Arlo decides to accompany Seraphina to the area that the mysterious letter designated, and tells Elaine to raise the alarm if the two don't safely return to Wellston School by nightfall. The two arrive at the Lovun Cafe, and order drinks. They discuss what might be in store for them, when the author of the letter enters the cafe. This person turns out to be Leilah, Seraphina's long lost sister. Seraphina expresses her anger at Leilah's absence, and Leilah apologizes. She wishes to speak to Seraphina in private, and so Arlo moves to a nearby table out of earshot. Leilah reveals to Seraphina that her organization, Spectre, was responsible for Seraphina's ability loss, and promises her younger sister that she will help get her ability back if she agrees to work for her.
Seraphina expresses her resentment to the quality of the deal that Leilah is offering her. The latter responds that Seraphina must trust her, and this is the best she can do for now. A bitter Seraphina has flashes of memory of the wonderful times she shared with her elder sister. Leilah remains apologetic to Serpahina's anger. Arlo, sitting on a nearby table, suddenly senses a dampening pulse, as does Leilah, and all the others in the cafe. Leilah notices a Spectre van pulling up near the cafe. Leilah, Arlo and Seraphina rush for the employees' quarter to find the back-exit. They exit the building and run down the alley, but Spectre agents have already blockaded the path. Leilah informs Arlo that their levels have halved, and they should be prepared for an ugly fight.
The Spectre agents pile up, and a weakened Arlo and Leilah must fight back. Arlo uses his ability by creating a small arm shield and fights valiantly. He easily incapacitates several Spectre agents, even in with his level halved, but an agent brandishing a rogue syringe of ability disabler almost strikes him. Seraphina knocks out the agent just in time. Leilah also uses Time Manipulation to fight back the Spectre agents, but they just keep coming. She tells the two Wellston students that they must leave. She calls her hidden accomplice, Kayden, who teleports Arlo and Seraphina to safety. Leilah bravely stands against the Spectre agents.
Cornered by her fellow agents, Leilah gives up running and agrees to answer to her boss. He's displeased to find out that she's been interfering with business to run personal errands. Leilah tries talking him down by pointing out his response was jeopardizing the whole organization. Back at L39, Seraphina decides to stick around longer and hear what else Leilah has to say, against Arlo's better judgement. Their rescuer comes to and introduces himself as Kayden. He answers some questions they have about Spectre. He tells them that despite the mess their organization is in, they're not affiliated with EMBER. He also informs the two that EMBER is in fact a special task force of the Authorities, to Arlo's horrified disbelief.
Arlo deals with the fact that Authorities are connected to EMBER. After this, Leilah arrives and talks about how Spectre is destroying itself on the inside, which reminds Seraphina of John. Leilah asks Seraphina to help reunite Spectre, to which Seraphina asks what the former will do afterwards. Leilah says she can not tell and asks for Seraphina to think about it.
Characters Introduced[]
Characters introduced in this arc in the order of introduction
