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“Sorry, your Grace.As I was saying, there was a magical signature there.I think it’d leaked from that device.It was like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”Shaw scratched her head.“It was almost as if someone had tried mixing several different types of magic together.”

Evander rocked to halt on a step.Rufus went as still as stone beside him.

Shaw studied their stunned expressions warily.“What?”It didn’t take long for her confusion to fade.She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.“Bloody hell!This is about what that Thornfield lad told you two yesterday, isn’t?The Magical Conduit Theory?!”

They hushed her and looked around cautiously.

Luckily, there wasn’t anyone within earshot.

Evander decided not to point out to the forensic mage that Thornfield was likely the same age as her.

“We should go take another look at where you discovered that magical signature,” he said grimly as they descended the stairs at a brisk pace.

“There’s something else, your Grace,” Shaw added as they hurried through the Arcane Division.“I decided to see if that magic was present anywhere else in the south wing.Guess what?I found a trace of it outside one of the lecture halls.”

Evander traded a surprised look with Rufus.

“Well done, Shaw,” he murmured.

They were closing in on their enemy.He was certain of it.

The trip to Bloomsbury seemed interminable, the carriage forced to proceed at little more than walking pace through the soupy fog.Evander’s fingers drummed restlessly against his knee as he stared out at the silhouettes of buildings drifting past.The ghostly shape of the Institute finally materialised up ahead.

The courtyard was even more eerily silent than yesterday, the fog shrouding the grand buildings in an otherworldly pall that made them look as if they belonged to another realm.

To Evander’s surprise, they met Constables Fitch and Bartley in the main foyer.

The pair slowed when they saw their group.Both men looked pale and tense.

Alarm knotted Evander’s shoulders at the sight of the truncheons in their hands.

“How did you get here so quickly, your Grace?”Fitch asked stiffly before he could question them.

“What do you mean?”

“We just sent an officer to headquarters to fetch you,” Fitch explained rapidly, his eyes dark with concern.“Something’s happening in the south wing.The French Special Arcane Investigator was inspecting one of the lecture halls when we heard an explosion inside.We rushed over there but there was some kind of magic barrier blocking our way.We couldn’t get inside.”

“We could hear fighting going on,” Bartley mumbled.“The whole place stank, your Grace.Like something rotten!”

“We were just looking for a member of the faculty to help us,” Fitch said.

Fear squeezed Evander’s heart.Leon!

“Fitch, Bartley, don’t let anyone inside the building if they’re not with the Met!”Evander barked as he started running, Rufus and Shaw in his footsteps.

The constables nodded briskly.

“Get ready!”Evander warned Rufus and Shaw in a hard voice as they pounded the quiet halls.“We’re probably dealing with a dark mage and a powerful one at that.”

They had just passed the junction leading to the south wing when a voice called out to them.

“Your Grace?Inspector?”

Evander stumbled to a stop, Rufus and Shaw skidding behind him with a curse.

Cecillia watched them with a puzzled expression as she approached from the west wing, the sergeant and constables assigned to her security following in her wake.

“Is everything alright?”