He had not been impressed when he'd arrived at his accommodations. The house was in the suburbs, large and isolated behind a rusting, barbed wire fence. He'd rummaged through the keyring until he'd found the one that had opened the gate, then slipped inside, Hannibal and Scipio like shadows at his heels.

Now, he'd finally finished unloading and setting everything up in the living room. Two great monitors, forty-two inches each, stood on the floor, with about a dozen smaller ones. There was a computer attached to them, and two separate ones, all with Internet connection, of course. A pair of parabolic antennas were installed on the roof, positioned so as to not be visible from the road, and there were two secondary aerials in the house itself. The final pieces of monitoring equipment were a CB-a low-frequency amateur radio receiver-and a police scanner for intercepting the transmissions to and from local patrol cars. There were so many electrical cables he'd decided to tape them to the walls, instead of leaving them about to be tripped on.

On the floor of the living room, Hannibal and Scipio contentedly gnawed on a quarter-portion of raw ox. Grigory was sitting on the carpet; next to him was an XM8, more as a comfort than a security presence. He was listening to the words coming in over the computer's speakers: "...swore that I heard dogs when I woke up."

He didn't bother looking at the dossier. He'd memorized the contents a dozen times. The speaker was one Aelita Stones, alias of Aelita Hopper, alias of Aelita Schaeffer. Heard dogs, she said? She must have heard his puppies while they were at Kadic. He would have to be more careful in the future.

As Jeremie Belpois garbled his response, Grigory frowned thoughtfully. The directional microphone he'd installed was working well, but the acquisition radius was too narrow. He would have to change that; he wanted all of the girl's bedroom covered within twenty-four hours.

Then, a black window appeared on his display. He put his tea down.

Classified call with active encryption. Security level 1. Accept?

He grimaced. This wasn't exactly how he wanted to meet the Magician. He hadn't yet washed, shaved, or changed his clothes. But you didn't refuse the Magician, so he took the call.

On his twin monitors, the head and shoulders of a man appeared. He was in his forties, wearing a gray jacket, a white dress shirt, and a blue necktie. At his throat, holding the dress shirt's collar together, was a pin shaped like a bird in flight-the emblem of the Green Phoenix.

Hannibal Mago, or 'the Magician' as he was more commonly known, was shrouded in gloom. Further facial obscuration came from a wide-brimmed hat that only showed his square jaw and wide mouth. His lips were pulled back in a cruel grin, displaying four gold canines. From the vague tinkling, Grigory knew his chief was playing with his computer mouse; that sound was caused by his numerous rings clinking together.

"Grigory, good day." The Magician's voice was masked and distorted by electronic instrumentation, so as to be impossible to extract recognizable audio prints from.

"And to you, sir."

"Have you had a good journey?"

"The base is operational, sir. I estimate that I will have all the surveillance devices in place by tomorrow, including in the villa."

"Excellent. But remember surveillance is only one of your objectives. Now that our mark has proved to be active in Kadic Academy, it is an absolute priority to acquire fresh information."

"Yes sir."

To free up space on his monitor, Grigory shrank his superior's image. Then he started searching his digital dossiers. "Do you have any preference for who I start with, sir?"

"Such matters do not concern me, Grigory." Even through the distortion, Grigory could hear the new coldness in the Magician's voice. "It interests only that our project moves ahead. I want documents signed by the Professor. I want the codes."

"Yes sir."

"But above all else, I want confirmation that this famous supercomputer actually exists. The treasonous actions of our most trusted agent in 1994 were a hard blow, and I have every intention of taking my revenge. Do I make myself clear?"

"Perfectly, sir."

Grigory flipped through the dossiers, lips pursed. He stopped at one image; of a Japanese girl with straight black hair and almond-shaped eyes. She wore all black and a serious expression. Next to her was a shorter boy, and behind her were two adults. Yes, that seemed like a good place to begin.

"I'll start with the Ishiyamas, sir."

William and Sissi were deep in discussion when Aelita arrived, dropping across the table from them. Like Aelita, Sissi had started bouncing between eating with William and eating with the rest of the group. Now, Aelita thought proudly, it was rare for him to eat alone at a meal. "Hey guys. What are you talking about?"

"Dancing," Sissi said immediately. "Aelita, back me up. This guy thinks that he can't dance-"

"No, I really can't-"

"-and that means he should never jam out at a concert, even if he's having fun."

Aelita grinned. "Sorry, William, but I gotta agree with Sissi. Dance is another form of self-expression, like music. I don't see why being bad means you shouldn't do it anyway."

"I'm outnumbered," he mumbled. But he was smiling slightly, and the circles usually under his eyes were lighter today. He must have had a dreamless night, not that Aelita could ask.

When Sissi wasn't here, Aelita and William usually talked about their nightmares, their shared experiences under XANA's control. Knowing there was someone who understood her pain, even when you couldn't quite explain it yourself, took some invisible load off Aelita's chest. And, she hoped, William's too.

But it was also nice to talk about normal things. Sissi didn't have dreams of her own, forgotten role in those events-or if she did, they didn't bother her enough to mention. She didn't worry about stuff like hurting her friends. Death, for her, was something far-away.

That wasn't to say she was shallow. More like...she had normal, teenage girl concerns. And that was refreshing.

As Sissi launched into another topic, Aelita's attention was caught by something over their shoulders. Eva was at the self-service counter, looking a little lost. After glancing at what the other students were doing, she picked up a tray and laid cutlery and a glass on it. Her movements were slow and hesitant as she got in line for food.

"Hey, Aelita? What are you looking at?"

Without giving her a chance to answer, Sissi twisted around in her seat to follow her stare. "Oh, that's the new girl, right? What's she doing?"

"Hasn't she ever been in a cafeteria before?" William wondered.

"Maybe they're different in America," Aelita said. She couldn't stop watching the little scene. Something about it was just...

Eva had now reached Rosa, the cook. She stared at the food with a vaguely puzzled expression. On the other side of the counter, Rosa smiled. "Breaded fish or roast beef, dear?"

Eva slowly turned her eyes up, but didn't answer. The students behind her shifted restlessly.

"Are you quite alright?"

She remained unresponsive, and the impatient students started complaining. "Hey! Hurry it up!"

"Stupid Americans..."

"Ugh, just pick something!"

Aelita's skin prickled. A memory very similar to this came to the forefront of her mind as she watched the heckling. Being new, and uncertain, and doing everything wrong, and embarrassment just building up and up-

"I'll be right back," she mumbled to her friends.

Without giving them time to respond, Aelita marched over to the line. Rosa was now scolding the students, much like she had when Aelita first arrived. Bless that woman. But having an adult stand up for you and having a peer stand up for you felt very different, she knew.

She put her hands on her hips. "Rosa's right, cut it out! Eva's new here!"

"She's holding up the line!" one of the students protested.

"Well yelling at her isn't going to make it go any faster! You could try helping her!"

"Well said, Ms. Stones!" Rosa beamed.

Aelita turned to Eva, who was now staring at her. "Don't mind them," she said. "Are you trying to remember what the food's called in French?"

The blonde shook her head and finally spoke. "No. I know French fine. I just wasn't sure what I wanted." She pointed at the fish. "Some of that, please."

As Rosa placed a serving on Eva's tray, Aelita studied the girl. Her French was impressive; like this morning, there was no trace of an American accent. She may as well have been a native speaker. But she was still the new girl in a new country, and that could be nerve-wracking; Aelita knew that first-hand.

Feeling a certain kinship, Aelita offered, "Hey, look...I know it can be hard to adjust to a new place. Do you want to sit with me and my friends?" She gestured to William and Sissi, who'd half-risen from their seats, ready to intervene if necessary.

Eva smiled, her very white teeth gleaming. "I'd love to."

"I can't believe Aelita invited Eva to sit with William instead of us," Odd whined. "I could have gotten started on winning her over with my charms!"

"With what, your amazing fish impression?" Ulrich smirked. He and Yumi snickered as the shorter boy sulked.

Jeremie didn't join in. As always, an arrow of jealousy had pierced his chest at the reminder of Aelita's friendship with the outcast. He didn't understand why she still wanted to hang out with William. Was it the older, tortured boy appeal or something? What was so great about that? Jeremie was the one who'd rescued her; all William had done was betray the group and sulk.

...Okay, he knew that was unfair. It wasn't William's fault, what had happened. Not entirely. Sure, he'd been a reckless fool to attack the Scyphozoa, but Jeremie was the one who should have warned him, or gotten him back faster, or just...done better. Every time he saw the older boy, he saw the culmination of his own failures. And facing that was hard.

He tuned back into the conversation right as Yumi was saying, "...imie, why'd you call this meeting anyway?"

It was later that day. They were gathered in Jeremie's room, which had changed little in the months since XANA's defeat. The sole difference was also the most noticeable, for anyone who'd known him in that timeframe-the computer that had been in communication with the supercomputer at the factory was missing. The loss was both symbolic of the passing of that era and, Jeremie had to admit to himself, a way to resist temptation. With it boxed away in his wardrobe, he was less likely to be reminded of the power available with just a few clicks. Replacing the computer on his desk was a TV, several books and magazines, and a less-powerful laptop computer to access the Internet with.

Currently, Jeremie was sitting on his bed; he'd offered Yumi the chair out of courtesy. Ulrich leaned near the poster of Einstein, and Odd was cross-legged on the floor, rubbing Kiwi's stomach. Jeremie sighed and adjusted his glasses. "Because I'm worried about Aelita. She's been having nightmares and dreams non-stop for the past few weeks."

"Dreams are just dreams, Einstein," Odd shrugged.

"Not always, in Aelita's case," Yumi said. "She's had very detailed ones in the past...sometimes too detailed."

"Exactly my thinking, Yumi. I don't know how much stock I put in dreams, but I do know she believes in them. She's acted recklessly based off them before, and I'm worried she may do so again."

Just remembering how she'd looked that morning sent a protective surge through Jeremie. Small, pale, and baggy-eyed, her vibrancy washed out. Too much like her early days on Earth, when she was having trouble adjusting, or on particularly bad days of XANA's attacks. He never wanted to see her looking like that again.

Ulrich frowned. "So? We already agreed to help her find her mother."

"But in a careful and timely manner," Jeremie said, raising a finger like he was a professor giving a lecture. "We haven't found any leads about Anthea yet, so I propose we instead investigate her father. Perhaps that will lead to clues about who might have her mother."

Odd stopped scratching Kiwi's belly and cocked his head. "You've got something in mind already, I hope, because we've just been floundering!"

Jeremie smiled. "Yes, Odd, I do. Here's what we know about Hopper: in 1988, he hid here in Kadic with Aelita, and for a period of time was a science teacher at this school. I propose we enquire with the person currently in his former position: Professor Hertz. If she replaced him, she may know something."

Ulrich raised an eyebrow. "What could Professor Hertz know about kidnappings, virtual worlds and secret agents?"

"I don't know," Jeremie admitted. "But we don't have many other options."

The afternoon light was dimming, little by little, but XANA could still faintly feel the sunrays kissing his vessel's skin as he casually strolled through Kadic's park. He closed Eva's eyes and inhaled deeply, drinking in the sharp scent of the pine trees. Snow crunched under his feet; he knelt and scooped some of it up, examining it curiously. Mere frozen water, and yet it could have such a variety of textures-dense, slushy, crumbling. Nothing at all like the Ice Sector with its flat, duplicate plains of white and blue. And he could actually feel the cold against his bare fingers.

While he hated losing his towers, there were admittedly some perks of being stuck out here.

He spread Eva's fingers, allowing the snow to fall through them.

Of course, he wasn't here just to sightsee. Ostensibly, anyone who saw Eva would assume she was familiarizing herself with the campus. In reality, he was searching.

While going to and fro for school, he'd detected some very unique electronic signatures. One came from Aelita's pendant, which, it appeared, was actually a transmitter. Unfortunately, there was no GPS chip, so he couldn't localize it or find who it would transmit to. He also couldn't ask her about it without betraying his identity. Still, it was something worth keeping an eye on.

The other, more interesting, electronic he'd sensed was a bug. Not your cheap run-of-the-mill type, either; this was sophistication as an art form. Made of technology so advanced it either came from a black market or from the government.

And its target range had covered Aelita's room.

Advanced technology, spying on the daughter of Waldo Schaeffer. Something was afoot. Someone else encroaching on his territory.

So now, he was wandering the campus, trying to see if he could pick up any other bugs. He had no intention of meddling with them-yet. He would do some research first, find out where they originated from. Whoever this person or organization was, they had potential to be an ally...or a threat.

XANA's steps paused for a second as he studied his surroundings. This was the part of the park the Lyoko Warriors often travelled through to get to the sewers. He detected no bugs in the area. Did that mean this third party was unaware of the manhole's, and by extension the factory's, location?

A thread of temptation wound through him, to return to the factory and reclaim his rightful place among the virtual world. Useless emotion. He shook it away and kept walking.

Irritatingly, those children had a propensity to survive his attacks. Right now, all that his return would accomplish was the restart of their war. He had gained no advantage over them yet, and there were still mysteries to be solved.

But...his time would come. Things were already going according to plan. Thanks to Aelita, he had the first fingerhold into their group.

Eva's face remained placid, but within her, XANA smirked. Dear, sweet, naive Aelita. She always was his favorite; he'd even thought to keep her around once he won. There was some perverse amusement to be found, in eating lunch with her-and his old general, William Dunbar. It had also been a useful test run to gauge whether they suspected anything.

They had not. Aelita in particular had been happily smiling and asking him inane questions about how he liked France and his hobbies. Remembering what he did of hers, he'd invented a taste for music, which launched Aelita into a conversation about her DJ'ing. He'd asked to listen sometime to ensure she would seek his company again.

What's that human phrase? Hook, line, and sinker.

And he wasn't done yet.

As he continued his search, he thought, almost happily, First Aelita, then Odd…