And just that fast, the battle was over. Four men were down, none of them ours. One of the Council security was advancing on a man at the end of the hall, his submachine gun up and levelled. “Down on the floor!” he was shouting. “Drop the gun, down on the floor!” The White Rose man looked pale and scared; he dropped his gun and backed away, hands up. The Council security man grabbed him and shoved him down.

The Council security started restraining the men on the ground, while more came through the front door. Haken stepped through behind them and looked down at the prone figures before glancing at Slate. “Minimum force?”

“They’re alive, aren’t they?” Slate said. He headed towards the kitchen at the end of the hall. Shouts and calls were echoing down from the floors above. “Hey,” I said to the Council security about to start up the stairs. “There’s a guy about to come down shooting.”

The security man glanced at me, then stepped down, sighting on the top of the stairs. Someone stepped up next to me and I looked left to see the illusionist, Cerulean. His eyes were slightly narrowed, and he waved a hand towards the security man.

The security man lowered his gun and stepped aside. We waited a couple of seconds, then there was the sound of running footsteps and a round-faced guy with a gun appeared on the landing.

Cerulean looked at him. Round Face’s eyes went wide and he screamed. He clapped his hands to his face, bashing himself with the side of the gun in the process, and staggered sideways, tripping over the body of the one Trask had stunned. He went down and kept screaming.

“Clear ground!” someone shouted from the back of the hall. Haken reappeared, skirting around the Council security and the men on the floor. “Verus—” he began, but the screaming from the landing above drowned out his voice. He frowned.

I shook my head and gestured upwards.

Haken looked up, then down at Cerulean, and spoke loudly enough to be heard over the screams. “Could you please shut that off?”

Cerulean shrugged. “It’s not an exact science.”

I stared at Cerulean. I couldn’t see any active spell, but illusion magic specialises in invisibility and it’s notoriously difficult to detect. Illusionists usually manipulate light, but against weaker-willed opponents they can plant phantasms directly inside their targets’ heads. I used my magesight, searching through the frequencies: for a moment I thought I saw something, twisting blue-purple wires linking Cerulean to the man up on the landing, then Cerulean glanced at me and the wires vanished. From above, the screaming cut off abruptly, to be replaced with sobs.

“You two, you’re with with Slate and Trask,” Haken said into the sudden quiet. “Full search, bottom to top. Check every room.”

Cerulean nodded. “Okay,” I said.

Haken headed back towards the end of the hall. I knew Slate and Trask were coming. Cerulean looked at the stairs, then gestured slightly to me, as if to say after you.