After their debriefing with Hanna, Rylie wrote up her report and took off while Mark decided to keep his appointment with Natalie. There were some things worrying him about Rylie’s new power that he wasn’t ready to discuss with the rookie quite yet.

He walked into her office seeing a sight he was quickly used to. She was sitting on the floor in the middle of a ring of books. There were ten individual piles stacked up with five to six books each. He sat and watched as the circle pulsated a dull light and waited for her to open her eyes. Everyone in Knowledge had a different way of research for their particular topic, and Natalie was no different.

She finally came back as she devoured the inner workings of the books around her. She glanced up and smiled at him, before beginning to put the books back on their shelves. Mark helped her with this, then sat down on the daybed she used as a couch.

“So, how did the mission go?” she asked.

He sighed, “About as successful as we can hope for when we miss something big like that. We should have had someone posted on Trevor Henry from the jump. Luckily, Rylie and I managed to get back in time, and well, that’s what I want to talk about.”

He paused, allowing her to look at him with a confused expression. He had told Natalie what had happened to cause him to retire, and they revisited the subject quite often. He figured she’d get a kick out of what he was going to say next.

“Rylie’s light power evolved to cover her entire body. A bright, burning light that consumes her like my metal body did before I was able to hide it. And it reminded me of then.”

“Ah, I see,” she said, “You’ve told me all you remember about leaving that dimension was a flash of light, burning the inner working of your soul until your sorrow was obliterated and all you could feel was warmth. Did seeing Rylie’s new power fill you with the same feeling?”

He shook his head, “No, I could still see my partner. I didn’t feel some grand awakening. Nothing celestial or cleansing. Just my partner better suited for battle.”

“A coincidence, then. Powers for Traitors seem to shift and evolve based on situational events. The light she used to have was her own for whatever reason she needed it before. Maybe being near you, having seen something so similar and having a parallel power, was a natural enough step.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Mark said, “But that leads into another issue I have with it. As you said, our powers are parallel to each other. But that doesn’t tend to happen with Traitor. I was utilized as a tank to allow Jay time to cast rituals. Same with Lily, but more with me being melee and her being ranged. Rylie’s should compliment mine, pick up where mine is lacking. Not be so similar. I want to chalk it up to them not being fully developed, but that seems to simple.”

“And did you bring any of this up to her?”

“No, I just stated that they weren’t done yet, so we just don’t know how it’ll go yet. I couldn’t tell her it was worrying me. And I haven’t told her anything about my capture back then.”

Natalie nodded, then took a deep drink from her tea, “I see. Are you guys just not ready for that bond yet? Is she still on the fence about joining?”

“No,” he replied, a little nervous to say it out loud, “If anything, I’m on the fence about wanting her to. She’s built for it, of course. She’s a natural talent who takes to training and fighting as if it’s just a way to breathe. But I have a shit track record with partners.”

“Do you remember anything new from your capture? Any details that have triggered in your mind that can help pinpoint exactly who was behind it all?”

“No, I-“ he began, before Hanna burst into the office.

“Sorry, Natalie. Mark, I need you right now. Jay and Lily are in trouble.”

Mark jumped up, apologizing to Natalie before making his way to Hanna’s office. She moved a bunch of folders around until she found what she was looking for. She pulled a manila envelope out and handed over a sheet of paper with a nearby address on it.

“I sent Jay and Lily to check into a disturbance. When they got there, they were ambushed and I’m unable to track them with my magic. When you get near there, use your hearing to see if you can suss out exactly where they are. Do you want me to call Rylie?”

He thought on it for a second, “No. If it’s serious enough to take those two out, I don’t want to put her in that level of danger. But see if any other teams are available for backup. Now, do it before I change my mind.”

Hanna nodded, then stepped back. She snapped her fingers above his head, and he folded in on himself. He always hated Hanna’s teleportation magic. It felt like being bent in half over and over like a piece of paper, then slowly unfolded. Mix that with the sensations of being somewhere entirely new, and he would rather walk the length of Chicago any day. Hanna didn’t believe him, but to her credit, she was only able to teleport other people.

Once his body shook off the feeling, he used his sense to reach out around him. He couldn’t feel any magic, but there was something else missing too. Emotion. He was in the middle of a busy area, but after a few blocks, he could sense absolutely nothing. If there was a magic blocker in use, that would be a dead giveaway.

He worked his way in that direction, while putting an ear out for any noise. Once he got past the barrier, a cacophony of magic and sounds hit him like a ton of brick. There were cackles and laughter mixed in with the feelings of fear and bloodlust. And in the middle of it, he could sense defiance. That had to be Jay and Lily for sure.

He found the building then centralized the senses he had picked up and worked his way in through the loading dock door. It was an old warehouse, still used but currently empty minus stacks of boxed along the dock. He hid behind the one closest to him and looked in.

There were three men there. Two were arguing while the third was dragging a body around on the ground. At first, it seems like he was taking it somewhere, but he changed directions back to the way he came. He dropped the arm he was pulling by, took a step back to admire his handiwork, then grabbed it and began dragging again.

The two arguing were debating who they should kill next, Jay or Lily. The taller man thought Jay would hold more magic in his blood, making a better, longer lasting spell. The shorter man just wanted to see Lily’s pale skin grow paler as the blood drained from her body. Something about the colors. Mark realized what they were dealing with here.

Artists.

The Artist collective had the ability to change the world and reality to their liking. Whether that was a small area like a house, or an entire city was up to the abilities of the Artist in question. The one thing that their magic had in common was the use of blood to fuel their magic. They had a tendency to hunt down other Patron collectives to do this, as the magic in their blood would make the spells last longer, but with enough humans the same ends could be met.

Another problem is that they tended to work together. If you have one guy maintaining the magic, and another maintaining the blood supply, you could create almost anything with the right imagination.

Mark glanced at his former partners. This one would be tricky. He would have to assume the taller guy would get his way, as Jay’s magic was almost palpable to humans. If the right Artist got a hold of him, they could probably fuel a minor reality shift indefinitely. He looked at the body the third guy was dragging around. He was just a human, probably the guy who ran this dock. His blood was flowing less now that he was dead, and the Artist was getting tired. And a bored Artist was a dangerous one.

He gently sat his coin onto the ground and let it become liquid, before moving it toward Lily. It crept up her chair like a slug, then made its way into her hand. She nearly jumped, but some memory took over, and she kept her wits. Mark solidified the metal, and she cut it into the magical binds around her wrist.

The problem with mages like Lily was that their hands were very important for using their magic. Add in magical rope to tie it together, and they’re almost useless. Luckily, she and Mark had been in this situation dozens of times, so he knew the angle of the blade his coin had to make. She finally cut through the binding, catching it before it could fall to the floor and give her away. Mark turned his coin back to liquid and sent it after Jay, keeping his focus in the back of his mind.

The two arguing were finally interrupted by the third, who realized that his paintbrush had ran out of paint. He stormed between them, pushing them away from each other. He looked between Jay and Lily, then started toward Lily.

In a flash, Jay threw the coin at the third man, which Mark warped into a thin blanket of metal, wrapping the man up in it. Lily jumped up before the others could react and cast lightning from her hands at them. The electricity coursed through them, and they collapsed to the floor.

The third man managed to land near the drying blood of his victim and touched it. The warehouse began to warp around them. His friends were brought back to consciousness, and he stood up holding Mark’s coin. He rubbed it between his fingers and it turned to ash, falling away to the ground. Mark reached out for the connection to it but couldn’t find it.

The blood trail glowed across the floor as the other two men laughed, the walls spinning, detached from the concrete floor of the warehouse. The boxes Mark was hiding behind began opening one by one as large creatures slithered out of them like snakes. Once their body was out of the box, legs popped out of the sides, allowing them to stand up to full height, and arms sprang out from the bodies with razor sharp claws. Lily started burning up unopened boxes with her fire spell, but when all was said and done, seven of these creatures stood between the dock opening and the group. Mark put up his shield to protect himself from Lily’s fire, but he was running out of time before his cover was burned away.

Jay was already chanting something as Lily fired spell after spell at the creatures. The third man pointed for them to fight back and fight back they did. The other two men continued arguing about which of the creatures had better coloring in the lighting of the warehouse.

The creatures focused in on Lily, who was attacking them, but the third man finally realized what Jay was doing and had two go for him. Mark charged in between them, slicing one across the neck. A thick black ooze spilled from the cut and it hissed. Mark kept up the attack on the two going for Jay, as he listened to make sure Jay’s ritual was still active.

Lily fired spells at the other five near him, before laughing. He dodged and weaved and cut at his two before making eye contact with her and smirking.

“Glad you could make it, Mark,” his ex-girlfriend said, “Just like old times.”