Blade leaned her head back. The ceiling in Shanna's office was somehow more calming than any other despite the normal Zenith-type building. Not at all cold or simply efficient, it was just perfect to daze off and their session had been taxing yet somehow liberating.
"Blade," Shanna gently pulled her back to reality. Her white hair touched the ground. As always she was sitting in her plant chair caressing the plant leisurely. "There is one more thing we got to talk about."
Blade moaned there were barely a few minutes left, "We already went over Reapers, teacher outbursts… My feelings… exhaustion, strategies to relax. And the last weekend with my parents was awesome and far away from anything Pixie or Guardian… Not even a Fairy Animal in sight." She stretched so pleased. "Isn't that enough for one sitting?"
Shanna chuckled, "I know. And I am proud of you that you take time for yourself and bond with your family. Yet… this is more of a heads-up. You, all of your friends, in fact, got to be careful in the coming weeks. Especially Seth."
"Seth?" Blade tensed up. "What's wrong? Why are you telling me this and not the Professors? OR HIM!"
Shanna inhaled deeply. Stood up and let her hands wander along her rows of magical items and let a magic orb glow up. "Give me your hand," Shanna stepped up to her. "This is for your ears only. No one else's."
"Direct PSI?" Blade blinked a bit confused but took the hand maybe a bit too roughly. The world around her began to swirl before it vanished completely.
Blade found herself promptly in Shanna's mind space. The horizon and ground were only divided by that fine white line in the endless distance as it always was the case, "You're scaring me a bit here, Shanna…"
"Just making sure no one listens in for now. At least here we have the option," Shanna opened her hand and an all too well-known ring formed dangling from a chain. "Jewel's crown ring. You have it tucked away safe? - Well, Seth?" Shanna was one of the very few who even knew Seth was Jewel's brother by blood. And unlike most of that tiny circle even knew Seth had the ring. "They are coming for it. If you haven't already, you got to prepare."
"They?!" Blade exploded into a bundle of rage. "It's Seth's! Jewels would have wanted for him to get it! He is the rightful ow-"
"Calm yourself. I know and I am sure you feared as much as I that this day might come. Or at least, Birdy, Tessa and Tasu voiced some of their concerns – or Amal," Shanna turned the mind image of the ring in her hands with care and respect. "Desertia is growing. Rebuilding; but the factions, new and old, are at odds. Not that there is any one Kingdom with one united voice," She sighed deeply creating some known doubles of people from newspapers, the hearing, way back when, and new additions unknown to the young Fairy. "There are many that oppose Madu as a King candidate. He and Shawaka are getting along well, and yes, I think there is true love blossoming… While next to none would oppose Shawaka even with her being Shabaka's daughter, Madu is a lowly peasant, a farmer."
"He deserves it more than her," Blade clicked her tongue, annoyed. She had nothing against Shawaka per se, yet she also couldn't forget what her father had done. That he had killed Jewel's parents and inadvertently Jewels. "What do they want with Jewels's ring anyway? It's bound to her bloodline. As far as they are concerned she was an orphan, a peasant as well. They gain nothing from taking it!" Her fists were clenched so tight. She wanted to punch something.
Shanna nodded and gave her a moment, "I know, and they should know better. On the other hand, no one knows how exactly King Rock created it. - Not even us. - It might have been forged completely anew. Maybe it was an old artefact altered or materials were repurposed. In any case… it's a desertian artefact and therefore a national treasure. They want it back. It is the one artefact that was proven to be finished and wasn't buried in the palace. Did you hear the news that they unearthed Rock's forgery?"
Blade bit her lip, "Yes." She growled. "That ring is Seth's, no one else's. They won't get that ring. Over my DEAD body!"
Shanna shook her head, "Don't say that too loud… there are plenty who want you gone, one way or another…" She paused shortly. "Please, Blade, all of you got to talk this over. You need to decide quickly what you want to do about this. Make a plan. And remember if you tell people, you might get more suppor-"
"NO. Seth made it clear back then. He doesn't want the throne or that kind of trouble. Desertia is dead to him," Blade refused promptly. She crossed her arms so tightly that her shoulders rose. This reminded her about Amal's warnings that someday… She had dismissed his concerns, blown them to the wind. And no one had cared for the ring – until now. Those 'What-if…' head games would come in handy now.
Shanna looked at Blade with pity, "Alright. Just watch out, okay? And keep the talking to a minimum. There is no telling when they might send spies or magic users. There are invisibility spells and you lot might not be able to detect those." She raised her finger in warning, "Be careful, yet don't overdo it."
A few heads peeked around the corner. It was hard to move around with thirty-three, well today thirty-four people in Alfea's hallways, unseen of all things. It was impossible as one big group. So, instead, the class had split up into teams and like a treasure hunt they made their way to the Simulator Room.
"Is this part of your curriculum, learning how to infiltrate your own school?" Amal pulled on his Zenith Council robe; this was definitely ridiculous, yet curiously enough, it was a lot of fun.
Amber hushed him, "Shhhhh, not so loud. What part of 'undercover' don't you understand?" Her red hair dangled beyond the corner she was glancing around.
"The part where you are in your own school… all this 'sneaking' makes you stand out. Why don't you simply hack the cameras?" Amal asked a bit too casually. Surely it would be an easy task if he found a console.
"Cameras? What cameras?" Dahlia looked dumbfounded; the Linfea Fairy had her fair share of trouble with handling electronics, however they always stood out to her. "I don't think we have those…" She pulled Amber back by her yellow crop top.
Blade scratched her head as she looked behind them. The coast was still clear, "Well, Cloud Tower has the tower itself who snitches on the students. I heard rumours that Headmistress Faragonda has a… mirror or crystal ball."
"Oh, yeah," Misery nodded, "Those magical items are a pain and also in their offices. Faragonda has the mirror, Blade, how can you not remember that? Never mind. I very much doubt we could smash the mirror." She was more agitated about it than it made sense, 'What a pain…if only…' She balled her fists.
"Are you crazy?!" Michael hissed quietly. "You can't smash priceless artefacts. Not to mention Faragonda's office of all places surely is the one place with cameras and certainly a bunch of security spells. We'd end up stone statues before we even got close."
"Hm, troublesome," Amal nodded. "Still, this sneaking around is more suspicious than anything." He walked up front and simply stepped into the empty hallway.
Amber went bright red, "Hey! We're training." She couldn't believe this. 'Why is he strolling out into the open!?'
"I know, the crown jewel heist. I am on it, remember. The blueprints of the palace's lower levels surely will be ours, I won't fail you." Amal stared at Blade. He wouldn't fail her. 'Not this time,' he looked at her with determination. "I've given Snow perfect instructions to note down and map the upper levels. And Memphis is doing his part to get information on what hardware and spells we'll encounter as well as the guards' roster for the day. A few more talks and we'll have a basis for working out a plan. Be patient. The biggest advantage we have is that we are a dark-horse team. Votzaak didn't even tell his own Hunters."
"Great," Misery followed him, "But right now, we got a bigger problem. That heist will get us into Votzaak's good graces for a week or so, at best. Plus, a nice grade in our tracking class from the Head Hunters. That's about it. We have bigger fish to fry."
Blade puffed and tightened her dreadlock ponytail. "True. Now let's get going, we can sneak about once we are closer to the Simulator room." She smirked at Amal; he was right and the times when he was right kept accumulating. He always had sound strategies and a cool head unlike herself.
"Oh, come on," Amber grumbled, disappointed. "You're taking all the fun out of it…" She knew business would be a pain and put everyone on edge so a bit of fooling around would help ease the tension. However, she couldn't deny that she was almost a stone statue herself.
A little bit later, the entire Joined track had crammed themselves into the computer room. To fit thirty-four in there looked much more like they were trying to make a human sausage than constructing an emergency plan. The anxiety was at an all-time high and everyone was stepping on each other's toes.
"Uurgh, how slow can you be!" Steela hissed as she smacked her hair into Damon's mouth, who was closest to her.
Marble ignored her, "I am doing my best here. Just give me a second." Her fingers flew over the simulator console. She was trying to get the damn door open and a program running, among other things to counter the bracelets.
Amal was promptly picked up by Dean. The Specialist stood out like a tower in the crowd yet also needed the most space. "Go help her, please…" He chucked him at another specialist like it was nothing.
"Hey!? Woah!" Amal kind of stage-dived to the front as everyone moved him forward. He was tumbling around and had no idea how to react in this particular situation.
Mercury sighed annoyed, "You gotta tense your muscles!" He barely evaded an encounter between Amal's official Zenith Council boots and his face. 'Seriously…'
Blade snorted, while Birdy and Nebula giggled. This was just too funny and ridiculous.
Clue clung to Sienna's chest, a little dishevelled. "I don't want to be squashed! Why are we even breaking in? Sienna, you should be ashamed. That's not how a justice seeker should behave herself." The Pixie scolded her Fairy anew.
"Can you shut up," Gilliana and Vulcano gave her a death glare which freaked the Pixie out even more.
Dusk flattened herself against the wall at the far end of the room, "Will you two cut it out? This behaviour is the reason Misery and I have so much to do in The Denied meetings. Pain in the ass. I do have better things to do as a Queen than to clean up behind you." She was barefoot as it was custom in Eventide, which was not the best combo with this ruckus around her.
Alyssa frowned, "Hey, we all behave in the city." She tugged at her purple hoody, it was getting so hot in here. Some little flasks clanged against each other inside her hoody pocket.
Tasu exhaled loudly. Even in this throng, she stood like a picture-perfect Crown Princess, "Then why not do it here? A bit of posture and calm would help us immensely."
"Patience," Lion snickered as Rise slung her arm even tighter around him. They were all lovey-dovey as always. Even the Professors started to seat the Solaria pair apart from one another in classes because Rise was easily distracted by her beloved boyfriend. And he was so much more intriguing to her than the lessons.
"Get. A. Room," Keith rolled his eyes, "And stop shoving. I am in no mood to heal a bunch of bruises!" He hissed at Damon and Alex who had started an elbow fight with Breeze and Serina.
Amal had taken over Marble's work; he wasn't called a genius for nothing. Happily, he was ready to send off his command in the console, "There," Amal grinned, "Got- heh?" There was something still blocking his code. Yet his code was perfect. His eyes searched the console, 'What?! Did I trigger something?'
Kai smacked the console. "Does it work now?" He instantly regretted it as Tyson, Keith's brother, put him into a chokehold. "Was just joking!"
"You'll activate all kinds of traps!" Polarissa hissed as she stared at the console. "What spell do we need?" She refocused on Marble, who studied Amal's code like it was perfection reincarnated.
Kitty rolled her eyes, "I can summon a Terror Wolf to bust the door open."
"NO!" The entirety of the class declined. A summons in here and they'd all suffocate.
"I simply could bend the metal… maybe…" Steela shrugged. This was taking forever. Yet poking at the door made her wonder if she could bend that kind of enchanted metal.
"Girls, convergence. We'll simply overwrite whatever spell Palladium put on this thing," Nebula decided and reached out with her hand to Snow and Tessa.
Kitty grumbled, a bit salty, "And you think my idea is worse…"
"Quiet!" The three Fairies hissed and gave each other a short nod before their Fairy magic brightened the room, "Expedio Catenam!" They aimed it at the console. A huge leaf formed in bright greens. Three parts perfectly began connecting with each other like a mosaic and the moment it was done, the simulator room controls were freed of whatever had prevented Amal and Marble from finishing their job.
"Nice!" Michael rejoiced when they were finally able to open the door and get some room to breathe.
Julius looked a bit worried at the console as Amal and Marble simply programmed a nice little… 'Is that a castle?!' He could only shake his head; one could never leave them alone with gadgets. "Come now. Make some password thingy so we can get a move on! That spell was one of Palladium's, I doubt we'll stay undetected forever … we should have stuck with Red Fountain…"
"No, too many people and cameras," Seth bitched back. It was so unlike him, which only showed how worried he truly was, "And we don't know what quarters are under surveillance or if there are still traitors in the courts and who knows what else… the Princesses have private guards when home…. Not to mention that it'd be too obvious." He turned to shove Julius into the appearing simulation.
"Well then, I connected the bracelets to the simulator and put in our virus already." He was proud of his work and just a tiny bit cocky, "Whatever is recorded gets promptly deleted and replaced with the premade 'running around in the schools' fake data." Amal stepped aside for Marble to rise from the chair and offer a hand. He simply couldn't let go of some etiquettes. "After you, Miss."
"Why not lady, huh?" Marble grumbled as she stretched her stiff fingers a bit. It was so hard to keep up with Amal. And that code had been flawless and clean again. It bugged her.
Blade chuckled as she laid a hand on Amal's shoulder squeezing it thankfully, "Cause that's a noble rank. And you are not a noble."
The group shot a few spells at each other for good measure. It was the only idea they had come up with on short notice that would keep spies out. The idea was to fake an off-class training session to hide the real purpose of this meeting. Later, most would drink a concoction to erase their memories. They had a simple note set aside that would tell them not to bring up Seth and the ring anywhere. That 'there was a plan.'
First they had to get everyone on the same page though. Everyone who was missing some information like Clue was updated once more. In a few sentences since they didn't have all day after all. It was crucial that everyone understood the bigger picture and all the possible problems that would come with this political disaster.
The Sorceresses' ideas created a lot of options on how to deceive the royals, noble factions and… their teachers.
Seth had made it more than clear that he didn't want to be dragged into anyone's power play. He also wasn't keen on having 'talks' with whoever wanted to 'encourage him' or 'change his mind' to throw in his hat for the throne.
The Faries knew how the processes worked and new Kingdoms were established or 'new' royal bloodlines were chosen. Plus, the political landscape they would have to deal with.
Amal and the Specialists made sure nothing was forgotten and laid out the plan in a logical way that everyone could follow and understand. One of the biggest problems still left, however, was what to do with the ring.
"So, why not dump it into Nerrocean's office or Votzaak's?" Steela moaned for the third time as she threw some steel beams at Polarissa who sent them flying against the castle walls that trembled under the impact and loosened some stones. After all, their cover for this meeting as an unsanctioned training lesson called for a certain level of destruction.
Marble caught the stones with her magic, "CAUSE whoever wants the damn thing will cross-examine the two. And if they say sure come in, I don't have it, they are screwed."
Mercury shook his head as he missed Kai, but not the wall, with his axe, "We won't be able to get the ring inside their offices unseen. That's where it fails to begin with."
"Are we sure about that?" Snow quietly asked as she drew magic to her hands, frost covering her hands. "What if we give it to them in a gift box, but we tell them 'don't open it till date xy'?" She was so unsure of what to do. She had ice magic ready at her fingertips but they were talking so firing at someone felt wrong to her. In the end, she simply shot a chandelier from the ceiling.
Dusk caught it with her shadows and hurled it after Keith and Tyson who were stuck in their stupid war of tug. "Yeah, right… cause they take a mystery box and leave it alone. For all we know they simply use a spell and instantly know what we gave them." She could only shake her head at the dumb ideas that kept coming up.
Startled, Tyson pulled Keith out of the way. The chandelier splintered into a thousand pieces against the wall. "Hey, watch it!" He barked. "And we are sure you can't put it in your treasure troves?" He looked at Dusk annoyed and then to Birdy, Tessa and Tasu.
"No way in the Shadowlands," Tasu refused promptly and again as she shot water spheres into Gilliana's water sickles. Beneath them, there was already half a sea in the making. "Tch. Gotta do better than that." She smirked at Gilliana who was vexed that she didn't leave a dent in her defences.
Birdy sighed, her magic feathers slicing through some of Nebula's fog images, "They'd expect that. Again, we can't keep the ring away from Desertia indefinitely. We only need to buy enough time till it's settled who the new King and Queen are. And right now the Council is backing Madu and Shawaka, they are at least not hostile towards us. So once they are instated, Jewels's diadem ring loses its political value. And then it's but a national treasure. THEN we can actually aim for a deal." Songwind's Crown Princess tried to break it down for everyone; some people truly lacked the understanding of the political landscape that came hand-in-hand with this whole endeavour.
"And you are all sure we can't do anything beyond buying time? This sucks…" Tyson ruffled through his long dark hair as he took a breather.
"No, it doesn't." Birdy shook her head. "That's why we keep saying not to put it into our treasuries. We can buy so much time. It's easy to make a huge fuss about, they'll play right into our hands. It will cost our enemies dearly if they demand such a thing as to inspect the quarters or treasury of another kingdom only to tragically fail."
"Same with Lunar Steel. Plus, as far as I am aware it has not really leaked that I am Basil's niece. I want to keep him out of it as well." Blade let her head sink. "We aim everything at weakening the political status of anyone but Madu and Shawaka… that way, they become King and Queen faster." The question was if they could really achieve that. A bit worried, she glanced at Amal. They had been over this a long time ago, and both of them knew all the pitfalls inside out. There simply was no perfect solution. No guarantee. Everything was so time-sensitive.
Amal scribbled more notes down on their mountain of paper. Hard copies were easier to destroy in the blink of an eye. "So, we decide not to hide it in our homes. Or with friends, families or Professors slash Orders." He noted Blade's glances but simply stuck to the procedures of the discussion and kept his head down so as not to be hit accidentally by the ongoing scuffles.
Seth bit his lip, trying to swallow the words. His distraction caused his sword to slip on Lion's chain sickle and he got thrown back. He caught himself before smashing to the ground. "Yeah… I also don't want to…" He already had said it several times, sometimes more indirectly than others. The thought of handing the ring away for safekeeping gnawed at him too much - it was his sister's ring. Jewels's. He'd rather fail to keep it safe himself than harbour resentment at one of his friends for losing it or an idea gone wrong. He could see it in his friends' eyes – some disagreed personally, though they masked it well. No one was fooling themselves, least of all him. It was a huge risk to keep the ring so close, but there was no alternative that felt safe enough. No hiding spot made sense and those that did were too easy to be found. And they had no one who could keep it safe for them. Their associates were well known. The ring always would be found. His only card to play was to hide it in plain sight. Sure, he could simply bury it in the middle of nowhere but then he wouldn't be able to check on it. They wouldn't know if it was gone or not until it was too late. At the very least, with the ring close, he could be sure and savour every moment with the keepsake of his sister. And if – WHEN the Council found it with him, he'd fight for it as a last-ditch effort. They all would and he'd clasp the ring with his bare hands until someone broke his fingers. He knew he had plenty of friends who'd stand by his side; together they'd defy anyone – even the Council itself.
Clue hovered around Sienna as she tried to block Michael's ice bolts from his crossbow, however, each one slashed through her magic waves. That weapon was one scary contraption. "Hey, don't you dare aim that at Sienna!" Her heart stopped each time. Considering the kids' plans, she had been very suspicious of everything, though now she was all in. She would not fail her Fairy. "So… besides the fact that people will search rooms and such by hand, which we have to counter, do we know what kind of detection spells will be used? There is more than one way to find it. And I as the greatest detective would know… I mean… I know such things," she corrected.
Sienna bit her nails and raised a hand to stop Michael from shooting again, trying to catch her breath. "Well, it's blood bound to your bloodline, Seth. So, that?"
"Not a chance." Misery shook her head. "Everything of worth was destroyed. They have nothing of Jewels's blood. And to get 'new' blood they'd need Black Magic. They'd be foolish to use that. True, Votzaak, Nerrocean, Nabu and Fane may not be in on our charade. Nonetheless, they'd instantly detect the Black Magic if anyone came waving around with blood collected with it."
"Not to mention the White Jade," Michael smirked. He was truly intrigued by their extra lessons. Aura reading eluded him but with all those exercises that led up to that skill, he had a knack for them. And White Jade didn't hide that they saw him as someone with potential.
Kitty clicked her tongue annoyed, "Or Avalon…" She sent her wolves at each other, watching them fight. It was hard to picture but an interesting way to train her skills.
"Palladium is so much better at magic than Avalon," Vulcano countered almost competitively as she shot a lava orb at Tessa.
"Sure, firecracker," Tessa giggled a bit as she sent lightning against it, scorching the ground. She had such a crush on Palladium and thought it wasn't obvious.
"GUYS," Julius railed them all as he broke off with Alex from Team A. His hook swords were such a pain to fight against, he gave a weary smirk to Alex before he addressed the others. "We don't need elimination of options. We NEED an option." He ruffled through his blond hair staring at Lion for some help.
"Okay, okay," Lion raised his voice, "So… there are blood spells. Normal… 'search spells'… anything we are missing?"
Serina leaned against the wall near Amal. Her abilities weren't so much of the attacking kind, illusions wouldn't be all too helpful in a fake fight, so she kept out of this. She absently traced her loop earrings. The boys had such a hard time with their limited spell knowledge, that it was getting ridiculous. "Okay, from the top… Black Magic blood-based spells, which would be a weird choice for them. There are magic presence detection spells. Everything has an aura. So we need to cancel the aura and magic presence of Jewels's ring. That's problem one. The next one is form-based spells. I've never encountered one; they are hard. But items can be searched in size ranges like show me anything this small. Or by basic forms, like A RING. Then all rings in the vicinity would show up. Or by visualisation. If you know how it looks you can create a spell to find anything that looks like that or is close to that. They are all limited by the capability of the caster – as I said, not easy to learn – spell range and the magic needed. Those search spells are really tough to cast. However, they do work. So no, they won't simply go into our rooms making a mess. They will search for things smaller than… a meatball or something. The general-size spells are the easiest version. And luckily it's the easiest to trick. The other spells need lots of preparation or even convergences." She paused shortly. "I am more afraid that they hack our bracelets… or get permission to view the footage. Unlike us, Blade can't take hers off, while we only have to wear ours during missions or training. I believe we all can keep our traps shut there." She was an illusionist so she had lots of knowledge about these kinds of spells. Search spells were her nemesis. She had to be able to counter all of them to be successful in hiding, yet that wasn't always possible.
Amal smirked, "Not to worry. I'm already running a program to erase all visible traces from all the footage that was saved by your bracelets. To our saving grace, Seth didn't have the ring with him all too often during training or missions, where you actually wear the bracelets. So, the amount of data to check is small. Hopefully, my AI bot will be done tomorrow. I'll animate something fitting in its stead or simply erase it from the footage. I learned some neat things when I was allowed to help out the Council Guards IT department during our police investigations. I know how they search. I can keep them guessing – long enough." He looked at Blade. "The true problem is PSI." Blade and he had come to the same conclusion back then too. And he already had deleted some of the footage back then and in between. Every once in a while not to make it too obvious when he had checked Blade's footage for the reports.
"Oooooh…. I didn't think about PSI…" Breeze flared up her magic and created a huge tornado and let it rattle the entire castle simulation. Everyone dug their heels in so as not to get blown away. "We're screwed." She let it die down, happy with the amount of messed up hair.
Mercury pulled his cloak away from his face, sorted himself out again and then turned his eyes on Blade. "Not directly… They need a damn good reason to mind-dive us. Laws are strict about mind dives for a reason, especially in law enforcement. As some of us got to know… it can end up in Black Magic really fast. So before our political adversaries haven't tried everything else, that option is denied in court. The question is when it won't be rejected anymore… We have to make sure Madu is on the throne before it comes to this. Or well, hope he is. We have no pull considering who becomes King and Queen in Desertia." His entire body tensed, his shoulder plates rubbing against each other. After their little run-in with the Reapers, he had spent some time on the topic which came in handy now.
"Yes, and because of that Alyssa and Misery made the concoction you all stored away before. It can erase short-term – or a definition of it – memories for up to a week. They will of course come for me and Blade. But don't think for a second they won't try you too." Nebula balled her fists and everyone paused. "The less there is something to be found, the better."
Birdy sighed, "It's not that easy for them even if they get permission. Or if they try to go rogue." Her mum Queen Swallow was a PSI user, so she had the best understanding of the topic among them. "For one, yes, if something is erased it is gone. No PSI can recreate the truth from nothing. We can't ask Shanna to erase as she'll be questioned too. It is too obvious. She can keep her own mind and memories safe. She's that good. We are not. However – there is no need to panic just yet. No one can just dive into your mind and say 'Jewels's ring' and the memories just show up. That only works if the other side is willing. You all have to resist as much as possible if it ever comes to a mind dive. The farther in the past a memory is, the harder it is to get to it. And the easier it is to even overlook it." She breathed out. "Plus, the one thing we all have a good chance of triggering is Black Magic. If we resist cause we don't want Seth to be in danger or lose the ring, it goes against our will. And therefore…"
"Triggers Black Magic, and whoever is doing the mind dive has to break it off. That won't save us from an obstruction of justice though," Dean nodded warily. PSI stuff gave him a headache. It felt all-powerful but the drawbacks were huge. Anyone here would take that punishment. He was just glad he'd not be front and centre in a brain rummage.
"Exactly. No matter if it's sanctioned by the Council or if they try rogue. Once Black Magic happens they have to stop. And Blade for example can even act in her mind space so it will be even easier for her to trigger a Black Magic response. Our enemies aren't that foolish that they would leave a trail of Black Magic infected students in their wake. Not when Votzaak is so close to the Joined Track. It's not beyond them, but if they don't want Votzaak on their heels, they need the Council's go, and then we can still stall - hopefully."
"Okay… so we drink the concoction once we're in our rooms. Delete our memories about this evening. And most of us will be fine. As they would search for the needle in the haystack," Amber laughed and fire sparks flared up around her, "Nice. By the time they get to our brains, they will be politically weak. Madu and Shawaka will be King and Queen in no time."
Max from Team A sat down his two-handed hammer with a heavy thud. "So that leaves the search spells. Like size, form, aura…"
"Not to worry, we," Balde shared a look with Seth, "Already got a plan for that."
"We do?" Julius breathed out heavily. "How? We got to hurry it up, here." He checked for the time. They were close to the fifteen-minute benchmark, so someone would show up rather sooner than later.
"It's risky… but I hoped we could use our forging class. If we stick around a bit longer we can simply find a metal with a lower melting point and cover the ring. Maybe making it an amulet or medallion." Blade looked to Serina. "And use the special moulds. With a good load of magic, it'll make several hours' worth of work happen in only a few minutes, and keep the ring from being stuck in the container."
"That would work," the Sorceress nodded, "We should add some powerful crystal that might overshadow the magic presence or muddy it. The ring helps with magic regeneration, so, if not worn, it'll already be harder to be found."
Dusk caressed her chin, "No problem, I have some treasures I can get without my parents asking." Birdy, Tasu and Tessa looked at her, feeling a tiny bit salty; however, she was right. 'At least one thing that is good about being an Orphan Queen…'
"You got to hurry that plan along. There's no telling when they'll make their moves." Dahlia flared some earth magic again for a grand final. Julius was right, the Professors would show up any minute now and they wanted to cover this meet-up as an unsanctioned training lesson after all. "We don't know if they are spying on us already. So, best get that ring to look like something else – fast." Her eyes wandered around the simulated castle to the door leading to the computers. Amal already stood up, he was to play the Palladium part in this set-up. It wouldn't make sense for him to be in the middle of flying spells. Amal re-did his short ponytail, luckily simulated dirt would vanish when he stepped outside.
"Tomorrow?" Blade looked to Dusk, who nodded. "Great, then next crafting lesson with Hagen. Or well… after it. Find some Dark Magic crystals. That should be more effective, missed less in your treasury and not so suspicious for you to take."
"Alright… then…" Amal handed the papers he had scribbled on to Vulcano and Amber who set them on fire in an instant and Breeze swirled up the air in the room so much that one couldn't tell the ashes from the floor. The next cleaning spell after the next class would take care of it. 'This better work.' He only needed one look at Blade. She knew what needed to be done. He had asked her about the ring and warned her of the consequences. The two of them had mused over several plans and while some were just for their ears, others would have been easy to share; yet Blade had said nothing, so neither would he. 'Don't worry, my Warrior Queen.' Amal received a potion from Alyssa who was passing them around. They all stored them safely away. A fierce glance at Blade before he moved to the door and opened it, "Well then, try to make this look like a serious team fight."
Seth turned to Dusk and Blade. "Tomorrow then. Thank you guys… all of you."
Kitty grinned at him, "Hey, potions, erasing memories, notes we wrote ourselves, Black Magic, PSI… last minute crafting. Sounds like just another Tuesday. Can't wait for the detention for this little ruse." She cackled so loudly. Everyone moaned in synch for a special elite Joined Track their detention was piling up higher than their grades.