The second day that Solomon was invited for properly started when she woke up in her designated room. She wasn’t sure if she should mention what she had experienced the night before to Shaquia, or anyone, for that matter. Even for a dream, it made no sense to her. Those four pillars… Even just recalling the events sent a chill down her spine.

  Sitting on the bed, she put forward a hand and let acid collect in her palm. “Let’s see if I really improved.” She closed her eyes and concentrated, she mentally put herself back in that icy hellscape and thought of the idea of a spiral, her life, and Genesis’ unlife. She focused, near-meditative, and when she opened her eyes, nothing had happened to the acid.

  “What?” She said out loud and tried again, to the same effect. Annoyed, she called on her companion’s help. “Genesis… Could you do that?”

  Without missing a beat, Genesis formed the acid into the shape of a spiral with such ease that she hardly even noticed it. It was little solace after what she did in her dream, but she discovered that she could still hold the shape for about five seconds in the real world after Genesis stopped controlling it. Regardless, she stood up and with a sigh, went to start the day, whatever it may hold for her.

  “Oh, Sssolomon!” The feline heard the words of an energetic Samuel right after she left the room. “You’re awake! Jussst in time.”

  Solomon wasn’t exactly excited to meet with a Frost One after that night. “For what?” She asked. If nothing else, at least she felt rested, despite everything.

  “A meeting.” He explained concisely. “I’ve heard that catsss can sssleep for a long time, but wow!”

  “How long did I sleep?” She asked and took out her phone to check the time. It was already close to the evening. “I slept through the whole day?!”

  “I wasss coming to wake you for the meeting.” The snake made a beckoning motion with his tail. “Come, Ssshaquia isss waiting!”

  “I… Alright.” Solomon briefly rubbed her temples and followed after Samuel. Sure, time can move differently in dreams, but even then… Someone was supposed to wake her when she was needed. “It sure took them a long time.”

  They went down to room 26 on the second floor once more, and this time were met with Shaquia, Benedict, and Catherine. Solomon made a slight smile and waved.

  “Everyone’s here? Good.” The snow lynx said wearily, but looking considerably less dishevelled than before. “We can finally get started.”

  “What about Sheila and-” Solomon began to say.

  “They went to help our little team of three, should they need it.” Catherine cut her off. Genesis’ dislike towards her only grew. “I only have business with you four anyway.”

  Solomon sighed and sat down at the chair farthest from the opossum. Samuel sat next to her.

  “Firstly, Grayson sent us some new info on the Lightborn.” Shaquia announced in a calm voice. “There’s an antelope there who’s the reason why they get their supplies. She also has strange, disappearing dark markings, as he put it. We need to devise a plan to remove her from the perimeter and get a chance to look at those markings for ourselves.”

  “Something covert then, since the last operation went so poorly?” Benedict recommended.

  “That’s obvious, dear.” Catherine retorted. “You wouldn’t happen to know anyone who can move swiftly through the night?” She tried much too hard to look amicable and ended up sounding more condescending as a result.

  “I mean…” Said Solomon, and everyone looked at her expectantly. She wasn’t a fan of that. “There’s Lumi, but I don’t think she’ll help us.”

  “Ugh, that girl…” Catherine rolled her eyes. “If she and Thalia would just cooperate, I feel like we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

  “It can’t be helped.” Said Shaquia. “We can’t force them to work for us.”

  “Maybe Solomon, dear, could do it. Maybe better this time.” The opossum suggested, which made the feline’s hand twitch. “I feel like we aren’t utilising her powers to the fullest extent.”

  “Désolé.” Solomon frowned. “Still working on that.”

  “We can’t rush her learning.” Shaquia shook her head. “Is writing in Mystic not enough?”

  That was one experiment Solomon didn’t want to think about. Genesis did his best to explain how she should just “let the magic do the talking” by infusing the very letters she wrote, but she couldn’t get a single symbol to work properly. He, on the other hand, made it look so easy! That was at least enough to convince people like Catherine that she, in fact, could do it.

  “All I’m saying is that maybe she should try harder.” Catherine added. Solomon found her right hand curling into a fist.

  “What did you want, Cath?” Said Benedict, seeing Solomon’s growing discomfort. “Maybe that’d be easier to discuss.”

  “Finances and potential ventures, of course.” The opossum replied. “Now that Ludwig’s gone, we need new ways to keep the less profitable fronts up. And I have just the thing-”

  “That can wait until after we’re done with this.” Shaquia interrupted.

  “I have a quessstion.” Samuel asked with a rather confused look on his face. “Why am I needed here? Thisss looksss like sssomething for a professssional, long-time member.”

  “But you are!” Said Catherine. “A part of us for years. Now you’ll be a part of our plans and we get to take advantage of your powers, you’re just as important as the rest of us.”

  Shaquia shot her a side-eye glance. “What Cath means is that you can consider this as part of your training. You’ll be a valuable part of us, I’m sure.”

  “The other Frost Ones also like having you around.” Benedict argued.

  The snake leaned back and listened. He wasn’t too excited about his position, Solomon could tell, but he looked like he could deal with that.

  “Do you think thisss Luksssor can sssurvive my frossst?” Samuel asked, his icy breath visible in the air.

  “I don’t think True Frost ever clashed with light this powerful before.” Shaquia recalled. “It’s an option, but I don’t want to risk your life doing that.”

  “I don’t really want to hurt people, but I can make an eksssception. If he hasss lassserssss…” Samuel said, then formed a piece of ice on his hand and rubbed on it once with the other. He showed his palm to the people present, and it was a smooth, reflective surface. “We could ussse mirrorsss?”

  Shaquia looked impressed. “And you say you’re not cut out for this.”

  “But wait!” Catherine said with sudden panic, which earned her a curious look from the rest. “I mean…” She cleared her throat. “It’s magical light. There’s a chance it works differently, non? We can’t risk that, can we?”

  “That’s true, Cath.” Shaquia agreed. “We can’t just send him in like that. We don’t want and can’t afford another… Incident.”

  “Hey, if Samuel’s True Frost, and Thalia’s True Darkness…” Solomon spoke up. “How would Lumi react to them both?” She felt Genesis’ curiosity and intrigue.

  “I’ve been thinking about that myself.” Said the lynx. “But if they don’t want to cooperate and you don’t want us to push it, it’s not worth mentioning.”

  “Well maybe…” The cat briefly glanced at Samuel. “I can make an exception as well. For an experiment!” She said with newfound enthusiasm. Even the snake looked a little bit curious about it.

  Catherine cleared her throat again and pulled on the collar of her white suit. “Are you sure that’s necessary? Or safe?”

  “Cath, it was your idea to send Lisa after that Bright One, don’t pretend like you’re not above this.” Shaquia argued as Benedict raised an eyebrow at the opossum. “And Solomon, if you can convince them to take part in that for the sake of magic, not us, we would all be grateful. We’ve yet to observe such an effect in person anyway.” The lynx had been looking forward to saying that, that much was obvious. The promises she had made to Solomon, it was holding back the organisation in certain ventures. Solomon knew that. Under normal circumstances, the cat wouldn’t even have thought about such an idea, but during a crisis like Luxor growing more bold in his actions, it was high time to do something more pragmatic than emotional.

  “I don’t think they’ll be too happy about it.” Solomon remarked. “But I’ll try. If I can’t convince them… Maybe Lisa can, but we have to wait for that.”

  “But if you can’t, that’s fine too.” Catherine said with an awkward smile.

  “What’s with you today, Cath?” Benedict asked with a concerned look. “You said you wanted them to help us.”

  Genesis found their bickering much too entertaining for Solomon’s liking. “I’ll… Just ask her in private, give me a minute.” She stood up and went to the door as Benedict and Catherine went on about something Solomon wasn’t nearly focused on enough to hear. She did hear something else, though.

  “Thank you, Solomon.” Said Shaquia, just loud enough for her to hear.

  The feline took out her phone as she closed the door, and to her delight, hardly anyone was on the second floor in that area. Andreas also wasn’t present to listen in on her conversation, so she looked through her contacts and called Thalia. It rang once, twice, and after the third ring, the panther posing as a leopard finally picked up.

  “Hey, Thalia?” Solomon said in the friendliest voice she could muster.

  “Hey Solomon, I’m at work, so please make it quick.” Thalia replied, the sound of a bustling restaurant was heard in the background. The cat really didn’t like the possibility of someone overhearing either of them, but it was much too important to wait.

  “It’s about magic, you and Lumi.” She said a little more sheepishly.

  “Ugh.” That already discouraged Solomon immensely. “Does it have to do with your wack new boss?”

  “She’s not my…” The more Solomon thought about it, the more she agreed that Shaquia felt a lot like a new boss indeed. “Just listen to me, we found… Like, your equivalent in frost. We want to test one thing, just to see how it works.”

  Thalia sighed. “Really, Solomon? I thought you were better than this.”

  “This isn’t for them!” The cat claimed. “It’s not for me either, it’s for magic as a whole! Just one test, for magic! Can you do that?”

  “We agreed that I won’t come and help those nutcases, didn’t we?” Thalia retorted, growing more annoyed.

  “Seven.” Solomon stated in a colder tone. “That’s how many Bright Ones disappeared because of the Lightborn. Those people had families and friends. We may not know them, but those families are waiting, praying that their loved ones one day might return. Sounds familiar?” She felt Genesis’ dislike towards what she said. “I know, I don’t like bringing this up, but maybe she’ll understand… Please!”

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  Thalia didn’t respond, but Solomon could still hear the sounds of the restaurant.

  “I won’t ask you to help with that, but this test could be the first step to stop them! It would help us protect Bright Ones once and for all!” The cat said energetically. “One time. That’s all I ask, and I’ll owe you one.”

  For a few more seconds, there was nothing from Thalia. When she did say something, it definitely wasn’t convincing.

  “You really went that low, huh?” She grumbled with great disappointment, which scared Solomon and left Genesis disgruntled. “You really thought you could convince me with this?”

  Solomon leaned back against the wall, feeling defeated. Not just that, but also possibly having lost a friend. “That was a stupid idea! Why did I even…”

  “Well, you can.” The panther said through a quiet sob. “I can’t find him. I know I can’t, but if this really would be so helpful… I’ll ask Lumi.”

  “Really!” Solomon said with joy, she could feel that Genesis was pleased, confident. “Thalia… I’ll do anything you want in return, thank you so, so much!”

  Thalia sniffled and took a moment to calm herself.. “And don’t you forget it.” She said with a giggle. “My house could use a new paint job.”

  “I thought you liked to paint?” Solomon commented.

  “I paint bodies, not walls.” Said Thalia. “So, deal?”

  “What colour do you want your walls to be?” Solomon replied, and it was all the panther needed.

  “Same as now, just a little darker so Lumi and I feel that much more at home.” Thalia sounded beyond pleased with the cat’s answer.

  “Sure, I can do that.” Said Solomon, beginning to remember just how high the walls in Thalia’s house reached.

  “Capital.” Thalia concluded. “Talk to you later, Zeus will be real mad if he learns that I’m here chatting with you. Schedule us an appointment with Miss Steamy while you’re at it, will you?”

  “Uhm, sure?” Solomon mumbled. “See you.”

  Thalia then hung up, and Solomon was left feeling both grateful, as well as slightly bothered. “A small price for progress, but… I really hate painting…” She looked down at her hands. “Think you can use my hands to help?”

  Genesis gave her a thumbs down with a sense of discontent as a response.

  “Really, Genesis?” She complained. “Lazybones.”

  He gave her two thumbs down, disapproving.

  “Oh, grow a sense of humour.” Solomon opened the door and went back inside the meeting room.

  “What did she say?” Shaquia turned in her seat and Solomon gave her a nod. “Good. At least one thing is going well.”

  “Everything settled?” Catherine asked nervously. “Can we talk about our finances then?”

  “Sure.” Benedict replied as Solomon sat back down. “We can start with setting aside a small fortune for Alex, Yaroslav, and Lisa.” He leaned back in his chair and frowned. “And not to be a Negative Nancy, that’s your job, Cath, but that’s if they even make it back.”

  “Of course they will!” Solomon said indignantly, cutting off whatever Catherine would have told the raccoon. “Lisa alone could do it, I just know it.”

  “Do you know what they’re up against?” Benedict retorted. “Haemon’s the real deal. Even if Electric Ones are typically stronger against Sanguine Ones, they shouldn’t take him lightly.”

  “And you tell me this now?!” Solomon raised her voice, outraged.

  “No matter.” Shaquia chimed in, calm and collected. “An Electric One will always beat a Sanguine One. Haemon’s good, yes, but Alex and Lisa can defeat him, should they fight. Frost is good too.” An ever so slight smile stretched across Samuel’s face when she said that. “Not to mention, A fight is not part of the plan, it’s all good as long as they make it there before the bats do.”

  “That’s a big if.” Said Catherine, Solomon sneered at her.

  “You’re not helping, Cath.” Benedict remarked.

  “Solomon, you needn’t worry.” The lynx said in a reassuring voice. “They can handle it.”

  “I hope so…” Said the cat, feeling rather discouraged. Not Genesis though, he seemingly had a lot of confidence in them.

  “So about those finances.” Catherine spoke up.

  “Fine Cath, do tell us how to make more money.” The cat replied in a sassy tone. “All the while…”

  “Now, we were approached by a certain person back in France.” The opossum began to say. “A powerful caprine with lots of land and money, said he’d been watching us for some time.”

  “What?!” Steam rose from Shaquia.

  “Now, I know how this sounds, but listen.” Catherine went on while Solomon tried her best to wordlessly calm Genesis, softly tracing her spiral marking under her gloves. “That’s all we know about his identity, so we can’t do much about him. He said he’ll leave us alone either way, but he would be willing to part with a sizable portion of his fortune in exchange for some magic.”

  “Don’t tell me you agreed, Cath.” Benedict chuckled with a questioning look along with a worried Samuel.

  “What else did he say? What does he want?” Shaquia demanded, one hand shaking behind her back. Solomon herself found it harder to restrain the emotions Genesis had on her.

  “The more pure, the better. So something like Samuel here…” She casually pointed towards the snake.

  “You want to sssell me?!” Samuel shouted, Solomon gripped her head, trying to keep it, but mostly Genesis together.

  “No, it would be just a little help from you for the benefit of us all!” The opossum, perhaps taking in the various looks of contempt around her, cleared her throat. “Of course, we didn’t consider taking him up on that offer, I thought you should hear it in person.”

  “You lying worm.” Solomon found herself saying. “What makes you think… What makes you think you can-”

  “Here’s what’s going to happen.” Steam practically enveloped Shaquia’s suit as she put her previously shaking hand forward. A brief burst of more steam left her mouth as she talked, calmly. “Vanessa will look into this mysterious person. When we find him, we question him on how he knows about us in the first place. Then, we look into all of his ties and make sure that none of this ever gets out to the public. And once that’s all resolved, maybe then, I’ll start thinking about what to do with you, Cath.”

  Catherine simply nodded along as the snow lynx spoke. “Yes, that sounds like a plan you’d come up with.”

  “Was that all you wanted?” Shaquia asked, tapping the desk with her claws. “This could have been an email and I could have just said no.”

  “Of course not!” Catherine claimed. “We can talk about the rest… Tomorrow. I see you all are kind of tense.”

  For once, Solomon agreed with the opossum.

  “Very well then.” Shaquia sighed, breathing out steam. “I hope to see you all next meeting.” She then stood up and simply left the room without another word.

  “You really thought this was a good idea?” Benedict crossed his arms in disappointment.

  “I swear, this was just a prospect to look into!” Catherine put her arms up in defence.

  “I better get going.” Solomon grasped her left hand with her right and she too, stood up to leave while the remaining three continued arguing.

  Outside room 26, Shaquia stood by the wall, an aura of vapour surrounding her. She eyed Solomon as the cat closed the door.

  “That went well.” Solomon remarked, feeling Genesis’ rage much too vividly.

  “Somehow not the worst meeting I’ve been a part of.” The lynx sighed. “I’ll tell the others to keep an eye on Cath. Sure, there’s a chance she’s just being really, and I mean really stupid, but it can’t hurt to be more careful.”

  “That’s probably for the best…” Solomon looked from her hands to Shaquia. She wasn’t sure how to word it yet, but she was aching to ask her about Haemon more.

  “Out with it.” Said Shaquia. “Can’t ruin my mood much more.”

  “I…” Solomon took a deep breath. “Be honest with me. This bloody bat, how powerful is he? Why is Ben so concerned about him? But most of all… Can Lisa beat him?”

  Shaquia didn’t say anything for an uncomfortably long time. “I hope. Every hour of the day since I asked her, I hope that she doesn’t have to fight him. She has an advantage, but Haemon, he’s frankly savage when he needs to be.”

  To say that Solomon was disheartened would be an understatement. “I see.” She replied concisely. Genesis’ rage seemed to slowly quell as well, she could hardly imagine what he thought exactly of what Catherine said.

  “She’s got magic in all her body. She can do it.” Shaquia reassured Solomon. “I would still prefer it if the two didn’t meet, however.”

  The door to the meeting room opened, and the remaining three people left it as well. They all looked at Shaquia, as if to ask what’s next.

  “I need a break, and for the sake of everyone, don’t bother me.” The lynx declared. “Go do whatever. We’re done for today.” With that, she put her hands in her pockets and left for the lifts.

  “I’ll go fill the water tank, then I could show you the warehouse. How about that, Sam?” Benedict told one deeply upset snake in an attempt to get his mind off of the meeting.

  “Yeah.” Samuel said lethargically. “That’d be great.”

  “...right.” Solomon gave Catherine one more passing glance. To make sure that Genesis didn’t just flat out melt her, she walked, then jogged to the lifts, catching up with Shaquia. They got into the one that was on the second floor. Neither of them said anything as the lift took them up to the sixth floor where Shaquia left, a short-lived trail of steam following her. All the while, Solomon texted Lisa. She hasn't sent her a single message since, she couldn’t forgive herself if anything did end up happening to the wolf. She almost wanted to just go after her as well, just to help her even a little bit. She knew that Shaquia wouldn’t have any of that though, Genesis was simply too important for them for that.

  Solomon herself then went to the ground floor. She figured that some reading just might help calm her, and especially Genesis, calm down and went to the room where The Ledger was kept. The password that day was “tranquility,” which she found ironic.

  “Alright, my friend. Maybe this’ll help you.” Solomon sat down at the familiar desk and opened the ancient book. To her surprise, however, she saw a bookmark. They were told explicitly not to use bookmarks in the Ledger, and with Shaquia’s mood so down in the gutter, she decided not to tell. She was fairly certain it belonged to Benedict though, given the blue and orange colour, a British flag, and the text “Property of Benedict Thompson Dowie Carslaw” on it. She pocketed it and took a look at the section he had been reading.

  The section was about darkness infusion. A type of magic that mainly affects living beings, used on inanimate objects. It was a more modern section too, referencing events that happened a mere 2000-500 years ago. Genesis read along with Solomon, and she found him calming down at the sight of new knowledge.

  Darkness infusion itself was quite peculiar, it made it so that an object can only make contact with living beings, and magically phase through everything else like a ghost, including the ground. This became a scarcely-used tactic for assassins of the old age, using darkness-infused weapons such as daggers and arrows to make for more reliable kills. Some tried to mitigate the chance of their death at the hands of a Dark Assassin by wearing special, darkness-infused armour. The problem with that, was that it didn’t stop regular weapons, so the few times it was used, it didn’t prove very effective.

  And then a new reference caught Solomon’s eyes: “People who had access to it tried combining the two armours, some managing multiple layers of both steel and Dark Steel, which could stop almost any weapon, infused or not. See: Ren the Unstoppable.”

  “That could be useful.” She stated, and found Genesis to agree. Solomon was just happy that he finally calmed down. She looked through the table of contents and after just a little bit of struggling, she found it under the section of renowned Mystic Ones. That title didn’t sit well with her. Surely, people in general would know more about magic if such “renowned” people existed, as well as tactics with magic.

  “Many people of folklore are suspected to have been Mystic Ones, which could serve as an explanation of their tales. This is true of certain historical figures as well, such as King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, who supposedly had connections to a mysterious Blazing Lizard. Some even speculate that the Excalibur was a darkness-infused sword whose magic was removed while inside a stone, trapping the blade within.”

  “Well, if you put it that way… I guess that counts as renowned.” Solomon remarked and skipped ahead to Ren’s section.

  “The raven of True Darkness, Ren (better known as Ren the Unstoppable) was a mercenary of unknown origin who roamed England for an estimated thirty years during the 1500s.” Solomon was in awe to find out more about someone apparently famous who lived so recently, compared to Genesis. “His technique was unlike the typical shroud that most True Darkness prefer to use, in fact, he was reportedly never seen using it. He carried an infused straight sword with an infused rope wrapped around the pommel, which he would swing and throw with deadly accuracy. He earned his nickname from his many victorious fights, being the only Dark One known to have killed a Bright One, as well as an army officer who wore multiple layers of steel and Dark Steel. While it is unclear how his blade pierced such armour, it is assumed that he infused and removed the infusion from his blade at just the right time to strike through. Some question whether or not he was even a mercenary, as he was seen enacting vigilante justice around Wessex and Essex for no determinable profit. How he really met his end is debated, but avian folklore around Wessex suggests that he grew bored with fighting regular people and moved on to the next world in search of greater opponents.”

  “You know, Genesis, it’s nice to read about another legend.” Solomon smiled as she closed the book, her companion then gave her a thumbs up. The section was short but it had their interest nonetheless. “No wonder Benedict was looking into this, if he could kill a Bright One… Maybe we can use it somehow. But I still don’t understand, how come I’ve never heard of this Ren?”

  She allowed Genesis to write down his thoughts. “You are not a bird. Nor are you from Wessex.”

  “Fair.” Solomon then stood up and put The Ledger back in its case, feeling that Genesis was in a better mood. “How about this, I’ll return Benedict his bookmark, we can have another acid bath after, then go get some fish sticks. Sounds good?” To that, he gave another thumbs up. “Good! Then we can do some more training. But… Maybe with less waterfalls and snow this time.”