CHAPTER 2 – THE PLAN
Nathalie pulled out the old guardian's tablet which they had recovered when he passed on the guardianship to Ladybug. On it was a deciphered copy of the Miraculous Spellbook that Gabriel and Emilie had found decades before. Nathalie started scrolling through the pages.
"I've been studying the translation carefully. As you know, the book tells us about the powers of the various miraculouses and how to increase those powers in certain circumstances.
"Yes," said Gabriel "but most of the spells have ingredients we have never heard of. How can the book help us now?"
"Have you read the last chapter?"
Gabriel nodded. He read the translation every evening and knew most of it by heart. The last chapter dealt with more mundane spells. These did not power kwamis, but were designed to protect the guardians. Simple spells like a charmed sleep, or a spell of hiding. Spells which would allow guardians to hide things or to have an excuse to avoid awkward questions.
Natalie held up the tablet showing the page on the Spell of Illness. The spell took the form of a potion which would cause varying genuine signs of illness without any lasting effects. It was designed to allow a guardian to fake an illness with genuine symptoms (useful if a guardian was ever captured) without any lasting consequences. A small dose would have little impact other than queasiness. A larger dose would result in vomiting, an even larger dose could render the guardian bed-ridden, feverish and unable to speak. The largest dose of all would render the user comatose for several days.
What was particularly interesting about the Spell of Illness was that they could source all the ingredients, including the magical ingredient "dust from the wings of an akuma".
"So, how does this help us?"
"Well sir, we cannot use our miraculous powers on Félix while he is in England, and he will just hide the ring if we use more conventional means."
"Yes."
"But if we could get him here in Paris, it would not be that odd if he got caught up in some sort of akumatisation? Else, you might be able to … persuade him to return the ring using more conventional means."
"Yes. But how to get him here in Paris? And we would need to make sure that he brought the ring with him. How could we do that?"
"Well sir, what would happen to Félix if something were to happen to his mother?"
"Well, his father is dead, so he would probably be sent to his nearest relative, which would be … me."
Gabriel's lips slowly moved into a sneer.
"And if his home was destroyed, he would have nowhere to keep the ring and would probably keep it with him to ensure it is safe?"
"That's logical."
"So he would have to bring it to Paris?"
"Yes …"
Gabriel's eyes met Nathalie's as the pieces of the plan slotted into place in his mind.
"My my, what a talented assistant I picked. Well done, Ms Sancoeur. It look like we are going to have to brew up a potion.