November 7, 2003 – 22:30
"There is a lot of truth in what Sebastian just said and it's probably exactly what happened. Gods from above know how many traitors want Blue and me out of their way. Blue, I heard about the summon and I urge you, do NOT surrender, not yet at least," said Andrew.
"You know they will send the entire cavalry if I don't and Frank would probably be the one who ends up paying the price. I can't do that to him."
"We'll find a way, we know you didn't do it," said Stephanie.
"I see you've got company."
"I'm with Frank's family for his aunt's birthday."
"I'll be brief then. I was with you at the warehouse that night, I know you didn't do it. When Blum called me, I remember seeing cameras outside of it. Even if these cameras have been tampered with, we should be able to prove it and argue that it was a setup. We will then need to make sure that ALL five elders are present so that Alfredino and Phraton can't have a majority."
"That way you can appeal for time to clear your name," said Sebastian.
"Precisely," said Andrew.
"Is she going to be judged by a regular court there?" said Linda.
"No, it's an inside job. Me, Blue and many others have been betrayed by our own people, who are using the human authorities as pawns. Someone will have her internally executed and declare her dead to human authorities," said Andrew while Frank squeezed her thigh.
Everyone stayed silent, pondering what was said by Hendrick and Andrew. Coralis ended the communication and got up to refill her drink.
"Happy Birthday Linda. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring work with me tonight. Considering that you all knew what was going on and we were literally just talking about it, I figured there was no point taking the calls elsewhere and I needed Sebastian to record the first one."
"Don't worry about it, I'm glad you came. I am guessing the man you just spoke with is a coworker?"
"Yes. Andrew is my mentor at the EBEE, I'm still supposed to be his apprentice. He is currently 17th on their Most Wanted Witches list," said Coralis as she returned to where she sat.
"Oh wow! I definitely won't read the witch hunt coverage the same way now," said Rachel.
"Girls, please, it's important that you do NOT tell anyone about what you heard here tonight. We need to keep this between us or it can get all of us killed, not just Coralis and Sebastian. You don't know what these people are capable of and we need these two on our side," said Louis.
"Understood," said Rachel and Natacha at the same time.
"Luv, I wanted to ask you," said Frank as he pulled out the letter he received earlier that day. "Stephanie and I could read it, but no one else. Is it because of our bonds to you and Sebastian? You didn't mention anything about it last year on Christmas Eve or last week when we talked about it."
He held the letter so that she could see what was written on it, and he passed it to his sister. Sebastian was sitting next to her. Coralis and Sebastian looked at each other, confused.
"Uh, I don't know, possibly… we didn't know when we talked about it," said Coralis.
"I was wondering when you told me that Frank read you that letter. Humans aren't supposed to be able to read fire letters."
"I have soooo many questions right now," said Rachel.
"Yeah, same. Clearly, we've been missing on a lot," said Natacha.
"Are you talking about the elemental binding the guy mentioned over the phone earlier? What is that, exactly?" said Rachel.
"It's like the letter Audrey received, right?" said Lizzy, who sat on the other side of Stephanie.
"Yes, same type of ink. Like we told you on Christmas, we only knew about the elemental bond from stories we heard from people. While there are a lot of mixed couples out there, not all of them will go through the elemental ritual and stories vary from one couple to another. The ability to read that type of ink isn't a detail that got reported, probably because fire letters aren't a common thing for most people," said Sebastian.
"It makes sense, think about it. When we initiated the ritual, what did we have to do? We opened up our soul to send an imprint of it into our partner. That type of ink detects elemental essence, in a similar way the wards surrounding the flyball stadium or other elemental places work."
"True, I never thought of that… but none of us have completed the ritual yet."
"It seems that it doesn't matter. From my understanding, when the partner is human, the mark acts more like a seal, but the elemental imprint should be present from the moment we initiated it if done right."
"Which means that you truly don't have a family name attached to your true birth name, you're from one of those old bloodlines," said Sebastian.
"To me, the ink is pale, but Frank said it isn't pale to him," said Stephanie, handing the letter to Frank.
Sebastian got up to see the difference when he was holding it.
"That's probably because Coralis is a spirit mage, they tend to have a stronger spiritual connection to their mate, but we can't tell for sure. That's new information to us," said Sebastian as he sat back down next to Stephanie.
"Note that we weren't complaining, but we were merely wondering," said Frank, while Sebastian explained to Natacha and Rachel what an elemental binding was.
That night, Coralis went back to her apartment with Frank. He drank a lot, so she took a taxi with him. He was right: there was a way where she could blend in and hide in plain sight.
During the week, Erik and Henry worked on collecting information about that warehouse while Gus analyzed the security footage. Coralis and Andrew weren't seen on them, but Gus has been able to find evidence that someone tampered with them.
A week later, she met with the EBEE elders at their London headquarters. Frank didn't want her to go and Sebastian agreed with him, but Coralis insisted it would be fine. Andrew had been able to secure a meeting with the five elders, and they had enough to convince at least three of them to delay the trial and not to lock her up in a cell in the meantime.
Andrew easily convinced Unimoto and Zora that his apprentice had probably been framed and wasn't guilty, and as expected, Alfredino and Phraton argued against her. They knew that Rolland was going to be the wild card. He sat in the middle, Alfredino and Phraton to his right, and the other two to his left.
"Blue Thunder, the accusations laid against you are severe. While the evidence presented to us isn't sufficient to prove your innocence, it is enough to plant doubt in my mind. Considering you have a stellar track record with us, I am willing to grant you time to collect sufficient evidence."
Alfredino looked at him and started shouting, but he raised his hand to quiet him. Rolland looked at the two elders to his left and they nodded at him.
"We will give you 5 weeks. However, given the severity of the situation, we will relieve you of your duties and dissolve your contract with us. Andrew will be tasked to investigate this case further. We will not place you in a cell, but you will need to remain at your place of residence. We understand that you are also contracted to The Northerners' flyball team. During the next 5 weeks, guards will be assigned to you, in rotation, and will escort you to your flyball games. We will keep an eye on you at all times."