Chapter Summaries

Grant White explained Abigail’s magical training and failed memory alteration while negotiating with Prometheus, but Braun attacked the convoy and killed him. Braun reached the truck as Abigail finished killing another guard and turned to face him.

• Grant White told the uniformed man that Abigail was a powerful, well-trained wizard whose memories resisted the Scourers’ brainwashing.
• The uniformed man said the Sir would meet Brolin the next morning, but screams and impacts outside interrupted their negotiation.
• Braun ambushed the convoy’s bodyguards and fought Grant White, who transformed into bats and attacked with a blade.
• Braun killed Grant White with a military spike hidden in his forearm and disabled the truck as it tried to escape.
• Grant White recognized Braun as the Acolytes’ heir before dying, while Braun opened the truck and saw Abigail snap a man’s neck.

Abigail discovered that Braun and the Acolytes had been involved with Prometheus for two years, and learned that Liana Lightfoot was one of the wizards they had rescued from experimentation. After Braun saved her from the Scourers and explained his mission, Abigail joined him to find Liana, while suspecting Wade Grey had ties to the Acolytes.

• Abigail confronted Braun after he killed the Scourers who had taken her captive, and demanded to know why he was there.
• Braun revealed that the Acolytes had been involved with Prometheus for two years and that Liana Lightfoot was among the wizards rescued from human experimentation.
• Braun explained that he had targeted Liana and planned to use her security force's vehicle to find her, while Abigail told him she would join the mission.
• Braun took a Communication Pea from a corpse and said the Acolytes could monitor them, prompting Abigail to wonder whether Wade Grey had helped them.
• Abigail disguised herself as the driver, and she and Braun drove the van toward the edge of the city.

Abigail and Braun were captured in a warehouse by Liana Lightfoot after a coordinated attack disabled them. As Liana prepared to take them away, a swarm of bomb-laden paper airplanes burst into the warehouse.

• Braun redirected Abigail's van to a warehouse in an industrial district, where armed workers ambushed them with blinding lights, sonic attacks, and vibrations that disrupted their Magic Power.
• Masked personnel shackled Abigail and Braun and injected them with drugs, leaving them barely able to move.
• Liana Lightfoot welcomed the captured wizards and ordered her subordinates to take them away as samples.
• A paper airplane began knocking against the warehouse skylight, and Liana ordered the machines switched on despite her people still being inside.
• Countless paper airplanes carrying bombs smashed through the warehouse windows, filling it with flashing red explosives as Liana froze in shock.

Braun survived the paper-plane bombs with hidden armor, while Liana Lightfoot revealed that her bartender informant had watched the truck. The Acolytes captured Liana and destroyed the remaining personnel, then Braun pulled the exhausted Abigail to her feet.

• Braun stood up unharmed and revealed the protective armor beneath his clothes.
• Braun threatened the group with Veritaserum, and Liana admitted that the bartender worked for her and had monitored Grant White and Abigail.
• The Acolytes arrived, destroyed the warehouse’s speakers and devices, and captured Liana.
• Liana appealed to her government connections, but Braun dismissed the threat and the Acolytes took her away.
• Braun called for the remaining personnel to be killed, and Drayne allowed the paper airplanes to bomb them.
• Braun helped Abigail stand, and she shuddered at his touch.

The Acolytes destroyed the warehouse and rescued prisoners from its secret laboratories while Abigail watched the aftermath. Braun revealed that he had used the operation to draw Lightfoot into reach, leaving Abigail afraid of how little he valued human life.

• The Acolytes burned down the warehouse, rescued prisoners from the laboratories, and took the captured supplies and records.
• Abigail recognized a former Scourer among the rescued prisoners but stayed hidden as he was taken for treatment.
• Drayne questioned Braun about keeping Abigail and the killing, warned him against acting beyond his limits, and left with the Acolytes.
• Braun told Abigail the captives had been killed because they were expendable tools and imprisonment would have caused complications.
• Braun explained that he had staged a supposedly safe trap to draw Lightfoot out of her guarded surroundings, and Abigail recoiled from his indifference to human life.

Abigail learned that the Magical Congress had destroyed the Scourers’ base and taken the students she had hoped to protect. With nowhere safe to go, she considered Braun’s offer to help him pursue Brolin and investigate Prometheus in exchange for a chance to reclaim the children, and asked what they would do next.

• Abigail asked Braun why he had not handed her over, then decided to return to New York to warn her former companions about Brolin.
• Braun showed Abigail a newspaper reporting that the Magical Congress had raided the Scourers’ base and captured everyone except Brolin.
• Abigail saw that the newspaper had labeled her a fugitive and described the captured young Scourers as victims who would be helped by Ilvermorny.
• Braun suggested Abigail work with him to find Brolin or investigate Prometheus, offering her a possible way to bargain for the children’s release.
• Abigail weighed Braun’s offer, set aside her objections, and asked what they would do next.

Braun and Abigail rushed to Liana Lightfoot’s apartment to secure her inheritance and any intelligence before her associates could destroy it. There, Braun found a man he called “Master,” while Abigail waited outside, uncertain what he had seen in the building.

• Braun explained that they had to search Liana’s home quickly before her accomplices learned of her capture and destroyed evidence.
• Braun gave Abigail an Acolyte robe to conceal her identity, and she silently put it on.
• Abigail used her Wand to make a guard believe that she and Braun had an appointment at the Misty Valley District building.
• Braun became delighted by something he saw in the building and went inside alone, telling Abigail to wait downstairs.
• Braun entered Liana Lightfoot’s apartment, where Wito, Viktor, Vera, and Animal Golems searched through her belongings and records.
• Braun embraced a man seated on the sofa and told him he was glad to see that he was well, addressing him as “Master.”

Wade joined Braun and the Golems in Washington as they searched a site connected to Prometheus and discussed weakening the organization before striking its headquarters. Braun read a draft about consciousness transfer, while Wito wondered whether the experiment could overwrite his mind.

• Braun told Wade that Liana Lightfoot had been taken away by Drayne and that they had about half an hour before Prometheus noticed something was wrong.
• Wade explained that they would let New York settle while targeting Prometheus’s Washington connections, hoping to expose the organization’s hidden forces and make it more desperate to acquire Golems.
• Viktor asked about the person waiting downstairs, and Braun identified her as Sera Abigail, whom he had met and traveled with.
• Wade handed Braun a draft of Prometheus Project B5’s consciousness transfer experiment, which Braun read with interest.
• Wito said he wanted to test whether the technology could overwrite his consciousness, and Vera warned that losing his thoughts might amount to suicide.

Wade and the Golems discussed the danger of consciousness merging with human souls, while a wealthy exhibition displayed bodies for elites hoping to escape aging and death. Widel and Braun reassured the others that their distant “brothers” would survive by becoming ruthless.

• Wito argued that his purpose and resolve might let him overcome a human mind in a consciousness merge, but Viktor warned him not to underestimate the weight of a human soul.
• Firebird Mihail emerged from the Wardrobe Space, damaged a wine cabinet and chandelier, and Wade suggested that Mihail possessed more than a thin wisp of consciousness.
• An elderly woman admired a vampire girl displayed in a glass case and pressed Mark Paul to tell her when she could transfer into a new body.
• Powerful, aged and ill guests toured the exhibition hall, where werewolves, vampires, and Golems stood on display as potential bodies for transfer.
• Widel argued that Wito’s distant companions would act cautiously in unfamiliar environments, and Braun predicted they would grow ruthless when threatened.

Abigail sent a warning as special forces surrounded Watergate Tower, and Wade, Mihail, and Wito escaped while destroying evidence. Wade watched the ensuing chaos from a nearby park, where Braun reunited with Abigail and assured her he was safe.

• Abigail spotted the special forces at Watergate Tower, launched a red firework to warn the people upstairs, and Apparated away when soldiers searched for her.
• Wito took the documents into the Wardrobe Space, while Mihail set the room ablaze and collapsed the Wardrobe into a Pencil Case.
• Wade pocketed the Pencil Case, transformed into a peregrine falcon, and flew out as soldiers burst into the burning room.
• Wade landed in Foggy Valley Park and watched special forces surround Watergate Tower as officials, residents, reporters, and emergency crews gathered.
• Abigail returned to the crowd outside the tower, and Braun tapped her shoulder and told her he was safe.

After Braun escaped the chaos at Watergate Tower, he and Abigail planned to target Prometheus members and seek intelligence from Miss Lightfoot. Meanwhile, Wade reviewed the fortune and secrets taken from Lightfoot and proposed entrusting the wealth to Viktor and Wilan to manage.

• Braun explained to Abigail that he had escaped Watergate Tower by a less conspicuous route, and she asked what he had done to cause the commotion.
• Braun and Abigail left the scene, and he said they would rest before killing Prometheus members and seeking information from Miss Lightfoot.
• Wito, Vera, and Widel presented Wade with Lightfoot's money, property records, and intelligence on political and corporate connections.
• Viktor asked Wade what they should do with the fortune, and Vera suggested having old Mr. Gray manage it.
• Wade rejected the suggestion and offered to put the fortune in Viktor and Wilan's hands to manage.

Wade watched as the Golems planned how to use Prometheus's money and networks to build an independent presence in human society. Wito declared that their enterprise would belong solely to them, free from outside magical influence.

• Wito, Viktor, Widel, and Vera proposed building a legal business structure, acquiring companies, developing security and intelligence networks, and shaping public opinion.
• Wade listened without intervening, valuing the Golems' independent planning and their willingness to learn through successes and failures.
• Vera noticed Wade watching the group and felt reassured by his calm, gentle gaze.
• The Cloak urged Mihail to ask Wade for a humanoid body, then mocked him, and Mihail struck the Cloak into the wall with a wing.
• Viktor argued that they could surpass Prometheus's network, and Wito said their new foundation would be entirely their own and independent of outside powers.

Braun helped Wito plan a new kingdom independent of the Acolytes, then confronted Abigail at a hospital where rescued children were being treated. He revealed that the Scourers had made Carlyle a Vampire and manipulated his fate, and suspected that Abigail’s own memories had also been altered.

• Braun agreed to help Wito personally with the new kingdom, keeping the Acolytes out of its founding.
• Braun visited the hospital, where Abigail watched over children rescued from Lightfoot’s secret laboratory, including one showing signs of becoming an Obscurial.
• Braun assured Abigail that the Acolytes would try to cure the child, then challenged her concern by asking how the child differed from Carlyle.
• Braun explained that Carlyle had been a Muggle-born wizard and Wade Grey’s childhood companion, whom the Scourers abducted, transformed into a Vampire, and manipulated into seeking revenge.
• Braun told Abigail that the Scourers had caused Carlyle’s death and revealed that Carlyle’s parents were Landon Johnson and Annie Johnson.
• Braun realized that Abigail might also have had her memories altered and asked whether her thoughts were truly her own.

Braun exposed the possibility that the Scourers had altered Abigail’s memories, leaving her questioning her identity and past. She began to regain her focus and resolved to pursue the Dream Weaver, the wizard responsible for the memory magic.

• Braun’s question made Abigail doubt whether her memories and feelings truly belonged to her.
• Abigail struggled to recall her past and realized that her memories preserved details but not her emotions.
• Wade told Braun that the Dream Weaver had altered Scourers’ memories and ordered him to find the wizard through Abigail.
• Wade placed protection on Braun to shield him from memory magic three times.
• Braun told Abigail she needed to reclaim what had been taken, and Abigail named the Dream Weaver as her target.

Niccolo Hawthorne accepted that Lyla Piquery had won the support of the Magical Congress and prepared to step down, while Ezra Hughes remained furious at what he saw as a betrayal. Before leaving office, Hawthorne took Hughes to visit Madam Seraphina Piquery to discuss a matter he believed could still help the Congress.

• Ezra Hughes angrily dismissed the trivial documents left on his desk and accused others of disrespecting the President and the Magical Congress.
• Niccolo Hawthorne told Hughes that Lyla Piquery had won the majority and that he had decided to leave office.
• Hawthorne urged Hughes to preserve his strength and continue defending what was right within the Congress.
• Hawthorne finished reviewing the remaining documents, put on his robe coat, and asked Hughes to accompany him.
• Hawthorne told Hughes they were going to visit Madam Seraphina Piquery before he formally stepped down.

Ezra Hughes removed two Aurors who had been ordered to watch Serafina Piquery, then learned Stella believed Niccolo Hawthorne had arranged the surveillance. Serafina and Hawthorne were left alone to discuss their misunderstandings.

• Stella Piquery served tea to Niccolo Hawthorne and Ezra Hughes as they met with Serafina Piquery.
• Two Aurors arrived, and Hughes ordered them to leave the Manor after accusing them of following someone else's orders.
• Hughes asked Stella to show him the Manor grounds and questioned her about the Aurors watching Serafina.
• Stella said she thought Hawthorne disliked Serafina and wanted her monitored, and Hughes demanded to know who had told her that.
• After everyone left, Serafina told Hawthorne they could talk privately and might have many misunderstandings between them.

Hawthorne and Seraphina realized that Lila had manipulated them into suspecting each other and undermined the Magical Congress. Hawthorne vowed to remain Chairman and asked Seraphina what she had told Dumbledore that led him to send British Aurors to intervene.

• Hawthorne confessed that he had suspected Seraphina of secretly controlling forces within the American Wizarding World.
• Seraphina explained that Lila had filtered their communications and fabricated clues to turn them against each other.
• Seraphina warned Hawthorne not to yield to Lila, whose growing power had put the Magical Congress on a dangerous path.
• Hawthorne vowed not to give up his position and asked Seraphina for help against Lila's network.
• Hawthorne asked Seraphina what she had told Dumbledore that convinced him British Aurors needed to intervene.

Serafina told Hawthorne that an unstable memory had been entrusted to someone who delivered its evidence to Dumbledore, while keeping the witness's identity secret. Stella revealed to Ezra Hughes that powerful figures were colluding with Muggles to conduct experiments with golden particles and provoke wars, leaving the burden with Hughes and Hawthorne.

• Serafina explained that only the memory's original owner could view the unstable clue completely, and said its evidence had reached Dumbledore through a protected witness.
• Serafina withheld the witness's identity from Hawthorne but said another person had helped her understand the danger.
• Stella learned that her cousin Lila had targeted Aunt Serafina and grieved over how far Lila had gone.
• Stella told Ezra Hughes that powerful people were colluding with Muggles, conducting magical experiments, and encouraging wars to seize secrets from other Ministries of Magic.
• Stella said her friend Jack had seen golden particles that distorted time and had been used in experiments on living people before he died.
• Hughes thanked Stella for trusting him and promised that he, the Auror Office, and others would take responsibility for fighting the conspiracy.

Hawthorne and Hughes concluded that Wade Grey was involved in the crisis surrounding the Time Particles and decided to seek outside help. Hawthorne then identified the person colluding with the Muggles, but Reginald Perez appeared before he could name him.

• Hawthorne told Hughes what Madam Piquery had revealed about Lila, the conspiracy, and the Time Particles.
• Hughes said Stella had told him the same secret, and Hawthorne urged him to seek allies beyond the Magical Congress.
• Hawthorne identified Wade Grey as the person behind the unexplained events and suggested contacting him and Dumbledore.
• Hughes connected the Gold Powder at the banquet to an imitation of the Time Particles' effects.
• Hawthorne realized who had been colluding with the Muggles, but Reginald Perez appeared and asked if Hawthorne meant him.

Perez trapped Niccolo Hawthorne and Ezra Hughes in a golden-particle ward and explained that his pursuit of Time Magic had driven him to work with Prometheus. He blamed the Magical Congress and the Wizarding World for forcing him into his crimes, leaving the confrontation poised to turn violent.

• Perez confronted Hawthorne and Hughes inside a field of golden dust that reacted to magic and prevented Apparition.
• Hawthorne warned Hughes not to move or use magic, while Hughes demanded to know what Perez wanted.
• Perez claimed that he had acted to protect himself because he believed Hawthorne and Hughes were preparing to expose him.
• Hawthorne and Hughes recognized that Lila Piquelly had manipulated Perez with false information, but knew that a fight was now unavoidable.
• Perez defended his obsession with Time Magic, accusing the Magical Congress of denying him access to its secrets.
• Perez revealed that Prometheus had supplied resources and helped him pursue his ambitions, including starting a war.