The Journey Home

He did not go on, but Vivi knew what he was going to say.

The signal from the upper levels was Cohen's magical fingerprint. Just like in Aldeburgh, Cohen had carved his own magic into Node Seven's response sequence.

But his magic did not cover the pulses like a thin film. It had completely fused with the cave's runes.

Every groove of every geometric pattern was filled with the residue of Cohen's magic.

"He took himself apart, then embedded himself into every rune."

Cassandra walked from the rear of the group to Vivi's side. The Silver Compass spun rapidly in her hand, then finally stopped steadily above the circular depression at the center of the cave.

"This is soul magic. Cohen stripped a part of his soul from his body and poured it into this cave's rune system. His body might still be somewhere—maybe in some corner of the Jordan Valley, or maybe it vanished long ago—but his soul will remain here forever, operating together with Node Seven."

"Why would he do that?" Kingsley stood up and put away the fluctuation detector.

"To control Node Seven." Cassandra walked over to the circular depression, crouched down, and lightly touched the rock at its edge with her fingers. "Cohen knew Node Seven was the origin point of the entire Deep Response Network. If he could embed his soul into Node Seven's rune system, he could influence every other node in the network from within. He wanted to make himself the master control core of this network."

Vivi crouched down on the other side of the circular depression and took out the souvenir set from her inner pocket—the Beauxbatons School Badge, the silver pendant, the badge, the brooch, and the Parchment replica. She placed them one by one along the edge of the