The time to confront Balthum couldn’t have been worse.

Or better.

The Howl had gathered itself for its last storm. And it wasn’t going out with a puff of smoke and a whimper. The Howl was cranked way past the redline, roaring like a turbo-charged V-eight with a straight pipe.

Even within the safety of Mount Aeternia, the wailing was audible.

The local Waygates weren’t even working. If we’d had to navigate the storm, we would’ve found ourselves waiting.

Yet Secrets of Telthen was different. Whatever interference blocked the Waygates during the storms, it actually seemed to boost Secrets. There was something important buried in that fact, I knew it. But like so many things, it wasn’t the time to dig deeper.

Instead, I collected everyone, ferrying them to the gazebo.

“Well, it’s time to wake up the jerk. Everyone ready?” I asked, my hand hovering over the control.

I received a chorus of affirmatives, with a nod or two mixed in.

We had a bit of a crowd when the golden lights swirled up around us to pull us into the chamber. Not only had we brought all three of the former bath attendants, I’d also grabbed Bevel, Calbern and Nexxa.

It was almost poetic how Nexxa’d returned at the same time as the strongest storm of the Howling season.

With a Hydra-souled and the Kinya equivalent, I was certain Balthum wouldn't be able to pose a threat. They should also be enough to keep the ladies from getting carried away too soon.

At least we didn’t have to worry about Esbee. She’d almost begged off joining us. I was pretty sure she was just there to support the others.

When the seven of us appeared, the chamber was dark, other than the fading golden sparks of the transport.

That lasted half a second before Nexxa filled the air with an orb of crackling lightning.

Sitting on the edge of the sarcophagus was the mottled form of Balthum, an otherwise perfect copy of Keria. He was staring at his mottled stone hand blankly, not seeming to register our presence.

He certainly noticed when chains of howling wind wrapped around his limbs and Nexxa pulled him away from the delicate machinery. Despite how it looked, I knew it was deceptively gentle.

"How dare you accost a Magus Dominus!" he said, his voice a much deeper version of Keria's. "Set me down this instant."

"You ain't even a mage anymore, nevermind a Magus Dominus," Esbee said, shaking her head. “Some kids never learn.”

Banya stepped towards where Nexxa held him suspended, her fist flexing, readying herself for a slap. Back when we'd first discussed his punishment, she'd insisted on needing to give him that much. A single step away, she hesitated. She glanced towards Keria, then back to Balthum. "I… I can't. If it was him, I… but not while he has your face."

Keria was about to respond when Balthum beat her to it.

"What?" Balthum demanded, his hands reaching up to press against his face.

From the chuckling of the ladies, the slowly dawning horror on Balthum's face was pretty damn cathartic. Not that I didn’t chuckle too.

"Well, I for one don't have any problems hitting that face," Keria said, stepping forward, her palm open as she wound up for a slap.

The sound of stone cracking against stone filled the room, Balthum's face falling away after the impact. He seemed too stunned to process the fact he'd been injured.

"Oops," Keria said, lowering her other hand, which she’d already had raised. "Too many more of those and you're going to be too ugly to serve in the baths."

There was another chuckle from the ladies, though it held a far darker edge to it.

Keria took a deep breath before stepping back, both hands flexing, as though she was ready to leap forward again. Bevel’s hand on her shoulder, caused her to wince, but then she let her fists relax.

Balthum was sputtering, though he wasn't particularly articulate.

When none of the ladies had anything else to say, I realized it was my turn.

"You know, when we first found you, we were planning to ask you questions," I said as I raised the scanner Bevel and I had accidentally made. The one for reading memories. "I hadn't been looking forward to it. Even reading your journals makes me feel filthy. But it turns out we have another way to get information out of you."

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Who… who are you?" Balthum demanded in a moment of clarity, staring at me while I continued to scan him. “Do I know you? Sevil? Is that… did you come for me? Where’s your sister? Where is… Arthe? You came!” His eyes had locked on Nexxa, going wide. Then he seemed to realize she was the one holding him in place. “Arthe, it’s me! Don’t you recognize me? I know it’s been a long time but…”

“Not Arthe, you Fronting weirdo,” Nexxa said, making a waving motion in front of her face, as if trying to dispel a rotten odor.

“Not Arthe… then who?” His eyes darted around the chamber until they came to rest on Bevel. His confusion stretched onward for a second before he howled out, "You! You cursed rat! This is all your fault! I know it! You’ve made my beloved forget me!"

"I wish," Bevel said, shaking her head. She stepped forward, still holding her sister's hand. Was funny how the one made out of flesh seemed so much sturdier in that moment. "All I did was stop you from doing to me what you did to my sister and our parents." It caught me off guard when Bevel reached out and took my hand. "You took my family, but we built a new one."

I wanted to reach over and ruffle her hair, but my free hand was still holding the scanner as it worked, so I just smiled at her.

Having apparently gathered her courage, Banya took a deep breath. Then she stepped forward. "You saved my life. I remember that so clearly it hurts. Even as my life came crashing down, you stepped in and saved me from certain death."

From the gasps, I wasn't the only one surprised by her statement.

"You saved my life. I thought that for years. Even after everything you put us through, I kept thinking, at least this man helps people. It was absolute torture, but that was fine. I deserved to be tortured after what I brought on my people. On what I brought on my father," Banya said, her hand continuing to flex. "But Barber showed me the truth. One of your little journals. For years, I thought I brought the monsters home, slipping out to… But it wasn’t me. You’d been watching us for years. Running your tests. And then you got tired of us. You lured in the monsters, and when I had the audacity to survive you…"

She stopped, looking towards the now empty sarcophagus.

"I hope your last hours are as miserable as my father's," Banya said, tears streaming down her stone cheeks. "But I won't descend to your level." So saying, Banya moved back to the center platform, tapping the control to return to the surface.

Only to be unable to activate the interface.

Esbee was only a moment behind her, pulling Banya into a sidehug when they weren’t able to immediately disappear. I motioned Nexxa towards it, held in place by the scanner.

She nodded, stepping back and tapping the control without stepping on the pad.

Balthum seemed confused as Banya and Esbee disappeared, looking between us. "Who… who was that?"

"You don't even recognize us?" Keria asked, taking half a step forward.

"You I recognize. Teria's child," Balthum said, eyes narrowing as he stared at her chest. "Who ruined my work? Why aren’t you in the bathing chamber?"

“None of us are bound to play by your perverted rules anymore. How is that so hard for you to grasp?” Keria snarled. “I almost wish they hadn’t made you so weak. Banya may’ve blamed herself for her village, but I know that what you did to my parents was my fault.”

“That’s true,” Balthum agreed, nodding. “If you’d simply accepted my proposal, I never would’ve-“

Clumps of stone smacked into his mouth as I used my free hand to Sculpt the Stone fragments of his face into a gag. “Think that’s enough of that.”

Balthum's eyes went wide, and despite being gagged, was still able to get noise out. It was mostly unintelligible, but was also more than I wanted to give him.

“What we should’ve done is bind you with the same enchantments you used on us,” Keria said. “Except you probably would’ve liked it, wouldn’t you?”

Even as Keria taunted him, Bevel and Nexxa activated scanners of their own. After a few minutes, Keria’s taunts shifted focus, asking him questions about all the things he’d done. Questions which had been planned out, which should direct his thoughts in the general direction of the memories we were seeking.

It wasn’t quick. Sometimes he’d manage a half-articulate response, and the words would cause Keria to surge towards him, only to be held back by Bevel or Calbern’s calm hand. After, she’d have to remember where she’d been in the questions.

The process took several hours, but by the time we were done, we'd filled every memory shard we had.

We wouldn't be going through them ourselves. I hadn’t been kidding about not wanting to know the details. I'd checked with Keeper, and it was willing to accept them as trade, and sort through the knowledge for us.

I'd considered taking Balthum directly to Keeper to allow it to do the same it did to Kallum but I didn't want to cross that line. Even if Balthum might well deserve having his soul eaten, I wasn't sure I wanted to feed it to Keeper.

Also, Keeper would give us more in exchange for Balthum’s memories than it would for his soul.

When we were done, Balthum had stopped paying attention to everyone except Bevel, his eyes fixed on her. He'd also stopped struggling against Nexxa's bonds.

"No last words," I told Nexxa.

Balthum looked in my direction at the sentence, and had just enough time to meet my gaze before the tight bolt of lightning slammed into his head, disintegrating it.

Just like that, it was done. Balthum was dead. All that was left was a headless body and the small flakes of stone drifting to the floor.

A kinder death than he deserved.

"I… I'm sorry," Keria said in the silence that followed. She kneeled down, next to Bevel. "I'm so sorry." Then she pulled her sister into a tight hug.

Bevel patted her sister on the back for a second before she too burst into tears. They sobbed quietly while I stood there with my hand on Bevel's shoulder.

A minute or so later, Keria let her sister go, wiping at her eyes. "Come on, let's get out of here. I'll make you one of those disgusting fruit smoothies."

"Better than those shoots you like," Bevel said, making a face while wiping at her face.

“I believe I could go for a side of grilled ribs,” Calbern said, stepping up on the platform.

“Can’t believe you’re all hungry after that,” Nexxa chuckled.

I smiled as I joined them, moving outside where Banya and Esbee were patiently waiting.

After transporting them all back to Mount Aeternia, I went to the planning room.

Tamrie was there, dozens of files spread around her. It was all marked as complete or ‘just in case’.

“Hey,” I said, catching her attention. “Problem?”

“I… no… it’s not that there’s… It’s just…” Tamrie gave me a nervous smile, her hand running through her hair, a single finger tracing over the blue hairpin with the howling wolf on it.

"It’s just…" I agreed, holding my hand out to her, pulling her to her feet, "Time for you to awaken."