Jade sat with Darryl in his office, drinking tea. She had been sent back to her home to retrieve the amulets, and reported that she had heard Emerald arriving at the castle moments before she vanished. Sable had been gone when she returned, and Darryl told her he had gone to retrieve the final amulet - be it without force, or from Coal's dead body. She had also voiced her concerns about the recombination to Kat, who had promised to look into it before continuing to pace up and down the hall. She wasn't coping will with Sable gone on his own into the lion's den, as it were.

Sable stalked through the halls, silently. He could hear Emerald in the entrance, commanding all of Jade's staff into the far quarters, and slipped into Coal's bedroom. He knew where they would be going, and with luck, they would walk right past this room. Sable quickly overturned some things in Coal's room, opened the door wide, and stood behind it. It was an old trick, but he was hoping that it would work. If not, Darryl was listening for him, so he could escape in seconds. Sable peered through the gap between the hinges, hoping his scent was strong enough throughout the building that Emerald wouldn't smell him. It seemed his luck was in - she marched straight past, followed by half a dozen guards. Then it seemed his luck was out - Coal wasn't amongst them. Just as he was about to give up and go searching for him, Sable heard footsteps - Coal was trailing behind. Perfect.

Coal stepped into his bedroom and gaped at the mess. He couldn't believe anyone had the courage to disturb the bedroom of the protector and consort of the Lady of Auvreanae. Too late, he identified the scent lingering in his room, and stiffened as Sable's sword pricked the back of his neck.
"You disgust me," Sable said, bitingly. "You betray the family that raised you, the best thing that ever happened to either of us, for what? Because she didn't love you? You warmed her bed, and that would have been enough for most men, but not you. You want it all. You're greedy."
"It's alright for you. She liked you best."
"She preferred me in her bed because I didn't make demands of her. I did my job and that was all."
"Is that all it was to you? A job? How heartless!"
"That is all that was required of me. She was, and is, a friend. She would have been yours, also, but now you are her enemy, and she despises you."
Deftly, Sable removed the amulet from Coal's neck.
"You are not worthy to wear this any longer. May you die, knowing what you sacrificed."
Sable vanished.

As soon as Kat had established that Sable was uninjured, she took all the amulets and locked herself in her office. Jade waited for her to emerge in Darryl's office. They had already had many interesting conversations about mathematics, but the time was passing slowly, and Jade was worried about her house. She knew Emerald wouldn't be able to get into the secret room without the amulets, but she wouldn't put it past the bitch to try and break the wall down. Eventually, Jade's sharp ears heard a door unlocking, and she stopped mid-sentence and moved into the hall.
"Well?"
"I have worked it out. Come into the lab."

Kat looked around the room, counting the people. Jade and Darryl, Slate and Lex, Amber and Darren, Sarah, Sable and herself.
"Darryl, do you parents have magic?"
"Yes."
"Will you call them and ask them to come in please?"
"Of course."
"Darren?"
"My mother does."
"Call her please. Sarah?"
"My mother, and both my sisters."
"Call them all, please."
Kat looked at Lex.
"How many friends do you have?"
"Two that I could call on."
"Do so. I've called my parents already. I need two more."
"If it's ok that they're untrained, my twin brothers have just passed the test," Darren commented. "But they're only 15."
"That's fine. Ask your mother to bring them with her."
There was a flurry of activity as people reached for telephones, and soon there was silence again. It seemed that everyone had managed to express the importance of the request, as they had all said they would be there as soon as possible.
"What about my concerns?" Jade queried.
"There's a word in the recombination spell which means "at once" or "instantly". I can change that to one that means "Over a cycle of the moon". And I can add a bit about people combining as they consider the possibility."
Jade nodded. It wasn't perfect, but it was the best they could do.

Furiously, Emerald stamped her feet. She had ordered the men she had brought with her to knock a hole through the wall, which they had done, but so far all she had received for her efforts was a lot of dust all over her nice dress. Coal was slumped in Jade's chair, being no help at all, and most of the wall had been knocked out, revealing nothing but another wall!
"There should be a staircase!" Emerald shouted. "You fools! You've probably destroyed it!"
She rounded on Coal.
"You're pathetic. Tricked into a trap by that fool! Soon I will be the Lady of Auvreanae, and my consorts will be far more intelligent! And better looking," Emerald added as an afterthought. "Now come over here and help them knock down this wall!"
Coal stood up and strolled over to Emerald. He looked down on her, pityingly.
"You could never be even half the lady that she was. You will never rule."
In an instant, he seized Sable's spare sword from behind the bookcase, and thrust it through Emerald's heart. Moments later, before her scream had faded, Coal felt three swords pierce him, as Emerald's guards belatedly responded to his deadly attack.
"Thus I do atone for my sins," thought Coal, as he died on the floor of her study. "May she forgive me."

Sarah's sisters were the first to arrive, as they lived on campus. Within an hour, everyone had gathered, and Kat led them on a tour of the campus. At various locations, she brushed aside dust, dirt, sticks or leaves to reveal paving stones, with symbols etched into them. Then, she placed an amulet on the markings, waited until they both glowed, and allocated one of the 20 people following her to watch over it, and make sure it wasn't disturbed. The final four people were Jade, Lex, Slate and Sable.
"What are you doing with the other 20 amulets, Kat?"
"I am going to do them."
"On your own?"
"They're all in the same place on the other side. It will be easy."
The final four amulets were placed in a diamond shape on the university courtyard. Frowning, Sable accepted his position, followed by Jade, Slate and Lex.
"Be careful," Lex cautioned.
"I will. Don't be afraid."
Kat vanished.
"Well I'll be buggered, she did it again!"
"With any luck," murmured Slate.
With that, the tension was broken, and the four of them laughed.
"Well, I suppose we have a job to do. Let's do it."
They each stood over the amulet they had been allocated, and waited.

Kat quickly went to work, laying the amulets out on the pattern on the floor. Then, she stood in the centre of the circle and read the inscription. She took a moment to compose herself, then started the incantation. The amulets burst into flame the minute the first words were spoken. As she progressed through the incantation, they glowed brighter and brighter, until she had to close her eyes and recite from memory. As the incantation was concluded, the light from the amulets exploded, and engulfed the bodies of the guardians.
"Don't be afraid," Kat whispered.
In the secret room, the light from 20 amulets rushed into Kat's body. As she screamed, it expanded, and engulfed her in the brightest of lights. Then, suddenly, it vanished.

As the light vanished, Kat appeared in the centre of the diamond. The amulets had seemingly burned out, and Sable rushed forward. There were sparks flying from Kat's body, and in her hands, she clutched a book.
"Kat? Speak to me?"
Sable gently stroked her hair, ignoring the sparks that danced over his hands and up his arm.
"It is done," she whispered. Then, magic depleted and body burned out, she fainted.

~12 months later~
Kat sat in the garden, waiting for Sable to come home. The world had recombined slowly. First, the minerals had redistributed themselves. Then the buildings. Somehow, everyone ended up with a house, though it might not have been what they originally had.
People reported hearing the voice of the creator as the earth shook that night. Statues that had been destroyed in the 5th of the 5th five-fifty-five explosions reappeared, and people experienced visions of how the world should have been. Apparently the creator whispered to them, "Don't be afraid". The recombination moved more swiftly than people expected. Books appeared, that had been lost for centuries. Art appeared. And then, finally, a month after the earthquake, people appeared. Cat-people and humans alike marvelled at the other kind. And soon, relationships were forming. Lex and Slate had moved in together that night. Jade had stayed with them for a while, running away from the feelings she was developing for Darryl. She had been terrified, at first, of the connection she felt with him - it was unlike anything she had experienced before, and as she realised that she was falling in love with him, she pushed him away. Fortunately, he wasn't having any of that, and relentlessly pursued her, until finally, she gave in and moved in with him. Love, she had confided to Kat, was a strange emotion. She spent so long being self-sufficient that it was a bit of a surprise that she depended on him so much. They had a one-month old baby to cement their relationship now, and planned to marry once the baby could toddle. All masters degrees were put on hold, as the university underwent a complete restructure. Primary schools now taught magic to everyone, and the younger generation were learning things which had been impossible previously. It seemed that magic had been redistributed throughout the world. Kat knew for a fact that this was true. She had felt the magic course through her as the spell concluded, redistributed around the world. One person was not meant to wield that much power. The world had been reordered, and the sacrifice had been great, but it was worth it, she thought, as she watched Sable striding across the lawn. She would have given up her magic a thousand times over to be with him.
The book had proved to be a history book - and it was upon this that the new system was based. The world had been repaired, and judging by the number of pregnancies going around, mother nature was doing her best to catch up. A baby wasn't something that Kat had ever wanted, but it seemed that mother nature didn't care about that. The hospitals were struggling to keep up with the number of pregnancies going around, and rates of miscarriage had dropped significantly. Lex joked that there was something in the water - so he and Slate had been living on her chocolate milk, just to be on the safe side.

Life wasn't perfect, of course - but as she wheeled herself to the gate, where Sable greeted her with a kiss, she thought that some days were pretty damn close.