As soon as I finished reading the letter, I jumped back into my car and quickly ordered it into the estate grounds where we would be protected just in case the envelope itself was a trap. It wasn’t; it was exactly what it appeared to be, just a vague ransom note of some kind, but it didn’t hurt to be wary.

This is bad. This is really, really bad. I had stupidly thought that I had more time to come up with a plan to deal with Cromwell, but apparently not. Worst of all, was that now someone else’s life was in danger because of me. I had assumed that since Isabel only tried to kill me when I was alone, she had orders not to get anyone else involved, but like an idiot, I never confirmed if that was the case, or if it was her own initiative.

Damn it, I’m so stupid! This is all my fault.

As soon as the car came to a stop at the end of the driveway, I jumped out of it and stormed into the house. Since I was coming home later than normal, my mother had only just arrived a few minutes before me and soon found me after I arrived since she was alerted to my arrival by Hex.

"Hi, honey, I’ve-" Mum’s words started out jovial and happy, but the instant she laid eyes on me, she could tell something was wrong. "What happened, honey?"

"We have a problem," I said as I handed over the letter so that she could read it for herself. "It seems Cromwell is willing to hurt innocent people to get whatever it is he wants."

"Oh, this is not good, not good at all." Mum shook her head.

My fists tightened against my sides, so much so that my fingers were painfully digging into myself. "It’s Isabel now, but even if I was willing to let someone I care about get hurt because of me, there's nothing stopping him from taking Hannah, or you next."

Mum's eyes darted over to me and she looked at me in horror. "I know that look, you want to go even though it's obviously a trap. You can’t be serious. I won't let you go."

"I have to,"

"Then I’ll come with you."

"Even if the letter didn’t say to come alone, you are not specialised in fighting and you're pregnant. It’s too much of a risk." 

"I may be pregnant and only a healer, but I’m still a 5th-level arcanist." She scowled at me. "Not to mention your mother, and-

"No!" I firmly respond, annoying her further. But all such annoyance faded away as I stepped closer to her, gave her a kiss and explained myself. "If something happened to you and our baby because of me, I don’t know how I’d live with myself. I won’t allow it."

"Fine…" Mum pouted, not happy about it but understanding my feelings on the matter. "But what about taking a Hex with you, or maybe all of them."

"The letter said to come alone if they sense another person…" I trailed off as my last word caused a thought to pop into my head. "That might actually work. A couple of Hex’s bodies would be able to hide in the car until they were needed. Any divination magic used to see if I was alone would detect them as constructs, just as it would the car, and if they stayed inside the car, the caster would probably assume they were just a part of it. Still, though, this depends on how strong Hex is in a fight."

"Although my magical offensive abilities are only equivalent to a 1st-level arcanist's spells, each of my bodies is capable of overpowering high-tier golems." Hex answered from the side, slightly startling me. The golem woman was so good at blending into the background and I had gotten used to her presence that half the time she was close by without me even realising it.

"Raw strength is useful, but I can’t take too many of you, otherwise it will be too obvious that you are not actually part of the car’s construct." I mused aloud, formulating a plan as it came to me. "I think it would be best if only two of you came with me. That way, two can stay with you, Mum, and we can also send two to protect Hannah, just in case Cromwell decides to go after her as well." 

"If that’s what you think is best, honey. But even with two of them at your side, overpowering Cromwell will be nearly impossible. He is a 9th-level arcanist, after all. He may not be invincible, but he is damned well close to it when pitted against someone of your level of power."

"I’m not quite sure that’s true." I gave my mother a grin, causing her to raise an eyebrow questioningly. "My growth has been explosive this last week. I’m not as weak as I once was, and I’m very close to the edge of the next level of power. If I was still an arcanist, that would mean I’m very nearly a 4th-lever spell caster, which would still be rather weak compared to him, but luckily I’m not an arcanist." 

"The level of powers associated with divinity isn’t comparable to arcanists on a one-to-one scale. I might even be able to handle a 5th-level arcanist at my current level. It would be a tough fight, but just maybe. Either way, though, I don’t need to overpower Cromwell. I only need to distract him and get out with Isabel."

"What then? Even if you run away from him, that snake isn’t going to give up the chase just because you got away." Mum asked.

"Your right…" I sighed as a thought entered my head. I knew I would have to do it eventually, but I just hoped I had more time to reap the benefits of this lavish lifestyle before it happened. "I think it’s time we left Caellas. Cromwell will have a much harder time tracking us down if we aren’t here."

Mum’s eyes widened in shock upon hearing this. "You want to escape to the ground? It’s dangerous down there. It will be difficult just getting to one of the big cities that could keep us protected from the monsters of the ground. Even then, life in those cities isn’t exactly easy. Everyone’s trying to grab power and step on each other."

"Life in the cities doesn't sound very different from here, and it will be a good thing that we have a ton of wealth at our disposal." I chuckled. "But seriously, while I’m dealing with Cromwell and freeing Isabel, I need you to liquidate as much of our wealth as you possibly can. Hire a skyship out to take you to the furthest settlement it can go to and pack its hull full of whatever resources and wealth you can procure on such short notice."

"And what of your girlfriends?"

Hearing this question being voiced, I let out a sigh. "I can’t force them to come with us, but we can tell them what's happening and offer them a place beside us. That said, I doubt Hannah is going to leave her family, so they would need to come with us, which would mean that they should be told the whole truth about our family and my current situation as well."

"The Hex's who will protect Hannah can inform her of what's going on and leave it up to the young woman to decide how much her family should know. However, if Hannah and her family are still hesitant to leave the city after they find everything out, I need you to do your best to convince them to come. Can you do that for me?"

"Of course, honey." Mum gave me a hug and a kiss.

"We still have a handful of hours until midnight, but it's probably best we start seeing to this right now. If you would be kind enough to see to the bigger picture stuff, I’ll start packing our belongings and taking anything of value from the estate." I returned my mother’s kiss as we parted ways for now.

After saying our goodbyes, Mum left the Allur estate, escorted by two of Hex’s bodies, to arrange for the liquidation of as much of our wealth as possible and to arrange for our imminent departure from the city of sky and star. Seeing as how it was currently nighttime, her task was much harder than it would have been during the daytime, but I had faith in her skills to do what needed to be done.

When two more of Hex’s bodies left to protect Hannah, that just left me alone with two of my own. With their help, I immediately set about backing up what belongings we could take with us. Since sky ships weren’t lacking when it came to cargo space, especially if we could hire one that was relatively unburdened, that meant that we didn’t have to be selective with what we chose to bring with us.

To that end, with the aid of Hex, I shoved pretty much everything I could find of some monetary worth into several boxes, luggage bags, and school bags. Although they didn’t have much monetary value, I even packed away the large collection of sex toys that resided in the master bedroom’s walk-in closet. Just because the ground was a dangerous place didn’t mean we couldn’t have a bit of fun.

Soon enough, the time to leave came around. As such, I left the collection of bagged and boxed belongings in the main foyer for my mother to pick up later while I got into my car and left the estate. The company of the two golem women who sat next to me as we headed for the academy grounds was of little reassurance.

As much as I had run through what I was going to do over and over in my head, I was still terribly nervous. There was every chance this could go horribly wrong.