“Bad news,” I said. “I’ll ease into the worse, considering how my day is going.”
“Bad news is: we don’t know Evers’ location,” LD said, his voice grim. “TK is tailing Talin, hoping he will lead us to her, but Evers is a skilled masker.”
“Talin survived Grey?” I asked, surprised. “It didn’t look good the last time I saw him. He was buried under a mountain of rubble that used to be a wall.”
“When did you see him last?”
I explained what happened at The Dive with Grey and his psycho-sword.
“Talin survived,” LD said, “barely. For a few moments, TK considered dusting him, but we need him to locate Evers. She’s the real threat.”
“How did he survive against Scary Grey and his sword?” I asked, confused. “Grey had a serious energy signature when I saw him last.”
LD nodded.
“Izanami is a goddess,” LD said. “Unlike, say, Kali, she is not in corporeal form, so her power is limited to the wielder of the weapon. Grey is pretty banged up from his last mission with your vampire.”
“So I heard,” I said. “They were busy redecorating the park at City Hall.”
“In true Montague and Strong fashion, too. Big crater where the park once was. You’d be proud at the amount of destruction and devastation.”
“You do realize I’m not the destructive part of the Duo of Destruction, right?”
“Sorry, hombre, guilt by association. Besides, from the looks of things”—he narrowed his eyes at me—“it seems like you’ve untangled that mess you had in there…and upgraded? How did that happen?”
“Kali did something with Monty’s enso pendant shieldbearer thing,” I said. “She took it from being a pendant and shoved it into my chest. It’s like Ebonsoul, floating around in there somewhere, except it feels permanent.” I tapped my chest lightly. “Solid inside. At this rate, I’m going to be a rare artifact warehouse.”
“Well, if you were a target before, now you’re a blazing beacon. No way you can hide now. Whatever she did is…whoa, off the charts intricate.”
“So Grey was too wiped out to stop Talin?” I asked. “He had mentioned the whole City Hall thing.”
“That’s how Talin managed to escape,” LD answered. “Grey wasn’t at one hundred. That gave Talin the opportunity to retreat once he realized he was outclassed.”
“And now he has TK tailing him?” I asked. “I think I’d prefer Ezra to TK after me.”
“Agreed,” LD said, “she has to be subtle. Talin has skill, but TK is an accomplished tracker. He won’t escape her. Sooner or later he will lead her to Evers.”
“This is like the ultimate game of hide-and-seek.”
“Sure, where the loser dies,” LD answered. “We need to find Evers soon, before she unleashes her revenge on Tristan.”
“Not knowing where Evers is, is bad. What’s worse?”
“There are varying degrees of worse. Ready?”
“Why would I expect it to be any other way?” I said, mostly to myself. “Go for it.”
“Monty’s schism has put him on a sect-wide blacklist. If we don’t stop him, some heavy-hitters will be coming for him, not just the Black Orchid.”
“That sounds worse. Can’t we just email them, or something, that we have it under control?”
“Normally, the Black Orchid being on the case would calm the other sects down, but Dex managed to Dex the situation,” LD said with a dark smile. “He removed the Golden Circle from all the sects.”
“He did what?” I asked. “Erik said he moved the Golden Circle, but this sounds…deeper. Is he really powerful enough to move the entire Golden Circle?”
“You’ve experienced the Living Library and Moving Market, right?” LD asked. “Open a door and discover an entire world behind it, kind of thing?”
“Yes,” I said with a small shudder. “Each time it was unnerving. Those places are immense and mobile. He has a room at our place…not really a room, but a world.”
“Same principle, except Dex is a Master Teleporter,” LD replied. “I’ve never seen a mage weaponize teleportation circles like he does, and I know some skilled mages.”
“So, he basically ‘poofed’ the Golden Circle away?”
“The runic theories driving the Moving Market, the Living Library, and even Fordey, were perfected by Dexter first,” LD said, letting the words sink in. “He is an old, powerful mage. In the area of teleportation, Ziller studies Dex.”
“Who is now on the defensive.”
“That’s just it—Dex is never on the defensive. Even when he looks like it. That’s what makes him dangerous and deceptive.”
“Was it the entire complex?” I asked. “I seem to remember that place being huge, and he just winked it out of the plane?”
“He hid it, and if he hid it…we aren’t finding it, until he wants us to.”
“This sounds bad,” I said. “Real bad, like ‘mage warfare’ type of bad.”
“It is,” LD said. “All of the mage sects are united in purpose. They don’t always agree, but they form a loose union…unofficially. It keeps things peaceful.”
“Dex just ended that, didn’t he?”
LD nodded.
“The Golden Circle is no longer part of that unofficial union,” LD answered. “The Golden Circle, much like Dexter, who is currently the highest-ranking mage in the sect, has gone rogue.”
“Does he have the authority to do something like that? What about the Elders?”
“Two things: One, Dex is in the highest position in the Golden Circle after Connor passed. Two, the Golden Circle was founded by a Montague—some even say it was Dex himself, though I doubt he’s that old.”
“The Elders can’t stop him? Aren’t they just as old as he is?”
“Have you met Dex? He’s stronger than all of the Elders combined. You’d need a few sects of Elders to even have a chance at taking him down.”
“That many?”
“If he was in a good mood. But now, with Tristan in danger? Let’s just say that’s not a war I’m willing to entertain…ever.”
“A war?” I asked. “He’s just one mage.”
“You should always fear an old man in a profession where people die young.”
“Good point. Is Dex an Arch Mage?”
“You’re not paying attention, Strong. Focus. What do you know about Dex?”
“He has a dislike for clothing most of the time, is cranky all
