by L J Branch
“Someone, call the cops!” a bystander shouted as Sal roughly tugged on his leash as he attempted to pull Abbie away from the scene. Abbie followed Sal and attempted to put as much distance between herself and that lunatic as possible. As Abbie and Sal walked, she felt her phone vibrate. Abbie pulled it out quickly and read the message from Diamond.
Diamond: Come back to our place, we need to discuss our next move.
“Come on, boy,” Abbie said as she looked down at Sal. “Duty calls.”
* * *
Midas Tower, Santa Monica
“I’m back,” Abbie called out as she walked into the penthouse “How was the trip?”
“Enlightening,” Diamond answered from the couch as she and Kat watched the news.
“Exhausting,” Kat answered tiredly. “Vivi wants to meet you but that’s neither here nor there. We’ll worry about that later.”
“Isn’t putting things like this off what got you into this mess in the first place?” Diamond asked skeptically only to get a dirty look from Kat in return.
“Don’t you start.”
“Anyway, we have much to discuss, come on, we need to figure out what we’re doing next,” Diamond said before the three went to the study.
“Wait, where’s Jack?”
“Going to be six feet under when I see him again,” Kat muttered. Diamond rolled her eyes at Kat’s attitude.
“He went to deal with something regarding his lessons. He didn’t feel as though he performed well against Xavier and is going to see his teacher about his training,” Diamond answered as she sat behind the desk. “Fortunately, we won’t need him for this discussion.”
“Okay, so what’s wrong?” Abbie asked curiously.
“Inside the safety-deposit box we stole, the Guild found plans made by August to resurrect the Knights’ Order,” Diamond said as she handed Abbie a memory stick.
“And that’s bad?” Abbie asked with a frown. “I thought they were your allies?”
“They were but August seeks to rebuild them from the ground up under his command and add their strength to the Mage’s Circle. Should that happen, we will lose this war,” Diamond explained. “The Knights’ Order was the very heart of the old alliance, its foundation. Their destruction is part of the reason the alliance collapsed so badly. We need to do what we can to get more information on this and, if possible, ensure that a revived Knights’ Order is on our side or at the very least impartial to this war like the Tribe. They hold too much power to allow them to become an enemy.”
“So, what do we do?” Kat asked Diamond, unable to see how they could help.
“We need to get the Knights’ grimoire.”
“Grimoire?”
“It’s a contingency,” Kat told Abbie. “The Guild, Circle, Tribe, and the Order all have one. They’re supposedly indestructible objects that contain the information needed to recreate each faction in case they’re destroyed.”
“Should August get his hands on their grimoire, he will have access to their secrets and will know where to get all the materials needed for their resurrection,” Diamond continued with a scowl. “We cannot let this happen, which is why we need to get it first. Look through that information, perhaps you can find something that can point us in the right direction.”
“I’ll try, but I can’t make any promises, somethin’ like that sounds like it would be heavily guarded or well hidden,” Abbie pointed out.
“I understand, we’re all a bit out of our depth here. I’m just asking for an attempt. The rest of us will poke around and try to find out what we can but this is top secret, not even other thieves can know what we’re doing,” Diamond said firmly. “One thing August stated in his notes from what I’ve seen is that the Knights’ Order cared for civilians even more than the Guild which is saying something. August claimed that if their grimoire would be hidden anywhere it would be amongst them,” Diamond informed Abbie. “It’s not much but hopefully that can help you.”
“Better than nothing,” Abbie said with a shrug. “I’ll see what I can dig up.”
“Good, you have a week, we’ll reconvene afterward. Try to also figure out what’s going on with a folder in there, labeled ‘P.A.’ It looks empty but something we can’t find might be hidden in it as well, so give it a once-over. Also, we’ll be meeting at your place as I’m having this room refurbished,” Diamond informed Abbie who nodded. Abbie noticed how tense Diamond and Kat seemed and she could understand. Unlike the first job which was for the band’s benefit, this one seemed as though it would affect the entirety of the Guild, they couldn’t afford to mess this up.
* * *
As the others planned how they were to go about their roles in the war, Jack was outside behind the building preparing for the future in his own way. Jack pulled out a small black bag of gold coins and tossed it up and down in his hand.
“This should be enough, right?” Jack asked and tossed the sack into the shadows. “One coin per lesson.”
“That is the fee,” Meifeng said as she stepped out of the shadows. “Still, with this amount…you really do plan on studying under me for quite some time. You know it would be safer and cheaper for you to train with my father instead.”
“If his teachings worked for me, you’d be right,” Jack said dryly. “Personally, I don’t feel like sitting down while my band tries to compensate for my lack of skill. Besides you taught me each day after the lessons ended before, this shouldn’t be too bad.”
“I taught you because leaving the head of the Frost family defenseless is irresponsible,” Meifeng said matter-of-factly. “Teaching you a few moves while you tried to achieve balance wasn’t going to hurt anyone. That said, I added this ridiculous fee to my lessons in order to persuade you to go back to him,” Meifeng said with a troubled expression. “I never pictured you to be crazy enough to actually pay me. Something about selling my father’s teachings like this seems wrong.”
“Well if you want, I could always take my money elsewhere,” Jack pointed out.
“Now don’t get ahead of yourself, I never said I would not teach you.” Meifeng said as she pocketed the gold. “I am a woman of my word and cannot turn down someone so obviously eager to learn from me. To do so would be to act without honor and without honor we have nothing,” Meifeng said wisely. “That said, we must keep this a secret. I am but my father’s assistant. My father is the head of all enforcers, including their trainers. Until I get his approval as a Master, I cannot officially teach anyone within the Guild. Do you understand? We are breaking important rules, nothing good awaits us if we are discovered.”
“I hear you loud and clear, but rest assured, secrets are my specialty.”
“As expected of a member of the Frost family, the only thieves that can keep secrets even from their own band,” Meifeng mused. “Your training begins tomorrow. I will give you access to one of my safe houses as you have done for me, I’ll message you the details later,” Meifeng said before she stepped back into the shadows and left Jack alone behind the building. Heading back inside, Jack could only hope this paid off in the end so that he could better help his band. He couldn’t explain it, but he had a feeling that things were going to get a lot tougher for them soon and he could only hope that he was ready.
* * *
Santa Monica, Clair de Lune
“That took a bit longer than anticipated, Mr. Gladius, but I believe we are on the same page now,” Haylen said as she sat across from August and Xavier. “Mr. Prospero paid for my services, not just for Prosperity Industries, but for a number of its associates which includes both you and Mr. Magnus. Now, you say this wasn’t an isolated incident but rather the start of attacks on all of your associates?”
“Yes, instead of money, what was stolen from my nephew’s bank is confidential information,” August explained. “That leads me to believe there will soon be another attack that will be targeted on my gallery downtown, quite possibly within the next week or two.”
“That’s
oddly specific, mind tellin’ me how you came up with that?”
“Unfortunately, that is confidential so I am going to have to ask you to take my word on it,” August answered with an apologetic smile.
“Sir, you have to give me somethin’ so that I can better prepare.”
“There is a piece of…art, that I’ve recently purchased from a museum in England that I wish to have displayed in my gallery. The Stone Shield,” August said which made Haylen look at him in surprise. “Perhaps you’ve heard of it?”
“Heard of it? My family was the one that sold it to that museum in the first place,” Haylen informed them.
“I see, so it wasn’t a coincidence, you are part of the Stone family,” August said making her nod while Xavier looked lost.
“The Stone family, Uncle?”
“Yes, an old family, very wealthy that came over here from England back when this country was founded. I do believe they’ve dabbled in a bit of every business at this point, am I correct?”
“More or less,” Haylen answered before sipping her drink. “We had a lot of things like that floatin’ around before my father started sellin’ them off a few years after the war. The last I heard of the particular piece you bought, we sold it for quite the price. If you bought it then it’ll probably be one of the most expensive pieces you’ll have on display.”
“The most expensive,” August confirmed. “I made quite the investment on it, so you can see why I am a bit nervous about it being targeted by thieves.”
“Well then, I’ll get my team ready to ensure its safe transfer to your gallery,” Haylen said with a small smile. “We haven’t failed a task yet, and afterward I can begin updatin’ the security on Prosperity Industries and its associates. Mr. Prospero said that we will be workin’ together for a bit, so I hope we can get along.”
“As do I,” August said politely while Xavier smiled.
“Agreed.”
* * *
Santa Monica, Abigail’s Apartment
For the next seven days, Band 13 and Abbie discussed and plotted their next course of action to no avail. Though Roderick had not given a specific time-frame, Diamond couldn’t help but feel restless. The pressure slowly but surely got to her and though she hid it well, her band and even Abbie were able to tell that the boss’ patience was almost gone. Fortunately, on the seventh day luck finally seemed to be on their side as Abbie stumbled across a news article.
“Got it!” Abbie said victoriously as she turned her laptop toward them. “Guess who just made the headlines?” Abbie said as they saw an article about a recent purchase that August made from a museum in England. “I’m not sure what the grimoires you mentioned look like, but what are the odds this is it?”
“Very likely, I haven’t seen the Thieves Guild’s grimoire but from what I’ve been told they tend to be old artifacts that a civilian probably wouldn’t look at twice. It could definitely pass off as old art,” Diamond said as she looked closer at the Stone Shield. “Yes, this is it, look,” Diamond said as she showed them an image of the artifact. On its front, they could see what appeared to be the image of a shield that was surrounded by thirteen swords. “Everyone gets so enthralled by the image on the front, few mention the strange writing on the other side,” Diamond said as she showed them an image of the opposite side of the artifact where they saw illegible writing and symbols carved into it. “This is a code, one the Order probably used. If I had to guess this has the information August needs to resurrect the Knights’ Order. How long do we have?”
“At least another week before it shows up at the gallery,” Abbie answered. “Also, I did what I could to that P.A. folder but believe it or not, it’s just an empty folder.”
“I see, then it doesn’t matter. We have our target. Kat, look around for all the entrances and exits of the gallery. Frost, infiltrate the employees and find out as much as you can about this. We need a time-frame and a location of where we can intercept the grimoire. Understood?”
“Gotcha!” Kat said with a grin as Jack nodded.
“Interesting, we’re stealing art now? Bout time we got to steal something with a little bit of class,” Jack said before frowning a bit when he noticed a confused expression on Abbie’s face. “What’s wrong, love?”
“It says that this thing used to be owned by…the Stone family,” Abbie said as she read the background of the Stone Shield. All of Band 13 looked surprised at this and their confusion was obvious in the glances they shared amongst each other. “Why would my family have this? Actually, wait,” Abbie muttered as she rubbed her temples as if being overcome with a sudden headache. “I think…I think I remember this. Like I think it used to be in my house before it disappeared one day.”
“Well that’s not concerning at all, love,” Jack said sarcastically, though he was clearly concerned for Abbie.
“Abbie, are you alright?” Kat asked in concern.
“Yeah, just a headache, remembering something from a childhood I’d rather forget tends to do that to me,” Abbie said quietly before she shook her head to clear it. “Still, why would my family have that?”
“It’s not uncommon for civilians to pick up supernatural artifacts, believing them to just be sculptures or art,” Diamond explained. “But to think a grimoire? You know, your resistance to having your mark removed is something we blamed solely on Alexei. However, if you had something like that in your house as a child, that definitely added to it,” Diamond pointed out. “But we’ll have to worry about that later seeing how we are now pressed for time.”
“Agreed, but while we’re on the topic of family, there is somethin’ I need to warn you about that I put off for too long,” Abbie said as she got their undivided attention. “It’s about my sister, she’s been put on the Circle’s payroll.”
“By that, I hope you mean like a secretary or something at P.I.,” Kat said nervously as her bandmates looked at Abbie with varying degrees of shock.
“Sorry kitten,” Abbie denied apologetically. “They hired her team as security after we were able to breach their system. I would have told you last week but when I was attacked while walkin’ Sal, it completely slipped my mind.”
“Wait, what, you were attacked!?” Kat asked incredulously. “What the fuck!? Are you alright!?”
“She’s clearly alright,” Diamond said dryly as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. “After this, we’re going to have a long talk about full disclosure, but fortunately you told us early enough before I could begin planning,” Diamond said and Abbie had the decency to look embarrassed about her lapse in memory. “How good is your sister?”
“She’s the one who gave me my foundation,” Abbie admitted,
“Perfect,” Diamond said sarcastically. “We’re probably going to have to tone down our abilities for this job then. We cannot risk exposure, especially with our mark unavailable for use. If Abbie cannot guarantee those cameras stay down, we cannot risk getting discovered by her or her team.”
“You sure you’re not thinking too far ahead? P.I. hired her, didn’t they? What are the odds she’ll be doing business with August Gladius, of all people, and his gallery?” Kat asked Diamond but it was Jack who answered.
“Think, Kat, if we took the information regarding August’s plan then he knows we know what his target is. The whole Circle is probably expecting us to go after the grimoire and thanks to the news we now know where it is,” Jack explained.
“This is probably why he hired your sister to begin with,” Diamond told Abbie. “Dealing with civilians is one thing but dealing with skilled civilians is another. He did this to avoid fighting himself because that would cause too much of scene when he destroys whoever the Guild sends after him.”
“Is he that powerful?” Abbie asked suddenly terrified of August’s apparent power. Abbie’s fear only grew when she noted that Diamond seemed certain that whoever challenged him from the Guild would fall. “No one in the Guild can deal with him?”
“An Arch-Mage’s power
is nothing to scoff at, they could destroy entire cities at a time if they wanted to,” Diamond explained and the blood drained from Abbie’s face at the thought. “Our highest skilled bands could take them on and even win, but August is the exception. His shield has been officially deemed to be unbreakable, making him invincible on the battlefield. Every Mage’s shield has a weak spot and can be worn down after taking enough damage but August’s is the exception. I hear his shield is the reason he was allowed to become a mage and it allowed him to rise through the ranks quickly.”
“If Julia wasn’t M.I.A, then perhaps Roderick’s band could take him down but that is not the case. The only thing thieves can do when faced with him is flee on sight,” Jack muttered, a scowl on his face as he thought about his mother.
“Frost,” Diamond began before she stopped herself and faced Abbie. “Anyway, that power of his is a double-edged sword. Being too powerful means that he has to pick and choose his battles carefully or risk exposure, fortunately for us he chose not to partake in this one it seems.”
“Lucky us,” Abbie said as she shuddered at the thought of August’s apparent power. “Look while Kat and Jack are out, I’ll gather all the information I can about my sister’s team.”
“Good, I’ll go call up my father and let him know we have a lead, we’ll reconvene in a few days,” Diamond said before they all left for their assigned tasks. The situation was far more intense than the last job yet Abbie couldn’t ignore that particular rush she began to crave from flowing through her. Dealing with her sister would not be easy but unlike any other time she challenged Haylen, she had the support of her new friends. That alone made Abbie feel far more optimistic about this job than she normally would have been.
* * *