Each to Their Own

"To alter the Protection Ritual so I can use it without the original Presider noticing too soon... It would be best if the Presider weren't there while I worked on it...

"Xio should have the information on the Embassy's Beyonders ready by tomorrow morning. Once I know who's been maintaining the ritual, I'll find a way to get them out of the Embassy for a while. That'll give me a chance to make my changes...

"But before that, I have a few other preparations to make."

With that in mind, Abner finished his coffee and chocolate cake in a few bites, paid the bill, and took a carriage back to his garden villa on Kinster Street. He needed to pick up some materials.

Behind Bravehearts Bar on Iron Gate Street, Klein paid Kaspars two pounds to lead him to a house where a Beyonder gathering was underway.

After confirming the password through the force and timing of his knocks, he was led through a dark sitting room into a lounge on the ground floor.

A candle burned on the coffee table, its dim yellow light casting wavering shadows throughout the room.

A dozen or so people sat on the sofas and chairs around it, all dressed in hooded robes and iron-colored masks.

In an armchair at the center sat an old man with deep lines beside his mouth and slightly withered skin. He appeared to be the gathering's organizer.

Klein narrowed his eyes behind his iron mask. He had seen this house before. He had seen something that happened at this gathering, back when he used Dream Divination to search for a way to obtain the Clown Potion.

He had divined three scenes that time. In one of them, the old gentleman bought a Clown Beyonder Characteristic from a