Chapter 26

Following breakfast, I spent the next few hours pacing down the halls of the airship, trying to think things through. Arina tagged along. She'd told me that she wasn't letting me out of her sight until I found a way to reach the Guardians' Sanctuary—and helped her rescue her kids.

I didn't blame her. After all, most of my urgency to knock out the Guardians was fueled by my desire to save my daughter.

And so I paced, all the while trying to figure out how to create a moment of magic so enormously powerful, so universally defining, that I could channel some of that magic into breaking into the Guardians' Sanctuary. They had used the clash of gods and demons on Earth, the creation of the plains of monsters, to create their Sanctuary here, in another dimension slightly offset from our own. If they'd used that moment to create a whole Sanctuary, surely I could use another such moment to tear away the mask of magic that cloaked them and kept us out.

The problem was I couldn't come up with a single idea. I wasn't sure how I could create an instant as powerful as the creation of the Earth's plains of monsters—and all the wild weather and magic that had come with it.

"Gaius Knight knows something," I said aloud.

After three hours of talking silently to myself inside my head, a change of pace was in order. Even if that meant talking to myself aloud and looking like a lunatic.

"Before he ran off, he was going to tell us the solution to our Guardian problem," I said. "Gaius Knight is the key. We should be looking for him."

"Don't be too trusting of that man," Calli warned me.

She'd found me in the halls.

"He isn't the man I thought he was." Calli looked righteously pissed off. "He's been manipulating us all for years. For decades."

"True, he has been manipulating us," I agreed. "And we still don't know what his agenda is. But he clearly wants us to stop the Guardians. And that's what we want too. We might need to look past his manipulations to achieve a common goal."

Calli gave me a long, hard look, then declared, "You've grown up a lot, Leda."

I smirked at her. "I better have. I'm going to have a kid. And I intend to keep her safe—her and the world she lives in too."

Calli squeezed my hands. "And we will."

"I'm just wondering how I'm going to do something so spectacular, so unheard of, so universe-altering that enough magic is created to perform this spell that breaks down the Sanctuary's barriers."

"I don't know," said Calli. "But what I do know is that if anyone is up to the task, it's the Angel of Chaos."

"I guess my whole existence is kind of a universe-changing event," I replied sheepishly. "I'm the daughter of extremes, of a god and a demon. And an angel of chaos. I'm the perfect instrument to really mix things up. I only hope I change them for the better."

"You always change things for the better, Leda. Before now, I never thought I'd see the day when ten angels would sit down together for a peaceful breakfast of croissants and cake."

"Not entirely peaceful. The whole time we were sitting there, Colonel Fireswift totally wanted to set me on fire," I laughed. "I could see it in his eyes."

Calli's expression soured. "That man is most unpleasant."

"Thank goodness Nero took Fireswift with him on his mission," I said.

Then again Nero had probably only brought Colonel Fireswift along to spare me the pleasure of his company. Nero couldn't stand him either.

"Calli, we need to find Gaius Knight. He knows things. He can help us."

"More likely, we would be the ones helping him," Calli said bitterly. "Like it's always been."

I'd never known Calli to hold such a grudge, but then again, I'd never before met anyone stupid enough to betray her trust.

"Could you use your magic-tracking powers to find Gaius?" I asked Arina.

"I can certainly try," she replied. "But seeing as I've never met him in real life, I'll have to track him somewhat indirectly. It won't be a straightforward, precise process."

Well, Arina's magic was generally pretty indirect anyway.

"Do it," I told her.

Arina closed her eyes. A moment later, they opened again.

"That was fast," I said. "Where is he?"

"I haven't found him. Not exactly."

"Then what did you find?"

"The dark angel Thea's grimoire," she told me. "Or at least something that will lead us to the grimoire."

"You weren't kidding, Arina. This is very indirect."

"I'm sure the grimoire is the key to tearing down the Guardians' Sanctuary. This is just the next step."

"Like when we found the four papers of the parchment, they came together to show us your face. Back then, you were the next step, Arina."

Back then. It felt like years ago. But it had only been a little over a week.

"This is strange. What could Thea's grimoire possibly have to do with Gaius?" Calli asked.

"I guess we'll soon find out," I said, fully prepared to fly by the seat of my pants, as always. "Where can we find the grimoire?"

"The Silver Shore," Arina said. "The grimoire is there. Or at least part of the grimoire is there."

Part of it? At this rate, my daughter would be a teenager before this quest was over.

"Then let's go to the Silver Shore," I said brightly. "And on the plus side, at least they don't have monsters there."