“How did you take advantage of that?” Lyssa asked.
“I tried to sabotage operations as much as I could manage when my will was more my own,” Chris replied. “Here I was just a faceless servant, and in the field, I was supposed to be dead. I had to carry out his orders because they felt like my own choices, but as my will grew stronger, I tried to leave evidence here and there. When you moved and I became aware of a smuggling operation he’d been pushing, I found a way to send an email that tipped off the city to encourage them to send you. I knew if you got involved, you’d track down the truth.”
Lyssa laughed. “Seriously? That was you?”
Chris nodded. “Yes.”
“Damn. It worked.” Lyssa scowled. “Did you send the email to the guys to get them to go to the mine?”
She appreciated her brother fighting the evil entity that had possessed him and others but didn’t like the idea of him sacrificing college kids to do it. There had to be another way that didn’t involve innocents.
He sighed. “That wasn’t me. I wasn’t the only one who could resist. There was another possessed Sorcerer who tried something similar. He’s admitted to that. Like I said, it was harder for it to use Illuminated as fingers, and its control was slipping more for us this last year. We don’t know why.”
Lyssa grimaced. “Damn. Couldn’t he have done it a different way?”
“I don’t know.” Chris looked at her earnestly. “It was hard, Lyssa. You are you but not you. It’s like you have to trick yourself into fighting its will. I don’t know how else to explain it. I think it only bothered keeping me around so long because it had managed to convince the Society I was dead with a few tricks.”
“So wait, all those things in the email message about goddesses and the night weren’t targeted at me?” Lyssa asked. “I was convinced it was a specific code meant for me.”
“The other Sorcerer did want to get Torch attention, but as far as I know, he didn’t specifically target you.” Chris shrugged. “I can have him talk to you if you want.”
She shuddered. “No, it’s okay. It seems like I was half-right on this but way off on other stuff. What was its goal? Did you have any idea? I know you couldn’t read its thoughts, but its will was running through you.”
“As best as we can tell, it ultimately wanted to weaken the Society without revealing itself,” Chris replied. “It’s not so much that it ever said that, but that’s the impression I got. There were lots of small actions here and there. Nektarios was even using proxies to fund anti-sorcery groups in different countries.”
Lyssa snickered. “I’d love to go on TV and say the American Council for Sorcery Safety is being funded by an evil entity from a different dimension, but I think Samuel would drown me in Eclipses.”
“I don’t know everything.” Chris shifted in his chair. “I’ve spent days talking to the Elders and the Tribunal about what I know. Sometimes I think it only kept me so close half the time because it knew I was strong and could resist it, but it didn’t want to discard a useful pawn as it continued to slice away at the Society.”
Lyssa nodded. “Targeting the Society makes sense. The Illuminated are the only ones who could stop something like that without nuking a city, and there aren’t a lot of us, so with patience, it could get rid of us all.” Her breath caught. “I just thought of something. If you’re not dead, why is the Northern Trickster in the Vault of Dreams?”
Chris’s smile faltered. “Because I’m no longer an Illuminated. I can’t bond a regalia.”
“What?” Lyssa was incredulous. “That’s not possible. No one loses their sorcery.”
“He’s been doing experiments for a while, Lyssa. Lots of different types of experiments, many I don’t even know about.” Chris frowned. “I don’t think everyone who helped him was under his control. With me, he was trying to enhance my power, but somehow, it destroyed it. I’m now a Shadow.”
Lyssa gasped. “I don’t know what to say.”
Chris shrugged. “There’s nothing to say. I lost my sorcery, but I have my freedom now. They’ll be keeping me here for a while to examine me and see if they can figure out how to reverse it, but it’s like you said—there have never been reports of anyone losing their sorcery. I think the Elders are also concerned about how it might be replicated.”
“It probably involves some weird Far One power,” Lyssa said.
“Elder Samuel says they’ll be investigating those experiments farther, but for now, with the Far One defeated, we know a lot of evil in the Society has gone with it.” He leaned in to hug her. “And I have my freedom and my family back. I’m grateful for that. If they can give me my power back, I’ll be happy, but I’m doing better than many of its victims. Too many died as a result of its plans and schemes.”
Lyssa hugged him tightly, sniffling. “It’s good to see you again. It really is. When can you come home? I should probably tell you the Bennetts took me in after they reported your death.”
“They did? Good. I always liked Tricia, but I don’t know the answer to your question.” Chris looked away. “I’m officially a dead man. That complicates things.”
“I can spend some time here with you.” Lyssa grinned. “I just saved the Society. I think that’s worth a little vacation. I can tell you about my boyfriend Bill.” She laughed. “Oh, damn. He’s
