Blaze's wrist still stung from Vincent's hot grip, but he ignored the pain as he helped Kayden to her feet. She looked startled, her green eyes wide and her hair in dark messy strands. "Are you okay?" he asked.

She nodded, her eyes on the smoking floor. "Yeah."

"I can't believe they were illusions," Helio said, looking visibly shaken. "They were so good."

Blaze felt sick to his stomach. Helio was right—the illusions were good—but Blaze was the illusion guy. He should have guessed that Marie and Vincent were illusions from the moment Vincent had seen through the glamour on the office door so easily. No, he scolded himself. I should have known way before that.

If I had noticed earlier, I could have stopped everything.

Walter took a few more steps into the cluttered office. "Are you four all right?"

"What did you do to them?" Lexi whispered, staring at the smoking floor. She clenched Helio's hand, digging her nails into his flesh.

"A particle-disassembling spell. Works with illusions and really tough glamours. Can also be a wimpy attack spell, if need be," Walter said, flexing his fingers. "Wow, I can still feel the tingle. I still have never figured out why they turn blue though..."

"How did you know they were illusions?" Blaze blurted out.

Walter looked at him funnily. "I didn't. I heard a scream." Walter pulled a full carton of white chalk out of his trouser pockets. "I always keep a few pieces of chalk on me at all times. For emergencies. So I drew a quick rune and came in to see what was going on." He pulled a few pieces out of the container and tossed them to everyone. "I'm surprised none of you were carrying anything. Better to be safe than sorry."

Blaze caught the chalk, feeling a wash of relief. It was amazing how much safer he felt with a few pieces of white chalk in his grip. After Naven had stripped him of all of his writing utensils, he had felt exposed, like a turtle without its shell. "Thanks."

"Take mine," Kayden said, passing him the chalk she had received.

"No, no, no!" Walter said, shaking his head. "Keep it for yourself. Never know when it might come in handy."

"Oh. Okay," Kayden said, pocketing the chalk awkwardly.

Walter's gaze swept over them, looking slightly wary. "So, who's after you?"

"Russ Naven," Helio said darkly.

"And he's after you because you cast a Bonding Oath with a non-er?"

His words were greeted with stunned silence. Blaze struggled to keep his face expressionless. He was certain that he had never told Walter that Kayden was a non-er. "I don't know what you mean," he said carefully.

"I'm sure you do," Walter said, gesturing to Lexi. "And she's possibly one as well, but I'm not quite sure. And I apologize for pointing; I realized I've never caught your names."

Blaze introduced everyone quickly, but never took his eyes off the old man. "How did you know about Kayden?"

Walter waggled the box of chalk in his hand; the pieces clanked against each other. "She wanted to give you her piece. The only reason she'd do that was if she didn't need it. And I'm pretty sure Russ Naven wouldn't come after you for just casting a spell. It had to be serious. Like doing business with a non-er." He held up his hands and shook his head. "Not that there's anything wrong with being a non-er."

"Was your wife a non-er?" Kayden asked.

Blaze was surprised by the question, and Walter looked the same. After a moment's pause, he said, "No, she was not. She was quite a talented potestas. We met at a Conservationists of the Structure of Magic meeting."

"That was the organization you were a part of, before you wrote the book," Kayden continued. "The one that wanted to cleanse magic before a shift could happen."

Blaze stared at Kayden in confusion, but Walter looked absolutely ecstatic. "You read the foreword!" he cheered. His eyes were as glossy as saucers. "I put a lot of effort into that. I really wanted to include the reason for why I wrote the book, and my interpretation for why the shift occurred in the first place." He laced his fingers together. "COSM was a collection of people who saw the signs that magic wasn't evolving in a healthy way. We did not know the cause, but we knew something needed to be done. We sent petitions to the Congregation, telling them that there needed to be a giant spell of sorts to steady the magic balance, but the Congregation wouldn't have it. They thought we were telling wild tales." He frowned sadly. "When COSM eventually disbanded, my wife and I began to write a book to prepare for the inevitable shift. We hoped it could help others when it eventually came."

"So you were trying to shift magic back," Blaze said.

"We were trying to prevent a shift from happening in the first place," Walter corrected.

"But what about now?" Lexi asked. "Is it possible to shift magic back?" Her eyes were locked on the author.

Walter took a deep breath. "Hypothetically, it is possible to shift magic back."

"Then wh—"

"But it is not probable," Walter emphasized. "Politics is all about probability. Yes, most likely something can be done, but whether it will be done is a whole other matter. The Congregation didn't listen to us years ago when the solution was much simpler. Now the situation is more complex. There are other factors that need to be accounted for, additional time variables and components, all of which makes a spell of that caliber much more difficult. And because of my book, I'm sure they are even more resistant to the idea."

"Well," Blaze said, feeling a rush of anger through his body, "your book is shit."

There was a sudden silence in the room, heavy and damp. Everyone froze for a moment, as if unsure of what to say or do. Even Helio looked mildly surprised.

Kayden finally shot him a sharp look. "Blaze," she hissed. "His book is the only reason we escaped the—"

"His book is shit," Blaze repeated. He couldn't take it; his skin was on fire and his tongue felt loose in his mouth.

Walter frowned. "I spent a lot of time on—"

"Who cares about you?" Blaze shouted. "You wrote a book and you are making money off it. That's all great for you. But that's not great for the thousands of people suffering right now." He yanked the laptop off the floor and thrust it at Walter. "Have you just been ignoring all the news articles from the past few days? About people suffering because of the shift? People who are now deformed, missing body parts. Arms, legs, vital organs. There was one guy in Michigan whose heart slowly shrunk in on itself until it couldn't pump his blood anymore. People are dying from diseases they accidentally conjured into existence and the diseases are not going away. And it's just going to get worse because of you pawning off your book to the Congregation."

Walter's face paled as his eyes swept across the laptop screen. "I..." He swallowed. "I'll be honest, I didn't expect... so many people to suffer from residual side effects. I thought that, maybe, once the shift happened, after the initial casualties... things would be okay."

"Well they're not okay," Blaze said sharply. "Which is why you need to fix it."

Walter looked at him for a moment, his eyes red and watering. He removed his glasses and folded them in his wrinkled hands. "Blaze," he said softly, "you have to understand that I... I'm not the same man that joined COSM years ago. My wife is dead, and I'm old. I don't have the energy to fight against the Congregation."

"But you need to!"

"I can't."

Lexi suddenly took a step forward, her eyes locked on Voyle. "Your wife," she said quietly. When Walter looked at her in confusion, she asked, again in a soft whisper, "What would your wife want?"

Walter stumbled as if she had shouted. "Elise..." He trailed off.

"What would Elise want?" Lexi pressed.

Voyle hesitated; his mouth flopped open weakly as he struggled to form words. "Elise... would want me to make things right," he said finally. He stared at his laptop for a moment, and then began to X out of the news articles one by one until only the desktop remained. He then stared at the screen for a long while, at the background image of the young couple standing in front of a large sequoia, until he finally reached out to trace the outline of the woman's face.

A second later, Voyle began to sob. He pressed his fingers to his eyes, trying to staunch the flow of tears; his chest heaved and strangled noises escaped from his throat.

"Mr. Voyle?" Lexi asked softly. Her voice was soothing, Blaze thought, like the soft whisper of the wind. Walter's hands fell to his sides, limp as a ragdoll, and his chin quivered as he looked at her.

"The book," he said, his voice quavering. For the first time, he sounded like an old man. "This book... is Elise's life work. She gave up her life for it. It's all I have left of her."

"You have to do what she would have wanted," Lexi said. "Do you think she'd want you to cling to a book in her memory and let others suffer for it?"

Walter shook his head and drew a shaky breath. "Of course not. Never. Elise was selfless and kind. She would never..." His face crumpled and Blaze could see he was holding back a new wave of tears. "She was my wife and I admired her more than anyone. I hoped that finishing this book would make me worthy of her. But it's done the opposite."

"The book can still help people," Lexi said, reaching out to take his hand. "It can help relieve pain and ease the symptoms of the suffering. But it's only a temporary fix. We need to shift magic back. We need to make the Congregation see that this is the only way. You need to help us. You need to do it for Elise."

There was power behind her words, power Blaze never would have expected from someone as small and unassuming as Lexi. Walter seemed to sense it too. For a moment he just looked at her, examining her face as if the answer was written in her flesh. Finally, he nodded.

"You're right, Lexi. You're all right." He looked around his office. "The Congregation needs to face the truth. We need to convince them to shift magic back. And I'm going to help you do that."