The name broke the spell, but only slightly. In here, surrounded by pillows, the threat felt manageable.
"He's a Null," I affirmed. "Or a Moro. A descendant of the magic-eaters."
"Professor Rook confirmed it," Ivy’s voice drifted in. She wasn't in the fort—she was 'guarding the text thread' with Jax—but she was lying on the floor just outside the entrance. "He called Marrow a 'Vacuum in a Suit'."
"If he eats magic," Kai said, tracing a pattern on the rug, "then the Registry isn't about safety. It's a menu. He's looking for the strongest flavors."
"Like Lina," Rhett growled, his arm tightening around me. "That's why he reacted to her blood. She's... high calorie."
"Thanks," I muttered. "I love being compared to a protein bar."
"You know what I mean," Rhett said, kissing my temple. "He wants you. Your capacity. Your bond."
"So what do we do?" Kai asked. "We can't fight him with magic. He'll just eat it."
Lucien sat up, his violet eyes gleaming in the low light. "Exactly. We can't use magic. Which means... we have to use everything else."
"Like what?" I asked.
"Politics," Lucien said. "Scandal. Bureaucracy. And... physics."
"Physics?" Rhett perked up. "Like punching him?"
"Eventually," Lucien conceded. " But first, we overload him. Lina, you said theMoroline was unstable. If they consume too much, too fast..."
"They burn out," I finished, remembering the text in the archives. "Like a fuse."
"So we don't starve him," Lucien said, a slow, dangerous smile spreading across his face. "We feed him. We feed him so much chaos, so much raw, turbulent energy that he chokes on it."
"Chaos," I repeated. "We need chaos."
"I know a guy," Ivy’s voice piped up. "Professor Rook literally teaches the class."
"And we have the Archives," I added. "Amelia and Arthur. They can find out where he keeps his... reserves. If he stores magic."
"And we have the streets," Kai added. "Jax and the Night District. They hate the Registry."
"And we have the fortress," Rhett finished, looking around at our pillow walls. "We protect our own."
I looked at them. My Triad. They weren't cowering. They were planning.
"Okay," I said, feeling a warmth that had nothing to do with the blankets. "Operation Overload. We turn Northcrest into a buffet he can't digest."
"Starting tomorrow," Kai said, but he didn't yawn. His golden eyes were wide awake, tracking the way Rhett’s hand was lazily tracing patterns on my hip. "Tonight... we need to fortify."
"We built the fort," Rhett grunted, eyes closed. "It has structural integrity."
"Not the fort," Kai whispered, shifting closer until his knee nudged mine. "Us. The morale."
He reached out, his fingers brushing the hair back from my temple. The touch was light, electric. "You're vibrating, Lina. You're so tense I can feel it humming against my skin."
"I'm fine," I lied. "Just thinking."
"You're worrying," Lucien corrected from my other side. His hand found my ankle, his thumb pressing into the arch of my foot. "You're thinking about being a battery for a magic-eating void."
"It's hard not to," I admitted, letting my head fall back against Rhett’s shoulder.
"Then stop thinking," Rhett growled. His arm tightened around me, pulling me flush against his chest. "Get out of your head. Be here. With us."
