his new army. I went looking, and happened to find it.”
“A place like that has to be crawling with guards,” Stefan said.
“It is, but we can handle them,” I said. “I figure we break into that treasury and give the people back what Eli stole.”
“What about Lord Radcliffe? Won’t he know it’s us?” Emma asked.
“He won’t remember,” I said. “I slipped a forgetfulness potion into his last drink before he went home. As long as we aren’t spotted by the guards, the plan is fool-proof. Gabby and Eli won’t know we’re the thieves.”
“But they’ll suspect. They know you’re the Phantom,” Emma said.
“Let them. They can’t do anything about it, not when we have the video of Gabby performing dark magic,” I said.
Emma hesitated, but Kiara said, “This is a good plan. I know it can work.”
“It has to. The people of Malovia deserve our help.” I straightened up. “All right, Team Phantom. Masks up. Everyone split into pairs, and meet me at the tree line to the south of the university.”
We parted. Emma and I changed into our vigilante gear, and ran across the rooftops of the university on our way to the woods. Most of the city was still at the festival, or at the Sacred Gathering, participating in Heimskanun ceremonies. Nobody was out walking the woods this late at night on a holiday.
We rejoined the others at the tree line. My nose caught onto several strange smells, and I knew the sorceresses of our group had cast spells to disguise our scents and conceal our features. I could only tell who my friends were because I knew they were them— looking at them now, the illusions the sorceresses had cast were convincing enough I couldn’t place features, not even those of my closest companions.
I gestured for them to follow, and we walked silently amongst the trees toward the treasury. Odette kept a shield around us, just in case we ran into any monsters in the dark.
Eventually, we saw lights and heard voices. A dozen or so guards stood around a newly-constructed building, at all entrances. All the shifter guards were in their animal forms, making a circle around the area. The sorceresses held torches for light, their sharp eyes peering outward for intruders. Damn, there were a lot of them.
“How do we get past the guards?” Emma asked.
“Alexei and I will handle it,” Kiara whispered. “We’ll use our empathy magic to start a fight amongst the guards. While they’re bickering, you guys slip in and get as much coin as you can.”
“Will that work?” Stefan asked.
“Look at the guards. Tell me what’s missing,” Alexei said.
We surveyed the area. I didn’t realize it, not at first, until Theo hushed, “They don’t have any griffins.”
I double-checked before I realized Theo was right. The guards were all alicorns, wolvens, or dragons. Not a griffin in sight.
“It must be Eli’s policy,” I said. He was always prejudiced against the griffin Faction. Thought they were weak for having strong feelings. That poor judgement was going to bite him in the ass tonight.
“They have no other griffins to combat my powers, and my emotion magic is strong,” Alexei said. “I’ll piss them off, all right, but don’t take too long. Eventually, they’ll catch on.”
“We can be quick,” I said. “You two stir up a ruckus by the front. We’ll slip in the back door.”
Alexei nodded, and he and Kiara wandered off. We waited for a few minutes. A few curses rang out through the air, along with a couple of insults. Eventually, I heard the snarling of shifters as they began to battle, and the screams of sorceresses as they tried to break the fights up. Their torches lit the night as all the guards went running to the front of the building, leaving the backdoor exposed.
We took cover against the back wall. Delmare kept her battle magic ready, appearing as a lookout as I went for the window.
“This is very Robin Hood. Robbing the rich to feed the poor,” Stefan commented.
“Yeah, well, someone’s gotta do it, because we know Eli doesn’t give a shit.” I peeked inside. “All clear. Let’s go.”
The door was locked, but Emma put her hand against the lock. With her illusion magic, she commanded it to melt away at her touch. The door dissolved into liquid goo, and we stepped over the puddle and into the treasury. Emma threw a few blue balls of her illusion magic into the air. They lit the room, giving us light.