"Oh," Javic said, surprised. Evidently this hadn't occurred to him. "They're in the mountains of Norway, in a high valley."
"Ah. That explains the snow."
"Most of their facility is in a series of underground tunnels," Javic went on. "Old mining works and the remains of a monastery. That's where they live."
"Where's your sister?" Gio asked.
"She's in a room on the top level. She's been held hostage there for years." Javic's tone developed a low snarl. "Technically, they call her a guest, but she's locked in. She's only allowed to see me occasionally. You'll recognize her room by its balcony, though she's not allowed to use it."
He sketched out the valley and pointed out the location of his sister's room. "She's high up the side of the valley here."
Max leaned in to touch the sketch map. "And you get there through tunnels underground? That should be easy. Gio can travel through stone."
"Not here, he can't," Javic said. "The entire place is warded against intruders. You may be able to stonewalk out, I'm not sure about that, but you definitely can't stonewalk in."
"What about your portals?" Gio said.
"Same problem." He gestured with the tip of the pen. "If you wondered why we always open portals outside, it's because the wards in the caves interfere."
Max tried to focus past the magic aspects to the part she was good at, logistics and planning. "Okay, so you said there's a balcony. Let's just avoid the underground part entirely and go up the side of the mountain. Can we do that? Is it climbable?"
"Should be. It's not too steep. The door to the balcony is always locked," Javic added.
"That's not going to be a problem." Max studied the map. "What about this, um, Source you mentioned? The magical thingie? Where is it?"
"Here." Javic sketched a light circle across the valley from his sister's prison. "It's in a large cavern."
"What are you thinking?" Gio asked Max.
"I'm thinking they'll have a lot more to worry about than one escaping teenage girl if we destroy their magic cave."
Gio grinned. "I knew you'd be happy as soon as you found something to blow up."
Max poked him with her toe. "Well?" she asked Javic, who looked thoughtful. "What happens if we wreck the magic cave over there?"
"I'm not sure," Javic admitted. "But it'll be difficult to get to. They'll have it guarded."
"We'll keep it in mind as a possible target," Max decided. "Okay, what kind of defenses do they have? How much magic can they do without you?"
"A little, but not much," Javic said. "They have weapons that are designed for attacking gargoyles, and also conventional weapons, guns and such."
"So we'll approach this like a strike team, in and out fast," Max said. "We go in, we get your sister, we chuck a grenade into their magic cave if we can, and then we cut and run."
"This isn't going to solve the entire problem," Gio said. "They still might come after me."
"Yes, but they won't have Javic to do it with, and now we know where they are. We can take the fight to them."
"That's our entire plan, though? Portal in and fight?"
"No, portal in and grab Elina. They won't be expecting it," Max pointed out. "With three of us, we can split up—someone goes for the girl, while the rest of us provide a distraction."
"I'll get my sister," Javic said eagerly.
Max shook her head. "No, it should be me or Gio. They won't know how many allies you have or what we're capable of. If they already know where you are, they won't expect an attack from a different direction."
"What if we use me for a decoy?" Gio suggested. "Javic can pretend to have captured me. That'll keep them busy, while you get Elina."
Max's instant reaction was a fierce and powerfulNo. But when she pushed her emotions aside and forced herself to look at it logically, it did make sense.
