Shattering (Mathias POV)

All the preparations were in place. Mathias had gotten everybody he needed, anybody and everybody he could use as leverage. He still hadn’t managed to find anybody from Belle’s family, or from Gemma’s.

There was a few people who were somewhat protected, due to the simple fact that they were mundanes. Mathias had contacts in the police though, and it would be fairly trivial to have them arrested and framed for all manner of crimes. Getting them thrown in a mundane prison for a few decades would not be difficult.

With everyone gathered in one room, enough guards to make sure there wasn’t any trouble, and Max himself there supervising, all that was left was to make the call.

Mathias held the phone up to his ear as it rang, excitedly anticipating their reactions. Would they be scared? Angry? Defeated? Who knew! The exhilaration was almost too much to bear!

“Hlo?” The word came almost too fast for him to register it had been said, and it sounded off, like half the word was missing.

Mathias understood instantly. They were in time dilation.

He signalled the technomancer he had on standby, ready to track their location. “Time dilation.” He whispered.

Into the phone, he spoke quicks, speeding up his words the best he could for it to be understood by the person on the other end. “One moment.”

The technomancer nodded, and Mathias held out the phone. The technomancer, Mathias’ most gifted, place her hand on the phone to help speed up the process of figuring out the signal displacement.

Due to the woman’s prowess in her craft, she easily figured out the correct way to translate the signal, so he could speak to Mia properly.

When the technomancer nodded, he continued speaking. “There, that’s better. Time dilation, interesting. I suppose that Fateweaver girl Elsa really did choose to help you then.” He said cheerily.

There was a pause from the other end. How much of it was due to the difference in the flow of time between them, and how much was Mia’s hesitation.

Eventually, she answered, her voice shaking slightly. “What do you want?” She asked, clearly doing her best to mask any emotion, although not doing a very good job.

“Oh nothing, just to check in, see how you’re doing, figure out where you’ve gone, that kind of thing.” He said casually, throwing a questioning look to the technomancer.

She had a puzzled look on her face and shook her head. Mathias shrugged. This had happened last time as well. Normally it was pretty easy for a technomancer of her skill to track somebody’s location from a phone call.

Whatever kind of magic Gemma had, wherever her guild had gone, somehow interfered with the usual technomancer tricks. It was a mystery he was curious about, but was ultimately irrelevant for the moment.

Wherever they were, Mathias had the leverage to make sure they came back on his timeline.

When Mia didn’t answer, he pressed on.

“I assume you have me on speaker phone?” He asked.

“Yes.” Mia’s voice finally answered.

“Good. I want all of you to hear this.” He said.

He held the phone out towards Max, and where he was standing, near Mia’s family. He gave Max a nod.

Max gave Mia’s sister, Georgia, a shove. It was soft for Max, but even a soft shove at his strength sent her sprawling across the floor.

“Leave me alone you brute!” Georgia shouted, and Mia gasped at the sound of her voice.

“Georgia?!” She shouted, and the aforementioned girl snapped her head up.

“Mia! Don’t worry about us, we’re-” Her sister replied, but was cut off with a backhanded smack from Max.

“Shut it bitch.” He said cruelly.

“If you hurt her, I swear to Gaia, I will-” Mia began, but Mathias cut her off with a laugh.

“I don’t think you’re really in a position to be making threats like that. Calm down, it’s just a little insurance. I’m a generous man, so I have no intention of hurting her. Yet.” He said.

Mia growled angrily, but said nothing else. Mathias continued.

“You should know, it’s not just her I have. Say hi Alex! Come on, don’t be shy now.” Mathias said happily.

Mia’s mother and father stared at him, both refusing to speak. At another nod, Max slapped Petunia, Mia’s mother. The yelp of pain warmed his heart.

“It’s also not just your family.” He continued gleefully. “I’ve been busy the past two days. Shall I list them all, or do you need proof?” He asked.

Another pause. “Who else?” Mia asked. The defeated tone in her voice made him happy to hear. It gave him more hope that they would elect to do this the easy way.

Working his way around the room, he listed off the names. “Apart from Georgia and your dad, I also have your mum, and your grandparents.” Mathias said, savouring every moment of this.

“Mr and Mrs Whitley. You do remember them, don’t you? Skylar’s parents, apparently you haven’t visited them in a while.” He said, as if he was making casual conversation with a friend.

“Freyja and Lance, I believe they work with Paige at her tattoo shop. As well as some kid called Jonathan. I’m not sure if you’ve been told about him, but I do believe that he is Lena Russo’s younger brother. You didn’t think I’d miss that you recruited more guild members?” Mathias asked pleasantly.

He heard some jostling over the phone and smirked. He was curious to see what they would do. It took a few more seconds for the noise to stop, and a different voice continued the conversation with him.

“Why are you telling us this?” Gemma asked, now the one speaking.

Mathias shrugged, despite not knowing any of them could see it.

“Like I said, insurance.” Mathias replied. “You have my word that no harm will come to any of these people. If you show up on Saturday morning as planned, and hand over your magic to me, nice and easy, no funny business.”

“If however, you try to fight me and resist the inevitable? Well, I can’t guarantee their safety. And you should know as well, Max does have an appetite for tormenting women. Whatever he’s got planned in that sick little mind of his, it won’t be pretty.” Mathias threatened.

Oh, they all must be squirming by now, how utterly delightful! He could almost taste their fear and anger through the phone.

“Noted. Anything else?” Gemma said, clearly restraining herself from a more substantial reaction.

“Nope, that’s it! Just wanted to make sure you knew. Bye dear, and don’t keep me waiting.” Mathias threatened again, before hanging up the phone.

Max burst out laughing as soon as he did. “Delicious!” He cackled, and Mathias grinned at the man.

“Never gets old doing that.” The Fallen Knight agreed.

“Can’t wait to get my hands on these whores.” The Enforcer said, and Mathias shook his head.

“You’re a psycho. Remember, only if they fight back.” Mathias warned, and Max waved him off.

“Yeah yeah, got it boss.” He said.

Mathias still had one more phone call to make, but he decided it would be best to wait a few minutes to do that.

Once he judged the time was right, he made the call and held the phone up to his ear.

It dialed, ringing a few times, before it was finally picked up. Mathias’ technomancer translated the signal once again so he could easily talk to the woman he’d called.

“What?” Came the upset voice on the other end, belonging to Paige Turner, the earth mage in Gemma’s guild, and the person Mathias had identified as the weakest link among them.

“Are you alone?” He asked.

There was silence for a few seconds before she answered. “…yeah.” The girl said, sniffling, clearly having been crying.

“I have an offer for you.” Mathias said teasingly.

There was silence on the other end, longer this time. She hadn’t hung up yet though, so he took that as a good sign and pressed on.

“Tell me everything you know about the magic your guild possesses, your weaknesses, what you’re doing now in time dilation and what you plan to do on Saturday. You give me all the information I need, and I promise I won’t hurt any of you. You, your guild, or your families and friends.” Mathias promised.

“Why would I ever trust you?” Paige said, the disgust evident in her voice.

Mathias laughed at the question. “Because you don’t have a choice darling. You can’t stop me. You know that. I will have what I want, whether you give it to me freely, or whether I have to take it by force. This is your chance to do things the easy way, and together, we can avoid further suffering.” He said.

Paige had no answer for that. The silence stretched on between them.

“Think it over. Call me back when you’re ready to tell me everything.” He said.

More silence on the other end, followed by faint sounds of Paige crying again.

“Oh, and one last thing. Don’t tell the others. If you do, I’ll know and the deal’s off. See you soon!” Mathias said cheerfully, hanging up the phone and leaving the crying girl to mull over his offer.

Mathias stretched his arms up in the air and let out a satisfied sigh. It felt good to be in control. It felt good to win.