As it turned out, there wasn’t much they could plan just from Aaron’s descriptions of the city. Without actually heading out, it was impossible to tell how bad the situation truly was, so Silver was elected to venture out and try to scout out what they were dealing with.

Angel was loathe to send anyone out on their own, but his arm was such a dead giveaway that he couldn’t risk the Reawakening clones spotting it. Silver was the best choice to pass under the Reawakening’s gaze.

He headed out around an hour after everyone awoke, leaving them all to sit around nervously. Tilly spent the time working on her gauntlets once again, and Aaron alternated his gaze between Alison and Jake.

Lilian eventually got bored and took Aaron to a different portion of the shop to figure out just how much the boy knew about fighting. The day passed agonizingly slowly. Angel had to keep himself from sitting at the window and poking his head out to watch for Silver’s return.

A few hours after a simple lunch of jerky and water, the door swung open and Silver strode inside sporting a thin cut along the side of his jaw.

“What happened?” Angel asked, rising to his feet.

“Nothing too bad,” Silver replied, raising a hand to calm him. “Let’s go to the back so I can explain everything. I was able to locate someone else and they told me a few things.”

They did as he suggested, closing the door behind them and sitting down in a circle in front of Aaron’s bed.

“I met someone hiding in a building a few streets down that has seen more of the Reawakening’s movements,” Silver said. “And I’ve got good news and bad news.”

“Just say it already,” Lilian grumbled. “Don’t keep us waiting.”

“The Reawakening hasn’t taken everyone they’ve kidnapped to the Buried Gods,” Silver replied. “They’ve commandeered the Magistrate’s mansion and the prisons, and they’re using them to keep people in.”

“That sounds entirely good to me,” Tilly said. “Isn’t it better if people aren’t on the Buried God?”

“I haven’t gotten to the bad part,” Silver replied. “It looks like they’ve got more than just clones working for them. The person I spoke with claimed that the Reawakening had a group of three people that, when they worked together, were strong enough to fight and kill the Magistrate. Those people are likely somewhere within the mansion.”

“Are they actual Reawakening members?” Angel asked. “That couldn’t be possible, actually. Not unless Reave was here.”

“I don’t know,” Silver replied. “The girl I was talking to didn’t get a good look at them, but she said they were following orders from a huge, tanned man with long black hair.”

“That would be Shield,” Lilian said. “He makes the clones. If they were taking orders from him, they certainly aren’t one of the original seven members of the Reawakening. Maybe they’re clones that have artifacts?”

“That could be a problem,” Angel said. “Any artifacts that make a group of clones strong enough to fight a Magistrate are going to be packing some serious power. What else did you find, Silver?”

“There’s a resistance,” Silver replied, taking his hat off and hanging it on the foot of the bed. “But that’s all I know about ‘em. The girl wouldn’t tell me more without proof that I wasn’t somehow working for the Reawakening, and I didn’t have a good way to show it. I could have gotten it out of her, but I don’t think you would have approved of my methods.”

“Are you saying you would have tortured her?” Aaron asked in horror.

“What? No,” Silver replied. “That’s barbaric. I would have promised to save everyone and do anything she wanted, then gone back on every single thing I said.”

“That’s… somehow almost as bad,” Tilly said with a frown.

“Hey, I didn’t do it,” Silver replied. “But there’s a bit more good news. She promised to tell us the location of the resistance if we saved some bloke from the prison. She knows enough about them that she’s either a very good liar or is actually connected to someone involved in it.”

“A prison break?” Angel mused. “The three strong members that the girl mentioned are in the mansion, right? How far is the mansion from the prison?”

“They’re on opposite ends of the city,” Aaron said. “The prison is near the center of Blackstone, while the mansion is at its peak.”

“How’s the security on it?” Lilian asked.

“I’ve never checked,” Aaron admitted. “Didn’t have a reason to. But I never heard about prison breaks and the area is pretty deep in the mountain. It’s probably not too easy to breach.”

“It’s still worth a shot,” Silver said. “We should scout the place out at the very minimum. I’m sure the Reawakening has soldiers there, but I doubt it’s a full garrison.”

“I agree,” Angel said, rising to his feet and stretching his legs out. “It’s as good a start as any. I trust you’ve got a description of the person we’re supposed to save?”

“Yup. He’s some warrior with a bunch of scars. Bald, tan skin,” Silver said, listing off attributes on his fingers. “His name is Jonas.”

“Let’s go, then,” Tilly said. “The sooner we find this guy, the better.”

“Hold on there,” Silver said. “This isn’t a mission you’ll be participating in. Alison too, for that matter.”

“What? Why?”

“He’s got a point,” Alison said, but she didn’t sound happy about it. “We don’t have any practice sneaking around, and they aren’t going to try to take the garrison head on.”

“But…”

“We’d only be a hinderance,” Alison said. “The best thing we can do is keep practicing and be ready to help when our talents would actually be useful. Imagine me throwing a fireball while we’re trying to move stealthily. We’d bring half the city down on top of us.”

Tilly crossed her arms and sat down with a harrumph. “You might be right, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. What if something goes wrong?”

“You’ll hear the city coming down around us,” Angel said with a dark chuckle. “Trust me, if things go badly, we won’t be going down quietly.”

“What about me?” Aaron asked. “You’ll need me to show you where the prison is.”

“The girl told me,” Silver replied. “And you said yourself it’s heavily fortified and in the center of the city. There’s no need for you to risk yourself for no reason. Stay here and entertain the girls or something.”

“I have things to do,” Tilly snapped. “We don’t need entertaining.”

Jake chirped his agreement. Aaron sent a nervous glance at the bird monster, then carefully sat down at the other side of the room. “Good luck, then. I hope you don’t die.”

“Me too,” Angel chuckled. “With any luck, we’ll be back in a few hours. I don’t know if we’ll try to break the guy out today or later. We’ll see.”

He, Lilian, and Silver slipped out of the shop. The sun was already hanging low in the air, and Blackstone was bathed in shadows. Lilian’s appearance morphed as she walked, turning gruff and male.

Angel just wrapped his scarf around his arm as tightly as possible. It wouldn’t fool anyone for long, but it might be enough to throw off a first glance. He wasn’t planning on getting spotted in the first place, but it was better safe than sorry.

The three of them kept to the edges of the streets, slipping from alley to overhang as they followed Silver and headed toward the center of Blackstone.