"I only just managed to escape from back there. I'd rather not get locked up somewhere else."
"..."
Klein swallowed. "I won't say a word."
"Wonderful."
She laughed lightly, pushed the carriage door open, and leapt out in one smooth motion. Gone.
In the same instant, Klein pushed back the curtain and snapped his fingers at the distance, a couple of times — fire jumping — then let his shadow lengthen and carry him away, body dissolving into a pool of darkness.
A little over ten minutes later, satisfied that no one had followed him, Klein finally exhaled. His mind immediately replayed the exchange and tried to organise it:
If Trissy had told the truth. If she'd truly been running from Prince Edessak's estate…
Klein immediately thought back to the reason Alice had given for the assassination request: the Prince had forcibly abducted a common girl.
Eisinger's investigation had touched on this as well, though the detective had expressed doubts — a man with that reputation had no obvious reason for something like that.
And yet — this seemed to confirm it after all.
"Did Alice know about Trissy from the very beginning?"
But why send someone to kill the Prince? Wouldn't rescuing Trissy make more sense?
Surely she didn't think killing Edessak was enough to set Trissy free?
Unless — it wasn't about Trissy at all. And the coincidence was just that. A coincidence.
He looked down at the pendant and ring in his hand. Knowing Trissy's history — ruthless, decisive, the kind who killed for her goals — the fact that she'd left a witness alive and even handed over expensive jewellery was highly suspect.
"These two items are harmful to me."
Klein flicked a coin. Tails up — negative.
He stepped quickly into a nearby café, went straight to the bathroom, locked the door, and reversed his four steps to climb up to the Grey Fog. Divined again there:
"The two items Trissy left me are harmful to me."
He held still for a few seconds. The topaz began to rotate — counter-clockwise.
"They're actually fine?"
Klein was genuinely baffled about what Trissy was up to.
But his mood lightened considerably. If a divination above the Grey Fog said there was no issue, then these two pieces of expensive jewellery were his now. Worth the trip.
"Since I can't figure it out on my own, I'll just pass this whole thing on to Miss Daly. The Church probably has leads I don't."
He pressed the flush, washed his hands, left the bathroom, and headed for the door. As he stepped out of the café, he felt a faint tremor in his spirituality — the subtle sense of someone's gaze landing on him.
He didn't turn around. He acted as though nothing had happened and flagged down a hired carriage.
"St. Samuel's Cathedral."
...
Inside the café.
Bernadette had been in the middle of a conversation with Katrina when the Eternal Witch's head turned sharply to one side. Bernadette raised an eyebrow and glanced in the same direction, then looked back. "What are you looking at?"
Katrina pressed her lips together, smiling. "A child who looks rather interesting."
She shook her head. "Never mind. Where were we?"
"You believe the Loen royal family intends to use the 'vessel' to stage the ritual themselves — to bring the True Creator down."
Bernadette set down her coffee cup. "Outside of that explanation, I can't account for why MI9 would take my Master's 'vessel' into custody."
Katrina tapped her lips with one finger, her smile sliding into something foxlike. "Does that mean our cooperation is over?"
"I don't care either way."
And she genuinely didn't. From start to finish, her only aim had been to understand exactly what the Demoness Sect and the Loen royal family were planning — partly to complete her own Sequence 2 advancement ritual, partly to prepare for eventually stopping George III's Black Emperor ascension.
Katrina sighed theatrically. "You really have no sense of humour, Mr. A."
She pinched her chin and thought it over. "I wasn't aware of this development — and I know nothing of what the Augustus Family is actually planning. But you're right that it's an unexpected shift, and for those two other families in particular it introduces a great deal of new uncertainty."
"Here's what I'll do: I'll go ask them directly what their revised intentions are. Once I have something, I'll let you know."
She was already getting up when something else came to mind. "Oh, and — the Castilla and Tamara families have already arrived in Backlund. The curtain isn't far from rising."
She gave Bernadette a pointed look. "Is the Aurora Order prepared? When it all starts, one lone demigod on your side isn't going to accomplish much."
"As long as the Master can descend successfully," Bernadette said, "none of that matters."
Katrina covered her mouth with a small laugh. "Fair enough. Well — I'll wish you success in advance."
Bernadette watched Katrina walk out of the café, then held her cup in both hands and said inwardly: "Do you think we could use the Shadow Box to raise the odds of the Demoness Sect and the Loen royal family falling out with each other?"
"That would be difficult."
The main reason the Demoness Sect was cooperating with George III in the first place was the Conqueror's Beyonder characteristic — the Seq 1 characteristic of the Hunter Pathway, something the Primordial Demoness was determined to have.
"The Shadow Box works on a kind of equivalent exchange. To achieve a specific outcome, you have to pay a corresponding price. I honestly can't picture what we'd have to offer to make those two forces turn on each other."
Bernadette nodded. These were all things she understood. "Any fresh ideas for Shadow Box roleplay?"
In recent days they'd tried a few more "setup" attempts at the Aurora Order and on the Dawn — but compared to the first time with Leonard, the potion digestion had been noticeably slower.
If this was the path to full digestion, it would take forever.
"Actually, the current state of Backlund is quite well-suited for Shadow Box roleplay."
"Oh? What are you thinking?"
Vincent turned the Great Smog incident over in his mind. "Based on what we know, the parties directly involved in this whole affair are: the Loen royal family, the Demoness Sect, the Psychology Alchemists, the Castilla Family, the Tamara Family, and the Aurora Order."
"Every one of these factions has its own goal. The royal family wants to hide the human trafficking and the mausoleum construction. The Castilla and Tamara families want to put pressure on the Augustus Family — maybe take a piece off them. The Aurora Order's motives go without saying. The Demoness Sect and the Psychology Alchemists — we don't have the full picture yet, but they both have something they're after."
"What if… through a series of operations, we could arrange things so that every single one of these factions fails to achieve their original goal — and their efforts end up serving us instead? Would that count as a kind of 'Shadow Box manoeuvre'?"
To be continued…
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