by Harry Nix
Alex sat back and sipped his coffee, mulling over what Howey had said.
“It seemed like those two things are a bit at odds though aren’t they? Become a terrorist, cut someone's head off and stick it on a pike to be paraded through the town but then that probably doesn't win you the hearts and minds of the rest of them,” he said.
“Yeah, you're right, but you have to think about which audience you're trying to impress. Because the people you're fighting directly may appear unified but are in fact probably not. There will be some in that group you can intimidate and some who perhaps do not agree with the direction the group is taking. Weakening them can cause internal divisions such that they tear themselves apart. Also you might have a lot of outside groups who are quite happy to see a head on a pike,” Howey said.
The food at the Grease Trap came quickly and soon the table was covered in plates. Howey talked as they ate, Alex and Nia barely getting a word in more than the occasional question here and there.
He spoke about the element of surprise, making a cat and mouse relationship between the attackers and defenders and forcing the defenders to expend resources to defend potential targets that may never be hit. He talked about the weaknesses of large groups and how essentially every group was a bureaucracy that had a culture, personnel and internal stresses that worked upon them.
As they talked and ate, Alex could feel his plan changing. The furious wolf from yesterday was ready to find the Corvus outpost and rush in to slaughter everyone without a second thought. But now in the calmer light of day he realized inadvertently they'd already begun the psychological battle against his opponents by directly telling Bailey who Alex was and that Corvus had attacked him with the blood golem.
He still didn't have a clear idea of the rivalries between the various mage enclaves or the alliances but he knew that information that one group was out hunting a werewolf mage and kidnapping werewolves would surely bring some trouble down upon their heads.
Howey was talking on the importance of gathering intelligence to identify adversary locations, capacities and targets when Alex interrupted him.
“Does the smaller group need to declare itself? I assume yes if they’re trying to win hearts and minds. People actually need to know what they want and who they are, right?”
Howey nodded, wiping some maple syrup off his face.
“That's right, it's all about branding. That outside audience needs to know who the players are, what they want and most importantly, why it is unfair, unjust and/or illegal for the larger group to attack them. Speaking hypothetically, of course.”
There was a moment of silence before he spoke again. “So say, for example, the larger force blows up an entire apartment building in an attempt to kill one person. That information needs to spread; both the severity of the attack and its utter failure. Hypothetically speaking, that person would want to find out the arrangement of players in the game and decide in some cases to go with brutal violence and in other cases to win hearts and minds.”
With that Howey stood up and dropped some cash on the table, more than enough to cover the whole meal. Alex protested but Howey waved him away.
“Dude, I get the feeling that you've got a lot going on right now so me paying for breakfast is the least I can do,” he said. He said goodbye to the pair of them and left.
As soon as he was gone, Nia turned to Alex. “Your friend is very perceptive,” she said.
“I really wish I could tell him the truth. I hate having to lie to him because of the Great Barrier,” Alex said.
Nia nodded in sympathy, finishing off the last of her coffee. Although the breakfast had taken place over just forty-five minutes or so, Alex felt like his head had been stuffed with knowledge of so many new concepts Howey had discussed.
Psychological programs to undermine the will of the enemy, how to attack the participation of allied groups that had a common cause with them, how to conduct diplomacy and intelligence operations, when and how to use military force, how to engage in special covert operations, how to win the hearts and minds of law enforcement, who traditionally were on the side of power, but could be convinced to look the other way.
Alex could now see that just rolling up to Corvus' outpost and killing everyone within may not be the best idea, at least not just with him and the three girls. The fact that mages had taken werewolves to make the blood golem to attack them meant that Alex had many potential allies amongst the werewolves who might've been directly affected.
After getting the stink eye from the waitress who wanted them to move along so she could seat new customers, Alex and Nia left and started walking through the city, heading nowhere in particular while they talked.
“You came from a pack before you joined me, didn't you?” Alex asked.
“Yes, my father's pack. I needed to make some money so I came to Baxter to get a job and of course found the weredog, found you and now here we are,” Nia said, spreading arms and then doing a twirl with a smile.
“I think we need to travel out of Baxter to meet the werewolf packs which were affected when they kidnapped those werewolves for the blood golem. We need allies,” Alex said.
Nia looked a little unsure. She pulled Alex to the shade of an office building and looked deep into his eyes.
“I think it's a good idea but you need to understand werewolf society is not like human society. You're an Alpha which means you’re a threat and a challenge. Groups related by blood can get along most of the time, but even so it can be dangerous. You'll definitely be able to meet my father and be safe in his territory, but outside that it’s very easy to get attacked. There are always werewolves trying to climb the social ladder, one that is made of victory and dominance over other werewolves. My father has been working his whole life to change that aspect of us and it’s a constant uphill battle.”
The sun was high above them and Nia’s red hair was glowing like fire. Alex admired her for a moment before he gave her a kiss, and her worried look dropped away.
“It's a good thing I have a werewolf guide then, plus a witch wife and I'm sure I can bring that other girl along, what was her name again?”
“April,” Nia said, smiling.
“April that’s it, the one with the pink hair and the um…” Alex said, trailing off.
“The what exactly, Alex?” Nia said. “Exactly what feature of April's have you've noticed?”
“It’s obvious of course, her two round luscious perfectly formed… eyes,” Alex said with a grin.
Nia tried to smack him one but he managed to fend her off.
They caught a taxi and headed for home. On the way back Alex brought up his spellcasting screen, seeing that his resistances had increased in strength. The system was declining to show numbers but showing plus symbols instead.
He saw he was still holding the code of the spell he had captured from the mysterious mage who’d been driving slowly around the business district. Although he'd read over it multiple times, he still didn't understand what the spell was for, nor did he want to spend the time to hide out the city at night hoping the mage would return so he could collect the remaining five percent of the spell.
As it was taking up too much space he decided to get rid of it, clearing it away finally. Once it was gone Alex was left with an open screen with a blinking cursor.
He had his list of spells down the side and knew he could cut, chop and change them. As he listened to the taxi driver’s music with Nia pressed up against him, and contemplating heading out to into the wild in an attempt to recruit werewolves, he realized he was going to have to take a significant step first.
He was going to have to write an original spell and attempt not to die doing it.
8
“I call the night vision goggles,” April said, neatly plucking them from Juno's hands.
“Hey, no fair! She's my grandmother and they’re her goggles so I should use them,” Juno protested.
April was already putting them on. “You snoo
ze you lose. Besides plenty of other stuff in there,” she said.
It was just past midnight and they’d parked on a side street down from Baxter’s Central Records office. As Nia had explained there were too many bureaucratic hurdles to jump through to get access to Alex's adoption file and so they decided to break in. April and Juno had gone out earlier that day to scout the area and now they were ready to go, Juno having retrieved what apparently was her grandmother's breaking and entering bag from the garage. Alex hadn't met Juno's grandmother but had to wonder what exactly an old lady would be doing with night vision goggles.
“You can take one of these… kasers?” Nia said. She pulled out the black bag what looked like a Taser but with different branding on it and clearly poor build quality.
“You’re gonna want to put that down. About one in ten times they shock the user because they’re a dodgy rip-off,” Juno said.
Nia carefully put down the kaser beside four others that were sitting in the open bag and then pulled out a crowbar that was covered in shiny stick-on jewelry.
Juno groaned in embarrassment and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Is that… bedazzled?” Alex asked.
“Yes,” Juno said in a monotone.
“What did she did bedazzle –”
“She was going through a phase. She bedazzled a few things around the house. One of them was this crowbar,” Juno said. She took it off Nia and stuffed it back into the bag.
They quickly went through the rest the bag to see if there's anything else that might be of use in there. There was a can of spray apparently useful for lubricating hinges to stop squeaking and helping break locks, a few pairs of black gloves, a stopwatch and, disconcertingly, an open box of condoms. Nia lifted it up and looked at Juno with a raised eyebrow.
“Do you want to explain this one?” she asked.
Juno pulled the box off her and stuffed it back into the bag.
“I'm sure my grandmother has a very reasonable explanation for why a woman in her eighties has an open box of condoms in her breaking and entering bag,” she snapped before zipping the whole thing up.
Alex looked at the four of them and nearly laughed. They were all dressed in black, looking like mimes.
The moon, which had been growing brighter night by night, was thankfully covered over with cloud. On the downside, the records office was in central Baxter and there were still plenty of people out on the street. Nia had found a back entrance that was reasonably well-shielded from passerbys but they’d have to move quick.
“Okay, when we get close I’ll do some magic stuff to screw with the surveillance system. Alex you unlock the door with a spell so we can get in,” Juno said.
Alex nodded in agreement. They set off into the darkness, Nia leading them around the rear of the large government building. There was some temporary fencing in place for some recent renovations that were taking place.
Juno pulled a pair of bedazzled bolt cutters out of the bag and quickly cut a hole in the fence. Nia went to say something about it but Juno waved the glittery bolt cutters and told her to keep her mouth shut. Nia did so but not without giggling in the darkness with April. Alex managed to keep a straight face but it was possible a small smile may have escaped that he hoped Juno hadn’t seen.
When they reached the back door, Alex and Nia shifted into their hybrid forms.
Juno had explained that the Great Barrier could be used to thwart security systems. Rather than seeking to hide from cameras, they had to expose magic and the Great Barrier would shut the system down somehow – maybe losing the footage, cutting the power or otherwise messing with it.
To this end, Juno summoned a fireball in her hand, right outside the door. Alex could see a small camera inside up on the roof with a red light blinking on it. The moment Juno summoned the fireball, the light shut off, as did the power. Unfortunately, there was a loud clunk as the lock on the door automatically engaged.
Despite the power being out, Alex cast unlock anyway. He’d been mostly practicing on padlocks that were kept out in Juno's garage. This was his first real-world test. He’d examined the spell many times and was getting a feeling for how it worked. The spell could undo both electronic and physical locks.
In a section that Alex thought had to do with undoing physical locks he’d seen that some of the code there was very similar to the telekinesis spell, which made sense, especially if the spell depressed the tumblers inside the lock and then physically turned it.
Alex's unlock spell hit the lock but nothing happened. He quickly doubled up and then doubled again but thanks to the power going out, the lock was well and truly bolted shut. Seeing his mana draining away he finally gave up.
With a sigh, Juno pulled the bedazzled crowbar out of the bag and led the way down the back of the building until they found a window. She handed the crowbar to Alex who used his strength to pry the window open. Then he lifted the three girls in, one after the other before finally following himself.
They ended up in a small office furnished in shades of bureaucratic gray.
Nia had researched the floor plan so she took the lead, heading out into the corridor and down a set of stairs that led to the basement, where they kept the old physical files.
They rushed as fast as they could through the dark, Alex hoping they hadn't set off a silent alarm by breaking in the window.
Soon they found a locked door. Juno poked Alex again and waved at the lock. He dutifully cast unlock and this time it worked, the simple lock disengaging. The door swung open revealing a long almost pitch black room of endless filing cabinets. Alex smelt old paper, but also the faint scent of damp. At some point in the past it had been very wet down here and it seemed they’d never quite sorted out the problem.
“Give me some light,” Nia whispered. Although her and Alex's eyesight was greatly enhanced, there was so little light to work with that they were still in the dark. Juno sighed again and turned on a bedazzled flashlight.
“I don’t want to hear a word about it,” she said, pointing a finger at the three of them as they broke into chuckling.
When Nia had gone to the central office she’d managed to squeeze information out of the receptionist and had learned that the old filing system was organized by year and then by month rather than name. This odd arrangement meant that they often had to search through multiple files to find someone who had been adopted in a particular period.
They stalked their way through the dark, lit by Juno's flashlight checking file cabinets until they found the right section – twenty-three years ago. There were six large cabinets in total. After Juno and Alex cast unlock spells to open them they realized they’d be here all night if they had to go through them individually.
“Here, take this,” Juno said, passing the flashlight April
“I love the flower pattern on the top. Really makes it pop,” April whispered.
“It a flashlight that really makes a statement,” Nia whispered back and then the pair of them giggled.
“You know I've got like multiple off-brand Tasers is in this bag right,” Juno threatened. Then she turned to Alex. “This is why you need to keep the find food spell and work on it more. You can adapt it, taking out the food and replacing it with your intention, if the thing can be identified specifically and it’s close. Do all that and you can summon a light to find what you need.”
With that she waved her hands and Alex saw her translucent screen appear. Her spell filled the screen and then vanished. Alex could feel it faintly tugging on the magic around them and smelt the scent of Juno infused through the spell.
She held out a hand and a small golden light shimmered into existence and sat there for a moment before lifting off her palm and floating down the row of filing cabinets before finally sinking down to the bottom drawer of the end cabinet.
Alex quickly pulled it open just as the golden ball of light merged through the front wall of the drawer and flowed along until it stuck on a file.
Al
ex pulled the single manila folder out, already knowing something was wrong. The rest of the files were thick with inches of paperwork. This file had his name printed on a label but looked empty. Feeling his heart hammering, he opened it, only to find a single page of an adoption form. The only thing on it was a date. No name, no addresses, nothing else.
“Three days after my second birthday,” Alex said.
Juno’s finding spell had vanished but Alex went through the rest of the drawer anyway, hoping there would be something else. Juno tried casting the spell again but the light only drifted to the paper in Alex's hand, so she canceled it.
“Well, the good news is that we know you were adopted three days after you turned two. That at least gives us a timeframe to work with,” Nia said and squeezed his arm.
“I guess so,” Alex murmured. He felt like he'd been preparing himself for this moment for days now, thinking he’d open some file and there'd be names and addresses, information about who his parents were. Answers. To find nothing more than a date was a kick in the gut.
“Let’s go home,” he finally said. They shut up the cabinets, closed doors and made their way back out through the gray office.
The four of them were trooping in silence back to Boris when someone jumped off the roof of the building beside them and landed with such force they cracked the cobblestones in half.
Immediately they were on alert. Alex and Nia had their claws out, Juno had summoned up a fireball, and April had a hand in the bag of earth on her belt, ready to throw.
Then they saw it was an old lady who had to be in her eighties. Her hair was dyed with a blue rinse. She was wearing a grimy flower-patterned dress and for some reason had an apron on.
She lifted her head and revealed her eyes were glowing brilliant green.
“Necromancers again! How they keep finding us?” Juno complained.
It took a moment before the old lady's features resolved themselves and Alex realized who she was.
“That's my old downstairs neighbor, Mrs. Bronson. Or was her, I guess,” he said.
