Resistant Magic (Relic Hunter Book 5)

by R. Leonia Shea

  I watched Ka’Tehm’s blue glow dim, and I felt a surge of protective instinct to save him from being drained as Idral had been. I reached out toward him and noticed the dimming blue color was caused by curling tendrils of darkness that wafted up from the floor.

  Darkness rolled like smoke and formed a wall between the glowing cavern where Idral and Shabe still argued and the passageway where I hid with Ka’Tehm. The blue beaver reached toward me and beckoned me forward with a tiny paw. I followed him, running low behind the curtain of darkness Idral generated to cover our escape. We turned into another tunnel, and Ka’Tehm’s glow brightened. He took off, shooting down the tunnel like a bullet. I ran, hearing Idral roar loud enough to drown out the sound of my footsteps.

  We fled through the tunnels making turns that seemed convoluted and going up and down ancient stone stairways before I saw the bright glow of what I thought was daylight up ahead. I heard voices, and I slowed, but Ka’Tehm beckoned me on. I trusted his judgment.

  He hovered before a large metal door that led onto a street. I pulled a strand of energy from the rocks around us and aimed a spark at the lock. I got it on the first shot and opened the gate, just as Ka’Tehm settled into my backpack, atop the reliquary that contained a griffin’s egg.

  I joined the crowd on the street, walking for a few blocks before pulling out my cell phone and checking the time. I sent a text to Kai.

  Mission accomplished. Late for a meeting.

  I waited for a moment before my phone buzzed.

  Stay where you are. I’m coming to get you.

  Well, that would be nice because I was exhausted, and the scrapes on my arms and elbows stung, and my head throbbed from the metal shelf incident. I looked around and found a lovely shady building to lean against while I waited for the cavalry.

  I puzzled out the things I’d heard Idral say, and the bits of information he’d dragged out of Shabe caused a knot of dread in my chest. At least I had prevented the Chanson from getting the egg, but there was still something that didn’t sit right with me.

  A Vespa scooter swerved and stopped in front of me. The driver handed me a black helmet, and I looked at the slogan on his t-shirt. My mythical coyote was definitely a howl of a good time, with or without his magic. I swung my leg over the back of the scooter and wrapped my arms around his waist. He picked up my wrist and examined the scrapes along my forearm and my knuckles.

  “Tough day at the office?” He asked.

  “And it isn’t even half over,” I grumbled. “But I think I negotiated a new contract; if he passes your interview, gets beyond his oath to guard against witchcraft, and we can help him relocate,” I said.

  “Great! What are we getting from this contract if we decide to sign him?”

  “A security guard?”

  Kai snorted with laughter. “If it were a successful negotiation, the terms wouldn’t end in a question mark.” He said, swerving back into traffic and heading toward Trastevere.

  Chapter 23

  Kai parked the scooter on the street, and we pulled off our helmets. His hair fell in perfect arrangement, and judging from the look on his face, mine did not. I shoved the shiny plastic helmet at him and smoothed my hair back, wondering how well my braid had held up through the tunnel.

  Kai leaned against the scooter and watched me as I ripped the tie out of my hair and ran my fingers through the tangles. I gathered all of it and wound it into a twisted loop that I could barely fit the scrunchie around. I shrugged; it was called a messy bun for a reason.

  Kai smiled, reached over, and plucked the tie out, causing my dark red waves to tumble around my shoulders. He stuffed the elastic in his pocket and slid my heavy pack off my back. His arm dropped at the weight, and he lifted it, his bicep tight and his forearm corded with muscle. I smiled as he shouldered my pack for me and steered me toward the building with his hand massaging the back of my neck.

  “Maybe the sparkle of your hair will keep her eyes off the dust that’s covering the rest of you.” He whispered, nipping at my ear and brushing his hand over my behind to sweep some of it away.

  I’d been hard at work, trying to fix the jinn problem for the Guild. I didn’t even give my appearance a thought. Besides, I’d lose a little credibility if I looked like I’d spent the day at the spa. I was there to deliver the very bad news that there were barbarians in the tunnels, and if the Guild didn’t come up with a plan soon, they’d have bigger problems than purple flames.

  Paolina lived on the top floor, and an old metal-cage elevator lifted us up six floors. We exited onto an Oriental carpet runner that was laid over a tiled corridor.

  I stopped and looked at Kai. There were so many things that I hadn’t had a chance to tell him, but there wasn’t any time. “There are a lot of things that have changed about my theory since we last talked about it.”

  He smiled. “And you’d prefer it if I didn’t look surprised?”

  I sighed and brushed my hand across his smooth cheek. “It’s nothing bad, but not looking surprised might be harder than you think.”

  “Is that a challenge?” He asked.

  “Nope. It’s pretty much a promise. Have I mentioned that being with you is always the best part of my day?” I sighed.

  His fingers closed around my wrist, and he was about to kiss my palm when he noticed the dirt and scratches.

  He grimaced. “That’s not saying much considering the day you’ve had.”

  A couple of seconds after Kai pushed the buzzer, the door opened, and I instantly regretted the fact that I didn’t look like I spent the day at the spa.

  Paolina’s blond hair fell in loose waves past her shoulders, and she wore a white pantsuit with a pink silk camisole edged in delicate lace. Her eyes widened at the sight of me, but when they settled on Kai, there was a whole new dimension to her surprise, which she quickly tried to hide. Yeah, he had the same effect on me, too.

  “Come in, please.” She said, giving me a hesitant smile.

  We entered a light-filled parlor with modern furniture and large windows that looked out over a central courtyard. The angry man I thought of as Vesuvius from the Guild meeting stepped into the room, pulling at the cuffs of his white dress shirt and looking like the CEO of a Fortune 500 company on his day off. He gave me a slight nod, and his light green eyes looked sad.

  “Dr. Cerasola. I am Matteo Serafini.” He held out his hand.

  I stood there in my dusty cargo pants with my wild hair, and my eyes went from Kai to Matteo, watching my formerly magical coyote size up Matteo Serafini. “How are we related?” I asked quietly.

  Kai blinked but to his credit, he didn’t look surprised. Matteo hid a small smile. “My half-brother Marco took our mother’s maiden name when he left Italy. Cerasola is an unusual name, so I believe I am your uncle.”

  I nodded. He indicated the modern white leather couch behind us, “Please.”

  Kai sat next to me, and Paolina and Matteo chose square chairs across from us. I could feel Kai’s eyes on the side of my face, but I didn’t dare look at him. There’d be time for that conversation later.

  A mirrored tray sat atop an enormous tufted ottoman, and an unopened bottle of limoncello sat in a silver ice bucket alongside a few freshly squeezed fruit juices and a bottle of club soda. Paolina offered drinks, and Kai and I settled on blood orange juice with a splash of fizz. It was like heaven after the morning I’d had, but considering the awkward situation, a healthy splash of vodka would have been a welcome addition.

  Matteo leaned forward. “I am sorry I did not tell you right away, but I thought it wise to keep your relationship to our family a secret. If the other members of La Gilda knew, they would accuse our family of trying to rise above our position.”

  I nodded and turned my eyes to Paolina. “You called Majeedah. Did you know who I was then?”

  She shook her head and leaned forward. “When my father returned from the meeting and told me of his suspicion, I was surprised.” Paolina explained how once the
Guild had decided to bring in someone to handle the problem, she’d been delegated to make the call. The Guild had provided specific parameters for the person who was to be hired, but there was nothing in the description that couldn’t have fit a dozen other witches until she mentioned the part about arcane archaeology.

  I nodded. “Was that your idea or someone else’s?”

  Paolina flinched, but Matteo leaned forward. “I have been in contact with Kingston Pon off and on for many years due to our family’s position in La Gilda. I contacted him when the first explosion happened, and we met in Switzerland. We needed to meet outside the boundaries of Italy because The Chairman frowns upon the families meeting with organized magic.”

  I smiled but remained silent, organized magic sounded an awful lot like organized crime. I didn’t want to stop Matteo's story because I needed to know if it was a conspiracy and how deep that went, so my amusement would have to wait.

  Matteo sipped his drink and settled back in his chair before he continued. “Kingston and I discussed the situation, and he suggested Majeedah Gobain might have a contact who could help.”

  I was sure that Kington’s next call was to Majeedah, pointing her toward me. He’d gone out of his way to shield my identity, but I didn’t know if he was trying to keep Matteo from finding out about me or if he was covering his tracks.

  I glanced between my uncle and my cousin and felt absolutely nothing. The silence stretched into uncomfortable, but as much as I wanted to get back to business, I couldn’t find a way to turn the conversation in that direction. I saw Paolina looking at my scraped-up arms and elbows, and I sighed. “Occupational hazard,” I said to her sympathetic gaze.

  She nodded and stood up, leaving us to stare after her in tense silence. Matteo looked at me with something close to affection. I bristled, and Kai laid his hand over mine.

  In a moment, Paolina returned with a white plastic jar that she placed in front of me. “It will help speed the healing.” She said, returning to her seat. “What can we do for you, Dr. Cerasola?”

  I thanked her for the gift. “Who does Peter Picenzia work for?”

  The Serafini’s exchanged a disgusted look. “Peter works for Chairman Mariani.”

  “Do you know that Chairman Mariani has a jinn to power his magic?” I asked them. Judging by their wide eyes and Matteo’s obvious burst of fury, I was pretty sure their ignorance was genuine. I gave them a convoluted explanation about how I knew of the jinn without mentioning Peter. I wanted to believe that Peter was trying to do the right thing by freeing the jinn.

  I also sprung my theory about a few of the other families engaging in similar activities with jinn. The Serafini clan looked horrified, but they didn’t look guilty and I was more than a bit relieved about that.

  “How prepared is La Gilda to battle the Chanson?” I asked.

  Hesitation flickered in their eyes for a moment before Paolina shook her head slowly. “We are not prepared at all. The Benedicaria has no provisions for such an event.”

  “How long would it take to get prepared?” I asked, letting a note of urgency into my voice.

  Kai glanced at me quickly and returned his gaze to Paolina, who seemed to be taking the lead while her father continued to stare at me, probably trying to find some trace of his half-brother Marco in my face.

  “It would take us years to cultivate that sort of power if it is even possible.” She said, her eyes looking worried.

  “You don’t have years, Paolina. You have weeks, maybe. I believe the Chanson is causing the magical blackouts. They have at least one jinn that I know of, and the blackouts are most likely caused by them overextending the jinn’s power. Chairman Mariani might be trying to stave off the inevitable with his own jinn, but I don’t know him well enough to make that leap. You’re going to need to find a way to convince the rest of the families to reconsider the rules and get ready to defend yourselves.”

  I laid out my theory about what the Chanson was doing in the tunnels. There was strong evidence that they were blasting through the tunnels to find something, but I kept the details of Idral’s egg to myself - I also didn't exactly mention an army of Sand Fire Jinn because that wasn't any better. The Guild didn’t need to know everything, but they did need to understand that things were dire. I did mention the damper on magic, though not the relic, because that was critical.

  Matteo seemed to take a moment to consider that. “What do you mean, damper? I don’t understand this word.” Kai translated, and Matteo nodded. Confusion flashed across his features.

  I caught my mistake a second too late. Without experiencing magic in other parts of the world, they wouldn’t even know that the magic in Rome was different. I looked Matteo in the eye when I lied, and I tried to soften the blow. “I’m not sure, but it’s possible that at least some of the members of your organization know about it or suspect something is causing the magic here to be more brittle.”

  “Why would we all not have been told of this?” He asked, looking at his daughter and then at us.

  “If you never experienced the currents elsewhere, you’d never know any different. Maybe it’s been going on so long that nobody even thinks to question it anymore. The magic here is tainted, either by a spell or by some other means which makes it unpleasant to tap into. It feels disgusting, for lack of a better word.”

  Matteo bristled a bit, but Paolina smiled. “As children, we are told that if we do not keep our barriers in place, bad things will crawl inside us. We are also taught that the devil and his demons frequently take the form of serpents, so we guard against those at all costs. Magic feels like those things here in Rome, but I do not know if it is the same in other places.”

  I smiled and purposefully didn’t answer her question because tapping into pure magic when you’re not trained isn’t a good idea - I’d learned that the hard way. If I had grown up here, I would assume that all magic felt the same way, and it would have been enough to keep me from letting my barriers down anywhere else in the world.

  The silence dragged, so I spoke up. “I believe the Benedicaria serves that purpose as well. Not only does it help justify a little magic in the name of healing, but those rules have successfully kept generations of witches from stretching their powers. Your chairman seems particularly fond of reminding all of you about the rules.”

  “This lie is why Mariani has a jinn. Is he the cause?” Matteo asked.

  “Mariani is not causing the taint. I think the system here is a great theory: that all witches are equal, but in practice, there are always a handful of members who think they should be in charge. Mariani’s role as Chairman probably has something to do with his magical ability, right?” Paolina nodded, but Matteo just looked angry. “A jinn would be a dirty little secret if you were using it to keep your position of authority. I bet that jinn has ensured that the Mariani family remained the strongest bloodline for centuries.” Anger flashed Matteo’s green eyes, and I saw the set of his jaw and his clenched hands.

  I forged on when they remained silent. “If it makes you feel better, it’s not just Italy, but around the Mediterranean. Turkey, Greece, Syria, the magic is kept at lower levels by design.”

  “You are sure Mariani and his jinn aren’t doing such a thing?” Matteo asked, looking for an enemy.

  “No. My guess is it was done a very long time ago to control the empire.” I fell silent, weighing my options. I wished I’d had time to talk to Kai, and I lifted my eyes to him, trying to telegraph my uncertainty to him. He looked thoughtful for a second, but he smiled encouragingly and squeezed my hand.

  I dove in, not sure if I was making the right decision. “After the Roman Empire was split into two parts, Julian the apostate might have brought an object back to Rome from Constantinople. Maybe he was trying to resurrect the pagan religions with it, or maybe he hoped it would give the old gods more power to save Rome because it was crumbling. He might have thought that removing it would destroy Constantinople and maybe even Christianity. It’s not
exactly written in the history books. Whatever his reasons, he had no idea what he was doing. I believe that object weakened the magic in Rome, and since Christianity was on the rise, I doubt anybody wanted to speak of magic and risk being labeled as apostates like Julian had been. Right now, if I’m right and this relic can be found or even removed, I think magic would surge in Rome. That might be good for La Gilda, but it would be even better for La Chanson du Bastille. They’re trained, and you’re not ready to oppose them.”

  “If the object is left alone, what will happen?” Matteo asked, also weighing his options.

  I’d considered that angle, too. “That probably wouldn’t be wise in the long run. I think you got lucky this time. The Chanson was most likely here for another reason,” I paused and amended my statement, “at least, that’s my current theory, but they’re very educated and very powerful. Unless you all have jinn enslaved and at your disposal, the Chanson would run right over the top of you without too much effort. If they find this relic, you won’t stand a chance, and neither will any other place they target.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “If I were going to enter into a magical battle, I’d want to make sure the other side was as weak as possible. If I had a relic that could suppress magic and a way for my people to be the only ones able to access power, it would be a sure victory. I’d have someone sneak into the area I wanted to own, plant the relic, and then have my troops swarm in and conquer the territory.” I shrugged. Kai gave me a surprised look, most likely because my explanation sounded a little blood-thirsty.

  “Why have they not tried already?” Paolina asked.

  “I’m hoping they don’t even know about Julian and his relic, but the worst case scenario is that they just haven’t found it yet. They’ve been using their jinn to blast into vaults all over Rome to find a relic that would bind their followers to their cause.” It wasn’t a lie, I had heard that right from Shabe’s mouth and I’d already handled that problem. “The longer they look for that, the better the chance that they’ll accidentally find something even more useful. The Chanson has arcane archaeologists, too, and if they come across something interesting, it won’t take them long to figure out what they have and how to use it to their advantage.”