A Tempest of Tea

The group approaches the Athereum and splits apart to attend to their respective duties. As Arthie goes to pickpocket a gun from a guard, an attentive guard named Barclay recognizes her. However, she blackmails him into submission. While she distracts him, she pickpockets him, and he lets her in to prevent her from revealing his secrets and illicit activities.

Jin hunts for Rose Ashby in the gardens, and when he finally finds, she immediately grows worried that he has been turned. He lies to her, claiming that his date has abandoned him, and she expresses real sympathy, which pleases him. She relents and allows him to accompany her inside, apologizing to the Thornes for not having him vetted, and they face no more issues. Once inside, Jin tells Rose that he is overwhelmed and needs to sit down, which she quickly helps him to do. They thank each other with genuine emotion, and she leaves, allowing Jin to begin his work.

As Flick moves toward the entryway, she find herself complimented by some of the vampires and tries to avoid suspicion. She holds the fake marker in her pocket and struggles to breathe.

Jin cuts through the chutes with the sharp frame of his spectacles, using the lenses to block them as needed, then waits.

Arthie waits for the perfect moment to shoot the guard who is in a position to see Flick entering the archives, ignoring Laith’s warnings. She then joins the line with Matteo and Laith, knowing that Flick has only 10 minutes.

Flick puts her expired marker down the chute, and to avoid appearing tense, she engages in small talk with Elise Thorne, who softens in response. The marker returns painted a fainter green than the others, but it still passes Elise’s inspection. Knowing that the others are relying on her for their own entry, Flick walks confidently toward the archives.

Despite knowing that Flick hasn’t finished the job, Arthie approaches, ignoring Elise’s immediate distaste at the sight of her. The marker comes back yellow, and she sees panic on Jin’s face. The bouncer tries to get Arthie to come with him, and she refuses, dodging his subsequent punch but allowing herself to be grabbed and dragged inside the Athereum.

Needing a way to draw Eleanor out of the archives, Jin punches the chute until it breaks, then hides himself. Eleanor emerges, frustrated, and Flick slips into the archives.

Accompanied by Laith’s kitten, Flick enters the archives and finds the log, but it is locked under a glass case that is locked by a system of weights—and Eleanor has the weights. Flick uses her mother’s lighter to balance the scales and unlock the case. Eleanor returns briefly to grab something to repair the chute, but she sees the kitten as Flick hides and does not seem concerned. When Eleanor leaves, Flick quickly writes down the codes and turns to leave. She runs into Eleanor on her way out but quickly explains that she had thought she was going into the bathroom. She manages to escape the archives safely.

Jin rejoins Flick as Matteo and Laith safely enter the Athereum. Matteo immediately delivers a distraction by insulting a vampire’s fashion sense. This allows Laith to climb a wall unnoticed and to deal with the fallen guard. Both accomplish their goals and begin phase two of the plan.

The bouncer brings Arthie to the Athereum prison, as the plan had demanded, since there was no other way inside other than being caught. She quickly confronts the bouncer, Theo, whom she knows from Spindrift, since he once worked there as a bouncer until he threw out the wrong guests. Theo apologizes for hurting her arm, and she promises to pay him the next day.

When he leaves, Arthie approaches the Athereum’s vault but goes past it into the offices, greeting Matteo through a doorway on the way. Matteo is carrying a goblet of blood, which makes Arthie’s head swim. Matteo notices her discomfort. He quietly tells her that they have Penn Arundel, the leader of the Athereum, in common. This admission makes her tense, especially because she realizes that she cares what Matteo thinks about her. She realizes that Matteo is worried about Penn and only wanted to get inside the Athereum to see him again. She also realizes that their mutual connection to Penn is the reason why Matteo tried so hard to get her attention. Now, he reassures her that they have gotten where they need to be.

Jin and Flick join the auction for the next part of the plan. A beautiful vampire—Sidharth—walks in, carrying the auction piece, which marks him as their pickpocketing target to obtain some keys. The piece in question is one of Matteo’s paintings. Jin takes three similar keys from his own collection of stolen keys, then approaches Sidharth as the auction begins and swaps the real keys for the substitutes.

Jin brings the real keys to Laith and returns to the auction to drive up the price, to the annoyance of the audience. As things go their way, Matteo approaches the man leading the auction and tells him something; the man suddenly approaches Jin and Flick. Jin, panicking, hits a neighboring vampire in the face with his paddle, but ducks as the vampire retaliates. This move incites a fight between the two startled vampires. Jin and Flick escape, but Matteo and the auctioneer have vanished.

Arthie struggles to maintain her composure as she walks down the office hallway. Laith approaches her and asks if she is all right, a question that she roughly ignores. She tracks her way to Penn’s office, hesitating heavily before entering, which Laith questions. They search the office together, coming up with nothing until Arthie realizes that the mirrors in the office serve no purpose for a vampire except as a puzzle. She sets up the mirrors to reflect the firelight until they hit the right spot and unlock a chamber beyond a wall. They investigate the vault while Arthie plots her betrayal of Laith, knowing that she can hide in the vault if she is careful. He finds the ledger, not realizing that it is a copy that Arthie secretly planted. At the same time, she finds a lever to close the vault from the inside. Suddenly, guards approach, and Laith prepares to protect Arthie, but when he looks back, Arthie slips into the vault and leaves him to be taken into custody.

Arthie grabs the real ledger, which she had hidden, and struggles with guilt over the heartbroken look on Laith’s face when he realized her betrayal. She exits the vault and is soon joined by Flick, Jin, and Matteo. To her frustration, Penn is also present and greets her as “daughter,” shocking everyone except Matteo. Arthie struggles with the comfort she derives from Penn’s presence, even as Jin protests that she lied to him. She explains that Penn took her in for a year after she reached Ettenia, and this admission upsets Jin further. Penn tells them that they cannot leave and demands the ledger back, while Flick expresses dismay that Laith has been captured. When they refuse, Penn tells them to read the ledger. They notice a note titled “EJC Corpus,” and Penn grimly explains that the exports of the EJC are vampires.

Overwhelmed by the realization that her mother is trafficking vampires, Flick struggles to listen to Penn’s explanation. He tells them that the EJC is starving the vampires and placing them on battlefields to feed from enemy soldiers, turning them into living weapons. There is no protest from the people, who view vampires as predators rather than as human beings.

Jin demands that Penn explain how he knows Arthie. Penn explains that he is half-Ettenian and half-Arawiyan; he and came to Ettenia with artifacts alongside his explorer mother, who died not long after coming to the country. While he buried her, an artifact filled with enchanted blood broke in a graveyard, creating ghouls, who attacked him; he somehow ingested blood and woke up as a vampire, and he also had the power to make others feel pain, using only his mind. Penn then reveals that the incident of the Wolf of White Roaring was staged; the “Wolf” in question was forcefully turned into a half-vampire and then set loose on White Roaring in order to create a political environment of fear in which the Ram’s demands could then flourish.

Flick asks Arthie what she does when she is angry, and Arthie advises Flick to let anger fuel her, not control her. Penn then reveals that the EJC has been using silver to control the vampires until they can be effectively put in place, at which point they are starved and desperate for blood. The group tells him that they need the ledger to save Spindrift, but Penn insists that it is vital evidence in his legal case. The group protests that such a case would never succeed against the people in power. Penn tells of additional proof and tosses Jin a clove rock—a candy that Penn used to give Jin when visiting Jin’s parents.

Jin realizes that his parents are likely still alive and that Penn was the kind man who used to visit them before their disappearance. Penn is less sure of the fate of Jin’s parents, but Arthie points out that the Ram would never waste a “resource.” Jin gathers himself and insists that Spindrift must come first. Arthie insists that this has become their problem; she agrees to cooperate with Penn and to provide him with a court roster and, if possible, incriminating information on the officials.

Penn escorts Arthie and the others back through the Athereum, allowing them to exit safely. She feels overwhelmed by the rush of events, particularly Penn’s offer to relocate them to his house for their own safety. She also feels guilty over her betrayal of Laith. Suddenly, Arthie realizes that she is being stalked by a carriage, so she stops. When the carriage stops near her, a door opens, and she boldly steps inside. The unseen person inside demands something from her, then leans forward, revealing the mask of the Ram. When the figure offers her Spindrift in exchange, Arthie refuses to give over the ledger, knowing that the deal would never actually stand. The Ram restates the offer and lets Arthie leave the carriage.

A furious Flick struggles to sleep, angry that although her own crimes are inexcusable, her mother can do whatever she likes. Unable to sleep, Flick goes to her mother’s home and demands to see her. Despite the maid’s slight protests, she bursts into her mother’s office and is even more frustrated to see her mother’s expression of annoyance. Flick demands to know why her mother did “it,” but Lady Linden grows angry, demanding to know how Flick got out of prison. Flick reveals that she was never in prison and demands to know the full truth behind the matter of the vampire smuggling. Lady Linden grows even more furious, demanding to know how Flick knows about this at all. Satisfied and sad, Flick leaves, having cut the cord to prevent her mother from calling the servants for help. She leaves her mother’s lighter on the desk before she leaves.