“It’s becoming more important than ever that we get into that vault. Not only because of this khadga of Kali they intend to use but also to see if they are using other artifacts from the vault,” Elliott said.

“Has Pyramus been able to identify the artifacts which had been used?” asked Hadrien.

“No, but he still thinks he can lift the curse with a bit of time.”

Jaxon glanced over at Hadrien. He had expected him to look overjoyed but he merely looked grim, like he had no faith in the dark arts teacher.

“How will we break into the vault?” asked Alex, looking over at Leon.

“We have conducted a plan which is dependent on Blake’s skill with opening portals to another world. We cannot enter through our world but if we go to the spirit world then Crann Eolais have promised Blake that he will allow them to enter.”

“I’m surprised that the spirit of Crann Eolais would allow us to enter,” Elliott admitted, clearly suspicious of the spirit. Jaxon understood why. The only spirits the shifters handled is the animal spirits and they are very territorial.

“It’s Blake. Spirits love him,” Leon said with a shrug and Blake blushed, looking rather happy with his contribution. “We intend to execute this on 31 October. That’s when Samhain begins and the barrier between worlds is at its weakest. It will help us enter the spirit world more easily and safer.”

“I’m guessing we can’t access the artifact from the spirit world,” Alex said. “That sounds too easy.”

“No, the inside of Crann Eolais is a dimension outside the spirit world. The moment the spirit lets us enter, we will be visible to all people. We hedgewitches-“ Jaxon noticed that Blake looked happy when Leon called himself a hedgewitch, he still seemed a bit unsure to do so but it seemed to be easier for him now than before,” have constructed medallions that can hide the appearance of those that go in but there are certain requirements that need to be met.”

“Such as?”

“The medallions don’t really transform the carrier as transformation magic will be nullified when we enter, but I know enough of the magic of Crann Eolais to know ways to pass such securities. This medallion is more of an illusion, hiding a person true appearance and removing them from the viewers' attention but only if the person doesn’t look too close and most of all if the person doesn’t know their appearance.”

“Doesn’t your mother know pretty much all of us?” asked Jaxon, not liking where this is going.

“She will most likely not be there, and the other witches shouldn’t know all of our appearance at heart. That said, there is a reason why I will not go in with you,” Leon admitted. “We will need to choose people who the witches won’t know.”

“That would pretty much be shifters then,” Alex concluded. “I’m guessing I will go.”

“That is our intention. I thought that you and Jaxon should go, but you will need a witch and I and Blake are too well known in witch community. I have instructed Dale in magic and intend to send him with you.”

“Dale?” Jaxon said incredulously, not thinking the red-haired delta would be of much help but one glare from his brother ensured that he wouldn’t argue with that decision.

“I would also like to come,” a voice suddenly said from behind them. Wallace had just entered the office looking a bit sheepish. “The door was opened and I overheard you. I have wanted to help since I got here but didn’t know how. I have experience with magic and am trained to recognize different magic and how to break them. I previously worked for a coven removing spells from objects which should come in handy.”

“I’m not sure your father-“ Elliott started but Wallace just raised his hand.

“I’m not my father and he doesn’t rule over me. Even if he likes to try. If he tries to stop me, one call to my mother will put him in his place.”

Elliott let out a chuckle,” Maisie was always good at doing so.”

Jaxon remembered the short and bulky Mrs. Gladstone. She might not be tall but she was strong enough to grab boys by the neck and throw them out of her house if they caused a ruckus. Something he and Kai learned early on when they were younger.

“So, the team going on the heist is me, Jaxon, Dale, and Wallace then?” Alex counted the people. “Is that enough?”

“It will have to be. A too-large group will make the medallions work less,” Leon said with a nod.

“Then it is settled. I would suggest you work on your teamwork and read the instruction written by Mr. Graycrest. No one has stolen from the vault before but we need to ensure that we are the first,” Elliott said grimly. “Failure would be grave indeed.”

*****

Blake stretched, feeling tired after opening portals all day. He had been training with Denesha, creating portals where Coney had jumped in and out of. Half the time Blake had missed the mark and Coney jumped into a swamp or another strange place but lately, Blake has gotten the hang of it.

It has become easier but was still rather tiring. Denesha had just frowned at him though, muttering something about an unnatural amount of magic. Blake could only guess that he shouldn’t just be a bit fatigued would have been unconscious during the first hour of training.

The sun had started to set, making the sky red and the trees glowed in every color of autumn. The ground was filled with wet leaves making the paths slippery while mist started to lay thick over the old forest.

Shuddering from the impending cold, Blake was about to turn toward the dorms when he heard a loud crash from the Art Guild. Only hesitating for a second, Blake rushed over. Glancing along the building to try and locate where it comes from.

It seemed to come from the theater. Feeling his heart beat in his throat, Blake opened the door and glanced in. The area was dark. He slowly walked in, only to step on glass. He grimaced and looked down, thinking that something must have broken when a familiar voice shouted at him.

“Get out, Blake!” Pyramus voice came from down a couple of rows down. Peering into the darkness, Blake tried to see him but something else caught his attention. A shadow was jumping towards him by jumping from chair to chair. The movement were unnatural and fast, too fast for a human.

Realizing that this person was most likely not slowing down, Blake touched his bracelet, the arsios gem allowed his fire rune to glow in his palm. With a shout, Blake called out his trusty fire spell. “Isra!”

The flame missed the shadow, flaming for a moment before it faded away. Blake tried again but with the same result. The shadow was soon at him and Blake gritted his teeth and readied himself by touching another of his gems. The light blue vetusios gem glowed, allowing the wind rune to replace the fire one. With one last leap, the shadow jumped at him.

“Sutev Irum”

As the last word was uttered, a wall of wind blasted the theater. It wasn’t as sophisticated as Mya’s wall. Hers had been quiet and formed as solid as a wall of glass. Blake’s were ferocious like a storm, making the lamps shudder and chairs creak as the wind sent his assailant into the air, slamming it into the wall.

Blake stood there, waiting for the wind to settle. He listened in the darkness and let out a shout when lamps lit. By the switch stood Pyramus whose eyes darted over the theater. It then fell upon an unconscious form on the ground.

Both Blake and Pyramus stood frozen for a while before the scene started to rustle with life when people started to rush in. Haley and Hamish entered, most likely coming from the young world tree as it was closed to the Art Guild.

“What happened?” Haley asked, watching the chaotic scene.

“Pyramus was attacked,” Blake said, pointing at the unconscious figure. “I think I knocked him unconscious.”

“Stay here,” Haley said to Hamish before walking over to the unconscious figure. Blake held onto Hamish, nervous of what Haley would find.

“Well, it isn’t a he,” Haley’s voice said making all of the magic users flinch. Clearing his throat, Pyramus finally walking over. Blake and Hamish followed suit, as they assumed it was safe to do so.

All of them stared down at the figure. Long red hair spread over the floor and a familiar, pale was with freckles stared back at them.

No one said anything for a minute before Blake opened his mouth, “Isn’t that the girl who always follows Aeron around?”

*****

“Erin!” Aeron let out a shout somewhere between despair and joy when he saw his unconscious girlfriend lay in the infirmary. “Is she okay?”

“She will be fine,” Elliott said grimly. The now very round Joanne sighed, shaking her head.

“Physically she is fine, the bruises will heal fast but she will need rest.”

Without another word, Joanne waddled out of the room, rubbing her back as she did. Alex glanced over at the pale face of Erin, a bad feeling filling his gut. Hadrien and Blake stood by his side. Hadrien looked unmoving and quiet, the opposite of what Alex was feeling at the moment. What really bothered Alex was Ahriman though. He had come out of nowhere, examining the girl with quiet contemplation.

“I swear, Erin would never do this,” Aeron said, looking pleadingly at Elliott.

“She already has. She tried to kill Pyramus-“

“Which frankly is starting to become ridiculous. I’m not that bad of a person that I think people need to kill me,” Pyramus muttered which earned him a snort from Cainen who had also studied Erin.

“-and she attacked Blake. I’m also fairly certain she was the one who pushed Alex into the water as well,” Elliott said.

Alex had come to the same conclusion. It never occurred to him before but the movements of his assailants, the way she had jumped from tree to tree with such ease, was very similar to the way Erin had moved during the race.

“She wouldn’t-“ Aeron’s words were weak.

“I am not fully convinced she did this. At least not on her own accord,” Alex finally said grimly. It was time to reveal everything. “A while ago, I was investigating missing cases. Nonwolf shifters had vanished for twenty-four hours only to show up unharmed. Erin was the last one to vanish. I and Hadrien went out to follow her trail and found her in a weird, old temple. We brought her out thinking we saved her but… I’m starting to suspect that we failed.”

“Why wasn’t I informed of this?” Elliott looked furious and Alex couldn’t blame him. He was the one who would be blamed if this came out and he had no idea that it was happening.

“Because they are under my care, not yours. Besides,” Alex glanced over at Ahriman. “He didn’t want us to say anything.”

Everyone glared at Ahriman who raise his hands in surrender. “The temple is a strong power source, but a dark one. So far only we seemed to know where it was and I wanted it to stay so. I had my eyes on the place and Nemain and his minion haven’t returned. Whatever they were doing there has ended.”

“Describe the place where you find Erin,” Cainen said not seeming to care about Ahriman’s revelation.

Alex did, especially putting details on the circle she was laid in when they found her.

“I can tell you right now what that was and how that is a problem,” Cainen said after listening intensely to Alex’s every word.

“The thouwai is used to watch a person's soul, to be more exact their memories and previous lives,” Ahriman said finally removing his attention from Erin. Alex remembers the circle and getting a bad feeling from it. “Isn’t that the case?”

“That is what the Wang-u-Pa used it for but hedgewitches has found other means for it,” Cainen said.

“What might that be?” Elliott said, clearly not liking where this was going.

“Brainwashing. The thouwai opens a person's soul and you can put in commands that the person cannot go against.”

“I’m guessing you will need to use dark magic to make it work?” Pyramus said, after a few minutes of pondering the subject.

“Yes, and I fear it is very hard to get rid of but I think I can locate these commands in people at least. A simple praesidium spell will allow you to scan their soul and reveal any tampering.”

“Do it. Alex gets us a list of the people who went missing and starts there,” Elliott ordered. “I don’t care who does it, but anyone who has an idea. Try and get rid of this command or we can never trust these people again.”