Page 39 of Shadow Scorching

“Hell and high water. Who did that?”

“I don’t know, and I have no clue if the police know or not. But Dante and I were wondering if everything is going okay over there, given Letty’s death. Has anything else happened since then?”

“A number of things that—taken separately—would seem like circumstances. But now, seeing this, I’m not sure. The fact that Halfyr is involved means that, they’re serious about it.” He sighed. “Can I call you back later? I’m going to order a campus wide curfew and institute lockdown rules.”

“Of course. Get back to me when you can. Go protect the kids and the campus,” I said. At least Philip cared. Some of the magical academies were so stuck in the old ways that they refused to take the hint when something was happening.

Philip said a distracted goodbye and hung up.

I stood and paced to the window. From Dante’s apartment, we could now see the smoke rolling over a section of Seattle, near the waterfront. I worried my lip, then turned back to the television.

Reports of injuries were now rolling in. So far, thirty-nine injuries and two confirmed deaths. Which turned this into a murder investigation. I turned on the subtitles and realized they were regurgitating what they had said earlier, with the addition of the number of injured. I began to flip channels, looking forany different take on the explosion, but most were repeating what we already knew.

At that moment, my phone rang. It was Carson.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Did you hear about the explosion?” he asked.

“Yeah. I called Philip over at Windchime Magical Academy to ask if they’ve had any concerning events. He said a few, but he had to go to make sure the school is locked down.”

Carson sighed. “Good. Because I had the weirdest sense when I saw the news about Gul du Ger. I decided to hop onto the Dark Web to poke around. Remember Brim Fire?”

Brim Fire was an organization devoted to breaking a hole between worlds to allow demons in. In fact, the entire group was dedicated to bringing about demonic rule over the world.

“Yeah, all too well. They crossed my mind, too. Did you see anything about the attack?”

He paused for a moment, then said, “I think so. In one of the forums there, I saw a cryptic message left by the forum leader: Stage 1, Hail-fire, accomplished.”

“That could be anything,” I said, though inside an alarm went off. There was a connection. I didn’t know what it was, but there was a connection. “Fuck. Now that you’ve said that, my mind won’t let it go. Do you think this is tied in to their goal?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. Hail-fire…Halfyr? The name’s way too similar. I knew they were up to something, so I’ve been keeping a close eye on them. I have no idea how attacking magical academies could play into this, though.”

“I wonder…do you think any of the students belong to Brim Fire?” I asked. “Or maybe their parents? If a student was brought up in the cult, then I’d kind of assume that the child believes it as well. I wonder…”

“That’s a good point. I always think of the members of Brim Fire as a bunch of lunatics, but even the most sedate and proper people can believe in the damnedest of things.”

“Do you think you can find out if any of the students are members of Brim Fire? Is there any way the schools might know?” I asked.

“I can try, but on the Dark Web, they never use their real names. They only use nicknames. That makes it hard to cross reference anything. I’ve tried, believe me.”

I thought for a moment. “Can you hack into the academies’ data servers?”

Carson hesitated for a moment. “I haven’t tried yet. I assume that’s not an official request?”

I understood the nuance. “Of course not. I would never ask you to do something illegal.”

“Understood,” he said. “Did you know that, although I can’t find the origins of the group, Brim Fire’s been around for decades?”

“No. How far back have you been able to trace them?”

“They helped the Nazis in World War 2. The Third Reich—well, Hitler in particular—believed that he could control the demons. But his cohorts screwed up their experiments. I don’t know how many demons they managed to unleash.”

I shivered. “Great gods. Did Brim Fire dip its hands into other wars?”

“I think so, but as I said, tracking their history is a tangled web. I have seen a few references stating that Brim Fire has been around since the before the revolutionary war, but none that can be proven.” Carson sighed.

“Say theyareinvolved in the attacks at the magical academies.Why? What’s their motivation? Wedoknow that they were tied to Letty’s death.”

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