“Now, I’m going to ask one more time.” Cross said, leaning into Jake’s face. The terrified teen was handcuffed to the table, so he couldn’t get too far away. “Your little friend was all too happy to sell you out.” she said, slapping the file on the desk. He glanced at Dean’s haggard photo, cursing every decision that lead to this. “Look at me!” Cross barked, and his head snapped forward again.

“Y-Yes ma’am!” he squeaked. He blinked under the hot light. Dean had mysteriously vanished last week, and then some very serious men with badges and very large guns had come to his house this morning. Now this she-devil wanted to know one simple thing.

“Who’s you’re supplier? How do you get the Taboo to sell?” she asked harshly.

“I-I can’t t-tell you that! Do you have any idea wh-what they’d do to me if they found out I t-talked!?” he said, red-faced.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Cross countered. “You do know what Taboo does to people, right?”

“Look, anyone who wanted it already knew the risks. They wanna get high? Let ‘em, t-that’s all I got. A-And I heard it’s a stimulant, so p-people get more crap done. Yeah, it’s bad in the long run, b-but I don’t plan on doing this forever, and I d-don’t think any of my customers d-do either.” he explained, sweating. Cross raised an eyebrow.

“What? That’s not what I’m talking about.” His eyes widened nervously.

“Wh-What? Th-Then what do you w-want from me?” he said. Cross sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

“Listen, Taboo isn’t a normal drug. I wouldn’t be here if that were the case, the FBI would.”

“Y-You mean you’re not with the FBI?” he said, and she shook her head. “Th-Then who are you?”

“An agency that curtails crises like this one. Taboo’s true purpose isn’t to get people high, how do you not know that? Haven’t you tried it yourself?” she said. He gave her a look of revulsion.

“Do I look stupid to you? Never-”

“-get high on your own supply. I got it.” Cross cut off, sighing. “Then are you aware of the incidents that involve the users? The strange phenomena that occurs once a person takes it?” Jake blinked.

“Okay, now I know I’m on a hidden camera. You actually believe those rumors? Are you really with the cops?” he asked incredulously. Cross had had enough.

“Listen to me, you dirtbag! People are dying, dead because of that drug you sell! And not the users, the ones who supposedly knew the risks!” She slammed her palm into the chair next to his head, cracking it. She glared into his terrified eyes. “You are going to spill your guts, because all of the Beat Factory incident is squarely on you! The rumors are true, the Taboo does give you powers, and at the same time destabilizes the brain enough so eventually you go on a crazed rampage! Now, you strike me as pretty reasonable, so believe me when I say I’m tired of seeing people die because you got greedy! Their blood is on your hands, the only way to get it off is to atone and help stop the manufacturer!” Despite screaming into his face, her own was deathly cold and pale. Her source of leads and backup was dying, an operative under her care had flown off into space, and her partner was withdrawing into reports and research. She was not letting the only thing that could avenge their losses get off scot free. Her icy, imperial glare dared him to defy her. He wilted.

“But…um, ugh. All…all right.” He looked both ways, paranoid. “I never wanted anyone hurt, alright? I just figured they needed to relax and get pumped, for a profit if I could make one.”

“Get to the point.” Cross snapped, and he flinched.

“Oaky, okay! I don’t know if he’s a go-between or not, but I go to an old warehouse every couple of months, meet with this guy, Rohir. We met online when I applied for a job with the company, I guess he makes it there. Metatech Pharmaceuticals. He shows up in one of their trucks. One of my jobs is to make sure there aren’t any labels on the bottles.”

“I see.” Cross said, brain churning with this information. Metatech Pharmaceuticals was a huge deal. The top medication specialists not only in the U.S. but the world, based in New York and half of the entire city worked for them, whether directly or indirectly. To expose them, a company so influential and prominent that even Cross had heard of them, would be a scandal nearly rivalling Watergate, with a much bigger impact. This was bad, really bad; there was no way to know how far this went. “Do you have any idea how this guy makes it? Do you know if he’s working alone, or involves others? If it is Metatech, this could go straight to the top.”

“Uh, I have no idea. All I know is I buy the pills and sell ‘em for profit. I don’t ask questions, and he’s not exactly the talkative type.” Jake said.

“Hmm.” Cross growled, hand on her chin and tapping her foot. Normally a break this big would’ve required months, if not years of investigation and warrants before they could make a move on a company like that. But if the Agency really had the authority, then they could march up to the CEO’s office today. Suddenly, she was grateful for her kidnapping recruitment.

“Sooo…what happens now?” Jake asked. She spared him a glance.

“You’ll be tried for selling illicit substances. Taking into account the fact that you’re a minor, and that you’ve been helpful to the investigation, you shouldn’t have to serve too much time. Not like Dean, he won’t be getting out until he’s forty.”

“Oh, goody.” Jake said, his hopes and stomach sinking.

“We’ll be back for you shortly.” Cross said, putting her jacket back on and heading over to the next room, where Crenshaw was waiting. “You get all that?”

“Every word, and it’s very disturbing. I’ll need to contact the higher-ups about how to proceed with something like this. This could take a few days, with only his word to go on.” he said, frowning.

“Not too long, I hope.” Cross scowled.

“If you’re that hungry for something to do, go over the latest report from one of our agents in Philadelphia.” he said, tossing her a file.

“What’s this?”

“More bad news, I’m afraid. We uncovered a sort of meetup for Taboo users, with an initial estimate of thirty people going.” Cross let out a whistle and opened the folder. “I know. Taboo use is on the rise.”

“You’re telling me. I haven’t seen a street drug this popular, ever. But if you get powers, then I guess-what the?” She stared at the pictures contained within, looking like the set of a creepy horror movie. There were candles for illumination in some sort of basement, where a dozen half-naked teenagers and young adults stood holding hands in a circle, one of them in the center cutting his wrist with a knife. More photos showed him drawing strange symbols and diagrams on the walls and floor. Cross shivered as she saw them; while she was definitely no expert and only recognized one or two of them, they were definitely the same ones she had seen the kid copy from the Necronomicon, when he went for something big. “The hell is all this?”

“A cult. Our agent called for backup when he felt it was too dangerous to let them continue. He had to start shooting, and I can’t blame him. Residual magic is 0.5 on our scale, whatever this cult was brewing up was major.” Crenshaw said.

“Jesus.” Cross muttered.

“Most of them got away, and the three we managed to apprehend died in custody. All of them used their teeth to open up veins in their wrists to bleed out. They’d rather die than talk.”

“Dear God.” Cross collapsed into a chair, head on her arm. She’d had people commit suicide under her jurisdiction before, it was a sad fact of life. It was never easy, especially when they were kids like that. She would never forget the first one she’d gotten a call to when she was still on the beat: a chubby fifteen-year-old girl blue in the face as she swung form a ceiling. She’d been bullied for being overweight, and apparently hadn’t enough emotional support, and saw no other way to make the pain stop. While the motion became more routine, Cross hated them with every fiber of her being. Such promise, so many opportunities, cut so short…with Amber gone and the kid’s own end approaching fast, three kids at once felt like an overwhelming blow. She rubbed her aching chest.

“That’s not all though. Before one of them passed, they managed to try and draw something on the wall in their blood. It’s blurry and uneven, but it matches the symbol on the floor the leader of the cult drew.” Crenshaw said. Cross flipped through the files until she found the photos he was talking about. It made her uneasy to even look at them, a dot in a circle surrounded by three V’s, the one on the left spiraling into a lowercase g. This was what a kid chose to write with his essence, with his dying breath. This was what he’d chosen to follow, to protect even above his own life. Cross growled, eyes set hard.

“The kid needs to know about this. He could probably tell us what-” Her phone beeped. She pulled it out, raising an eyebrow at the text, and gave Crenshaw a thin-lipped smile. “Speak of the devil. He found out what’s in the Taboo.”

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“Nnullm…nnullm…nnullm-agtshogthatma vagen tsalmon ambdubh…uh…”

“No, no, no. ‘Nunullm-agtshogtathma vahgehn tsalonm amdbugh wai’vferzgotght.’” Scott corrected, holding up a scolding finger. Riley, dark circles under her eyes, stared at him then faceplanted into the pile of books and notes in front of her, moaning.

“Aauugh. Why is this so hard? And how do you even say all this so good?” she said.

“Did you think literal magic, manipulating forces that tear apart the fabric of reality and put it back together in a way that pleases you was easy? Heavens, no!” he said, grinning. “To first use necromancy, one must understand necromancy. You’ve got the spark and the will to make it work, but not the technical skill required, not yet at least.”

“But how do you even pronounce all these incantations, it looks like gibberish.” Riley said, turning up to see her mentor.

“Did you do your tongue and vocal exercises?” he asked, demonstrating with his own tongue. He could make it twist and twirl in nearly any direction he wanted, used to forming strange and unnatural words on the fly. It was a skill Amber had been very grateful for when they made out. And he was able to replicate death metal singers perfectly. “I could probably do push-ups with this thing. Until you memorize all the incantations-with their correct pronunciations-by heart, you can’t call yourself a magician, much less a specialist like a necromancer. Speaking of which…how you holding up, Connor?”

“Regretting…all my life choices!” he called back, visibly straining. He was seated in a magic circle surrounded by candles, Bones holding a heavy stick behind him. Ibn front of the boy was a small dais with a circle he’d drawn himself, a dead mouse in the center. His hands were trembling, outstretched, trying to force necrotic energy to flow forth and reanimate the creature. “Jslatmon ha!” Nothing happened, so Bones took a swipe at his head, which Connor managed to duck with a yelp.

Scott clucked his tongue disapprovingly. Connor had the opposite problem as Riley. The boy, being a much better student than her, had a true knack for the techniques of magic, unerring with a chalk circle and able to memorize entire pages worth of incantations and spells bounds ahead of her. Unfortunately, he lacked the raw desire and will necessary to twist reality to his whims. While Riley could make sparks of necrotic energy and magical power, he could barely manage a flicker, if that. Thus, the training circle. If Scott could make him snap and have him feel the flow of death instead of thinking about it, Connor’s prowess might rival Scott’s own someday. Alas, his heart simply wasn’t in it the same way Riley’s was. She really got the appeal of necromancy, in a way Connor, Cross, or even Amber didn’t. While it was easier to teach Connor, it was more fun to teach her. And that’s what they’d been doing the last week, while Scott tried to solve the riddle of Taboo and find a way to locate Amber.

“You can’t even make one deviation from the sigil’s depiction, otherwise the best case scenario is it doesn’t work. And when you’re trying to inscribe a circle while a horde of daemons are clawing at your back, accuracy and speed are a must. In the worst case-heuugh!” Scott delved into a coughing fit, hacking up blood into a dark cloth he carried around now. “Sorry, got into a fight with a yeti couple weeks ago. Haven’t shaken the cold yet.”

“So you’ll cough if it’s wrong?” Riley teased.

“N…well, yes, actually. From all the smoke that results from it blowing up in your face. And you’ve seen Faceless Joe, right? Hey, Faceless Joe!” He called to the zombie that served as his personal shield in dangerous experiments. The tattered zombie, indeed with no skin on its’ face, turned.

“Yuck. I have, I have!” she squealed.

“Ah, the joys of scarring children for life. It’s strangely satisfying.” Scott sighed.

“You’ll die before us, old man!” Riley said, grinning.

“Is that any way to talk to your teacher? I should make you draw a thousand sigils for that.” Scott grinned back, eyes aglow.

“Isn’t that…what you’re doing anyway?” Connor panted, ducking as the stick whooshed by his head.

“Less talking, more conjuring dark magic to animate the dead!” Scott called out, checking her work.

“How’s this?” she asked tentatively, hoping her circle was good enough. Scott frowned.

“Hmm. It’s too rough. Unfortunately, magic requires precision above all else, as to raise a zombie you have to be meticulous, otherwise it’ll just twitch and flop over. Necromancy’s looked down on enough as it is, so-”

“What! Really?” Riley interjected. “Who says!?” Scott waved her down.

“Chill, chill. The ignorant masses do, and while I’m doing my best to change that it’s an uphill battle. It’s traditionally looked at as a powerful, but limited art, with no grace or subtlety to making a horde of zombies.”

“What? No! Necromancy is the best!” Riley said, and he smiled at her.

“Yes, of course it is.” he said, but added quietly when she looked down “But it’ll be up to you to prove it.” He watched the children perform their work, Connor turning red as the mouse’s fur bristled, Riley’s shoulders sloping despite her grim, bright-eyed determination. This had been going on since last Tuesday, five days after the party. Coming to the warehouse in the morning, he’d show them something new, then they’d work on inscriptions, incantations, and other techniques for six hours until they went home for lunch and dinner, coming back afterwards until it started to get dark. He didn’t know what they were telling their parents, but they managed and he saw how hard they were working. He sighed; if he could put them together, they would be the perfect student, but everyone had their own strengths and weaknesses after all. And they actually wanted to learn, from him. They had sought him out, a villainous-type moldy old necromancer, and even when he’d turned them away Riley was still determined. Now she was being tested. He chuckled as she poured over his notes, copying runes and circles, growling and starting over when she messed up. Truthfully, they were making swift, swift progress. Scott supposed it was because they were being instructed, as opposed to having to figure out much of it from a textbook.

It was unfortunate, he thought as he wiped a dribble of blood from his chin, that he wouldn’t be around to see their growth. He turned to gaze out the window. The sun was setting, and the moon was visible between the clouds, full and faint. He idly toyed with the notion of having Riley resurrect him, but scoffed. While her skills were advancing, especially at her age, neither she nor Connor would be ready to pull off a resurrection for months yet, at the earliest. While the spell was simple enough, if there were any-any-mistakes, they could revive him as an otherworldly monster intent on devouring them, and there was no way he’d risk that. They’d have enough trouble in the future as it was, with the Taboo around. He scowled; after nearly three weeks, he was still no closer to identifying what gave the drug its magical properties.

“Ugh. Old man, I just can’t wrap my head around this. Can you help me?” Riley said, bringing her sheet with the Eye of Judgement surrounded by wavy sigils in a circle.

“Don’t disrespect your elders!” Connor shouted, then looked down to see the mouse’s tail twitch. “Hey, I did it. Ow!” The stick came down, punishment for losing focus.

“Keep on track, don’t let success make you falter.” Scott said, then turned to Riley. “Ah, you forgot the circle. You gotta draw the circle first, then put the sigils in, the times you don’t will be too rare to count. Always create the container of power first, shape it with your will and knowledge.”

“Okay, I think I get it. What’cha looking at, anyway?” she said.

“Just the sky. Amber’s out there, I know it, but I don’t know where or how to reach her. It’s frustrating. And, I guess I’ve been kinda, lonely without her.” Scott admitted, looking down. Riley nudged him worriedly.

“Cheer up, okay? You’ve got us with you now! I mean, I know it’s not the same, but…”

“Yeah, I know. And you guys are great, you’ve been a help getting through this. I just wish I could figure all this out.” he said, turning back to the sky. Riley looked out the window.

“Oh, the moon’s full again, like when we met you.” she said.

“Yeah.” he said wistfully. “The full moon was out when Amber changed and went away. It’s kind of a mixed bag for celestial beauty, now. For me, at…what did you say?” Scott said, staring wide-eyed at the moon.

“Huh? The moon was full when we joined you?” Riley said quizzically.

“Yeah, which was?” Scott continued asking.

“Six days ago.” Connor said, getting up from the circle to join them. Scott waved Bones off.

“Right. And Amber was changed almost two weeks ago, and unless the sight of her disappearing wasn’t burned forever into every neuron in my brain, the moon was full then too.” he said, pulse picking up with dread. They stared at the lunar satellite in the sky, comprehension slowly dawning on them as all three of them realized there wasn’t a time in recent memory when the moon wasn’t full.

“Umm, that’s weird. How come it’s been full so long?” Riley asked. Scott stared at her, an apprentice able to use magic, even a spark, not even a week into training. He thought of the unnatural smoothness his necromantic arts had been operating at. And now…

“I have to check something.” He rushed over to his desk, pulling out a star chart, a lunar calendar, the Necronomicon, and his phone. The children watched him as he paged through everything frantically, muttering to himself.

“Sirius in the northwest…Polaris and Venus…hmm, could Mercury be it? No, Mars fits better, but with Betelgeuse in its current position…maybe Jupiter? Yeah, that could do it…Jupiter…” He stared at his phone, looking at the phases of the moon for the last three months. April was normal, as was May, up until it was full. Then it simply kept going, until now. His eyes narrowed. He ran to the table with the Taboo sample, examining his previous notes. Riley watched him furiously scribble something down.

“Uh, what’s going on?” she asked.

“The final piece of the puzzle, that’s what! You see, there’s a new drug going around, and make sure you don’t do drugs okay, that gives people magical knowledge and powers. I’ve been tasked to discover what it’s made of, and until now I’ve been completely off-base. I had naively assumed the pill’s composition would be mostly chemical, perhaps enchanted with some kind of memetic trigger to implant the knowledge in the brain. Instead, no wonder I couldn’t figure out what it was made of! It’s made out of solidified magic, not ordinary matter, compressed into physical form! Also, don’t do drugs, drugs are bad."

“See, the pill itself is just pre-existing recreational chemicals, but they’ve been coated with a solid layer of pure magical knowledge. The nasty part is you don’t even have to ingest it, strictly speaking-if you handle it while your hands are sweaty for instance, it would melt off and seep into your pores. The pill itself is just a delivery system, like a box in reverse. And since it’s water soluble, you could easily mix it into a drink,” he growled at the memory of what that bastard had done to Amber, “or even…” He gasped. If enough Taboo found its way into a water supply, entire towns and cities could spontaneously develop magical powers. The chaos and collateral damage would be enough to topple the country, if manufactured in large enough a supply. “I have to call Cross right now.” He dialed her number, but got a voicemail. “Gah!”

“Easy, Mr. Scott. Send her a text, she’ll see it soon enough.” Connor said, worried. This was big, bigger than anything he’d ever encountered before. Was this what it was like, being a professional necromancer?

“Cool! When do we get to beat up the bad guys?” Riley asked, eyes sparkling. Connor sighed. Did anything get through that thick skull of hers?

“You are aware that ‘we’ aren’t going to do anything, right?” Scott said, texting Cross he’d found the secret ingredient of Taboo. “You two aren’t going anywhere near any bad guys, and I’m a humble consultant.”

“Well, I meant more of our side, not me personally.” Riley admitted, blushing. “I can try if’n you want, but I’m not very good at zombies yet.”

“Indeed. But you are making progress-ahh!” His heart stopped. There, on his phone, was a terrible, horrible, visceral omen of evil, one he thought he’d banished for a very long time. In his fright he’d dropped it, and viewed it warily as another text came through. He glanced at the kids. “Avert your eyes, don’t look at the picture. Bones, pick it up.” As the skeleton obeyed, he was never more grateful to have disposable minions. He peered through the ribcage at the next text, and saw both were from the detective/special agent. ‘Do you know what this symbol is?’ it read. He growled, snatching the phone and calling.

“Kid?”

“Don’t you ever scare me like that again!” he snapped, wide-eyed. “That, detective, is the sign of the Poisonous Thoughts, the Harbinger of the End, the Last Alarm, the Calamitous Ruination. It’s the mark of the Elder God pulling Brian’s strings last November. I personally made sure there were none of those signs around anywhere for anyone else to discover. How the hell did you find it?” he said, trying to keep calm. Riley could see him shaking.

“You mean Riepai-”

“Don’t say his name!” Scott shrieked, making all of them jump. “Never say his name! He can hear you when you do!”

“G-Got it. Sorry, kid.” Cross apologized. “But that answers my question. See, there was some kind of cult that we broke up a few days ago. This symbol was on the wall, and the guys we brought in committed suicide, one of them drawing this with his blood.” Scott’s own blood ran cold. He could feel his heart beat behind his ears.

“N-No. It…it can’t be.” he whimpered.

“It is.” Cross said grimly. “Tell me what we’re looking at, kid. How bad is it?”

“I-I can’t say as to the scale of how far this goes, but we could see the beginning of humanity’s end.” he lied. He glanced at the Necronomicon, lying on the desk innocently; how he wished the words in it weren’t true. Cross muttered on the other end, then returned.

“Great. Just great. The end of the world, again.” She sighed, and took a deep breath. God, she needed more caffeine to deal with this crap. “Unfortunately, that cult wasn’t the only one. We broke that one up, but we’re currently keeping tabs on at least three more across the country. But you said you found out what was in the Taboo, right?”

“Yeah. Detective, take a look at the moon. Notice how long it’s been full?” Cross frowned on the other end.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“The moon has been full the last month and a half straight, every day. It’s been out longer, too. While certain days can affect the ebb and flow of magical energy, a full moon always means more magical flow going around. Somehow, someone made it so the moon is always full on Earth, and no one noticed. Whatever’s going on is international-scale, at minimum. With the Tempter’s sign in the mix, I don’t like this one bit.” he said, starting to pace back and forth. “This allows for the crystallization of raw magical knowledge into physical form, which is then coated onto the drugs. The rush from the amphetamines along with the psychological rush from the power ensures that whoever takes it will be both addicted and unstable. There’s nothing good that can come from this.”

“Huh. I see.” Cross said, leaning back. “I guess that makes sense. We got a lead on who’s manufacturing it: Metatech Pharmaceuticals.”

“Metatech Pharmaceuticals? The drug company?”

“Yeah. We’re planning an assault on their headquarters in New York. Here’s Crenshaw.”

“Hello?” Crenshaw said. “We’ve discovered a solid lead on the manufacturer. But since we have no knowledge on what possible supernatural defenses they might have, we would like you to join us in the strike. These are the people who supplied the fool who drugged Amber. Will you be willing and able to help us, in your condition?”

Scott’s body erupted into heat, his face turning into a scowl. A chance to bring down the ones who made Amber go into space? He saw the obvious bait Crenshaw was dangling and took it, grinning darkly. His eyes started to glow a toxic emerald green, but flickering like a disconnected powerline.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be happy to crush them.” A black warmth started to spread in his chest. “I’ll take everything I’ve got, and there will be a reckoning. Metatech Pharmaceuticals will know the true fury of a necromancer.”

“Good. We shall collect you tomorrow at 09:00. Be prepared.” He hung up, and Scott turned to his students.

“Okay, for the next couple of days you’re gonna be in study hall. I expect you to work hard, and don’t try to raise the dead in my absence. Tomorrow I’ll be off on a mission of vengeance.” he said grinning, his skin stretched thin over his skull.

“Whoo! Vengeance!” Riley cheered.