‘Harvey’s gonna be important in finding him,’ Asbel said confidently. ‘If no other method works, surely Harvey can do something.’

  Ethan just stared at him, as did everyone else in the room.

  They had all met in Harvey’s living room in his room at The Tower. Charlotte and General Woodward were there too. It was only four in the evening, and they hadn’t even been there long, as school hadn’t even let out an hour ago, but they were already dry on ideas on how to get Albert back.

  ‘He’s going to be incredibly well hidden,’ Charlotte murmured again. She had said that exact sentence so many times in half an hour that it began to feel like she was merely saying it to herself.

  ‘Yeah…’ Ethan mumbled back. ‘They can’t just let the Albert Santrrer be found easily.’

  ‘But, at the same time, where do they have to hide him?’ Asbel asked aloud. ‘They don’t have that much territory.’

  Jay placed his hand on Asbel’s shoulder. ‘They have the entirety of France, man. And France is big.’

  Ethan could tell that Jay was trying to make light of the situation, but he simply found it impossible to even smirk at the comment.

  ‘Let’s go back to your point, Mr Jacobs,’ General Woodward said firmly. ‘How do you suppose Mr Bèstia will help us find Albert?’

  ‘I’m not exactly sure,’ Asbel said rather weakly. ‘But he has to be of use. Don’t you find it strange that Maltor has been able to find Albert time and time again without anybody relaying the information to him?’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Charlotte asked, speaking at a normal volume for the first time that evening.

  ‘Well, the two instances that immediately come to mind are when we travelled to Apercaput and when we went to Paris. Nobody told Maltor that we were going to Apercaput and yet he was still able to send a squad out to find out. And nobody would have told him that we were attacking Paris and yet he was coincidentally there to face Albert.’

  Ethan, along with Charlotte, Cecilia, Harvey, and the General, nodded slightly.

  ‘And, I know it’s a bit of a stretch, but I think Maltor might have some sort of mental connection with Albert,’ Asbel continued. ‘And if he has one, I don’t think it’d be too much of a stretch to suggest that Harvey might have one too. He is Albert’s blood after all.’

  ‘Don’t you think that’s because they were at The School together, though?’ Ethan said. ‘They must have done something if there is a link between Maltor and Albert.’

  ‘That’s definitely how they got it,’ Asbel said confidently. ‘And they must have one. Not only can Maltor miraculously detect where Albert is, or where he’s going, but Maltor can literally enter Albert’s dream.’

  ‘That could be an ability of his rather than a link, though,’ Natasha suggested sheepishly.

  ‘But then why wouldn’t he invade anybody else’s dream?’ Asbel fired back immediately. ‘If he can invade anyone’s dream, it’s a missed opportunity to not invade all of ours. He could break us from the inside out.’

  There was a second of silence, so Asbel continued, speaking rather quickly as he did so.

  ‘I know it’s a stretch, but it links together too well. Maltor and Albert have a link. And if such links can exist, there is a chance, no matter how small, that Harvey has such a link with Albert.’

  ‘But then why don’t I have one with Maltor?’ Cecilia said quickly so that Asbel couldn’t keep rambling. ‘He’s my brother. Gods, he’s literally my twin.’

  ‘What?’ Jay roared. ‘You’re twins?’

  Cecilia blinked. The topic of conversation had changed rather quickly. ‘Didn’t you know?’

  It had been Cecilia’s birthday a little over two months prior, but nobody had known that that was Maltor’s birthday, too. Now that Ethan thought about it, the two were definitely remarkably close in age. So close that…they had to have been twins. They were in the same school year and Cecilia was born in May. Mathematically, it would be impossible for Maltor to be in the same school year as her without being her twin.

  ‘Maltor never said anything about his birthday being May 1st…’ Natasha murmured.

  ‘It hardly matters,’ General Woodward said rather sternly. ‘Such a link may exist between you and your brother, perhaps it just hasn’t manifested yet or it hasn’t been used.’

  ‘Well, I can think of a really simple way to test if a link exists between Albert and Harvey,’ Ethan said loudly, turning to face Harvey, who had been leaning on the wall next to him. ‘Can you sense anything? Like, I don’t know, if you focus really hard and think of Albert can you feel anything?’

  A look crossed Harvey’s face that gave the impression that he thought Ethan was talking out of his ass. But after a mere second, without saying a word, Harvey closed his eyes and scrunched his face.

  Ethan doubted it would work. As marvellous as Asbel’s ideas were, there was no way that Albert and Maltor’s link was anything ordinary. It was simply a product of the experimentation of The School.

  After a period that was likely three seconds but felt like three minutes, Harvey opened his eyes. Then he shook his head.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  A part of Ethan was let down. But he had known when he asked that it would be fruitless. The world that they lived in was so bizarre that normal things like not having a telepathic link with your cousin were a letdown.

  Asbel sighed. ‘Then I’ve got no idea. Unless he miraculously gets one soon, Albert’s as good as dead if we don’t come up with something else.’

  ‘I think we’re forgetting a key part of this rescue mission, though,’ Jay said rather quietly.

  ‘How so?’ Stephen voiced the group’s question.

  ‘Whoever it was that captured Albert…’ Jay murmured. ‘Are we really thinking about how big that is? We know they have Righello, but there is a group out there that was able to capture Albert. It’s one thing finding Albert but when we get there we’re gonna have to fight the same people that beat him.’

  Jay, for once, was right. Righello alone was powerful, but Albert had proven twice that he could beat him. And there was still the rest of the group. Albert had won fights in which he was outnumbered multiple times in the past. But this group had got him. They were something different. Ethan thought that maybe he could at least keep Righello distracted, but if this group could take down Albert, then nobody else stood a chance.

  That was, until Harvey spoke.

  ‘No, the rest of the group that were there were nothing special. Even I was holding my own. It was more so the fact that Righello came out of nowhere. We were already outnumbered, and then Righello came down from the sky and took off Albert’s arms. And from there…there wasn’t much Albert could’ve done.’

  Nobody said a word for a few seconds.

  ‘Ethan and Peter alone could probably get Albert out of wherever he is,’ Harvey said quietly. ‘Ethan can definitely hold his own against Righello long enough so that Peter can get rid of the rest of his squad and rescue Albert. We’ll be fine if we all go.’

  ‘You’ll have proper military aid, too,’ General Woodward added. ‘We’ll be completely fine.’

  ‘We still have to find him,’ Asbel said firmly. ‘We have to tackle that problem first.’

  Jay looked rather awkwardly at his feet.

  ‘I wanna say that there’s no way he’s in France but that might just be wishful thinking,’ Ethan grumbled.

  ‘It might be thinking based on logic,’ Charlotte reasoned. ‘Perhaps Maltor fears holding Albert in France because of the constant fighting there, or perhaps he fears betrayal from the French.’

  ‘He has no reason to fear the French, ma’am,’ General Woodward shut her idea down rather quickly. ‘Even if Albert is in their territory, I find it hard to believe that Mr Confussée would allow anybody other than his most trusted troops to watch over him. But the constant fighting-’

  ‘There. We might be able to rule out France,’ Ethan spoke abruptly. ‘We don’t know exactly how strong the bond between France and Maltor is. Perhaps there is some mistrust. Maybe France won’t allow Albert to be held in their country unless they are the ones watching him.’

  ‘Ethan…’ Asbel sighed. ‘That makes no-’

  ‘No! It makes sense!’ Ethan replied fiercely. ‘Why would they want Albert in their country anyway? They know that we’re going to try and rescue him with as much force as we can spare. France knows damn well that if they keep Albert captive in their country, then we’ll come crashing down on them worse than we did on Paris. And they can’t risk that, especially because we’re already actively fighting them near Versailles.’

  General Woodward leaned forward slightly from his position on the sofa, nodding and gently stroking his beard.

  ‘Even if France would allow Maltor to hold Albert on their soil without their supervision, he simply can’t be there. The French might be stupid bastards, but if a teenager can tell that it would be a bad idea for Albert to be in their country, then surely they can tell that much as well.

  ‘Unless he’s somewhere extremely remote like Corsica or another French island, there is no way that Albert’s in France. He has to be at one of Maltor’s bases over here. And that makes our job a lot easier.’

  Ethan felt like a genius. He understood now why Asbel never shut up when he had a good idea. It was a great feeling to put the pieces together.

  ‘I wanna say that you’re just speaking with wishful thinking, but you make complete sense,’ Peter murmured.

  ‘We should search the UK,’ Ethan determined. ‘And if that’s the wrong call then that’s the wrong call. But it’s a gamble we have to take.’

  ‘Well, gambles aren’t exactly alien to us, are they?’ Cecilia said, smirking.

  Ethan wondered how she was feeling. Even if she and Albert hadn’t even been dating for four months, they were still in love. Her heart probably ached.

  ‘We’ve yet to locate any of Maltor’s British bases, though,’ Natasha said, sounding worried.

  ‘Well, he has a tendency to attack from the north,’ General Woodward’s words had the tone of thinking aloud, but it was clear that he meant to say them. ‘Now that you mention it, we should’ve at least begun to search for one by now. But, yes, I think north of here would be a good bet. Perhaps near Humberston. That’s only a small village. Who knows, maybe he’s taken control of the village and hidden it from the rest of the world with an enchantment or jinx?’

  ‘Even if he’s not exactly in Humberston, searching north is the best bet we have so far,’ Ethan said firmly. ‘We need to prepare as quickly as possible.’

  ‘The army is ready for a simple command from Mr Bèstia,’ General Woodward confirmed. ‘All he needs to do is give permission and we shall march north.’

  ‘Me?’ Harvey spat, sounding appalled. ‘Why not Ethan?’

  ‘Harvey…’ Ethan tried cautiously. ‘I don’t really know how to put this but just because I gave a speech doesn’t mean I’m in power because Albert’s gone. You’re his heir. You give orders when he’s gone.’

  Harvey looked as though he might faint.

  ‘Hopefully you won’t have to for long!’ Natasha said quickly, evidently trying to sound as cheerful as possible. ‘As soon as we get Albert back, you won’t have to worry about any responsibilities!’

  ‘Other than staying alive,’ Stephen grumbled from next to Ethan, making him cough back a chuckle.

  Natasha had obviously heard him, as she cut him a rather stern look.

  ‘Let’s ensure that your command to the army is both your first and your last order as our leader, then, shall we?’ General Woodward said in the most pleasant tone Ethan had ever heard him muster.

  Harvey straightened his back and clenched his jaw. ‘Yeah. Let’s get Albert back. The second you guys are ready, I’ll give the command and we’ll march north with the army. We’ll take supplies. We won’t return to the city until we have him.’

  ‘A rather questionable tactic, but I can back it, sir,’ Jay replied in a mockingly formal voice.

  That got a couple of laughs from the group.

  Ethan rather admired Harvey’s determination, but he wasn’t sure whether or not it was just an act. He hadn’t been that determined a minute ago. It seemed that being reminded of his responsibility had ignited a flame within him.

  ‘Well, I’m pretty much already ready to go,’ Peter said, smirking manically.

  ‘Same,’ Ethan agreed, which prompted everybody else to either say the same or nod their agreement.

  ‘I’ll leave it up to General Woodward to formulate an actual plan for the operation,’ Harvey announced. ‘Then, once one has been made, we will head north. And we won’t return until we have Albert.’

  Ethan could certainly get behind the plan. And there was no denying that Albert was vital for the outcome of the war. Whoever had him would win. They needed to get him back.

  He hoped they weren’t underestimating the whole thing. Sure, he could fight Righello. And he could definitely fight Righello’s squad.

  For all they knew, Albert might’ve even been on his way back himself. He was strong. He was probably breaking out as they spoke.

  Ethan hoped so. It wasn’t fun for Albert to be missing.