Chapter 75: Old Stomping Grounds

TO: Emperor Paradox
FROM: Cassius
RE: Missing Sage

I remain unable to acquire any direct Aeon scriptures that identify exactly who the fairy sage is. It seems the only Aeon materials in all of Radiance belong to the Ryujin… who keep them confined to their underground city. And there’s no distortion anywhere near it. Either they’ve had remarkably good fortune… or the Aeons are directly helping keep distortion away from their settlements.

Perhaps the Medicis can help me draw out the king and queen in our opponent’s stacked deck. The idiot nickit is already rallying his “brothers” to aid in the Tulpise operation.

Horizon Academy was eerily quiet. Sure, the rolling green hills appeared maintained. But when Igneous stepped through Noctum’s rift into the main school building, he was met with dead silence. The only light was from the sun filtering in through windows. Hallway doors were firmly shut. Vegna’s classroom door was locked and the curtains drawn to block out any sunlight. There wasn’t even a single meltan roaming the hall.

“It’s dusty,” Scarlett mumbled behind him. The dragonair eyed a layer of dust on her tail with a frown. “Guess they’re not keeping up with cleaning.”

The grovlazzle didn’t respond. He still wasn’t sure what to make of Vegna foisting Scarlett onto him. Sure, maybe her muse powers could pacify anyone who gave them trouble. But that wasn’t going to make things less awkward. Deep breaths, Iggy.

“Well, Vortex is in jail for high treason,” Igneous said, recalling what he’d heard from his father. “And Arianna is gone. Kind of hard to maintain this place when the ones in charge aren’t around.”

He supposed Queen Isola could assign someone to watch over the school. Maybe they just didn’t care about the unimportant building corner where Vegna’s office and classroom were tucked away.

“Kind of crazy to think about, huh?” Scarlett slithered up to his side. “He was practically on top of the world… and then this.”

“Tch.” Igneous approached the door to Vegna’s office. “Obviously Isola was waiting for a chance to stab him in the back. And your hijacked concert gave her the perfect opportunity.”

Scarlett’s tiny wings drooped. “Oh…”

“Don’t tell me you’re feeling sorry for Vortex.”

The dragonair stiffened. “N-No.” She shuddered. “Just hurts to remember how involved I am in this.”

“Well, we have an assignment. So focus.” Igneous mentally kicked himself for berating her. Putting up emotional walls wasn’t the answer here. But it was what he knew. What the grovlazzle was comfortable with.

To Igneous’ relief, Vegna’s office door was unlocked. He turned the handle and stepped inside to find it mostly empty. The desk was bereft of papers or office supplies. The shelves had book stands with no books to prop up. Vegna must have cleaned out.

And yet, there was the safe. Black and square and firmly bolted to the wall at the back of the room. It had a handle and a keypad with a skull surrounding it.

“He gave you code, right?” Scarlett whispered.

“Yeah.” Igneous sized up the skull. There were small springs built into the jaws. The fangs were as sharp as Valkyrie’s claws. Was this thing designed to bite someone’s hand? Then why did Vegna have such a stupidly easy code for it?

The grovlazzle knelt down and punched 0-8-0-0 into the keypad. It lit up green. Hydraulic whirrs followed. The moment they stopped, Igneous grabbed the handle and turned it. He swung the safe door open. The inside was as jet black as the outside, making the key card and papers inside stand out even more.

Igneous grabbed them with his right hand. Like Vegna said, the papers had steps to get into the library’s restricted section. There was also a long list of strange numbers. Apparently they were copies of old documents in storage.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Igneous mumbled. “It sounds like Vegna already found what he was looking for. Why does he need me retracing his steps?” He thought about switching on his X-transceiver, but realized Vegna didn’t have one. Igneous would only end up playing broken telephone.

“Maybe he wants you to see the material for yourself,” Scarlett said. “I mean… your dad does own a news outlet. If Vegna knows something damning, indirectly leaking it to the press is one way to get the truth out in the open.”

Igneous stood up. He turned the key card over in his left hand. It was pure white. Nondescript and assuming on the surface. But Igneous knew most of the academy doors required ID card access after hours. Was this some sort of skeleton key?

“He’s an inquisitor,” Igneous said, squinting at the card. “If he thinks someone committed a crime, why wouldn’t he just arrest them? Or report it to his boss, Justine?”

A possible answer occurred to him. And it made Igneous swallow hard.

Unless it involves her.

He turned away from the safe. “Let’s get going.”

Scarlett slithered back into the hallway. “Do you think anyone’s in the library right now?”

Igneous followed her, shaking his head.

“Everything’s closed up. I bet no one’s around.”

Justine stood at the foot of the prison hospital bed, eyeing the sickly charizard lying surrounded by globs of mucus and saliva. A tan, itchy-looking blanket lay in a crumpled heap on the floor, next to an erratically flickering tail flame. The monitors beside the bed showed a steady, but rapid heart rate and a temperature far higher than what was apparently healthy for a charizard.

“So, Dr. Rafique, in your medical opinion, he’s nowhere good enough to stand trial?” The virizion turned to the zarude hunched over Vortex. Rafique pulled Vortex’s sweaty hospital gown down enough to place a stethoscope on the charizard’s chest.

“Sky-high fever and rigors.” Rafique stood up straight. He pulled an alcohol wipe from the pocket of his white coat and thoroughly scrubbed the stethoscope with it. “Lungs sound awful. Blood pressure’s barely holding with pressors and his heart rate’s through the roof. The picture of sepsis, except his cultures are negative and he hasn’t responded to the antibiotics.”

Justine rolled her eyes. She hadn’t asked for his whole medical situation. “That’s going to be a ‘no,’ then?”

“Not just a no. A hell no.” Rafique slung his stethoscope around his neck. “You oversee this lockup, Madame High Inquisitor. Are you sure security footage didn’t catch anything strange?”

Vortex was in solitary. The only person who had visited him prior to his illness was Vegna for interrogation purposes. “Are you suggesting someone poisoned him?” the virizion asked.

Rafique shrugged. “You’re the inquisitor here. You tell me.” He stuck his hands in his white coat pockets. “If it was just this, maybe I’d try searching the solitary cells for some mold or bacterial overgrowth. But for this to happen on top of Tesla’s sudden brain death…” He shook his head. “I’m a doctor. I don’t believe in coincidences.”

“Do you think his brain is infected?” Justine jerked her head in Vortex’s direction.

“There was only a bit of swelling on the CT scan,” Rafique said, frowning.

“Then do more tests.” The virizion stomped a forehoof down. “Tap his spine. Do fancier scans. Whatever! I need him healed. That’s why I brought you here.”

The zarude turned away from her. “Well, that’s a lot harder to do when your wife froze all his assets. Someone has to pay for these tests. And with nothing on hand, that ‘someone’ will become the taxpayers.”

“Then I’ll petition the court to have his accounts allocated to his treatment,” Justine huffed. “Just do what you have to.”

“All right. Fine. Don’t get those fishnets of yours in a twist.” Rafique waved dismissively. “And Tesla?”

“What about him? He’s brain dead.”

“And yet, despite knowing better as a scientist, his will says ‘any and all life-sustaining measures.'” Rafique watched the monitors beside Vortex’s bed. “So, we have to keep him on the ventilator. He’ll need a trach and a peg for breathing and feeding soon enough.”

Justine rolled her eyes. Even as a vegetable, Tesla was determined to be as obnoxious as possible. “Fine. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Good.” Rafique turned to leave. “Then I suppose we’re do—”

Vortex’s heart monitor turned bright red. Loud beeping rang up. The charizard abruptly jerked, then went still. His limbs rhythmically spasmed. His head repeatedly slammed against the pillow. Frothy saliva pooled around Vortex’s lips.

“Oh, son of a—” Rafique slammed a blue button beside Vortex’s monitors.

“Rapid response at bed fourteen. Rapid response at bed fourteen.”

“Doctor?” Justine shuffled back and tore her gaze away. “Doctor, what’s the problem here?”

“What does it look like? He’s seizing! Get that benzo in his line, now! And prep him for a bedside spinal tap the moment we get him under control!”

The skeleton key got Igneous and Scarlett through every hallway door. Into a staircase leading down to the main floor. It even opened up the library’s large oak doors. Inside was just as dark as the halls. Slits of sunlight slipped through small cracks between closed curtains and the windows. Igneous could scarcely make out more than the big, round circulation desk and the outlines of rows of desks and bookshelves littered behind it.

“Do you know where this restricted section is?” Scarlett whispered. “I didn’t even know there was a restricted section.”

Hence the name, Igneous thought. He kept the scoff to himself. The grovlazzle conjured a tiny flame in his hand and examined Vegna’s instructions. “Back corner. Our left. Just make sure not to bump into anything.”

Igneous held the papers at his side and grew the flame enough to at least make out the navy blue carpet better than before. He tiptoed his way past desks that, like the hallways, had dust collecting on them. They haven’t even had the meltan maintaining this part of the building?

“Aren’t you creeped out at all by the fire stuff?” Scarlett wondered, slithering slowly behind him. “You’ve been grass your whole life. Doesn’t this mess with your instincts?”

Igneous made it past the desks and checked to see which aisle between the bookshelves led anywhere. “Weren’t you creeped out by all the psychic stuff your diva powers gave you?”

He heard Scarlett stop slithering. “I suppose that’s fair,” she mumbled. Her slithering got slower. Igneous scolded himself for not taking a softer approach.

The grovlazzle found a strange partition in the wall. He walked around it and found an empty hallway leading to a nondescript wooden door. One with an electronic scanner next to it and several large metal bolts running across it.

“Sure looks ‘restricted area’ to me,” Scarlett said, a nervous edge to her voice.

Igneous noticed a couple of cameras at the other end of the hall. Was anyone even monitoring them? Well, it wasn’t like Igneous had the means to shut them off. And as he got closer to the doors, he realized the cameras weren’t following his movements.

“Uhh, I don’t suppose your instructions say what to do if the door’s already open, do they?”

“What?” Igneous held his hand forward. Scarlett was right. The metal bolts weren’t attached to their locks on the right side of the door. Someone had been here earlier. Or was here right now.

Igneous shifted the papers and key card to his left hand, then summoned his crimson honedge in his right.

“I’m sorry, did you just conjure a sword?”

“Not now,” he hissed, grabbing the door’s handle. Small bulbs illuminated stone stairs. There was no way these were meant to always be on. Certainly not while the rest of the school was dark. Igneous held the honedge up and crept down the stairs. He didn’t hear slithering behind him.

If someone was there, Igneous wasn’t risking saying anything to Scarlett. He kept going down one step at a time. The honedge was at the ready.

The stairs led to a small hallway that went left and right. Vegna’s instructions said what Igneous needed was on the left.

… And that side was already lit up. He stole a glance at Scarlett, who was coiled up on the top step. Starlene gave her psychic powers, right? Maybe if he tapped his skull, she’d pick up on it?

The dragonair’s eyes lit up. Her neck bauble turned pink. A faint outline of Starlene showed up over Scarlett. “What’s the deal?”

It wasn’t like Igneous could actually use telepathy, but he just had to, like, think loud enough. If there is someone in here, they’re in the room Vegna wanted us to go to. You may have to be ready to, I dunno, sing ’em a lullaby or something.

“A lullaby?”

To put them to sleep.

“Huh. Good idea. All right.” Scarlett and Starlene nodded in unison. “Send a signal if you need us.”

Igneous frowned. What kind of signal?

Starlene shrugged. “Shoot fire out of your butt? I dunno. You’re smart. You’ll come up with something.”

Igneous regretted asking. Tightening his grip on the honedge, he crept toward the open doorway. He saw white squares creeping into his view—

The back of the grovlazzle’s neck prickled. Igneous jumped back and narrowly missed a spark of pink energy.

“I know you’re out there! Don’t make any sudden movements!”

Igneous’ breath practically caught in his throat. He quickly dispelled the honedge.

That voice… Shimmer?!

The icy ponyta appeared in the doorway seconds later. He still had flowing white hair and nine snowy tails like when Igneous had seen him on the supply train. It wasn’t some one-time change, then.

But why was Shimmer even here in the first place? Vegna didn’t tip him off, too, did he?

Unfortunately for Igneous, Shimmer must’ve remembered their previous encounter. His eyes narrowed and pink light twirled around his blue horn. “You.” Shimmer leveled his horn at Igneous. “You’re the creepy lizard mutant from the train. What do you think you’re doing here? How did you even—”

Shimmer shook his head. “Forget it. I’m making a citizen’s arrest. You and… whoever’s lurking up at the top of the stairs are coming with me.”

A squeaky “Eep” came from that direction.

“Cover your ear frills, Iggy!” Starlene said.

Stand down, Igneous fired back. I’ve got this.

“Seriously?!”

Igneous definitely did not have this. But he was damn well going to try, because something was up with Shimmer. He held his hands up innocently. “It’s not what you think, Shimmer.”

The glow in Shimmer’s horn intensified. “I never told you my name!”

“You’re not the only one in our class who got mutated,” Igneous said, keeping his hands up. “Even with the changes… I can pick out those rugged good looks.“

“I cannot believe you said that with a straight face,” Starlene scoffed.

Igneous thought he might’ve died a little inside, but it was helping. Shimmer relaxed his stance. His horn stopped glowing. He eyed Igneous more closely. And that was when the grovlazzle saw the bags underneath the ponytales’ bloodshot eyes.

How long has he been here for?

“You’re the grovyle, aren’t you?” Shimmer bit his lip. “The one Vegna said… is the reason stuff got screwed up in Venish.”

“No. Eternatus’ forces did that,” Igneous said. He glanced at the stairs. “I brought Starlene with me, actually.”

“Whoa, hey! Leave me outta this!”

Shimmer’s horn flickered. “What? But she’s just—”

Igneous frowned. “You’re not about to say ‘just a dragonair,’ are you?”

Silence. Shimmer retreated further through the doorway. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “Got a lot on my mind right now.”

At least he wasn’t threatening Igneous. The grovlazzle hesitantly stepped toward him. “You’re not the only one. Seems like you’ve been through an ordeal.”

Shimmer looked at Igneous orange and yellow belly. He gave a bitter laugh. “Like you haven’t?”

“I got hurt badly by Eternatus’ forces,” Igneous lied. “Had to let the distortion mutate me to survive.” He took another step forward. Igneous was in the doorway now. And Shimmer wasn’t repelling him this time. Maybe Igneous could make some progress. Like finding out why Shimmer was here in the first place.

“How about you?” he asked, trying to keep it simple.

“You wouldn’t get it,” Shimmer muttered, turning away. “Your family’s in journalism, right?”

“Yeah.”

The ponytales stepped back into the room. Igneous had enough space to step inside. Each wall was lined with white file cabinets. There were alphanumeric codes along the sides that Igneous quickly realized lined up with all the random letters and numbers on Vegna’s instructions. Only problem was several drawers were open and files strewn about the floor in between bottles with small amounts of red wine trickling out of their uncorked necks.

“Then you don’t have to worry.” Shimmer shook his white, sparkly mane out. “Your parents don’t keep life-altering secrets from you.”

Igneous almost snapped. His inner flames wanted to shroud his arms, but he kept them at bay. He took a calming breath instead.

“You’re absolutely right.” Igneous hid his sarcasm as best he could. “Dad not telling me he was getting remarried until his wedding day? Definitely not a life-altering secret.”

The dumbstruck look on Shimmer’s face made the reveal worth it. His eyes darted around, mainly between the strewn papers and empty wine bottles. “Oh.” Shimmer’s tails shriveled. Quieter, he added, “I had no idea.”

“I don’t share it readily.” Igneous shrugged, knowing full well he wasn’t even scratching the surface of things.

“Then why tell me?” Shimmer’s gaze fell. “I’ve been nothing but an ass to you.”

“Because I don’t need to be psychic to see something serious happened to you,” Igneous replied. God, that sounded cheesy. But the grovlazzle had found a way forward. “I don’t know why you’re here. Or what you’re doing. What I do know is that the Eterna Empire has to be stopped. So, it’s not worth holding some petty grudge toward you over your smarmy attitude.”

Shimmer laughed bitterly again. “The bigger ‘mon, huh?” He shook his head. “You were right to hold a grudge, though. I acted like I was better than everyone… when the truth is that my title is all I have.” His ears folded against his head. “Bought grades. Eviolitis. I’m a nobody who couldn’t do a thing to save his friends from this empire you speak of.”

Right. Paradox had taken almost all their classmates. And Artemis had reported Xander was all too eager to side with the deoxys to save his own hide.

He didn’t have to tell Shimmer that, though. No reason to make the ponytales any more upset.

“Eviolitis, huh?” Igneous knew enough about the condition. “That didn’t lead to your icy makeover, did it?”

“Indirectly,” Shimmer responded. “I wanted a way to counter it. To get some real strength.”

Igneous raised a brow. “So, you absorbed distortion?”

“Not exactly.” Shimmer’s tails bristled. “But I… can’t really talk about it.” He looked around at the scattered papers. “Then again… maybe you trespassing is a good thing.”

The grovlazzle resisted the urge to defend himself or implicate Vegna. He looked around and realized the papers were actually laminated. Many were tan or brown and had wrinkles or tears to suggest they were rather old.

“If you take this stuff to the Beacon…” Shimmer’s voice trailed off.

“You’re going to have to be more specific,” Igneous said. There were a fair number of files scattered across the gray stone floor. And Vegna had his own list of things Igneous was meant to search for.

“It’s easier to just show you.” Shimmer’s horn glowed pink. Several of the laminated pages floated into the air, arranging themselves like a paper wall had sprung up in front of Igneous. They looked like worn newspaper clippings. The headlines were easiest to read.

Queens Calliope and Primrose Celebrating Radiance Day

Shocking Royal Upheaval: From Prince to Princess!

Princess Evangeline’s Wedding Off After Bizarre “Falling Out”

The Shut-In Zacian Queen: Where is Calliope?

There were other similar titles about strange happenings with regards to assorted Radiant royalty. And more than a few headlines expressing skepticism about Queen Calliope, despite being accompanied by pictures of the large canine clutching a big sword.

Igneous began to scan snippets of an article.

Not long after the announcement, eyewitnesses report seeing Princess Evangeline leaving a restaurant in outer Dazzels alongside a female zebstrika and exchanging an affectionate nuzzle. Naturally, this has prompted speculation from the public as to whether or not the princess was having an affair. Of course, some of the older population will remember similar shocking developments before her mother, Queen Lillith’s wedding. We reached out to Queen Lillith for comment and she simply stated that “My daughter’s happiness in life is what matters first and foremost.”

As is always the case, Queen Calliope could not be reached for comment.

Frowning, the grovlazzle’s eyes moved to another clip.

Despite concerted efforts to request interviews with Queen Calliope, we’ve remained unsuccessful. Attempts to ask the castle’s servants have similarly been met with instructions to direct questions to Queen Alexandra or one of her advisors. Even when she appears in public events, she is always accompanied by Queen Alexandra. Calliope never utters a word, merely bowing politely or offering a small smile to those in attendance. And she is strangely absent at sessions of Parliament.

We even had a trained psychic accompany us to the annual Dazzels Marathon, where the queens traditionally sound the starting horn. Attempts at sensing Calliope’s aura were stymied by some unknown force that left our psychic dazed. It’s understandable that the queen would want to protect herself from any psychic onslaughts, but what is there to worry about? The Aeons haven’t ever gotten anywhere close to attacking Dazzels. And they surely never will.

Igneous was surprised at how critical these snippets sounded. The Beacon was pretty much the lone paper out there that wouldn’t eat up what the crown and Polaris said. And for that, they had most of their press privileges revoked. Instead, his father employed… underhanded methods to get the information.

He headed to an article that looked a bit more recent, judging from the paper being whiter than the others.

Princess Rapidash Isola and Primarina Florentino seemed like a match made in heaven. No wedding date was set, but most folks assumed they would marry shortly after graduation from Horizon Academy. But there will be no wedding bells in their future, as Florentino revealed to viewers and audience members at the Eldegoss Genesys Show that he and Isola had broken off their engagement.

According to Florentino, Isola had grown increasingly distant from him the last couple of months of their final Academy year. This came to a head shortly before finals. Florentino returned to campus early, intending to surprise the princess, only to instead find her in bed with another classmate, Virizion Justine. Isola admitted she’d been seeing Justine for the past month and said in no small terms that her tastes in pokémon had changed.

“She’ll always consider me a friend, though,” Florentino said to Eldegoss Genesys. A bevy of gasps from the audience followed on the show’s airing.

Isola’s behavior is nothing new as far as the royal family goes…

Igneous stepped back. He glanced at the file numbers on the pages’ lamination. Then he compared them with Vegna’s instructions. The grovlazzle quickly realized they matched up. What was he supposed to do, then? Had Shimmer gone to Vegna’s office and just… memorized the file numbers or something? Why wouldn’t the dusknoir mention that.

He decided to play dumb. “What do I make of this?”

“There’s something wrong with my family,” Shimmer said, dropping the laminated files back to the floor. He poked around at the wine bottles. Igneous quickly stepped to the ponytales’ side, trying to nudge his head away.

“I think you’ve had enough.” Igneous held off putting his hand on Shimmer’s back. “It’s mid-morning, Shimmer.”

“I know that!” Shimmer spat. He stepped away from Igneous, then mumbled, “I didn’t know that.”

“Maybe we ought to find you someplace to rest?”

“I’m not drunk!” Shimmer growled, flicking white hair out of his eyes. “A bit hungover, maybe. But Pastel Veil helps with that, too.”

Igneous couldn’t tell if Shimmer was blowing smoke with that claim. He silently raised a skeptical brow.

“Besides.” Shimmer’s shoulders sagged. “You’d drink too if you realized all this stuff means your mother’s planning to take over your body and become you.”

Now that was enough to flummox the grovlazzle. “Become you? She some superpowered zoroark?”

“No.” Shimmer’s face twisted into a grimace. “I’m pretty sure… she’s some sort of parasite. A body-snatcher who showed up in the aftermath of the Darkest Day and has been masquerading as my entire family tree, ruling the kingdom all the while.”

The ponytales looked Igneous in the eyes. “Come on. Your dad runs the Beacon, I’m sure the… strange patterns surrounding my family are a regular topic there.”

Igneous tapped his chin. With everything that had happened the last month, he hadn’t given the Beacon’s usual business any thought. But now that Shimmer mentioned it…

“Radiance has never had a king.” Igneous’ eyes darted to some of the laminated newspapers. “Every queen has always married another lady. And supposedly, the princes that were born have always transitioned.”

Shimmer nodded slowly. “The queen and her consort always sire a single child. And every Radiant Queen has passed within a few months of the princess getting married.”

Igneous’ brow furrowed. He had always dismissed the discussion because of one logical flaw. “It doesn’t make sense.” He pinched his brow. “Transfer orbs… are a Polaris product. There weren’t ways to truly transition or let same-sex couples have eggs before them.” Igneous paused. “Unless you’re suggesting your family’s constantly exposed itself to distortion.”

“That’s not it.” Shimmer glanced right, then levitated up a picture of Queen Isola. She had her chest armor on as usual. “It’s the family heirloom. That oversized armor she’s always wearing. I think… it’s powering the body-snatcher.”

“But that’s just a theory.”

“Demerzel’s theory,” Shimmer admitted.

“Demerzel?” Igneous frowned. He barely knew a thing about the guy, but Valkyrie suggested Sakaki was keeping an eye on him. “You’re working with him?”

“What choice do I have here?” Shimmer let the picture fall to the ground. “I want to live. As Shimmer. Not… whatever this damned parasite has in mind.” He stomped a forehoof down. “That’s why you have to take this stuff with you. Bring it to the Beacon and get the word out there!”

Igneous’ jaw tightened. Shimmer was serious. The desperation in his eyes was plain as day. Igneous had seen Shimmer’s guest spots on PV shows. And watched him briefly flailing in Benedict’s trial. Acting was not his strong suit. Even the lower grunts on the Ryujin ladder could lie better than him.

He knelt down and picked up the picture of Isola. Igneous looked intently at the armor piece. With its midsection that vaguely resembled some sort of canine.

… A canine with a red gem in its mouth.

The back of Igneous’ head burned. Faint images of Nova and a crimson canine getting dragged into the shadows by chains flickered over Isola’s picture. Igneous instinctively reached his hand back and rubbed his head.

It couldn’t be, could it?

A Red Chain fragment… here all this time?

“How can you be sure Demerzel isn’t playing you?” Igneous whispered, still looking at the picture and trying to blink away the images his inner flames were showing him. “If he’s on Eternatus’ side—”

“They have his partner,” Shimmer whispered. “Well, they had both of them. And because Demerzel resisted their blackmail, they sent one into battle.” His ears folded. “She didn’t survive her encounter with Vegna.”

“Wouldn’t that give him all the more reason to work with them, then?” Igneous said, starting to gather up the papers. “Shimmer, this kind of news could set the whole kingdom ablaze.”

“Or it will make Mother desperate enough to do something stupid,” Shimmer countered. “And let me have a shot at getting the heirloom away from her.”

“You really trust Demerzel, then?”

“Not entirely. But he’s not loyal to Eternatus,” Shimmer said. The ponytales abruptly stiffened and looked around in a panic. “Wait, it’s mid-morning! Crap, I can’t stay here any longer!”

“What?” Igneous stood up. “Dude, you’re hungover. Whatever you plan on doing—”

“I already know where Eternatus is striking next,” Shimmer said, horn flickering. “The whole reason I came here was to gather up the meltan for Demerzel and Arianna. They’re going to protect Tulpise.”

The grovlazzle tilted his head. A bunch of tiny little metal slimes… would protect a city against the Eternatus Troopers? It sounded more like Demerzel was setting them up for failure.

“I decided to take a little detour here and clearly lost track of time.” Shimmer levitated all the laminated materials up and thrust them in Igneous’ direction. “I can’t stick around. If you’re staying here, maybe we can talk more later. But I have to go. So, move aside.”

“Maybe we should go with him?”

Igneous jumped. Cripes, he’d forgotten Scarlett was there!

“Yeah, sorry.” The dragonair leaned against one of the unopened white file cabinets. “You guys were pretty sucked into your conversation. And, uh, I got a bit lost and didn’t want to cut in.” She blinked and shook her head. “But Igneous has fought the empire already. You saw it for yourself. May as well try and help.”

“And risk losing this evidence?” Shimmer again telekinetically shoved all the papers at Igneous. “Not a chance. Sorry, but I have to do this for myself. Your priority has to be taking these to your father.”

Frowning, Igneous took the papers out of Shimmer’s psychic grasp. He wasn’t about to kowtow to Shimmer’s orders. But these were the pieces of evidence Vegna wanted. So, he was still going to take them.

“Fine.” Igneous tucked the evidence under his arm. “We’ll take them to the Beacon.” He turned away from the ponytales and winked at Scarlett.

She picked up the gesture and uncoiled. “Yeah, sure.” Scarlett feigned her annoyance well. “Hope you know what you’re doing, buddy.”

Shimmer walked past both of them. “I do.” And then he left the room and galloped up the stairs.

Igneous and Scarlett stood there in silence until they heard the door to the restricted section open and shut. “So, now what?” Scarlett asked.

“We take these to Vegna first.” Igneous’ expression sharpened. “Then we find a way to Tulpise. Not a chance I’m trusting whatever plan Shimmer’s cooking up to work.”

Just the fact that Shimmer was this convinced the empire was readying an attack on Tulpise of all places had Igneous concerned. It wasn’t a transport hub like Casaroja or Venish. And it was on the complete opposite side of the country from the capital. Why there?

Something was definitely up. And Igneous had to get to the bottom of it.