Damien pushed through the rubble of the house. There was no way it was truly that empty – he was confident that It Who Stills the Seas had been hiding something here, and Quinlan was somehow involved.

A few minutes later, he found what he was looking for. A trapdoor had been buried under the remains of a wall. Damien pulled the debris free with telekinesis and studied the door for any traps.

When he found no runes on it, Damien carefully lifted the door, once again using telekinesis to avoid anything that might be waiting for an unwary intruder. The door swung open, thudding to the ground harmlessly.

Slowly, Damien crept over to the edge of the square hole and peered inside. It was pitch black.

Henry? Do you have anything that makes more light than pure destructive energy? I’d rather see what we’re getting into.

Henry took over for an instant, casting a purple sphere down into the room below their feet. It pulsated, illuminating the small area with magenta light.

“That’ll last for a few minutes,” Henry said, returning Damien’s body to him.

Thanks.

Damien poked his head inside the room, ready to Warp Step at the first sign of trouble. However, no traps or defenses greeted him. Instead, he found himself staring at a prison cell. Quinlan sat behind roughly hewn stone pillars that acted as makeshift bars. Her chest rose and fell with slow breaths, and her eyes were closed.

Carefully, Damien dropped through the trapdoor. “Quinlan?”

She didn’t respond. He supposed that made sense, considering the amount of noise he and Seas had been making aboveground. There weren’t any obvious wounds on Quinlan, but she looked thinner than when Damien had last seen her.

Upon closer inspection, Damien realized that her cell had runes drawn all over it in chalk. The back wall was completely covered, and much of the floor and even the bars had been worked on.

Several books rested around her, and a case of chalk was spilled at her feet. Damien blinked in confusion. She didn’t look like a prisoner. She looked like a student that had been cramming for a test.

Damien studied the runes in the cage for a moment, making sure nothing was obviously a trap. Most of them weren’t even connected in circles, which meant Quinlan was just practicing them and they were inert.

Warp Stepping into the cell, Damien appeared beside Quinlan and nudged her shoulder. She groaned, her eyes fluttering for a moment, but didn’t wake.

“Quinlan!”

“Hu- what?” She sputtered, her eyes snapping open. They darted around the room before focusing on Damien. “Whu?”

“What are you doing?” Damien asked, baffled. “Do you know where we are?”

“Old guy’s house,” Quinlan replied, wiping her eyes groggily. “But why are you here? You’re going to ruin my test!”

“Test?” Damien asked. “What test?”

“The old guy was teaching me runework,” Quinlan replied. “He said he knew an artifact that could save – ah, help me. But, unless I figure out the proper runes to use it, he won’t take me there.”

“You’re locked in a cell. Are you telling me that was voluntary?”

“He’s given me food and water. This is just to help motivate me. Seriously, if he sees you here, I might be in trouble. I’m not sure what you’re doing at Mountain Hall, but could we catch up a little later?”

“That won’t be a problem,” Damien said. “He’s dead.”

“I – what?”

“The old guy,” Damien clarified, trying to hide his relieved laugh. “I killed him.”

Quinlan’s eyes bulged. “What? You’re messing with me. Stop that.”

“I’m not.” Damien shook his head. “But I think you were mislead. The old man you’re talking about – that was a Void creature. Like Henry, but evil and determined to destroy the Mortal Plane.”

Quinlan stared at him uncomprehendingly. “I’m sorry. I’m now completely lost.”

Damien shook his head. He touched Quinlan on the shoulder, teleporting her out of the cell before she could realize what he was doing. Damien Warp Stepped out after her.

“I’ll explain. A lot has happened since we last met,” Damien said. “You might want to be sitting down for this.

It took nearly ten minutes for Damien to fill Quinlan in on everything that pertained to her – or, almost everything. He decided against telling her that Alina was healed, mostly just to see her reaction when they met. Telling her now would have ruined the moment.

“You’re just as bad as I am,” Henry informed him.

Hey, some things need a little dramatical enhancement. I would completely ruin the surprise if I just told her Alina is strutting around now. Let Alina explain instead.

“You’re telling me that I was… helping something that was going to destroy the Mortal Plane?” Quinlan asked.

“Pretty much,” Damien replied. “But I’m more concerned with how. Seas should have had zero idea that you knew me, but it’s a pretty weird coincidence for you to run into it. When you went looking for someone to teach you runes, how did you meet the old guy?”

“He was looking around in the city market,” Quinlan replied, furrowing her brow in thought. “Asking about artifacts in the area. I knew a lot about them, so when I overheard him talking, I stepped in.”

“Did he want one in particular?”

“Yeah,” Quinlan said with a nod. “One of Mountain Hall’s greatest treasures, actually. The Crater Staff. It’s been with the school since it was founded. The thing is a really powerful artifact and it’s common knowledge that Mountain Hall has it. He seemed pretty surprised though – I suppose that’s because this Seas person hasn’t been in the Mortal Plane for a long time.”

“Not a person,” Damien corrected. “Not anymore. It’s just a monster. So what happened next, after you told him Mountain Hall had it?”

“Well, Mountain Hall doesn’t have it here,” Quinlan said. “And that’s what I told him. I said Mountain Hall had the staff, but its location was secret. Only a few people know where it is, and nobody knows who they are. Not even the Dean knows.”

“I guess that didn’t make it too happy?”

“Actually, he – it – didn’t seem to care that much. I mentioned that I was trying to learn advanced runework, and it offered to train me if I helped it get another artifact in the area – the one that would help me. That’s what I was doing in the cell.”

“Curious,” Damien said, rubbing his chin. “And did you know what the artifact actually was or what it does?”

“No,” Quinlan admitted. “But it was adamant that it would help. The old guy never gave me a reason to doubt him since he was incredibly knowledgeable with runes and only seemed to want to help me.”

“Then that artifact was something it wanted. But why would it need you for that? I imagine it was teaching you runes to keep you around and complacent, but that really just doesn’t add up. Henry, thoughts?”

Henry slipped out from Damien’s shadow, taking on his blobby spherical form and floating up into the air beside them.

“There are a few traps that I’ve seen rigged up for artifacts,” Henry mused. “Ones that required aspects or requirements to be met by the person trying to open the vault holding them. If they failed, the vaults could either lock themselves down or destroy the artifact entirely. I wonder if It Who Stills the Seas was trying to set Quinlan up for something like that.”

“Did he ask you any really pointed personality questions?” Damien asked.

“Now that you mention it, I suppose he did,” Quinlan admitted. “I didn’t think much of them. They were just things you’d ask someone that’s staying with you to train, but he did ask me a lot about myself and my goals.”

“That could very well be it, then,” Henry said. “He’s looking for a powerful artifact, and I bet he’s sent spells of himself all over to do that exact same thing.”

“That’s right, this was just a fragment of the real thing, right?” Quinlan asked, her face going pale. “And you barely beat it?”

“We’ve got some work to do,” Damien said wearily. “But for now, I’ve accomplished my goal. The main reason I came here was because you went missing. I honestly had no idea Seas was working in this area, but it’s honestly more likely that he’s working in every area. You just happened to know enough about artifacts to catch his attention.”

Quinlan rubbed the back of her head. “Thank you, Damien. I had no idea how much danger I was in. I’m just so desperate to – ah, damn it. I’ll tell you when we’re somewhere else. You’ve come all this way to help me, I might as well stop keeping secrets. You’ve done too much for me already. It doesn’t feel right.”

Damien pointedly looked away, trying not to whistle to himself. “Let’s get moving, then. Venus is waiting for us.”

“Wait, she’s here?” Quinlan asked. “I know you said you visited her, but you actually brought her? Is she safe?”

“Don’t worry.” Damien laughed. “I didn’t bring her to fight It Who Stills the Seas. She was just a guide, and she should still be near the town.”

Quinlan let out a relieved sigh. They left the room and Quinlan’s eyes widened at the destruction Damien and Seas’ battle had caused, but she didn’t say anything on the way back to the town.

They found Venus some time later. The other girl was pacing impatiently a short distance from the walls, muttering under her breath. When she spotted Damien and Quinlan, her face lit up.

“Quinlan! You’re alive!” Venus exclaimed. “It sounded like you were wrapped up in some seriously bad business. I’m glad that wasn’t true.”

Quinlan cleared her throat. “Actually, it kind of was.”

“Evil old guy was evil,” Damien explained. “Not to worry. I killed him. Kinda.”

Venus paled. She grabbed Quinlan’s arm and pulled her a little ways back into the tree line, then whispered something into her ear.

Quinlan laughed and shook her head. “No, Damien’s fine. It’s Henry that you should be scared of. Unless you’ve got access to some goats for him, of course. Then he’s great.”

Venus swallowed. “Yeah. Right. Your friends are terrifying, Quinlan.”

“Let’s not dwell on the past,” Damien said, clearing his throat and trying to pretend as if he hadn’t been threatening Venus’ life a few hours before. He really had to get the rampant darkness running through him under more control. “I think we should head back to Mountain Hall. I don’t want Xil to get attacked while I’m out, and there’s the surprise for Quinlan.”

Venus froze. “You didn’t tell her yet?”

“Tell me what?” Quinlan asked suspiciously.

“You’ll see soon,” Damien replied. “Not a word out of you yet, Venus. It isn’t our place.”

Venus nodded empathetically, her face losing some color again. “I won’t say anything. I promise.”

“That wasn’t a threat,” Damien said, sighing. His headache pulsated again, but he pushed it back. That was becoming second nature to him at this point. “Just – ah, never mind. Let’s go.”

They all headed back to Mountain Hall. Quinlan tried asking them what was going on a few times, but neither student answered her. The way back took a fair bit longer than the way over since Damien wasn’t burning through Ether and teleporting both himself and another person.

When they arrived, Venus quickly excused herself, citing that their reputation would be ruined if anyone saw her walking together with Quinlan. She shot off to her room while Damien led Quinlan over to his own one in South Mountain.

“When are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Quinlan asked with a frown. “I kind of need to check up on something in my own room quickly. There’s something really important there that I have to show you.”

Damien stopped in front of his door and opened it. “We can go check on it once you swing by, if you still want to.”

“Okay,” Quinlan said, sighing. “Sorry, it’s just that I’ve been keeping this a secret for a really long time. Now that I’m realizing how close I was to nearly getting killed by some ancient monster, I can’t afford to keep it any longer. This is more important than just–”

She trailed off as Damien opened the door. Xil and Alina stood on the other side, their fists raised and prepared to fight.

“Hullo,” Damien said, raising his hand in greeting. “I found Quinlan.”

“Quinlan?” Alina whispered, her hands lowering. “You’re okay!”

“Alina,” Quinlan breathed. She rushed inside the room, nearly bowling Damien over in the process, and threw her arms around her sister as sobs racked her body.