Page 9 of Harbinger

Someone rapped the floor imperiously. “Not that this isn’t nice and all, but maybe we should get down to business?”

Morgan’s head swiveled. Amal Kazmi, the head of Argonaut, was frowning at them from her perch on the edge of a chair to his left, her walking stick clasped firmly before her. The tension in the air was palpable.

Jasper Cobb and Reuben Fletcher stood framing her. Charlie brightened when he saw his lovers.

Cassius met Strickland’s troubled gaze as he slowly released Theo. “What’s wrong, Francis?”

5

The Argonaut directorhesitated before indicating his guests. “It would be better if this came from them.”

Cassius observed Reuben and Jasper sharing a curt glance.

“Jasper and I went to New York to attend a special U.N. Security Council meeting yesterday,” Reuben said grimly. “Amal and Victor were there too.”

“There’s no easy way to say this.” Faint lines wrinkled Victor’s brow. “There’s a plague ravaging parts of the Southern Hemisphere. One this world has not seen before.”

“A plague?” Morgan repeated skeptically.

“Yes,” Jasper said bitterly. “At the rate it’s progressing, both the medical and magical experts who work for the Security Council estimate that it will affect ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the Earth’s population within the next two weeks. And we’re not just talking people. It’s killing all animal and plant life too.”

Adrianne paled. “Magical?”

“You mean, this disease is caused by magic?!” Bailey asked, aghast.

“No, it’s not caused by magic, as far as we’ve been able to ascertain,” Kazmi said. “But it is an illness that has so far eluded all known human, magical, and otherworldly cures.”

Julia and Zach traded a cautious glance.

“Ninety-nine-point-nine percent?” Zach frowned. “Does that mean the otherworldly in this realm are not affected by it?”

Kazmi dipped her chin. “You are correct. So far, the otherworldly in the areas being devastated by this disease have yet to fall victim to it. We do not know why.”

“What about magic users?” the Aqueous demon asked in clipped tones.

Cassius knew he was thinking of Suzie and all their human friends in Argonaut and Hexa.

Kazmi sighed. “We know of a couple of Hexa members who have survived it, but barely. They were Level One magic users.”

Cassius’s mind raced in the fraught silence that ensued.Is this what Loki foresaw in his dream? Is this disease the darkness he spoke of?!

Theo cast a worried look his way. “What is it?”

Cassius looked at Morgan. Morgan dipped his chin, his expression equally troubled.

“Loki told us something last night,” Cassius confessed. “He said he’d had a dream. A premonition of a darkness that would soon engulf this realm.”

The others startled.

“You believe this plague is what the Keeper of the Key was referring to?” Kazmi said sharply.

Cassius nodded reluctantly. “It’s too much of a coincidence.”

Theo’s eyes had darkened. “Darkness? Is this Elios’s doing?”

Cassius hesitated. “I suspect so.”

“How exactly have you guys managed to keep this out of the news?” Julia asked in a hard voice, her gaze sweeping over Victor, Kazmi, and Strickland.

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