Chapter 10 — The First Summit of the End of the World

Rachel lay awake in the early hours of the next morning, watching Will's chest rise and fall next to her in the near-darkness. She had two goals in mind for the town hall.

First, she would gather as much information as she could about who might be the mysterious supporter directing the golems that had attacked Cinza's group. From what she understood about the relationship between Alpha and Omega, the overwhelming forces that had once made all their lives a terrifying hell, neither would enter the town or interfere with their affairs so long as the other remained at large. It was an unwritten pact of mutual destruction from which neither had strayed.

Until last night, Rachel sighed. What changed?

She racked her memories of the past few days. There was a slowly increasing risk of them all being discovered, an outcome both spoke fervently against. It was one of the few things she had ever seen them agree on without debate, that the magical community was not ready to step out into the world at large. Neither held any illusions that they could keep their privacy forever, but they were unequivocal in their warnings that to be discovered so early into their development would spell doom for them all.

On this, Rachel agreed wholeheartedly, but the time seemed to be approaching faster with every passing day. What if it all ends today? she wondered bitterly, before refocusing her mind back to the problem of Omega.

There had been no significant events with the unawakened she could pinpoint. It had to be something else. Could it have been the murders? That was certainly an unprecedented and significant event. No one had killed another human with magic before. Rachel could see Alpha intervening to control the situation, or Omega railing on the community at large for allowing it to happen.

But why would they target Cinza's group over such an attack? Neither had shown any particular hostility to the Grey cult in the past, and Cinza clearly did not have anyone with the ability to carve a hole straight through a guy's chest, if the mostly-futile fight against the golems was anything to go by. If Omega were trying to hunt down and punish the perpetrator, he'd badly erred in his target.

Rachel doubted it. Omega wasn't the type to dole out punishment anyway. If he were attacking, it would be more specific than that.

It had to be a new arrival. Rachel considered Rika's return, but dismissed the possibility. Rika might be insufferable to some, but she knew better than to piss off the Gods.

Rachel also ignored her newfound companion Zack, though not without reservations. He had an air of mystery about him, and her examination of his connections from afar revealed so few that she was concerned she had made a mistake until she got Will to do the same. The boy was attached to virtually nothing, just an intense line to an object he kept inside his jacket and a dim line trailing away to Rika, who had been practically dragging him down the street. Any other connections were too faint or too distant to identify. Still, he'd been at Rika's side since the moment he'd arrived in town, and she just didn't see him as the killing type. There had to be someone she was missing.

Or something, Rachel realized with a start. She almost woke up Will in her excitement, having finally come to a conclusion that made sense. It wasn't a person that had arrived. It was a simple piece of parchment.

The three Gods were each specialists in their own way. While no one knew what Grey-eyes might be capable of, it was obvious her abilities tended toward movement and concealment, with how her appearance shifted and her way of vanishing instantly from a space without warning or a whisper of sound. Rachel still wasn't sure if she was truly teleporting or merely turning invisible and moving so fast out of an area that none spotted her departure. Alpha had taught the first of them about knowledge and mental magic, about the ability to modify one's mind and learn that which one couldn't possibly know. He'd also taught everyone the basics of elemental manipulation, particularly in regards to fire, which was how even the simplest of their number could toss around a ball of fire or levitate chalk.

But it was Omega's powers which frightened her most. Omega was the master of Creation magic, that which dealt with manipulating base elements into something not quite alive, but still animate. The golems that had gone after Cinza could only have been his, as she'd known the moment she saw them. The means by which to create and control them were a secret he'd never shared, and Rachel realized now what the Scrap they'd discovered must contain.

Omega was protecting his monopoly on that branch of magic, damn the consequences, and using his minions to keep from provoking a response from Alpha. Why he'd attacked Cinza's group was a question she still needed an answer to, but his motivations were clear enough. She'd managed to poke a sleeping dragon with her announcement at the Council. Now she had to control the fire before they were all burned to a crisp.

Her second goal was much simpler. She was going to ruin Julian Black.

Rachel took a seat off to the right side of the spacious town hall. It was a wide, open space with gently arched ceilings and a small elevated stage at the front. Neat rows of wooden chairs were set out, and a small table with water was placed to the side, but other than that the hall was quite devoid of refreshments or comforts. She reflected ruefully that despite the worse location, her own Council meetings were much better catered with their single plate of homemade cookies she brought to every session.

She had arrived almost an hour early, so as to watch as many attendees as possible as they arrived. Their reactions and attitudes could potentially speak volumes as they filtered in, and Rachel was determined to gather every scrap of information she could. A few people had been present before her, but of them only one stood out. John Bell, who worked at the Kettle and Bones as the bouncer and barman, if she recalled correctly. She was surprised to see him, but she barely knew the man, so perhaps he was just routinely interested in local politics. The front doors creaked open, drawing her attention.

Up first was Gordon Merrill, the owner of the local paper. He carried his notebook and pen, an exiled journalist still itching to write a story even if he hadn't published anything he'd written in years besides cheap editorials and opinion pieces. Following him was Dan Rhodes, owner of the eponymous burger joint which shared a wall with his offices, chatting amicably with the distracted Merrill.

Normally, Rachel might not have expected many attendees to a Rallsburg town hall, even in the case of a murder, but both herself and Julian had deliberately attempted to contact as many people as they could with the intention of making this meeting a momentous one. Rachel expected a crowd, and a crowd did indeed arrive.

Julian strode in, one of his two lackeys at his heels. He shot Rachel a look as he took his seat in the front, something between annoyance and disdain. She'd thrown a wrench into his planned conference by calling the emergency session to take place at the same time. He'd be faced with as many of his magical peers as his mundane town residents. Whatever plans he'd had to gain influence would be significantly complicated, to her satisfaction.

Mason Rhistler was next, with his boyfriend Bryan Selnik in tow. They took seats near to Rachel, and Mason gave her a questioning glance.

Rachel shook her head. She'd talk with Mason later. He was a valuable ally, but she got tired of his neuroses quickly. Without Bryan to balance him out, Rachel was certain he'd have driven everyone he knew insane long ago. Still, his obsessiveness and attention to detail had helped them discover so many of the mechanical facets of magic that she couldn't possibly consider ever losing him as a friend.

It was only twenty minutes to the appointed time now, and the stream of newcomers increased. Robert Harrison strolled in, talking with the sheriff. Jackie gave Rachel a nod as she entered, which gave Robert pause. Rachel quickly looked away, grinning. The sheriff had clearly done it to antagonize Robert, who still resented her role in ruining his attempt to sue the Price family. As if on cue, Nathaniel Price was next in line. The heir to the fortunes of Rallsburg took a seat far removed his erstwhile victim, only a few chairs away from Rachel.

"What's this about, Rachel?" he whispered, a note of worry tinging his voice. She shook her head in return, still watching the entrance as Neffie Bowman and her brother Preston entered, Preston in full deputy gear. Neffie was one Rachel definitely needed to have words with, as her boss' absence was now particularly concerning with the revelations of what was hiding out in the woods around their town. She'd made a promise to Natalie, and Rachel intended to keep it if she could.

Kendra walked in alone, her height adding to her regal bearing. She took a seat next to Rachel, her laptop under her arm. "Anything interesting yet?"

"Julian's pissed, but that's not new."

"No, I suppose not."

"You closed the Market?" Rachel asked. She'd requested as such to help drive attendance. If the only safe place to buy and sell magic was shut down for the afternoon, their flock of awakened could feel more secure in attending a meeting like this without fear of being undercut or losing business entirely.

"I made it clear to all merchants that this meeting took precedence. I doubt many will attend, but they'll be well aware of the results nonetheless," Kendra answered, a note of irritation in her voice. "Some were… obstinate."

"Thank you."

"So what's your plan? You haven't explained yet."

Rachel turned back to the entryway, still watching the ingress as it trickled through. There were a few faces she didn't recognize, which she made a mental note to learn as they were most likely from the fringes of town. Rachel wanted to have every member of town in her mental dossier, just in case.

Cinza arrived, with only two of her cult in tow. To Rachel's dismay, they wore the full regalia as usual, hoods drawn and cloaks just short of trailing the floor. Cinza's hair was back to its silvery-gray, and the charms and symbols clattered on her chest and wrists as she strode through the hall with an intense expression, daring anyone to confront her. Rachel was surprised so few had accompanied her, but she supposed that the rest of the pack were keeping poor, burned Yusuf company.

Of the two, Rachel recognized the girl Ruby from the day before, and a young Asian man whom she didn't know, with short cropped dark hair and a serene expression on his handsome face. They took a seat in the same row as Rachel and Kendra, in the right half of the hall. Cinza gave her a knowing smile before turning to face the front.

Ryan Walker and his friend Seth Merrill made an entrance, arguing loudly about a basketball team. Seth's father Gordon looked up surprised at his son's attendance, but Seth ignored the journalist. Rachel was amused. His son, obviously thoroughly disinterested in the town, had only shown up because of her—in a roundabout way. Not that it was likely to inspire him to actually get involved, but she was at least doing some little bit of outreach with the town indirectly.

A few more notable arrivals rolled in, including Oscar McKinney, who ran a handyman service for everything from plumbing to electrical and tow service. Collins McCreary walked in with Boris Morozov, the odd book store owner, chatting quietly. Boris took a seat while Collins stood by the entrance, with a silent nod to his employer Kendra. Rachel long suspected he did much more than simply groundswork for the Laushires, and his appearance here seemed to confirm it.

Finally, the Mayor himself arrived. Rowan Rhistler was a middle-aged but vigorous man. He was well-educated but still native to the area, and sensitive to the needs of both the college and the legacy of the logging union, making him the perfect negotiator for most disputes at the upper level of the town's politics—but quite detached from the rest of the town, which was where Rachel had found her niche. He didn't give his nephew Mason a second glance as he strode through the center of the hall, taking his place at the front of the room and pulling out a pocketwatch. It was only a few minutes to noon.

Hailey Winscombe arrived. The former social queen of Rallsburg University seemed very much out of place without her gaggle of bees following her every move. Instead, she looked—as she always did of late—reserved and cautious. Where once there had been a daring, explosive personality with a heart as big as the town itself, now sat haunted girl with trauma they could only guess at. While she still tried to act like the carefree party queen she'd once been crowned, there was a clear divide between the authentic Hailey Winscombe and the mask she now hid behind.

A few last minute arrivals hurried through the door, including Hector Peraza—timid as ever and looking very much like he did not want to be there—and Mabel Walsh, slowly inching through the doorway on her old and tired legs. Hailey, ever magnanimous, immediately rushed over to help her to the nearest chair before taking her own seat. The room fell silent with the chime of the clock.

"Everyone ready?" Rowan asked from the front of the room, standing up tall. "Alright then. Let's get started."