“About that,” said Dal. “I sifted through the logbooks of what they were doing. It looks like they were trying to figure out how to give the humans magic.”

“What? Why?”

“From what I could tell, they wanted to give humans magic, so they could experiment on how to remove magic from an enhanced human.”

“They want to create a weapon against the magic-enhanced Convictionites,” Sera realized.

Dal nodded. “Yes. They were using human children because it’s harder to get the magic to stick after puberty. Too many hormones in the body.”

It was sick. Positively sick. Sera pushed her plate away. She was suddenly not feeling very hungry.

“But since these people weren’t made with magic from birth, they don’t survive long,” Dal continued.

“I bet the fairies didn’t care as long as they got their results,” Sera growled.

“Were the fairies successful in their experiments?” Kai asked Dal.

“No. But for all we know, Alden has a copy of their research. He could have someone step up now to finish it.”

“He won’t have to. The fairies are free,” Tony told them.

Kai’s eyes snapped with anger. “What do you mean, they are free?”

“Before we got to Mayhem, their family’s lawyers were there. They got the fairies out. They called the evidence circumstantial.”

“I saw that site.” The table thumped. “Cutler saw the site.”

“I know, Sera,” Tony said. “But by the time we got to the cottage, the place was empty, not a trace of evidence left.”

“What about the notebooks?”

Tony sighed. “There’s no evidence that the notebooks belonged to them. As the fairies’ lawyers were all too pleased to point out, no names were mentioned in the notes.”

“This is outrageous,” Sera snapped. “Those fairies were killing innocent people. Children. And we found those notebooks in their cottage.”

“A fact the fairies deny, so I’m afraid it’s your word against theirs.” Tony shook his head. “I assigned our lawyers to this, but I fear there’s nothing we can do right now. A trial will be held after the conclusion of the Summit.”

Silence—cold, angry silence—hung over the table. They poked at the food on their plates for a minute or two before Riley spoke.

“We need to talk to those fairies,” he said.

“Agreed,” said Kai.

“They are tucked away behind high gates, inside their very large house, guarded 24/7,” Tony told them.

“Maybe we can capture at least one of them,” Kai said.

“It’s possible, but not without everyone knowing we did it.” Tony grimaced. “They are hiding behind red tape and pages upon pages of age-old regulations. If we attack them, the Council will be forced to put you under house arrest too.”

“Let them try.” Kai’s voice was chillingly calm, but he didn’t persist. He must have realized that the six of them couldn’t fight the whole Magic Council.

“Moving on to cheerier topics, I’ve been thinking about what happened when Alden captured you in Munich,” Dal told Sera.

“You and I need to have a talk about what constitutes a cheery topic,” she replied. “Cheery for me is smoothies and long runs on the beach, not the Grim Reaper and his army of psycho worshippers.”

“Actually, that worship is what I wanted to discuss. You told us that when you ejected Alden from your mind, you overloaded his connection to his followers.”

“Yes, I felt that bond break, but only for a moment.”

“And Alden seemed weaker?”

“Somewhat.”

Dal nodded. “Have you considered that his bond with his followers runs two ways?”

Kai perked up. “Where are you going with this?”

“I think that the bond does run both ways,” Dal said. “That Alden’s magic works like a god. People worship him, then he gains more power from their devotion. That’s why he’s feeding them power. It’s a endless loop of growing power. The more people he converts to his side…”

“The more powerful his magic becomes,” Sera finished for him. “I wonder if that’s what has made him immortal too.”

“Very likely,” Dal agreed.

“So we need to cut the bond between him and his followers,” Kai said. “We need to make him mortal.”

“I don’t think it’s that easy,” Sera told him. “I cut his bond, and he was still really powerful. Almost immediately, I could feel those bonds to his people reforming, connecting first to those closest to him, then extending out to those further away. He was connecting to his people all over the world. How are we supposed to defeat someone whose power covers the whole planet? We could never take them out, not all at once.”

“We will win this.” Confidence flowed from Kai, strong, unwavering. “We know his weakness, Sera, the source of his power. We just have to figure out how to exploit it.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“Not easy, but also not impossible.”

“Alden is not invincible,” Riley said.

“He will try to tear us apart from within,” said Kai.

“We won’t let him.” Her gaze panned across everyone sitting there with her. “We will stick together.” She set her hand on the table.