by T. S. Snow
Had he always been this dense? Had he always had such a one-track mind?
“No, but I’m aware that the war against the Necromancers is nothing but a power play to ensure compliance. It’s shocking that you don’t know about it, however. I thought you said you were well-informed,” Logan replied, scorn dripping from every word.
Theo seriously needs to apply cold water to that burn, because ouch.
“Wait a minute. If you know, then why…why aren’t you, like, doing something to stop it? Why are we still sending people out there? And what exactly are they doing there?” I asked. These questions had been bugging me since I’d learned that the whole war thing was bogus.
Logan’s eyebrow stayed up as he looked at me, and my fingers itched for some tweezers. Or maybe some wax strips. One of these days, he was going to have zero eyebrows and he’d only have himself to blame.
“You might not be aware of this, Carter, since you’ve been an outcast from the age of eighteen, but there’s very little I can actually do until I take over. It’s not so easy to fight a lifetime of prejudice, and while the war may not be currently happening, it doesn’t mean it never did. After Augusto Tumba was taken down, there were generations of Necromancers who tried to get revenge and do what their ancestor had failed to. Besides, say society finds out that there isn’t a war anymore. Then what happens?”
I tilted my head. “The obsession with power would diminish. The need for Battle Mages would decrease, and the way our society is structured would become…pointless.”
Logan nodded, conceding my point. “And then what happens if the families are no longer needed and the pact between them is broken?”
I winced.
Okay. He had a point there. I still disagreed with a lot of it, and I was pretty sure there were ways to tell people the truth and stop this crazy hate toward Necromancers without things escalating into chaos.
“That’s not all there is to it, though,” Theo cut in from beside me, and I turned to look at him. “Most mages don’t actually want world domination or to be the one branch of magic above all others. They don’t give a crap about that. Most of the hate between the family heads actually stays between the family members. As taboo as it is for us to marry someone from a different branch, the same isn’t true for those who aren’t as high on the totem pole. Soul Mages don’t all hate Dark Matter Mages and so on. Keeping the pact is more about keeping the strongest mages in check, especially mages like my grandmother and the Futharks.”
“Not my parents?” Logan asked slyly, quirking his eyebrow again and Theo rolled his eyes.
“Please. We both know you might not be the head in name, but most of the daily Nightshade problems are handled by you. Your parents are too busy traveling around and doing whatever else they do in their free time.”
Had…had Theo just…acknowledged Logan’s hard work?
On purpose?
Without a gun held to his head?
Oh wow. Things were getting out of control here.
“Right. Well. As informative as this little get-together is, can we focus on the actual pressing matter at hand, and uh, I don’t know, think of a plan to get the fuck out of here? Because honestly, if we can’t get out of this damn place, everything will be moot. So we need a plan. Right now. I’m all ears.” I crossed my arms in front of me so they’d know I meant business.
We needed to get out of here, and soon, or else I was pretty sure Cara would follow through with her threat, and then there was no way the Necromancers would ever be pardoned.
That, and I really did not want to die.
Priorities.
2
Logan
I stood up and brushed the dust off my clothes, or what little I could actually manage in this state. Once we got out of here, I’d make sure to burn this attire to cinders, but until then, I was stuck with it.
Sighing, I looked around the damn prison cell, hoping to form a plan for how we’d get out of this damn place.
There was no doubt in my mind we would be getting out. All we had to do was decide the best way to do so, with no casualties on our end. “From what I was able to observe, they haven’t used any kind of spell to seal us in here, choosing to rely on more mundane methods. However, since none of us have our magic, getting out will still prove challenging, unless one of you knows how to pick a lock.” I arched an eyebrow at Charisma, hoping she’d suddenly jump up from the floor claiming to be a master thief, while she took an entire lock picking set out of her hair. Unfortunately, that was not the reaction I got.
In fact, Charisma’s face grew white, and her eyes widened in panic before closing them to check on her own magic.
Had she not realized they’d snuffed out our magic? Just how out of contact was she with her power that she didn’t immediately realize when it had been cut off?
“Char, are you okay?” Theodore asked from beside her, bending his body forward so he could get closer.
Charisma’s eyes opened, but rather than the panic I’d seen earlier, there was relief there.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She brushed Theodore off before turning to me. “What do you mean none of us have magic?” Charisma frowned. “My magic is just fine.”
Theodore and I exchanged a surprised look.
“Are you sure, Char, baby?” Theodore asked.
“Yeah, here,” she replied, closing her eyes. A small, orange magic activation circle materialized over her open palm, and a small flame started to hover over it before it was snuffed out and the magic circle vanished.
So, either they hadn’t had the time to drug Charisma, or…
“Do you think the reason they didn’t take your magic away was because they didn’t consider it a threat?” I inquired and watched as Charisma jumped to her feet and marched up to me, ready to throw down.
I raised my hands in surrender before she did something she would regret. If it came down to it, I knew I could take her in a fight even if neither of us used magic. But if there was one thing I’d learned about Charisma Carter, it was that she wasn’t afraid of playing dirty, and I really didn’t want to end up on my ass because of some magical trick she pulled.
She stood toe-to-toe with me, silver eyes narrowed in angry slits.
“I may not have much magic but I’m not powerless,” she defended.
I couldn’t agree more.
I opened my mouth to answer, but surprisingly enough, Theodore came to my rescue. He placed a hand on her shoulder, getting her attention, and said, “Char, that’s not what he meant and you know it. Nightshade was just trying to understand why they didn’t take your magic when they took ours. Nobody is questioning your worth or saying you’re not completely kickass. There’s no need to drop him on his butt just because he has no tact.”
Ignoring the dig, I focused on Charisma. It was fascinating to see the way she visibly ran scenarios through her head and tried to talk herself into relaxing. She sighed, and it was like her entire body unclenched with the exhale.
I knew older people who didn’t have that much control over themselves.
“Right, yeah. Sorry.” Charisma tried to take a step back, bumped into Theodore, and then made a weird squeaky noise as she jumped forward, bumping into my chest. I raised my arms to steady her so she wouldn’t somehow fall, and Theodore seemed to have the same idea.
In the end, we made an awkward Charisma sandwich.
“Well, now that’s a threesome I had not seen coming,” Char blurted out before her eyes widened in panic as she realized she’d said it out loud.
I chuckled, even as she did her best to detangle herself from us. In the end, she stepped sideways and, like a crab, scurried far away from both Theodore and I.
“So. Uh. About the whole breaking out of here thing. Since my beloved cousin seems to have underestimated me, my magic will probably be what saves our asses. However, melting the metal on the bars won't be enough to actually get us out of here because I very much doubt even my cousin would be so stupid as
to not have all kinds of mages above us, waiting for an opportunity. So, I’m open to ideas.” Charisma stopped talking and just took deep breaths, as if talking fast had made her breathless.
It probably had. I’d never met anyone who spoke as fast as she did, especially when she was rambling.
“I’m not entirely sure you’ll be able to melt those bars, Charisma,” I said before she had enough steam to go on another blurted ramble. “You’d need to reach around thirteen hundred and seventy degrees…” She opened her mouth to respond, but I knew where she was going before she could get started. “Celsius. Not Fahrenheit. Meaning about twenty-five hundred degrees Fahrenheit. And you’d have to hold that temperature for a while. Do you really think you can do it? If you try and you fuck it up, we might end up stuck here for even longer, because the half-melted chunks of steel would solidify and then it’d be impossible to open it even with a key.”
And quite honestly, I’d much rather try to pry open the steel bars with my bare hands than risk the metal warping and getting stuck here forever, or depending on the good will of our captors. Maybe being locked up with Charisma wouldn’t be so bad, but only if there were an actual bed, food we could eat without worry, and a bathroom with running water.
Preferably without Theodore in the same room as us.
Charisma rolled her eyes at me, as if I’d just told her the most painfully obvious thing.
“I know that, Mr. Nightshade.” Ouch. “I did graduate as an engineer, after all. Or did you forget?” She sent me a droll look before she continued, “I also know that if I heated and cooled the steel really fast a few times, I might be able to break us out of here because the thermal shock would decrease metal resistance. However, if I use up all my magic on that, we’ll be relying solely on our combat skills against a lot of mages who will have access to their magic. I’m sure my cousin would love it if we broke out of here only to give her an opportunity to get rid of us straight away.”
She started pacing back and forth in the small, drafty area of the cell, while she mumbled to herself. “Why oh why didn’t I make a backup MET? Honestly, Charisma. You should know better. Have you learned nothing from past experiences? If I had some kind of backup MET, say, an earring or even a necklace, then I could get the power boost to get out of here and kick some major mage ass. But did we? Noooo, because we’re naïve. Dammit all to hell and back again.”
Charisma kept pacing and mumbling, even as Theodore tried to get her attention. She was either pointedly ignoring him or she was too consumed by her mental monologue to actually hear him.
In the end, Theodore stepped right into her path, and that was enough to finally get her attention.
“Char, there’s no point in berating yourself for not having a backup MET. You’re badass, but even you are not infallible. What we need now is to come up with a plan, right? So let’s focus on that. We might not be able to break the bars and get out, but what if we surprise them the next time they come down here? If we time things just right, we might be able to actually get the hell out before they kill us.”
Further proof that Theodore was not, in fact, a complete waste of space.
Maybe I’d done the right thing saving his life after all, even if it was how we ended up being captured in the first place.
“You’re right. Sorry. It’s just… Argh. Every RPG worth a damn has taught me to always have spare equipment, yet here I am, foolishly thinking just having the one MET is enough. At least they made me leave my MET in the car that kidnapped me and didn’t outright destroy it. So there’s still hope I might recover it eventually. You know, assuming we do get out of here. But anyway, I digress. So, what’s the plan?”
Charisma crossed her arms in front of her, tilting her head to the side as she looked from Theodore to me.
“As much as I hate to admit it, Theodore is right.” I forced the words through gritted teeth. “Currently, our best bet is to gain the upper hand. They thought your magic was no threat to them, Charisma, and we’ll make sure that underestimating you will be their worst mistake. We’ll have to act fast and be extremely coordinated, but we might be able to pull this off. If we don’t… Well, it’s not like they’re planning to let us live through this anyway. However, we cannot rely solely on Charisma and her magic,” I added, not liking the glint Charisma was getting in her eyes, as if she was planning to play super hero and save the day by herself.
She might be cunning, but there was no way she could take however many mages on her own, especially not when they had their METs and she didn’t.
Even I hadn’t been able to take down the rebels on my own, and I’d had my MET with me, as well as over two decades of battle drills, and my power was far greater than Charisma’s.
“We’ll have to find a way to distract them, to force them to lower their guard. When that happens…we’ll strike. All-out,” I declared firmly.
It was a simple plan, but the only way. If they lowered their guard, even for a second, Charisma might be able to disarm them, and then we’d strike.
“How are we going to do that?” Theodore asked from beside Charisma. They stood right next to each other, their shoulders brushing, with neither of them seeming to notice, or at least not seeming bothered by it. That alone spoke of years of familiarity, years of trust.
Charisma tilted her head to the side, deep in thought. Her arms were crossed in front of her, the fingers on her left hand moving furiously, almost like a nervous tic. It actually looked like she was typing away at an imaginary keyboard.
Suddenly, her face cleared up, and there was a wickedly excited smile that immediately put me on edge.
“Oh! I know! What if when they come down here to, you know, kill us and stuff, they find the two of you kissing? Now that would definitely work as a distraction, and a side benefit of it would be the priceless finger vault material. All on board with this plan, please breathe.”
Baffled, I just stared at Charisma, while Theodore started yelling, asking her if she’d lost her damn mind.
Little minx was playing with fire, and there was no way I’d let that go unpunished…once we got out of here.
“How about I kiss you instead?” I asked her, closing the distance between us. Theodore fell silent as I lowered my head, as if going in for a kiss. Charisma’s breath hitched, making me smile. At the last second, I tilted my head, my lips hovering over her ear. “Little girl, if you want to play, I’ll show you just how easily I can win.”
3
Charisma
I… He… I… Goddess, I wanted him.
I knew it was illogical and this was the worst possible timing ever, what with us being imprisoned and about to fight for our lives and everything, but I couldn’t help myself. Logan was… He was different—mysterious, and so in control all the time, like his every move was calculated. It made me want to mess him up, to ruffle his hair a bit, tempt him into losing just a little of his composure. I knew I should probably dislike him on principle; after all, he was basically the poster child of Arcane society. And yet…there was this dark part of me that stirred every time he was near, that longed for the kind of dominance he so effortlessly exuded. It made me wonder what it would be like to be at his mercy, even if just for a little while.
Even now, when my heart was beating as if it were trying to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for the fastest drummer, when I was having trouble convincing my lungs to do the whole breathing-like-a-normal-person thing, I knew that one day, I’d give in to this attraction to him. I also knew it would either break me or be one of the best nights of my life.
Beside me, Theodore moved, his shoulder brushing against mine as he mumbled something under his breath, and it brought me back to the present.
I could dwell on the possibilities and contradictions of Logan later, but for now, there were more important things we needed to do.
Like finding a way to get the fuck out of here, while taking out Cara and her posse with her.
Who knew? Maybe we’d
also find out whoever the resistance’s leader actually was and go back as heroes.
I could already see the headlines: “Nightshade and Soulbinder heirs taken hostage as part of Silverstorm family feud. Cara Silverstorm under arrest.” Or some shit like that.
Who knew? With the way they reported things, I might end up painted as the evil kidnapper, Logan and Theo as the heroes, and Cara as the poor, poor victim. Assuming I got mentioned at all, that was, which was unlikely.
Well, whatever. I was fine with being the villainess to Arcane society, so long as it got me the fuck out of here.
“So, uh, anywaaaays… Since the, uh, kissing is out, how are we going to distract them, then?” I asked at last, clearing my throat a couple times to try to get my voice to come out normal and not a weird squeak.
Logan tilted his head to the side, as if running through the possibilities, but Theo refused to look at me. He faced the bars, his hands curled into fists.
Oh boy. Looked like I had some damage control I needed to do before we could actually get down to work.
Besides, I had a feeling this conversation with Theo was long overdue.
I walked up to Theo, placing my hand on his arm. I opened my mouth and closed it again a few times, but no words came out. I mean, what was I even supposed to say?
Theo sighed. “It’s okay, Char. You don’t have to walk on eggshells around me. I…I knew you’d get over me, you know? I always knew, even if part of me hoped you would love me forever, even after…even after.” Even after he broke my heart was what he didn’t say. “You don’t owe me anything. In fact, I’m the one who owes you something—a huge apology.” He turned to face me, and there was such deep sorrow in his eyes that it wrecked my soul. Theo forced a smile, as if trying to convince me he really was okay, but it only served to show me how much he was trying to be strong.