"What are we going to do?" The old woman said over her phone. "This could be the end of many carefully maintained years of peace."
Had there been any witnesses, they might have noted that the phone looked sadly out of date with its rotary dial and 1950s aesthetic. It would then come as a bit of a surprise that, while it lacked anything resembling a power cord or phone line, the voice on the other end could be heard loud and clear.
"Are you sure, Agatha?" The voice sighed. "You must realize how ridiculous this all sounds. Sudden wrinkles in reality happen all the time, especially when magical artifacts come into the picture. It could be a natural occurrence."
"I'm as sure as I can be at my age," Agatha replied. "This was a deliberate act. The arrival of the artifact, the errant wishes, this new 'virus' as they call it, all these events may very well have been orchestrated from the beginning! My eyes around this city have witnessed first-hand someone taking the stone. The thief knew right where it was, and he or she left only minimal traces of tampering. That proves that this was no mere happenstance."
"Proven, you say. And yet, you can give neither a name of this person nor even a general description. I will need a lot more information than a few sounds and scents picked up by a stray cat before I can assume that this is an act of sabotage."
Agatha rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Whiskers is not a stray. And she assured me she has very good hearing. Besides, I do have more than sounds and scents. I can show you the door through which the thief escaped my surveillance."
"The door that upon further investigation only led to an abandoned storage facility and no suspect."
Only the old woman's professionalism kept her from screaming in frustration. "Well, we cannot deny that the stone has vanished rather than being lost and disposed of as is standard procedure. We cannot deny that the stone still poses a significant threat. This reality has been working hard to heal itself, and even then, some of the rock's effects might remain. If this artifact falls into the wrong hands, imagine how much more damage they could cause. Even worse, if they smuggle the artifact outside this sphere, even your domain wouldn't be safe! We mustn't take that chance."
A thoughtful silence on the other end followed. "Very well. If it will calm your nerves, I'll send you some help and increase the number of guards at every gate until things have stabilized. That's all I can do right now."
The old woman's mouth tightened, but she conceded. "Fine. But tell them to screen all departures and arrivals. The culprit may try to leave soon, and if they get through one of the gates, we might never find them."
"I'll relay your suggestion. If you find anything more substantial, let me know. Till then, try not to panic, Agatha."
With that, the call ended. Closing her eyes, Agatha took a deep breath and placed the handset back in its cradle. She admitted that the conversation had gone about as well as she could have expected. To be honest, her present post had never been high on their priority list. Some measures had been taken, but were they enough? Only time would tell.
Thankfully, she had already taken the first step and sent another one of her "eyes" to the one named Jon, the epicenter of the chaos. From what the old woman could surmise, the teen had been an innocent victim in all this. Still, with so much at stake, it wouldn't hurt to find out what she knew.
"Poor thing," Agatha muttered as she began tidying up in preparation for tomorrow's meeting. "If you had any idea of the true nature of what you've unleashed "
