February 18, 2001
She stood in the middle of the main meeting room of the EBEE London Headquarters, with Andrew to her right. She didn't want to be there, she knew that it meant trouble. She focused on steeling her mind, harder than she ever had to, harder than she did when facing Lord Meozo. Her mind went to Frank, and she wondered if it wouldn't be better to break up with him.
She knew Princess Veronica could handle herself, but she didn't want more trouble coming her way. She didn't want more attacks on the royal vampire family and wondered if it was related to her.
"Blue Thunder, it was brought to our attention that your contract with The Northerners had been renewed for another 3 years. Is that correct?" said Phraton.
"Yes, it is correct. I made it clear to you that my flyball career wasn't going to end after this season. I accepted to start an apprenticeship with the European Bureau of Elemental Energy on the condition that flyball would be my main focus. As stipulated in my contract, flyball must remain my primary occupation, until the time comes for it to end. That time hasn't come yet."
"Very well. We will be discontinuing your partnership with the Canadian Ministry of Mythical Affairs and assigning you to local cases instead," said Rolland.
"It was also brought to our attention that you were in Chicago with Princess Veronica this past Wednesday and intervened when a group of elves attacked The Bloody Velvet. Why were you there, and why didn't you tell us your version of the events?" said Phraton.
"In all due respect, elders, my apprentice does not have to tell you anything regarding how she decides to spend her free time. If she wishes to see Princess Veronica when off work, she does not need to obtain your approval first. As far as I know, the members of the royal vampire family of Chicago aren't our enemy, so I fail to see how this is a problem," said Andrew.
"The attack occurred in Chicago, in an establishment owned by King Matthew. It was a local vampire affair involving elves, and I wasn't there on official business. I am an apprentice for the European Bureau of Elemental Energy and it is not my place to decide for King Matthew whether he wants you to know."
"Chicago is under the jurisdiction of the American Elemental Enforcement Agency, not ours. If my apprentice is to get into any sort of trouble, it would be for not telling them. However, like I said a minute ago, she was there in her own free time. If there is nothing else, we shall take our leave."
"One last thing, are you planning on ending your relationship with Princess Veronica?" said Elder Phraton.
"I have not decided yet on that matter."
Andrew grabbed her right hand and led her out of the room.
"Never let them lecture you on what you do when not on official business," said Andrew once out of the EBEE compound. "I do not know what they got up their sleeves, but something does not smell right. Whatever you do, make sure to stay close to the Chicago vampires."
"I'll keep that in mind, thanks for having my back."
"I know I didn't want you as my apprentice at first, but you turned out to be the best decision that the EBEE had ever made for me, and I'm truly honoured to be your mentor. That being said, I will go back to Lalima before they send me to some random places."
They both jumped on their stick and flew away, in different directions. Once she was beyond the British skyline, she turned her hologram on and set it to satellite mode to call Prince Hendrick.
"I've got some juicy updates for you, you're alone with a few minutes to spare?"
"Hold on, I'll be all ears in a minute," said Prince Hendrick, walking out of the meeting he was in. "Spill."
She told him about the meeting she just had with the EBEE elders.
"If not mistaken, this Phraton is an elf, right?"
"Yes, he is. If they want to end my partnership with the CMMA, I can only assume that it is their way of forcing me to divide my time between Mirabel and London, leaving me no time to come to Chicago and no reason to. I did not tell them my version of events, something does not sit right."
"Thank you for letting me know about this development. I was in a meeting with Father, Charlie and some advisors, but I'll wait for it to be over before I tell Father and Charlie. They need to know about this, but at this point, I can't say that I trust our advisors. If I can convince Father to send Veronica to pay a visit to some local fay moguls, do you wanna accompany her?"
"If I don't have a game, I will gladly go with her."
It was 9:05 when she landed on her rooftop. She was hoping that Erik and Henry were still there. She shifted into Cheetah, jumped down on her balcony, then up on the window's ledge. She was glad to see them in the kitchen making breakfast while Victoria was brewing coffee. She scratched the window.
"Welcome back, sis," said Henry, as he opened the window to let her in.
Coralis shifted back and told them about why she had to go to London. She also told them about the previous one she had this week, as she hadn't seen the twins for the past 2 weeks.
"Holy gods from above, this got quite a hellshit smell," said Erik.
"Yeah, but now I'm starting to think that I should end things with Frank. I like him, but I can't drag him into this mess. Right now, the EBEE believes that I'm with Veronica, but I think they'll be watching me closely and make sure I've got no free time, and I don't even wanna think about what they would do if they find out about him."
"Don't think like that, sis. He's good for you, we approve. You know what, I am going to tell Mom all about him, and you know she will pester you to meet him," said Henry with a devious smile.
"Ooh, this is good," said Victoria, laughing as Coralis rolled her eyes.
"I wouldn't be surprised if she insists that we take our next summer vacation in Montreal just to meet him, so you better be sure to keep him around until then," said Erik, giving a high-five to his brother.
"Sis, you do know that Gus owns a cyber-security firm and does some consulting work for the EBEE? Bet he can find out if they got eyes on him and twist some stories around," said Henry.
"We told you we'd help you to keep him safe, though I think you might have to reveal yourself to him sooner than later," said Erik.
Erik and Henry left before lunchtime. After they left, she called Sonylla, a CMMA agent with whom she trained a few times in Winnipeg, to see if she was available for a spar session. Sonylla was a fire mage the same age as Coralis. She was on her way to Winnipeg to train with Panjik, a spirit mage who was responsible for agents' training at the CMMA and agreed to spar with her.
Coralis arrived there mid-afternoon. While they sparred, she told Sonylla about the EBEE's decision to end her partnership with them. Panjik was listening, and so was High Mage Finnas.
Coralis' pager went off. She switched her hologram to the satellite phone function and dialled the number on it.
"Oh, joy," said Coralis, ending the call and setting her device back to hologram. "The MI6 wants to meet with me and Eva. Thanks for the spar session, I needed it, but I gotta go."
High Mage Finnas indicated to Panjik to follow him and left the training room. Panjik followed him to his office, where he saw High Fay Ellya standing near an oval meeting table by the windows.
"Tell me, Panjik, what do you think of Blue Thunder?" asked High Mage Finnas.
"If it was up to me, I would seek to hire her as an agent if she ever gets let go by the EBEE, and officially pair her up with Eva Suri," said Panjik.
"You have been working with her a few times in the past few months, do you have an idea why the EBEE would want to terminate her partnership with us? Lately, the wolves have been specifically asking us to send them agents Blue Thunder and Eva Suri," said High Fay Ellya.
"I cannot fathom why they would want to do that. Blue Thunder is a highly skilled warrior, I can understand why the EBEE may be looking forward to the day her flyball career ends. However, with the rise of new extremist clans, more than ever, I believe that we must closely work with all mythical factions before a war erupts within the supernatural world. The partnership between Blue Thunder and Eva Suri is doing a wonderful job in bridging mythical communities," said Panjik.
"The EBEE needs us more than we need them. I'm going to put some pressure on them: if they insist on foolishly recalling Blue Thunder, I will pull ALL of our agents working on European soil," said High Mage Finnas.
"They don't want to lose the pixies," added High Fay Ellya.