Maya's POV:
The first group fell on a Tuesday morning. Not with fire or blood, but with a tax audit and one pissed-off filing clerk.
I was holed up in what used to be Millfield’s general store, halfway through the bond exercises Marie had shoved at me, when Sarah came crashing through the door. Laptop hugged to her chest like a shield.
“Maya, you’ve got to see this.” Her face was lit with something halfway between terror and delight. “The Order of the Silver Moon just got nailed by the IRS.”
She slammed the laptop onto the counter where penny candy used to sit. A news site glared back at me, headline screaming big enough to make bureaucrats grin and shadowy organizations sweat:
MYSTERIOUS RELIGIOUS SECT LOSES TAX EXEMPTION AMID FINANCIAL IRREGULARITIES
“Religious sect?” I muttered.
