Rich Boy: Growing Pains - 13. Chapter 13

"They're doing something alright." Colin walked into the dormitory common room with a frown on his face. It was early morning two days after the last confrontation with the government forces outside the camp, and a day after the visit from the elf, Arden, and just eight hours since Prince Kelvren himself had sent a note through the shield attached to an arrow. A contingent of elves were already in position, and ten dwarves would be arriving later today brought on motorcycles by members of Worthington's gang, the MR.

By the time the day was over, the siege of the camp should be ended, the government mages and their mercenaries humiliated and sent packing, and Worthington would owe the dwarves and elves a few favors. Owing them would be worth it, as he saw things, and hopefully, it could all be done without any killing on either side. Unfortunately, as soon as the sun had started to rise there had been activity at the camp's main entrance, and the government people were up to something.

"What are they doing?" Jamie asked with a frown. As they had since arriving at the camp, they were all wearing jeans and one of the camp's blue t-shirts.

"They're setting up some kind of tent," Colin said. "It's pretty much done, and they were bringing out two chairs and a little table. The chairs are some of those canvas ones people use when camping."

"You think they want to talk?" Worthington asked as he stood up and started pacing.

"That's what it seems like," Jamie said with a frown. "If they want to talk, that's a good thing. You should go out there and see if that's what they want to do."

"The tent doesn't have any sides on it so you can see what's going on in there." Colin offered.

"We shouldn't look too eager to talk to them," Worthington said quietly, remembering his father's lessons on business negotiations. "Make them wait, make them think we have the upper hand here."

"Which we do, now," Jamie said confidently. "I think you're right. How long do you want to make them wait, and who will you take out there with you?"

"I'd take you, but one of us needs to stay inside the shield," Worthington said. "Just in case this is a trap. As for when let's eat breakfast and wait a bit after that."

"Okay." Jamie smiled as he stood up. "I'll get my dorm awake, and we can get the show on the road."

For most of the campers, staff, and counselors, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Only Worthington's small group of mages knew exactly what was going on, and the human camper Dechaun from his dorm group. Breakfast always seemed a hit or miss affair with the camp's cooks, and today it was more of a miss. After one look at the runny eggs and limp sausages, he opted for cereal and cold milk.

A taste of the milk made him almost wish he'd taken the runny eggs. He'd never tasted powdered milk before but remembered that the camp had run out of fresh milk and the supply trucks had not arrived as the staff had expected. It had taken a little bit of mage work to fix the problems without the staffers knowing what was really going on, and he had reason to be grateful the government siege would be broken shortly.

The food situation was getting just as bad.

After breakfast, the campers were organized into teams for yet another sporting competition. Worthington left Colin in charge of his dorm and headed into the dormitory building. All morning a single figure had been sitting in a chair under that canopy tent set up just outside the main entrance. It was obvious they wanted a ‘talk,' and Worthington decided it was time to give it to them before they struck the tent and walked away.

"You sure about this?" Jamie asked. "Maybe you should take Brandon with you."

"Just hold a gate open in the shield in case I need to run back through in a hurry," Worthington said. "There are elves out there now, and we can depend on them to keep an eye on things as well."

"Okay." Jamie sighed as they reached Worthington's dorm and he opened up his locker. He'd brought one of the dwarven-made outfits with him, and he pulled it out of the locker now. As he'd worked at getting his stomach to accept the powdered milk and cereal, he'd thought that it would be best to meet the government dressed in the dwarven-made clothing that was as good as wearing armor.

Tight black pants, and a tight-fitting long-sleeved dark gray shirt with gold and silver flakes in it that would reflect the sunlight showed off his physique quite well and provided ample protection against bullets as he'd learned already. The fact that he looked good in it was just a bonus, and one thing he knew was that physical appearance was important in any type of negotiations, which he felt more and more was what he was going to be doing. His hair was getting longer now, warranting a quick brush through with a comb to make it neat, and he smiled at his brother.

"How do I look?" He asked with outstretched arms.

"Good enough to fuck." Jamie smiled, and Worthington smiled back as a slight flush crept to his cheeks. It had been a while since they'd entertained those kinds of thoughts about each other.

"I might hold you to that." Worthington murmured with a smile.

"Good." Jamie retorted. "I'm getting as horny as a sailor on a world cruise."

"You're always horny." Worthington shot back.

"It's all your fault too." Jamie ended their verbal jousting with a direct hit that had Worthington mimicking an arrow to the heart. They laughed together for a moment, and Jamie hugged him. "Come back safe, bro."

"I will," Worthington promised, and they broke their hug. Jamie walked with him as far as the patio of the dormitory building and stayed there, watching him as he made his way towards the main entrance. Colin was standing halfway towards the main entrance, and Worthington stopped as he neared the red-haired young man.

"You're sure about this?" Colin asked nervously.

"No, but it seems the right choice," Worthington admitted honestly. "If we don't have to fight, that would be better. I depend on you though."

"For what?" Colin asked.

"If things go wrong I might need you to come to my rescue," Worthington admitted, and Colin smiled.

"I'll be there for you," Colin promised, and Worthington nodded before resuming his walk. He noticed Brandon angling towards Colin and figured the two of them would stay right there the entire time he was gone. That was fine by him.

When he reached the main entrance, he didn't have to signal Jamie at all. His brother was still standing on the patio and created the gateway in the shield for him to pass through. When he walked through it, he noticed that his brother kept it open. If this were a trap, he'd be able to get back through fairly quickly. The man sitting at the small table under the tent canopy stood up as he approached and Worthington examined him.

It was not the same man he'd seen with the soldiers on the first day. This was the strongest of the mages he'd faced the other day, and was in his mid-thirties at the most, with brown hair and a rather plain face. Like the other mage on the first day, he wore digital camouflage that looked like an Army uniform but had no Army markings. He knew enough about them now, from Dechaun's descriptions and his scanning of the mercenary Jeremiah Francis's mind to tell the difference.

"I was hoping we could talk." The man said as Worthington moved to stand under the tent canopy. It wasn't nearly as hot as the Phoenix area, but the tent did provide good shade from the sun that was making it a warm day already. Worthington moved to stand on the other side of the table and looked the man in his hazel eyes.

"I'm here to talk," Worthington said simply, and the man nodded before sitting down, motioning to the chair across from him. As Worthington sat, he noticed the table was clean except for a large manila file folder that sat directly in front of the man.

"Would you like something to drink?" The man asked. "I'd imagine supplies in the camp must have been starting to run low. We've turned away two delivery trucks so far."

"No thank you." Worthington declined the offer without answering the unspoken question.

"I am Marcus de la Plane of the Department of Paranormal Investigation and Regulation." The man introduced himself as he leaned forward slightly in the canvas chair he was sitting in and opened the file in front of him. "You are Worthington Michael Sinclair, the Fifth."

"Yes," Worthington said with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"You are a psionic, what you would call a magic user, trained in what your kind call the ‘Dark path' of magic, noted for its brutality and methods of control over others." De la Plane continued. "Slightly more than a year ago your parents, and most of your family were killed by a freak lightning strike on the morning of your sixteenth birthday. It is speculated that you were involved in this in some way, possibly as a way to grab control of your family's fortune, or in some power play that seems to be common among Dark mages."

"Actually, my Uncle was the one making a power play, and tried to kill me too." Worthington decided to go with honesty for now. "I was lucky to survive the attack, and his legal battle to seize control of my family's assets."

"I see." The man frowned as he took out a pen and made a note on the file in front of him. If he was doing this to make Worthington nervous, or stress his importance or official nature, it wasn't working on Worthington. "Last year you made quite a fuss in the Phoenix area, and when confronted by agents of the United States government you assaulted them, telling them that you were defending the area from demons. Now you have set up some type of psionic device, or devices that claim to have established some form of mage shadow government for the area."

"It is not a government, but a defensive coalition dealing solely with mage issues," Worthington said with a shrug. "I am the current Adept in charge of the Council. It will be rotated each year, so next year my brother Jamie will be in charge."

"You are referring to Jameson Bradwell?" The man frowned. "It is my understanding he is your cousin, not your brother."

"My half-brother," Worthington noted with a small smile. It wasn't a secret as such, and it would remind the government agent he didn't know everything. "His mother, my Aunt was impregnated with sperm from my father. Let us just say my father wasn't the most ethical of people and paid the fertility clinic to substitute his sperm for the intended donor's, without my Aunt's knowledge or consent. So, on one side of the family we are half-brothers, and on the other, cousins."

"That must make family reunions interesting." The man said dryly.

"I would tend to shy away from such things since my only surviving family are either here in Arizona, or people who have tried to kill me." Worthington retorted.

"You are currently resisting the service of a legal warrant for your arrest on multiple charges ranging from murder to the impersonation of a federal officer." De la Plane continued abruptly. "In doing this, you have taken approximately two hundred and fifty-eight people hostage and engaged in hostile combat with government agents. In your favor, you have returned one government agent you captured, and not yet used deadly force despite an opportunity to do so. You are also a suspect in the death of fourteen US Army soldiers two weeks ago."

"You know, having Army soldiers ambush a mage as he's riding his motorcycle on a highway may seem like a good idea, but it wasn't." Worthington shrugged. "Frankly, I regret those deaths, but in the situation they were unavoidable."

"You call crushing them to death with their own truck unavoidable?" The government mage's voice bordered on incredulity. "I don't know what makes you think they were attacking you, but you killed them for no good reason."

"A sniper shot me in the chest." Worthington snapped. "Their truck was on its side when that happened, and I got knocked off my bike."

"You seem remarkably alive for someone shot in the chest." The man countered.

"I had body armor on." Worthington shrugged.

"Do you always wear body armor in case some sniper is trying to kill you?" The man scoffed.

"In the past year, I've had my Uncle kill my family and try to kill me," Worthington said in a calm voice. "I have had a Demon Lord try to move into the city I call home, and fought several pitched battles with him and his underlings before beating him, and yes I've had a sniper actually try to kill me along with three mages and a squad of Army soldiers, so yes, I do wear body armor quite frequently. Should that be any surprise to you?"

"What three mages?" de la Plane asked sharply. "There were no mages with those soldiers."

"Yes, there was." Worthington countered in a sharp tone. "I should know, and Jamie was there too, so he can verify. There were three mages that we killed in that little encounter. Now here you are a few weeks later trying to finish what they started."

"We had no mages with an Army unit trying to capture you at that time." The man frowned, and Worthington believed him. Why he believed him, he wasn't sure.

"They did try to kill me." Worthington reiterated, and the man frowned, not even making the pretense of writing anything in the file.

"The other day you had the opportunity to kill at least one of us, if not more." De la Plane said instead of continuing that topic. "Why didn't you? Luke woke up a few hours later, just like you said he would."

"I don't like to kill if it is not necessary." Worthington shrugged ever so slightly. "It is why I let your mercenary Jeremiah Francis go after I had stripped his mind of your controls and read what I needed to know. You talk about the Dark path as if it was something horrible, but many of your tactics would fit right in with Dark mages."

"Not if some of the stories I've heard are true." De la Plane snorted.

"If you've heard them from that Light family you captured, you are getting a distorted view," Worthington said calmly. "Although to be honest, I must admit I am no longer Dark path. I have left that and walk the Gray path instead."

"What is that?" de La Plane asked. "I have not heard of a ‘Gray path.'"

"You might say it is new." Worthington smiled ever so slightly. "My brother and I are the first, and so far only mages on the path. It is a mixture of both Light and Dark, a place between them for those that don't belong in either."

"Interesting." The man said as he leaned forward slightly. "What makes you two think you're qualified to create this new path?"

"We are Adepts," Worthington answered. "In mage society, Adepts have a great deal of latitude most mages do not have."

"So there is a mage government." The government agent said.

"The Mage's Council I founded is the closest thing to a mage government that has existed in hundreds of years," Worthington answered. "What I am talking about is custom, tradition, something you would know little of with the background of your ‘Department.'"

"If your tradition is so important, how do you account for the fact that I have been working with the government in defiance of your tradition for nearly twenty years now, and you never knew about it?" The man asked.

"I haven't even been alive for twenty years." Worthington shrugged. "As for how other mages have not found out about what you're doing with the government, in defiance of mage tradition and custom, I would say it is for the same reason that you did not know about the mage community until recently. Both groups are quite capable at keeping their secrets."

"But you aren't." The man countered, and Worthington smiled.

"Is this what we are here to discuss?" Worthington asked.

"No." The man frowned and closed the file. "I wanted to get a chance to sit down and actually talk with you, to understand what kind of a person you are, if you are as evil as your file would seem to indicate."

"I am not evil," Worthington said vehemently, but then he calmed down. "I am ruthless, and I will do what needs to be done to protect my interests, or the interests of those I care about. When that is necessary, people on the opposite side of me will find themselves hurt. If it's not necessary to kill them, I won't, but I will use every tool in my arsenal to protect what is mine, and what I care about, what I love. My arsenal, as you found out the other day, is quite impressive. Unlike you and your little band of mages, I have had the benefit of lessons at the hands of people who have practiced magic all their life, and who were in turn taught by mages who were well practiced and experienced, and so on and so forth. There are centuries of practical experience and theoretical experiments in magic behind my training."

"We are not exactly roadkill," De la Plane said defensively.

"No, and I actually respect what you have achieved with your group," Worthington said in all honesty. "You are a significant threat."

"As are you." He retorted.

"You threaten the very existence of all mages and magical beings," Worthington replied with a calm tone. "We have kept our existence secret because if mundanes, in general, knew about our existence, we would not be able to live our lives freely."

"Freely?" The man snorted. "You mean be able to walk all over those who do not have our abilities, to flout the laws that are supposed to apply to all our citizens, to use your powers on officers of the law whenever you wish, to live outside the laws everyone else must live with if they do not have our abilities."

"No." Worthington shrugged.

"You are trying to deny you've used your powers to get away with breaking the law?" de la Plane was openly scornful.

"I have not said that." Worthington shrugged. "Mostly I have used my powers to prevent the open knowledge of magic, as is the tradition."

"You mean to tell me if you were pulled over for say, speeding, you would not use your powers to get out of a ticket?" The man asked.

"A beautiful woman will show her cleavage and flirt to get out of a ticket." Worthington shrugged.

"What about murder?" The man asked. "Or torture of innocent people?"

"You seem to have no problem with doing those things to mages." Worthington countered. "I know you have a mage family in custody and you force the parents to cooperate by threatening their son, and you have the son so bound with compulsions that he does your bidding. You've done the same to other mages as well."

"We do it for the protection of the people." The man retorted. "That's the regulation part of our title. Psionics cannot be allowed to roam free and use their ability on innocent people."

"Which is exactly why mage society has always resisted having mundane governments involved in their affairs." Worthington pointed out. "Even in mundanes who are our friends, there is an element of fear. If large numbers of mundanes find out about us, especially when they do not know us as individuals, their fear of the unknown takes hold, and they seek to clap us in irons to prevent us from affecting their lives unless they need our help."

"Even in the government, there are few people who know of our existence." De la Plane commented. "It is considered classified information, need-to-know only. At most, there are a few thousand who know about the Department, and its operations. Most of them are in Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and a few federal law enforcement or intelligence agencies as well as select members of the Executive Branch. Our mission is solely to prevent the use of paranormal abilities against the government or the people of this country."

"That's a high-sounding principle," Worthington argued. "The fact remains though that the longer the government knows of us, the more they will regulate us. Is it right for the government to tell us what we can do with our abilities, how we are to live our lives?"

"Is it right for us to take away the free will of other people?" de la Plane countered in an even tone.

"People take away the rights of others all the time through the use of purely normal means." Worthington shrugged. "It is all part of the exercise of power. With money, I can hire lobbyists and use them to convince the government to pass a law that will allow me to spy on all my employees. Current law allows me to control much of what my employees can say or do even in their free time."

"But that is influence or power that anyone can have, with or without paranormal abilities." De la Plane countered. "Not everyone can waltz into the White House and use the abilities we possess to make the President launch nuclear missiles at another country. You could do that if you wanted."

"Why would any mage want that?" Worthington scoffed.

"To start a genocidal war against our country?" de la Plane suggested. "In the past few years, we have found numerous people who committed acts of terrorism because they were controlled by a psionic."

"That is disturbing, I do agree," Worthington admitted. "I will even go so far as to say the mage community must look into that and take action. If other mages are doing such things, they are threatening all mages and must be stopped. That is the foundation of our traditions and customs as mages. When one of us threatens the safety of all, we take action. That is why some mages choose to work in law enforcement, or join the military, to keep on eye on things and prevent rogue mages from committing such acts."

"But would they not be more effective working with the full blessings of the government?" de la Plane asked.

"Possibly," Worthington admitted as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He hated that the man's reasoning seemed sound. "The fact remains though that mage should not be forced to work for the government the way you are doing it now."

"But you will admit that there is some merit to working with the government instead of against it?" de la Plane pressed.

"You have given me some things to think about," Worthington admitted.

"Would you say you have a great deal of influence in the broader mage community?" The man asked in a very carefully controlled manner.

"Yes and no." Worthington shrugged. "In the Valley of the Sun, the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, the answer is naturally affirmative. Elsewhere? As I said earlier, there is no shadow government of mages. Each community, each family, each individual mage is the master of his or her life. The only time we really act as a community is when our existence is threatened."

"But can you influence other mages?" de la Plane pressed. "What about other Adepts?"

"There is maybe a little more than a dozen Adepts altogether, mostly Dark spread across the world." Worthington shrugged. "I know of six here in the United States, not counting Jamie and me, or Colin."

"Who is this Colin?" de la Plane asked.

"The red-headed kid in the camp with us," Worthington answered. "He is Adept-potential in power, but he lacks in training Jamie, and I have received over the last several years. We are rectifying that, but it will be years before he reaches the level of control and experience that we have."

"He is a Gray path as well?" de la Plane asked.

"No, he is, or will be Dark path." Worthington chuckled. "There is no doubt of that at least. His mentality is definitely that of a Dark mage."

"I see." The man frowned. "So there are six people of the same power level as you."

"With a lot more experience and training as well," Worthington said. "In the past, Adepts have been very solitary, and rarely listen to one another, or even try to speak with one another unless they are training a student. The fact is that about the only thing that will bring them together is the existence of your organization with the government. When they discover that, I can see them wielding all their power and influence to hunt down every government-controlled mage, kill them, and then either kill or wipe the memories of every mundane who has ever learned about magic."

"They couldn't possibly hope to succeed," De la Plane said, but he shifted nervously in his chair.

"I faced down eight of you, with your soldiers the other day." Worthington pointed out with a shrug. "As Adepts go, I am fairly inexperienced and not completely trained. Imagine nine of us coming down on one of your facilities, even without lesser mages supporting us. What would happen?"

"It would be bloody, whatever the outcome." De la Plane said with a frown. "I won't say you'll win, because I am not sure you could pull that off, but it is a threat we have not even considered. You seem confident that you will escape from this encounter and be able to inform them, though."

"I am confident." Worthington shrugged.

"We have more psionics on their way here," De la Plane shrugged. "Can you fight off twelve or more of us, and our soldiers?"

"So far we have just talked about mages," Worthington said. "You have totally ignored the existence of magical beings and their rights."

"Do we recognize the rights of dogs?" de la Plane scoffed.

"I am sure a dwarf or an elf would love to hear you comparing them to animals," Worthington laughed scornfully. "You best be ready to run when you do."

"You expect me to believe there really are elves out there?" de la Plane laughed. "I had a good time berating the leader of our support team for chasing off after phantoms the other day."

"Elves and dwarves are quite real." Worthington smiled. "If you stay around here long enough, you'll meet a few of them and I dare say you will not like the experience. Like mages, the number of magical beings has been increasing exponentially over the last century and they are moving into areas where they have never been before. How should the government deal with them? What rights do they have with your government? Will you view them as just animals, or with the same rights as humans? Can you legitimately say they are represented by your government when they are not part of it, or able to vote in your elections?"

"I would have to see one of these creatures to believe it." De la Plane said, but there was a frown on his face.

"Stick around; I guarantee you will," Worthington promised. "In fact, one of your soldiers did the other day."

"I assumed that was just another illusion of yours." The man frowned. "You're saying it was real? What are they planning? They're here to help you, aren't they?"

"We're allies, yes." Worthington smiled. "Your siege won't last much longer."

"Why are you telling me this?" de la Plane asked. "You've given up the element of surprise, you know."

"I know." Worthington shrugged. "With elves and dwarves, I'm not too worried. We will try not to kill many of you, but it would be better for all involved if you packed up and walked away."

"Why?" de La Plane asked with a frown.

"I am not blood-thirsty," Worthington said with a shrug. "If they have to help me, I'll owe both races a big favor, and I would rather not be indebted to them. We are allies, but the dwarves are especially greedy folks. I can live with owing the elves a favor of this magnitude. The dwarves though will milk this for all they can if they have to help rescue me. If you leave on your own because of this talk, I don't have to owe them that favor.

"Now, here's what I'm suggesting. You and your men leave. In a few weeks, I will send you an invitation and we will meet to talk in neutral territory. The fact is, the dwarves and elves are facing major issues because of their population explosion. It is difficult for them to find places to expand without running into trouble with humans and human authorities. Maybe, working together we can help them out. Then they will owe me, and that will be fine. Also, I am interested enough by our discussion to want to continue it in the future. The fact is you are not just going to go away, but you also need to recognize that you have bitten off far more than you expected."

"I hate admitting it, but you are more right than you know," De la Plane said in a resigned tone, and he opened the file again, this time taking out a stack of large photographs and pushing them across the table to Worthington. The first black and white picture was a handsome guy with long, disheveled hair who looked fairly grimy and was wearing clothing that had definitely seen better days.

"What is this?" Worthington asked as he looked at the first photograph.

"One of our psionics on vacation in Las Vegas detected this man whose name he gave as Josh Dehavelin," De la Plane answered in a grim tone. "Our man captured him and brought him into our San Diego center for examination and regulation. Since our capture of certain other mages, we have begun a new line of questioning, and the young man claimed to be able to summon demons.

"You should understand that during our initial experiments twenty years ago we tried summoning things like demons or elementals and all of our experiments met with failure. We believed it was impossible; that they did not exist. That is why your story was met with such disbelief."

"Experimenting with magic is dangerous, even if you're an Adept," Worthington responded as he got a sinking feeling in his stomach. "Adepts are the only ones with the power to really experiment with magic."

"Our founder, Benjamin Stark is what you would call an Adept." De la Plane explained. "It was he who first established the research which led to our creation as an organization, and I was one of the first people he recruited along with our staff scientist. He figured out most of what we can, and cannot do."

"That would make sense." Worthington agreed. "You didn't let this idiot actually try a summoning, did you?"

"Three days ago it was decided to let him try." De la Plane said in a tightly controlled monotone. "I am in charge of the San Diego office, but in my absence, one of my subordinates received permission to let him try. We've discovered in the last year that some of the things we thought impossible with our powers are possible, so we wanted to see if this was another of those things. From what you told our agents in Phoenix, we knew that if demons were real, they were a threat so the six most powerful psionics we have were in the room when the summoning took place. Look at the next set of photos."

"Was he green-skinned?" Worthington asked as he looked at a series of photographs showing the preparation of the summoning circle, and six mages watching everything. He wanted to shudder at the one showing the demon appearing.

"Yes." The man answered grimly as Worthington reached the photos of the demon attacking the government mages. They never stood a chance, really.

"There are three types of demons," Worthington said softly, starting to feel sympathy for the man as he looked at pictures of the demon subduing all six mages and entrapping them in magical webs. The photos skipped everything after the demon started consuming the first mage, until he moved to the second, and then the third. "The lowest class generally has orange skins. Green skins are Oska demons and very powerful. They will feed off mundane humans, but mages are their favorite. When they consume a mage, they consume the mages power, growing stronger as they do so. Their summoner also receives a portion of that power and grows stronger."

"This one consumed four of our strongest mages." De la Plane said sourly. "The other two, he did something to, and they assisted the subject in escaping after the demon left."

"Strong demons are able to take over the minds of mages, especially their summoner." Worthington supplied the information as his stomach did a slow, queasy roll. "Centuries ago a great Demon War broke out. Over half the mages alive in that time died in the conflict, and the last Mage Lord lost power as a result. The demons gained power by obtaining control of more and more mages, allowing many of them to be summoned at one time. You have a serious problem on your hands here."

"That's not all," De la Plane said, and Worthington set the photos down after reaching the part where the two newly controlled mages submitted themselves to the sexual pleasure of the demon. It was part of how the demon maintained control over them even after he was gone from this plane of existence.

"You have two other facilities, one in Wichita and one in Washington," Worthington said, taking this to the next logical conclusion.

"Had." De la Plane's voice now showed the fear he must have been hiding all along. The man's self-control was amazing if he'd hidden that all this time. "Last night, the two agents who were taken by the demon showed up at those facilities with several other people, and they summoned a dozen or more demons. Most of the mages present in those facilities at the time were killed, or taken like the two from San Diego."

"It looks like the government won't be a threat for much longer to the mage community," Worthington said grimly as he crossed his arms. "My condolence on the loss of your friends and colleagues, but this is your problem, not mine."

"I have received orders that finding and eliminating those who have been taken is a top priority." De la Plane continued. "Despite your assumption that we have been severely crippled, less than half of our number in total were in those facilities at the time of the attacks. We believe the demon summoners are operating somewhere in southern Nevada, or Northern Arizona and I have been authorized to do whatever is necessary to take them out of commission."

"Again, that is your problem, not mine," Worthington said. "However, I would be willing to give you some advice on facing demons, some strategy and tips, if you will. I am sure we can reach some… agreement on the price for that."

"Are you sure that is all you are willing to do?" de la Plane asked. "If we don't take care of the problem, the President is likely to be forced to take severe, military action and keeping the existence of mages and demons a secret will be next to impossible if such action is necessary. Eventually, no matter what is done, word will get out that demons and magic are real. How will that affect you and the magic community in general?"

"I will share your concerns with the other Adepts that I know," Worthington offered. "As I mentioned, I am also willing to provide you with some information and tips on how to fight demons and win. All I want for that is to be left alone by your agency, and the government in general."

"Do you really believe that your magical community can survive if the government has to get regular troops involved in this?" de la Plane asked in a calm voice and with a raised eyebrow as he met Worthington's gaze firmly. "How will the magical community be served by letting these demons run loose, growing in power? What will happen when the front page of every newspaper and website has pictures of troops battling demons?"

Worthington felt his mind reaching out, finding his brother's and shared everything the man had just told him about. He could feel Jamie's surprise that mirrored his own, and the sense of dread in his brother. They both felt the pull of their new commitment that they had made a few days ago to the Gray path. It demanded action, more action than Worthington was willing to commit to, but his brother was of a different opinion. While de la Plane watched him, Worthington argued with his brother, whose opinion was much more vehement. Finally, with a sigh, he gave in and let the link drop.

"Let's talk about this," Worthington said in a defeated tone as he leaned forward, and tried not to let the man's smile irritate him too much. Jamie was leaving the dormitory building, heading this way, although he had not yet dropped the shield over the camp. When he reached them, with Colin, Brandon, and Carl in tow, de la Plane gave a small smile of victory, even as they began to negotiate terms for exactly what would happen now.