"What?" Lexie wasn't sure she understood what Theo was asking for. What did he want her to show exactly?

"The cards," Theo answered. "The ones you were going to use to help me. I want to see them."

"Oh. Well, it kind of depends on what you want to use them for," Lexie explained. "When I made the offer, I meant that I could make cards that would help you, not that I automatically just had the cards."

He raised an eyebrow. "So you make cards regularly?"

She shrugs. "Pretty much. I even gave Torin one of the ones I made before he went into the dungeon. It's a creature card, and he can activate it whenever he's in trouble. It will show me exactly what he sees."

Theo's eyes widen. He looks seriously impressed. "That is insanely useful."

"Right." Lexie shrugged modestly, tucking her hair behind her ears. "Next time, though, I'm going to install remote activation on the card so I can check in on him whenever I want. I think a card like that could help you, too, but I can't make another one right now, because it was a one-of-a-kind creature card, and I'll need another type of animal essence to recreate it. I'm not sure how to get it." She hesitated as she brushed her chin. "Although I could probably get one somewhere. Not sure. I'll have to research or ask Elvira."

"Who?"

"You won't know her. She's kind of my mentor. Anyway, so I still have some more additions to make to that card, but I think a card similar to that would be great for spying."

"Maybe," he said, staring at Lexie as though seeing her in a new light.

"What?" Lexie asked.

"Sorry," he said. "It's just my first time meeting a card genius, and I'm in awe. I didn't know cards were that useful, honestly. Back in the day, we used to make fun of all the kids in class who would spend too long working with card magic because their mana wasn't strong enough for spells yet. We called them circus acts."

Lexie frowned sternly. "Rude."

"I know," Theo at least looked embarrassed as he ran his hand through his hair. "It was stupid and wrong of us. To be fair, we were preteens, but still. Not cool. Obviously, we don't do that anymore, but I've also met fewer and fewer card mages over the years. Even kids no longer want to train on card magic, and a lot of them skip right to spells."

"Yeah, thanks to you guys, it's not a popular mage discipline," Lexie acknowledged. "I was a little upset when I got preaffixed as a card user at first, because I thought it meant I was weak and inferior. But the more I learn about it, the more I've come to appreciate it. Cards can do so much more than people imagine. It's crazy how underutilized they are. My dream is, one day, to make cards that even mundane people can use."

Theo nodded. "I don't know if that's possible or not, but for some reason, I believe you can do it."

"Really?" Lexie was surprised. Theo was the first person who hadn't expressed explicit skepticism in her plan, the first one who'd wholly acknowledged that she could do what she said she would.

"I think so," he said, sounding surprised himself. "Heck, I didn't think I would ever see the day when a non-Firebringer would create fire, with a card of all things. I would have told you it wasn't possible if I hadn't seen it with my very own eyes. But now seeing what you're capable of….I believe you'll do it."

Lexie felt a grin spreading across her cheeks, a fluttery feeling floating from the base of her stomach throughout her whole body. "Thanks, Theo. That means a lot to me."

Theo reached out and ruffled her hair, and though Lexie would typically hate that, this time she barely even minded.

"Alright." She got to business. "I need to know what exactly you need from me. How and when did Lucy go missing?"

Theo's smile dropped, and his face twisted in frustration once more. "I don't know. That's the problem. The last thing we heard was that she was getting sent to District 4 to deal with the coup happening over there. She was unable to stop it, and she disappeared. No one seems to have heard from her since then."

"No one at all? For months?"

Theo nodded. "What I don't get is why Vacek seems to be so calm about it. Lucy was one of his shining stars and his major weapon against the unexpected. Even if he's not upset on a human level, shouldn't he at least be angry that one of his tools for fighting back against the villain onslaught is missing?"

"You think he had something to do with it?" Lexie was trying to understand Theo's thought process.

"More so, I think he knows something he's not saying. There's a weird energy in the hero's association now, especially between him and the head of the anti-corruption unit, Silas Creevy. Half the association wants Vacek investigated and wants him to step down while it's going on. Creevy is leading the charge because he says Vacek has been having some shady dealings with the Fae."

"Do you think it's true?"

"I don't know. But if it's not, then why not just agree to the investigation? If he has nothing to hide, why is he fighting so hard to stay in power?"

Lexie swallowed. She didn't know the answer, but she could make a guess. "Maybe he thinks they're trying to frame him for something he didn't do. If Creevy investigates him, he might plant evidence and frame Vacek for a crime he didn't commit."

"That's what my mom thinks, too. She thinks this whole thing is a power play by Creevy so that he gets voted in as head of the association after they oust Vacek. But to be honest, Creevy has never struck me as that kind of person. He's very…serious, and also very dedicated to his job. He's never cared about politics or power or money or anything. He was one of the few straight-shooters at the association, and always tried to be fair even when he gave out paperwork…" Theo stopped himself there, almost like he choked back the rest of his words.

"Paperwork?" Lexie asked, but in return, he shook his head

"It's nothing," he countered. "I shouldn't be ranting about this stuff to a child anyway."

"Hey, this child is the one helping you out." Lexie gave him a serious look that made him smirk. "Besides, this isn't the first time you've mentioned paperwork in that tone, and I know it's something more than what it seems; otherwise, you wouldn't say it like it was a curse."

"It's just…" He rubbed his temple. "Have you had simulations yet? I heard they moved it to start in the first year."

"I've had two of them."

"How were they?"

"Terrible."

He nodded. "Yeah, that checks out. They always start that way, but then you get used to it. Or as used to it as you can anyway. Paperwork is essentially like simulations. Whenever something goes seriously wrong, whenever you hurt or kill someone you're not supposed to or you don't save someone according to plan, you have to write a report on exactly what happened. The report gets sent to the anti-corruption unit, and they decide if it needs further paperwork. That usually means you get called in and put into the simulation that mimics the mission you failed. You'll have to do it again and again, relive the moment until you do it right." A haunted look came into his eyes. "I had my first one right after graduating. I messed up a mission and…" He shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it, but I had to do it over thirty times the next day. It haunted me for a week after, but it's a mistake I never made again."

"Oh my gosh." Lexie's hand went over her mouth, gaping at the horror. "How awful."

"It is. Your lowest moment played over and over again. Not fun."

It sounded more than just 'not fun'. It sounded cruel, a punishment for falling short of an unreachable ideal.

"Some people think it's necessary," Theo said. "They'll tell you that the amount of hero-related accidental deaths dropped after they introduced the simulations and paperwork. Abuse of mundanes is also at an all-time low. That should be evidence enough that it works. It doesn't matter what it does to us mentally because they give us therapists and mind healers." He breathed out heavily. "Although there are some people in the hero association who don't think it's humane."

"Like who?"

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"There are basically two factions that make the decisions in the Hero Association. The board is mostly made up of Elemental heads and leaders of other powerful historic hero families. Then there's the political faction, which is essentially hero relations to human governments and the Fae and so on. On the board, half of them are against simulations and paperwork, and the other half are for it. Most of the political faction is for it because it looks good on their campaigns. Especially if most of their constituents are mundanes."

"Where does your mom lie?"

"Mom doesn't like to pick a side in these things," Theo smiled a tad bitterly. "She'd rather fence-sit and kowtow to whatever Vacek says so she doesn't get accused of abusing her Firebringer privileges. Or maybe she's scared of him. Who knows? But I'm not."

Theo's eyes grew hard, and Lexie thought that maybe Theo more than just disliked Vacek. He hated him.

Lexie couldn't blame him.

She'd been neutral about this Vacek guy since the beginning, but hearing Theo talk about him…let's just say she could understand why several people wanted him out.

He may have been dedicated to righting heroes' past wrongs and ensuring that the mundane population was kept safe, but that didn't mean he had to torture the ones doing the saving. Heroes were humans, too. They should be able to make mistakes without being mentally tormented for it.

But then, where was the line drawn? Which murders were judged as mistakes versus negligence?

She didn't know, but surely there had to be some balance found somewhere.

"Anyway," Theo spoke into the silence that had formed. "Mom thinks that there's a whole conspiracy against Vacek going on and that Silas is behind it, even though Silas was Vacek's right-hand man right up until he spoke out against him after the dungeon fiasco. But my thing is, if Vacek knows all these people are against him, why doesn't he just take them out? He's smart enough and powerful enough, probably, to do it. And why don't they just take him out instead of asking him to step down? Why not force him? Why's everybody sitting around and twiddling their thumbs pretending that things aren't falling apart?"

Because everything that's happening is bigger than you know, Lexie thought. And more complicated than you can understand.

Lexie figured that Vacek had probably found some of the moles in the association but not all of them, and he was somehow using them to find the real Silas Creevy. The villains were not ousting Vacek yet, probably because their entire plan hadn't come to fruition. Or maybe because Lexie recognized the Pirate, and that had thrown everything into disarray.

Lexie thought about Silas Creevy and his link to this villain.

Based on the way Theo described him, Silas seemed like a stand-up guy who didn't have a history of causing trouble or being power hungry. So what had driven him to pair up with a man who created such chaos and death?

What did Silas want beyond taking out Vacek?

What was this whole thing about?

Or was it just about Vacek? Was Silas willing to conspire with villains and cause all this commotion over one guy? Surely not.

So far, Vacek seemed like a jerk at worst, but nothing to warrant that level of plotting. Was he worse than they realized? Aiden wouldn't be working with him if he were, right?

There has to be more to the story.

"Okay," Lexie said. "The first thing we need is information. So far, all we know is that Lucy disappeared in District 4. Maybe we can find out more by accessing a database of some sort."

"Nope," Theo said. "I already used my mom's access key to go through the case files. That should have given me the highest level of clearance possible outside of Vacek's. Didn't find anything useful."

"Is there anywhere else you can look? Anyone you can talk to?"

"I've already talked ad nauseam to everyone who's on the case, everyone she contacted in District 4. It led me nowhere. I just don't see where else I can search. I mean, short of following Vacek around, it would be impossible to know what he knows, and he's not an easy guy to stalk. You put a tail on him, and he's going to discover it immediately. But something tells me he's the only one who knows anything, and with everyone else, it feels like I'm chasing shadows."

"Yeah." Lexie thought about Vacek and wondered if there was a way to follow him without his knowledge. Something closer and more inconspicuous than a spy. It couldn't be a card like Sir Hoppington, whose presence could be easily given away. Something invisible, yet attached to him always...

Shadow the Enemy.

Lexie almost gasped as the intent dropped in her head with little effort, without her thinking violent thoughts. What the heck? That was weirdly easy.

Why was that? Was it not Eldritch intent? But it was still antagonistic which was on par with her Eldritch intent. Or was it simpler because she'd raised her perception?

She wanted to celebrate, but knowing the intent was only the first step. Now she had to craft something out of it.

She had an idea of how to do it, but she couldn't tell Theo that. Even if she made that card, giving him a card to literally 'shadow' Vacek would be dangerous and might reveal Vacek's private investigations with her dad. She didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that.

Lexie needed to be careful so they didn't fall in that territory.

On the other hand, this card could help her in a few different ways, too.

"I'll talk to my father," she finally said. "Maybe he knows something that can help me."

Theo nodded. He didn't seem disappointed, but maybe he didn't put that much faith in her helping him anyway.

Alright," he said. "Now, let's get to work.:

He took them to the summer hut outside and told her that they would start with breathing work. He taught her how to breathe in, hold her breath, feel the heat building inside her, and finally breathe it out.

"This," he explained. "Is the basic mechanism of breathing fire."

"It feels like just breathing," Lexie pointed out.

"That's because you're not doing it properly. The problem with fire isn't creating it. It's controlling it. Most people cannot control fire adequately, and they fail to realize that fire, once created, is alive. Like all living things, it will fight to maintain life and will keep burning even if you die in the process. If you allow it, it will drain your mana to nothing and then burn you alive while you scream. Many humans died like that experimenting with fire magic, which is why the system only allows Firebringers to have it. Due to our special pathways, not only can we create and absorb fire, but it's far easier for us to control even mountains of it, and we've learned to communicate with the flames through our body movements."

Lexie nodded. "Okay, so now tell me how to do it properly."

"You're supposed to feel the air inside you, not just inhale. Feel the heat, and build it. Be aware of it, move it from your lungs to your stomach. Feel it shift through your entire being before you exhale."

Lexie did it again and closed her eyes, holding her breath until she felt the heat, moving it inside her. Her pathways were barely flexible enough to manage, but by the end of the two-hour session, she managed to just about shift the heat from her lungs toward her stomach.

Theo was impressed, at least.

After it was done, Lexie almost took out her phone to search for clues for her intent, but then she remembered that Madswick still had access to the phone somehow. Damn, she needed to get him taken off. Maybe she would do that tomorrow. The match location was only a few hours away from Old Moulding by bus. In the Firebringer's fancy, fast car, they would make the trip there and back quickly.

Alternatively, she could arrange another pickup method with Isaac. She texted him and waited for a response.

She spent most of the rest of the day creating the telekinesis card. It wasn't an exact copy of the one she'd made for Anais, since Anais already had telekinesis, and so her card merely helped her carry more stuff.

Lexie had to make a card that did that, but also had the extra telekinetic strength.

Luckily, she knew exactly how to do it. Probably thanks to her increased perception.

Once she was done with that, she went back to thinking about Shadow the Enemy card. She knew it had something to do with manipulating someone's shadow to spy on them, and not only did that sound crazy complicated, it was also firmly Shadowsbane magic.

She would do research once she got access to the Undernet, but she'd searched the Undernet about the Seize the End card for weeks and got nothing. She knew the best and easiest way to figure it out was to analyze a Shadowsbane's pathways. The problem was, the only Shadowsbane she knew of was a guy she couldn't stand and who couldn't stand her.

The problem came up while she was chatting with Dewie and Xena in preparation for tomorrow. She told them about Tamsin tagging along, then asked Xena, "Hey, how much do you know about the Shadowbane kid at our school?"

"Zakhar Shadowsbane? Only that he's an arrogant a-hole with a chip on his shoulder. Why?"

"I was wondering how to befriend him."

Xena looked at her like she'd said something crazy. "Why would you ever want to do that?"

"Because I need to feel his pathways to make a card."

"Really?" Xena peered at her. "That's the only reason?"

"Yeah. What other reason would there be?"

"I don't know. Some girls in our grade think he's cute."

"Ew. He's a jerk."

Xena snorted and looked relieved. "Yeah, some of them like that too."

"That's because their frontal lobes aren't developed yet."

"Neither are yours."

Fair point. Lexie sighed. "I just need to feel it out once. Just to know what it's like and how his powers work."

"You can't read it in a book or something?"

"I could, but this way is quicker."

"You could do it tomorrow," Dewie spoke up. "He's going to the AFC game."

"How do you know?"

"His cousin is competing in the Hero prelims, and his dad told my dad they would be there."

"Oh." That was good to know, but it wasn't exactly helpful. Short of knocking him out and kidnapping him, there was no way to get Zakhar to agree to help her.

"We could knock him out and kidnap him," Xena said, mirroring Lexie's thoughts exactly. Uncanny.

"You think the three of us could take a Shadowsbane?" Lexie asked.

"Hey, I'm a Lightlark. An S-Rank too."

"Your skills aren't offensive."

"You're offensive."

Lexie stuck out her tongue, and Xena did the same, and it turned into a competition.

Yet, Lexie never forgot the new challenge she had on her hands.

She would need to somehow get a feel of the Shadowbane pathway. Which meant she would need to get close to him somehow. Preferably tomorrow.

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