Chapter 103: Escape

Seeing Grindelwald leaning against the doorway, Sylvan gasped and instinctively glanced back toward the direction where the Mirror Space had just been cast. Even from a considerable distance, he could clearly see the towering blue-black flames raging within the opera house.

“Mr. Rosier, you grow more intriguing by the moment,” Grindelwald said, waving his wand as a spell shot toward the magic carpet carrying Sylvan and the two others.

Madame Lemaitre immediately cast an Ironclad Charm to shield the three of them.

Sylvan’s cloak, formed from the protective shield of Lagga, rippled and transformed into a hemispherical barrier behind Lemaitre’s Ironclad Charm.

As the trio on the magic carpet was about to fly out the opera house doors, Madame Lemaitre held the spinning, gyroscopic door key in her hand, ready to activate it at any moment.

Grindelwald unleashed two powerful spells in quick succession toward the three.

After Sylvan and the others blocked several spells, suddenly a Shatter Curse curved through the air, bypassing their shields and striking the magic carpet directly.

In an instant, the magic carpet disintegrated into dust!

The Lemaitres and Sylvan’s group lost their balance and fell to the ground, only to be immediately bound by Grindelwald’s Constriction Spell.

Grindelwald approached the bound Sylvan, crouched down to face him, and revealed a sinister smile.

“I must admit, your magic is quite unique; it almost stumped me,” he said with a laugh. “It’s just a pity the space wasn’t very sturdy.”

Sylvan frowned in frustration. He hadn’t expected Grindelwald to find a way to break the Mirror Space so quickly and use an unknown method to teleport straight to the front of the Garnier Opera House!

“Could it be that we can only rely on the soul connection to Dumbledore now?” he mused anxiously.

Beside Sylvan, Madame Lemaitre sighed, her tone calm as she asked, “So, what do you intend to do with us?”

“Rest assured, my ‘visit’ here is for an important matter requiring Mr. Lemaitre’s assistance. I have no intention of troubling you or your esteemed wife,” Grindelwald replied with a light chuckle. “As for this young wizard, I certainly won’t harm him. I could never be cruel enough to cause the Rosier family—the last heirs of my aid—to lose their final successor. My purpose is simply to invite you all to New Mongarde as guests. The rest is yours to consider at leisure.”

“Abernathy, please ‘escort’ these three esteemed guests to the carriage!” he ordered with a wave, dismissing any objections to the wizard trailing behind.

Abernathy nodded obediently and motioned the three to follow him.

Then, suddenly—the air just outside the opera house twisted violently!

A bizarre large bird with tiny wings burst forth from the air, and on its back rode Newt and a small cat.

“Relashio!” Newt immediately cast a spell to dissolve the magical bindings around Sylvan and the others.

At the same time, the bird’s long tail coiled around their waists, and the cat began darting through space, opening a ring of shimmering blue light.

“Crucio!”

Grindelwald, seeing this, immediately cast a Cruciatus Curse at the cat, attempting to suppress her power.

Saints nearby hurried over, sending waves of colorful spells toward the blue light barrier.

At the critical moment, Madame Lemaitre pulled a softly glowing paper crane from her bag and threw it into the air. As the crane’s wings beat through the air, it transformed into thousands of paper cranes, completely obscuring the entrance to the light barrier and blocking countless spells.

Several powerful spells, including the Cruciatus Curse that had slipped through the swarm of cranes, were jointly repelled by Sylvan, Newt, and the Lemaitres with their Ironclad Charms.

Then, the four disappeared inside the Garnier Opera House...

“Sir, they shouldn’t get far. Shall we pursue them?” Abernathy asked quietly after Sylvan and the others vanished.

“No need,” Grindelwald raised his hand to stop him. Turning to those nearby, he said, “You have outstanding warrants; there’s no need to risk it over this.”

“Besides, we will meet again soon enough.”

A strange white light flickered in Grindelwald’s right eye.

...

When Sylvan and the others reappeared, they were beside an old-fashioned building on Montmorency Street, just steps away from Nick Lemaitre’s safe house.

They rushed inside, finally allowing themselves to relax.

The safe house was sealed with Nick Lemaitre’s Devotion Charm—no one could enter without his permission.

“You saved me again, little cat!” Sylvan said, scooping the cat into his arms and gently massaging her head with a grateful smile.

Having undergone two consecutive spatial jumps carrying others, the cat seemed quite exhausted. She lay listlessly in Sylvan’s embrace, enjoying his gentle touch, and soon fell asleep.

Sylvan carefully placed her on a blanket Newt had brought and covered her with a quilt to keep her warm.

He then looked toward the Lemaitres and Newt, softly asking, “What shall we do next?”

Madame Lemaitre, her expression weary, said to her husband, “Let’s contact the French Ministry of Magic first. Someone has to clean up the aftermath at the Garnier Opera House.”

Lemaitre nodded and entered the wooden door leading to the study beside the living room.

Curious, Sylvan followed and saw Lemaitre open a cabinet next to his workbench, retrieving a thick book bound in gold, adorned with an embossed phoenix.

Noticing Lemaitre’s struggle to lift the heavy book, Sylvan quickly stepped forward to help place it on the workbench.

“Thank you, young Sylvan,” Lemaitre said kindly, smiling. “At my age, moving around isn’t as easy as it used to be.”

He gently stroked the phoenix embossment, causing the cover to part slightly. Then he opened the hefty tome.

Each page contained a picture frame, most empty. Occasionally, a frame held a photograph, and when Lemaitre turned to those pages, the people in the photos smiled and greeted him.

“Are these magical photographs?” Sylvan asked curiously.

“Magical photographs?” Lemaitre smiled warmly. “Not quite. These frames hold actual wizards. Through this book, I can communicate with them.”

“Remote video calls?” Sylvan was stunned.

...