Anna was sleeping. She had a nightmare and even though she knew that, the knowledge didn't make it any better. First, she was just a kid back at home, talking to her father. He looked like how Anna remembered him from the old photos her mother showed her. The man was disappointed; he said he thought Anna was better than this. That she failed and embarrassed him.

Then she was back in the living room of the Seer all of the sudden, but the old man was already dead and rotten. He missed a big chunk of his body right where his heart was supposed to be. Yet, he spoke, and he said he saw the city die, whatever that meant. It will die, he said, and it will die because of Anna. Then the scene changed and Anna was in the park again, with the insane vampires in the dancing light of the fire she lit, but this time she did kill the man people accused her of killing, and with cold blood. It was like watching a terrifying movie about herself. She murdered someone while the vampire woman just stood there, laughing.

Then she was back on Trafalgar Square, fighting with The Priest, surrounded by zombies, but The Priest wore her helmet instead of the white wooden mask and when he took it off, the face under wasn't Kovach's, but Teodore's. This was the point she woke up, soaking wet from sweating in a room that wasn't hers.

She sat up, patting, and pain bit her side. She looked around. The room seemed empty and dark at first, but then she saw a chair in the darkest corner. Someone tall and slim was sitting on it and for a moment Anna was sure that it was Kovach.

But it was Teodore.

'Calm yourself,' he said dryly. 'You are safe.'

Anna kicked the blanket away and jumped on her feet. She realised that she was only wearing underwear and a tank top but it was not the time for being shy.

'You!' she hissed. 'You fucking… Why are you still alive?'

Teodore stood up. Even though Anna was a tall girl, the man towered over her.

'Calm down,' he said again. 'You will tear the stitches open. I didn't slave over you for nothing.'

'What… What stitches?' she asked, confused. Then she pulled up her top so it revealed most of her upper body. There they were, a line of neat, professional-looking sutures. 'What the hell…? How?'

Teodore's face, as always, was unreadable.

'The old moron used a magically enhanced gun,' he explained slowly. 'Rare things, fortunately. It is supposed to make wounds unhealable by magic. You got injured by it, and since your healing ability comes from magic, it can't help you now. It will take weeks, maybe even months to completely heal. So how about you sit down already before you make things even worse?'

Anna didn't move, just let her top back down.

'Where are we?' she asked.

'Broken Shield, obviously.'

'Is Tom okay?'

'Yeah, he had a mild concussion, but honestly, by now I barely know anyone who hasn't had one. The old man died, though.'

'You don't look sad,' Anna noted. 'He was your grandfather, wasn't he?'

Teodore shrugged and sat back on his chair.

'He was a relative I never met before that day,' Anna thought he would say something else, but he didn't. She sat on her bed.

'Answer my question,' she demanded. 'How are you still alive? I saw Kovach and you talking. He could have killed you.'

'I am alive because of the very same thing that saved your life,' he said.

'Explain,' frowned Anna. 'And explain it well or I will go and tell Jenna what happened. I assume you left out certain details…'

'I did not,' replied Teodore quietly. 'She knows everything I do, so does Robert. Jenna wasn't exactly pleased, but it's not like it's my fault…'

'What the hell are you talking about?' Anna was angry now. Her side hurt and she just realised that she was very hungry, too. For how long was she out?

'The Priest didn't kill me, because he wouldn't kill his own kind. I'm a necromancer. That's how I was able to save you. I channelled… I don't know what it's called. Lifeforce? Energy? Dark magic? Something into you until I was able to remove the shrapnels from your body, clean and close the wounds.'

Anna didn't know whether she should say thank you or try to escape. Teodore read her silence as a question, so he continued.

'Turns out it's not something you learn, it's something you are born with. I assume I was using it for a long time now as a doctor, but I just realised it recently, a few months ago. And I'm not nearly as good at it as Kovach, obviously. I doubt I ever will be. I think it depends on the sorcerer's general power-level, and I'm nowhere near his...'

It almost sounded like he tried to find excuses because he made the mistake of being born with some weird power. Anna shook her head in the hope it would clear her thoughts.

'But you took my helmet and gave it to him,' she said then, accusingly. She still wasn't sure that Teodore wasn't playing on both sides, even though she knew that him being a necromancer wouldn't affect who he was as a person.

'I had to,' he said calmly. 'Kovach cannot resist a rare magical artefact. It was the simplest deal: he got the helmet and I got to save you.'

'And what the hell am I supposed to do without it?' she burst out. 'I can't use magic!'

'You could live your life,' said Teodore. 'You could let go of the ridiculous idea that without you the city is doomed. You could try not to die a noble and unnecessary death, for a change.'

Anna didn't know what to say for that. Teodore stood up and walked to the door. He stopped, with his hand on the doorknob.

'Try to sleep. You need your rest now,' he said, and left.

But of course, Anna couldn't fall asleep for a long, long time.

***

'So we couldn't find additional help and with Anna being injured, we actually lost a fighter,' summed up Marcus.

'Plus Kovach has Anna's helmet, which makes him even stronger,' added Robert. 'I can't even imagine what he could do with the Rune of Metal now if a non-sorcerer could use it so efficiently.'

'Is the shaman-woman coming?' asked Teodore.

'She promised to close down the gates between our word and the others for the time we are attacking,' said Robert. 'So Kovach couldn't conjure elementals or demons, but she refused to fight. She is a pacifist.'

'Must be nice,' murmured Jenna. 'Not to give a shit about people dying.'

Robert's face got tense but he didn't say anything.

They were in his room, the four of them. Teodore sat further from the others, like always, Jenna was half-sitting on the bed with her back against the headboard and Marcus sat on the desk with one foot on the floor. Robert stayed on his feet, opening and closing his burnt hand.

'So that's it,' Marcus said. 'We are fucked.'

'And not in a fun way,' added Jenna, out of sheer reflex. Her reward was a pale smile from Marcus.

'We can't attack Kovach headfirst,' said Robert. 'We don't have the firepower. We are gonna have to sneak in somehow and switch his spell off, take Yolanda away. He can control only so many creatures without his power source. Once the Goddess is out of the equation, we have our chance.'

'Then it's a good thing that our team is full of master-thieves and ninjas,' shook his head Marcus.

'Maybe Claire…' started Jenna, but Robert cut her off.

'Claire is just a kid. A very talented kid, sure, we all have seen her doing some amazing things, like turning completely invisible, but I'm not going to send her in there alone.'

'You are not gonna… Just when exactly did we decide that you were the boss?' asked Jenna.

'Do you want to make decisions on which life and death depends?' asked back Robert angrily. 'By all means, please.'

'Guys, guys…' Marcus lifted his hands. 'I love a lovers quarrel as much as the next guy, but let's concentrate. Robert, snap out of it. We make the decisions together. That being said, Jenna, I don't think we should ask Claire to do this. She has certain skills but she doesn't have the experience for this mission.'

Robert and Jenna stared at each other's eyes for a few moments, then Robert sighed.

'I'm sorry,' he said. 'I'm just really tense.'

'It's okay,' Jenna answered, reaching out towards him. 'We all are.'

Robert took her hand and smiled.

'Touching,' grinned Marcus. 'Now let's back to the problem at hand.'

As it turned out, none of them had a "master thief" in their phone book.

'Couldn't your obnoxious bird do it?' asked Marcus from Robert. 'He can go through walls and stuff.'

'And Kovach knows that very well,' nodded Robert. 'No, I'm sure he expects Munin and he knows how to deal with him. We would just send him to die for nothing and I'm not even sure what would happen to me, or Jenna for that matter if he'd die. The three of us have some kind of special connection now, according to Edyta.'

'Yeah, that's not weird at all,' rolled his eyes Marcus. 'Okay, any other idea?'

A minute of silence, then Jenna spoke.

'What if we ask Luther to open one of his magical doors?' she offered. 'So we just pop in, grab the cube and off we go. Ten seconds, tops.'

'I doubt that Luther would agree with that,' shook his head Robert. 'Plus if Kovach somehow would get control over the doors, he could spread his army around the world without having to fight his way out of the city. In fact, the only reason he isn't at the front door already is that he probably doesn't know the magic doors exist. I'd say it's too risky.'

'As much as it pains to say, I agree,' nodded Teodore. 'There might be another way, though. Just because we don't know an individual, an experienced thief with a special skill set, who could snatch the cube without being noticed, it doesn't mean there isn't one. And we know just the person to ask.'

Jenna frowned, Marcus made a confused face but Robert understood it right away.

'The man at the Crossroads,' he said. 'Right. If anyone can help us to find a "master thief", that's him. The only problem is, if I understand correctly, that he will require a favour later on. I don't think that any of us should be in his debt. We all possess certain qualities that he could use towards questionable goals.'

'I'm just a simple doctor,' said Teodore. 'He could ask me to help out some injured thugs of his at some point, but I don't see how that could harm me in the long run.'

'You are also a necromancer and a Carano,' pointed out Robert.

'He couldn't know about the necro part, and being a Carano would actually help to make a deal,' replied Teodore.

'Tell you what,' pitched in Marcus. 'I'm going with him. My family is crazy rich, as you all know, chances are he would just ask for money or some business machinations, insider info, whatever. Plus he probably doesn't know that I'm a MAGE agent. Even if he does, I'm at the bottom of the ladder and on my way out anyway, it's not like he could ask anything too bad.'

'That sounds reasonable,' nodded Robert. 'Not ideal, but given the circumstances, I'd say it's probably our best chance. Jenna? What do you think?'

'I don't like it,' she shrugged. 'Sounds like a real sketchy dude. Plus Anna told me that he is incredibly handsome, so sending Marcus might be a mistake, he will melt on the spot…'

'Yeah, fuck you, Jenna,' Marcus said.

'You wish,' the girl grinned.

'Well, as the matter of fact...' he started but Robert cleared his throat. 'Yeah, okay. No flirting, I get it. Some people... Anyway, do we all agree? Do we have a plan finally?'

Even if not enthusiastically, they all agreed that this was the best they could do.