Author's note: I thought really hard about magic in the Seeker's world, I watched all the episodes a bunch of times (That was tough :D) If you guys want to know anything specific, let me know and I'll explain as best I can. Otherwise, enjoy the fic...I think this one is about eight chapters long.

This is set between Coming of Age and The Golden Asp.

When Destiny Calls You

Dante was starting to worry.

He didn't worry about his team much. In battle there wasn't time, and they generally didn't need it anyway; Lok and Sophie had developed into a very effective team, and Zhalia fought beside Dante with a determination that sometimes surprised and sometimes amazed him. Outside of battle, they rarely seemed to need it either. Sophie was self-possessed to the point of isolation; she rarely dwelt on her mistakes, choosing to learn from them and move on. Zhalia…

He'd kept an eye on Zhalia after Vlad's castle, but when she'd returned to him that rainy day in Venice, she'd seemed easier in herself. The weight she'd carried since the day they'd met was gone, and Metz' easy acceptance and Lok's steadfast belief had wiped out any doubts she had left.

Speaking of Lok.

The boy had been sitting at the table for almost three hours, Cherit beside him, working out of a thick text. Dante had assumed it was one of Sophie's, that he was learning a new power, until she'd told him it was summer homework from the Academy they both attended.

"I didn't think he'd do it," she'd added quietly. "I was expecting him to ask for mine to copy."

Zhalia and Lok both maintained that Zhalia had taken the brunt of the ill-treatment during their captivity in Australia. They agreed that Lok's pneumonia, while alarming, hadn't been as serious as it seemed; it was enough to destroy his control over his magic, but not dangerous in any way. On the contrary, he'd played it up at every opportunity to keep Klaus from taking his magic. And both of them, separately, insisted that the other couldn't have done anything else to protect them. Zhalia agreed that sending Cherit away, though a bad idea at the time, had worked out for the best. And Lok told him how Zhalia had manipulated Klaus into sending for a doctor – indirectly keeping them in Australia long enough for Dante to find them – and how she'd consistently taken punishment herself rather than let them hurt him.

In the wake of her defection back to the Foundation, her protection had come to mean even more; surrounded by the people she'd sworn loyalty to, she'd still stayed by his side, still kept him safe. She could have avoided all her own injuries by simply walking away from him, and she hadn't.

Dante doubted there was much Zhalia could ask for that Lok wouldn't do, trying to repay a debt she'd never even acknowledge.

Zhalia, Lok and Cherit were all adamant that apart from a few shoves, and one medically impersonal examination, no one had touched Lok. So none of them could explain why he was so jumpy now. The first time Sophie had cuffed his shoulder – something she'd done a hundred times in the two months they'd known each other – he'd all but fallen over himself to get away from her, and then locked himself in his room for the rest of the day. They'd learned since; none of them touched him now unless they were on a mission, and then only when absolutely necessary.

"Penny for them," Zhalia murmured, leaning against the wall beside him. Dante tilted his head; Zhalia followed the gesture and sighed. "Lok."

"Lok," Dante agreed.

"I wondered why Guggenheim suddenly ran out of missions. Here we have the fabulous Amulet of Will, the one Eathon Lambert spent twenty years searching for, and we haven't done anything with it yet."

"Atlantis shook Lok up pretty bad. Guggenheim and I agreed to give him as much of a break as we could."

"That might be partly my fault," Zhalia admitted.

"Your fault? How?"

Zhalia glanced at Lok, still bent over his book but probably within hearing range if he'd cared enough to listen, and led Dante into the kitchen. "Lok wanted to know why the Professor wanted him so badly. I messed up, I kept saying 'you' instead of 'us'."

"And what did you tell him?"

"That Eathon Lambert was the best Seeker in his generation, and that you'd taken Lok on because he has the potential to be the best in ours. I didn't - I know that's not the only reason you took him on. I just needed him to stop making Klaus so angry."

She wasn't looking at him, but she thought Dante sounded mildly amused. "Did he?"

"He stopped talking. It scared me. But I think that's why, when he realized Eathon had failed…" She fell silent, thinking of the near-rampage Lok had gone on, tearing through Rassimov and his Suits almost without effort.

"Eathon didn't die in that room," Dante reminded her. "It's true he didn't reach Atlantis, but that doesn't mean he failed. He moved on, is all."

"Dante!" Lok called from the other room. "Guggenheim's calling."

Dante headed back into the living room, sitting down beside Lok. Zhalia stayed in the kitchen doorway, raising a hand in acknowledgement when Guggenheim looked in her direction.

"Hello, Dante. Hope you weren't in the middle of anything too important. I've got a mission I think your team might be able to help with."

"What is it, Guggenheim?" Dante asked.

"We've had some reports from Ireland." Lok tensed but didn't speak as he continued, "Specifically from…Killarney. Scarlett Burne has reported what seems to be unaligned Seekers causing havoc there. Unfortunately she is currently in County Meath, at a site called Brugh naw Bone, and she…"

"Bru na Bóinne," Lok corrected him.

"Er…yes. At any rate, she can't investigate it herself. She's officially requested backup, and I thought your team might be the best. Home advantage, and all that."

Dante glanced at Lok. "Killarney's pretty near your mother's home, right?"

"Yeah." Lok looked down at the table. "Pretty near."

"So what do you think?"

"What's the mission?"

"According to Scarlett's report," Guggenheim said, "renovations in a disused store unearthed old graves, thought to belong to a local monastic order. Scarlett believes that three, possibly more amulets were also uncovered. She left Brugh…Meath…to recover them, but before she could they were stolen. Since then there have been incidents in the town she believes can be attributed to new Seekers discovering their powers. She battled them once, but they escaped before she could stop them, and she's had to return to Meath to complete her work there. Besides, this is not really the type of mission she's suited for."

"If these new Seekers don't know what they're doing, they're dangerous," Zhalia said quietly.

"Yes, precisely why we want to find them," Guggenheim agreed."

"And do what?" Lok asked.

"Recruit them," he said, surprised. "A Seeker who figures out how to cast spells on their own is worth recruiting. Oh…Lok." He looked down, shuffling through his papers. "These Seekers aren't using the standard terms for their spells. Scarlett included the names she was able to overhear, but they're in Irish. I'm sending the list to Dante's Holotome now."

"We'll talk to Sophie and let you know what we're doing," Dante said. Guggenheim nodded.

"One more thing, Dante. Scarlett was attacked on her way back to Meath; she thinks it was these same Seekers. She and Gybolg fought them off and there's been no further threats."

Dante nodded grimly. "She's alright?"

"Yes. Be careful, Dante. These Seekers are not above trying to get revenge."

Dante nodded again and Guggenheim's image vanished.

"Why aren't they using the normal spells?" Lok asked, frowning.

"They probably are." Zhalia perched on the coffee table, twisting so she could watch Dante fiddle with his Holotome. "They're just not using the names we would, because they don't know them."

"You and Dante taught me," Lok said, getting it.

"Right. Metz taught him, and Klaus taught me," and she ignored or didn't see Lok's shudder, "but we're all working from the Casterwill spell book; he created the first spells."

"They're most likely using the same spells," Cherit added, "but just not the trigger words you would."

"I knew a Seeker once who yelled 'Higher!' every time he wanted to use Hyperstride. It can be useful in combat, because your opponent doesn't know exactly what you're doing. Here." Dante turned the Holotome towards him.

Lok studied the list of words. "That's fire," he said after a moment.

"Like fire a gun?" Zhalia asked.

"Nu-uh. Flames." Still studying the list, he didn't see the look that passed between Dante and Zhalia. "Jump, throw, smoke…"

"What's wrong?" Dante asked when he trailed off.

"Scarlett must have heard it wrong. That…" He tapped the word gortaigh. "It just means hurt. It must have been something else."

He caught the look that time; frowning, he sat back. "What?"

"I'm going to call Sophie," Dante said, getting up and heading for the kitchen again. Zhalia made a face at him; Lok carefully shut down the Holotome, meeting her gaze when she looked back.

"Something Dante thinks I'm not going to like?"

He even managed to sound only mildly bitter. Zhalia shrugged, pretending not to notice. "Seekers who find their powers that way almost always either burn themselves out, trying to do too much, or they join the Organization."

"Why?"

"Because a Seeker who finds his power that way starts to think they're better than everyone. They get power hungry. And if the choice is between the Organization and the Foundation…"

"I guess. They don't just stay rogue?"

"That's not usually an option," she said carefully. "Rogue Seekers are a threat to all of us. If they won't join – the Foundation usually just takes their Titans away."

Lok didn't ask what the Organization did. He knew how far they'd go to protect their secrets.

"Sophie's on her way," Dante announced from the doorway. "You guys ready?"

"Dante?" Lok stood, looking oddly nervous. "Killarney's less than fifteen miles from my mom's house."

"I'm sure it's just a coincidence. Go and get your stuff; we'll go as soon as Sophie gets here. Maybe your mom would like to see the journal?"

Lok frowned. "Yeah. Come on, Cherit."

Zhalia waited until his footsteps faded. "Twenty eight thousand square miles in that country and you think it's a coincidence?"

"No. Last time we were in Ireland, Lok said his mother's family were from that area."

"His mother's a Seeker," Zhalia said slowly.

"She was. She was good, too; she'd have been a Elite Seeker if she hadn't quit to raise Lok and Cathy. It's possible her ancestors left those Titans there."

Upstairs, Lok zipped up his backpack. Over the last two months he'd got used to travelling light, and since he still had clothes in his mother's house he was travelling lighter than usual this time. Flopping onto his back on the bed, he stared up at the ceiling. "Cherit?"

"Aye, m'boy?"

"How does taking a Titan away stop someone using magic?"

Cherit perched on the bed rail, watching him. "That's a complicated one." Lok didn't answer, and after a moment Cherit continued. "Many people have the ability to use magic. Maybe as many as half the people in the world. But magic is wild and difficult to control. Very few people can master it alone."

"So Titans help control the magic."

"Aye, exactly. Titans lend their strength to their Seekers. The more Titans you have, the more control over your magic, the more Titans you can have. In Vlad's castle, when you lost your Titans, you didn't cast any spells."

Lok rolled over onto his front, frowning. "No, I guess not. I didn't really think of it."

"You knew instinctively it wouldn't do any good."

"I guess. Why did the Organization bother blocking Zhalia's magic, then? Why didn't they just take her Titans away?"

"Because she might have gotten her hands on a Titan, taken it from a Suit. And if she'd had her magic, I could have helped her temporarily. Blocking her magic was safer."

"And more painful," he muttered.

"Aye. I don't doubt that was part of it."

"Lok!" Zhalia called from downstairs. "Sophie's here!"

"Coming!"

***

"Ireland again?" Sophie said, when the mission was explained. "And so near your home, Lok!"

"That's what I said," he agreed.

"Have you called your mother?"

"No. I figured I'd call her when we find out what flight we're on."

"She won't mind us arriving without warning, will she?" Dante asked, swinging his bag onto his back.

"Nah. Mom loves having people to fuss over. The more the merrier."

"And Cathy?" Zhalia asked.

"Cathy? Cathy doesn't care what we do." He glanced at Cherit. "You're gonna have to hide a bit, buddy. Cath still doesn't know about the Foundation."

"Why doesn't she know?" Sophie asked. "I think Cathy would be a great Seeker."

"She's certainly more studious than Lok," Zhalia remarked, carefully not meeting their eyes.

Lok mouthed 'boring', smiling when Sophie chuckled. "My mom doesn't want her to feel like she has to join up. She wouldn't have told me yet either, if I hadn't found Kipperon. When Cathy finishes college next year we're going to tell her."

"That'll be a fun conversation. 'So, Cathy, we're all part of a secret organ…secret group, including your younger brother, and we're trying to save the world. Want in?' Don't see how she could say no."

"If you were giving that speech, I'd say no," Sophie told her.

"Studious isn't always better," Dante said thoughtfully. "Sometimes it works very well, like with Sophie here. But Eathon and Lok work best on instinct."

"That's another way of saying he rushes in without a plan?" Sophie asked, arching an eyebrow.

"What about my mom?" Lok asked interestedly, ignoring Sophie.

"Your mother studied. Much like Sophie, she came from a family of Seekers and knew Titans growing up. She only ever Bonded with four, I believe, and two of them are with the Foundation now. When she left the Foundation she only kept Lunar and Solar."

"It's weird thinking about her as a Seeker," Lok said thoughtfully.

"She was very skilled." Dante ushered them out, locking the door behind him. "Now we should go, or she'll be facing down those Seekers by herself."

"I bet she could handle it," Lok said brightly.

"I'm sure she could. Let's not find out."

***

Lok was waiting with Sophie while Dante sorted out their tickets. Zhalia was standing nearby, staring at the arrivals board.

"Sophie?" Lok said quietly. "I read about a spell in one of your books, a warning spell. One you can cast and then anyone can trigger, even if they have no magic."

"Yes, I know the one."

"Can you cast it?"

"Cast it? Why?"

Lok looked away, frowning. "There's…I'm worried about someone. This mission? These Seekers went looking for Scarlett after she tried to stop them."

"Yes, I heard about that," Sophie agreed. "It's not a very difficult spell, Lok, you could probably do it. Setting the trigger is the most difficult part."

"Yeah, but I don't have time to practise it right now. Please?"

"Alright. Do you have something to use as an anchor?"

Lok swung his backpack off, lifting Cherit out and digging through it. Zhalia wandered towards them, pausing.

"Forget something?"

"No. Sophie's just going to show me a little spell."

"Here?" Zhalia raised an eyebrow, looking around.

"It's a very subtle spell, Zhalia, it won't attract any attention," Sophie promised. Lok offered her a small ring, set with a pale pink stone, and she nodded. "That'll do. What's the trigger?"

"I am."

Sophie studied him for a minute before nodding. "Alright."

"What's the spell, Lok?" Zhalia asked.

"It's a warning," he said distractedly, watching Sophie murmur. "If someone holds the ring and thinks of me, I'll know."

"Why?" She touched Lok's arm, turning him to face her.

"Because these Seekers are working fifteen miles from my home, Zhalia." He pulled free of her, turning back to Sophie. Cherit, looking worried, flew up to Zhalia's shoulder.

"There." Sophie closed her fingers over the ring; Lok winced, one hand going to his head. "It's working."

"Thank you."

"It's best if I hold on to it for a while," she added when he reached for it. "While the spell settles."

Lok passed her the box for it, glancing up as Dante joined them. "Everyone ready?"