17 The Catalyst

Atlas was once again, not happy.

Yet again, attending another meeting with the other High Sages, this time alone.

His steel grey eyes darting from left to right, then looking down to glance at his phone a handful of times nervously.

"Atlas!"

His attention now focused on Jakob who was glaring at him. "Y-yes?"

"Alisha. Where is she?" Jakob wasn't known for his anger, but this was one of those few exceptions. His face was red, his green eyes narrowed and created ugly wrinkles, especially around his eyes and forehead.

Atlas couldn't help but notice that he got veins on the side of his chubby head when he got this angry.

"I don't know. This isn't like her. I can't find her anywhere and she isn't answering calls or texts."

"Where was she last? Who was she with last?"

Atlas held his tongue, trying to think of the right thing to say. He spoke slowly. "She went to talk to that Rue girl. I haven't heard from her since then."

"Rue? Cassandra Rue?"

Atlas nodded quickly.

Jakob leaned back in his seat and stared absentmindedly at the ceiling, drawing out a deep breath. "That scenario, mixed with Sterling going rogue with a Soothseeker doesn't look too kindly to us."

Serpen Rouge cleared his throat. "What are you suggesting, exactly?"

"They grouped up and killed her."

The room of powerful Mages grew silent.

"That's the conclusion I've reached."

Rouge tilted his head to the side. "With what evidence?"

"Read the room, will you?!" Jakob's voice snarled as he shot up from his seat. "Atlas! Would you agree this is unlike her?"

"Yes."

"Do you agree that it's possible something could have happened?"

"Yes."

"If you hear hooves, is your first thought a Zebra?"

Atlas was taken aback by the odd line of questioning but shook his head slowly. "No."

Jakob sneered at Rouge. "What we have are Mages fighting against us. They are resisting our authority." Jakob scanned the large round table of Mages. "Our Mages are now turning against us. This means we have been careless for so long that our status means nothing to them, that means it would mean nothing to Mortals either."

"So, what do we do?" Rubeus Jones asked.

"Our plans are now going to go ahead at a faster rate. We are going to reveal magic to the Mortals this weekend. We are going to search for Cassandra Rue, she is going to make this happen."

"What if she doesn't agree?"

"Her life depends on it." Jakob swept his thinning fair hair back. "Miss Rue and Jesse have teamed up with the Soothseeker. Since Atlas was so mindless they escaped, so they probably know what we are up to."

Atlas sank in his seat, he hated being called out like that, feeling humiliated.

"But Atlas can redeem himself." Jakob nodded to him. "You call Sterling and tell them what we are doing."

Atlas fiddled with his phone in his hands. "Why would we tell them what we're doing?"

"To trap them. They're together as a small group, yes? Let me explain this in simple terms." Jakob snapped his fingers together, a small water droplet fell from the ceiling onto the table. "One water droplet. Not a problem, right?"

The High Sages were fairly puzzled by the single, sad water droplet on the table. He snapped his fingers again, a few more droplets fell onto the table. "A few more drops of water doesn't hurt anyone, correct?"

Again, the High Sages looked perplexed, all except Rouge, who curled his fingers into his palms, anticipating what he knew was coming.

"What about a lot of water?" Jakob snapped his hands once more and the room downpoured with water from the ceiling, drenching everyone, aside from himself and Rouge, who clicked his fingers and pushed at the air around him at the right moment, shielding himself from the water.

The High Sages were soggy, wet and not too pleased.

Jakob smirked. "If we let a few Mages slip through the cracks there's a chance they all might, then where would that leave us? Nowhere good."

Medjay Siwa folded his arms tightly across his chest. "And once we reveal ourselves, then what?"

"Those that fall in line can live."

"Isn't that rather Tyrannical? When has something like that ever succeeded?"

"That's why we don't make mistakes, we don't make cracks for Mages or Mortals to fall through. This weekend. Four days. That's when we reveal ourselves and start this revolution. There will be Hellfire to pay for those that stand against us."

Zephyr Serene was glad to be out of that meeting. He had things on his mind, important things.

He ran his hand through his dirty blonde hair, which was still damp from the kind shower Jakob had gifted, and took a moment to compose himself as he walked out of the meeting room.

He took a few steps into the stretched, gleaming white hallway when his phone rang from his jacket pocket. He quickly fumbled around to quickly grab it and looked at the contact.

It was Ashe.

He stared at the screen for a few moments, his heart beating with thunderous speed in his chest. His lips went dry as he swiped on his phone and held it up to his ear.

"Hello?" He croaked.

"Dad." Ashe spoke as softly as he remembered.

Zephyr closed his eyes and let the breath he held escape his lungs, leaning his back against the wall. "Ashe… You're alive."

"Yeah…"

"Ashe," Zephyr cleared his throat. "Where are you? Who are you with? Why haven't you said anything?"

"I'm fine. I'm just travelling around."

"You need to come home. All the things said and done in the past don't matter right now."

"Why do I need to come home?" Ashe carried a nervous tone in his voice but tried to mask it, though not very well.

"Things are about to be very different, alright? Things might go wrong and we're not sure what the outcome is going to be but you need to come back before the weekend."

"Why the weekend?"

"Mortal��s are going to know about us at the weekend. Four days. I'll pay for your flight or wherever you need but you have until Friday night to come home."

"I'm… I'm not coming home."

Zephyr was stunned into silence, he pushed himself to stand up straight. "You need to."

"I don't. I'm staying where I am. At least here I know I can be myself."

"Ashe."

The phone call ended. Zephyr stared at the phone screen for the longest time before he shoved it back into his pocket, lowered his head and aimlessly wandered the hallway until he found the exit.