Penelope Garciaz blinked in shock when she saw the tall man waiting in the hallway. “Uncle Cam?!” she exclaimed in astonishment, and he turned around at her cry.

He didn’t seem all that surprised to see her, saying his goodbyes and putting his phone away as he smiled at her. “Penny,” he greeted her formally, not giving her a hug, simply a head-to-toe appraisal of approval. “You’re looking well. Off to class?”

“Just got out, actually!” She was still amazed to see her standoffish but genial uncle here so far from home. “What are you doing at St. Chevelle’s?”

“I had some business in town, and I recall your Aunt Maria saying you and your brother were going here, so I decided to stop by. A little call, and it appears I at least got the right building,” he said firmly. “Is your brother available? I’ll take you out to eat, my treat.”

“Manuel should be done for the rest of the day!” Penelope gushed, quickly digging for her own phone. “I can message him right now! I’m sure he’s over by the dorms, probably stuck in a video game. We can bang on his door if he’s stupid enough not to pick up!”

---

The file was placed down between them, and their very, very serious uncle, his eyes and voice colder and harder than either of the two had ever seen them, folded his hands and regarded them coolly.

The meal had been extremely good, and he had explicitly taken them to one of the better restaurants in town, ordering some of the most expensive items on the menu, and entertaining them with some of his escapades in service to the Dows even as he inquired pointedly about how their studies were coming along.

“Penelope, Manuel, I did indeed have some business here in town, and that business revolves around the two of you.” His smile was at once sympathetic and cruel, as if he had to do some unpleasant things, and the fact they were family wasn’t going to stop him.

Their eyes fell on the file, such an odd thing to bring to a late lunch. It had no heading.

“There are some ugly truths in the world. You’ve heard some of them in passing, no doubt from your fellow students, of the conflict between Families. This is one of those matters. Specifically, your parents have been accepting money from the DuPonts for nearly twenty years to keep track of my comings and goings for them.” As their jaws dropped in horror, he remained unmoved. “That file is a record of the banking transactions. Very notably, that is the money that paid for your education here at St. Cheyelle. There were no grants or scholarships or anything of that matter. There was only bribe money, and selling out your aunt, myself, and the Dow Family.”

They were both Adepts now, hard-working and conscientious with their magic, and they felt the trembling in the Manafield at his words, the way his eyes flashed. They might dream of surpassing him, a Mage who had never broken through to Archmage, but for now, he was the supremely powerful, wealthy scion of a Family they could not hope to measure up to.

“There are consequences to being involved in Family business, Penelope, Manuel.”

“We, we didn’t know anything about that, Uncle Cam!” Penelope blurted out in a panic, wondering if they should be trying to run away. “We would never come asking you for money!”

“If you were as talented as your parents liked to boast, I would have paid for your education myself,” he informed them both firmly. “I have, however, seen your grades, and while you are diligent and hard-working, you are not at the level of the talents that the Dow Family seeks to recruit. As you are in the bottom third of your classes here, I am sure you’ve realized that, too.”

The young woman and her little brother swallowed at the cold assessment, throwing icy water on their hopes and dreams

“Your parents are already bound for Alaska. Your mother’s new job as a waitress in a café diner and your father’s new career as a baggage handler will suffice for them for the rest of their lives. Your home in Birchland has been sold. Your grandparents have already been informed that they deigned to get involved in Family politics, and it would be a very, very good idea for the rest of their family to minimize any involvement with them.”

Both of them were bloodless at the revelation, staring at their uncle in shock and horror.

“What... what about us?” Manuel whispered, fighting an urge to vomit in fear, mentally screaming at his parents at how they could do something like this to them!

“Your education is already pre-paid by your parents, but suffice it to say that a mere word from the Dows and your lives here will be complete Hell. If it gets around that your parents paid for your education by selling out a member of a Family, it will mean every single scion or would-be mageling hoping to be recruited by a Family will treat you like absolute dirt, and the administration will take any and every opportunity to drum you out of here.

“I don’t think I need to mention what your job prospects are going to be like when you graduate.”

They were shrinking back, their whole lives coming crashing down around them.

“Let me be blunt and say that if word of this gets to some of the seniors of the Family, you and your parents will quietly disappear. The fact that you both are completely innocent is irrelevant. Your parents did this for you, so you will likely be killed right in front of them as a lesson to those who want to do the same thing.”

“You haven’t told them yet, Uncle Cam?” Penelope asked in a frightened voice.

“No. Your Aunt Maria would not forgive me were I to do so. Which does not mean that they won’t find out through other channels. Sending your parents to Alaska is the closest thing to mercy I can display at this time.” He fixed the two of them with his stare. “There remains what to do about the two of you, the beneficiaries of your parents’ treachery.”

Manuel was looking in the direction of the door. Cameron scooted over and made an inviting gesture, his face expressionless as his eyes flickered over to Penelope.

The young man shrank back as he realized what was going to happen if he ran.

“As of right now, the reason the two of you are alive is because of my protection. That is all. At some point, Dow Security is going to realize something is going on, dig a little deeper, and they will find out.

“At that point a decision will have to be made on the dispensation of you and your family, and that decision will take my own judgment into account.

“So, be aware that, despite your parents having helped destroy my career, my future is still on the line, simply because I am not letting you be wiped away to eliminate a smear upon the Dow name.”

Both of them swallowed as his eyes did that cold and considerate gaze over the two of them again.

“The only way you are going to survive to your graduation is to excel. To prove that you are reason enough for the Family to reserve their judgment and your value as dissuasion from others who might try the same tricks in the future.

“As of right now, you work for me, because I am not going to let you threaten my career any more than your parents have. If you fail in this, well, only one of the three of us will live to endure the consequences.”

They straightened up sharply under his stare, realizing that he had thrown them a bone, a last glimmer of hope, and his own future also depended on them seizing it. “What do we have to do, Uncle Cam?” Penelope asked, swallowing hard, her dark eyes huge.

“Your lives are now on the line. You will excel in all your classes. I expect your class rankings to improve quickly, and the academics side at the very least you will completely ace. If you have a social life, bury it. If you like to fritter your time away on drinking, gaming, and dating instead, then I suggest you do it in a grand and glorious manner for the short time you have left to you and your sibling.”

“Un, Uncle Cameron, we can’t compete with the real talents on campus!” Manuel finally managed to blurt out, shaking as he realized that comment was directed at him. “They get resources from their families we just don’t, and that we didn’t have growing up! We’re in the bottom third of our classes because the best were Adepts when they arrived here, and we both became Adepts during our first year! Some of those people are already knocking on the doors of Mage, and they haven’t even graduated yet!”

Cameron just nodded slightly. “I made Mage just before I graduated from Amherst.” They both sucked in breaths of shock. “I was the most talented mage of my generation among the Dows. But after I married your aunt, things just seemed to... go wrong.”

He let the silence draw out as they both swallowed.

“When your semester is over, you will report to the Coralost Compound back in Michigan. There have been... arrangements made concerning your future and your lacking progress in your Stars. I would actually have you enroll in Coralost College right now, but that would draw too much attention, so these little trips between semesters are going to have to suffice.

“In addition, I have a retainer who will be taking over your training. He is near retirement, he has a great deal of experience, and this will be his final assignment. Let us say that your excess time no longer exists. He will be contacting you shortly to learn your academic schedules and arrange your additional training.

“If you happen to think this is excessive, this is exactly what my children are going through on the Family’s dime. So, you are being treated exactly like Family, everything your parents dreamed you could achieve.”

He held up his hand for the check, and the waitress hurried over quickly to take his card and the hundred-dollar bill wrapped around it for her.

“You can quit at any time,” he told them after the delighted woman hurried off. “But this is life, and there will be consequences for that decision. Likewise, the DuPonts might just want to contact you, and attempt to exert some leverage over you. If you let them do so, there will again be consequences, and I suggest you consider seriously who you can trust.” He held both their eyes for a long, quiet moment.

“Welcome to the Dow Family, Penelope, Manuel.”

---

When he left a few minutes later, leaving the stunned Garcias nearly in tears behind him, he lifted his phone to his ear. “I trust your first day went smoothly, Miss O’Reilly.”

There was nervous silence at the other end for a moment. “Yes. Smoothly enough, Cameron.”

“You will address me as Mr. Dow.”

Another swallow. “Yes, Mr. Dow.”

“I trust you are clear on your responsibilities, Miss O’Reilly.”

“Crystal, Mr. Dow,” the woman on the other end replied. “It will take some time to dig properly, but I will find what I need to.”

“Very good. The New York Environmental Harmony Agency has gained a tremendous asset. They are lucky to have you, Miss O’Reilly. Do make a fine name for them.”

“Yes, sir. I will, Mr. Dow.”

He hung up on his former lawyer calmly, a woman of Spanish descent no doubt looking at the new face with pale skin, freckles, and auburn hair in the mirror. She was now relegated to a government position for the rest of her life, crusading against the polluters of the world, with a very specific focus on the alchemical companies and subsidiaries run by the DuPonts, who no doubt would be somewhat concerned by her abrupt and complete disappearance and the rapid relocation of his in-laws.

It was a position completely below her talents, but she would excel at it, or she would not wake up some fine morning. She was already Geased never to contact her friends, family, or handlers, so it was going to be rapidly assumed that she had crossed the Dows, been discovered, and disposed of.

Her little sister was a talented Healer in New York City, no doubt frantic with worry over the loving big sister who had purchased her future by destroying Cameron’s.

He already had the meeting scheduled for tomorrow. A quick flight east to America’s most famous city, and then another cold and cruel meeting...