The Black Veins (Dead Magic Book 1)

by Ashia Monet

  The other Guardians are too busy searching for an entrance to the jets to notice the Fultons coming down the stairs.

  Here, the jets are slightly different, with two buttons built into the wall beside each jet door.

  “How do these things work?!” Cordelia asks.

  “Who gives a shit,” Storm says. She slams one of the buttons and the jet door slides open. They pile in, helping Daniel and Antonio in first before they each follow suit. Even Caspian’s ghostly form slips in after them.

  Blythe’s staring must be obvious, because Amber asks, “Blythe? Do you know those kids?”

  “They’re the other Guardians,” Blythe answers. “They…they helped me.”

  Blythe starts toward them, but Jamal moves toward the complete other side of the room. He presses the bottom button and the jet shoots out into the sky, leaving a wide opening in the wall.

  He rushes to a different jet, trying the top button this time like Amber shouts at him to do. The door swings open. Blythe watches her parents set the twins inside, asking for seatbelts, asking each other if they know how to fly a jet.

  “Hurry up, Blythe!” Lena rushes. “Come on!”

  Over Blythe’s shoulder, the Guardians are leaving in search of their families. Blythe knows that feeling. She knows how those tears on Antonio’s face feel, how fiery Storm’s determination is in her chest.

  They are starting the adventure she is ending.

  Her family is on her right, getting the twins buckled in. The Guardians are on her left, shouting at each other and slamming whatever button they can touch.

  Cordelia lingers in their doorway. Her eyes are puffy and rimmed pink. She opens her mouth, then closes it. “Go,” she finally says. “What are you still standing there for?”

  “I’m sorry,” Blythe apologizes. She’s not even sure what for.

  “Don’t be sorry. I made my choice. Just do one thing for me when you get home, Blythe Fulton.” Cordelia smiles a real, genuine smile that makes her as radiant as the moon itself. “Take a nice, big, long nap.”

  She steps inside the jet, and is gone.

  This could very well be the last time Blythe will ever see Cordelia Deleon. It could be the last time she sees any of them. There is no guarantee she’ll be able to track them down. She could text them, yes, and follow them on social media—and they’d be the same as every other friendship Blythe has ever had.

  “Blythe!” Amber has called Blythe’s name like that for as long as Blythe can remember. Whenever she was little and would dawdle because she was distracted, or when she grew old enough to be defiant and forge her own path. The sound of her name, when called like that, is nostalgic. It feels like home.

  This is all Blythe has ever wanted. To return home with her family. To see Jamie again. To sleep in her room. To forget about everything.

  But Storm abandoned her own mission for Blythe. Antonio supported her even after she’d done him wrong. Daniel ventured further into a world that terrified him. Jay was willing to become a part of a world he yearned to reject. Caspian overcame his ties to his own family, to his past, just to stay with them. And Cordelia…Cordelia has put Blythe before herself.

  Blythe’s heart crumbles as she walks toward her family’s jet.

  The twins are in the far seats, her parents seated in the cockpit. Jamal is trying to figure out the buttons. “Get in, sit beside the twins and hold onto them.”

  There are two buttons on the wall just outside of the jet’s doorway. The one on the top says OPEN. The one on the bottom says EJECT.

  Blythe knows exactly what will happen when they land in Washington. They will fix up the Full Cup and reopen its doors. The house will fill with noise, summer vacation will resume, and life will readjust to its normal state of being.

  Everything will be okay.

  Blythe’s lip trembles. “I love you all,” she says. “And when you get back home can you…can you let Jamie know I’m okay?”

  The twins stare at her, confused and unblinking. But her parents understand. “Blythe,” Jamal’s voice is hard. “Sit down—”

  Blythe slams the eject button.

  The door slides shut before anyone can move. Blythe watches the jet eject from the wall, bursting out to fly over Electric City, soaring above the darkness, soaring toward the horizon, toward Washington, toward home, toward Jamie and the Full Cup.

  All she has ever wanted is for her family to be okay. Because her family is her life. And the Guardians…they’re her family too. And she owes them her life.

  Blythe races toward their jet as the final sirens wail and the light burst violent, blinding red. She squeezes into the backseat, beside Antonio, as every voice yells her name, demanding to know why she’s returned.

  “You have families to save,” Blythe says as she buckles up. “And I, obviously, have an amazing track record of saving families.”

  Antonio wraps his arms around her. He is quiet, face streaked with tears. Beside him, Daniel offers Blythe a weak smile. He is still holding his leg, which looks twisted and pale.

  The row of seats in front of them hold Caspian, more solid that usual but still squeezed in the corner as if it will render him unseen, and Cordelia.

  Storm and Jay scramble for the eject button in the cockpit. The radio springs to life. Storm shouts, “Fuck, wrong button!”

  “A number of Black Veins cities across the globe have frozen in time after reporting hearing a strange song,” comes Alastair French’s smooth voice. “This has been categorized as a direct attack, and the Black Veins has officially declared war against the Trident Republic. I repeat, the Black Veins has officially declared war against the Trident Republic.”

  Alastair French pauses. “God help us all.”

  So, that’s what they have to look forward to. The world was dangerous enough when the Trident Republic was just trying to agitate the Sages. An all out war will be…well…

  “Christ,” Caspian whispers. Blythe could not agree more.

  “Found it!” Storm shouts as she slaps a button.

  Cordelia looks over her shoulder. The light is dim, but Blythe could recognize worry on Cordelia’s face even in pure darkness.

  “We don’t know where we’re going or how long it’ll take to get there,” Cordelia says. She sounds like she thinks Blythe has made a mistake.

  But Blythe hasn’t made a mistake. She’s made a choice. A sacrifice.

  “Who cares,” Blythe says. “We’ll get there someday.”

  The jet sighs, shifts into place, and just like that, they are thrown into a sea of stars.

  Once upon a time, a young girl lost her family and discovered a new one.

  The Guardians will return in

  Dead Magic Book Two

  About the Author

  Ashia Monet is a speculative fiction author whose work always includes found families, queer characters of color, and the power of friendship. She loves The Adventure Zone, cosmic horror, sweet treats, and, most especially, the color pink. You can visit her at www.ashiamonet.com, or any of the social media links below.