I watched as Sean scanned the pages with a furrowed brow, every second that passed making the weight in my chest heavier.
“So?” I asked, the question hanging in the room, sounding more desperate than I intended.
Sean shook his head slowly, a look of disappointment flashing across his face. “It’s just a bunch of strategy notes. War-time tactics for Offensives. Nothing that would explain anythin’ we’re looking for.”
My heart sank as I ran a hand through my hair, trying to steady the whirlwind of emotions building inside me. This was pointless. If James knew anything important about me, he would’ve told me. What the hell was I doing?
Sean tossed the folder onto the table with a huff. “All right, let’s see what else he’s hidin’.”
He reached back through the mirror, his arm disappearing again as he fished around. A moment later, he pulled out another file and a thick, old book.
“Here we go,” he said, then flipped through the contents quickly. “This one’s… Crap, more war tactics. It’s all fighting strategies.”
I sighed, and the hope started to drain from me. “And the book?” I asked, though my tone had lost its edge. The disgrace of rifling through James’s things was starting to crush me. This was so wrong. I shouldn’t be here.
Sean opened the book and skimmed through a few pages. “Same stuff. How to engage in conflict, ways to counter certain techniques. Nothin’ relevant.”
I slumped into the nearest chair, my head in my hands. “This is insane,” I muttered. “We shouldn’t be doing this. What if James finds out? What if there’s nothing here?” The self-reproach was gnawing at me, sinking its claws in deeper every second we stayed in his loft.
Sean turned to me, his features softening. “Emma, we’re gonna find somethin’. I can feel it. Hang in there.”
But I couldn’t shake the sense this was a mistake. Every moment we spent here was a huge betrayal of James’s trust. One he didn’t deserve! Shit, maybe invading his privacy like this, could be even a dealbreaker for him. If he found out… My mind was racing, the fear of losing him making it suddenly hard to breathe.
Right as I was about to tell Sean to stop, he pulled out a new file, different from the others. The papers inside were old, yellowed with age and worn at the edges. It looked like it hadn’t been touched in years.
“Hold on,” Sean said, his voice quieter now, more focused. He carefully pulled the pages from the portal, his eyes narrowing as he opened it.
“What is it?” I asked, my heart pounding in my chest again, this time for a different reason.
“These papers. They’re old,” he said, laying them out on the table between us. “What’s this?” he asked, as he studied a specific page. “It’s a transcript from a meeting between the Board, the United Chiefs and the Elder, back in ’62.” He skimmed the content, his frown deepening. “Most of it is illegible, but something’s off here.”
I moved closer, peering over his shoulder. “What do you mean?”
He pointed to a section of the transcript, his finger tracing the faded words. “It’s about the Battle of ‘59. It looks like humans were involved. Not only magi.”
I blinked, my brain struggling to catch up. “Wait—what?” The words felt barely real as they left my mouth. “I thought the war was magi fighting other magi over whether humans should know about us.”
Sean didn’t look up. “That’s what we’ve always been told,” he whispered. His fingers moved faster now, flipping through more pages like he could force the truth to reveal itself if he just turned them quickly enough.
A pit formed in my stomach. “Sean,” I pressed, dreading whatever came next.
He exhaled sharply, then rubbed a hand over his face before finally meeting my eyes. “If this transcript’s right, it wasn’t magi vs. magi. It might’ve been magi vs. humans.”
The room felt instantly smaller. I shook my head, my mind rejecting the possibility even as it clawed its way into my thoughts. “That doesn’t make sense.” My voice was thinner now, unsteady. “What would humans and magi fight about? Why would anyone lie about it?”
Sean’s jaw tightened. “That’s the question, isn’t it?”
I thought back to what Jackson had told me last year. “Jackson told me magi fought magi because one side wanted to reveal our existence to the Human World, and the other side didn’t. But if humans were actually involved, does that mean they already knew? If they did, that changes everything!”
Sean nodded grimly. “Yeah, it does. And it also means we don’t have the whole story. It means maybe the Elder’s been hiding more than we thought, and not only him if James has these.”
“Fucking Julian,” I mumbled under my breath, the name alone igniting a familiar surge of anger.
Sean glanced up from the papers, a flicker of curiosity lighting his face. “You still don’t want to tell me why you’re so angry with the Elder?”
I swallowed hard, the bitterness rising in my throat. “I’m not ready yet.”
He gave me a small, understanding smile. “That’s fine. Whenever you are, I’m here.”
