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Without hesitation, Sister Grimm sliced her finger open, allowing the blood to trickle down her arm and onto Moon Knight’s clean carpets. Nico closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. And when she opened them again, they were glowing a vibrant purple.
Suddenly, a black staff shot out of her chest! It was long, with a golden ring crested atop it. The moment of intrigue was quickly broken, though. Right along with the defenseless vase that had been in its path.
You heard a long, weary sigh from Marc, and Nico winced apologetically.
<span class="mu-b">“Sorry. You can bill me later.”</span> she said, twirling her staff with a blank expression on her face. Flowing, purple streaks of light filled the air and swirled around her, like water flowing around a river rock. She was manipulating mystical energies so freely that even an amateur like you could see it!
The flow of magic came to an abrupt stop as a thick tome sprang into existence, hovering directly in front of her. It opened without any physical encouragement on her part, and you watched in awe as the pages flipped from left to right at an incredible speed.
Finally, the pages stopped, and you got the sense that she was reading something from the text. After about a minute, the girl gasped, and her eyes went wide.
She frowned, conjured up several more tomes, and began flipping through them all at the same time. With a flick of her hand, she rotated the books around her body as if it were the focal point in a roulette wheel.
When she dismissed the books, you became keenly aware of the breath that you’d been holding this entire time, and released it.
Nico looked you dead in the face, and then gave Cindy an unreadable expression.
<span class="mu-b">“Have any of you ever heard of a ‘Silvertongue’?”</span> she inquired. Everyone shook their heads.
She sighed, and seemed to weigh her next words in her head. It was the same expression that Pandora wore. You started to worry that she might refuse to tell you as well, but she had a resigned look in her eye when she returned her attention to you.
<span class="mu-b">“All of you might want to sit down for this.”</span> she suggested.
—-----
Once Reese brought out the good chairs, Marc cleared some space around the table and brought out the tea that Louise liked to drink while she was visiting. According to Marc, she would be here shortly. But the Nightguard would have to play catch-up, because there was no way that you were putting this off.
Nico slowly sipped her tea and placed the cup back down before speaking, panning her gaze around the table as she did so. Her staff was leaning against Marc’s desk, since she didn’t feel like cutting herself in order to re-summon it.
<span class="mu-b">“From the looks of it, your girl here was attacked by a magic parasite. They’re called ‘Silvertongues’, and they were actually thought to be extinct on account of the Magic Council trying to eradicate them when they'd first started becoming a problem.”</span> Nico began.
(Cont.)
