, silver beard walks up to the podium and makes a speech. There’s nothing new, save for one detail.

  “Most of you are likely worried that this attack might escalate into a war… some of you might want it to. Regarding that, we have received communication from the central council this morning that they have received communication from the central demonic council disavowing the attack and declaring it the work of rogue operatives.” Like the rest of the speech, it’s delivered in a bumbling cadence that mutes its impact.

  Other than that, it’s mostly just the standard platitudes. ‘We will heal. Those who did this will be punished. It’s time to come together.’ That sort of thing. Only at the end does he move from the boring the practical. Announcing how to sign up for free therapy for anyone who wants it, and how to file for free book replacement for anyone whose lockers were destroyed in the attack.

  All and all, the speech is rather tepid. A few faces leave the room looking uplifted by his words, but most seem even more anxious than when they walked in.

  The girls quickly make their way out, trying to get ahead of the rest of the crowd and head to J’s office. At the entrance to the building they find Alex and Emil waiting, cooly leaning against the wall.

  “Hey guys,” Allia says with an upbeat smile.

  “Hey!” they say back.

  “I heard you two got caught up in the fighting. I hope you were alright.” Emil says, looking from Allia to Sarrah.

  “Oh, yeah. Everything was fine,” Allia smiles. “Or, maybe not fine. We’ll definitely be doing the therapy thing. But physically, you know.”

  Emil smiles back. “Yeah, I get that. Sorry I wasn’t there to help. My mansion is far enough that we didn’t know anything was amiss until the skykraken.”

  “It’s fine,” Alex smiles. “We managed fine without you. Speaking of, the three of us have something to do now. Sorry we can’t take you with us. Standard secrecy oath.”

  “Ah, of course. Say no more.” Emil smiles, and turns to the girls without speaking.

  “Do you… want us to tell you about it?” Sarrah asks, hesitantly.

  “I am legally barred from saying yes,” he says, his emotion not shifting from a banal, pleasant smile.

  “Oh… good to know. We’re not going to tell you though,” Sarrah says, matter of factly.

  “Oh… ok… I’ll see you later then,” he says, his face drooping slightly in disappointment a moment before he disappears in a purple flash.

  “Ah, now I feel bad,” Allia says, head tilted.

  “Don’t,” Sarrah orders. “Even if we’re not legally bound like Allex is, it’s still not a good idea to spread what’s going on unnecessarily.”

  Allia pouts. “Yeah, but don’t we trust Emil? I thought you did at least.”

  Sarrah just rolls her eyes and drags her into the building.

  Once inside, the girls take a quick detour to their lockers and confirm that they’re still there and everything inside of them are intact, then make their way up to J’s office… then immediately back down again as J ushers them back down to the vault room – this time with extra security guarding it. Inside the lab though is only a single assistant – a mousy girl with thick, wide tinted glasses and a long, thick braid of metallic gold hair.

  “This is my assistant, Dena. She’s the only one that I’ve cleared of being the spy.” J explains.

  “How did you clear her?” Sarrah asks.

  J shrugs. “The usual methods. That and she didn’t know certain things that the demons did, and did know things that the demons didn’t. Of course, it’d be less certain if there were two spies, but besides it just being unlikely for two separate vetted researches to decide to sell to the same group, I’ve also seen no evidence of it being the case.”

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “I see,” Allia says, extending her hand to the girl. “Well, nice to meet you Dena.”

  The girl silently nods and shakes the hand precisely once then returns to adjusting the various instruments throughout the room.

  “Now Allia,” J says, motioning towards the now vacant pedestal at the centre of the vault. “If you’d be so kind as to return the artifact?”

  “Oh, right, of course!” Alla smiles cheerfully and gestures. The room is filled with a bright light and the orb is back where it started when it fades a moment later.

  Seeing this, Dena rushes forward and begins reattaching cables to it at what looks to be precise positions. As she does, J stares at various instruments, stroking her chin and mutter the word “interesting” over and over again.

  “Has something changed?” Allia asks, innocently.

  “Huh? Oh, yes. The energy readouts are completely different than before. Even from the ones that were taken from when it was in you. It’s doubled in total power, and the frequency has been completely altered. No idea if it’ll give any new clues though.”

  “Oh… too bad.” Allia says, stooping to examine the orb more closely, only to have to jump back as Dena rushes past her and attaches another cable.

  “Oh… Allia, perhaps you’d like to wait outside? It’ll take a while to go through the new measurements.”

  Sarrah speaks first. “Why would we need to wait? Our part in all this is over, isn’t it? Why can’t we just leave?”

  “Well, I suppose nothing’s stopping you, but I thought maybe you’d like to discuss a few things? It’s why I called the lordling in with the rest of you.”

  “We’d be happy to wait,” Allia says with a pacifying smile to which Sarrah rolls her eyes.

  Outside the lab stands a trio of League soldiers, silently on guard with carbines and a shield piercer slung from their shoulders. The friends glance at the soldiers and decide to make light conversation.

  “So, what’d your father say about everything?” Sarrah asks Allex.

  Allex raises a questioning eyebrow at her sudden interest in his family life, but makes a polite smile. “Well, he figured out that the attack had to do with J’s project, and I had to tell him I took a secrecy oath when he started asking questions.”

  “And he didn’t press you?” Allia asks with concern.

  His expression becomes a mix of scoffing and delight at her concern. “Of course he didn’t. He understands the need to make secrecy oaths to gain information. Anyways, he doesn’t believe the story about the disavowals. Of the baited breath or the demons. His current theory that he’s investigating is that the demons and West Chthonians are working together for some reason. But I think that’s just coincidence and the militant mind’s standard paranoia about West Chthonia’s official neutrality with the demons being secretly being a deeper bond.”

  It's Sarrah’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “He knew about the demon disavowal when you talked with him last? Didn’t the president say that the central council only learned about that his morning?”

  He nods. “Well of course, we have a relative on the council after all.”

  “Convenient,” Sarrah says sardonically.

  “Very,” Allex smugly.

  Suddenly, the door from the lab bursts open and J rushes out. “Allia! Enter the lab please!”

  The friends look at each other askance, but hastily comply. Inside they can feel vibrations building through the floors and wall. Dena is frantically recording readings from various devices, looking up upon J’s entry. “Localized discreteness phenomenon is increasing. Estimate critical event in 7 minutes.” She says, her voice quiet yet possessing a quality that demands to be heard.

  “Thankyou Dena… Alla would you kindly reabsorb the orb?” J says, motioning to the artifact.

  “What will happen if she doesn’t?” Sarrah says, arms akimbo in a confrontational stance.

  “Likely nothing good.”

  “Meaning you don’t know,” Sarrah says.

  J hesitates, before shaking her head.

  “And I suppose that means you don’t know what will happen if she does absorb it again either?” Sarrah asks.

  “…Again, no. All I know is that it was stable inside of her, and immediately after leaving it started rapidly separating the space around us from the outside world. What will happen then I can only guess; that guess being we all die from having our souls removed from a sustaining locale in the exact way that a mage who casts too much does.”

  Sarrah stares at her then snaps her head to Allia. “I think she believes what she’s saying.”

  Allia glances to her friend, then raises her hand. The room fills with light again and the orb has vanished when it abates.

  “Readings… returning to normal. Discreteness rapidly absolving… I think we’re safe,” Dena says, again in an almost whisper that feels like a calm shout.

  J, and everyone else in the room, breathes a sigh of relief.

  “That’s odd,” Dena says, pointing a particular dial. “It’s back to normal now, but it’s showing a massive energy peak on a frequency it hadn’t emitted from before.”

  “Can you tell if the other sites may have emitted anything in return?” J asks, leaning over her shoulder.

  Dena shakes her head. “It wouldn’t make it to our sensors if it did. That frequency scatters too quickly in our atmosphere. Maybe one our stations closer to them could have picked something up, but the intensity would have to be extraordinary.”

  “They’re extraordinary objects. We’ll send a request for data,” J says, then turns to Allia. “I’m sorry Allia, but I’m afraid I am going to have to ask you to keep the orb in you for the time being. It would simply be too dangerous to remove it.”

  “Do you have any idea what caused the orb to act up?” Sarrah asks.

  J shrugs. “All we know is that every time she removes the orb, a different configuration emerges. Perhaps we simply got unlucky with the configuration it landed on this time.”

  “So perhaps if she removed it would stabilize again?” Sarrah asks, hopeful with a note of desperation.

  J shrugs. “Possibly. But possibly not. All we know is that it became dangerous outside of her, and that it is presently stable.”

  “And we can’t just fly over an abys in a high-speed plane and drop it? Let it blow up in a kraken nest as we get away?”

  “It might not explode. As far as we know, it could produce a knew more dangerous breed of krakens. Rapidly mutating them as if they were in human presence for extended time,” J says, very reasonably deducing the worse conceivable case.

  Sarrah breathes deeply then rapidly, looking around the room, then lets out a sudden scream of frustration as she pounds her fist against a wall – making a dent in the plaster. “Come on Allia, we’re going.”

  “I need to perform tests. She could…” J begins, but is interrupted by another outburst by Sarrah.

  “I don’t care about what you need! My friend is in this situation because you decided to hide the artifact where it’d be easy for you to study instead of in a remote black site where it belongs! Nothing you can do will help her! All it can do it satisfy your damn curiosity!” Sarrah yells and points dramatically, then all around, seemingly without a specific target.

  J draws herself up, staring silently at her, then turns her head an inch to regard Allia. “Is this your decision as well?”

  Allia regards her friend, then nods. “I trust my friend’s judgement.”

  “A foolish judgement. But if that is your decision, so be it. I have no right to detain you. Just don’t leave the city again. Hm? I will see you all around. Meanwhile, we will study what we can from here, and let you know of developments that we think you need to know.” With that, she gives a simple nod, and turns to study the devices lining the wall, completely dismissing their presence from her mind.