The training was also not that shocking considering that Hazel Medeis was married to the vampire Eminence Killian Drake, who trained his vampires to the point that I’d consider them all sharpshooters.
“They say there is insufficient evidence, and that Cloister resources would be spent better on issues that are truly a threat to human-supernatural relations,” Hazel continued. “As such, the investigation is closed.”
April, standing next to me, stiffened, her entire frame radiating tension. I also felt shocked followed by a wave of indignation washing through me.
How could they close the investigation? The fire could have harmed humans, which would bring repercussions down on the entire community. I know when Sarge and Captain Reese spoke of the issue in front of me, they said the Wizard Board doesn’t want to lose any Houses as it will mean a loss of power, but they can’t be that short sighted, can they?
Juggernaut jumped as if he’d been zapped. “Wait, so we can’t look into it anymore?”
“You can’t look into the library incident,” Hazel said. “However. If you find new incidences or, perhaps, evidence shows up that House Tellier has done anything in the past, that would be considered a new investigation.”
“Wowee.” Grove clapped his hands like he was applauding a musical performance. “You’re as good at bending rules as a fae! Nice job—the future of wizards is bright if you’ll one day be the Elite!”
“Grove.” Standing behind the Adept, Sarge shook his head and narrowed his eyes at our team’s medic.
Hazel laughed. “He’s not wrong. But I have a suggestion. If you do find something, pursue it as ruthlessly fast as possible and delay reporting it to the Regional Committee of Magic until you have House Tellier bagged and tied up. Then the Wizard Council won’t be able to complain, and you’ll have enough information that you can threaten to take it public if they try to stonewall a charge against them again.”
“Spoken like a true fae!” Grove proudly said.
The rest of the team nodded or gave murmured expressions of “understood,” except for April.
She pressed her lips flat and furrowed her eyebrows. “Are they really going to get off with no punishment for the library?”
“For now,” Hazel cracked a smile. “But they won’t get out pain free.” She held up her gigantic stack of paper. “I’ll bury the Wizard Board and House Tellier in paperwork—noise complaints, a failure to care for the front sidewalk, using magic in public, there’s at least a dozen violations we can throw at them between the human government and the Curia Cloisters.”
It was something, but I wasn’t the type who was clever enough to use paperwork to mete out justice so it still felt hollow to me.
April briefly raised her hand. “Should Blood, Binx, and I lodge a complaint about House Tellier’s conduct the night we went to speak to them?”
Hazel tilted her head. “It’s not a bad idea, but I’d like to keep House Tellier’s ire focused on me, so the task force doesn’t experience any hindrances to future investigations.”
So, the Adept plans to become our shield. It’s risky, but House Medeis is probably the strongest wizard House in Magiford—stronger, even, than Elite Bellus’s House.
“Any questions?” Sarge asked.
The door Sarge and Adept Hazel Medeis had entered through slammed open.
Sunshine stood braced in the doorway, her forehead damp with sweat as she heaved in gulps of air.
I stared at her, trying to make sense of her presence. She didn’t usually come in for the early morning shift—she had closer to a human work schedule, and even then we still had over half an hour left to our shift before the early morning crew took over.
Something must be wrong.
“What happened, Sunshine?” I asked, breaking the silence.
Sunshine pushed her glossy brown hair out of her face. “Fae fight, downtown,” she said.
“All units, prepare to mobilize in the teams you went out on patrol in!” Sarge shouted.
We scattered. I just had to grab my mask—I wore all my weapons unless expressively instructed otherwise—so I slunk over to Sunshine, who was leaning against the wall.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yeah.” Sunshine nodded, scowling when her hair hung in her face again. “Just ran through the Cloisters like crazy to get here. Mom dragged me out of bed early today—one of her brownie friends from the Night Court was hired to cater a brunch for the Spring fae Queen, and she volunteered to help and wanted me to drop her off. We ran into the fight downtown—but they were moving, so I doubt they’re still there.”