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“But it has a real ring to it. A sense of pageantry. People would come for the name alone.”

“People are going to come for the trivia nights and the beer.”

“And more people would come for those things,” Will said agreeably, “if it were called The Dandy Lion.”

“It’s The Wildernest.”

Dan saw Will looking at Luna. The small smile she was trying to suppress was not staying suppressed.

“You should get Will to take you directly to Owl’s next week,” Granny chimed in. “So much faster than flying, and I’m sure he’d love to go with. Might free up some time to smell the roses.”

Will’s expression shifted. “Next week? Oh sorry. I can’t. I’ll be away next week.” He paused, wrapping and unwrapping a straw wrapper around his finger till it stayed in a spiral on its own. “Zani and I are going somewhere. A big mission that’s been scheduled for some time now.”

“What kind of a mission?” Granny ears perked up at this. She leaned in excitedly.

“Society business.” Will picked up the sphinx again and turned it over in his hands with the air of someone trying to distract themself from their nerves before choosing their words. “I don’t know how long we’ll be gone with this one. You know how it is. That’s all I’m saying about it, Granny. And no, before you ask, you cannot come.”

Granny buzzed a sigh with her wings again and sat down on a stool. “Fine. Be that way, you wretch. The last time I hired a plant sitter they ruined all my plants. Home is where the heart is anyways.”

“I’m sorry, Dan,” Will shook his head, “I would have been more than happy to bring you any other time. A signing at Owl’s is such an incredible honor.”

“Oh, no worries! I’ll be fine on my own,” Dan repeated. “I already bought the ticket and it’s nonrefundable.”

SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF NATURAL MAGIC

Internal Memorandum

TO: A. Berman, Director

FROM: The Museum of Natural Magic, Office of Special Exhibitions.

CC: Office of Artifact Integrity and Timeline Assurance (AITA)

REF: MNM-EXH-0042 / Alexandria Permanent Collection

DATE: [REDACTED]

CLASSIFICATION: Standard Review Required

RE: Certification Request from Museum of Natural Magic, Alexandria Exhibition

Director Berman,

The Museum of Natural Magic has formally requested the Society’s certification of its forthcoming permanent exhibition, The Mysteries of the Great Library of Alexandria, ahead of its scheduled public opening. Under Section 14 of the Society’s Artifact Display and Public Access Guidelines, all exhibitions of this designation require Director-level sign-off before the museum may grant admission to Ordinary or Magical visitors.

AITA has completed its preliminary intake assessment of the collected artifacts using Object Resonance Imaging (ORI), the Society’s standard procedure for detecting residual magical frequency in items of historical provenance. Most artifacts present no concerns beyond standard handling protocols. However, one of the items recovered from the wreck site identified as the vessel of the pirate Raya Tufan, located in the outer Alexandria harbor approach, has returned anomalous readings during ORI screening.

The frequency signature does not correspond to any entry in the current Registry of Known Resonances. In accordance with standard AITA logging protocol, unclassified frequency signatures are assigned a provisional UF designation—UF denoting Unclassified Frequency—followed by a sequential case number. The anomaly recorded from The Tufan wreck site has been logged as UF-7, indicating it is the seventh such signature to have been recorded without a matching Registry entry. Staff have flagged it for directorial review pending formal classification.

Your availability for an on-site visit at your earliest convenience would be appreciated.

Respectfully submitted,

V. Scalamandre

Acting Head, Special Exhibitions, The Museum of Natural Magic

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