The sub-basement of Garrett Automotive had never been so crowded, or so alive.
Arc-reactors (now the size of softballs) floated in mid-air, suspended by Laken's frost lattices and Harold's newly human hands. Reed stood at the center holo-table, fingers dancing through blueprints that existed in three dimensions and four kinds of magic. Luca and Wade worked opposite each other, soldering phoenix-gold filaments into dragon-scale circuit boards with the kind of focus soldiers give to defusing bombs.
They had twelve hours until sundown and the second trial.
They had six hours until Agnetha's mages finished triangulating the source of last night's magical pulse.
They had zero hours left for doubt.
Reed slammed the final schematic into place. A perfect sphere of light bloomed above the tabl
