Mr. VAINIO: You’re referring to the Regulations on American Magical Protection and Response Tactics Act? Yes, I’ve read Mister Keeler’s bill of wrongs. All nine hundred thirty-six pages.

Mr. VAUGHN: Would you mind sharing your thoughts on that act?

Mr. VAINIO: I think you’re out of your goddamned minds. Bad enough you’ve got the FBI spying on us. Tapping our phones, flying drones over our homes, interrogating our friends and family and neighbors. Now you want the authority to imprison us on a whim? To hold us without trial? Is the chairman so ignorant of U.S. history? We tried this in World War II. Locked up more than a hundred thousand men, women, and children whose only crime was having Japanese ancestry.

Mr. CHILDRESS: The RAMPART Act is hardly comparable to that sad chapter in our history, which you’d know if you’d truly read it.

Mr. VAINIO: Pages six thirty-four through six forty-one. Sections 184 A and B specifically state, “Whereas intelligent nonhuman entities, including but not restricted to vampires, werewolves, merfolk, sirens, nymphs, dryads, and cryptids, have been living in the United States under false pretenses, such creatures are not presumed to have the rights or obligations of citizenship. Furthermore, whereas such beings pose a potential danger to the security of this nation and its people, authority is hereby granted to both the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Magical Crimes Division, under the supervision of the Department of Defense, to hold without charge anyone suspected—”

Mr. VAUGHN: I think we get the point, thank you. I trust that was enough to jog my esteemed colleague’s memory?

Mr. CHILDRESS: I . . . yes, thank you. But that refers to nonhuman creatures, not individuals such as yourself.

Mr. VAINIO: I can see you scrolling through your tablet to check the text of the bill. You want section 184 D, which throws people like me under the bus as potential terrorists. You’d give DHS and FBI the right to arrest and hold us indefinitely, without trial or charges. Please let me know if you need me to explain any more of your proposed legislation to you.

Chapter 9

“Nobody fears magic more than kings and priests.”

“We don’t have many kings in the twenty-first century.”

“If you believe that, you’re a fool, Isaac Vainio. In my day, before the spread of libriomancy, sorcerers were few. If you hoped to survive and prosper, you had to choose your alliances well. Loyalty to the church or monarchy could protect you. It could also cost you your life.”

“We have the same kind of loyalties back home, only with hockey teams.”

“I created the Porters in part to build a community with its own strength, but that strength relied in part on secrecy. We disappeared from view, erased ourselves from history. We were not beholden to anyone.”