Love and Other Crisis | Season 1

Episode | 28

Inola switched her flashy sports car for a run-of-the-mill, compact sedan for their mission. It was simple on the outside and anything but on the inside.

The vehicle's interior boasted supple leather seats, a brushed metal dashboard with high-gloss finishes, and a center console with a touchscreen interface. Inola spent a few minutes gushing over how the console managed everything from the climate function to the entertainment system with a few deft swipes of her finger. It was her sports car tucked into the shell of an ordinary sedan.

"Where are we headed?"

Inola donned her sunglasses. "Spying on the competition."

They parked down the road from Katerina's townhouse. Inola touched the windshield, and the image zoomed in as if they were right across the street.

"Woah." No need for binoculars.

A few more taps and the display split into two—one side for the house's exterior and the other for a heat-map interior view. Several bodies moved on the two floors of the house.

"The investigators have been at it for days and nothing, but they won't let us in until they're finished." Inola gestured quotations around the word finished. "It's been days. If they were going to find anything, they would have. Dumb bricks."

Kaliope expected no mutual cooperation between the two teams.

"Why bother spying if there's nothing—"

"I said if they were going to find anything. Not us."

Inola reached into the backseat and retrieved a chrome steel briefcase. She rested it in Kaliope's lap. Inside was a small gadget the size of a standard taser nestled in protective cushioning with a screen and one button marked "search." The small device was unexpectedly weighty. Also in the case was a small vial of glittery red powder.

"What is it?"

"An archaic magic detector. Auntie Priya made it. She's the mad scientist of the family."

Auntie Priya's occupation explained the icky concoction she called soup. Nasty as it was, though, it accomplished wonders for Kaliope's skin and hair. Magical medical care was a welcomed perk of the job.

"See, Auntie believes if Katerina hid anything in her house, she'd protect it with charm runes." Inola zoomed into the video of the investigators. "Runes are independent of the caster who sets them, so they hang around even after the mage dies."

Kaliope turned the gadget over. An intricate knot of lines shaped like a pentagon was etched into the rear. "Wouldn't the investigators suspect the same thing?"

"Maybe. But runes are from the old days. Like way old. Older than modern history when they wrote on parchment and cowhides. Charm mages were always few. Inheriting archaic bloodline magic is less prevalent than wholesale elemental talents. Second to it is supreme talents like vitakinesis for med mages or technokinesis for tech mages. Grand Charm Mages also hoarded their knowledge, so many of their practices died out with them."

Kaliope was always amazed by the levels of the Occult world. There was so much she was yet to learn. "I thought Auntie Priya was a mad scientist. Does she study history, too?"

"She does everything. Oh." Inola pressed into the steering wheel, excited as the four investigators converged for the exit. Three emerged, another lingering inside on the ground floor.

"How many times do we have to search this place?" The female investigator who spoke massaged her shoulder as she rolled her neck. "It's a dead end." She groaned and pouted.