Daisuke couldn't stay for long because he had other things to attend to. The rest decided to head back to the lab to continue their conversation.
"So… is there anything else you want to share about your family?" Eniola asked, settling back in her chair.
"Yes. My family specializes in foundational magic." Aisha replied.
"What's that ?" Veronica leaned forward slightly, studying her.
"We specialize in binding, sealing and identity magic." Aisha lifted her fingers as she listed them. "And Identity magic includes memory containment."
"What kind of memory containment ?" Jared asked.
Zuri narrowed her eyes. "Containment in what form ? Do they preserve memories or steal them.... or both ?"
Aisha hesitated for half a second.
"Both." The word landed heavier than expected.
"I won't go deep into binding and sealing." She continued quickly. "That's not important here. But memory containment… they can preserve memories by locking them into artifacts like data."
Her fingers curled slightly.
"And I found out something else…" Her voice sharpened. "Those preserved memories can be tampered with. Edited, twisted and because they're still connected to the person, it damages the victim."
A quiet tension settled in the room. Aisha slowly uncurled her fingers, she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
"How about you all tell me what you've discovered."
For a moment no one spoke. Her words lingered in the air, their eyes studied her as if waiting for her to compose herself before they speak. A clouded mind isn't going to ameliorate the situation on ground. Her shoulders finally dropped and her jaw unclenched.
They all spoke one at a time. Each narrating all their leads from the patients, to the memory fragments, to the three unfortunate deaths, to the patterns. Eniola was the last to speak, talking about what she discovered in the station morgue.
Aisha rubbed her chin, letting their words sink in . "I see. So you are saying that whoever this 'therapist' is, is the one responsible for all this and the black card serves as a tether between them."
"Yes." They all said in unison.
She remained silent for a moment then slammed her fist against her palm. "Oh that explains the card I saw."
Amare leaned forward, hands gripping the edge of the seat. "What do you mean ?"
Aisha's eyes lit up. "I remember seeing a black card at home, I didn't know what it was back then but I could sense some strange energy coming from it. I was about to touch it when my older brother stopped me."
"That was the same day I found out that they're the culprits."
The quiet tension in the room lessened but didn't go away. Eniola leaned back into her chair, feeling slightly relieved that they're finally getting somewhere. Zuri unclasped her hands in her lap but her feet were still crossed.
Amare slowly exhaled but his stance was still guarded, yes all they needed to do was to capture the archmages but they're yet to find how to return the victims back to normal. Veronica dug her hands into her hoodie pocket and sat up straighter.
Jared showed no obvious sign of relief whatsoever but the subtle upward curl of his lips said more than enough. "But what about the crest you showed us ?"
"Oh that." Aisha said, her eyebrows raised like he just reminded her of something important. "That's my family crest. During my stay with them, I was able to transfer some energy from the card to the crest. I did that in case of necessity."
"It wasn't much because of my low magic properties but I'm glad it was enough to be detected by Eniola and enough to prove my words. "
Eniola leaned forward, elbows resting on the table, fingers interlaced. "So you mentioned you know how to stop your family and how to retrieve the memories."
"Ah yes." Aisha cleared her throat as she rolled her shoulders back. "About that, There's a grimoire which can help us with the retrieval of the memories. The only issue now is my family."
"What about them ?" Zuri asked.
"I won't be able to get the grimoire on my own because they keep watching my every move." Aisha said, rubbing her fingers on her knees in circular motions. "It started ever since I found out about their wrongdoings. It wasn't easy coming here, I had to lie about going shopping."
She raised her forearm, revealing a weird bracelet. "They put a bracelet on me fearing I might use this opportunity to report them. It's a tracking device, magical of course."
Zuri gasped, reaching out for her wrist, taking a closer look at the bracelet.
"That's bizarre, you can't even go anywhere freely. No wonder you were so afraid of speaking up."
Amare shifted in his seat. "If that's the case then how come they haven't stormed in here yet ?"
"That's because this isn't the real bracelet. I hid the real one near a supermarket, that way they would think I'm actually shopping. Besides they won't bother to check on me anyways, unless they see I'm at a location I'm not supposed to be at."
There was this pensive feel lingering in the air. Their eyes softened towards her, her words showed how little her family cares for her yet she seemed fine. Zuri placed a hand over hers, squeezing it gently.
Aisha smiled softly at her. "Back to the grimoire. If they notice me snooping around it, they would get suspicious and will eventually figure out what I've been doing . We need to ambush them."
Veronica tilted her head."And how do you think we can do that ?"
"Leave that to me." She said. "It will not benefit you if they notice you early. That would make them have time to prepare. I will try and get the grimoire, at the same time lower their guard. This will give you more time to prepare."
She paused. "They have strong protective wards because they're trying not to get caught. Since they haven't been found out, the wards have lessened and we need to keep it that way."
Jared's fingertips tapped against the arm of the chair, placing his loosely clenched fist over his lips. "In that case, how about you give us your number. We can create a group chat where you'll be updating us on your plans."
Aisha beamed, nodding eagerly. "Of course, let me give you now."
A unanimous feeling passed through the rest. Eniola brought out a book and pen and handed it to her. She took it and wrote down her phone number.
"Thank you so much. I'm sorry but I have to get going now. Though I doubt it but I don't want them to get suspicious about my long stay outside. I think I am overthinking it."
Zuri's lips twitched upwards, squeezing Aisha's hand once again. " I don't think you are. Once we've captured them I promise you'll be free."
Aisha chuckled. "I hope so."
"I know so." Veronica added, leaning forward with a smile.
Aisha wore a confident smile as she got up, more determined than before. "Okay, so what will happen is that I'll be finding out whatever information you can use to your advantage. I'll be as subtle as possible over here."
Eniola leaned forward, eyes narrowing. "Ah I see, so whatever information you provide we'll use it to plan and strategize."
Aisha grinned. "Exactly, once you've added me to the group, we'll continue our discussions from there."
She bidded them goodbye as she headed for the door. For a second, Veronica almost thought she saw a weird glint in her eye only for her to realize it was just the reflection of the light.