Sandalwood and lavender? I didn’t have long to act. “Svalinn’s Mercy!” A red tower shield as tall as me popped into existence an instant before an unseen force ripped the doors off the elevator. I recognized the hallway leading into the boys’ living quarters, and my stomach sank as my fears were confirmed.

“It’s one of them!” shouted Rose. “And he’s got Mariko!”

Yukiko didn’t respond. She was a tad busy holding the elevator in place with nothing but her Gravity Shift.

Luckily for her, but less so for me, Lucile was there to do the speaking for all of them. Kiyo’s aim was true; the rubber bullet would have pegged me square between the eyes if I hadn’t raised the shield.

Rose shouted again, but after the deafening report of the rifle, I couldn’t make it out. Yukiko must not have expected the noise right in her ear, since the elevator shifted a foot down.

“Lovely Fireworks!” I threw my gut into it, creating a dazzling display that filled the air around us with multicolored sparks.

My plan had been to dash past them, but I’d been a bit too dazzling, as always. I went weightless as Yukiko lost her focus and the elevator car dropped by like stone.

And to think, I’d been so close to getting over my fear of heights. I was sure it was the end until the elevator lurched to a halt, the walls of the car sparkling again, just barely stopping us.

At least I was right about one thing; Mariko wasn’t too heavy to easily move. I cradled her as I leapt off the elevator, just before Yukiko lost her grip, sending the doomed elevator car to its fate.

“Mariko?” She gave no response. I cast a Trivial Heal on her, which was all I had time for.

“Hey!” Hiro’s voice sounded distant from inside the nearest door. “Is somebody there? Help! I’m trapped! Hey, whoever’s out there, do you hear me? Help!”

I bolted down the hallway, wanting to put as much space between myself and Hiro as I could. “I’m in the bloody batting cages?” I chose not to think about how far we must have plummeted before Yukiko caught us again. I had more immediate concerns.

What in the name of Our Father Below were those three doing in the Tower? How were they walking around under their own power, for that matter? Had the maneuver with the Peace Bond completely failed?

No, that didn’t make any sense. If the students weren’t trapped, Mr. Maki would have already busted down our door, with the non-Brotherhood part of the staff backing him up to boot.

I had heard the elevator go off before. We must have just missed each other.

“But that still makes no sense, they should be completely trapped! They… oh my.”

My stomach churned as I realized just how close I’d come to bringing down the Tower with Kiyo inside. My hand flew to my mouth to cover my horrified scream. All of those maneuvers and months of effort to keep her out of trouble, and I’d nearly brought the whole Nagoya Tower down on her head!

Not that she’d been shy about taking a potshot at me! I forced my indignation aside; they hadn’t seen Soren Marlowe; they had seen Brother Mockingbird. I focused my Mimic Sight and glanced up. The mass of magical batteries on the rooftop was like a golden cloud above us, which must have been why I missed them before. As it was, I could just make out three shapes making a beeline for the stairs. I took the tallest to be Rose, since she was in the lead. I couldn’t tell Yukiko and Kiyo apart, but I was about to have bigger concerns.

“Brother Mockingbird, do you copy?” Brother Ratte’s harsh voice was loud enough to make my pocket vibrate.

“Brother Mockingbird, do you copy?” Maggie’s voice assaulted my ear through an ivory fabricata communicator.

My cell phone rang again, this time with Rose’s ringtone.

I chose the lesser of the evils. “I copy, Ratte! We have…”

I hesitated. Did I want to tell him about our guests? He wasn’t going to show the same restraint I would.

“A dang elevator just flew past us at terminal velocity! What’s going on up there?” The Norwegian wizard’s voice wasn’t doing my ringing ears any favors.

“We have company,” declared Maggie over the earpiece. “Somebody’s been using the elevator! Mockingbird, where the heck are you? You’re AWOL! Report!”

Was it too late to answer Rose?

“Come again, Mockingbird?” asked Ratte. “You cut out.”

I quickly weighed my options. I’d burned all my bridges as Soren Marlowe, at least with Mariko alive to finger me as a Holy Brother. I supposed I could just flee and blow the Tower. With those three on the loose, they would be able to evacuate just as well as Maggie’s group.

…I would never be sure, of course. At least not until the report came in from Dante or another of Fera’s agents. What if I heard that a few students had tragically died in the collapse? Or, what if they ran into Ratte’s trained soldiers? Could I live with that?

No, I knew what I needed to do. As far as Maggie’s crew knew, I was still a loyal Brother. I could use that to mitigate an awful situation. My friends could hate me all they wanted, as long as they were still alive to do it.

I engaged both comms at the same time. “We have company! Cooper, Sato, and Jones are all on the loose in the Tower!”

“What?” Maggie and Ratte were often at each other’s throats, but shrieking in my ear was something they could both agree on.

“Sister Shrike, remember our deal! Nothing happens to any of them! We need to take them down gently.”

“Our deal only covered that Kiyo brat,” spat Maggie.

“We should capture them alive, though,” I replied. “If only to find out if there’s anybody else in the Tower. If they got three students in, there could be more.” Perhaps I could even spare Hiro, as long as I was indulging my weaker side.

“Wait, Kiyo Jones?” Brother Maus’ voice came through more faintly, thank the Dark Lord. “One of the group that brought down Brother Gyrfaclon in Taiwan?”

“The same,” said Maggie.

“Jesus Christ, Sister Shrike!” Ratte’s voice switched from the commlink in my hand to the earpiece, much to my dismay. “You didn’t tell us your recruit was tied up with those interlopers!”

“That predated him seeing the light of the Brotherhood,” she replied, defensively.

“Regardless, Brother Ratte, I have my deal with Shrike. I’ll lead them to the shopping center, a few floors up from where I am. That should give us some room to maneuver.” It wasn’t ideal with Rose’s weather magic, but I figured that was less dangerous than Yukiko’s gravity manipulation would be in a tight hallway. “And again, we take them alive, or so help me, I’ll lead them out of the Tower myself. I want to hear those words, Sister Shrike.”

An oppressive silence filled the air. “Fine. Have it your way. Ratte, I’m sending some of my group down. They’ll meet up with your group in the shopping center.”

“Very well,” said Ratte. “We’re going to have a long talk when this is over, Sister Shrike.”

“I imagine we will,” she said in a resigned tone.

“Mockingbird out,” I said. Thankfully, things went quiet on their end too.

I held up my hands, demonic runes filling the air. “Lechtar.” Electricity danced between two of my fingers as I fished my smartphone from my pocket. I called Rose back, holding the sparking fingers as close to the microphone as I dared.

For the second time in as many minutes, the name of the Enemy’s son was shouted in my ears. “Soren, where have you been? Yukiko thinks you’re dead, and Kiyo’s worried sick!”

“My head wouldn’t hurt so much if it did,” I said.

“Soren, what’s wrong with your microphone? You sound awful!” Rose was panting lightly.

“Magpie? Is that Magpie?” I could just make out Kiyo’s voice in the distance.

“Rose, the mall,” I said, trying to sound as pained as I could. “You have to get up to the mall, I’ll explain… No! No, get away!” And with that, I shut the phone off completely.

Reaching the opposite end of the hallway, I arrived at another set of elevators. Good. I needed to save my energy for what was to come.