Em was pacing frantically, eyes red as his brain strained to work around the case. He rubbed his scalp until his hair stood on end, then bit his nails until they were raw and stubby. As if struck by lightening of an idea, he paused and stared at Violet like a dragon under a kitchen light.

"Maybe it's a really common name?" He asked hopefully, but Violet only shrugged her shoulders.

"With that many middle names, not likely."

The hope slid off his face and Em immediately returned to pacing. At the rate he was panicking, Violet wouldn't have been surprised if he paced right through the stone floor.

"Maybe he's my brother!" Em jumped again and Violet wrinkled her nose.

"You mean the dead one?"

It was a story she had only heard once; Em's sick brother. She had never gotten an age, but the story was as simple as they came. Before he joined The Guard, Em had a little brother named Alex. He was sickly and weak, and not long after he left, the boy passed away. Fae had looked into the incident herself, but there was no way to work around it. Em's brother had died of natural causes and could never have pulled off a scam as complicated as invading Alfheim.

"Yeah!" Em jumped to the table, the gears in his brain creating a story that was never there. "It would explain the similar looks! And he's....he's..."

"Give me one good reason why your little brother would fake his own death, steal your name, and run away to Alfheim -a city wich he probably didn't even know existed." Bishop spoke with hardly a pause, his eyes glued to the screen. For the past several hours, he was fiddling with the computer and pulling up every last bit of information on their copycat.

"Okay," Em racked his brain in a desperate attempt for answers. "So maybe it's not my brother. But what the phoenix is going on?"

"Well, lets go over what we know." Violet pushed a sheet of paper across the table where she had written all of her notes. "Someone's been trying to read your mind and your mind only. Our guess? They were a Centralian soldier looking for information on The Guard. You are our youngest member so you have the least amount of coding done. You were their easiest target."

She watched as Em scanned the paper, her own mind spinning webs of its own. "They learned the location of Alfheim and used your identity as a cover to send a spy in."

"But what're they looking for if they've already got Alfheim's location?" Em blurted out. His eyes darted to the computer as panic welled in his voice.

"That's what I'm looking for." Bishop calmly stated as his fingers floated across the keyboard. Finally pulling up a file, he showed a slight smile. "Well, here's our Maddox Magick."

Violet glanced over her shoulder as he read off a list of facts.

"He's luminescent, 17 years old, and from the United States -specifically California."

"That's all accurate." Em added as he leaned over the screen and scanned for mistakes. "What else?"

"He's on medication for pyrotecksis, or 'the pyro disease'."

"Can't tell you what that's about. What else do you have?"

"Uhh...his birth parents are Chantel and Robert Magick, although it looks like they had a falling out. He's been staying with an Alfheim citizen named Anna Connoly."

"Is there anything special about her?" Violet inquired. "Any reason a spy would want to get close?"

"Doesn't look like it." Bishop wrinkled his nose at the dead end, but Em's eyes only widened with each drop of information. "She was a middle-class Atlantean, but move to Alfheim as a teenager. A part time seamstress and a full time mother. She gets a small check from the local government for taking care of kids in need, but that's about it."

"Okay, but what about siblings? Teachers? Friends?" Em was frantically scrambling for a lead.

"Um, he's got a couple of unofficial siblings, although none of them are that important." Bishop scrolled past row upon row of text. "Some are escapees from war torn cities and others just needed some kind of family. Sharise is one of them though."

"Huh." Violet began to write notes, connecting the details like dots. "I guess it must've made her pretty easy to bribe. He got her to sell some information, then disguised himself as Maddox and was able to keep a close eye on her. He could see her every action."

"Yeah." Em agreed, although his mind was far away. He pointed to the screen. "Who's that?"

"That?" Bishop peered at the file. "Uh, Kadri Loft. Anna's fiance."

"Kadri?" Violet spun around again, diverting her full attention to the two boys. "Why does that sound familiar?"

"Probably cause he's all over our case files." Bishop rolled his eyes at her finicky memory, but she couldn't help it. Sometimes what she had for breakfast was way more important than a thousandth case file.

"He was the first moonshadower to escape from Centralia. That place is a fortress, and he got out of there all on his own, traveled across the globe, and ended up in Camelot before the Guard finally found him. He's the only reason we have any information on Centralia at all."

"And he invented that portal paint stuff." Em added as an afterthought.

"Well, that seems like a good enough reason for a spy to get close." Violet grinned, but Bishop shook his head.

"There's more. Kadri's been working for the government ever since his recovery. He rescues kids from war torn cities and brings them to Alfheim. He's stolen dozens of their soldiers, not to mention he's got access to sensitive information."

"And now we know what this spy's up to." Violet piped up as everything began to fall into place. "After this 'fake Em' tried to steal eggs from Camelot's forest, he started reading Em's memories. He figured out where Alfheim was, took his identity, and moved there."

"Then he started bribing Sharise for information on potential soldiers," Bishop continued without missing a beat, "And found a way to get close to someone in the government. 'Fake Em's' been trying to stop Kadri from giving out anymore information on Centralia, stall his rescue operation, and gather enough info on the city to start an invasion."

"And he's still in my head."

Em stared blankly at Violet, terror strewn across his face.

"Well, yeah but..."

"We can't tell Fae Misha." He rambled as Violet's protest fell away. Panic painted his face in vivid fear.

"It's our job, Em." Bishop stated as if it were only a fact, but Em's wild eyes said otherwise. "We have to report all new developments to her."

"But..." He staggered, running his fingers through his wild hair. "But I'll get in trouble! My entire identity's been compromised!"

"So?"

"Fae's only said it a million times, Vi!" He slammed his hands on the table. "Our identity is our strongest weapon and I just lost mine!"

"I'm sure it's not that bad." She piped up again, but his panic was beginning to seep into her own mind. "It's only this one spy..."

"This one spy? Do you even know how Centralia works?" Em shouted. "They have every aspect of my life documented! My face, my name, my childhood! They know I'm in the Guard! Do you know what happens when a member of the Guard loses their identity?"

Violet wrinkled her brow and tried to recall the information. She knew Fae had told her when she first joined, but she just couldn't seem to grasp the memory.

"They're expelled, Vi." Bishop cut in bitterly. "His memory will be wiped, his enhancements retracted, and he'll be given a new identity. He'll live a quiet, protected life in rural El Dorado or Zerzura."

"I'm not going to disappear." Em collapsed into a chair, panic sweeping over him like exhaustion. "This job's all I have guys. I...I don't have anything to go back to. My brother's dead. My parents are freaks, and I'd never be able to stand a life in hiding. I just can't lose this."

"We still have to file a report..."

"Which will conveniently get lost." Violet panicked as the words spilled from her lips. Her heart throbbed at Em's fragile emotions. Even though he might not know it, she couldn't stand to lose the person she loved. "We've got to handle this on our own. No reports, no Fae Misha, and no more lost information."

"So what are we gonna do?" Bishop bit and Violet grinned.

"I say we bring this spy down."