Kayden needed to do something with her hands as she recounted the past few hours. She settled on undoing her hair, unwinding the tight French braids to keep her hands from shaking. Her scalp ached slightly as she plucked at the strands, pulsing with blood.

She mostly watched Blaze as she spoke. The skin on his face was pale, like polished marble, but then her eyes drifted lower. His fingers were powdered with dried blood, and his arms were crisscrossed with cuts and burn marks. A fresh cut on his forehead dripped. It was hard to believe that they had been upset with each other just a few hours earlier. Now he had saved her. It was too much of a debt to repay.

Walter stood up as soon as she had finished. "This is my fault," he said.

"It's not your fault," Kayden started, but Walter shook his head firmly.

"It is," he said, looking pained. "The reason Naven was so upset at you was because of those articles, and I'm the one wrote them."

Kayden stared at the old man; she could feel her jaw drop. "That was you? You're E. Flowers?" And then she realized why the name had triggered something when she had first heard it. "E is for Elise, your wife. And Flowers..."

"Is because she loved to garden," Walter finished. "That's why the cover of the second edition had plants all over it." The old man looked at her grimly. "I thought it was important that people knew the truth about Naven, but I never expected he would..." He trailed off. "I'm going to wake up the other members of the Congregation; I think they'll want to talk to you." His eyes flicked to Naven, still unmoving on the floor, and then to Blaze. "He doesn't have any chalk on him now? Or anything he could use to write a rune?"

"No chalk," Blaze said, but he checked Naven's pockets all the same. "Though he could use blood if he was desperate."

Walter shook his head. "Well, we can't stop him from cutting himself, but I think my Binding will hold, at least in time for us to get the Congregation." He glanced around the small closet, sizing it up. "I'll lock him in here just in case and load the casting with some extra reskhrs."

Blaze stood up with a nod and offered Kayden his hand. She stared at it for a second, at the chalky, bloodstained fingers, and then slipped her hand in his. As he pulled her into a standing position, the world spun briefly around her, but then steadied as Blaze squeezed her palm.

"Thanks," she murmured, slipping out of his grip.

Walter led them to an empty conference room after drawing a large rune on the closet door. "Wait here," he said. "I can't bring you to where the Congregation is staying; there are protection spells crisscrossing the hall. But I'll bring them down here as quickly as I can. Blaze, you have chalk, right?"

Blaze nodded.

Walter turned to Kayden. "You?"

She shook her head. "I can't do magic—"

Walter interrupted her by shoving a few pieces of chalk into her hand.

"Kayden," he said, "if we want to fix this, we're all going to have to do a little bit of magic." And with that he turned and disappeared down the hall, leaving Kayden to stare numbly at the chalk in her hand.

* * *

Kayden had thought she would be waiting alone with Blaze for a while, but it wasn't long before the conference room was packed with people, both members of the Congregation and advisers alike.

Carsten quickly took control of the room. Kayden remembered how nervous he had been at the open meeting in the ballroom, but here, in a small room surrounded by his closest advisors, he was focused and calm. He brought everyone up-to-date on what had happened in the past few hours, and then sent several people off on errands. Two men were sent to retrieve Naven from the closet and make sure he was properly secured, and a group of scientists and spell writers ran off to the grand ballroom to check for any damage or alterations to the rune circle that had already been transcribed on the floor. He also sent two people to search the grounds for Helio.

When Lira Fallon called Kayden's name and began to approach her from the other side of the room, Kayden didn't quite know what to do. She had not seen Lira in person since the day they had persuaded the Congregation to shift magic back, and she faintly wondered if there was some sort of etiquette required when addressing a member of the Congregation. She glanced over at Blaze, but he looked just as dumbfounded.

Lira rolled a piece of chalk between her fingers, her deep blue eyes full of unconcealed concern. "I just wanted to make sure you were all right from... what Naven did to you." Her voice was quiet; her words were not meant for the rest of the room. "Mr. Voyle explained on the way."

"Oh." Kayden's gaze shifted down to Lira's slight hands. She wore no ring. Kayden recalled the new set of clothing Lira had left her and wondered if she had ever wanted children. "Yeah, I'm okay—"

"She hit her head pretty badly," Blaze said, moving in closer to her side.

Kayden glanced back at him, surprised that he had remembered. She had barely remembered.

"Where?" Lira asked.

Blaze rubbed his own head in demonstration. "Back here. Naven slammed it into the wall. She might have a concussion."

"I can heal that up for you," Lira said, holding out the chalk again. "Before I was a member of the Congregation, I was a healer. I'm certified and everything."

Kayden hesitated.

Lira noticed. "It won't hurt," she said, and then quickly amended, "I won't hurt you."

Kayden could feel her muscles tensing, coiling into tight springs. The idea of someone drawing on her skin brought back way too many fresh images, but her head was pounding. Eventually, she nodded. "Okay."

Lira smiled gently and touched the piece of chalk to Kayden's forehead. It was cool, but Kayden still shivered, remembering the burn of Naven's touch. Lira's mark was quick, a small scribble, and then she turned to the wall and began to create a larger rune. After a rolling chant, Kayden felt the familiar tug of magic. The pounding in her head eased, and her shoulder thrummed. When she glanced down, she saw a little spark of light circle the bleeding mark where Naven's symbol had once been, sewing skin back together with an efficient hum.

"Thank you," Kayden said when the hairs on her arms settled back down.

"It's the least I could do," Lira said. She glanced over at Blaze. "Let me knit you back together, too. You have a nasty cut on your forehead."

Blaze let Lira draw on his skin without a single complaint. This is the norm for him, Kayden thought. He had no need to feel squeamish. He had no need to worry.

Just as Lira finished the spell and Kayden watched as the cut on his forehead was replaced by a thin white scar, the door to the conference room opened and in hurried a few of the scientists.

Lira's eyes landed on them and she drew away from Kayden and Blaze without a word, rejoining Carsten and Wheeler at the other end of the table.

"Any news?" she asked.

"We ran through the rune manually and again with a rudimentary spell-check, and it appears to be unaltered," said one of the scientists, a dark man with a beard and a thick manila folder in hand. "But the same cannot be said about the potion component." He glanced over at Kayden and then back to the Congregation. "What Miss Lee said is true; the potion has been compromised with what was calculated to be about thirty-three huckleberry leaves."

"Can it be salvaged?"

The man nodded. "We think so. But we'll have to run some tests and figure out what we can use to negate the huckleberry leaves' properties. Stille and Martin have already begun testing in the ballroom. It'll take about two hours to determine a solution. From there we can see if we can implement the changes before tomorrow."

"Yes," Carsten said, pressing his hand down on the table. "I want us to try to keep to our original timeline as much as possible."

"Yes sir."

Kayden shifted uncomfortably. She nudged Blaze gently with her elbow, and he flinched. "What?"

"Why is everyone stressing about getting this done by tomorrow?" she whispered. "Why can't they just postpone it a week or so to make sure everything's okay?"

"It took a lot of time and money to get this spell set up worldwide," Blaze explained. "And for some people, this spell is their only hope for recovery. Postponing it would be disastrous both from a moral and economic standpoint."

"We have ten hours, though."

"They'll find a way," Blaze said, but he sounded distracted. His brown eyes were staring off into space, as if focused on something that was not there.

Kayden pursed her lips impatiently. "What are you thinking?"

Blaze didn't answer her. Instead, he murmured, "One sec," and crossed the room to the Congregation members. They were talking among themselves in hushed tones, and after a moment of waiting, Blaze tapped a finger on the conference table. "Excuse me, sirs? Ms. Fallon?"

Kayden's heart thudded as a few advisors turned to stare at Blaze. Carsten raised a white caterpillar eyebrow. "Yes, Mr. Merg?"

"I have a question about tomorrow."

Carsten let a thin smile escape his lips. "As does everyone. I'll see if I can answer it."

Blaze nodded, his dark hair falling almost past his eyes; he hadn't cut his hair in a while, and Kayden had to admit that she liked this length. "Assuming that we fix the spell by tomorrow, will Naven be at the event tomorrow?"

"Of course not!" Wheeler shook his head vehemently. "We wouldn't be able to trust him."

"But we're also not planning on making a huge announcement about what he did, right? At least, not before the spell casting."

Carsten looked back at him with a bit of confusion. "We plan on updating the public at some point, but causing a panic tomorrow morning before the casting wouldn't be very beneficial. But I don't see how that connects with Naven..."

"Won't people be confused when they don't see Naven at the casting? After all, he's a member of the Congregation."

"We can't risk the whole operation by having him present," Lira said quietly. "Appearances or not—"

"Appearances matter," Blaze interrupted, slipping his hands into his pockets. "I'm not suggesting we actually use Naven. I'm just suggesting that we have a replica made, an illusion, just for pretenses tomorrow. I-I know it's not the highest concern seeing as we first have to deal with fixing the potion and stuff..." Blaze flexed his fingers. "But I feel like, if I went in tomorrow to cast a spell this big, and I didn't see Naven at all... I'd probably get a bit nervous. Especially since he has been telling everyone that we should hold off on casting the spell. And if enough people start thinking that something is wrong with the spell... it could be an issue."

Kayden blinked. It was such a minor detail, and yet she knew that had tomorrow come around and she did not see Naven, she would undoubtedly wonder if something had gone wrong.

Carsten seemed at a loss for a moment, but nodded. "You make a very valid point, Mr. Merg." He glanced over at Wheeler. "Do you think Mr. Beckett would be able to make a copy of Russ by morning?"

Wheeler whistled through his teeth. "It'd be a bit tight."

"I can help him," Blaze said, reaching into he pocket to pull out the gossamer spell threads from his own illusion. "I've been working on illusions for a few years now, and I know how to manipulate the rune circle."

Carsten looked at the rune in his hands and then nodded. "We'll leave it up to Mr. Beckett. If he thinks you can help, then you can do so." He flagged down an attendant. "Get Joseph Beckett down here, please. And hurry." As the man scurried off, Carsten glanced at his watch. "We are running out of time, but thank you for the insight." And then he nodded his head, an obvious dismissal.

Blaze returned to Kayden with a self-satisfied smile on his face and the spell draped over his fingers like a net woven of green and silver threads.

Kayden shook her head; she wasn't sure if she felt disgusted or impressed. "I can't believe you're trying to promote yourself at a time like this."

Blaze's smile faltered, just for a moment. "When everything is all over, I still need to find a job. I figured it wouldn't hurt to try to get my foot in the door." He stared at her for a moment, his eyes sweeping across her frown. "Sometimes you need to be happy when the small things work out. You can't be upset all the time."

Kayden turned away from him, her eyes landing on the clock ticking away on the wall. 2:04 am.

She knew she was being irrational, and yet she couldn't stop herself from feeling just a little bitter. Focusing on a job when it was possible this spell could shatter the very fabric of magic in just a few hours?

"I just think it's more important that the big things work out," she murmured. She thought her words were low enough that Blaze couldn't hear, but she saw his face change. It only crumpled for a moment, a near imperceptible shift. But then he simply turned to the wall and set his gossamer rune against the smooth surface, summoning his creation with the hiss of a spell while trying to ignore the bitter words that had fallen from her lips unbidden.