“Another mage war…” Lola said quietly, mostly to herself. It was nearly unthinkable. Sure, tensions between the clans were running high, but that was just how the mages were. For this to happen, something drastic must have changed.

“That’s something this city hasn’t seen in almost a century.” Kezi said grimly.

Cato opened his mouth to say something else, but all of a sudden, a loud commotion rose up in the main room: the sound of dozens of people trying to talk at once interspersed with angry shouts and the thunk of a dagger hitting wood.

In unison, the five of them turned towards the door.

“Well,” said Kezi, “I suppose we should probably go see what all that’s about.”

Outside, in the main room of the shop, chaos reigned. The crowd in the main room was made up of both Silksmiths- their tattoos glinting sharply- and various other allies. Lola caught sight of a few street magicians, shapeshifters, and one or two flickering ghosts wandering throughout the room.

“Silence!” A shout echoed from the front of the crowd, sending a ripple of quiet through the room. Cato stepped forward, taking the lead for their small group, and the throng of people parted for him like the hull of a boat slicing through water.

The shout had come from the woman standing by the entrance, clutching a piece of paper in her hands. It was Cato’s mother and the clan’s matriarch, Alejandra Salhi. Alejandra was a stout, commanding woman with a thick Spanish accent and long black hair pulled up into a bun. Despite her short stature, her presence seemed to fill up the entire shop.

Cato made his way to the front of the room, the others trailing behind him. “Mamá, what’s going on?”

Alejandra’s gaze fell on her son. She raised the piece of paper she was holding, shaking it slightly as she talked. “This was found on our doorstep just now. No trace of who left it, no trace of where it came from- all our tracking spells have been foiled.”

“What does it say?” Cato asked, raw curiosity and a hint of desperation in his voice.

Alejandra shook her head slightly. “We don’t know yet. It has some rather nasty curses on it- it’s taking me time to deactivate them.” She swept a glare out across the crowd. “The noise certainly hasn’t been helping either.” Most people had the sense of mind to look a bit sheepish at that.

All of a sudden, a golden sigil flashed across the paper with a pop! before fading. A sharp smile curved across Alejandra’s face, and she quickly opened up the note. Her eyes flicked to Cato, an inscrutable expression crossing her face, and she passed the note to him. “Read it out loud,” she instructed.

The room filled with an anticipatory sort of quiet, the sound of dozens of people holding their breath at once. Lola could almost feel the tension crackling throughout the air.

Cato cleared his throat. “‘Warehouse 6, SE Industrial Road. This is only the beginning.’” When his eyes reached the bottom of the note, he took in a sharp breath, and his expression began to practically burn with anger. Cato’s hands shook slightly as he held up the paper so that everyone could see the circular, crimson sigil written below the words.

The room erupted into noise, everyone trying to talk at once. Lola heard shocked gasps and outraged shouts, and she turned to Hakim, Danae, and Kezi. Hakim’s face had gone stormy with rage, Danae was petting her crows and looked mildly interested, and Kezi had a shit-eating grin on their face, as if they wished they had some popcorn right now. They let out a slow whistle. “Well, this just got a lot more interesting.”

“You recognize the sigil?” Lola asked them.

Kezi nodded. “It’s hard to tell if you’re not, like, really into semi-morphic runes and shit, but that’s a signature Firebrand style sigil.”

Lola hissed in a harsh breath. “Fuck, really?”

Kezi nodded. “With what your mage friend’s been telling us about the Firebrands, it doesn’t surprise me. Not looking forward to the aftermath of this shit-show, though.”

In front of them, Alejandra was barking orders to the mages standing nearby. “You! Take as many people as you can and find this address! Now!”

Danae quietly shifted closer to Lola and said in a low voice, “My crows tell me that they saw a young short-haired mage creeping outside the shop earlier; they think it is the same person who left the note.” Her dark brown eyes reminded Lola of a shadowed forest as she gazed up at Lola, expression worried but sincere.

Hakim leaned over, seemingly having overheard Danae. “This person your crows saw- did they have any identifying marks on them?” He pointed at his cheek tattoo.

Danae gazed at her crows. It was as though they were conferring silently, an invisible conversation taking place right before Lola’s eyes. After a moment, Danae glanced back at them and shook her head. “Dark hoodie pulled over their face, nondescript black cargo pants, pocket knife hanging from their belt, no visible tattoos or piercings.”

Hakim nodded, humming to himself thoughtfully. “Would you mind coming with me to tell Mrs. Salhi what you just told me?” he asked Danae.

“Of course.”

Hakim turned to Lola. “We’ll be right back.” Lola nodded.

As the two of them walked away, Cato came up to her from where he’d been standing at Alejandra’s side. “My mother wants me to stay here until they return,” he said, displeasure and disappointment coloring his voice.

She’d known him for long enough at this point to recognize when he was upset about something and needed some comfort, so she reached out and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “She probably just wants to protect you- I mean, you’re one of the most important people here, right? Especially to her.” Cato still looked unconvinced, so she added, “And anyways, we’ll find out what’s in that warehouse soon enough.”

“I know,” Cato said quietly, but as he continued he grimaced. “I just can’t stand the- the not-knowing, the uncertainty. I feel like I’m going to explode, just sitting here doing nothing while Ree’s out there somewhere in danger-” He broke off, hand coming up against his mouth as he turned his head away from Lola.

“Hey, it’s okay,” she said comfortingly, reaching out to place a hand on his back. “You haven’t been doing nothing, Cato, alright? It’s thanks to you that we were able to search the city so efficiently- don’t discredit yourself.” He nodded, still looking away from her. She smiled slightly at him. “You don’t have to go through this alone- I’m here to support you, whatever you need, okay?”

She could see the exhaustion from a whole night of sleepless searching on Cato’s face as he turned to her. “Thank you, Lola,” he said. “You- I’m glad you’re here.”

A quiet laugh escaped her. “Of course. You’re my closest friend, Cato- there’s no way I could just abandon you at a time like this.”

They fell into a comfortable silence for a moment, before another shout rang out from someone standing by the doorway.

“They’re back!”

At once, the room fell into silence. Lola’s head whipped around to the entrance, where the door was beginning to swing open. The first mage of the group, looking harrowed, stepped through the door and shouted, “Medic! We need a medic!”

Both Alejandra and Cato rushed up to the front of the shop. “What did you find?” Alejandra demanded.

The mage took a deep breath, and stepped to the side to reveal… Ree, barely clinging to consciousness, supported on either side by two mages covered in sweat and dust.

“Well, shit,” said Kezi.