40
The New Unity started clearing London’s streets of any signs of magic. Having made the nearby humans forget what had really happened, Stella and the elves freed and mind-wiped the hundreds of soldiers imprisoned in the Tower of London’s various strongholds, spreading the lie about the earthquake.
The trolls and other magical creatures, meanwhile, were ushered out of the city, some on the warlocks’ galleon, and others on foot. Great care was taken to limit their exposure to humans wherever possible. By the time they had finished, the Kraken had also slipped into the Thames and disappeared.
The ancient trees summoned by Oberon, it turned out, weren’t destined to last. Their boughs continued to fall into the streets as the morning progressed, brittle and black as charcoal, and they soon
