Amilie sighed. “I suppose I had better contact my support team.”

  “No, no, no!” Satoshi said. “This is a recon mission! No operations!”

  “We’ve got no choice,” Harue wheedled. “We have to do it tonight, or it will be too late!”

  “We have done no research, you have no plan—”

  “Amelie’s got a plan! And a team!” Harue interjected brightly. “We can just fall in with them!”

  “This isn’t—You can’t—I am going to call Professor Toei!” Satoshi said, fumbling for his phone as he walked out of the room. Harue just laughed.

  “You don't have to go outside if you want to make a phone call,” she told Amilie. “We won’t think you rude or anything.”

  “Oh, yes, I always prefer to make my sensitive phone calls in the presence of agents of foreign organisations,” Amilie said calmly. “I will send a text, thank you.”

  James looked out into the corridor, where Satoshi was arguing with his phone. “What do you think Professor Toei will say?” he asked.

  “He will almost certainly advise caution,” Mitsue said. “But…”

  “But what?”

  “We were not told of another group that opposes the Black Dragons,” Mitsue said. “It was heavily implied that we would stand alone against the return of Orochi.”

  “The return of what?” Amilie exclaimed, looking up from her phone. Mitsue ignored her.

  “So it occurs to me that the information we have been given is incomplete. Perhaps because Professor Toei lacks it, or perhaps it is being withheld. In either case, we can learn more by cooperating with this Order of St George.”

  James frowned. “We have been letting the Professor lead us around a lot,” he admitted.

  “Eh, that is just how it is with ancient secret societies,” Amilie put in. “You can’t just come in and expect to be told everything, just what you need to know. For me, that is whom to stab.”

  “I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” Harue said. “You’ve always got me to sneak around and find out what’s really going on. And Kana, to offer a different perspective.”

  Kana looked up when her name was mentioned. “Yes, I am always ready to aid you with the insight of my peerless wisdom. Can we start fighting now?”

  “No,” Mitsue said firmly.

  Kana sighed.

  Amilie’s phone beeped, and she looked down at it. “My team is willing to consider working with you, once they’ve met with you.”

  “Okay, fine,” James decided. “We’ll do it. What do we tell Satoshi-san?”

  “Your people can meet us outside, right?” Harue asked Amilie.

  “Sure,” Amilie replied.

  “Then leave it to me,” Harue said with a smirk. She glanced through the small window in the door to make sure Satoshi wasn’t looking and then changed into the attendant who had signed them in. Stepping outside, she exchanged a few words with their supervisor, which caused him to move further down the corridor.

  “Easy-peasy,” she said, coming back to them. “Let’s go.”

  “We’re just gonna skip out on him?” James asked incredulously.

  “We’ve got phones when they want to talk to us,” Harue said dismissively. “Let’s go.”

  “I am starting to think that you might not just be dead weight,” Amilie said, staring at Harue as she changed back into an ordinary schoolgirl. “Yes. Out the front.”

  They had barely stepped out of the building when a battered Toyota van pulled up in front of them. Amilie stepped forward and yanked open the side door.

  “This is Gérard, he… takes care of things,” she said.

  “Zat’s transport and logistics, brat,” the older man behind the wheel growled in English. “I can’t believe you were serious. This isn’t a play date.”

  “Is English okay?” Amilie asked, switching to the same language. “Gérard’s Japanese is decent, but the other two are really bad at it.”

  “I can understand it,” Mitsue said.

  “I love toe speak English!” Harue declared. “I speak it very fine!”

  “Don’t worry about it,” James told Amilie, who looked a little doubtful at Harue’s accent. “It’s not like she listens to anyone in any language.”

  They all piled into the back of the van, which had no windows and was mostly open space. There was a row of bench seats on either side, facing each other. No seatbelts. Gérard muttered something in French and sent the van careening forward.

  “We’ll meet the others at the safe house,” Amilie explained.

  “That’s base of operations, kid,” Gérard called back. “You don’t take strangers to a safe house—it’s not safe.”

  “Whatever it’s called,” Amilie said, shrugging. “We can go over the plan there.”

  It took about ten minutes, driving in a twisted and confusing route, to get to the base, which was a small warehouse on the edge of the industrial district. That was long enough for Satoshi to notice they were gone and call him.

  “Where are you!” he yelled when James answered the phone.

  “I can’t tell you that,” James said. “Operational security.”

  He felt quite proud to have thought up that one.

  “Come back here at once!” the man demanded.

  “Uh, no. We’ll come back when we’ve got the power stone.” James aid. “We don’t have to be back at school until Monday, so it will be fine.”

  “Foolish child, this insubordination won’t be tolerated!” Satoshi blustered.

  “Um, it’s not like we’re in the military, and you’re not part of the school staff,” James pointed out. “We don’t have to do what you tell us. Besides, Professor Toei told you to let us do it, didn’t he?”

  Satoshi spluttered wordlessly. It had been a bit of a gamble, but when James had seen him on the phone, he was arguing. He wouldn’t have been if Professor Toei had been saying what Satoshi wanted him to say.

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  “Good talk,” James said after a few seconds of that. “We’ll call you when we’re done and meet back at the airport.”

  He pressed the button to hang up and took a deep breath.

  “Ah, the rebellious phase!” Harue said. James glared at her.

  “You made a good point, but the only reason you suggested we do this is because it would cause trouble, wasn’t it?”

  “The fact that my reasons are better than yours doesn’t make your reasons invalid,” Harue declared.

  “That’s not what I meant—”

  “Don’t focus on our reasons, worry about yourself,” Harue told him. “Kana’s only on board because she wants a fight, but you don’t see her complaining about your reasons, do you?”

  “It’s true,” Kana said, looking over. “My reason is the best reason. Also, that building should be destroyed. It is an affront.”

  “Well, sure,” Harue agreed. She giggled at James’s concerned look. “Don’t worry, it probably won’t happen.”

  “Why—” James started, but they had reached their destination. Gérard drove straight into the warehouse and skidded to a stop in the empty space. Amilie jumped out and started dragging the sliding door closed behind them.

  James and his companions climbed out of the van more cautiously. While the warehouse was mostly empty, three tables had been set up at one end. One was laden with computers, one had lots of wires and electronics, and the other was covered with blueprints.

  Two figures—the rest of Amilie’s people, James guessed—were walking toward the van. One of them was a wiry 20-something-year-old man, dressed in a grey hoodie and smoking a cigarette that James could smell from way over here.

  The other was a short woman with platinum-blonde hair. She wore a beret, leaning over to one side of her bob cut, and the rest of her clothing—long shorts and a shirt with close-cut sleeves—had a look to it that James suspected might be fashionable.

  “This is Luc, and this is Camille,” Amilie said as soon as the door had slid shut. “He does the hacking, and she does the demo and security systems.”

  James started introducing himself and the others. He hesitated when he got to Kana, unsure if he was supposed to reveal her nature.

  “She’s a dragon!” Harue said, speaking into the gap. “And I’m a fox spirit.”

  Gérard looked over at Amilie. “You haven’t forgotten what order you’re a part of, have you?”

  “Of course not,” Amilie scoffed. “But the Order doesn’t exist to murder dragons that are keeping the peace.”

  “Kana’s not a bad dragon!” Harue confirmed. “She’s here to help!”

  Gérard sent a disparaging glance in her direction. “I always heard you shouldn’t trust a fox.”

  “You shouldn’t! You should placate, bribe and revere foxes, but you should never trust them.” Harue giggled at her own line.

  Camille giggled as well. “Ah! She’s cute, n’est-ce pas?”

  Gérard shrugged. “Whatever,” he sighed. “If Headquarters wanted sensible decisions to be made, they probably shouldn’t have placed a teenager in charge, just because she’s good at hitting people with a stick.”

  “Excuse me,” Amilie said haughtily. “I am excellent at hitting people with a stick, thank you very much.”

  “Look,” James said. “We’re both after artifacts stored in that building. If we work together, we can be sure that one team won’t make off with the other team’s artifact.”

  “How sure are you that we’re not after the same artifact?” Luc asked from around his cigarette.

  “We’re… pretty sure,” James said.

  “Oh, that reminds me,” Amilie said. “Luc, can you look up when La Fendoir was made? The thing they’re looking for is fifteen thousand years old.”

  “I’m pretty sure the Order doesn’t go that far back,” Luc said. “But I’ll check.”

  “So what happens if we are after the same artifact?” Gérard challenged.

  Amilie shrugged.

  “Then we discuss matters like reasonable adults, right?”

  “Yes,” Kana agreed. “Discuss.”

  The two girls grinned at each other. They were not warm and friendly grins.

  “I really hope we’re after different artifacts,” James said to Mitsue.

  Mitsue didn’t respond directly, but he stepped forward. “Perhaps we can move on to the plan,” he said. “I understand you already have a method of entry?”

  Gérard tore his gaze away from the spectacle of the two girls sizing each other up. “Right,” he said. “The first order of business is finding out where the damned things are held.”

  “It’s on the eighth floor, near the middle,” Harue put in. Everyone looked at her. “We’ve got a compass that points to our artifact. Dunno if yours is being held in the same place, but…”

  “It seems likely,” Gérard agreed. “Our plan was to gain access to their security system and have Luc locate it.”

  “Oooh, hacking the internet, like in the movies?” Harue asked.

  “Not quite,” Luc stated. “Their network is secured from the outside. We have to get Amilie inside to plug a ghost node into one of the access points.”

  “I’d be really good at that,” Harue said. “Sadly, I can’t enter the building.”

  “Why not?” Gérard asked.

  “Magic,” Harue said. “There has to be some kind of spell circle or formation that keeps all spirits out.”

  Gérard glanced over at Kana, still staring at Amilie. “Spirit includes dragons, right?”

  “Yup!”

  Gérard frowned in thought. “But it’s a Black Dragon facility, which means that dragons visit from time to time. So they must have some way of turning it off.”

  “Sure. And if you can turn it off, I can handle the rest of the physical security,” Harue said. “Locks, walls, laser fortresses, what have you. No problem.”

  “That’s handy,” Gérard said slowly.

  “Sure is! And magic circles are easy to disrupt, too. Just break any part of it, and the whole thing will fail. If you can’t damage the lines, just paint over them in blood.”

  “Does it have to be blood?” Luc asked.

  “There’s other things that will work too, but everyone's got a bit of blood to spare. Doesn’t have to be yours.”

  Amilie walked over. “Did someone say something about blood?” she asked.

  “That is your department,” Gérard said sourly, and repeated what Harue had said.

  “That’s good to know,” Amilie said. “You never know when you might encounter a magic circle in my line of work.”

  “Ahem,” Luc said, drawing their attention back to him. “The top three floors are consistently empty at night.”

  “The rest of the building isn’t?” James asked. “I thought they would go home at night.”

  “The company operates 24-hours,” Luc told him. “The lower nine floors generally have at least some workers at all hours, but the eighth floor is consistently filled with office workers.”

  “That does not seem like a coincidence,” Mitsue said.

  “No,” Luc agreed. “We planned on entering via the top floor.”

  “Method?” Mitsue asked.

  “Grapple line. We’ve secured access to the roof of a nearby building that’s three stories taller. It’s 150 metres away, though.”

  “You have a line that can fire that far?” Mitsue asked, impressed.

  “Camille souped it up some,” Luc said. “It isn’t quiet, but that building will be empty. Security should be lighter up there, and Amilie should be able to get in far enough to plant the node.”

  “Can you ride a line down that far?” Amilie asked.

  “I can,” Mitsue said without doubt. “As for James… do you have a line-rider?”

  “I just use my spearshaft,” Amilie said. “Do we have one, Gérard?”

  “Came with the original kit,” Gérard grunted. “I can dig it up.”

  “Then we should be fine,” Mitsue said. “And I can help with the security system.”

  “How do we get out?” James asked. “I’m pretty sure you don’t climb up zip lines.”

  Mitsue started to speak, but stopped himself. It was Luc who answered.

  “Once we’ve got the security system, we can open doors and spoof cameras, no problem. You can walk out the front door.”

  “Or we could fly you out,” Harue said brightly. “Once you get the ward down, anyway.”

  “Or we could go out via the basement, after planting the demolition charges,” Kana said.

  Everyone looked at Kana.

  “What?” James asked. Kana frowned.

  “I have watched movies since coming to school. Demolition charges are placed in the basement to blow up the building, are they not?”

  “Indeed, yes, ma cherie,” Cecille said, leaning forward. She was suddenly taking more interest in the conversation. “But, might one ask, why do you want to blow up the building?”

  “It offends me,” Kana said shortly.

  “You can’t blow up the building!” James protested. “There are people inside!”

  “Bad people,” Kana said. “People who work for the Black Dragons. People who work in a bad building. But…” she hesitated. “I’m sure there are ways to evacuate the building before we blow it up.”

  “Mm, yes, we could trigger the fire alarm or call in a bomb threat,” Cecille said eagerly.

  Gérard sighed. “Why do I have to keep reminding you, Camille. We’re a retrieval team, not a terrorist group. No blowing up buildings.”

  “It’s fine,” Harue said. “Kana, you’ll stop hating the building once the ward goes down.”

  Kana thought about it. “I will hate it less,” she said. “But I think I will still hate it.”

  “It’s fine,” Harue told the others. “Spirits get this way about wards.”

  “You’re a spirit,” James said.

  “Well, yeah,” Harue admitted. “But I’m a super-sophisticated spirit! A spirit of the world, you might say, with lots of experience in how spirits get, and how to overcome my own perfectly legitimate biases.”

  “I don’t think they can be legitimate if they’re biases,” James said wryly.

  “Speak for yourself, mortal,” Harue said loftily. “My biases are better than yours. So I agree with Kana that the building is an offence and must be destroyed.”

  She spread her hands and put on a beatific expression.

  “But I recognise that this will cause problems with our heist, and also that this feeling will pass.”

  “Ah, but what if we could blow up the building without spoiling the heist?” Camille asked with a gleeful grin.

  “Oh, then we should definitely do it.”