Perhaps the hints the Revinir had seen in Artimé of something bigger happening there pointed toward some severe trauma, enough to keep the key players at home even though their head mage had been abducted. She’d been waiting in Artimé for a full day, hiding behind the jungle, far enough away so the ghost dragons and Simber couldn’t detect her. Did they really not care enough to go after the twins? Maybe they were just tired of having to rescue the incompetent teenagers after being forced to do it so many times.

Whatever was happening, the Revinir had received no word from her team of four reds about anything suspicious or dangerous going on… and they knew what kind of threats their boss wanted them to put an end to.

If something didn’t happen soon, perhaps it would be time for the Revinir to pay a little visit.

Time to Go

Finally the day came when Thisbe felt like she couldn’t take it anymore. She either had to set this plan in motion or abandon it forever. She and Fifer and Dev had prepared all they could. And they were increasingly worried about someone else making a move and wrecking everything. They needed to control the situation as much as possible, and that meant they didn’t want the people of Artimé coming or the Revinir returning.

Fifer and Thisbe had figured out most of the parameters of their new telepathic ability. They couldn’t be at odds with each other. And they could only send short thoughts or else the words would get jumbled. They’d tested out how physically close they had to be and discovered that for perfect accuracy they had to be in the same room or within speaking distance. And being across the property from one another, each of them at the boundaries set by the dragons, was a little more difficult, and sometimes not all the words transmitted from one mind to the other, but it worked for the most part. They hoped there was some way to communicate between Ashguard’s palace and the Revinir’s castle. That would keep them from having to use any sort of magic with a visible component… which could also save their lives. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t be able to test it until it was too late for Thisbe to turn back.

The three of them spent their last evening together going over the details of their plan and talking through all of the what-if scenarios they could come up with. When Dev and Fifer went to the river to catch dinner, Thisbe sat down at the desk. She laid out all of her components in front of her alongside her wooden dagger and looked at them, then slowly repacked her pockets so that she’d know exactly where everything was in case she needed them.