On his way home, Mike noticed that the mystery carriage was still following him in the distance. When he got out of the carriage near the house, the carriage that had followed him was gone. At the house, Mike was met in the hall by Martha.

"Young master you have a letter today," she said as soon as Mike entered the house.

"Oh, yes," he said. "And who is it from? Do you remember?" he asked her.

"From Captain Stan Baltimore," Martha answered him.

"What a surprise," he wondered. "A letter from Stan. And where is it, Martha?"

"It's in your cabinet on your desk, young master."

"Thank you, Martha."

"Young master, dinner will be ready in half an hour," she informed him.

"All right," he said and went up to his cabinet.

He found the letter on the desk. On the envelope was written "To Captain Mike de Graaf from an old friend" and signed "Captain Stan Baltimore". Mike opened the envelope and read the letter.

Dear Friend. I heard that you were back in the capital. I was beginning to worry that you weren't coming back. I'm glad you're all right.

We should get together and celebrate your return and... talk about important things.

 I'll see you tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. at the Jolly Oyster Café. You know the address.

Your friend Stan Baltimore.

 

After dinner, Mike went to the lab to see Efi.

"Hey, I brought you some more books and journals," he told her, lifting the leather bag with his hand.

Efi didn't answer. She continued to look at him thoughtfully. Then she slowly circled around Mike a few times and stopped with her eyes closed. Her behavior was somewhat surprising. But he didn't interrupt her.

He stood like that for five minutes, and still no movement and her eyes closed. With a shrug, Mike headed to the nearest table to put out the contents of his bag.

As soon as he stepped away from the pentagram circle, Efi slowly turned in his direction and then opened her eyes.

"Yes! It's working!" she exclaimed. Mike jumped in surprise.

"Efi! You can't scare me like that. I almost had a heart attack."

"Mike I did it," she said cheerfully when she was next to him practically at arm's length.

"I'm very happy for you that you succeeded at something," he replied skeptically.

"You don't understand," Efi stared at him.

"Well, explain to the dumb me," he retorted, looking her straight in the eye.

"Had a bad day?"

"I've certainly had better," he sighed and looked away.

"Will you tell?" asked Efi, lightly poking her finger on his cheek.

"You tell me what you did first."

"Okay. So...Hmm. Where to start," Efi pondered and started circling around Mike. "Are you aware that some highly intelligent beings can sense the presence of others at a distance?"

"Efi...We can all do it. Every being radiates a magical force, an aura that we can all feel at a distance."

"No, no, that's not it. I mean, the principle is the same, but it' not that."

"Then what is?" he wondered.

"I mean the connection between the familiar and the host. They can sense each other from a distance," Efi clarified.

"Oh, you mean that. A spiritual connection. And so?"

"So," said Efi stopping in front of him.

In the world of magic, where even small beasts can possess it, a spiritual connection can arise between creatures with magic. Usually, small felines and small birds possessing at least a small amount of magic are prone to such a connection, less often weak elementals. It is possible to create a master-familiar link between them and magicians.

Mike looked at Efi expectantly, and after a while, she couldn't take it anymore and said.

"I can sense you from a distance."

"There's no one here but you and me. So it's no surprise."

"No, you're not getting it again Mike."

"What didn't I understand? I got it right. There's no master-familiar link between us."

"Of course not. Who would want to be your master," Efi

"What?"

"I'm telling you that I can sense you from a distance, your soul, even when you're not here," Efi spoke loud and clear, then added in her normal voice. "It's true I can't pinpoint clearly the distance at that time, and I can't get any direction at all. But I'm working on it."

"Oh...So you can sense not my magical aura, but my soul?"

"Yes."

"Even when I'm not here?"

"Yes."

"Wow," Mike was surprised.

"It started before you were even sent to the Northern Prairie," Efi told him. "I'd noticed before that I could sense your position here at the base. But then, after the first month alone, at some point I felt empty, or rather like I was about to lose something. Even though I was hungry, I decided to explore what I was feeling. I began to meditate deeply. I had... In another life, I'd had familiars, so I tried to adapt the technique I already knew and figure it out. At first, of course, I had to recall all of it, and it wasn't easy. It took me a whole month to do that. And then I tried to change it and adapt it. It didn't work right away. Sometimes it seemed to me that everything I felt was all my imagination. Especially when three months went by. And you never came back. But I still grasped at even that straw and kept going for the next months."

"And so in the last ten days, before you came back, I finally realized it wasn't a fantasy. The technique was working. The sensations were intensifying. And when, two days ago, you came back, I could feel you very clearly. I was very happy and very angry with you at the same time," she told him.

"I know I'm to blame. But that's just the way it is. That's my job," Mike said.

"I know."

"Speaking of job. I'm going away again in a couple of days."

"Again?"

 

Late at night near one of the two-story houses in the window of which hung a sign "Goltz Antique Shop" stopped a carriage. A young man in an expensive suit and with a cane stepped out of it. It was late and the antique store was no longer working, but this did not stop the man. He went to the door and pressed the doorbell.

He had to wait quite a long time and rang it several times until finally the light came on behind the door and footsteps could be heard. The door was opened by an elderly dark-skinned man in homewear and glasses on his face.

"The antique store is already closed, come back in the morning or better send your butler," seeing the visitor the old man said.

"I am on another matter. Aren't you Albert Goltz?"

"Yes, I am. Then what is your business," the old man asked in surprise.

"I'm from an acquaintance of yours from the south. I can show you the signature your friend passed on to me. But it's better to do it away from prying eyes."

The old man changed his face abruptly and looked around quickly, then examined his visitor once more.

"Well come on in," the old man finally said as he let the guest pass and then looked around the street for quite a while before he closed the door.

In the comfortable anteroom, the old man pointed the guest to a chair.

"No one will see or hear us here. So what signature do you have to show me?"

"Yes, of course," said the guest as he sat down in the chair. Then he stretched out his hand in front of him and began to form the magical signature. When the sign was halfway formed, the old man finally recognized it.

"That's it, that's sufficient," he interrupted his guest. "I've seen enough. I understand who you're from."

The guest removed the magic signature.

"How do I address you?"

"Louie," said the guest.

"All right Louie. How can I help you," and before Louie began to speak the old man added. "Only you must bear in mind that I am old for active acts."

"Active acts are not necessary. I prefer to do them myself," Louie said.

"Then what do you need?"

"Information and some substances," Louie told him and took a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Goltz.

The old man took the piece of paper, unfolded it, and read it.

"The prohibited substances are fine, the information too," he said when he finished reading. "The question remains, in what timeline do you need it all."

"Not even asking about money?"

"No, why? I'm sure you'll offer a decent amount," chuckled Goltz.

"You're right," said Louie and pulled out a weighty purse, and handed it to Goltz. He opened it. It contained a dozen large crystals.

"Yes, indeed...So what's the timeline?"

"You tell me."

"All right. The substances will be here by tomorrow evening. But the information will need another day," the old man said.

"Then I'll come to you the day after tomorrow, same time," Louie said.

 

15th day of the 5th month of the year 50143

 

Early in the morning, when the sun had not yet risen, a group of twenty people gathered in one of the small mansions. They looked very different from one another. There were some strange cloaked individuals, some big, gangster-looking men, a few nicely dressed women, and even a few city guards. Among these twenty was Paul.

"Thanks to the fact that we managed to intercept correspondence addressed to our target yesterday, we know exactly where and when it will be today," said Paul. "So we take positions in advance and proceed with the following plan."

Paul, for over half an hour, told each of those present their tasks in the work ahead.

"So, I hope you all understand the task before you?" he asked those present.

Everyone present nodded vigorously.

"Then get ready and move out. I will not forgive your failure."

 

"What about Lieutenant Selvi Meyer's disappearance, any new information," Colonel Tirel asked at the morning briefing.

"Not much, sir," said Mike. "The only additional information we've gotten concerns the blood found in her apartment. The large pool of blood definitely doesn't belong to Lieutenant Selvie Meyer. It generally belongs to an unidentified man. And judging by the amount of blood found at the scene, its owner is already dead. But one group of small drops of blood found there belonged to Lieutenant Selvie Meyer."

"Can we say with certainty what happened there? Was she kidnapped or did she set it up herself?" asked the colonel.

"Not yet, but it doesn't look like a staged escape. There was no need for her to escape."

"Well, that's what you think, Mike. And what was in her head we don't know."

"In any case, sir, the city guards should give us a preliminary report tomorrow. With it, we'll be able to adjust our actions."

"I understand correctly that without Selvi Meyer you have nothing on the case."

"Here in the capital? Yes, sir," Mike answered him.

"Then get ready to go to Artea in a couple of days."

"Yes, sir."