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Vivian stood before the window, watching Von Stauffenberg's dark-green figure disappear at the end of the corridor.

Mendoza's footsteps followed close behind. Before long, only she, Kingsley, and Ms. Rosier, who was sorting out the record book, remained in the conference room.

Kingsley rose from the conference table, rolled up the copy of the graded protective deployment plan, and tucked it into the inner pocket of his casual robes.

"You'll be in Athens, Cassandra in Cairo, Morel in Ankara. If all three of us are refused in the same week—"

"We won't be refused." Vivian turned away from the window. "At least Greece won't. Before Minister Karamanos became the Minister for Magic of the Greek Ministry of Magic, he was the dean of the Athens Institute of Ancient Magic. During his term, he presided over an investigation into abnormal magical fluctuations in the Santorini caldera. I've read that report. He used the phrase sustained magical pulses of unknown origin. No one in the Confederation took that report seriously at the time. Now that we're bringing the answer to him, he'll accept it."

Kingsley nodded in understanding. An academic like Karamanos would never give up the chance to prove he had been right.

"What about Egypt?" he asked.

"Minister Fahmy served as the Confederation's permanent representative for two years. He worked with me and knows I'm not the kind of person who would fabricate some earth-shattering lie to push an agenda. And Cassandra is taking the Silver Compass with her—once Fahmy sees how the Silver Compass reacts in front of Egypt's Ancient Magic ruins, he'll understand."

Vivian picked up the TS-1995-09 standard document from the table, turned to the appendix, and quickly skimmed several pages.

"Turkey is the biggest variable. Minister Ozkan's predecessor had a cold relationship with the Confederation during