Chapter Twenty-Four.

"Director," a voice said, and the agent looked over to the figure standing beside him, someone who wasn't one of the agents who'd arrived to investigate.

The newcomer looked to be in his late teens, with dirty blond hair and dark green eyes. He was dressed in black and grays, his hands slipped into the pockets of the faded black skinny jeans he wore, his long black coat pushed back at the front by his arms.

"Noah," Lucas frowned as he took a step back. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Director," Noah responded. "This wasn't a fae attack."

"No," Lucas looked at the building, which had the entire street-side portion collapse after four of its floor were blown out.

An explosion that extended around twenty-five feet in all directions, a perfect sphere of fire and magic. No eyewitnesses reported survivors from the blast itself, but Lucas had a feeling that there was something more to the explosion than just magic.

"This is government business," Lucas told the mage. "What brings you here?"

"This building belonged to slavers," Noah looked at the building. "Someone managed to infiltrate it."

"Yes," Lucas frowned. "We've been trying to get intel on them for months after a suspected connection to the slavers, according to the Director over that division. And to answer your question, I was passing near here on my way home after dropping my daughter off at her school, we don't live far from here. The explosion happened, so I came over to investigate."

"She attends night classes?" Noah asked.

"It's her school's winter dance," Lucas told him. "What brings you to the site, Noah? I can't say this is coincidence, considering you were halfway across the country yesterday."

"A friend called me here," Noah looked at the building and frowned a little. "I owe him my life, and he asked for a favor."

Lucas frowned at that comment. The twenty-one-year-old time mage wasn't an easy person to kill. All mages with their root spell in a lone school had a 'quirk' relating to their school. If one knew what to look for and encountered them, it was possible to locate lone school mages before they even awakened their magics.

For space mages, they had a tendency to dislike any form of transportation that wasn't their feet or teleporation, and between the two, they preferred the later. Mind mages, they had a tendency to want to pair people who liked each other together. Lucas had observed both of those things in Eden and Cam, respectively.

With a time mage, they 'lived' in a separate rate of time as a normal person. Their minds were accelerated, even if they often seemed slower than others. It led to them being quieter most of the time as well, but that mostly dealt with them taking in far more than most.

To kill a time mage, even before they awakened their magics, was a difficult feat because of this 'quirk' of theirs. Noah was only twenty-one – well, nearly, as his birthday was Christmas – but he was a fine example of the power of the lone schools.

In the sixteen years since his magic had awakened at gunpoint, Noah had learned how to slow time for others, speed time for himself – at least, that was the best explanation that Lucas got for the spell – halt time, review up to a couple of hours into the past, and even reverse time for non-living objects to restore them to a state within the last half hour or so.

Killing him was nearly impossible. He wasn't registered with the government, though they did contract him out from time to time.

How someone could save his life was a question Lucas wanted answered, but knew he'd likely never receive one.

"A favor?" Lucas decided to settle on what resulted from his life being saved.

"Yes," Noah responded, his green gaze still fixed on the building. "Jason asked me to keep an eye on someone, one Eden Portman, an unregistered space mage."

Lucas frowned once more. They thought they knew everyone in Eden's life. Who was Jason, and where did he fit into things?

Before he could attempt to ask questions, Lucas realized the time mage was already moving towards the building. A few agents were moving to stop him.

"Let him through!" Lucas called out, hurrying to the mage's side. "He's investigating."

Is it possible Eden's connected? Lucas wondered as Noah began climbing the rubble. He was looking into slavers, and we know he has a lot of contraband magic items. Could he have somehow created the explosion?

"What is he doing?" An agent asked, and Lucas glanced at him. "That's not safe."

"He'll be fine," Lucas told the agent, turning his gaze back to the time mage. "Noah's been in many situations far more dangerous than this. I've seen a building taller than this one collapse on him, and the kid walked away unharmed."

The agent's jaw dropped at that. Barriers could only do so much unless someone was particularly powerful, and the mage didn't look to be that old.

"Do you have anything?"

"Yes," the agent responded. "Judging by our initial readings, it looks like a type of suicide spell crystal was used. We think we know the type of it, based on the fact that nothing was thrown about. The spell destroyed everything it came into contact with, and the rest of the building's front collapsed after that."

Lucas nodded, watching as the time mage jumped down and walked over to him.

"Eden was here," Noah informed Lucas. "He triggered a Nairix Death Crystal after being cornered and almost collared with a platinum slave collar. Unfortunately, the mage he was facing was able to create a barrier around the crystal. He knocked Eden out, collared him, and they left. As soon the barrier was released, the spell's destruction was unleashed. It looks like it was weakened due to having been contained for a few seconds."

Lucas swore under his breath. Platinum slave collars were rare, and they were impossible to release. There was no key. They forced absolute obedience onto the wearer and even allowed the master to control how much magic the mage had access to. Due to the enchantments placed on them, they were impossible to damage or forcibly remove as well. Not unless someone knew a void mage with a natural talent for voids.

Noah walked around to the side of the building and Lucas pulled out his phone. Eden being collared was considered an emergency situation, and not just because he was a prodigy among the lone schools.

Two of Cam's close friends were turned into mage slaves, and while he had been quiet ever since Greyson's kidnapping, there wasn't a doubt in the agent's mind that he was already formulating a plan. And now that Eden was gone, it was very likely Cam would become destructive again.

"I heard you're on-site," George said when he answered the phone.

"We have a Code Death God," Lucas told him.

"What do you mean?" George asked. "That kind of-"

"Eden's been collared with a platinum collar," Lucas said. "The two people we know of for sure who have earned Cam's trust and friendship have just been kidnapped and turned into slaves. If he had his friends go on that rampage just to look for that girl's brother-"

"Shit!" George swore. "We do not need a demigod going on a rampage! How accurate is this information?"

"Noah Tempo showed up," Lucas frowned at the alley the time mage had disappeared down, likely to Review something else. "He performed a Review on the site of explosion. Eden triggered a Nairix Death Crystal in the building. He was looking for something, probably related to Greyson's whereabouts. They cornered him, and whoever he faced was able to contain the crystal's power. It was released after they left with him in the collar."

"What is Noah doing there?" George asked.

"Responding to a favor," Lucas frowned. "I'm assuming he didn't finish the job he was on?"

"No," George responded. "He just disappeared this morning after… receiving a phone call. The favor?"

"To keep an eye on Eden," Lucas answered. "Someone he owes his life to named 'Jason'. I want to meet this mage, and find out just how powerful they are if he's able to save a time mage's life. But our priority is the Code Death God. If Cam goes on a rampage because Eden was kidnapped as well, there could be a lot of bodies and a stronger Veil required."

"I'll contact the angels," George told him. "Let them know we're under that."

"Thanks," Lucas said. "Anything else?"

"No," George responded. "Keep an eye on things. Lucas – I know this case is close to you, but try not to get in over your head."

"I won't," Lucas promised. "I'm making sure everything is by the book on my end."

"Good," George said. "I'll make the call and let Jestin know."

The call ended, and Lucas hung up just in time to watch as the building fixed itself. He sighed. It had been almost forty minutes since the explosion, which meant that Noah's powers had grown even more since the agent had seen them a year prior.

Having the building fix itself like that was going to create some uncomfortable questions by the normals.

Lucas ordered the agents to stay outside for the moment and to continue investigating around the building.

Around thirty minutes later, Noah exited the building through the front doors, a piece of paper in his hand. He approached Lucas and handed the paper to the director, who realized it was covered in tiny text – he would need a magnifying glass to read the writing.

"The license plates of the people who collared Eden," Noah informed Lucas. "As well as the security codes to most of the building and passwords to most of the computers. It also contains the names of most of the people who were present, including the man in charge of the operation. I'm going to follow the van they loaded Eden into."

Noah slipped his hands back into his pockets and left, seemingly moving at a rapid pace. In reality, he used his magic to alter his personal time, making it feel, to him, like the world itself had slowed down.

As he moved, he used Review to keep track of where the van had gone, eventually catching up to the vehicle as it pulled into a warehouse. The mage slipped inside, moved behind some crates, and released his altered time as the traffickers left their vehicles.

Two dozen mage guards, he thought to himself as the various guards began moving around. Plus the ten who were already here. Thirty-four guards total, all equipped with mage combat armor.

He watched for a few minutes, curious about why they hadn't pulled Eden out yet. Shouldn't they be doing that to move him into another vehicle?

"Are they sure we were followed?" A guard asked as the doors to the warehouse opened, allowing in more vans.

"Yes," one of the guards responded. "They're bringing in another hundred guards. We'll ambush the agents here."

"That was risky," the first guard said. "Teleporting the slave out of there while we were moving. What if they'd messed up?"

Noah sighed. They had teleported Eden out. He held hope that the guards there would be willing to answer his questions. Even if they weren't aware of where the teen was taken, they'd likely give the necessary information for him to find it.

Thirty guards or a hundred and thirty didn't matter to him, as long as none of them held lone school spells. Even then, only a natural could truly stand a chance against him.

So he waited. The more who were there, the higher the odds that he'd find the information necessary for locating Eden. Protecting the teen from the traffickers was his main priority, and he already arrived too late to do that.

But Noah owed his life to Jason, and so he would do whatever it took to rescue the boy. Even if the collar was impossible to remove, it was still able to be neutralized by the master, allowing Eden to live a normal life. If Noah obtained ownership, then passed it on to Jason, then Eden would likely be fine.

Once Noah heard the guards mention everyone was there and started ordering people to positions to wait for the agents, he slipped out from behind the crates, hands in his pockets.

One hundred, forty-seven, he thought to himself. All mages, all in mage combat gear. This will be boring.

"Hey, you!" A guard spotted him. "How did you get in here?"