Quincy had to pull a few diversion tactics, but they arrived at Larkin Square twenty minutes later. The driver pulled down his illusion barrier The streets were empty, which was odd because there were usually at least a dozen people here at this time of the day.

“I have a bad feeling,” Quincy said.

Nico felt a strange pull, and received a notification.

[You have encountered an illusion barrier.]

He relayed the information. Quincy growled. “How did I miss that? An illusion barrier of this scale smells like the Mages Union. The Friends of the Night don’t have the resources for this. We’ve run into an operation.”

“What’s that mean for us?”

“It means if the Union is involved, then they’ve got sensors for any spell above a cantrip,” Quincy explained. “If I summon my illusion barrier again, it’ll lead them straight to me. Are you sure you wanna be here?”

Nico shook his head. “I don’t want to be here, but I do need to. Whoever framed me is connected to whatever is inside that barrier.”

At least he didn’t have to worry about having to casted a spell above a cantrip. His new spell Magnetic Incision was useful, but still only class zero. Maybe the binding spell he copied might be class zero.

“I can’t even cast a spell to see into their barrier,” complained Quincy.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it,” Nico answered.

He pulled out his black marker, and positioned himself in front of the rearview mirror. He drew his variation of Gallahad’s Mind Formation on each of his eyelids, not bothering with tracing it since it cost so little MP.

Nico climbed to the front seat, and filled the Mind Formation with a whisper of power. When he opened his eyes, the square looked exactly the same, but a little different.

He said, “I see vague lines formed out of what looks like stardust. The shape resembles some kind of spell formation.”

Nico quickly whispered, “Cross-reference the shapes and lines to the spell formation calculated earlier to find this particular sigil.”

A new notification appeared showing a new spell formation nearly identical to the one he formed earlier.

[Acquired unnamed formation. Purpose unknown. Unable to create theory or spells with current knowledge. 76% total accuracy compared to previous theorized spell formation. ]

Wow. Even with what little magic theory he knew, Measure had been able to create spell formation close enough to resemble the actual one. That was amazing. But even if he had guessed it perfectly, without knowing the energy input and theory behind it, he would never be able to use it.

“What else do you see?” Quincy asked.

“There are convex points of energy at multiple locations that I don’t think have anything to do with the stardust lines,” Nico explained.

Quincy pounded his gloved hand lightly on the steering wheel. “Dammit. Those are artificial leylines.”

“I heard about them, but you’ll have to explain,” Nico said. He realized he no longer felt embarrassed at his lacking education in magic. That was a nice side effect of his ability. He didn’t know what he didn’t know, but would do his best to fill in the gaps.

The driver said, “There are natural leylines around the world. They’re rare and heavily guarded because they provide nearly limitless power. They are usually found at faultlines or volcanoes and such.You can tap into those leylines, provided you have the right sort of...pipes I guess you could call it? It’s very complex.”

“And these are artificial?”

“Artificial leylines are very difficult to make,” Quincy continued. “You either have to be a practitioner at the level of a sorcerer, which is a whole step of power above me and possibly even the boss. Or, you need years of preparation. For something at this scale, possibly at least three years if you know what you’re doing. It’s not even so much about the power, but the control. No one has control like that unless they’re a sorcerer.”

Nico had been active as a practitioner killing haunts for five. Three years fit the bill. That meant someone had been planning to use him as a scapegoat for that long. He wasn’t angry so much as curious.

“Why create an artificial leyline?”

“Because instead of drawing a spell formation with blood, paint, or your silly black marker,” Quincy added. “You can use magic to create a pipeline, and then funnel more magic into that pipeline. It’s super inefficient. You’d have to be crazy to try to pull that off.”

Nico got it instantly. He felt Measure calculate the information. He asked, “And what if you wanted to use someone else’s magic to act as the pipes.”

“Eh,” Quincy weighed. “I guess you wouldn’t have to spend your own energy, but the formation you’re creating have to be of the same school as the ones you’re creating a leyline off of. Mixing schools of magic would be more trouble than help.”

Same school? Nico didn’t have a school. He only used the most elementary formations and theories from Gallahad, who everybody these days learned. Anything on top of that were just theories and modifications he scrambled together in a framework over the past five years. If what Quincy was saying was correct, then whoever framed Nico had a similar framework of magic. He could barely wrap his head around that one.

“Now what?” Quincy asked. “I don’t feel comfortable sitting in this spot for more than a few minutes longer. I can keep driving you around till midnight. I’ve recovered enough power that I’m sure I can lose whatever tail we get until then.”

Nico put up a hand, and said. “I need to figure something out.”

He whispered. “Invest five more MP into my variation of Gallahad’s Mind Formation.”

Power flooded his eyes. At the center of Larkin Square was a black twist of power. It wasn’t malicious, just the color black. His eyes and mind couldn’t process it as anything else.

With the new information, he whispered, “Examine.”

[Unkown Formation. Spatial Temporal anomaly located. Formation is most likely used to stabiliize anomaly.]

[Two practitioners of the Mages Union located near anomaly. Too far to Examine further with predetermined MP.]

“Looks like here is some kind of space time anomaly at the center,” Nico muttered aloud. “And two people from the Union are guarding it.

Quincy’s expression turned grim. “You sure there aren’t more?”

Nico nodded. “Yeah. Just two.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Quincy remarked. “For a spell formation as big as the one you described, then you’d have more than just two mages, Union or not, maintaining and guarding it.”

“Your point?”

“Whatever this is, it’s off the books. You’re in some weird shit, Mr. Kanazawa.”

Nico sighed. “Agreed.”

The driver turned to Nico, his expression hesitant. “You have me until midnight. If I followed the boss' instructions by the letter, I could just drive you around away from the Sentinels until midnight. But without me, you’d be pretty much screwed.”

Nico tensed, but let the man continue.

Quincy let out an exasperated sigh. “But you’re good people. I don’t run into a lot of good people in my line of work except the boss’ daughter.”

“What are you saying?”

“I can get you outta here,” Quincy answered. “I know how to make people vanish, and no, I’m not talking about swimming with the fishes vanish. I’m talking about new identity, get you in a warehouse, and slip you on a plane to Bermuda vanish. That’s also in my skillset. There’s just enough time left in my duty to make that happen. You get what I’m saying?”

Nico blinked. He never thought he would get sympathy from a criminal kingpin’s grunt. A new life sounded nice. Sure, he’d have to look over his shoulder for the rest of his new life, but at least he wouldn’t be stuck in the city of his accused crime.

He smiled. “Thanks, man, but I can wipe my own ass. You can drop me of here.”

Quincy shook his head, and chuckled. “Jesus A Christ. An hour ago, I thought you were just some random prick making moves on the boss’ daughter. Now I find out you got some real meatballs.”

He sighed, and extended his hand. “Sorry for calling you a kid earlier, Mr. Kanazawa. You sure you want me to drop you off?”

Nico traded grips with him. “Yeah. But I do have one more favor.”

“Anything.”

“After you drop me off, can you cast your illusion barrier to get them to chase you?” Nico asked. “I’d rather not fight two trained Union mages by myself.”

Quincy pulled back his hand and threw his head back in a laugh. “Forget what I said about the meatballs. Still, you got my respect. I’ve got you. How does a twenty count Mississippi work for you?”

“It works just fine,” Nico answered.

Quincy parked the car, and let Nico out. Before closing the door, he said, “Sorry about the holes in Nelly’s roof. And thanks again, man.”

Quincy flashed him a quick smile, and Nico closed the door.

Twenty long seconds later, Nico felt the illusion barrier cover Nelly. With the Mind Formation on his eyes, seeing an illusion barrier inside an illusion barrier gave him a headache.

Nico focused his attention on the two big shapes in the center of Larkin Square. With Examine, he could see that they were moving running towards what looked like two motorcycles.

They got on and immediately started chasing Quincy and Nelly, who had sped off far in the distance.

Nico ran to the portal, not wanting to lose any more time. He said examine portal with five MP.\par

A new notification appeared said, unable to clean information with predetermined MP said shift.\par

He reached out to the portal, and said, “Examine the anomaly.”

[True owner of sigil recognized. New information to be processed for spell formation analysis. Anomaly identified as portal to the Next Over.]

The space around the black portal rippled and expanded. Nico stepped back, but not quickly enough. His body twisted with the space, and felt the odd sensation of both falling and flying.

The world disappeared.