"Emergency response teams are still combing through a Buenos Aires neighbourhood devastated by what appears to be a deadly outbreak of gang violence last night. So far, authorities have been hesitant to classify last night's attack as an act of terrorism, but speculation continues to grow as the death toll rises.

"A high school soccer field was the backdrop for the worst of the violence, and over two hundred victims have been confirmed dead at the scene. No one has stepped forward yet to claim responsibility for the attack, leading experts to believe that this was not a politically-motivated strike.

"However, a stunningly similar raid was launched in Cairo, Egypt just minutes after panicked reports began pouring in to police in Buenos Aires. Once again, the authorities have been unable to identify a motive in the killings, which spanned several city blocks and claimed the lives of hundreds of citizens and tourists in the area. An international investigation is being conducted to see if any further connection can be drawn between these two bloody skirmishes, and-" Izzy jabbed savagely at the 'mute' button on the television remote, silencing the BBC newscaster who continued to read the teleprompter with feigned concern etched on her face.

She threw the remote back down on one of the two double beds in her and Simon's hotel room. Simon's voice became clearer in the other room, and she crossed the bedroom to look in on him where he was sitting at the desk with his head held miserably in one hand while he spoke into the phone.

"Mari-," he tried to cut in. "Maris-." Simon rolled his eyes at his wife and lifted his head from his hand to point two fingers at his temple and cock back his thumb. She smirked back at him. They had played a death match of rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock to determine who had to make this call. They had gone six rounds with six spectacular ties before Simon had lost the seventh round when she played paper on his Spock. Served him right for trying to show off his flawless ability to flash the Vulcan salute.

Izzy slipped up behind the desk chair and worked her strong hands into Simon's shoulders as he let his head thump forward onto the desk. Definitely carrying some tension. He gently banged his forehead off the cheap blotter a few times before he tightened his grip on the handset.

"Marisol!" He finally managed to get her name out.

"What?" She actually sounded affronted.

"For the love of all that's holy, and at this point, all the things that are un-holy, please give me the first sixty seconds of conversational silence you have ever given another human being."

"Wow, Simon. Just wow." He heard her snap her bubblegum in irritation on the other end of the line. "You suck at asking for favours, did you know that?"

Simon ground his knuckles into his eyes as Izzy found a particularly tense knot in his left trapezius muscle and pressed down, sending a wave of painful relief right down to his feet. "I literally haven't even been able to ask you for a favour yet."

"You totally just did. You asked for sixty seconds of conversational silence. I hope you realize that you just wasted the one favour I was going to give you."

"YOU HAVEN'T GIVEN ME THE SIXTY SECONDS YET!" Simon shouted. Oh yeah, Izzy thought, definitely carrying some tension.

"Relax, Si. You're gonna give yourself an ulcer. Do you have any idea how bad an ulcer can get if you don't do anything about it? I was reading this article in a medical jour-"

"Stress doesn't give you-"

"Yes, it does-"

"MARISOL! I DID NOT CALL YOU TO ARGUE ABOUT ULCERS!" Simon could feel his blood pressure rising. She wouldn't give him an ulcer. Maybe just a nice, relaxing aneurysm.

"Well, then why did you call? I don't have all day, you know. Some of us actually have to work."

Simon exhaled slowly while silently counting backwards from ten as Izzy's thumbs kneaded up his neck apologetically. He tried to remember the little girl who had stood so shyly with a sword in her hand at the Academy... right before she had handed his own ass to him. He felt his heart thump harder. Okay... Instead, he focused on the peaceful dream of how different his life might have been if Scarsbury hadn't paired them. No ulcers or aneurysms.

"Um, hello?"

He cleared his throat and then launched into the same spiel he had been giving people ever since he, Izzy, Max, and Rafe had left Wrangel Island. They had decided to start easy, and their first jump had taken them to London, where they had quickly settled in to a hotel. The Lightwoods had good ties to the Institute here, and Simon had stolen an hour to sit quietly and call up his fondest memories of George while Isabelle had spoken privately to the Institute Head. Rafe and Max had disappeared into London's Downworld after swearing up and down to look after each other and stay out of the infamous Devil Tavern, and they hadn't come back since.

The London enclave had promised to say nothing of the Lightwoods' visit to anyone in Idris and had already increased their patrols. They were sympathetic to Alec's plight, and vehemently opposed his unorthodox removal from office. The Shadowhunters here were ready to wholeheartedly support Alec's shadow-Consul plan.

Shadow-Consul. That's so cool, Simon mused as he wrapped up his pitch with a plea for the Barcelona enclave to stay true to their mandate from Heaven, and to remember that Raziel had never factored in politics when he had forked over the Mortal Instruments and asked normal people to just, you know, save the world. On a regular basis. Including evenings, weekends, and holidays. He had borrowed heavily from his Recruiter speeches to put together the don't-be-idiots warning that he was giving.

"That's so cool!" Marisol echoed his thoughts and he tried to remember if he had actually said 'shadow-Consul' out loud. He was pretty sure he hadn't.

"Sorry, what?" This wasn't the usual reaction to his phone call.

"We get to be, like, rebels! I'm so in! Where should I meet you guys? I've been searching online for the area code on your caller I.D while you've been droning on, and it says you're in London. Are you at the Institute? Do you want me to bring anything?"

Simon fought down a rush of panic. "No!" Deep breaths. Deep, deep breaths. "No. You just... you just stay in Barcelona and make sure your people are extra vigilant."

If eye-rolls actually made noise, Simon was sure that he would have heard one from her end. "Gee, ya think? Just tell Alec that we'll be ready when he needs us - shoot us a fire message when it's time to fight! And I'll start harassing the Downworlders in the meantime."

"Uh, Mari, 'harassing' is not a great choice of-"

"It's fine, trust me. I'm really good at it. They'll be ready to fight, too, okay? I promise."

More like ready to leave the country, Simon thought uncharitably.

"I believe you," he said sincerely. "Take care of yourself."

"Yeah, yeah. You too, Lewis." The connection dropped and Simon held the handset out to look at it for a moment. Lewis, Lovelace, Lightwood... I never even had to get new monogrammed towels. Not that he had monogrammed towels... but he had agreed to take Isabelle's last name when they had gotten married. It had seemed really important to her, and he had grieved for George long enough, but sometimes it felt like no one remembered that he was a Lightwood now. Sort of.

"That went better than I thought it would," Isabelle said in his ear, snapping him back to reality. Simon grimaced theatrically.

"Probably because you were just picturing a smoking heap of clothes and a melted phone when you came to check if I was still alive," he said in an aggrieved voice.

"Nonsense. You're amazing at this." She kissed him on the cheek affectionately and picked up the list of contacts they had put together. Her loopy script contrasted sharply with his uneven printing, but many of the names still remained. The next one was Maia Velasquez.

Izzy pursed her lips and picked up the phone to start dialing.

"Hey, I thought you said I was amazing at this," Simon protested.

"You are, but I'll be the one calling any ex-girlfriends on the list. Go get something to eat."

Simon had had a lot of experience reading his wife's expressions, and her face clearly said that any further protest would be both unnecessary and unsuccessful. However, he was also smart enough not to leave the hotel room, so he settled for feeding a coffee pod into the single-cup coffee maker in the room. Coffee counted as food. Sort of.

"Hey, Maia, it's Isabelle Lightwood," he heard her say. "Oh, you know, everything's great except for that whole Alicante-blowing-up thing. That's kind of what I'm calling about."

Simon stared intently at the ceramic mug. He knew how hard Izzy was struggling to keep it together. They had both been terrified for Hunter, but at least Simon didn't have that deep-rooted connection to Alicante that all born-Shadowhunters had. He'd talked to Clary earlier, and apparently Hunter was awake and walking around a bit now. She had sounded optimistic on the phone, but the two of them had been connected on a far deeper level even before they had become parabatai. Something was still wrong. So he had put on his best smile and told Izzy that Hunter was getting better. Sometimes a lie was better than the truth if the truth was left unspoken. Clary would do everything she could for their kids.

The coffee sputtered to a drip and then stopped, leaving a perfect cup of joe ready for him. He sighed contentedly. Coffee shouldn't be able to make someone so happy.

He sipped at it and returned to where Izzy was sitting on the desk with one long leg tucked under her and the other propped up against his vacated chair. Simon eased back down into his spot and caught her foot as she started to make room for him. Fair was fair. He started rubbing the arch of her foot and she let her head fall back with her eyes closed while she listened to whatever Maia was saying. Simon Lightwood, Lady Slayer, he thought smugly. Not as cool as shadow-Consul, though... he'd have to work on it.

"Yeah, I know," Izzy said breathlessly before she caught herself. "I need you and Bat to talk to Lily." She paused for a moment. "Because I have, like, a million other people to call." Another pause. "Okay, yeah, and because I don't want to listen to her 'I-told-you-so' speech. I'll owe you one."

Simon worked his way up to Izzy's calf, his hands sliding her jeans up to bare the lacy network of faded rune scars that criss-crossed her skin. He traced the particularly jagged scar that she had gotten in Edom, the one he had healed with his vampiric blood when iratze runes had failed. He squeezed gently, working carefully as he massaged the shapely curve of her leg and marveled at how lucky he was to still have her after all these years. There had been some seriously close calls, but that was part of the price he was willing to pay to be married to a warrior-goddess. Warrior-goddess. Damn it. Everyone else gets way cooler titles.

"Get the word out through the Praetorians, Maia. I've already been Alderaan-ed once this week, and I'm not going to sit around and wait for my other home to be demolished, too. New York stands, okay?" She waited for Maia's assurance, and then she nodded unconsciously. "We'll be in touch." Izzy hung up the phone and then turned her dark eyes slyly back to Simon as her lips curled up into a seductive grin. In the category of wifely expressions that he could read, this was one of his favourites.

"You are being very distracting," she accused as she curled her ankle over his shoulder and reeled the desk chair toward her. She unfolded her other leg and hooked it in under his arm.

Inspired by the locale, Simon adopted a gravelly English accent. "Lord Montgomery does not distract. He seduces." He reached up to pull Izzy down into his lap as she giggled helplessly. Alicante was destroyed, demons were possibly rampaging around the globe, and maybe the world was ending, but this... this was why they did what they did. Simon breathed in Izzy's perfume and stretched to kiss her deeply. They risked their lives to protect the humans every day so that the Mundane Lord Montgomerys of the world could freely ravish their buxom wenches in blissful ignorance.

Izzy's hands slid up his back and he could feel the smile on her lips as she kissed him. "Mmm... my Lord," she whispered. His heart started racing. Only Izzy could still make him feel like a teenager after all these years... awkward, clumsy, and nervous.

"By the Angel," Rafe's voice shattered the moment. "I thought father was joking about the romance-novel slave thing."

Mortified, Izzy disentangled herself from Simon and stood facing her nephew, eyes flashing. "Rafael Santiago Lightwood, tell me right now that my brother did not say the words 'romance-novel slave' to you."

"Oooh, are they doing the Lord Montgomery thing?" Max said dreamily as he came through the hotel room door behind his brother. "I've always thought that was so romantic."

Simon's face could not possibly have gotten any more red, but Izzy's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Alec had better pray that the demons get to him before I do."

Rising from the chair, Simon took his glasses off and nervously cleaned them with the hem of his shirt. "So, uh, what did you guys manage to turn up?"

Rafe didn't even bother to conceal his grin. "London's Downworld is impressive." His brother nodded happily in agreement and added, "This was a great place to get started! I think we've got a lot of people moving in the right direction. They're going to help spread the word."

"Many have heard of Buenos Aires and Cairo already," Rafe said in a more sombre tone, his mirth wiped away by the tragedy in his birth city. "They do not wish to suffer the same losses."

"And everyone we talked to still supports dad as Consul no matter what happened in Alicante." Max's mouth turned up in a wistful smile. "They won't forget what he did for Downworlders. The idea that he sent his own sons to ask them for help seemed to strike many of them as respectful, and we made sure that they know that he's still out there fighting for them."

Izzy's indignation faded when she saw the sincerity in Max's blue features. She pulled him into a hug impulsively. "We're all fighting, Max. Maybe not with weapons, not yet, but we're in this fight, too. We'll be together again, soon."

Simon frowned as he checked his glasses for any remaining spots and then settled them back into place as he muttered darkly, "And then we get to murder your brother together, right?"

Izzy smiled widely over Max's head and nodded.

"Yes, dear."

"Hunter, you won't believe this," Aspen said with forced cheerfulness in her voice as she rummaged through the cupboards in the cabin's tiny kitchen.

Her parabatai's dark head turned toward her so that she could see his ashen face again. His blue eyes looked watery and tired, but he gave her the ghost of a smile. "Believe what?"

She triumphantly held up a dented can of tomato soup and Hunter couldn't help but burst out laughing. It only lasted for a few moments before he coughed and then started wheezing and gasping for breath. Aspen dropped the can and crossed the room in a heartbeat to kneel at his side where she could only rub his back impotently and silently berate herself for setting him off again.

When the fit had subsided, he looked at her miserably. "I'm so sorry, Asp," he whispered. She leaned forward weakly, feeling drained once more.

"It's not your fault. It's mine." She reached over to lace her fingers into his and then let her head fall to his shoulder. "I messed up big time."

His fingers tightened on hers and she felt him shake his head. "You saved my life," he whispered fiercely. "Do you hear me? Saved. My life."

"To live like this instead?" Aspen replied bitterly.

"You just have to give it time." Hunter closed his eyes to rest for a moment and then snored gently, all thoughts of lunch forgotten.

A flare of blue light through the window startled her, but then her heart lurched. Izzy! The door opened slowly to admit a man and a woman each fully geared in winter clothes, complete with goggles. Aspen slid sideways unconsciously to shield Hunter. These weren't his parents. Her mom was out at the wards again with Helen and Aline looking for any sign of a breach to pass on to Alec.

The man reached up and lifted his goggles up to rest on his hat, revealing gentle, gold-flecked dark eyes that held a wisdom too vast for a man who appeared to only be in his mid-forties. He unwound his heavy scarf and then pushed the hat and goggles off to shake his grey-streaked hair free. One particularly thick band of silver shot through his black waves, but the grey was beginning to catch up, and it wouldn't be long until it overtook the brightness.

The young woman had shucked off her gloves and copied her partner's movements, letting down a spill of thick, wavy brown hair in the process. Her blue-grey eyes were warm as her gaze fell on the two teenagers, but sad as she saw the state they were in.

"Aspen," she said in a soft voice. The girl felt a twinge of recognition.

"Tessa?"

The half-warlock nodded. They had only met a few times before, but mostly when Aspen had been much younger. The man was her husband, Jem Carstairs, who was quietly famous for having served as a Silent Brother for over a century before being accidentally released by Aspen's father when heavenly fire had flowed through his veins. His mortality had returned and he had begun aging once more. As there had never been a precedent set for a Silent Brother reverting back to a human Shadowhunter, he had chosen to retire from active service after the Dark War.

"Magnus called and asked us to come, but it took us a while to reach Catarina for a Portal," Tessa explained. "Where are the others?"

Aspen rose and gently lifted her hand away from Hunter's. He hadn't even stirred when the door had opened. She flipped a heavy switch by the front door and saw a bright beacon of witchlight come to life on a tall pole outside. Helen and Aline used it to signal each other if one of them was out working on the sites, or as a guiding light back to the safety of the cabin during bad weather. They would see it and return to check why it had been turned on. "They'll come back soon," she promised the newcomers.

She helped take their coats and hang them on the pegs near the door, then rustled up some of Helen's hand-made heavy knitted slippers for them to pull on. Jem and Tessa settled themselves into the loveseat as Aspen began making a batch of hot chocolate. The others would definitely appreciate it; they had been gone for a couple of hours now. Even allowing for warm-ups in the bunker, that was a long time to be trudging around out there.

Soon enough, the door swung open again to admit the three women, and this time Hunter woke up as Clary gasped upon seeing Tessa. She kicked off her boots and threw her arms around her friend as the woman rose gracefully from the couch. "Tessa," she whispered gratefully.

Once everyone was properly blanketed and the blaze in the wood stove had been refreshed, Aspen passed out mugs of hot chocolate to the thankful group. Hunter wrapped his hands around the mug and sipped at it appreciatively.

"Allow us to apologize for arriving unannounced," Jem began in his quiet voice. "But Magnus told us that we could be of urgent assistance here. He said there was an unplanned parabatai pairing, and he thought I might be able to offer some insight."

"And I understand that you have some demonic runes on one of the newer sites that might need a look?"Tessa offered. "I spent many years studying in the Spiral Labyrinth after the Uprising. Perhaps I have learned something that might help."

Helen and Aline exchanged relieved looks. They were finally going to get the help they had been denied by the Council. It was a pity that it had only taken the destruction of Alicante to accomplish that. All kinds of barriers were coming down now that the Shadowhunters were in free-fall.

"Can you tell me whatever you can remember about that night, Aspen? Any detail, no matter how small." Jem's eyes were kind and encouraging. Bolstered by his quiet strength and the hot chocolate, she began to tell her story haltingly, stumbling over the intense emotions that came back to overwhelm her once more. The flash of terror when the first explosion had gone off and thrown her heavy wardrobe down on Hunter, the riptide of fear as the flames had raced up her walls and turned her bedroom into an inferno. She remembered the mind-numbing panic that had gripped her outside when she had seen the blood leaking from his mouth and nose.

When it came time to describe the desperation that had filled her heart and caused her to take up her mother's stele to draw the parabatai rune, her voice faltered.

"I... I don't know what I was thinking. Every cell in my body was screaming for him to stay with me. I thought that being parabatai would make us stronger together, and I was praying that if the rune would just hold, I would be strong enough for both of us." Tears shimmered in her eyes. "But I'm not. I ruined everything."

Jem set his mug aside and left the loveseat to kneel beside her and take her hands in his own. "Aspen, you suffer from the Herondale curse of taking the weight of the world onto your shoulders and still believing that you aren't doing enough." His dark eyes held hers steadily and she felt her tears spill over at last as she fell forward onto his chest and took solace that he understood the deepest pain in her heart.

She cried to release all the guilt and fear that had been eating her up from inside. She let her frustration burn down her face in hot streaks as her shoulders shook with sobs. Her worry and doubt ebbed as Jem's arms came up around her comfortingly and he allowed her to just let everything out.

When Aspen drew back at last, sniffling, she had left dark stains on the former Silent Brother's shirtfront, but she couldn't believe how much better she felt already. She was embarrassed to have had an audience for her breakdown, but the others were doing what they could to give her a modicum of privacy. Her mother was conversing quietly with Tessa while Helen and Aline listened attentively. Aspen looked back over her shoulder and saw tears in Hunter's eyes, not for himself, but for seeing her in pain.

Jem squeezed her shoulders reassuringly. "You and your parabatai survived a fiery trial unlike any other pair has ever faced, Aspen, and you did it alone. We will get to the bottom of this mystery and make you both well again, I promise."

She nodded earnestly as he continued, "Take some time to gather yourself, and then I will begin testing you both in small ways to begin feeling out your parabatai bond."

Aspen felt a flash of anxiety at his words, but covered it by ducking her head to hide her face behind her tangle of blond hair. Deep inside, she knew that she was not the same as she had been before she had bonded Hunter, but she hadn't told anyone yet. Saying it out loud might make it more real, and she wasn't ready to face it yet. If she was right, Jem would find out soon enough.

The four women had decided to brave the cold once more to take Tessa out to the newest site where it was defaced with demonic runes, and they bundled back into their heavy coats with sighs of regret. The cabin had gotten pleasantly warm while they had been talking and the hot chocolate in their bellies was making a nap sound awfully good. But a sense of urgency was chewing at Clary. Everything felt like it was clicking into place.

As Tessa tucked the ends of her scarf down into her jacket, she sighed regretfully. "I only wish the Council had approved something like this sooner. The Silent Brothers, the Spiral Labyrinth... who knows what we could have learned?"

Clary shook her head slowly. "No. I think it's all happening now for a reason, Tessa. I feel like it's all connected, and we just need to understand all of the pieces to fit them together." Her clear green gaze locked onto Tessa's steely blue-grey eyes. "I just pray that we can solve it before it's too late."

Everett slammed his fist down on the Consul's desk in frustration once more. Every attempt that he had made to track Seraphine Lark with the few strands of hair he had ripped from her had been useless. She was always either working in the temporary infirmary that had been set up in a warehouse near the canals or she just vanished entirely, completely untraceable. He suspected that she had protected her lair with enchantments that made it impossible to track her there. Not a single glimpse of Sera in any of his spying.

A knock at his door snapped him out of his brooding. "Come!" he barked.

A bone-white face appeared around the edge of his door, blending seamlessly upward into ribbed antelope horns that added an extra foot and a half to the figure's already tall, slender frame. The warlock was wrapped in red Council robes that made Everett sick to see, but as Downworlders went, this one and his twin brother were more tolerable than most as they didn't seem to have any particular interest in political double-dealing. Kai and Kaden Drake were the current warlock representatives sharing a seat on the Council, ever since Magnus Bane had resigned his position, citing a conflict of interest when Alec had ascended to Consul. His eyes flicked upward to check the tips of the warlock's horns; one was broken off. Kai, then.

The warlock's pale blue eyes peered out from his grotesque face as he studied the new Consul curiously.

"What do you want, warlock?" Everett asked shortly.

"My brother and I have, in the absence of alternate orders, continued to watch over the maps monitoring dark magic and runic Portal activity, Consul," he answered in a raspy voice. "We have always reported any irregularities directly. Will you follow me so that we may show you our findings?"

At the mention of Portal activity Everett froze. This could be just what I need, he thought.

He followed the warlock out of the Consul's office and descended to the second floor where the great map room had been set up. Years and years ago, the map that covered the east wall and tracked dark magic had been successfully used to uncover a sinister plot executed by a rogue warlock. Only a few years newer, the map stretched over the west wall showed Portal activity when they were created by Clary Herondale's Portal rune. It was only supposed to be used in emergency situations, or with the Clave's permission, but that girl (and several others, who had been appropriately punished) still used it indiscriminately. Impertinent.

Kaden was waiting for them at the west wall, where he was making a careful entry into a log book there.

"What have you found?" Everett asked.

"It's all here, Consul," Kaden said, his raspy voice as identical to his brother's as his face. "A Portal originating in Toronto and terminating in Las Vegas. Another from Las Vegas to Singapore and back. The next was from Las Vegas to Prague and back, and then again to Los Angeles. This is more activity than we typically see, particularly when they share overlapping points of origin each time. It seemed unreasonable to believe that a single Shadowhunter would be strong enough to consistently use such a powerful rune so frequently, so we wanted to confirm that you had authorized the Las Vegas enclave to engage in this much Portal activity, Consul."

Toronto. Las Vegas. Entries from Sera's dream diary swirled in his mind. Looks like Lady Luck had gone home, but she was up to something.

Kai and Kaden were watching him expectantly for an answer and he nodded jerkily. "Yes, of course they have authorization. Continue to monitor and log the Portals. I may need to confirm their movements as their investigation proceeds." He turned on his heel to hide his smile. Got you!

A Shadowhunter poked his head into the room and caught sight of him at once. "Consul!" he called. Raziel, can't I get a moment of peace?

Everett rearranged his features into a blank smile and beckoned for the man to join him. He looked familiar. A Cartwright, maybe? The warlock twins pretended to busy themselves at the maps while listening intently.

The man saluted briefly before beginning his report. "Buenos Aires and Cairo have been hit hard by demon attacks, Consul. There are hundreds of Mundane casualties between the two cities and their Shadowhunters were badly beaten. They need reinforcements and support to shore up their ranks until the wounded are back in fighting form, sir."

Everett's eyes widened as he listened and he was shaken by the news. The warnings had been right. He would need to make sure that no one knew that he had dismissed the message from Wrangel Island. Reluctantly, he decided that he would need to act on the next tip-off, if there was one.

He was still hesitant to pull active Shadowhunters out of the city, though. The warlocks had evacuated so many of them that now Alicante was utterly defenseless if the Fey came to attack and finish what they had started.

"Send a message to the Scholomance," he said with a slight tremor in his voice. "Have them deploy Centurions to fill in the gaps until the cities are re-stabilized." It was a neat solution to the problem; the cities would be grateful to receive elite soldiers, and Alicante would not be weakened any further.

Cartwright saluted again and ducked back out as Everett's mind returned to Sera. He could find her now, he was certain; it would only be a matter of time. But he had to be careful. And he needed to be ready to contain her once he managed to catch her. She had already broken out of the deep cells once with apparent ease, right under the watchful eyes of two Centurions. She was dangerous, no question, and cagey. But the Clave had imprisoned Shadowhunters before, and they had always found ways to hold criminals who didn't fit the mold. A prison cell covered in Jewish holy symbols was a testament to that.

An idea started to take shape in his mind and he turned back to the pair of warlocks who were no longer bothering to mask their curiosity.

"Gentlemen," Everett said with a wide smile. "I wonder if you might be interested in a unique undertaking. I have a very specific assignment for you."

He could barely contain his excitement when the brothers began nodding thoughtfully as he outlined his needs. To narrow down where she lived, he would put in a call to Las Vegas to see if they knew anything about someone who could see the future. She couldn't stay hidden forever.

**Author's note:

Relive the magic of Lord Montgomery, CoHF p.205 XD

Thanks again @ Tara for NAMING ALL THE THINGS and giving Kai and Kaden their names.

I hope you guys enjoyed the double dose of EotC in a 24-hour period. If you can believe it, all of Ch 6 and 7 was planned as a single chapter... but I think I already sin horribly enough with long chapters. I'm going camping/canoeing for the Canada Day long weekend, so I'll be off the grid for a bit. If I don't get eaten by bears (or moose, or bloodthirsty beavers), I'll hopefully get back at it next week. Thanks for your patience, keep voting and sharing to grow the adventure!