The Other Witch; The Plan Revealed

Hack had been terrifyingly silent since they had spoken to the Alpha.  And it was a directed, brooding silence at that, the worst sort imaginable.  He'd been willing to speak with James, but only with James.  Salvia couldn't help but fear he'd begun to suspect that she was not one hundred percent behind this quest, and the Alpha's protection and support, in any other place and time a blessing with few equals, seemed to be almost a dire curse.
"If it makes any difference; Old Cloak has never in all his years been much for conversation.  In the past, he lead adventurers onward with mere inklings of a quest.  Oftentimes, he followed more than he lead.  He was a guide, and that he leads us now is only proof of the world's change."
"Except," Replied Salvia, raising her head from its place atop her folded arms, "for the part where he leads.  He isn't leading, or adventuring even.  All he's doing is carting a half a handful of people around and teeling them to 'wait here' and 'don't get into trouble'.  If he'd wanted an adventure, wouldn't he make the people who have no idea what he wants done figure it out?  Or heck, land somewhere besides a palace for once.  Maybe force us to track down a hermit or two, who happen to live in wyvern infested mountains or a cave hidden in a coral reef.  I've done more adventure going to the laundromat than this!"
She had, and it had nothing to do with this adventure.  Most of her best exploits started at laundromats, the random phone call, someone leaving a note in her purse, and that was only the coincidental ones.  Vampires and government agents, both with their difficult to remove bloodstains and casually worn formal attire, were regulars at most out of the way, poorly surveillance laundromats.  More than one politician had decided to conduct a sordid affair using apartments located above laundromats run by loyal cronies, heavens only knew why.  And there was even one time when she'd been forced to enlist the local law enforcement in subduing a rampaging mob of animated washing machines.  By comparison, this was little more than a really quiet road trip.
Braga set down a book on the table.  The title, Salvia forced herself to read despite its being upside down, was Reaper; an account of the Eternal Assassin By Koren Immersfeld.  She recognized the name, some of the witches in the library talked about him as though he were some sort of patron saint of all librarys.  The last name she did recognize though, it was the one shared by both Katherine and Hack; the name of Empress Thalia of Gravaga.
"You said Katherine was arguing with someone when you slept in that morning?"
"I never saw who, but yes.  Why?"
"It's not the who that's bothering me; Katherine was always friendly with passers-by.  What concerns me is the subject matter.  The spell you mentioned, it was only performed successfully once, by someone named Rea?"
"I think so."
"This is her, this is a book about an immortal Koren identifies as 'Rea'.  He says she was cursed, several ages past, with immortality."
"How dreadful, to be able to run about doing whatever you wanted for ten thousand years.  What clever witch came up with that curse?"
"She did, and it was closer to twelve thousand.  Apparently, at the age of fourteen, this 'Rea' traded her own mortality for the life of another.  The spell itself, 're-installation', is known to most experienced mages, including myself.  But I never could have dreamed that one so young could have achieved it so long ago."
"How in the Imperial Brooch did you find this book?"
" I sent ahead, my..the Alpha has many resources at his disposable, and the Oracles have lent him their full support.  Apparently they possess secrets regarding this matter not written in any library, but they have lent us those which they are privy to dispense.  The girl, she bypassed the corruption of the spell by paying the proper toll of death, and both the Oracles and Koren seem to agree that God himself chose to give her a greater responsibility as a reward.  But she had to bear the curse of a mighty demon, or possibly even the wroth of all Hell, as a consequence for thusly spitting in their face; she would live forever, but she would never age."
Stuck at fourteen forever, and from the looks of the title killing her way across the cosmos for twelve thousand years, all because she brought back one life.  The Elder Witches had always warned her and her fellows not to meddle with the realm of death, now Salvia could see why.  It'd be one thing to go through eternity as Kate or Hack or even as a Lich; but to spend eternity trapped in the body of a child, that would be a challenge far beyond her own patience to endure.
"So that's what Hack is having Katherine do?"
"I can only wonder who Old Cloak would want ressurected, or further still, why he would enlist his oldest enemy's daughter to do so."
"They'll try and bring back Thalia."  It made perfect sense now.  Hack was going to bring his wife back.  That was why he seemed so different than in all the stories; he had been going mad with grief, or perhaps was now long mad with nothing but grief to hold on to.  Katherine, repentant for her own past and for her part in her mother's death, couldn't have even attempted to deny her father in the matter.  And she was a mage strong enough to pull off the magic itself, but she could never possibly pay the price.  And no one knew, not without asking Rea herself, what had made the spell work that one time when so many mortal mages had failed before and after her.  It was a doomed venture, and Salvia suspected that Katherine knew it from the start.  That was why she had shared as much as she had, so that Salvia could stop the ritual before it killed her.  It had to be.  But it was too late to tell the Alpha or Prince Curt, so they would have to wait until they arrived at the High Temple of the Harakai.  It would be her last chance to warn their allies what Hack was planning before it was...
"Too late?"  She refocused on the world around her just in time to spot Hack's fist closing on her.  As the world darkened she saw Braga, blood splurting from a fresh wound, collapsing beside her.