Fated

after you.

But the same infighting that weakens Dark mages as a group is also what makes them so deadly as individuals. Dark mages who survive to adulthood are the toughest and most ruthless people in the world. Light mages, on the other hand, live in a society where getting places is mostly about political skill, and most of the mages I’d met in the restaurant would have gotten on the team through having the right connections. Don’t get me wrong, politics among Light mages can be rough, but they play by rules. Dark mages don’t.

If Deleo, Cinder and Khazad decided they really wanted to get in here, I knew who I’d put my money on.

‘… so while there’s no way to test it, in theory there’s no actual reason why the gateway aspect of the focus would decay over time,’ Sonder was saying. He paused, seeming to realise that I’d been quiet. ‘Um, Mr Verus?’

‘Just Alex is fine,’ I said. ‘So what you’re saying is that this statue is the only door in, and it’s locked.’

Sonder hesitated. ‘Well, I suppose you could put it like that.’

‘If it’s locked, what’s the key?’

‘Well, that’s what the team’s been working on. The senior members are pretty sure it just needs the right type of key item placed into the statue’s hand. Unfortunately, um, there have been a few issues fabricating one.’

‘Hm.’ I gave Sonder a look. ‘Exactly how many times have they tried?’

‘Uh …’ Sonder scratched his head. ‘I’m not actually sure. I wasn’t allowed here until a few days ago.’

‘And how come there isn’t anyone else around?’

‘Ah, well … there were more when I arrived, but after they told me to try to figure out a way to get it open, they left. They told me to keep them up to date.’

‘Ah,’ I said. In other words, no one had the faintest clue how to open the thing. That was why Lyle had approached me on Friday – it was because the investigation team had tried literally everything else. I wondered how many times they’d set the lightning elemental off, and how many people had been killed or wounded before the mages had wised up and started keeping their distance. That was why everyone else was on the other side of the museum: they didn’t want to be in range if we became the next ones to trip the switch.

‘You studied under an academic mage, right?’ I asked Sonder. ‘What did you specialise in? Magical theory?’

Sonder blinked. ‘History, actually.’

‘Do you know who this is a statue of?’

Sonder paused. ‘You really want to know?’

I nodded and Sonder seemed to light up. ‘Wow. That’s … You know, you’re the first one who’s ever asked me that.’

‘Let me guess,’ I said, as I walked around the statue, studying it. ‘The mages on the team just wanted to know if you could open it.’

‘Yes. I mean … Um, well …’ Sonder cleared his throat, a little self-conscious. ‘Well, uh, the robes are in the Late Precursor style, and the design is very similar to the surviving pieces of post-war sculpture. The others think it’s just a statue but,’ Sonder pushed his glasses up, warming to his theme, ‘the very first thing I did was look through our records. Well, there wasn’t anything from the post-war period, but when I looked through our records of the Dark Wars I found it straightaway. His name was Abithriax, and he was a general in the Light armies.’ Sonder pointed to the wand clasped in the statue’s hand. ‘You see, the fateweavers weren’t just weapons, they were also symbols of rank. Now, according to the records, Abithriax was killed in the closing months of the Dark Wars, just a few years before this must have been built. So I don’t think this relic was just built to store the fateweaver, I think it was built as a tomb.’

I frowned. ‘A general’s tomb …’ I looked at the statue, proud and commanding. Somehow it felt right. ‘So you think they buried him with his weapon?’

Sonder nodded. ‘I think so. There aren’t any records I can find to confirm it though.’

‘No, I think you might be right.’ I stood thinking for a little while. ‘Sonder, can you do me a favour? Keep researching this. I’m not sure if it’ll help us get in, but it might be important once we do.’

‘Oh. Um, yes, okay.’ Sonder paused. ‘You think you’re going to get inside?’

‘Yup.’

‘How?’

‘No idea.’

Sonder paused. ‘Then why are you so sure?’

I smiled. ‘Because so many people are after me. Give me some space – this might take a while.’

Sonder stepped well back and watched as I stood in front of the statue and closed my eyes. I stood quietly for a minute to clear my mind, then began methodically to look into the future.

The statue was the focal point of the room. I looked into the futures of my interacting with it and found it very easy. Every future in which I did anything to the statue, or placed anything in its hands, led to exactly the same result: the huge lightning elemental appearing in the middle of the room and attacking us. I was slightly reassured to notice that in none of the probable futures did the elemental get me. I was also reassured to notice that the future Sonder did a pretty good job of making himself scarce, too. He was obviously faster than he looked.

I settled down to the job of scanning through the futures one by one, looking for the future in which I activated the statue without triggering the elemental. It was slow, labori ous work, and time dragged by as I stood there searching through the futures as they flickered and changed, looking for the one in which I did the right thing. I went through a thousand futures, two thousand, three thousand, trying every object, every action, every combination of spells. Nothing changed.

I was so absorbed that I actually jumped when my phone rang, snapping me out of my trance. I checked my