by Kal Aaron
“I’m a pro-shoe kind of guy,” Antoine replied, sounding confused.
“I’ll contact Samuel.” Lyssa headed toward the entrance to the hatchery. “It’s like you said. He’s taking this seriously, so it’s time to throw everything we’ve got at it.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Lyssa stared at her wall from her couch. She was too spun-up to watch television, read, or do anything but think about the mine and the somehow larger horde that was lurking in it, waiting for her to come and wipe it out. There was nothing worse than having to rely on other people.
Antoine was right about her being a loner with issues, but a big part of being a Torch was solving problems when the next closest help might be hundreds of miles away. The thought of the monsters squirming underneath the mine and burrowing by themselves or with help churned her stomach.
“I should have gone back with more explosive rounds and blown a hole in the wall to make sure the first time,” she said. “Then we would have had more time to line people up. I screwed up.”
“Engaging them at that time would have proven dangerous, given what you now know,” Jofi replied. “It’s not too late, and Elder Samuel has no reason to deny you aid.”
Lyssa snorted. “But these bastards had time to breed more monsters. It might have been more manageable if I’d finished it that first trip.”
“You have no way of knowing that,” Jofi replied. “There’s no indication of rapid breeding from those creatures. There was a low number of eggs present. The lack of reinforcements also suggests the enemy didn’t intend their other forces to join the primary group. The most likely scenario would have been you being overwhelmed, running out of ammo, and dying either from the creatures or being crushed when you brought down the cave roof.”
“This whole setup bugs the hell out of me.” Lyssa shook her head. “I might have missed something, but mindless monsters don’t use secret doors, and we made plenty of noise to attract big ones to bash through. Either they weren’t there, or there was something set up to make sure they didn’t come through. I don’t know why, but I figure we’ll find out soon enough.”
“I often find the human obsession with understanding the reasons behind things misplaced,” Jofi replied. “The mere elimination of the threat is sufficient, whether or not you understand it. I, like you, would prefer the death of the rogue responsible, but it is unlikely the Sorcerer responsible will present himself, given you’ve returned more than once and haven’t seen him. I don’t see a logical reason for him to allow a significant number of his forces to be destroyed without opposition or to allow you to come and go freely and establish his strength.”
Lyssa snorted. “It turns out it’s debatable whether I did destroy a significant number of his forces during my first trip. If Antoine’s right, I didn’t destroy the majority.”
“It’s unlikely it was an insignificant amount. You also eliminated a queen.”
“But there might be two more.” She sighed. “I just want this to be over with. I don’t know if it has something to do with me or not, but this isn’t like the smugglers. This idiot is breeding those damned things and getting ready to flood an area with them. I don’t care about the PR angle, but I do care about the idea that a Sorcerer will be releasing monsters for some twisted reason that might involve a ritual. This is what Torches and Eclipses are for—to stop these kinds of plans. If we can’t stop this, we might as well not be Illuminated.”
“Could it be possible he’s doing it for simple amusement?” Jofi asked. “There might be no grand plan involved.”
Lyssa shuddered at the thought. “It’s not impossible, but that monster army represents a major investment of time and resources. There’s got to be something there other than death and destruction for laughs. It doesn’t make sense otherwise. The sheer scale of things is forcing more than one Torch to get involved, which means the chance of him surviving is lower if he is found and fights back.”
“If he survives, you can interrogate him,” Jofi said. “Until then, stopping the horde should be sufficient.”
“If he survives, yeah.” Lyssa frowned. “It’s hard for me to tell what’s real anymore. Ever since Oklahoma, all my bad habits have been magnified. I was half-convinced Bill was a secret assassin rather than just a guy interested in a woman on a bike.”
“Caution is always warranted, given your vocation,” Jofi replied. “From my understanding of what I’ve heard and others say, it wouldn’t be impossible that a man such as Bill is an assassin. One can be a professional killer without being a Sorcerer.”
Lyssa laughed. “Thanks for that. Now I’m going to go back to worrying about it the next time I see him.” She smiled. “They need to start a new spin-off of Sensual Sorceress called Gullible Sorceress, except this time, instead of the Sorceress being the fake, one or more of the guys are, and she’s got to find them.”
“Do you intend to star in this show?” Jofi asked. “Would other humans enjoy such a thing?”
“No, it’s a joke.” Lyssa snickered. “But maybe someone’s following me around with a hidden camera, filming the first season all cinema verité style. Forget Gullible Sorceress. They could call it The Semi-Automatic Bitch.”
Her phone rang and she pulled it out, pleased to see it was an unknown number. When the expected computerized female voice came over the line, Lyssa was ready. She spat her code and waited for Damien to speak.
She could use a distraction from worrying about the horde. More information on the rogue would be perfect.
“Is this a good time?” he asked.
“Yes,” Lyssa replied. “A great time. Please give me something good. Things are starting to move along, and I’m aching to close this out. If I could do that by wiping out the army and then going and taking down their master right after, it’d be great. It’d make my freaking year.”
“We all want this done,” Damien said.
“I’m guessing Samuel’s already informed you I’m requesting reinforcements to clear out the rest of the monsters,” Lyssa said. “You know that’s not something I’d do lightly.”
“Anything that keeps the monsters under control is fine with the EAA. The higher-ups have authorized even more bonuses because of the expanded risk to the general public.” He sounded surprised. “I don’t think anyone expected this little recon and monster hunt to turn into an underground dungeon crawl with huge queens. We’re doing a good job of managing the media blackout on this, but there’s only so long we can hold them off without admitting anything. This happened in the middle of nowhere, or we might have had twenty-four/seven news coverage screeching about the underground monster menace threatening the American people. The last thing we need is a panic.”
Lyssa frowned. “We’ll get the monsters handled. No one will panic if the first time they hear there is a problem, it’s already been solved.”
“True enough, but we still have the issue of whoever is behind this.”
“Convinced there’s a rogue now?”
“I never doubted it all that much,” Damien replied. “I just don’t think it’s someone targeting you.”
“I don’t care at this point,” Lyssa said. “Just give me what you’ve got.”
“I don’t have much to give you that will help with that.” A trace of bitterness colored Damien’s voice. “And that’s worrying me. It’s almost like they wanted the incident to blow up. Remember the email? They wanted a livestream. They wanted those guys to die on camera, and thousands if not millions of people to see it live. Who does that?”
“Why didn’t they follow up, then?” Lyssa asked. “Why not write every news company in the country and tell them about it? I don’t get it.”
“Because that would leave a trail back to them,” Damien replied. “The FBI and the EAA would track them down, then you or an Eclipse would show up and end them. They aren’t confident they can hide from normie tech without taking extra precautions. That’s one of the few advantages we have over this bastard.
”
“Speaking of that, I’m still not convinced we’ll find the rogue at the bottom of that mine,” Lyssa said, clutching her phone tighter.
“Huh? You were just making fun of me about that.”
“No, you don’t get it. I think there’s a rogue involved, but I don’t think he’s dumb enough to still be sitting in the mine after the racket I made,” Lyssa said. “Which means whatever you got from that USB stick might be helpful. It might come down to another old-fashioned investigation. Or a high-tech, old-fashioned investigation. You know what I mean. We need to nail this guy.”
“Sorry,” Damien growled. “We got nothing. Absolutely nothing. That’s what I called to tell you.”
“Nothing?” Lyssa’s exasperation flowed into her tone. “How can you have nothing? I gave you a USB shard stick. Don’t you guys have computers not connected to a network you can test that stuff on? It’s not like I was expecting you to use a spell on it.”
“Yes, we do have that sort of thing, and yes, we used them. And we got nothing.”
“But how? Why? Are you sure you tested it properly?”
Damien scoffed. “We did a lot more than just stick it in a port. We also did testing and imaging, and it turns out it’s not even a working USB drive. It looks like one, but there’s nothing inside. It’s hollow.”
“Damn it!” Lyssa hissed. “It was nothing but a trick? The bastard. But what about anything else you might have been able to pick up? There’s got to be something we can use.”
“No fingerprints but yours,” Damien replied, sounding apologetic. “There was also no DNA to sequence or useful chemical residues we can trace to anything or anyone specific. Other than knowing it’s a shard, we have no idea what it does or where it came from. We’re getting ready to turn it back over to the Society and hoping they’ll have more luck.”
“I doubt it. That’s why they left it behind. It’s not because they were worried about tracking, but because they knew we wouldn’t be able to do anything with it.” Lyssa furrowed her brow. “The shard’s not powerful enough as is to have accomplished much other than what we already have evidence for.” She furrowed her brow. “Our email writer went to the trouble of using a public computer to hide their trail, which meant they weren’t confident they could do it with sorcery, so it’s not that. Given the low power I felt, I suspect it was a limited-use shard to disrupt the cameras. It might not have any power left by the time you turn it over to the Society.”
“A throwaway shard?” Damien chuckled. “Oh, man. Five years into this brave new world, and I’m still not prepared for every new thing I run into. Giant monsters, disposable enchanted items, and rogues plotting mayhem in the desert with giant monsters. Just another day in the office. New powers, new criminals, new headaches.”
“I want this bastard badly, but if we annihilate his army, at least he won’t be able to finish his plan. Killing all his pets has a chance of flushing him out.” Lyssa stood and marched over to the window, separating the slats of her blinds to peek at the peaceful suburban street. “Even if he doesn’t come out, that’s enough of a win for now. There’s no way he’ll be able to easily rebuild his horde.”
“I agree, and I can tell you the higher-ups view it that way as well,” Damien replied. “As far as they’re concerned, this is a significant enough issue that they’re confident the Society will track and handle the rogue regardless of what the government tells them. I don’t think anyone involved in investigating this wants those monsters to leave that mine.”
Lyssa let out a bitter chuckle. “Yeah. The only thing worse than a rogue is a rogue who’s trying to make a big splash. Got anything else for me?”
“No. I’ll let you know, but I can’t guarantee anything else before you finish clearing the mine, given your aggressive timeline. Not that I’m trying to discourage you.”
“That’s fine.” Lyssa smiled. “You’ve already helped plenty this time. Talk to you later.”
“Talk to you soon,” Damien said. “And be careful, or as careful as you can be walking into a mine filled with deadly sorcery-created monsters.”
“I will.” Lyssa snickered. “Bye.”
She ended the call and stepped away from her window. Nailing the rogue was important, but the scale of the mess was far greater than any of them had anticipated at the start of the contract. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being targeted, but that didn’t matter. The monsters needed to die. It was that simple.
“I’ll get you,” she whispered. “Sooner or later, I’ll get you.”
Lyssa was about to go to bed when the compact on her nightstand vibrated. She picked it up. “Let’s see what you’ve got for me, Samuel.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
The morning of October 28th, Lyssa expected to be in the mine with Aisha or whoever else Samuel could scrounge up. They would exterminate everything with more than two legs that dared to cross their path. Everyone could go home happy except the rogue.
Instead of doing that bloody but satisfying work, she was zooming along the highway at 400 miles per hour on her way to the tiny town of Destiny, Utah, which lay near Salt Lake City. Samuel’s message had given her directions, an address, and an arrival time, but no other information other than she should not come as Hecate to the address. There had been one disturbing final line.
Lyssa had been all but silent on the way to the town. She didn’t bother to speak until she dropped to a normal speed. She ended her Dark Mantle and reverted her regalia to her normal appearance. Samuel wouldn’t idly tell her to conceal her Torch persona.
“He rarely makes me come to him,” she said. “That’s got to mean something. And what the hell was with that last line?”
“‘Read it when the time comes,’” Jofi quoted.
Lyssa rolled her eyes. “I remember what it said, but I’m trying to figure out what it’s supposed to mean. The problem with Sorcerer fossils is they think being inscrutable makes them seem wiser. All it does is make them more annoying. It’s not the Middle Ages anymore.”
“I’m sure it’ll become clear,” Jofi replied. “Unless you think this is a trap. Is that why you brought as many magazines as you did for your last trip into the mine?”
“Never hurts to be too careful.” Lyssa let out a dark chuckle. “Though I don’t think anyone’s trying to seriously kill me through Samuel. When the Society comes for me, I suspect it’ll involve an Eclipse waiting for me in my house. They’re jerks like that, but if I have to die anywhere, I guess my house isn’t such a bad place. Beats dying in a mine and getting eaten by a giant snake-roach.”
“Wouldn’t you prefer not to die at all?” Jofi asked.
“Everyone dies, even Sorceresses,” Lyssa replied. “All these thousands of years, and no one’s ever figured out how to avoid that. I don’t think I’m going to be the one who manages it.”
She slipped off the highway onto an exit. It didn’t take long to reach the location. Destiny was more a suggestion of a town than an actual town. It had a smattering of familiar fast-food places on the central strip, mixed with tiny shops selling tourist-bait knickknacks.
Lyssa slowed, entered a parking lot, and stared in disbelief. She’d driven all the way from Scottsdale to a closed barbershop.
She parked her bike in front of the barbershop and frowned at the heaviness in her chest from nearby sorcery. This place was more than it appeared. Samuel’s message didn’t seem to have been written in distress, so something else was going on.
“I hope you secretly enjoy messing with me, Samuel.”
After hopping off her bike, Lyssa strode up to the window, the sorcery sensation only growing stronger. She looked through the glass. There was nobody inside the shop. Dusty plastic covered the chair. Cobwebs lurked in the corners and in back of the chairs. It looked like no one had been in the building in months, if not years.
Something in the back of her mind told her she wanted to leave. It was hard to not turn around and hop on her bike.
Lyssa took a deep breath and concentrated on the shop. She’d already turned back to her bike. Shaking her head, she moved toward the front door.
“If this involves Lee again, I’ll scream.”
Lyssa tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. She knocked and waited for someone to arrive, but no one came. The insistent growing push in her mind told her to leave as if the whole trip was a waste of time. Her annoyance built.
She blinked a couple of times and rubbed her temples. Knowing she was being manipulated wasn’t enough to stop the attack. That made it more frustrating.
Samuel was messing with her. That explained it. He was wasting her time when something serious was going on.
“This better not have been to teach me a lesson,” Lyssa said. “Why does that man always have to be so cryptic? Okay, so, there’s sorcery going on, and I think…do I want to leave?”
She stomped toward her bike before she knew what she was doing, her desire to enter the building slipping away and feeling like a waste of time. She hopped on the seat and stopped, staring at one of her mirrors.
It reflected half the window. Lemurian script ran down the glass in her mirror but not on the window. The Sorcerer script focused her mind.
“Read it when the time comes,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Cute.” She squinted to make out the reversed Lemurian writing. “Welcome to the Traveling Club.” She grinned. The desire to leave had gone away. “Oh. Oh!”
“The Traveling Club?” Jofi asked.
“Has it been that long since I last talked to someone about it?” Lyssa asked. “Pre-Jofi, huh?”
“Our relationship remains young in many ways.”
“The Traveling Club is an exclusive hangout for select Illuminated, run by this woman Kanya Suwan. She bears the Questioning Hedonist regalia, so you can figure out the kind of person she is.” Lyssa snickered. “It’s called the Traveling Club because it travels from place to place throughout the world.”