My phone rang.
“You need to not hand the universe such amazing straight lines,” Judy said.
I checked the display. Ariadne Duwelt, my liaison with the Board of Neutralities. “Hello?” I said.
“Helena. How are you?”
“Fine, just a bit rattled. Is everything all right?”
“We’re concerned, naturally.”
I almost laughed. Ariadne was as laid back as they came, and “concerned” was, for her, the equivalent of “freaking out.” “The wards on Abernathy’s were checked and they’re as strong as they can be without preventing people from entering.”
“It’s possible it will come to that. We’re still not sure how the invaders managed to destroy the Fountain, but we know they exploited a weakness in its wards.”
The back of my neck tingled. That had come too glibly to be real. “I…think you’re not telling me the whole truth.”
Ariadne sighed. “We are trying to keep quiet the fact that it was a large number of intelligent invaders who were responsible for the destruction, all right? No sense stirring up fears.”
“Sorry to contradict, but don’t you think people have a right to know what danger they’re facing? I don’t know much about fighting invaders, but I do know it’s important to base a fighting technique on the type of invader a Warden faces.”
“We won’t be able to conceal it for long, and you’re right, people need to know. But we want to be able to give more concrete information. I’ll call you when we know more. It’s essential that we protect the rest of the named Neutralities.”
Another warning tingle. “You make it sound like there’s more to it than wanting to avoid more destruction.”
“The named Neutralities are the biggest nodes in the world. Never mind losing their special advantages—we can’t afford for the invaders to get their tentacles on that much raw power.”
I glanced at Judy, listening to this call without disguising her interest. “The oracle said…it referred to the named Neutralities as ‘guardians,’” I said. “Does that make sense to you?”
“It’s not anything I’ve heard before, but I suppose you could call them that. Guardians of magery, certainly.” She sighed again. “Keep doing your job, and prepare for word that Abernathy’s will have to temporarily shut down. I’m not saying it will definitely come to that, but it might.” She hung up.
“Guardians? Were you going to tell me this?” Judy demanded.
“Madeleine drove it out of my head,” I lied. “Besides, it wasn’t more than that. It just said two were gone, four were left, and it called the ones that remained guardians.”
“That’s weird. Guardians of what, I wonder?”
“I don’t know,” I said, “but I hope the invaders don’t know more than we do.”
3
I propped my chin on my hand and stifled a yawn. With the rest of the named Neutralities on the other side of the world, it made sense for us to schedule this call for midnight my time, but it didn’t make me any less tired. I’d set up my laptop on the kitchen table, had a big mug of herbal tea at my elbow, and was just waiting for the call to come in.
The rest of the day had been uneventful, but I hadn’t relaxed. I wasn’t so much afraid for Abernathy’s as I was for whoever the invaders might strike next. Granted, that could be Abernathy’s, but deep down I felt the invaders, the intelligent ones, wouldn’t be so obvious. I wished I knew their plan. No, I wished Lucia knew their plan, because I had faith in her ability to counter it, backed by the other Neutralities and the magi.
“Helena?”
I half-turned to look at Malcolm standing in the kitchen doorway. “I’m going to bed,” he said, “unless you want me to wait up?”
I smiled. “No, but it’s sweet of you to offer. I don’t know how long this will take. Probably not long, unless one of the others knows something I don’t.”
He came forward and kissed me. “Good night.”
“Good night. I love you.”
I watched him disappear through the doorway and sighed. That one little interaction left me feeling more relaxed than I had all day.
The laptop began chiming. I hit the button to connect to the video call. The camera light blinked on, and four smaller screens appeared. One of them showed me—did I really look that disheveled? I resisted the urge to comb through my hair with my fingers and sat up straighter.
Three men looked back at me from the other tiny rectangles. They all looked far fresher than I did—well, for them it was morning or midday. Though Claude Gauthier, custodian of the Athenaeum, always looked alert no matter what time of day or night I spoke to him. He claimed he hadn’t slept in twenty-five years, which struck me as implausible, but who knew what weird effects a named Neutrality might have on its custodian? I, for example, hadn’t had so much as a sniffle in the nearly three years I’d been Abernathy’s’ custodian.
Amarion Katsaros of the Labyrinth, on the other hand, had natural dark rings under his eyes that made him look older than his thirty years. I felt a pang, in looking at him, that he wasn’t my friend Iakkhos, who’d passed away just ten months ago, but Iakkhos had been well over a hundred years old and had gone peacefully. I didn’t know Amarion well yet, but he was as friendly and outgoing as Iakkhos had been, and it was easy to see why Iakkhos had chosen him as his successor.
And then there was Samudra Magar, his smooth dark skin and graying black hair giving him a distinguished elder statesman look. The custodian of the Sanctuary was always polite, but I had a feeling that he disapproved of me for being so young. From comments he’d made, I’d gathered I was the youngest custodian Abernathy’s had ever had, and I’d come to realize Samudra didn’t trust anyone younger than forty. Diane and Amarion came in for the same polite but chilly treatment, or I’d have felt more insulted. As it was, I returned him politeness for politeness and hoped his attitude might change over time.
Samudra spoke first. “Is everyone connected?” His English was heavily accented, but English was the only language we all had in common.
We all replied in the affirmative. “Thank you, Helena, for being willing to take this call at such a late hour,” he continued.
“It’s no problem, Samudra, thanks.” I always had the impulse to call him “sir” that I’d so far successfully controlled.
“Well. It has been a terrible day for magery,” Samudra said, “and a great personal loss for each of us.”
“Mourning will have to wait,” Amarion said. “Right now we should discuss the fates of our own Neutralities. The invaders will certainly come after us next.” His English was perfect and unaccented despite Greek being his first language.
“The wards on the store are as strong as they can be and still allow us to use the oracle,” I said.
“But is that enough?” Claude said. “I think, me, that Diane did not disregard her charge’s safety. Granted that the Fountain’s wards might not have been as strong as possible, but they would have been powerful regardless. We should be asking what the invaders have learned that allowed them to overpower wards of any strength.”