One dark eyebrow rose slightly. "Did I say they were?"
"No. But you implied it." I spun around again. "When the soul stealer attacked me, I got an impression of the witch behind it. She's powerful, she's mean, and she's borderline insane. But while she might be part of whatever is going on, in the end, this is just a job for her."
"Could the link between me and Handberry," Stane said slowly, "be something as simple as the fact that we both work on this street?"
"A street someone is trying to buy up," Tao said, catching on. "Although I still can't see why they'd go to this extreme for a housing development."
"Interestingly enough," Stane commented, "this area is classified as commercial, but no approaches have been made to the council about rezoning the land."
I frowned. "Why would they make an approach if they don't own the land?"
Stane snorted. "Why would they waste millions without at least investigating whether a rezoning application would go through?"
Unless they were idiots, they wouldn't. "So I guess that begs the question: What else is here that they're willing to go to such extremes for?"
"An intersection of several major ley lines," Azriel said softly.
I swung around to face him. "What?"
"Ley lines are powerful sources of magical energy—"
"I know what ley lines are," I interrupted testily.
Azriel gazed at me. "Then you are aware that their intersections can used be to manipulate time, reality, and fate?"
No, I wasn't. "Are all intersections that powerful?"
He shook his head. "But this is one of the strongest in Melbourne."