When Magdala let him in, Scrytive Vogt looked around the foyer and said, “So this is Sanford. I’ve passed by here a number of times, but I didn’t expect it to be so grand.”

  He was being polite. While Sanford was in better shape since its days of abandonment, with Dwayne away and Galkin holed up in the servants’ quarter, there’d been nothing to stop two noble mages and an ex-ship’s inspector from rendering the house into a state of ruin.

  Magdala gestured for the scrytive to follow her. “Dwayne will put it all right when he returns.”

  “‘When’ he returns?” Vogt followed her into the dining room. “Not ‘if’?”

  “When.” Magdala sat down at the table, selected a canister, and began painting it blue. Its fellows - the blue, the black, the unpainted - were stacked by contents on the table. “For that we need Mei.”

  “Ah.” Vogt’s eyes drifted over to what was left of Mei’s weapon. “Which is why you’ve summoned me.”

  “Our dear Mei said many good things about you.” Francesca entered the room carrying a crate in both arms. “She was most effusive.”

  Vogt snorted. “Mei? Effusive?”

  “We’re her friends.” Francesca placed the crate next to Magdala. “We’re more than able to read between the lines.”

  Magdala looked inside the crate. Her eyebrows lifted. It was full of new canisters. “Where did you get these?”

  “The Club.”

  “But you were only gone a few hours.”

  “Fletcher had the loyalists’ addresses, and, once I showed the nQe mages among them your design, they were happy to assist. Especially Deveraux.”

  “What is all this?” Vogt asked.

  “Hopefully,” Magdala pulled a canister out of the crate and read its label, “they’re Mei’s new- Where’d they find fuchsia vervain?”

  “Fletcher had some on her windowsill,” said Francesca.

  “These,” Vogt picked one up, “surely don’t fit.”

  “Well, not in Mei’s old cannon,” conceded Magdala. “They’re for its replacement.”

  “So,” Vogt put the canister down on the table, “you know what happened?”

  “No,” Magdala set hers back in the crate, “we don’t.”

  “What do you know?”

  “After she drew Huan away,” Magdala’s hand went to her chest, where her wound should still be aching, “she went down a well, fought off a squad of cenobites, knocked a bomb off course, and saved Dwayne’s life.” She eyed Vogt. “You know that.”

  Vogt sighed. “Officially, we don’t. The Magisterium never allowed us on campus, and the Chamber hasn’t insisted because it’s not, entirely, enthusiastic about the investigation.”

  “Like when you were ordered to withdraw support from Mei and Dwayne’s investigation? Thanks for that by the way.”

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  Vogt winced. “All I can do to make up for that is to be here now, answering your questions.”

  “What we want to know is where Mei is,” said Francesca.

  “Which I will tell you,” Vogt sat down, “when I am satisfied that it’s in her best interest for you to know.”

  “Dwayne is her friend too! Do-” Magdala grimaced at her own tone. “Do you think she’d stand aside when his life is in danger?”

  “No, but…” Vogt blew out a breath. “When you went down there, was there evidence of a struggle?”

  Magdala frowned. “Of course. Mei’s ally mentioned-”

  “‘Ally’?” Vogt’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t know their name?”

  “Rodion went and got them? Somehow?” The steward had refused to talk about it afterwards. “I couldn’t find them later, but at the time, they thought there’d been three people or more down there besides Huan.”

  “More certainly,” Lady Pol entered the room with a package under her arm and Saundra on her heels, “but I suspect that isn’t what the good scrytive is talking about.”

  “We did find blood, which Mei’s ally said was Huan’s,” Magdala tapped her fingers on the table, “and a weird pattern in the dust.”

  “One consistent with conflicted Vu magic.” Lady Pol sat down with the package in her lap. “Combined with the fact that you found her shattered weapon upstairs with the remains of the bomb, a certain series of events is implied.”

  Magdala’s chest tightened. “Mei stopped the bomb, Huan broke her rifle, she fought him.” She frowned. “But why leave?”

  “I wasn’t able to get more than bits and pieces out of her,” said Vogt, “but I believe ‘fight’ is an understatement. Mei nearly killed him. If she were to return and help you, she’d have to face him again. I do not know how that will go.” His eyes met Magdala’s. “Do you?”

  Back in Yumma, in a ruin very similar to the one under Latia Arena, Magdala had had to talk Mei down from killing, which was only possible because Mei hadn’t wanted to.

  “I don’t,” said Magdala, “but it’s not our choice. It’s hers.”

  “It’s mine.” Vogt leaned in. “You have Swordbreaker, the Lucchesi Maestra’s favored daughter, the Lightning of the East, and yourself, the Water Sage’s daughter, the Lord Commander’s heir. Why do you need Mei?”

  “Because she’s the best,” said Saundra, “and there’s no one else I’d want at my back in a fight.”

  Magdala kept her eyes on Vogt’s. “You’re right. We might not need her to save Dwayne. We have arms and magic enough.”

  “Magdala!” protested Francesca.

  Vogt raised an eyebrow. “That’s your argument?”

  “We might not need her, but she needs us.” Magdala stood up. “I don’t know why she ran away and I don’t care. We’re her friends and we stand by her. Give us her location so that we can be there for her.”

  “Will you tell her about Dwayne?”

  “Like I said,” Magdala’s tone was cold, “he’s her friend too, and it sounds like she tore out her soul trying to save him. If I didn’t tell her, would she thank me?”

  “There are others looking for her,” said Vogt. “You could lead-”

  Magdala grabbed his shoulder. “What others?”

  Vogt tried to pull himself free. “A mage came by to ask-”

  “Name?” asked Magdala. “What was she wearing?”

  “Talbot, and he wore a winter tunic and a fetching green cloak.”

  Like Lo Duca had been wearing the day Dwayne had been taken.

  “Scrytive Vogt,” Lady Pol pried Magdala off him, “we are now no longer private citizens requesting the whereabouts of our friend; the Office of the Royal Sorcerer is now demanding the location of its Head Guard.”

  Vogt’s eyes widened. “What? Why?”

  “Her life is in danger.” Lady Pol put her package in Magdala’s hands. “Odette says be careful. Once you have Mei’s location, head out.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Miss Lucchesi,” Lady Pol turned to Francesca, “please tell me your mother didn’t fly here.”

  “She did,” answered Francesca.

  “Damn. We need transportation.” Lady Pol tsked. “I’ve seen your evaluations. You can’t fly another person, and I can’t go. The Council and the Magisterium would panic.”

  Magdala raised her hand. “I know where we can find transportation.”

  Her roommate paled. “Oh, no. No, no, no. I’ll fly.”

  “No one,” Vogt said, “is going anywhere until you explain.”

  “Whoever Talbot is, he’s part of the group that took Dwayne.” Lady Pol glanced at Magdala. “Is Dean Bruce tying up loose ends?”

  “Dean Bruce?”

  “Or eliminating risk.” Magdala turned to Vogt. “We need that location.”

  Vogt didn’t say anything for a long time. Then he sighed. “She’s at my cabin in Bradschwald. I’ll write down the directions.”

  “Um,” Saundra raised her hand, “how are we getting there?”

  “We’re flying of course,” declared Francesca.

  “Ignore her,” said Magdala. “She has certain fears.”

  “At least I can ride an earthhoist lift without-”

  “When we’re packed,” said Magdala, “we’ll head to the Exchange. It’s time to show you what the Gallus family is famous for.”