“Oh, crap.” Lyssa’s jaw tightened. “I don’t like where this is going.”
“There were attacks against four different Sorcerers in the last twenty-four hours, all by Shadows wielding unusually powerful shards and high-end conventional weaponry. In addition to Lee and me, the other two Sorcerers attacked were both involved in Jofi’s sealing.” Samuel ground his teeth. He’d left one hand on the wheel despite the engine being off. “Only Lee was successfully eliminated, but no one has been able to capture any of the attackers alive.”
Lyssa wondered, “Should I have left Jofi home? If someone’s going after him, that’s all the more reason to bring him along.”
“And have him be a party to this conversation?” Samuel scoffed. “He can’t be released. We can’t risk the seal.”
“Listen to me!” Lyssa shouted. “Someone could be in my house stealing him right now.”
“That is unlikely,” Samuel replied, giving her a cool look. “Your house is being watched during your absence. If anyone breaks into it, your house will be destroyed, along with anyone inside. Our previous research suggests your guns will survive such an attack and not release the spirit, so I’m not worried.”
“What?” Lyssa stared at him with her mouth open. “Are you insane? Destroyed, as in, blown up?”
“Yes.” Samuel gave a firm nod. “Once you return to your home, I’ll be less worried because I’m confident in your ability to defend it, but for the next few hours, extreme measures will be taken if necessary.”
Lyssa scrubbed a hand down her face. “This is insane. How are you going to explain away a random house exploding in Scottsdale?”
“That’s trivial.” Samuel half-closed his eyes. “Gas leaks are tricky things. They happen more often than you’d expect.”
“Should we even be talking?” Lyssa asked, glancing at the bloodstains. “Maybe you should be resting.”
“There’s no time for that,” the Elder replied. “This was an unusually high-level attack on the Society. It was coordinated and involved many shards and an attack on an Elder. That all points to a rogue Sorcerer being involved, a knowledgeable and dangerous one.”
Lyssa nodded. It was strange to be a few steps behind in paranoia for once. “I know you didn’t take anyone alive, and it’ll take more time to do an investigation, but do you have any idea who it might be?”
“Not yet.” Samuel let out a breath and fully opened his eyes. “Your foster mother’s herbs are particularly effective. Offer her my thanks the next time you see her.”
“I will.” Lyssa glanced in the side mirror, now worried about an ambush. “You must have some leads. There’s no way someone surprises that many Illuminated without leaving a trail.”
“It’s unclear,” Samuel replied quietly. “Some have suggested Tristan St. James might be involved.”
“Why?” Lyssa asked. “Everything I’ve heard about the guy says he’s a loner. Using a bunch of Shadows with shards or guns isn’t his style.”
“I’m dubious about that explanation as well. The only real link to the theory is existing distrust and a potential link to Jofi in that Mr. St. James’s essence is spirit.”
Lyssa thought about the possibilities. She’d thought someone was hunting her before but had put the idea out of her mind. The idea might have been wrong for a different reason. They might have always been interested in Jofi and not her.
“Just to entertain the theory for a moment,” she began, “it might be that Tristan knew Lee would warn the rest of you. This might have been him trying to take out all of you before you were alerted and ready to deal with him.”
Samuel replied, “I have a great disdain for Mr. St. James, but I’ll also admit that all of his unauthorized targets thus far were later proven to be dangerous rogues seeking to undermine the Society or our rules for gain. I won’t claim I have knowledge that every man associated with the sealing was without flaws, but there were few Illuminated more dedicated to the Society than Lee.”
“Even you?” Lyssa asked with a raised eyebrow.
Samuel nodded. “One could say that, yes. He could have been an Elder long ago but believed he could do his best work for the Society in a more active role.” He looked out the driver’s side window, his expression somber. “I know you don’t always trust me, Miss Corti. I haven’t taken extreme offense to it because I’m aware of your predilection toward mistrust, and I do understand that a Torch accumulates more dangerous enemies than the average Sorcerer. With all that in mind, I’d also hope you don’t believe I’m a corrupt rogue deserving of unauthorized assassination at this point.”
Lyssa shook her head. “No. I trust you enough to not believe that.”
She thought that over. Most of what she knew about Tristan St. James had come from Samuel. He could have lied about the Eclipse, but she didn’t believe that, and what Samuel had told her matched what little else she’d dug up.
Samuel’d had plenty of opportunities in recent months to set her up for an ambush. He knew her capabilities and primary spells well, yet all the people coming after her didn’t have that knowledge or didn’t deploy it well. For now, she chose to believe him and his version of events. Being ambushed by an unknown foe didn’t bolster his all-knowing-Elder image.
“Okay.” Lyssa nodded. “I get what’s up, and I assume you’ve got some sort of plan.”
“The others involved in the sealing are beefing up their security,” Samuel replied. “That leaves you. I trust your ability to defend yourself, and your training makes you better than most of the targeted Illuminated, but you should consider going into hiding until we finish the investigation and send an Eclipse to track down and eliminate the mastermind.”
The defenses on Lyssa’s house were good at protecting her from spying via
