Sable Fenwick and Old Starcrest
Old Starcrest was an ancient part of the thriving city that had not died, but had rather been repurposed. The buildings had been built hundreds of years ago and mixed different Tan architectural styles. They were a mix of buildings that were tall and slender, or tall with bulbous portions, or short with spiky protrusions—all stretching straight up into the air like odd flowers or stoic trees looking for the brilliance of a nourishing sun.
They lined wide, curving streets that splintered off into narrow alleyways that led to places of wonder or places of danger. The alley that led to the Dark Market was one of the ambiguous alleys, because it led to both wonder and danger.
The professors of Star Academy moved quietly through the old sections of the city. The Night Star Dogs moved through the shadows and quietly surrounded the Dark Market as witches and wizards moved in from the main alley.
Hazel, Evervine, and Marcel had joined the Star Academy professors just as they were heading out. Hazel was now with Professors Sing and Greenbottom, Evervine was with Professor Shorepart, and Marcel was with Professor Adder. Headmistress Pilar and six warrior witches and wizards led them all, the Headmistress in the lead.
A dog with sparkling azure eyes poked its head out of the shadows right next to Professor Shorepart's ear and seemed to speak to the Magical Beasts professor. He looked ahead and whispered into his wand.
"The market is full of people. Shall I have the Night Star Dogs separate the customers from the vendors?"
His whisper moved throughout the group and each of them heard his calm voice in their ear. They did not stop moving; Headmistress Pilar simply nodded. Professor Shorepart looked into the dog's azure eyes and spoke soundlessly. The dog's head pulled back into the shadows and the group tightened its formation.
They came to the head of the alley—where it opened up into the Dark Market. The group separated into four; starlight shone brightly in the market before them, and they all struck out as one.
Professor Shorepart was a warrior from the great dimensional wars two hundred years ago, and his prowess showed at the start of the conflict. He rose into the air as if he had control over time and physics and he spun forward like a sparking Roman candle—sparks of fiery light shot from his feet and runes spun to life, only to die out, as they moved around his twirling form.
The runes were created and deconstructed in unique, yet discernible, patterns. They flowed out and struck the kiosks of the Dark Market and they all began to dissolve like acid was poured over all of them.
Headmistress Pilar moved forward and began binding witches and wizards as they tried to run from the area. Magical, multicolored chains spontaneously appeared and wrapped themselves around them—binding some individually and others in groups of two or three.
Professor Sing and Marcel seemed to act as one as they pulled potions and packets out of their robes. Witches and wizards were petrified—frozen in mid-step—some were stunned, and still others became ensnared in bright magical webbing.
Evervine and Professor Shorepart moved through the chaos and fought with wand, weapon, and hand. Professors Sing and Greenbottom stood at the edge of the chaos with Hazel. Professor Sing and Hazel both had their third eyes open and the witches and wizards of the Dark Market stood like statues, their eyes wide open and unfeeling, as they became lost in powerful, elaborate illusions.
Dense vines ran between these frozen men and women and pulled down others below the ground, only for them to appear, bound by vines, behind Professor Greenbottom.
Headmistress Pilar heard Professor Shorepart's whisper—identifying where Sable Fenwick was. She spun around and the witch froze, her soul entrapped in Pilar's gaze. After a long moment, the apothecary opened her mouth in a silent scream and her entire body seemed to fold in on itself and became encased in a rainbow-colored octagonal gem.
The area was cleared and the makeshift kiosks were destroyed. The Night Star Dogs appeared near Hazel and Professors Sing and Greenbottom, and people began appearing from the shadows as if they were being expelled from a decaying dimension. Assistant Headmistress Sing spoke without looking to any of them or losing her concentration.
"Go! All of you. If you are here when we are done, you will be counted with these and punished accordingly."
The witches and wizards behind her either shimmered, popped, or fell out of existence, or ran from the area. Sing nodded with satisfaction and went back to her tasks.
As Old Starcrest's Dark Market was dismantled, the six houses of divination were meeting to discuss Star Academy's findings. The family heads—Adam Ambrose, Carrie Clarkton, Millston Myers, Samuel Swap, Townston Timms, and Willamina Wist—sat at a wide, round wooden table etched in runic symbols with a large crystal ball at its center.
They quietly watched the evidence collected by Hazel and her friends and given to them by the Star Academy professors. At the end, Willamina Wist looked to a woman behind her. "And these ingredients, they are as the children claim?"
The woman, a Wist apothecary and Potions master, nodded. "Yes, My Lady. They can be used to make the three potions that the Fate-Seer and her friends identified."
Carrie Clarkton looked to the woman. "And this Vital Mirage could be the cause of the deaths we have been investigating?"
The woman nodded again. "Yes, Lady Clarkton. The children are correct; there would be no signs of magic and the death would seem to have no clear explanation."
All eyes turned to Adam Ambrose, but Willamina Wist spoke first. "You said you would handle this young woman, Adam." She sneered, sensing the end of the Ambrose family's dominance. "We are the law enforcers of Tan and having a rogue from our own ranks diminishes our authority."
"It is not that severe, Willamina." Carrie Clarkton frowned as she spoke and then turned to Adam. "But Rosa does need to answer for this. We cannot allow this to go on unchallenged, Adam. She has stepped too far."
"Stepped too far! She wishes to kill the first Fate-Seer we have had in over two millennia! She seeks to destroy us!" Townston Timms' clouded, unfeeling eyes seemed to flare with uncontrolled power as he spoke.
Adam Ambrose looked to the eldest of the house leaders. He pursed his lips. He was right; Rosa had stepped too far. Using a cursed item—or wanting to use it—against the Fate-Seer was at least an act of war, and at most an act of treason. What could he say or do to quell the situation and have a chance to sway Hazel into family Ambrose?