“I’ll be there,” I told him, then put the phone down and looked at Luna. “We’re on.”

“It could be—”

“It’s not.”

“Yeah.” Luna sighed. “Wish I could come.”

“You know that’s not an option. Besides—”

“I know, I know. I’ll be ready.”

“Well, you never know,” I said as I got to my feet. “Maybe when you pass your journeyman tests you’ll end up joining the Keepers.”

Luna raised her eyebrows. “Yeah, right.”

“You’re the one who gave me the push into joining them.”

“I didn’t think it was going to turn out like this.”

“I think I would have been drawn into this one way or another.” I glanced at Luna. “You going to be okay on your end?”

“It’s not like we’ve got much to do, is it?” Luna said. “What if we don’t get the call?”

“Then it means everything’s been resolved in a nice peaceful compromise and all the participants have gone away happy.”

Luna gave me a sceptical look. “Do you think that’s going to happen?”

I slung my bag over my shoulder. “No.”

“I don’t like sitting around when you’re going out like this.”

“Don’t worry,” I said as I headed for the door. “I think you’ll be getting your share of excitement.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about.” Luna sighed again. “Good luck.”

| | | | | | | | |

I arrived at Keeper HQ, went through security, and was directed upstairs. The building was busy, people bustling around and running errands. As I climbed the stairs I tried to feel if there was something different, some note of anxiety or tension in the air, but I couldn’t sense it. The Keepers are a big organisation, and at office level it was business as usual.

I found the briefing room on the second floor, checked to see who was inside, and rolled my eyes. I was tempted to wait out in the corridor, but given the collection of magic types, it was a safe bet that someone was already tracking my movements. I took a breath and opened the door. The room was windowless and decorated in the same ugly cheap-looking fashion as the rest of Keeper HQ, with chairs, small tables, and a whiteboard, along with a battered-looking projection focus sitting on a stand. There were seven people in the room, and all of them turned to look at me as I walked in.

“You’re fucking kidding me,” one of the men said. It was Slate, my old friend from Red’s. “What’s he doing here?”

“Love you too, Slate.” I walked in and dropped into a chair next to Haken.

“No,” Slate said, addressing the room. “No way. We’re not taking him.”

“Slate,” Haken said wearily. “Not now, all right?”

Slate shut up, but the look on his face made it clear that this wasn’t over. “This is Mage Verus,” Haken said to the others.

“We know who he is,” one of the other men said.

“Good,” Haken said. “Then you know why he’s here.”