Embers (Scales 'N' Spells 4)

“How much data?” Gunter asked.

“A lot.”

“A shit ton,” Cassie said over her brother.

Cameron rolled his eyes. “We actually got access two days ago, but it has taken us until now to write the proper data analysis algorithms to make sense of it all.”

Dimitri leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “What are we looking at here?”

“This is just the highlights from his GPS—places the owner of the phone traveled more than five times.” Cameron tapped something on the tablet, and the screen changed so that a blizzard of white dots layered over the yellow. “This is all the data.”

“Whoa,” Nikki breathed.

“Obviously, not all these places are Jaeggi strongholds,” Cameron explained. “Based on the locations this person traveled, we are assuming they are likely someone who is trusted to run errands. Most of the locations are cities, so this person was likely bringing in supplies.”

“And maybe also gathering some elements for spells based on some of the less frequent locations,” Cassie added.

“The other option is this person was tasked with hunting down and capturing mages, and simply looking everywhere.”

Nikki shivered and inched closer to Gunter. He wrapped his arm around Nikki’s slender shoulders and pulled them in tighter, barely resisting the urge to resettle them in his lap. This had nothing to do with the cold and everything to do with watching fellow mages being drained of their magic and, eventually, their lives.

Cassie sighed. “It was easier for them to find the mages. They’ve been finding them for far longer. Just seemed to know where to look, or maybe they had far more people looking than the dragons could ever manage.”

“Have you been able to find something of value in all of this?” Gunter asked, waving his free hand at the screen. He didn’t want to linger on the idea of the Jaeggi hunting mages. They needed to move forward with finding them.

“We think so, but we need some help from Nikki,” Cameron began.

Nikki immediately perked up. “Anything. What can I do?”

This time, Cassie turned back to the keyboard and made a rapid-fire clatter of keys.

“We analyzed the data and came up with clusters—areas where this Jaeggi either returned to or lingered around more than any other places. We tossed out any place they went to only a few times, as maybe they were just passing through.”

The screen changed again, both the yellow and white dots disappearing, to be replaced with twenty bright red dots spread across Europe.

“We came up with twenty possible locations,” Cassie announced.

“Twenty isn’t bad,” Dimitri hedged. He lifted one hand in a gesture and then dropped it again. “It will take some time to check them all, even if we just send dragons for a quick fly-by, but it’s manageable.”

“A lot more than that other mess,” Gunter murmured.

“True.” Cameron spun back and smiled in a hopeful manner at Nikki. “But we’re hoping that maybe Nikki can cull the list a little. Or help us prioritize. Even if you can only tell us what might be a good starting point, that would be helpful.”

Nikki chewed on their bottom lip for a moment as they stared at the screen. Gunter squeezed their shoulder in encouragement before Nikki rose to their feet and walked up to the screen. Gunter could barely make out the lines furrowing across their brow, but one by one Nikki steadily marked off ten locations.

“Why not those?” Gunter asked when Nikki paused.

“I remember living in all of them,” they replied softly. Nikki turned back, their face a little pale. “This was a while ago, several years back. I didn’t really think of them. The Jaeggi never return to a place they’ve stayed in the past. It’s too dangerous. Even if it’s not been discovered by dragons, they won’t go back.”

An ugly, horrible thought flashed across Gunter’s brain. He prayed it wasn’t right, that the connection he saw in the timeline wasn’t correct. Curiosity and the need to know burned in his mind, and he couldn’t stop his tongue from voicing it. “Were you with the part of the clan staying in Germany a year ago? Just outside of Sonthofen.”

Someone in the room gasped, but Gunter wasn’t sure if it was Cameron or Cassie. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from Nikki’s worried expression.

“I was,” Nikki whispered.

Gunter’s dragon roared in pain. Gunter couldn’t tell if he uttered a noise or not. Now possessing the knowledge, he almost wished he hadn’t asked. It tore his heart apart to know Nikki had been so close, and yet, with his ignorance, it might as well have been an ocean between them. He couldn’t hear anything over the cries of outrage and frustration. Nikki had been just minutes away from him, and he’d never known it. At his fingertips. If only—

Nikki was suddenly in front of him, stepping between his legs and wrapping their arms around his neck. “I’m right here now. It’s okay. I’m safe,” they murmured.