A Practical Guide to Sorcery

Damien

Month 9, Day 11, Saturday 11:00 a.m.

Damien left Harrow Hill’s old archive room, leaving behind the two administrative interns that he’d commandeered for the organization and cataloguing project still working through their respective boxes of dusty old records. The three of them had made great progress over the time since the term ended, but Damien couldn’t feel happy about it.

Damien walked past a room whose walls were covered in information about the Raven Queen and cabinets filled with files of civilian reports, professional profiles and projections, and engagement strategies to keep any team that might meet her alive and uncursed. There was only one man in the room, reading through the stacks of reports about potential Raven Queen sightings with lifeless eyes.

In Damien’s opinion, they didn’t really hope to catch her any more. Not after she had thwarted all of their plans so repeatedly and thoroughly. Not after the Red Guard had met with and refused to deal with her, despite the High Crown’s rage. Of course, the coppers couldn’t actively give up, but it was telling that none of the engagement strategies had them trying to incapacitate her. Any who met her were supposed to politely ask for her to turn herself in and defend themselves if necessary, but otherwise avoid angering her.

The coppers had plenty of other problems to struggle with, anyway. The next room was devoted to the team trying to figure out what was happening to the dozens of poor and homeless people that were disappearing. Considering that it was unlikely anyone knew about or reported the disappearance of the average homeless person in the Mires, the number of missing was likely much higher than that.

Damien smiled and exchanged some pleasantries with one of the frustrated coppers working within. He wasn’t technically authorized to know anything about ongoing cases, but his Family connections meant none of them tried too hard to keep confidentiality. Many assumed that he would work at Harrow Hill after he attained his Mastery and graduated. “No breaks in the case?” he asked.

The man squeezed his pen, rubbing his thumb over its grip as if he wanted to grind it away. “Plenty of leads, but all of them somehow come to a dead end. The only thing I’m sure of is that someone powerful, and probably wealthy, is behind it. If not for the fact that the Titans-damned Undreaming Order keeps rescuing these people, I would say the Raven Queen was behind it.”

Damien would have been more interested in the mystery, but there was enough evidence to be sure that the disappearances weren’t caused by an Aberrant. He made some commiserating noises.