That was the final line of the November 12th episode of “The Hennessy Report”. The “news entertainment” program had become the highest-rated show on the 24-hour “MaxiNews” network. As the episode finished airing, three women stood before the television, each with a complicated expression that mixed disgust, bewilderment, and a touch of amusement.
A little dog in a pink sweater seemed far less concerned with the broadcast, instead snoozing on a pink couch next to their pink owner.
“So, like… is that this guy’s whole thing, now?” asked Becki, the pink-clad owner of the pink-clad dog.
“It seems so,” replied Lisa, crossing her arms as the TV began showing a cowboy advertising painless catheters.
“He used ta only do racist and sexist rants,” grumbled Tara, “but it looks like anti-supernatural outrage is servin’ him better.”
The trio continued to watch the catheter cowboy for a few moments until it shifted to a commercial selling pillows of questionable efficacy.
“Don’t you think this response has been kinda weird?” asked Lisa, turning to the other two.
Brows furrowed, Tara looked over. “Weird how? People hatin’ on others has been a thing since… as long as there’s been two people, I reckon.”
“No, not that,” Lisa mused, gesturing at the TV. “Yeah, the hatefulness I expected. But I meant the belief.”
Becki snorted, then perched on the arm of the pink sofa. “The belief in the supernatural? It’s kind of hard to deny that magic exists when there’s demons dive-bombing cars on the highway.”
“Yeah, thanks Cecil,” muttered Tara.
“Logically, sure,” continued Lisa. “But that’s… that part isn’t how humans work. At least not on a big scale. We could have an actual dragon roosting on the roof, but if MaxiNews says dragons aren’t real, there’d be hordes of people outside protesting ‘the reptilian hoax’ and claiming it’s a conspiracy.”
Tara looked down, chewing her lip. “Yeah, actually. Like humans bein’ willfully ignorant to things is how supernaturals managed to stay hidden for so long. Why are they suddenly unified in their beliefs now?”
Exasperated, Becki waved her arms around. “Demons! People saw them! I stabbed one to death in the middle of Baltimore!”
“We all accept it because we live that life,” countered Lisa.
“Not all of us are livin’,” interjected Tara, unable to contain her grin.
“Heyshutup,” continued Lisa. “What I’m saying is that I can’t think of any time that something was so universally accepted as true, especially something as big as the existence of the supernatural.”
Becki frowned, tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear. “I guess… I didn’t really think about it, before.”
Lisa pointed, seeming to be excited that Becki understood. “Exactly! The conversation has shifted from ‘supernaturals don’t exist’ to people debating if supernaturals are good or bad, skipping the part where people actually seriously debated the whole existing thing!”
“So what are you suggestin’?” asked Tara. “Maybe some kinda… global mind magic?”
“Mmm. I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure the Convocation would have picked up on a spell that big.”
At that, Becki let out a giggle. “Just like the Convocation would figure out what happened to you, right?”
“Rude. But also not the point!” sighed Lisa. “It’s easy for an experienced mage to cover up a single attempted murder – especially if the mage is super powerful. But for the entire paradigm of the world to shift? We’d need a global ritual with hundreds of powerful mages working in unison.”
“So… Celestials, then?” Tara suggested.
Becki’s voice shifted down an octave, her physical mannerisms indicating an entirely different person was speaking. “Oh, sweetheart, no way,” smirked Not-Becki. “If Aten and his faction couldn’t shift the worldview of humans, there’s no way any amount of heavenly interference would do it.”
Tara and Lisa seemed mildly shaken by Becki’s body becoming inhabited by another presence, but they’d slowly become used to this sort of thing. Lisa recovered more quickly, looking to Tara.
“Has this not even come up in the Council meetings?”
“You think I fuckin’ pay attention in those things?” Tara shot back. “I’d be playin’ on my phone the whole time if Desmond didn’t make us put our phones in a box before sittin’ down.”
She then added, defensively: “That was Sparky’s doin’, not mine. It was a rule long before I got drafted onto the Council!”
Now seemingly back to “herself,” Becki asked somewhat timidly, “Do… do you think maybe you only noticed because, um… you like… aren’t alive?”
Lisa looked as though she were about to sharply retort for a moment, but some realization made her pause. “Actually, you might be on to something. My whole psyche is still a little frayed from what I went through, so maybe some part of me isn’t affected by… whatever this is.”
“Whoa, c’mon now,” Tara jumped in. “Just because all of humanity is in agreement for once doesn’t mean there’s some global magical conspiracy or somethin’.”
“But it’s at least worth looking at, right?” urged Lisa. “Maybe bring it up during a Council meeting? I know it’ll suck to actually do something…”
“If you weren’t already dead, I’d beat your flat ghostly ass.”
Finally, Lisa did let out a sharp retort. “I’m not a fucking ghost, you goddamn hillbilly!”
Becki, with Ennai, spent the next hour attempting to calm the others down and get them out of her house.
“Our next order of business is the cable management in the library data center,” droned Desmond as he consulted the itinerary.
“I told you it’s getting cleaned up,” objected Sparky. She looked as if she were about to say more, but Madam Luna gently touched her arm.
“It was merely a status update request,” Desmond remarked, without looking up. “Seeing as you’re indicating it’s a work in progress, I believe that concludes–”
“Hold up,” broke in Tara, who until that point in the Council meeting had been leaning back with her feet atop the thousand-year-old table.
“Miss Norwood,” Demond said with a hint of surprise, actually looking up from his papers. “You have something to add regarding the cable management?”
“What? No, that shit ain’t important,” Tara replied, swinging her feet off the table and leaning forward. “I wanna bring up how the world is just accepting we exist, now.”
“There were demons…” Melanie began, but Tara cut her off.
“Yeah, yeah, demons. Everyone saw ‘em, but…”
As Tara went over the points Lisa had raised the night before, Desmond began to show signs of consternation.
“That… is actually concerning,” he said quietly, to the surprise of most present.
Madam Luna, still characteristically lethargic, did not seem greatly surprised. She slowly turned her gaze to Desmond. “Lord Medraut, are you thinking about the ink?”
Desmond nodded. “Indeed, I am.”
Tara looked around. “Ink? What ink?”
Looking uncomfortable, Desmond shifted in his seat. “There was… a very powerful substance known as Lethe Ink. Not a very appropriate name, in my opinion, but that’s what it was called. The means of producing the ink is gone, and all of the ink that remained was stolen… I’d say maybe fifteen years ago.”
“Lethe Ink,” repeated Tara, now standing and leaning upon the table. “And what exactly did it do?”
“It… the Lethe Ink could actually control minds to a rather alarming degree,” Desmond replied. He seemed hesitant to even speak of it. “The means of producing the ink was destroyed ages ago, since such a powerful substance could be used to disastrous ends.”
“The means of producin’ it… but not the ink itself?” asked Tara, rather pointedly.
“That was Cecil’s decision,” answered Desmond, quietly. “I believed the ink should have been destroyed, but Cecil claimed it was important to keep the remaining quantity on hand for study and… ‘emergencies’.”
Melanie jumped to her feet, looking as perturbed by the revelations as Tara was. “What kind of fuckin’ ‘emergency’ would require mass mind control?!”
Desmond put his hands up in a placating gesture. “Do remember that Cecil’s tampering with the Wall of Merlin led us to believe that his word was law. He was also quite the senior mage at that time. Only one of us had been in the Convocation longer.”
“And I had no reason to suspect him of anything untoward at that time. He had us all fooled,” Madam Luna gently interjected.
“So what happened to this ink?” Tara pressed.
“That is a long story,” Desmond warned.
“These Council meetings are always too long, anyway, so you may as well tell us now,” Tara demanded.
And so he did.