“Sorry, I thought you knew.” Now I wished I hadn’t mentioned it, so I didn’t get her hopes up if there turned out to be a massive downside like Miles had implied.
“I didn’t.” Hurt underlaid her tone. “Where do they come from, then?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Miles said the enemy used one to turn himself from a lich into a human again, but he won’t tell anyone how he did it. Usually there’s a massive downside to that kind of magic.”
“That figures,” she said. “I’ll see you later.”
As she left, I made for the node, regretting bringing up the subject. I hadn’t wanted to give her false hope, not after she’d lost so much already. Her brother had died, while her own life had been put on hold, and I didn’t blame her for looking for a way out.
I returned to the House of Fire to find Harris on duty, as usual. This time, I wedged my foot in the door to stop him from shutting me out.
“Another guard died outside the House,” he said. “Murdered using the same method which killed Zade.”
“Shit.” Adair was now in the Death King’s hands. He couldn’t have done it. And from the smirk on Harris’s face, he knew it, too. “Was Tay out of her cell again?”
“No.”
Huh. “Then she can’t be a suspect.”
“That’s for us to decide, not you,” he said. “Go away.”
“The Death King sent me to discuss Adair.” I had the suspicion they’d respond more readily to that than to another request for them to spare Tay’s life.
“What about him?” He stepped back from the door, allowing me to enter. It seemed bringing up my brother was the key to getting them to let me in.
“When did the murder happen?” I asked.
“Last night,” he replied. “I came down to relieve him of guard duty and tripped over the body outside.”
So he died outside. If he’d been killed by the same kind of cantrip as the one which had killed Zade, it hadn’t necessarily come from inside the building itself. Anyone might’ve been the culprit.
“What did you want to say about that brother of yours, then?” Harris glanced over his shoulder, an air of uneasiness about him. If I wanted to probe him for information, I couldn’t have picked a better time to take advantage of his distraction.
“He likes screaming and rattling the cage bars, doesn’t he?” I said. “He also strongly hinted that he hypnotised Tay before the jailor’s death.”
“If you’re looking for me to take pity on your little friend, you’re out of luck,” he said. “All evidence says she’s the killer.”
“Then tell me how Adair got out the first time,” I said pointedly. “You have nothing to gain from keeping that information from me. He’s still in jail, but I want to make sure he stays there. Preferably for the duration.”
“Then I’d suggest you discuss your security measures with the Death King.”
“You don’t trust the Death King either, do you?” I said. “What’s your problem with him?”
If the Death King headed the original House of Spirit, he’d once been on an equal footing with them. While being a lich meant being cursed to spend an eternity as a zombie, there was no denying that his magical prowess far outmatched the other Houses. Perhaps Harris felt threatened by him. It was as good a guess as any.
“He has no right to send you here to tell us how to take care of our prisoners,” said Harris.
Maybe he does, given your track record. “Was the guard who died killed by a cantrip?”
“So it appears,” he said. “I seem to remember you took the other one.”
I threw my hands up. “Just consider for a moment that I might be trying to help find who’s killing your people. Also, you might want to listen to the Death King’s warnings. I know for a fact that he told you the Order of the Elements is under the control of the enemy—”
“Get out,” he said. “I’ve heard enough from you. Tell the Death King that there will be no alliance between our House and his as long as he keeps information on the nature of the enemy from us.”
Okay, that made no sense whatsoever. “He’s not keeping anything from you.”
He looked down at me. “Then he doesn’t trust you so much after all.”
Anger scorched my cheeks with heat, but I managed to refrain from tossing a fireball at him. If I lost my temper, I’d end up in a cell myself, so I turned heel and left, retracing my steps to the node.
After I landed in the swampland, I walked back towards the gates, fighting the urge to go and pick a fight with Adair. It wouldn’t do any good to start anything with him while I was already hopping mad.
Ryan accosted me on the other side of the gates. “Where’ve you been?”
“The House of Fire,” I said. “Another guard died the same way as the head jailor did.”
“With a cantrip?” they asked.
“Apparently,” I said. “Also, the guard at the House of Fire told me that he won’t cooperate with the Death King as long as he supposedly keeps secrets on the nature of the enemy from everyone else. Including us.”
Ryan’s eyes narrowed. “He what?”
“I’m not sure if he was telling the truth,” I said hastily, “but I think it’s safe to say the Houses have cut us loose.”
“They can’t have,” said Ryan. “We took their prisoner off their hands, and they need to keep up their end of the bargain if they want the Death King to stay on their good side.”
“I’m not sure they care either way,” I said. “Harris pretty much shoved me out the door. Wouldn’t give me the cantrip to look at either, so I can only assume it’s the same as the last one.”
“What about that supplier?” they said. “Did you speak to them?”
“We did,” I said. “The Spirit Agents don’t think Dawson is guilty of making the cantrip himself, but I didn’t want to pay him to identify the spell for me. Also, I’d rather not put a target on my back by asking an expert.”
“I bet Liv’s friend Devon can figure out what it is,” said Ryan. “She won’t tell tales, either.”
Liv. Again. “Can she identify the person who carved it?”
“No,” they said. “But she can take a reusable cantrip and identify the previous spell used on it. I’ve seen her do it.”
“I guess it can’t hurt.” I was all out of ideas, and besides, it wasn’t like I had anything to lose by asking. “All right.”
I’d expected the Air Element to ask the Death King’s permission, but instead of going to him, they went to one of the rooms near the Elemental Soldiers’ quarters which had once been used as a dormitory for the contenders during the Fire Element contest. On a bed inside the room sat a woman of around Liv’s age, with heavily bandaged hands. Her short brown hair stuck up in all directions as she looked up from the book she was reading. “You’re the new Fire Element, right?”
“That’s me,” I said. “I’m told you’re an expert on cantrips. Can you look at this one for me?”
She dropped the book onto the bed. “Sure. Not much else I can do until my hands heal up.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Got on the wrong side of one of those inferno spells.”
I winced. “Sorry.”
She took the cantrip from me in her bandaged hands. “What’re you looking for? It’s blank.”
“I hoped you could uncover which spell was used on it before it wiped itself clean,” I said. “It was used to kill a guard in the House of Fire.”
She laid it down on the bed. “You might’ve led with that part before dumping this on me. Liv does this kind of thing all the time.”
I’d rather she stayed out of this one. “Doesn’t she work for the Order?”
Did she know they were under the control of the enemy?
“Not exactly.” Devon turned the cantrip over in her hands. “I’ll have a look at this and get back to you later.”
She wanted to keep her friend’s secrets, then. Understandable. If the Death
King knew of the Order’s corruption, it was a safe bet he’d told Liv, too, but what if the enemy’s influence on the Order was creeping into the Parallel, too? That might account for the Houses’ sudden reticence to consider a deal with the Death King, even after we’d kept up our end of the bargain. The Family’s signature on the back of the blank cantrip was a screaming reminder that they were never as far away as they seemed.
I halted in the doorway. “That signature on the back of the cantrip… have you seen it before?”
“This?” She peered at it. “Nope. I can’t identify a signature unless I’ve already encountered the practitioner who carved it. I don’t know this one.”
“No worries,” I said. “Thanks for the help.”
I walked out of the dorm, my head spinning. I hadn’t thought Devon might be linked to the Family, so at least there was little chance of word making it back to them. Yet I had the sinking feeling they’d left their signature on the cantrip partly as a message to me. Adair had already goaded me about the Family hiding in plain sight, and while I hadn’t had cause to pay any attention to the Order of the Elements before now, I had yet another reason to have a bad feeling about the situation in the Houses.
What if the worst had happened, and the Houses already did the Family’s bidding?
8
After leaving Devon in the dorm, I walked with Ryan back to the main hall.
“So you’re going to wait for her to figure out what kind of spell was on the cantrip?” they said.
“Not much choice,” I said. “I mean, we can go back to the supplier in Elysium again, but I doubt anyone would tell us directly if they’re working with the Family. So I thought Miles and I could grab some invisibility cantrips and take matters into our own hands instead.”
“That sounds more like bending the rules than I’d like,” said Ryan.
“Two people have died,” I told them. “I don’t know about you, but the idea of a cantrip which can kill people with hardly a trace is pretty unnerving, and I don’t see any harm in snooping around the supplier’s house. You don’t have to come.”
“Did you say snoop around?” said Dex, flying over my shoulder. “I’m in.”
“You weren’t invited,” said the Air Element.
“That’s not very nice,” he said. “I won’t tell Liv, honest. I want to come.”
“You don’t even know where we’re going,” I said.
“To spy on someone?”
“No, to sneak around the cantrip supplier in Elysium and see if we can find evidence linking them to whoever used two unknown cantrips to commit murder at the House of Fire,” I told the sprite. “You can come along if you don’t draw attention.”
“I would never,” he said solemnly. “I’ll not make a peep.”
“Uh-huh,” I said. “I think we should go after they close up for the night. Ryan, are you in?”
“I have plans tonight,” they said. “Surely your friend Miles can help you instead.”
“I haven’t asked him, but I’m sure he will,” I said. “If it turns out the suppliers are involved in creating these illegal cantrips for the Family, though, we need all the backup we can get. What plans do you have?”
“None of your business.”
I frowned. “No need to be rude. It’s not like the Death King has given us any specific instructions. He didn’t say we couldn’t leave the castle.”
“He also didn’t give you permission to start a feud with Elysium’s only cantrip supplier.”
“I won’t get caught.” When they rolled their eyes, I added, “Trust me, I’m good at stealth.”
“No doubt, given how you cheated your way into the Fire Element contest.”
Okay, that was unfair. “The Death King gave me the job because he wanted me to negotiate with the Houses of the Elements. The House of Fire won’t speak to him because they’re too preoccupied with the fact that two of their people dropped dead in the last week. If I can find out who did it, technically I am doing my job.”
“If you say so,” they said. “Then go, but for all our sakes, please don’t get caught.”
When I left the castle later that evening, I found the dark shadowy form of a lich waiting for me outside.
“Where are you going?” asked Harper. “The House of Fire again?”
“Nah, the cantrip supplier in Elysium,” I said. “Might end up in the House again if the clues lead that way, though. What’re you up to?”
“Well…” she began. “I’m kind of running an important mission for the Death King, too.”
“Really?” I said. “He never mentioned it.”
“It’s because his enemies are specifically recruiting liches,” she said. “They want the Death King’s forces on their own team. So I’m taking advantage of that.”
“Huh,” I said. “I didn’t know.”
Still, at least she had something to do with her time. I’d felt bad for leaving her out of my plans, but I knew how much she hated the Houses, and I didn’t want to freak her out by insinuating that the Family were back to their old tricks, either.
Nobody else was outside except for Neddie the horse, so I walked over to him while I waited for Dex to join me. The horse whinnied when he saw me and tried to bite my fingers.
“I think you’re going to have to give up on your ambitions to ride a zombie steed, Bria,” said Harper. “They really don’t seem to like you. If you ask me, they have a thing against fire mages.”
“Guess I don’t blame them for that.” I spotted Dex approaching from the castle. “See you in a bit, Harper.”
Dex and I left the castle via the gates and passed through the node, heading to the city of Elysium. We emerged down the road from the Spirit Agents’ house, where Miles waited for me outside, as we’d arranged, wearing a dark coat with the collar turned up against the cold evening air. “Hey, Bria.”
“Hey.” I glanced down at the sight of movement at my feet, but it was only a curious vampire chicken. “I thought someone was supposed to be picking those things up.”
“They were,” Miles said. “Haven’t heard a word. I reckon they got distracted by all the crap happening in the Houses.”
“What are you two doing?” Shelley said from behind him.
“We’re going to pay another visit to Dawson’s place,” I said. “To have a poke around and see if there’s anything he’s not telling us about who he sells to.”
“Really, Miles?” said Shelley. “Did you really want to alienate one of our few allies?”
“We won’t alienate anyone if we don’t get caught,” he replied. “Which we won’t.”
“We could use some backup,” I added, as Dex flew overhead and hovered above my shoulder.
“Is that a fire sprite?” said Shelley.
“That’s Dex,” I said. “He’ll be helping us out. He can get in and out of places with being seen… provided he doesn’t set them on fire, that is.”
“I won’t start a single fire unless you ask me to,” he said.
“Let’s hope I don’t need to,” I responded. “Anyone want to back us up? We’re not going to start any fights if we can help it. I just want to know if the suppliers are selling cantrips to anyone who might be linked to the Family. We need to know if they’re knowingly involved or if the people who murdered the guards at the House of Fire got the cantrips from elsewhere.”
“All right, I’ll come,” said Shelley. “Only to stop Miles from getting into trouble.”
Miles grinned. “I’ll be on my best behaviour.”
We made our way down the darkened street. I didn’t have much reason to fear what lurked in the eerie silence—not when I’d spent the last few weeks hanging out with liches and zombie horses—but I still tensed at every small noise. Then a familiar squawk from behind us made me spin around. Sure enough, something small and feathered lurked behind us.
“Er, Miles, one of the chickens followed us.”
“Ah, hell.” He stepped in and picked up the chick
en around the middle, and when it let out an indignant sound, he covered its beak with his hand.
I stifled a laugh. “Nothing ever goes without a hitch, does it?”
“I’ll hold the chicken,” said Shelley. “Since we’re not starting any fights, are we, Miles?”
Bloody hope not. After Miles passed her the chicken, we walked on until we reached the supplier’s house, at which point I used a cantrip to turn invisible.
“Dex, we’re going in,” I whispered to the fire sprite. “If anyone shows up, can you distract them?”
“On it,” he whispered back.
“I’ll be right behind you,” added Miles.
An unlocking cantrip took care of the door, and I slipped into the darkened room. Boxes of cantrips filled the space, all marked with labels indicating who they were meant for. And all of them held the COS’s logo, too. That meant they were reusable cantrips from Arcadia, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t made another stop en route.
I peered into a couple of the boxes. It was too dark to see if the Family’s logo was on any of the cantrips, but I assumed they wouldn’t be that blatant. If there were clues in here, they’d be hidden away.
Dex landed on my shoulder, making me jump. “There’s two shifty-looking guys outside. I think they’re on their way here.”
“Shit.” I ducked around the boxes and crossed the room to the door, darting outside into the night. Miles and Shelley must have hidden themselves nearby under the guise of invisibility cantrips, because nobody was within view. The murmur of voices sounded from the adjacent street. I walked on silent feet, holding my breath, and ducked within an alley as two men dressed in dark clothing approached the shop and eyed the closed door.
“He’s late,” one of them said.
“Probably checking for spies,” his friend replied. “You know how hard it is now they’re watching the COS so closely. They’re scared they’ll come here next.”
“They can’t watch everyone,” his friend responded. “That’s the beauty of reusable cantrips. The evidence is wiped clean.”
“Not to experts,” said the first guy. “Luckily, that’s not most people.”
House of Fire (Parallel Magic Book 2) Page 8