The Wraiths could act fast when they needed to. Later that night, after Rory had spent most of the day too busy worrying and feeling anxious to do anything productive, Emerius called and informed him that the Homeworlders would be visiting soon.

“Where did you find them?” Rory asked. “And so quickly too. How?”

“Trade secret,” the Wraith Lord said. “Good luck on the meeting, Rory.”

“Do they suspect you of anything?”

“Whatever they might suspect of a bunch of monsters pales in comparison to what they may suspect of you. They do not look kindly upon those they think have sunk as low as themselves.”

Rory swallowed down the curse on his tongue. “Hypocrites.”

“Be that as it may, you must now find a way to convince them to assist you in your… endeavour.”

“Oh, they’re the lynchpin here, don’t worry about that. I’ve got everything figured out.”

“Then I will leave the rest in your capable hands.”

“Goodbye,” Rory said. “And if things go south… well, it was good to have you as a friend, Emerius.”

The Wraith Lord was silent for a moment again. “You as well, Rory. Farewell.”

They were speaking as though they would never meet again, and that sort of saddened Rory. Another circumstance he didn’t like was being forced upon him by the arrival of the Invigilator. He really couldn’t wait to have their business set up and leave all this behind.

While the Homeworlders took their time to arrive, Rory decided to take care of the other matter he had been avoiding so far. He hadn’t been able to speak to them since he’d been lost in his own world of being afraid of what was to come next, but it was high time he got it done.

Gathering everyone together made his heart start to pound, but Rory stomped on the feeling and proceeded ahead bullishly.

“Friends,” he said. He wished he didn’t have to make it sound like an extravagant speech that signalled the end of something enormous, but that was how it was naturally turning out. Trying to change it took too great an effort on top of just getting the actual words out. “We received some difficult news to deal with recently.”

“Is it the end of the world?” Miles asked. “I hope they didn’t decide that they’re going to wipe everything out with a meteor and start from scratch.”

Rory stared at him. “No, it’s not as dramatic as that. Well, I guess that depends on your definition of dramatic. But anyway—” He glared at Miles a little for distracting him “—we’re being investigated for having a Safe Zone up illegally. At best, they’ll want to shut us down and tell us to get with the program. At worst, we’ll all be killed.”

Nobody said a thing. Maybe Rory ought not to have dropped an announcement of that kind with such casual nonchalance. He tried to take note of their expressions instead, but most were blank or disbelieving. As the silence stretched on, Rory decided to continue.

“Don’t worry, though,” he said. “We’re trying to counteract the problem and take measures against it. We’ve already called in for some help from our Otherworlder friends, and even the Homeworlders are going to step in.”

“We’re all about to die, and you’re telling us not to worry?” April’s voice was choked. Out of all of them, hers was the face that had twisted the most at the announcement.

“No one will be dying under my watch,” Rory said. “Not as long as I draw breath.”

“Who exactly is threatening us? And why now? What happened that we’re getting investigated a week after we set it up?”

Rory took a deep breath and told them everything Truck had told him. The donkey himself was prancing around somewhere in the palace grounds. Rory left out Truck’s part in the issue, but he wondered if any of them were going to connect his arrival with the announcement.

“So, this Invigilator is bad news huh,” Alia said, eyes faraway as though she was imagining what the Invigilator could be like. “How are we supposed to stop and tackle something like that, then?”

“By distracting them from us,” Viv said. “We’re working on creating a fuss elsewhere to ensure that we aren’t the Invigilator’s biggest priority. The details are best kept secret for now until everything begins.”

“That’s… not very reassuring.”

Rory took a step forward. “In the end, it comes down to whether you trust me, or not. Whether you trust us. But even more importantly, we need to make sure we’re ready in case things don’t go according to plan.”

Viv nodded. “We have to be prepared to do what’s necessary to survive.”

“How do you propose to do that?” Arie asked.

Rory detailed the preparation plans he had slowly figured out over the day. They were going to have to start making packs they could carry, holding provisions that would last them for as long as they could burden their backs with. If things went wrong, moving out of the palace would become a necessity.

With that in mind, moving would only be a possibility if they saw danger coming in on time. To that end, watches would be doubled and set farther out, though still within the confines of the Safe Zone. Ned would have to keep flying around more while the towers would have to be permanently occupied until the Invigilator was spotted coming at them.

“I mean, if this Invigilator is so all-powerful, what’s to stop them from appearing right in the middle of this hall right now?” Allen asked.

He raised a good point. Rory thought about it for a second and decided that they would all keep watch and stay attentive wherever they happened to be. That earned Allen some glares, and more frightened looks were thrown around everywhere, but it was best they stayed as cautious as possible.

“I’ll take charge of packing,” Dez said. Apparently, boot camp continued to be relevant as the day wore on.

Rory left them to figure things out among themselves. He had given them enough guidance to be going on with. For his part, he needed to prepare for the meeting with the Homeworlders, who as it turned out, had no qualms about appearing at their Safe Zone’s boundary no matter how late it got that evening.

“You can come in, you know,” Viv said when she spotted their contingent hesitating at the Safe Zone’s shimmering boundary. “You’re not a bunch of vampires that have to invited over the threshold.” She paused. “You aren’t, are you?”

“No, thank goodness.” The man who spoke was different from any of the Homeworlders the had met so far. In fact, in the 6-person strong contingent sent to Belcourt palace, Rory only recognized Sylvia. “Though I wouldn’t mind some vampiric powers, just between you and me.”

They gathered in corner of the palace grounds. Rory didn’t want the Homeworlders to see the rest of his party scurrying around at this time of night, though some of that was still clearly visible from the given distance. Nevertheless, Rory would distract them soon enough.

“We’re glad you made it in time,” he said.

The man smiled at them in greeting, stating his name was Hakim. He didn’t waste any time pretending he or his companions didn’t know about the Homeworlder’s attack on Rory a few days ago, and he apologized profusely for it.

“That horrific action was unprovoked, uncalled for, and wholly unsanctioned by the Homeworlders at large.” Hakim said, sparing a short glare for Sylvia who kept her eyes resolutely down. “Most of those who were part of that debacle have been judged, censured, and punished. I hope you will forgive our terrible infraction, and we can continue to foster a healthy relationship.”

Rory looked them all over. He wasn’t taken in by kind words and apologies that easily, though in truth, he didn’t really want to hold any grudges. Trust was just difficult to rebuild after it was broken.

“I hope we can too.” He paused, realizing that ultimately, what he was doing wasn’t exactly trustworthy either. But then, if things went to plan, the Homeworlders wouldn’t really be harmed by anything either. “That’s why I called this meeting to see if we could discuss a potential issue that could benefit us all.”

“The… Wraith, was it?” Hakim exchanged some glances with the other Homeworlders. “Yes, he mentioned you were… reconsidering some of your earlier assertions. To the point of perhaps even joining our side…”

“Correct. Well, in a sense. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m throwing my lot in with you. I still have my goals I want to achieve, outside the influence of Mirrorend.”

Hakim nodded amiably. “Of course, of course.”

“How soon can you mount an assault on the Otherworlders?” Rory asked. “I have good sources that say their base is in disarray, and they would be vulnerable to an attack soon.”

“Yes, the Wraith mentioned you had planned a foray against the Otherworlders. I’m not aware of the details, however.”

“That’s what this meeting is for,” Viv said.

Rory nodded, going on to expand on the idea that the Wraiths had told the Homeworlders. He intended the Homeworlders to assault the Otherworlders’ base in Hillhard and drive them out of town if possible, dealing a devastatingly crushing blow.

For that too happen, they needed a careful plan.

The idea was simple. Rory had heard that the monsters were gathering in vast numbers again, to launch another vicious assault. It would be big enough to throw even the Otherworlders into disarray. Their unprepared forward base would be a bit routed, and once the pyrrhic battle was finally over, the Homeworlders could swoop in to deal the devastating blow that would finish off the Otherworlders.

Hakim stared, wide-eyed. “That is…”

“Brilliant?” another Homeworlder offered. She introduced herself as Marcy.

“Insane.” Hakim threw around more glares at all of them this time. “So many variables to rest all our hopes on. We would need something more fool proof to act on.”

Marcy shook her head. “It won’t hurt us to take advantage of the opportunity that could provide to us. We need to get on it as soon as we can, once we’ve confirmed it, of course.”

Hakim and Marcy argued back and forth on the pros and cons of Rory’s idea for a little while, the other Homeworlders joining in here and there to state further points. It was good to hear that most of them were adventurous enough to try out the plan and see where it led them. A the very least, they could at least see if what Rory had said would truly come to pass.

While the rest of them discussed the potential plan, excitement building in the general air around them, Rory caught Sylvia’s eye. She looked away, but he spoke up anyway.

“I’m glad you spoke up against them when you could,” Rory said.

Sylvia jerked a little at being so directly addressed, but she eventually looked up. “I’m sorry I let it go that far. I didn’t think they would actually act on that stupid, stupid idea. I told them over and over that it wouldn’t work, that it was best we tried to cooperate, but no.”

Rory snorted at Sylvia’s annoyance. Then he remembered how brutally Arelland had killed off some of the offending Homeworlders. “It was regrettable.”

The other Homeworlders present had finished their little talk about Rory’s plan. Hakim stepped forward, puffing up his chest to keep pace with his big stomach.

“We have decided to give your plan a try,” he said. “However, I would like to know your motivation behind informing us of this. Why do you want us to kill the Otherworlders now?”

Rory had figured something like this would crop up at some point. “Well, I’ve had a change of heart after some reflecting. It feels… wrong to let the Otherworlders win over what is essentially our world. This whole land belongs to us humans. They have no right to take it from us just because they are stronger and more powerful. It’s time we taught them a lesson.”

“Exactly!” Hakim had a on a bright smile. “Those bastards have no right to take what is rightfully ours.”

“That’s right.”

Of all the Homeworlders, Sylvia was the only one who seemed unconvinced about it. Rory wondered if he ought to further explain things, but since the people who were in charge of making decisions were satisfied, he stayed quiet. He decided to avoid Sylvia’s eye.

“I think this is what you would call the beginning of our deal, yes?” Hakim said. “It would benefit us both if we exchanged something to seal the deal, so to speak.”

Rory blinked. That was another thing he had thought might come up, and he had planned accordingly. He still wanted to see what they thought, though. “Oh? Did you have something in mind?”

Hakim stepped closer, lowering his voice as though to hide the next words from his associates. “Did you happen to recover some bodies from the sewer? We were looking for them. Their families kind of miss them.”

“We did,” Rory said just as quietly. “Do you want me to bring them?”

Hakim smiled widely. “Yes, please.”

“What about the Sigils they had?”

All the Homeworlders froze. Sylvia slowly raised her head to stare at Rory.

“The… Sigils?” Hakim asked.

“They had Sigils within them. I removed the Sigils and now have them with me. Do you want them?”

“Uh… yes, I believe that may be for the best.”

Rory hid his own smile. Of course, the Sigils were what they were ultimately angling for. They had tried to mask it under their supposed concern for their lost brethren, but that wasn’t really the case. What they really wanted was the Sigils each of the corpses had used while alive.

“We’ll go get them,” Rory said, patting Hakim’s large shoulder.

He asked Viv to take care of it. Her expression was carefully neutral. She nodded, and after only a few minutes, she had returned with the bodies Evelyn had wrapped in her golden wrappings. The Homeworlders eyes had gone wide at the way they were presented the corpses like gifts.

Viv had also returned with the Sigils Rory had pulled from the corpses. Hakim failed to hide the gleam in his eyes as he caught sight of the Sigil of Portals.

“Are we all good?” Rory asked.

“I think we’re definitely good,” Marcy said, and a mute Hakim nodded vigorously.

Rory smiled. The Homeworlders had basically agreed to their plan. Another check on his list of things he needed to fix for his plan to work. Everything Rory could affect had been taken care of.

Now, he just had to wait for the pieces to fall in place.