"What did you say?" Linus had not quite caught it.

Liam looked his father straight in the eyes and repeated, "I said, I doubt that."

"Doubt what?" Linus frowned.

Liam chuckled, lighter this time. "That you can handle what I’m about to tell you." His eyes were full of challenge.

Linus took a seat and crossed his legs.

"Try me." His signature smirk in place.

Liam’s eyes narrowed. "How about I just show you instead?"

With that, he lifted his uninjured left hand and waved it through the air with an exaggerated flourish, like he was conducting an invisible orchestra.

Linus watched his son with a frown, not quite sure what to make of it. He was about to ask when he noticed them.

Small droplets of water, no bigger than his thumbnail, floating silently in the air around both of them.

Linus’s eyes went wide. He could not find a single word.

Silence fell.

Liam waited. When his father still said nothing, just sat there staring with wide eyes, Liam held back his smile and put the droplets to work.

They moved slowly through the air, arranging themselves letter by letter.

LIAM.

Still for a moment. Then they shifted.

LINUS.

Then MOM. Then CLAUDIA. Then HOSPITAL. Then more, one after another, each word forming and dissolving and forming again.

Until finally, the droplets settled into two last words and held there.

SAY SOMETHING, DAD.

Linus stood up abruptly, as though he had seen a ghost. He turned toward the door as if his body had decided to leave before his mind could catch up.

He stopped right in front of it. His shoulders rose and fell visibly.

Silence.

Then slowly, Linus locked the door. Drew the curtain closed. Turned around to face his son.

His breath caught when he saw the words still floating there, patient and unhurried.

His lips moved. But no sound came out.

"Dad, seriously. Say something. You’re scaring me." Liam said. He called the droplets back and they were gone.

"Where did it go?" Linus spun around, ignoring Liam entirely, searching the air around him.

"What?" Liam blinked.

"The floating water droplets. Where did they go?" Linus repeated.

"I... sent them away." Liam was confused by where his father’s focus had landed.

"How?" Linus pressed.

"I released my hold on the water and they returned to the air, I suppose. I’m not entirely sure." Liam frowned. He had never actually thought about it that way. To him it had always just been part of how magic worked, something he had never needed to examine or explain.

"Even if they returned to the air, it could not have been that instant. And where did you call them from in the first place? The air as well? That should not be instant either. It would take time to gather water particles from the surrounding air." Linus blurted out.

His eyes landed on the jug of water on the nearby table. "And the water in there is undisturbed. Does that mean you drew it purely from the air?"

"Dad. Dad." Liam held up a hand. "Why does it matter? It is magic. We don’t need to know how it works as long as it does. That is what counts."

"But if we understood how it worked, would that not give us an advantage?" Linus looked at Liam with the undisguised wonder of a child seeing something for the first time.

"Wait." Liam stared at him. "What? You already knew about magic?"

"Wait." Linus stared back. "You are saying it really is magic?"

Liam blinked. "What did you think it was?" He genuinely could not follow his father’s thinking.

Linus did not hear the question. His mind had already moved somewhere else entirely.

He began to pace, muttering under his breath.

"It is really magic. Magic actually exists."

Liam watched his father wear a path at the foot of his hospital bed.

After a few minutes he could not take it anymore. "Dad. Stop. You are genuinely scaring me right now. I have never seen you like this." He waited. Linus kept pacing. "Dad. Stop. Sit down. Talk to me."

Linus stopped and looked at his son. He took a breath and sat down.

"I’m sorry. I was processing." He said, his voice gentle, though the excitement underneath it was impossible to hide. "I have so many questions."

"If they are anything like the scientific ones you were asking earlier, I cannot answer them." Liam said plainly.

Linus chuckled. "Fair enough. Although, it does make me think that it was one of Julian’s gadgets you were using..." His voice trailed off and came to a complete stop.

He looked at his son with an entirely new expression.

Liam could see his father’s mind working at full speed, connecting dots without any help from him. That was Linus. Liam just hoped the dots he was connecting were the right ones.

Linus drew a sharp breath when he saw Liam’s expression.

"Are you... are you saying..." He started.

"I haven’t actually said anything yet." Liam cut him off.

"Shut up. Are all of Rhaenas magicians?" Linus asked.

"Magus, Dad. The word is magus. And magi for plural." Liam said.

Silence.

"And yes. We are." Liam finally answered.

Silence.

"Tell me all about it." Linus finally said.

------------------------------

While Liam and Linus played catch up, Theo was in the Void.

He stood facing Thea.

"Tell me how to get my magic back. I need it back. I need it now. I need to save Arthur. Tell me."

Thea sighed. "And here I thought you came because you were ready to talk."

Theo stepped forward. "We will talk after I have saved Arthur. Then we can talk for as long as you want. But right now, tell me. Or better yet, just give it back to me."

"When are you going to accept that I am you? What you do not have, I do not have either. I am not your fairy godmother. I. Am. You." Thea answered.

"You seem to know more than you are letting on." Theo did not give up. "Please. Just tell me. I will do anything."

Thea looked at him, helpless in the face of his pleading.

"Theo." Her voice was very gentle. "Why is it so important to you to save Arthur? You are ignoring everything you need and focusing entirely on him. Why?"

Theo frowned. "What do you mean, why? Arthur is my brother. My student. Of course I need to save him. I am offended you even have to ask. And if you really are me, then you already know the answer to that." His voice had risen without him noticing.

"And if I told you there was nothing you could do for Arthur even with your magic back, what would you do? Being a mage does not make you a god. It does not make you invincible. Not even a Light Supreme can raise the dead. What makes you think you can?" Thea said, gentle but firm.

"Thea Montrose was born with a body built to wield magic. I believe she is the most powerful mage ever to have existed. Her body is perfect for it. She will reach levels in every element that no one else ever has." Theo said, and there was pride in his voice.

"That may be true. But it still does not make her a god. And it does not give you the right to use her body however you please. It is not your body, Theo." Thea said.

Theo looked at her, unmoved.

"I don’t care. I am living in this body now. Thea Montrose is dead. This body belongs to me. I will do with it as I see fit. No one can change that." He crossed his arms.

Thea smiled. "And that is exactly why you lost your magic. And why I appeared."

Theo’s frown deepened. "What do you mean? We are getting off topic. Give me my magic back."

"No." Thea crossed her arms too.

------------------------------

Linus sat back, piecing it together out loud.

"So Julian is Earth, and he was the one keeping the other buildings from coming down. While Chief Lutherford is Wind, and she was keeping the fire from spreading."

Liam nodded.

"And Sonia Hart was purifying the rainwater alongside Maeve Collins so you could use it against Arthur’s Fire. While the bald man, Hawk, was keeping the fire from burning all of you." Linus finished, his voice caught somewhere between disbelief and reluctant belief.

He genuinely did not know what to think anymore.

Liam nodded and asked, "How are you doing so far, Dad?"

Linus took a deep breath. Then again.

"I honestly don’t know what to think. The last time I was this speechless was when your mother told me she was pregnant with you." Linus sat in his chair, defeated.

He looked at Liam. "I know one thing. This is how Rhaenas could clear dungeons easily. This is why you are so powerful."

"Bingo." Liam said.

Linus chuckled. "I should’ve known."

"How could you, Dad? Magic was lost to Altheon. It had become a myth."

"And now it’s coming back." Linus said.

"It definitely looks like it." Liam commented.

"I have one more question." Linus added.

"Shoot, Dad."

"Where does Thea fit in all of this?"