Back in the basement, Agnes Cray'On was hard at work. She had a bowl in her hand in which she was crushing some rocks while muttering spells under her breath. Before her, there was a cauldron on the fire, the flames were a bright yellow, burning hot enough to heat the entire basement up. However, Agnes didn't mind being so close to it. It was something she was used to. The content of the cauldron boiled furiously, and greenish steam rose out of it, permeating through the air.
Agnes kept grinding, she placed the bowl on the table to give herself better leverage as she crushed the rocks to dust. This wasn't just an ordinary rock, it was an original rock that had been in the Borough for as long as it had existed. For what she wanted to do, only such a rock could do the trick.
When she was finally done, she held the bowl over the cauldron, allowing the steam and heat to get into the fine powder she had just created. She held it that way for close to five minutes, when she was done, she finally walked away from the giant pot.
Next, she took the bowl to the other section of the basement, the one area that provided a majority of the lighting in the otherwise dark place. This place had dozens of candles arranged in neat concentric circles. All of them formed perfect circles inside circles until there was a single candle in the center, to serve as the center of all the circles.
The candles were all lit up, their yellow flames blowing in the little drafts of breeze that managed to get into the basement. These candles represented the magical shield that was over the Borough. They were arranged in a circular form because that was the way the shield had been designed. And as long as the flames were on, they would always be notified when outsiders walked into the Borough. So far, no one has been able to trick her system. Until tonight.
Now, Agnes watched the candles again. Their flames were still yellow, making her wonder what the hell was going on. The second she heard that Ulva had died, she immediately checked the candles to see if any hybrid or outsider had come into the Borough, but just like now, the candles were burning perfectly which meant that something was wrong. Either Ashina was indeed a really good liar, or it was something she had not expected at all.
"Well, why don't we find out?" She muttered to herself as she slowly poured the powder into the cup of her palm as she walked closer to the candles. As she raised the powder to her face, she winced as a putrid odor hit her nose. The odor had come from the cauldron when she held it over the giant pot. That was to be expected, most of the things that came from the cauldron never smelled nice.
Closing her eyes, she muttered another spell and blew the powder over the candles. As she opened her eyes, she watched the powder disperse into the air and slowly settle over the candles. The moment they came into contact with the flames, they began to burn brightly. All the candles were burning brightly as if the powder itself was volatile. And soon, the flames began to die out, returning to their normal state. However, not all of them could achieve this. While others were burning just as before, an entire quadrant of the circle was now showing green flames.
At the sight of it, Agnes's breath caught in her throat as she realized what this meant. That particular sector of the barrier had been down. She didn't know how long it had been but she knew that it was what allowed the hybrids to come through and easily escape without drawing attention.
Agnes felt her anger begin to boil, someone had not just sabotaged their security, but they had also masked their actions, covering it up with dark magic to fool her into thinking that they were safe.
At once, she clapped her hands and all the green flames went out. She immediately went around the basement, hurriedly picking up the ingredients she would need. She was in a race against time, the longer the barrier remained down, the more at risk they would be. She needed to fix it at once.
"Where the hell are you?" She gasped as she pulled out drawers and opened up cupboards. "Where the fuck are you?!"
After a while, she gave up and ran to the stairs, leading out of the basement. A tongue of fire appeared right beside her head, floating eerily in the air as it lit up her path. She ran to the garden and began to go through the various flowers, she knew the one she needed and she made a beeline for it. It was at the edge of the garden, really small, hiding under the canopy of other bigger flowers.
She plucked a leaf from the flower and hurried back inside. It was the Oval leaf. It wasn't an ordinary flower because it could also serve as a herb with so many uses, depending on what exactly the witch intended it for. It could be a deadly poison, or it could be a major component to heal someone. All that mattered was the preparation.
Now, with the leaf in her hand, Agnes hurried back into the basement and quickly began the ritual. She muttered spells as she took the Oval leaf to the candles and held it over the flames that were still burning. At once, as if it was highly flammable, the leaf caught fire, and then the fire swept through the candles, turning even the sabotaged candles back on. The magical barrier was back over the Borough.
Done, her breath coming in huffs, Agnes fell to the only couch she allowed in the basement. Her mind went to the candles she had only just restored, she knew that nothing about it was cool. The minute she had noticed the barrier was sabotaged, the thought had crossed her mind but she had refused to acknowledge it; now she was forcing herself to do that.
There was only one reason whoever messed with the barrier went through the trouble of masking their acts. The hybrids had inside help.
A wolf of the Borough had helped them come in. And she knew who the person was.