I walked easily behind a line of prisoners. Most of them were magicians, I could tell because of the silencers around their necks. A few of them, stronger magicians, had them around their wrists.

I wore a blue tailcoat, decorated with golden lining. The black gloves that I'd made out of dirt were uncomfortably snug on my hands. I would've loved to make a illusion, but those were too fragile for something like this. They were meant to be pretty from a distance. If one of us so much as bumped into someone, the illusion would fall. Well, facial features were different. I didn't really plan on someone touching our faces and hair, so those were illusions.

In front of me, Quin was wearing a Commanders uniform, red and black. His hand rested on his gun, a motioned I mimicked a few minutes ago. His usually black hair was blond now, his brown eyes were blue. His nose was a bit more pointed than it usually was.

On the other side, a redheaded Hatchet and a raven haired Heather marched along with us.

We approached the fortress. It was tall, maybe three stories. the building itself was surrounded by a steel wall that was at least twenty feet tall. No getting through or over that without magic.

"You weren't the guard assigned to this group," the man at the front door said. Behind him, guards tightened their grips on weapons.

"Regiment change," Quin explained in a voice a bit lighter than his own. His words were smooth and planned. "The last regiment ran into some trouble on the way here. We were sent to take their place."

It wasn't a lie. We took out the group of Black Hands with the prisoners. I put the magicians to sleep before we attacked so they wouldn't see us attack. When they started asking questions, we threatened them. It was pretty simple.

"Only four of you?" The man asked. "I doubt they'd send so few."

A cocky smile crossed Quin's thinner than normal lips. "Why send so many? We can handle some magicians by ourselves. They're not that tough with these silencers on 'em."

The man smirked in return. "I guess your right. Okay, bring 'em in. I'll have the other officers take care of them. This your first time here?"

Quin nodded when we walked in, the prisoners following closely behind us. I'd taken notice of a kid with sandy brown hair, defiantly a magician. He had freckles and was unhealthily thin. If I had to guess, I'd say he gotten taken from his parents, who were non-magicians. He was alone, and Black Hands like to keep young kids with parents, better for threats.

"Well then, go ahead and have a look around while your here," the man replied. "You're leaving in the morning, aren't you?"

"Yeah. Got more shipments to take care of."

Shipments...

"I'll have Officer Salizar take you to your room. We have a single room set up for visitors." He turned back to one of the guards waitinf by the gate. "Salizar, get them moving."

A younger guard stepped forward, probably new. He already heard what the higher ranking officer had said, so he knew where we were going.

I watched around us while we walked. Black Hands marched magic and non-magic prisoners around the grounds. I think they were marching them just to march them. Lucky, I had to sit in a cell for days.

When we were inside, a rancid smell hit me. I cringed at the smell of dying human. We were walked through a hall way, so I couldn't really tell where it was coming from.

"Yeah, sorry about the smell," the boy said. "So do you just work in delivery?"

I took me a minute to realize that he was talking to me. Quin, Hatchet, and Heather were giving me worried looks.

"Most of the time," I replied. "But sometimes we go out on witch hunts."

"Yeah? Where're you from?"

"The City, officially. We get moved around a lot though."

"Were you there for Hecate's execution?"

I could feel myself smiling. "No, but I wish I was."

He smiled, keeping up his pace besides me. Black Hand or magician, it was sad to see kids like this.

"Yeah, me too. Ooh, here's your room up here on the right."

He opened the door for us to reveal a room filled with bunk beds.

"I'm sorry, but I never got your name."

I turned back to him and gave him a soft smile. "It's Sophie."

He smiled back. "I'm Leo. If you want a tour of the place, I'd be happy to show you around."

"Is later okay? I'm kinda tired. It's been a long day, you know?"

"Oh, right. How about-"

"Give me an hour, then I'd love to have a tour."

He nodded and skipped off in the opposite direction. I closed the door behind him, locking it. The magic around us dropped, our real faces and hair coming back.

"How'd you already make a friend?" Hatchet asked, slumping on a bottom bunk.

"I call top," I said, climbing up a latter.

"There are at least ten bunks in here, and we're not even spending the night," Heather said.

"Yeah, but I still call top."

"Alright," Quin said, getting all of our attention, "we have an hour to rest before we move. Everyone remember the plan?"

We all nodded.

"Good. Don't mess anything up. A lot of lives are counting on us."

---

There was a knock at the door.

"Coming," I called, pulling the magic back over all of us. When I opened the door, Leo was waiting.

"Ready?"

"Yep, let's get going."

I still had a gun, which Quin had begrudgingly given me, slung over my shoulder. Apparently it was a normal thing for Black Hands to walk everywhere with their guns. Weird, but whatever. I guess I walked everywhere with my magic so we were even.

"Have anywhere specific you wanted to go?"

"How about a labor room," I asked. "It's been a while since I've been to a camp, so sorry if that sounds strange. I guess I just wanna get familiar with the place."

"No, it's fine."

He led me deeper into the camp, towards where the disgusting scent was clearly coming from. We stopped at a set of double doors, when Leo pulled out a ring of keys.

"What're those all for?" I asked, actually curious.

"Well, mostly for doors around this place. But I have one for silencers too."

I smiled. "They trusted you with the keys to silencers?"

He smiled back, feeling a bit cocky.

The door clicked and slid open. Inside was horrid. Non-magicians and magicians, bone thin, worked along tables lined up in the room. They tinkered with little things, like watches and guns, an bigger things like T.V.'s... And bigger guns.

"This is it."

He walked me inside, and I pretended not to be holding down vomit.

The door clicked shut behind us. There were only six other guards in the room, and one other door that was locked.

"It's been a while since I've been to one of these," I said, under my breath. "I almost forgot how bad it was."

"What was that?"

I snapped my fingers, and pure magic erupted from me, attacking the six guards and Leo. They all fell with thuds. Things like putting people to sleep required a gentler touch, which is why I actually had to touch Quin to put him to sleep. This was a mean attack on their immune systems. One that shut them down pretty fast, but they always woke up. I made sure.

"Almost forgot."

I looked up to see the prisoners staring at me with wide eyes.

I couldn't help but smile. "Hello, my witches and wizards." I stripped myself of the blue coat and black gloves. My magic fell from my face next. "A lot of you know me as Hecate." I was wearing a camie and the Black Hand pants, but only because I had nothing presentable on underneath them, and I didn't feel like magicing up anything else right now. "I'm here to save you."

The room was silent as I bent down to steal the keys from Leo. I unlocked one of the wizards and then let him go around unlocking the rest while I talked.

"I need all of your help. You see, we're looking for a friend, a kid named Xavier. Last name could possibly be Grumpy Pants. Anyways, we're looking for the kid." No one spoke up. "No? Welp, that's okay. Anyways, we're breaking you out of here. I realize you're all pretty weak right now, so don't push yourselves. I'll stay up front, magicians behind me, non-magicians and kids behind them. Take whatever guns you can, but seriously don't try to kill people."

A magicless man stepped forward. "How do we know you're Hecate?"

I smiled. "You don't, but would you rather risk staying here, or going with me?"

He didn't reply. I passed him my gun and he took it.

I turned back to the wizard who was going around unlocking the other magicians. He was almost done.

"Alright, let's go then."

With a burst of my own magic, the door shot open.

"You know what, go wherever, you don't have to follow me. Keep the non-magics and the kids safe. Other than that, go ahead and let loose. Oh, still no killing though."

Magicians and normals alike rushed by me, leaving the kids in the room with me. The younger kids, the ones who really didn't have anywhere to go or any real clue as to what was goin on.

I turned back to them and gave them my softest smile. One of them was a boy no older than eleven. I walked over to him and knelt down in front of them.

"What's you're name?"

He didn't talk.

"People call me Hecate."

"...That's a weird name."

I laughed, "I know, right. Why don't you guys stick with me. I'll keep you safe."

There were a total of eight kids clinging to me. I picked up a kid who was only four, the youngest of the group, and carried him. We went out the door together.

"Are you a magician?" I asked the boy.

"James, my name's James."

"Alright then, James. Are you a wizard?"

Black Hands came charging towards us. Flipping my hand up, I called on a gust of wind strong enough to smach them into the wall and knock them out cold.

"Wanna see something cool?"

A little girl nodded.

I reached down and picked up some of the concrete like it was dirt. Focusing my magic on it, I turned it into a single long snake. The rock snake slithered off my hand and behind the Black Hands, tying them up.

They all clapped as I gave a bow, careful not to drop the little one.

I focused my magic again on the glyphs I made. A string of magic went through the building and outside.

"Why don't we go to the courtyard?" I offered. "That's where most of the fighting is right now, but I promise I'll keep you safe."

The kids nodded, so that's where we headed.

---

Outside was a real battlefield. There was yelling and shouting. I found Quin, Heather, and Hatchet all besides each other. Apparently, I missed the memo saying we'd regroup halfway through. I pulled a soft barrier up around myself and the kids, then walked over to the others.

In the middle of them, I could make out a little boy with slick black hair. He was young. He must be Xavier.

Black Hands charged me from the side. I raised one hand and the ground cracked beneath them, dropping them into a cavern about ten feet below them with slick walls.

On my left, I could make out a single witch throwing fire at Black Hands. I did the same with those, opening a cavern for them to fall into. She nodded me her thanks before going off to fight.

"Where the hell have you been, Hecate?" Heather asked, when I came over. "And what's with the kids?"

"Took them with me."

I set the youngest one down and gave him to James.

"So what happens ne-"

There was a beeping in the distance.

"Bomb..." I whispered. "Bomb!"

Everyone froze.

"Keep still!"

Focusing all my magic, I pulled at the purest form of it. Pure magic.

My hands shooting up, because I actually need it this time, I pulled up barriers. Black Hand, normal, witch, and wizard alike. Last time I practiced, I'd pulled up seventy-three barriers before I couldn't anymore. I had eighty-three barriers up, and my head felt like it was going to explode.

The kid, the youngest of them, got loose.

"No," I whispered, my head throbbing. "Stop him."

Xavier the little hero, jumped forward, out of the barrier.

"Stop!"

The bomb went off and everything was consumed by a fiery red.