by B N Miles
Jared stood outside for a while longer, staring out over the city, trying to imagine how Cassie might be feeling before he turned and headed back inside. Wade was gone, back to the other room for the night, and Jessalene was still sprawled in bed. Nikki sat at the opposite end, her back against the headboard, checking her nails and filing them back.
Izzy and Lumi sat at the table together, their heads close, speaking in low, excited whispers as Izzy scratched runes into the paper.
Jared walked over and crouched down next to Jessalene.
“What are they doing?” he asked.
She glanced over. “They’ve been like that since you went outside,” she said, then looked back at him. “How’s Wade?”
“Struggling,” Jared said. “I need to cut him some slack. It’s easy to forget what he’s going through right now.”
“I’m glad you came to that conclusion on your own,” Jessalene said.
He gave her a look then kissed her. She smiled and sighed, rolling onto her side.
“You know, sometimes it’s a real pain in the ass, not being a Magi,” she said.
“Consider yourself lucky.” He stood up and walked over to the table.
Izzy and Lumi looked up at him as he stared down at the runes scrawled on the pages. It took him a moment to understand what they were getting at, and he just shook his head.
“This is a terrible idea,” he said.
“It might work,” Lumi said. “You saw the runes on the inside, right? If I can get through and confuse them—”
“It’s stupid and dangerous,” Jared said and looked at Izzy. “How are you okay with this?”
She chewed the end of a pen. “It’s not that bad, actually,” she said. “I know it looks complicated, but it’s not so different from what I do when I remove an infection from blood.”
“Except in this case, you’re changing the entire makeup of that blood throughout a person’s body,” he said.
She bit down on the pen, clicked it open and shut. “I know,” she said. “But it would only be temporary. Just long enough to get through the barrier.”
“It can work,” Lumi said.
“I walk away for twenty minutes and you two come up with this very stupid, very bad idea,” Jared said.
“It can work,” Lumi said again, jabbing a finger at the pages. “Come on, you see it, right?”
He shook his head as though he could barely believe they were discussing this. “Even if the magic is right,” he said. “Izzy, you’d have to do this to me, Jessa, Nikki, and yourself. That’s four people. That’ll take a lot of energy.”
“I know,” she said. “Which is why we’re going to do it in runes at first, so I only have to hold the one spell in my head, instead of each of you individually.”
“Assuming that even works,” Jared said. “We’ll need a significant amount of blood.”
“I know,” Lumi said. “And I can handle it.”
“Can you, though?” Jared asked. “We’d have to bleed you, enough to power this spell at least.”
“It’s not a big deal,” Lumi said.
“I can help with the bleeding,” Nikki said from her spot on the bed, still inspecting her nails. “I’m quite good at bleeding Humans, you know.”
Lumi looked over at Nikki, and for a second some color drained from her face.
“This is a bad idea,” Jared said.
“It’s the best idea we have,” Lumi said, staring back down at the pages again.
“Let’s think of something else,” Jared said. “If we all work on this—”
“We tried that already,” Lumi said. “And we kept coming up against the same problem, over and over. We can’t break the wards, we can’t pick them apart. Even with me on the other side, working it from that angle, it would just take too much power.”
“This way, I’m the only one that suffers,” Izzy said. “And I can handle it.”
“Hell, we could take care of her once we’re over the line,” Lumi said, her lips tugged down into a frown. “Get her off, clear the priori from her body, make sure—”
“Uh,” Izzy said, her eyes wide. “I’m not sure we talked about that.”
“Hm?” Lumi looked up. “Oh, sorry. Did I cross a line?”
Izzy’s face turned red and she shot a look at Jared before standing up. “No, I mean, no, it’s fine,” she said. “It makes sense, right? If we can get in, we can take a few minutes to, uh… take care of me.”
“You’re the healer, after all,” Jared said, a smile rising to his lips. “We might really need you.”
“If we’re just fucking once we get through this barrier, why not let you two smash through, then have you both go at it?” Nikki asked.
“This solution is a lot more elegant,” Lumi said. “Less likely to go wrong. And I’m not sure we’d even be conscious enough to have sex, considering the amount of power we’d need to pull in.”
Nikki let out a little grunt and went back to filing her nails.
Jared felt like he was losing it. They’d just gone over how dangerous body manipulation could be, and now suddenly they were thinking about doing it again. He’d do anything for Cassie, anything at all, but the idea of risking more of his girls in the process terrified him.
And besides, he wasn’t even sure this would work.
“There are too many assumptions here,” Jared said. “You’re assuming the barrier works via blood, but it could be something else.”
“Could be,” Lumi said. “But I doubt it. I think it’s sensing whether or not a person has Medlar blood in them, which is why it still lets me through.”
“Breaking it with brute force might work, but it’ll leave you two crippled,” Izzy said. “Tricking it into thinking we’re all Medlar is safer.”
“It’s body modding,” he said.
“Body manipulation is my thing,” Izzy said. “What do you think I’m doing when I heal?”
“You told Lumi it’s too dangerous.”
“Lumi isn’t a healer. Lumi doesn’t have experience.” Izzy leaned toward him, her eyes hard. “I can do this in my sleep.”
Jared looked around for help, but Nikki ignored them as she cleaned her nails, and Jessalene rolled onto her back and gave him a what-can-you-do smile.
“Shit,” he said.
“Lovely,” Izzy said. “So we’re all in agreement? This is the plan?”
“Shit,” Jared said again.
“Sounds good to me,” Lumi said.
“So I’ll need to prepare my bleeding apparatus?” Nikki asked, perking up a little.
“I don’t think you need an apparatus,” Lumi said.
“Oh, darling, of course I do.” Nikki gave her a horrible grin before she laughed, light and girlish, flashing her fangs. “I’m just joking. Don’t worry, beautiful Lumi, I won’t take a drop more than I need to, and you won’t feel a thing.”
Lumi stared at Jared like she wanted help, but he only shook his head.
“Don’t look at me,” he said. “This is your idea.”
“Shit,” she said.
“All right,” Izzy said. “I’m going to need some small bits of wood, maybe about four inches square, and calligraphy materials. I left mine at home, but I assume one of you brought yours?”
Jared looked at Lumi, who just shook her head.
“I don’t usually bring calligraphy materials with me,” he said.
“I don’t even own any,” Lumi said.
Izzy closed her eyes and sighed. “How are you two Magi again?”
“We’re very strong,” Lumi said.
“Of course you are.” Izzy opened her eyes and looked around. “I need a way to make these rune markers for everyone.”
Nikki stopped filing her nails and swung her legs off the bed. “As per usual, I will save the day,” she said. “I hope you all know how useless and pathetic you are.”
“You can get calligraphy materials at eleven at night?” Jared asked.
“I’m a Vampire,
my handsome man,” she said as she walked with a strut toward them. She bent down and pressed her lips against his neck, sending a shiver down his spine. “I can do a lot of things at night you Humans couldn’t ever dream of.”
He tilted his head back, exposing his throat, and kissed her.
“Vials too, if you can,” Izzy said. “Enough for a few drops of blood at least.”
“Anything else?” Nikki asked, straightening up.
“No, I think just the calligraphy materials, the small bits of wood, and the vials should do it.”
“No problem.” Nikki walked to the door with a wave and slipped out into the hall.
The door shut with a soft click behind her.
“She’s terrifying, right?” Izzy asked. “Like, really terrifying, but also kind of hot?”
Jared felt a laugh bubble up into his throat. He couldn’t help himself. He laughed, shook his head, and stood.
“Welcome to the family, I guess,” he said, and walked over to join Jessalene on the bed.
Lumi followed. “She’s going to bleed me dry,” she said as she climbed in next to Jared.
“You’re all insane,” Izzy said. “But I guess I’m insane too, since this idea was mine.”
She stood, hesitated, then walked over and sat in the spot Nikki had just left, in the bed with them, but not cuddled up.
Close enough, though. Jared wouldn’t push her, but he suspected she’d give in sooner rather than later.
He turned to the TV as they waited for Nikki to come back.
36
Izzy got to work as soon as Nikki returned, toting all the required items plus some gas station coffee in Styrofoam cups, hypodermic needles, long rubber tubing, and a plastic blood bag.
Jared stared at Nikki as she meticulously placed the bloodletting objects out on the bathroom counter while Izzy made little excited noises as she unpacked her new calligraphy set.
“Do I even want to know?” he asked.
“Probably not,” Nikki said, humming to herself and gently running her fingers over the blood bag. “But it’s not so sinister. Vampires tend to have these things on hand.”
“Of course,” he said.
Izzy dove into her work with a surprising gusto, and Lumi and Jared helped the best they could. Izzy did all the actual rune writing, copying down very simple marks on the small wooden blocks with a precise hand. Meanwhile, Jared and Lumi copied down her work on notebook paper and poured over it, making sure there were no errors, at least none that they could find.
It was elegant and difficult work. Jessalene fell asleep on the bed at some point, and Nikki hung around feeding them coffee and encouragement.
As far as Jared could tell, Vampires didn’t sleep.
Around three in the morning, Nikki pulled Lumi into the bathroom for her draining.
“Don’t worry, darling,” Nikki said as she shut the door. “This won’t hurt one bit.”
Jared half expected to hear Lumi screaming, but ten minutes later she came back out with a sugar cookie, a small box of orange juice with a little clear plastic straw shoved into it, and a Band-Aid on the crook of her right elbow.
“Just like giving blood,” Lumi said. “Except she drank some, which was a little weird.”
Nikki came out a moment later, a bag of deep, dark red blood nestled on her outstretched palms like an offering to some ancient god.
“Delicious,” she said and plopped the bag down on the bureau next to the TV.
Jared just shook his head and leaned back down over the notebook paper as Izzy continued her work.
They kept at it all night. Nikki disappeared at some point again and returned with breakfast as the sun began to rise, sans coffee this time. They ate in silence as Izzy finished up the last block then leaned back in her chair.
“Well?” Jared asked, looking between Lumi and Izzy. They both looked exhausted and haggard, and he knew he didn’t look much better. “Think it’ll work?”
“Probably,” Izzy said.
“That’s not very reassuring,” Jared said.
“I know.” She poked at one of the wooden blocks. “I wish we could test it.”
“Probably better if we didn’t,” Lumi said. “I mean, this sort of magic would alert every Magi and Meta in the city.”
“True,” Izzy said. “But still. There are some variables and circumstances in here I’m not completely sure about.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Lumi said, stifling a yawn. “The runes should help bear some of the strain at least.
Nikki lingered near the back wall, her arms crossed over her chest. “I don’t understand the need for all this writing,” she said. “I thought Magi just formed thoughts and… things happened.”
“That’s sort of true,” Jared said. “Runes don’t do anything on their own.”
“So what’s the point then?” she asked.
“The runes are like focal points,” Jared said. “Magi use memgrams to form and shape priori, and these runes are like tiny external memgrams. They don’t really do anything, but when they’re put into a certain order and read by a Magi, they can be activated in their mind, which basically activates the crude memgram shape Izzy inscribed here.”
“So runes need an external power source,” Nikki said.
“Exactly, which is why the wards around that facility in the desert need those batteries.”
“Okay, then what about the wards you have around the house back home?” she asked.
“We power it,” Lumi said as she stood and shoved her arms in the air, stretching with a groan.
“All day long?” Nikki asked.
“And at night,” Jared said. “It doesn’t take much power to keep it running, sort of like a flywheel or something. Once it’s going, it just needs a little nudge to keep it up, but that’s why we’re so crabby at the end of the day.”
“Huh,” Nikki said. “I thought you were just annoyed from having to go into an office and make small talk.”
“That doesn’t help,” Jared said.
“The magic we build feeds off us day and night,” Lumi said. “So long as we have access to the priori, the wards keep working. We have to build and rebuild them sometimes just to keep the magic fresh, but it’s mostly an automatic process.”
“So all this is like that,” Nikki said. “Izzy is the power source, in this instance, like you two are the power source for the wards back at your house.”
“Exactly,” Jared said. “And the runes act as focal points, and they take some of the mental strain off her. She could technically do the magic without the runes, but it’s going to be a lot easier with them.”
“I can see why those batteries would be important,” Nikki said. “No need for a Magi then.”
“Not exactly,” Lumi said. “Batteries still need a Magi to function. It just doesn’t leave the Magi with any side effects.”
“No Need,” Jared said.
“You poor Magi, so much effort.” She paused and ran a finger down her chin. “But that means there’s a Magi in that facility.”
“I’d guess more than one,” Lumi said.
“Fun,” Nikki said.
“Fun for you, maybe,” Jared said.
Izzy took a deep, sharp breath and jerked backwards. “Shit,” she said. “I just fell asleep.”
“Come on,” Lumi said. “I’m exhausted.” She staggered over to the bed.
“My god, sleep,” Izzy said. She followed Lumi, and together the girls fell onto the bed and burrowed under the sheet.
They jostled Jessalene, who woke with a grunt. “What? What’s going on?”
“Going to sleep,” Jared said, standing up. His legs and back were sore from staying in one position for so long.
He kicked off his shoes and burrowed into bed behind Izzy, who didn’t seem to mind when he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close against him. She smelled like a field, fresh cut grass, and day-old coffee grounds.
“I guess I should get up,” Jessa
lene said.
“Come with me, darling,” Nikki said. “We’ll go gather Wade and get you two fed while these three get some rest.”
“Go away,” Jared said, his voice muffled by Izzy’s honey blonde hair. “And shut off the light.”
He heard Jessalene laugh, roll out of bed, say something else to Nikki, and the light snapped off, the curtains pulled close.
He snuggled tighter against Izzy, breathing in her smell, and the rest of the day was a blur.
37
The desert night was much cooler than the day. A comfortable breeze blew off the rocks and dust, swirling beneath a sky jammed with stars, so many stars that they seemed to pile on top of each other.
Jared couldn’t help but admire them. There were no stars in Philadelphia, and barely any above the suburbs. He’d never noticed so many stars before in his life, so many of them spread out through the sky in swirls and twinkling patterns. For the first time in his life, he understood why people have been obsessed with the heavens for so long.
They walked in single file along the same path they’d followed before. They didn’t use flashlights out of fear of being seen.
Nikki was in the lead, her phone out, the GPS scrolling along in front of her face. Lumi followed, peeking over her shoulder, with Izzy behind them. Jared and Jessalene brought up the rear again.
“Think Wade will be okay?” Jessalene asked.
“I think so,” Jared said. “He didn’t put up a fight this time, just volunteered to stay behind.”
“Maybe he’s embracing his role as lookout.”
“I think he’s going to be all right,” Jared said. “I mean, there must be some strength in that kid, if he made it this far.”
“You’re right,” Jessalene said. “I can’t imagine what he’s been through.”
“Cassie, too,” Jared said.
“I know, and it’s horrible, but I never think about it, and she never talks about it. She had a whole life in a totally different world, and she never so much as brings it up.”
“She points out differences sometimes,” Jared said.
“True, but superficial stuff, like how our TV shows are totally different.”
“I think she’s been suffering this whole time,” he said. “Just quietly, to herself.”