“Once we have all the magic for ourselves,” he said, “no one will be able to stop us.”

  Another cut — Kane facing off against Winnie just five days earlier, clearly wielding powerful magic, directing a series of flows to grab Cricket and slam him to his office floor.

  “Are there any more traitors in there, my dear?” Kane called. He brushed aside her magical assault then spoke again. “My dear, you can never best me at battle. I’m much more accomplished at my use of magic than you.”

  Winnie watched the screen, amazed to see the battle in Kane’s office from a new angle. Kane hit her repeatedly, with powerful strikes she barely shielded herself from.

  The screen froze on a close-up of Kane, his face twisted with rage as magic streamed from his outstretched hands towards Winnie.

  The American voiceover started again, now over the still of Kane.

  “Our leaders have led us to believe that chanter neighbors are to blame for the power failures and storms. But Nils Kane never told us it was him all along, creating the devastation so he could keep all of the magic for himself. Stop this man before it’s too late. Contact your senators in the Assembly today and tell them you want Kane removed.”

  A single graphic appeared over Kane’s image. It read, Stop Kane.

  Maria leaned forward and tapped the space bar.

  The screen went black then returned to the home screen.

  “Well, what do you think?”

  “You made your own news story,” Winnie observed. “Won’t the media balk at playing a story you wrote for them?”

  “We’re not putting this on the news,” Maria said. “Kane controls all the outlets anyway. They’d bury the story or turn it against us. We have a different release model in mind to navigate around Kane’s expectations.”

  “I’m not sure I understand what you’re getting at, Maria,” Danny said. “If you don’t put it on the news, you’ll never reach enough people. You can’t just put it out there and expect everyone to share it. You can’t plan for a video to go viral when Kane controls the Internet, same as the news stations.”

  Maria smiled. “That’s why we release it as an ad for a new documentary.”

  “A what?” Winnie said, not understanding.

  “A commercial,” Maria said. “We buy a full ad blitz on every channel and station out there. Saturate the market before Kane knows what hit him.”

  “But that’s … ” Winnie started.

  “That’s what?” Maria said, sounding defensive.

  Winnie looked at the computer and thought about what she’d just watched. A broad smile found her lips. “That’s pure genius,” she said. “It’s perfect.”

  Chapter 5

  The biggest trick to getting their anti-Kane commercial to play everywhere was to gather the funds to buy out all the advertising time on every station in the country.

  It was absurdly expensive, more even than Winnie had expected.

  She spent the better part of the next three days on the phone and in video conferences with the nation’s network of Sable bosses, starting with those who’d already sworn their allegiance.

  Cleaver Yorke understood the stakes immediately. He pledged all the funds he could lay his hands on to support the campaign.

  Next came Colten Sico. He was more reticent to part with his hard-earned reserves. She met with him in his warehouse hideout in South Philly.

  “Winnie, I need that money to pay off the local Red Legs so they stop looking for me and what little crew I have left. If I’m not careful, they’ll round us up and throw us all in a camp. They’ll catch you, too. I’ve been paying the Red Legs who patrol the Pike area to ignore the activity there.”

  “If you don’t pay for this now, you’ll end up pissing all your money away in dribs and drabs until you can’t pay them off anymore,” Winnie said. “Then they’ll pick you up anyway. This is the only plan that has a chance of succeeding. We have the goods on Kane and we have to use it now before he has a chance to recover. Spend the money now or lose it all later.”

  “Are you making this argument to all of the bosses?” Colten asked.

  “Yes. Cleaver and Artos are in. You’re next, then I call Izzy in Chicago and Tyson Bizzell in Atlanta. Once I have them, the rest of the country’s bosses will follow.” Winnie pointed to the laptop. “That video is our best chance of getting rid of Kane, but only if everyone goes in at once. We need the people outraged and calling their senators.”

  “People have tried to get rid of Kane before, Winnie,” said the elderly Sable boss. “You’re young. You haven’t watched his rise to power. Twenty years ago, he was just a local Red Leg here in Philly. Incorruptible. Always turning in his fellow officers on the take. I tried more than once to pay him off. It never worked.”

  “That’s because he had his eyes on the end, right from the beginning,” Winnie said. “He always aspired to be Director of the Department of Magical Containment. But that’s what makes him vulnerable. He’s surely made enemies on his way up. If they smell blood in the water, the sharks will circle to pull him under. We only have to show the resolve and commitment to get it started.”

  Sico tilted back in his desk chair, staring at the ceiling before finally turning to Winnie. “Alright. I’m in. Let’s finish this monster once and for all.”

  Once Winnie had Artos, Cleaver, and Colten in her corner, the rest of the bosses fell in line with few objections. They were all set to release the videos nationwide, hitting all the networks during primetime so they’d capture the attention of the biggest population at once. The ads would run on every channel during every break throughout the next evening from eight to ten o’clock.

  The next day, everyone at the Pike was waiting, anticipating national reaction. Some thought that the commercials would work as planned, others were afraid that they’d be received as fake video and people would deny the evidence against Kane. Winnie had concerns but she kept them to herself.

  They watched the evening prime-time dramas on multiple televisions set up in the makeshift cafeteria. The assembled crew clustered around the various screens, discussing the video segments every time one came on. The question was always the same: What would the public reaction ultimately be?

  By the time the eleven o’clock news rolled around, they had their answer.

  The lead story was the accusations against Kane. Despite his control over the news media, they had to run the story.

  Switchboards were blowing up in the senators’ offices across the country and the Assembly president had called a special session for the following day.

  Winnie switched channels, trying to watch much of the coverage at once. Hers was the largest cluster in the room since she had the largest screen. Danny, Victor and Morgan, Elaine, Tris, Maria, and Garraldi all stood around her, watching coverage of the public reaction unfold.

  Every anchor was calling for Kane to respond to the accusations, answer the allegations that he was a chanter himself as shown in the video. Winnie’s crew cheered whenever a portion of the video was played, each time showing Kane casting spells against Winnie and her friends.

  For the most part, the videos worked exactly as Maria had planned when putting the footage together. Interviews with angry citizens who’d taken to the streets after the ads started playing showed how that anger was directed right at Kane himself. One man in the Philly interviews said that Kane should be arrested immediately and put on trial for treason for the destruction of Boston and for the dust storms still plaguing the cities daily.

  Winnie reached out and put a hand on Maria’s shoulder. “You did it. Everything worked just like you said.”

  Maria shrugged, smiling. “I hoped for some level of outrage, but I’ll admit that I never expected this kind of coverage. The news channels are all in Kane’s pocket. It must be the Assembly members calling for a special session and the president agreeing that’s emboldened them to turn against him.”

  “There are still plenty of citizens supporting the status quo,” Danny said. “I’ve seen several interviews with people on the street who are siding with Kane despite the evidence. I don’t understand how.”

  “You can’t expect everyone to believe it based on a single night’s push,” Maria explained. “Kane’s been in power too long for an overnight defeat. And he’ll always have supporters that distrust chanters no matter what, just because they’re different. They’ll look at the video and conclude that it’s fake, created with special effects.”

  “As long as it makes people question Kane’s moves and motives, that’s all I care about,” Winnie said. “The rest will come soon enough. The Assembly will have to carefully consider the evidence against him. The truth will come out.”

  Tris shook her head. “I hope you’re right, Winnie. But we’ve all seen Kane stay one step ahead of us one too many times to—”

  Maria laughed aloud and everyone turned.

  “What’s so funny?” Tris asked.

  “I wish I still had that hidden camera in Kane’s office,” Maria said. “I’d give anything to see the look on his face right now.”

  “You think he’s watching all of this live?” Garraldi asked. “If I was him, and I saw all my dreams crashing down around me, I’d be headed out of town.”

  “But Kane has nowhere to go,” Maria said. “He’s arguably the most recognizable face in the country. These commercial segments and the news coverage are all over the place. Where could he hide if he wanted to?”

  “So we’ve got him,” Winnie said. “He can’t fight back. His only choice is to face the music.”

  “He’s cornered,” Elaine said. “Not defeated.”

  “But he must know he can’t keep going. Not in the face of this!” Winnie pointed to the screen, now showing demonstrators taking to the streets across the country.

  “Look carefully,” Elaine said. “Danny said it earlier. There are counter demonstrations, too. There are still people who support Kane. I know this man, or at least his younger self. He’s always been driven to succeed at all costs.”

  Winnie’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out, looked at the screen, and saw an unfamiliar number. She answered anyway.

  “Hello? May I ask who’s calling?”

  “Hello, this is Vickie Verdana from KUA-TV. Is this Winnie Durham?”

  “How did you get this number?” Winnie asked.

  “Artos Merrilyn was kind enough to share it with me. I’m a friend of Maria DeSantos.”

  Winnie muted her phone and looked at Maria. “Do you know a Vickie Verdana? She said that Artos gave her my number.”

  “She’s a reporter friend of mine.” Maria nodded. “We grew up together in the capital. She’s trustworthy. Vickie helped me come up with the idea of buying commercial time rather than going through the standard channels.”

  “What do I say to her? I don’t want to talk to the news.”

  “Just answer her questions,” Maria replied. “Vickie’s one of the good ones. She’s probably calling because she thinks interviewing you will help our cause.”

  Winnie’s finger trembled as she tapped her phone and reconnected with Vickie. “Hello. Uh, yes, this is Winnie Durham.”

  “Winnie, I’m so glad to talk with you in person. I’m going to connect you live to our studio so our viewers can hear you directly. Is that alright?”

  “I guess so,” Winnie said.

  This was all happening so fast.

  There was a click on the other end of the line and the sound changed.

  Winnie heard a man’s voice—the deep baritone voice of a seasoned newscaster. It sounded familiar, but she couldn’t place the name.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, our own Vickie Verdana has connected us with the remarkable woman seen on the video we’ve been playing over and over tonight. Winnie Durham, this is Hal Henderson here at KUA-TV in the nation’s capital. Can you verify that Director Kane attacked you? Is Nils Kane a chanter?”

  “Uh, yes, Hal. Director Kane attacked me and my friends with magic just a few days ago. And yes, he’s always been a chanter. My friends and I were in his office trying to find evidence to expose him and his genocidal plans for all chanters when he unleashed his assault on us.”

  “Genocidal plans?” Hal repeated. “Those are alarming claims, Ms. Durham. Do you have anything to back them up?”

  “I do. You and your audience have all seen the video. I also plan to release the full plans for the so-called ‘safety camps’ which are, in fact, death camps intended to slowly drain all magic from every chanter, killing them all.”

  Winnie’s anxiety drained away as she continued the interview. The reporter asked an endless battery of questions about her evidence.

  Winnie answered them all. By the time she was done, Maria had emailed copies of all their evidence against Kane to Vickie. The anchorman, Hal Henderson, promised to continue investigating the story.

  She killed the call and looked at her friends. Some in the room had been watching the interview live on their televisions.

  A few of her followers cheered.

  Winnie looked around at her closest friends and smiled. “Let’s see Nils Kane weasel out from under that avalanche.”

  Chapter 6

  “That bitch. That conniving little bitch and her friends have gone too far!”

  Kane picked up a small crystal award he’d received from some civic organization and hurled it at the large flat-screen monitor mounted on the wall of his office.

  The screen cracked under the blow but that backstabbing cretin, Hal Henderson, kept talking.

  “Nils, you have to calm down. This isn’t the end of the world,” said Jane Margolis, Director of the Bureau of Magical Research.

  “You have no idea how the public will respond. These demonstrations are only the beginning.”

  Nils had dinner plans with Jane earlier in the evening when the video commercials first started airing. A reporter approached him for a comment.

  Nils said that he had nothing to say, then he and Jane left the restaurant to watch the news from his office.

  “I should have killed that girl when I had the chance a year and a half ago.”

  “You tried,” Jane reminded him. “Remember? She destroyed version one of the Harvester. You’ve underestimated this young lady and she’s made you pay for it along the way.”

  “Thank you for your insightful analysis, my dear,” Kane sneered. If he didn’t need Jane and her department’s research into magical fields and storage, he’d have kicked her to the curb a long time ago.

  The door at the far end of his office opened and his new assistant entered.

  The new secretary’s arrival reminded him of Maria’s betrayal and stoked the fires inside him. The new assistant was wearing the uniform of a Red Leg clerk. She’d been a mailroom orderly a few days before.

  “Director Kane,” she said, bowing as she approached his desk. “I have received another call from the Assembly president. He’d like you to return his call immediately. He wants to know what to do.”

  “Bah.” Kane waved a careless hand. “Put him through.”

  “Be careful what you say, Nils,” Jane cautioned. “The president will be under tremendous pressure from his constituents and the rest of the senators.”

  “I don’t care, Jane. He wanted his job and my support when he ran for the position. Now it’s time to pay up. He can stand by me or I’ll have his head. I know where the bodies are buried around here, and exactly what’s in everyone’s closet. The president is no exception.”

  The secretary left to re-route the call. A moment later, the phone rang on his desk.

  “Hello, Mr. President,” Kane answered. “How may I help you?”

  “Have you been watching the news? Have you seen what they’re saying?”

  “Of course,” Kane replied. “I assure you, it’s all manufactured. I am starting an investigation into chanter sympathizers within the networks. There is no other explanation for the irresponsible nature of the videos.”

  Kane’s key Red Legs were responding to the demonstrations with local police, and most weren’t returning his calls. That could be because they were busy heading off riots, or because they believed the video and were disassociating themselves. Right now Nils had no way to know which it was.

  “Director, I have no choice. I must order the Assembly to return from their recess for a special hearing. People are clamoring for answers, and the senators want them, too. They want to know what you’ve been up to.”

  “Don’t give me that bullshit, Mr. President. You have a choice. Control your people. Make them step up and do the right thing. This is a ploy to get you all to turn against me.”

  “Nils, you know how this works. People are up in arms. If we don’t respond, we’re out of office.”

  “You forget who put you in that office to begin with, Daniel.” Nils was tired of playing games. “I got you into your first senatorial position because you knew how to listen and follow instructions. If you can no longer do that, I’ll have to put my backing behind someone else. Perhaps a no-confidence vote might be due.”

  “Threaten all you want, Nils. It doesn’t change the facts. People want an explanation. I want an explanation. You can’t explain all of what I saw in that video away with some sort of special-effects story line. You’ve been hiding your true nature from me and the voters.” The president’s voice bordered a low growl. “It’s time we had a full accounting.”

  Nils hung up without an answer, then threw the phone across the room.

  He wished he was face-to-face with the man.

  He’d show the president what an accounting could look like.

  Jane cleared her throat, reminding Nils that he wasn’t alone.

  He turned his glare on her and she flinched.

  Good. She should be afraid.

  They all should be.

  He’d been holding back, playing by the rules for the most part.

  Not anymore.

  It was time to move things along.

  “Give me your phone,” Nils ordered.