On Day Five, the apocalypse acquired paperwork. Deputy Director Anna Harcourt arrived at Vale House by helicopter accompanied by twelve armed personnel, two civil servants, a government scientist and a man Elias recognised from an intelligence committee hearing that had once asked uncomfortable questions about where he obtained a particular Assyrian tablet. The helicopter landed on a lawn now scarred by claw marks and bullet impacts.
Elias met them outside wearing yesterday's shirt beneath a ballistic vest. The T-shirt beneath it said I AM NOT A WIZARD.
Harcourt noticed.
"Really?"
"My niece insists."
"We need to talk."
"Everyone needs to talk. I need to experiment."
"Then consider this an experiment in remaining legally unarrested."
Elias glanced at the armed personnel.
"You've brought insufficient subjects."
Harcourt actually smiled. That worried him more than the rifles. They moved into the former ballroom. Maps covered the walls. Screens displayed Arcane Saturation estimates, military reports, social media feeds, Vale Archive replication metrics and an expanding list of confirmed non-human contacts. The house no longer resembled a home.
It resembled the beginning of an institution. Elias disliked institutions. They tended to acquire committees.
"You have three hundred and seventeen people on the property," Harcourt said.
"Three hundred and twenty-four. Seven arrived during breakfast."
"Armed?"
"Some."
"Foreign nationals?"
"Many."
"Members of occult organisations?"
"Unfortunately."
"Military personnel?"
"Former."
"Current?"
Elias looked at her.
"Not officially."
Harcourt pinched the bridge of her nose.
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"This is precisely the problem."
"No, the problem is the monsters."
"This place is becoming an independent magical research centre with armed security and international personnel in the middle of a national emergency."
"Yes."
"You don't see the concern?"
"I see several. None are improved by sending the researchers home."
The government scientist stepped forward. Professor Daniel Okafor, Imperial College. Elias knew his work. Quantum materials. Highly competent. Publicly sceptical of Elias for years.
"Dr. Vale," Okafor said.
"Professor."
"Your converter works."
Elias brightened.
"You reproduced it?"
"Three laboratories did."
"Efficiency?"
"Terrible."
"Wonderful."
Okafor blinked.
"Wonderful?"
"Bad efficiency is an engineering problem. Non-replication would be a science problem."
Okafor's mouth twitched.
"I may owe you several apologies."
"Put them in writing."
Harcourt cut in.
"This is why we're here. The Prime Minister has authorised an emergency partnership."
"No."
"You haven't heard it."
"Partnership is a prettier word for control."
"And independence is a prettier word for unaccountable."
The room quieted.
Elias studied her.
He had misjudged Anna Harcourt on their first call.
Not entirely.
But enough.
She was not stupid. Worse, she was useful.
"Terms," he said.
"The estate remains private property. Your archive remains under your control, with hazardous procedures subject to joint review. We provide personnel, military liaison, secure communications, medical support and logistical priority. You provide verified magical research to government agencies at the same time it is released publicly."
"Same time."
"Yes."
"No embargo."
"Not on Category One or Two."
"Category Three?"
"Joint review."
"No unilateral suppression."
"Neither side."
Elias considered.
"International researchers remain."
"Subject to security checks."
"No political loyalty test."
"Security checks, Elias. Not ideology."
"Doctor."
"Oh, for God's sake."
He smiled.
"Agreed."
Harcourt looked genuinely surprised.
"That easily?"
"It is a sensible offer."
"You rejected the last one before I finished speaking."
"The last one was stupid."
"You really are unbearable."
"Frequently."
A siren interrupted them. Myrddin's voice filled the ballroom.
"Arcane spike detected. North field."
Everyone turned.
A camera feed opened.
The grass had begun to fold.
Not bend.
Fold.
A line of darkness appeared across the field and expanded into a vertical oval three metres high. Something moved beyond it. Harcourt reached for her radio. Elias reached for a notebook.
She looked at him.
"Seriously?"
"We're about to observe a spatial breach at twenty metres."
"We're about to be eaten."
"Those are not mutually exclusive."
The first creature came through. It resembled a deer only in the sense that both had four legs. Its body was covered in pale plates. Its neck split into two smaller necks, each ending in a jaw lined with needle teeth. Violet vapour leaked from openings along its sides. Then another came through.
Then five.
Security opened fire.
The creatures scattered.
One slammed into an invisible plane.
Elias stared.
The emergency barrier.
Model Four.
The same geometry he had sent Catherine on the first night, now enlarged around part of the estate and powered by a diesel generator feeding the new converter. The barrier flashed blue.
Held.
For two seconds.
Three.
The creature struck again.
The barrier held.
Harcourt looked at Elias.
He was grinning.
"It's working."
"There are monsters in your garden."
"Yes, but the barrier is working."
The third impact cracked the field. Elias's grin disappeared.
"Efficiency remains terrible."
The breach widened.
And beyond it, something much larger opened one golden eye.