Helena was nearly manic. She wanted to be out fighting right now. Acedia was out there, along with the cultists and the damned angel summoner. And she wanted to regain her pride and crush them all.
But Camila had been right. They were under equipped, weakened, and clueless. Retreating back to her shop had been the right move. Something Camila had yelled at her as soon as Helena had calmed down.
Aoi carefully set a cup of tea down next to her. “Any luck?”
Helena nodded before taking a sip. The shrine maiden had arrived the morning after they’d stumbled back home, and had helped keep both of them sane. “The spell isn’t too hard. The important part isn’t hurting anyone by accident.”
“So the next time someone tries to make me worthless what’ll happen?” Camila asked from where she’d been sulking. The woman was still furious over losing control, and Helena couldn’t blame her.
“The next person who tries to remove your tag without your permission will suffer the death they fear the most,” Helena said. “Unless they’re just an idiot in which case they’ll receive an unpleasant electric shock.”
Both women stared at her. “That easy?” Camila asked.
“I might have developed a similar spell earlier,” Helena said, turning back to the lines. She needed to make sure it didn’t kill a grabby child or foolish pickpocket.
Camila shook her head, then turned to Aoi. “Any luck finding Acedia?”
“Sorry.” Aoi folded her arms. “I’ve tried all my scrying spells, but I can’t find her.”
“Porra!” Helena winced as Camila went into a blistering string on Portuguese. Even knowing this was her way of staying healthy didn’t make it any less startling. The jiang-shi woman ranted for a good minute before deflating again. “Sorry.”
Helena shook her head. She understood. She wanted to rant as well. But not all of her spells could use her rage as fuel, and she’d learned how to keep her head. “Don’t worry about it.”
It helped that she had another plan. She turned to Aoi. “Try searching with this.” She drew a complex symbol in the air.
Aoi gasped and stared at the symbol. “You found her true name?”
“For situations like this,” Helena said. She looked away. “I know. I know. She just doesn’t hide it well. I needed a counter if someone else used it against her.” A true name gave someone near complete control over a demon. If someone had used that to turn Acedia against them Helena would have needed to use the demon’s true name to break the spell. And even then it would have been difficult.
“You should have told her, Helena.” Aoi’s tone made Helena wince again. “But your reasoning is correct. I’ll try it.”
“Sorry,” Helena muttered before returning to her spell. She needed to focus. To get the last limiting runes set.
It was actually a very complex problem. Which was good. A complex problem was the only thing that could hold her attention. They’d already lost the night, and they were getting towards noon now. Time was ticking.
Still she needed to get this finished. The curse was done. She’d already constructed it and given it its triggering spell. The deterrent for people she didn’t want to kill was mostly done. She’d created the trigger. But she had to have the spell carefully determine how much electricity to hit the person with. A shock that would properly chastise a pickpocket might kill a small child. And she cared a lot more about the child’s life.
Finally Helena figured out a solution. She’d just tie it to a curse that was too weak to be lethal. The curse would determine how much power the defensive spell would use. She sketched the rune together and smiled grimly as it formed. “There!”
She looked up to see Camila impatiently standing behind her. “That good enough for the fight?” Camila asked.
“Yes,” Helena said. “If you’ll let me apply it?” Camila nodded and Helena stuck the defense to the ofuda on Camila’s forehead. “There. We won’t have THAT problem again.”
“Good. I like being myself. Not some murder zombie,” Camila muttered. She hopped to face Aoi. “So where are we going?”
Aoi shook her head, a look of frustration marring her face. That was bad. “It’s not working. I can’t find her anywhere.”
Camila shivered, “Wait does that mean-“
“She’s not dead,” Helena said. “But someone else with her true name is hiding her.” Helena closed her eyes. “And if Aoi can’t find her I can’t do it either.”
“Well then how the hell are we gonna find her?” Camila snapped. She hopped around the map staring over the city. “She’s gotta be somewhere here right?”
“I don’t know.” Helena glared at the map as well. “Damn it,I just don’t know.”
Aoi wrung her hands. “Perhaps we should contact the police? Or the other mages you know?”
Helena hissed in annoyance but nodded. “Both.” She didn’t want help. She really didn’t want to have to beg the other named magicians. But she was out of time! She’d been out of time yesterday, but she’d needed to heal and prepare.
“Wait a sec.” Camila was peering at the map.
Helena grimaced in annoyance. “What?” They were losing time.
“Where’d the other murders happen? The demonic ones,” Camila asked.
Helena peered down, trying to find the intersections. Fortunately Aoi saved her. “Here and here,” the priestess said, pointing at the two locations.
Camila looked around. “Oh. Arms. Can you mark them?”
Helena placed ‘X’s there. “So how will this help?”
The jiang-shi waved her hands over the board. “Like, look at it.”
Helena peered at the map. It did have a certain pattern to it, now that she looked. “It seems like they’re all centered around a single area. But that has to be a coincidence. Whatever they are they aren’t stupid.” Helena grimaced. “We’re also missing a murder. They’re down to one and we only have five marks.”
“So in those serial killer movies like the murders always end up in the shape of a pentagram?” Camila pointed at the board. “It’s dumb as hell outside, but since magic works here….”
“It’s still stupid,” Helena muttered. “But you’re right. It might help the ritual. But why let everyone know where you are?”
Aoi folded her arms. “Because you don’t care if people know where you are if you have a fallen angel doing your bidding.”
Helena stared down at the map. That had to be it. The lines were too perfect otherwise. “And the ritual would start and end in the center! They must have a ward against scrying there to prevent people from noticing. One second!”
Helena grabbed a bowl and ran to the sink before filling it. Scrying in water was damn near useless, but there was one thing it was great at. Finding out where other people had put up protections against scrying. She stared into the bowl, using the map as a guide to her mind. Transforming the ripples into a bird’s eye view of the city. And the water responded, showing her a wavy vision.
Except for a small spot right in the middle.
Helena focused her vision, letting the spell zoom in on the missing area. It was actually large. A big building, surrounded by workhouses. Helena switched to a front view to see the other buildings, and dark portions of the water cleared. “Of course. The basement,” she muttered. “Our Lady of Grace’s Home for Children. Running under an orphanage. How trite. Perhaps they’ll sneak the fallen angel into the city in a big wooden horse as well.”
She turned around to find Camila and Aoi both looking over her shoulder. “We have them,” she said.
“Let’s go then!” Camila said, floating towards the door.
“Wait,” Helena raised a hand. She turned to her Aoi. “I know you don’t want to fight, but can you give us a spell to hide? They’re sure to have a lookout.”
Aoi raised an eyebrow as she pulled out ofuda. “You usually don’t worry about those things.”
“I’m afraid if they see us they might rush the ritual. Or hurt Acedia,” Helena said. They obviously felt like their backs were to the wall. If they felt pressed they might do anything.
“I understand.” Aoi motioned them all closer. As Camila hopped over she explained. “These charms will make us look like birds. A clever observer will see through it, but hopefully we won’t give them time.” She looked at Helena. “I’m coming too. I won’t be able to fight, but if that is an orphanage above I can keep the children safe.”
Camila nodded. “Smart! But you probably should watch out for any cultists hiding there.”
Aoi didn’t look happy but she didn’t back down. “Stay close to me as we fly.” She threw the charms around them.
The illusion was fairly simple, but strong. Helena could see the image of a crane appear where Aoi was, while Camila was hidden under a strange looking hawk. If she wanted to she could probably break the illusion, but she couldn’t see through it at a glance.
“Let’s go then,” Helena began forming messengers to warn the other groups involved while they flew to their target.
The rush through the sky put Helena on edge. They’d wasted so much time already. The fifteen minutes it took to fly there seemed like an eternity.
When they finally arrived at the orphanage she had to force herself to calm down and look the place over. Fortunately it was an easy task to determine where their enemy was. Helena pointed towards a stairway leading down next to the main building. “The scrying wards start there.”
Camila nodded. “What’s the plan?”
“You break in the door and everyone who threatens us gets hurt,” Helena said.
“Good plan.” Camila positioned herself next to the door. “Ready.”
Helena nodded, followed by Aoi a second later. Camila hopped back, then slammed through the door arms outstretched. Helena prepared an attack spell, and flew after.