by Linsey Hall
I’d always thought that if my mother couldn’t find them, then they didn’t want to be found.
“Why us?” I asked. Did they know that we were Unknowns? They shouldn’t. We’d kept it secret so no one could use that against us. Our mother, a powerful seer, had made it clear that hiding our true selves was vital to our survival.
“We hire only the strongest, rarest supernaturals in the world,” Hedy said. “It’s one of the reasons we’re so secretive. The Order of the Magica doesn’t like it when another organization possesses so much power. Whereas they would persecute some of our members, we welcome them.”
I nodded, understanding all too well. The government of magic users was committed to keeping magic secret from humans. In their eyes, that meant keeping a handle on the most powerful supernaturals—sometimes by force.
“When we heard of two women willing to fight their way across Death Valley, we became interested,” Hedy said. “The strength and skill it took to do that is the kind of thing we want here. We’d like you to join our operation. Train at the academy and then work for one of our divisions.”
So they didn’t know exactly what we were. Or, they weren’t saying.
“We don’t want to work for you,” Ana said. “We work for ourselves.”
“Right now, you won’t work for anyone if you don’t find a cure for the Lithica poisoning,” Hedy said.
Burn.
She turned to the other members of the organization and explained our situation. Frowns spread through the group.
“That is a problem.” Star-eyes looked at us. “I’m Jude. I run the Paranormal Investigative Team. Ricketts, the man who poisoned you, has been on our radar for a long time. But we’ve never been able to catch him. He’s too cunning, and his clients are too frightened to speak up. He must really want you if he hit you with the Lithica poison. He only uses that to draw the most powerful to him.”
Why did he want us though? To pay our debts? Smelled fishy to me. “So you want to catch him, and you also want us to work for you.”
“Yes, though your connection to Ricketts is more of a coincidence,” Jude said. “We want you to work for us because you’ve proven your skill and determination in Death Valley. Ricketts is a bonus.”
I nodded, my mind racing. We could use this. We had to use this.
Because right now, we were shit out of luck. Poisoned, with no money, no house, no buggy—so no way to get anywhere or make a living.
I shared a glance with Ana, able to see the wheels turning in her head. We didn’t want to work for these people—we didn’t know them. But we could use them.
I hiked my thumb toward Cade. “The big guy back there said you could help us catch Ricketts. But how? I already know how to find him. What can you do for us?”
I was being a hard ass, but I was also fighting for Ana. Being sweet hadn’t gotten me far in life, but being tough? Yeah, that had worked.
“Did the mage who hit you with the poison bomb deliver the address for the antidote?” Jude asked.
“I killed him before he had the chance.” I still cringed at the flub. “It happened before I even realized I’d been hit by the potion bomb.”
Otherwise, I never would have thrown it. From what I knew, the method was to hit you with the bomb and then tell you where to get the antidote.
So, my bad.
“But I have a contact who can help me find it.” I didn’t explain more. I couldn’t, not without risking my friend. “But I’d like backup in confronting Ricketts when I do find him.” My mind raced. “And we’d like your help recovering our truck.”
Ana nodded subtly at me, obviously thinking the same thing. If we could use their help to get the cure and get the buggy, we’d be in good shape to rebuild our lives once this was over.
“Why would you need your vehicle if you’re going to work here?” Cade asked from the side wall.
I went for honesty. “We might not work here.” Us working here was as likely as a naked mole rat becoming a sea captain. “But you could prove your goodwill by helping us get our truck back. And say we did decide to stick around. We’re much stronger with our buggy.”
The division leaders looked at each other and nodded, then they looked at Cade. Clearly for his approval.
But if they wanted that, why wasn’t he sitting here with them?
I turned around to see him nod, then looked back at the table.
“Normally, when a new recruit joins us, they start out in training,” Jude said. “But we’ve watched you on your trips across the desert. You’re the most impressive untrained fighters we’ve ever seen. You’re qualified to hunt Ricketts. And frankly, you need to. I’ve seen this poison before. It’s a nasty one.”
“I will accompany you,” Cade said. “When we determine that more backup is needed, we’ll get it.”
My heart thudded. Work with the sexy, kinda scary powerful dude? I both loved that idea and hated it. I also had no choice. I’d played my cards, and now they were playing theirs.
“Fine.” I looked at Ana. “You stay and go get the buggy. Make sure it’s in good working order. If Ricketts sends more men to our house, they might trash it.”
“On it,” she said.
The slightest bit of hope lit in my chest. This might actually work out for us. Getting the cure and the buggy would put us in a good position.
And I wasn’t worried about splitting from Ana. She was tougher than me, and we each had connection charms that could allow us to always find each other. After Rowan’s disappearance, we’d bought them. Now, they were going to come in handy.
“We will send a transport mage with Ana to retrieve the buggy,” Hedy said. “After that, she can get to know the organization a bit better. See that this would be a good place to work. Once you have the cure, you can do the same, Bree. Then we can talk more about terms of employment.”
“All right,” I said, even though I wasn’t sure if I meant it. I couldn’t think of anything past getting the cure and getting our buggy back.
Cade stepped forward, his gaze on me. “We should get started.”
I shivered. Time alone with him?
Oh boy.
Caro, the terrifying water woman whom I actually kinda liked, met us as soon as we left the little library.
“Here!” She thrust plastic bags into each of our hands. “You smell like dead fish. I thought you might want these.”
Normally, I’d take ‘you smell like dead fish’ to be an insult, but not coming from Caro. I looked in the bag, seeing black jeans, a black T-shirt, and leather jacket. Not my usual fight wear, but better than being covered in Lithica poison.
“Thanks,” I said. “That’s really…nice.”
I was slightly at a loss. Taken aback by her kindness. It’d just been us for so long that this kind of thing was weird.
Don’t be lured in by her kindness.
“I’ll let you change,” Cade said. “Then we can go.”
“All right.”
Caro showed Ana and I to a bathroom that looked like it’d been in the castle for centuries. Even the toilet was made of stone.
“Don’t worry. It does flush.” Caro stopped at the door. “And I know this place is weird at first, but I really think you’ll like it here.”
She went to leave, but I said, “Hang on.”
“Yeah?”
“Who is Cade? What is Cade?” He had magic I’d never seen before.
“He’s Belatucadros. The Celtic god of war.” She grinned. “Crazy, right?”
A record scratch sounded inside my head. “Wait, what? A god?”
His power had been nuts.
“Yeah. He’s one of the earth-walking gods. They’re rare.”
“What are they?” I asked. “Does that mean he’s immortal? Like, ancient?”
Had I been eyeballing a dude old enough to be my grandfather eight hundred times removed? Ew.
“No. He’s in his twenties, I think. He’s a reincarnate. The godly power passes to
the souls of those who are worthy. It’s what allows him to walk the earth—because he’s mortal. Yet he has the magical power of a god. Here at the Undercover Protectorate, he does the most dangerous jobs, and only on his terms.”
“So he’s not the boss?” Ana asked. “You all seemed to listen to him.”
“Well, yeah. He’s the best fighter here, and we like winning. So we listen to him. He leads the most dangerous operations, normally. Picks and chooses what he wants to do.”
And he wanted to help me.
Hmmmm.
I stocked that away for later.
“Thanks, Caro.”
She saluted. “No problem. Good luck with this cure. We’d really like to have you on the Paranormal Investigative Team.”
“The PITs?”
She grinned widely. “Yep! Training is a bitch, but it’s worth it in the end.”
She departed, leaving just me and Ana.
“Is she for real? She’s so…nice. Yet badass.” I quickly tugged on the new clothes, my chest aching from the Lithica poison. The pain was steadier now—always present. But sometimes it seemed to flare.
I tossed the old ones in the trash, then tucked the pain potion that Hedy had given me into an inner pocket of the jacket, along with the wadded up bandana that held the potion bomb shards. At least they couldn’t poke through the sturdy bandana.
“I think she might be.” Ana frowned. “This place is weird.”
“Yeah.” Not quite the hardscrabble existence we were used to. Challenging, probably. But not the bullshit of scavenging for a living in an outlaw town full of criminals.
Not that I had time to worry about it now. I gave Ana a quick hug. “Be careful, okay? I’ll be in touch. We’ve got our connection charms”—which, thankfully, we hadn’t bought from Ricketts—“so I’ll come find you when I’m done.”
“If you’re not back in three days, I’m coming for you.”
I grinned and fist bumped her. “Deal.”
“You gonna be okay with Cade? Because, meeeeow. And a god to boot.”
I punched her in the shoulder.
“But seriously,” she said. “He’s a fox, and he’s got eyes for you. I caught him looking at you a few times. Like he was perplexed and yet wants you at the same time.”
I liked that even though I shouldn’t. “We can’t trust him.”
“Maybe. I’d still climb him like a tree.” She poked me in the chest. “But he looks at you. And he’s got that scary sexy thing going on. Who doesn’t like that?”
“Too scary. We can kick the ass of almost any guy who comes at us. Except him. The god.” Which I both loved and loathed. But it was too dangerous. “Anyway. Moot point. I’m off to find Ricketts, or we’re going to turn into stone. You get the buggy, so we can start over after this.”
Her gaze turned serious. Joking about hot guys only got us so far when the straights were this dire. “I’ll take care of it.”
She gave me another hug, then I left.
Walking away was weird—we usually faced life and all its dangers together. But this was the smartest way. A two prong attack increased our chances of success in the long run.
Cade waited for me in the hall. He held a small paper bag in his hand. “Ready?”
“Yeah. We’re going to Magic’s Bend, in Oregon. Do you have another transportation charm?” The things were super handy, but hard to come by.
“There’s a portal here that will take us.”
Wow. Those were also super rare. Only strong magic could keep portals running permanently. This place had everything. “Lead the way.”
Cade handed me the paper bag. His fingertips brushed mine, and an electric frisson raced up my arm.
My gaze darted to the bag. “What’s this?”
“I thought you might be hungry. And there’s no telling what we’ll face in pursuit of Ricketts.”
My stomach grumbled, as if it could hear. I’d already had an exceptionally long day, and the food would be fuel. “Thanks.”
As I dug into the bag and pulled out a sandwich, I followed Cade down the hall and through the main entryway. We passed several people, all of whom were covered in blood but looking surprisingly chipper. Until they saw me. Then their gazes turned suspicious.
I shot them challenging looks, my cheek full of sandwich like a lopsided hamster. Like what you see?
Not the best first impression, but I had to work with what I had.
“Why do people look at me like I’m going to steal the silver?” I asked.
“You’re new. Everyone’s safety relies upon everyone else. So when new people arrive, the armor of this place is weakened until that person proves loyal.”
“But you guys trust us enough to bring us here?”
“We wouldn’t bring you here otherwise. But it’s the bosses who make the decisions, not the foot soldiers. So they’re a little suspicious. You just have to prove it, and everyone will be okay with you. But there’s an adjustment period.”
Fair enough, though I didn’t like it.
I followed Cade out the main door and around the castle to the side lawn, which stretched for acres before terminating at the forest. A stone circle sat in the distance, close to the seaside cliffs that fell into the crashing waves.
“Come on.” He started down a path that cut across the grass. “The portals are in the forest.”
We started down the path toward the trees.
“Who are we going to see in Magic’s Bend?” Cade asked.
“My friends. They’re Seekers. I have shards of the potion bomb, and they’ll be able to use their magic to find Ricketts, who made it.” Lie. They weren’t really Seekers. They were FireSouls, a deadly species that could find anything using their dragon sense.
But I wasn’t going to spill those beans to Cade, since it could totally get Cass, Del, and Nix into trouble.
“They must be powerful. We’ve had no luck finding him with Seekers.”
“They are.” And I prayed to fate they could give us a lead.
As we neared the trees, magic prickled against my skin, strong and fierce. I stepped between the trunks, spotting glowing lights floating amongst the green leaves. Green moss glowed under the little lights, and the trees were like gnarled old men, their branches twisted and bent.
My soul sighed, happy to be here. It was the most beautiful place. Haunted and magical at the same time.
“What are the lights?” I asked.
“Fairy lights. This was once an enchanted Fae grove, with a portal to their land. It’s been sealed, however. Long ago.”
“Wow.”
He led me down the winding path. A river burbled somewhere nearby, but I couldn’t see it. Eventually, we reached a clearing with three portals. They glowed in the dark night, one blue, one white, and one a faded gray.
I pointed to the gray one. “The Fae portal?”
“Yes.”
“Why’d it close?”
“I don’t know. It’s been that way for centuries.”
Cade pointed to the blue portal. “This one will take you to Edinburgh. The other, to Magic’s Bend.”
“Edinburgh?”
“Closest city with a magical community and great bars.” His lips tugged up at the corner. “The members of the Protectorate are big fans of the bars.”
That didn’t sound so bad.
I stepped toward the white portal, about to step through to Magic’s Bend, the largest magical city in the world. It was an amazing place that humans had no idea existed.
Cade touched my arm. “I’ll go first.”
“I can handle it.”
He smiled and stepped through, no doubt to scout the area for danger. I followed, letting the ether suck me through space, all the way from Scotland to Oregon.
I stepped out into an alley that smelled of burnt magic and pee. I crinkled my nose and went toward the main street, where Cade stood.
It was dark, shortly after 6:00 a.m., and the street was empty save for a few
cars. On either side of the road sat pretty Victorian buildings three stories tall, each painted a different color. The first floors were all bars or restaurants. Looked pretty nice, though I hadn’t been to this part of Magic’s Bend before.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“This is the Historic District.”
“Party district, is more like.” No wonder that alley had smelled like pee.
“Hit the nail on the head.”
A taxi drove by, and he flagged it down. We climbed into the glittering purple car and sat on seats of pink leather.
A pixie with green hair turned around. “Where ya off to?”
“Factory Row. A shop called Ancient Magic,” I said.
The car peeled away from the curb.
“Ancient Magic?” Cade asked.
“Yep. My friends—” Were they really friends? I hadn’t seen them in five years. Hopefully they weren’t counting. “Um, my friends are treasure hunters. They find enchanted artifacts and sell the magic inside.”
“Isn’t it illegal to take antiquities from archaeological sites?”
I nodded. “They only take the artifacts with the most degraded magic.” Over time, magic decayed. “They choose the pieces that are about to explode and remove the magic. That’s what they sell. Then they return the original artifact to the archaeological site.”
“Brilliant.” Cade nodded. “That keeps them on the right side of the law, and they make a tidy profit.”
“Exactly.”
The taxi turned onto Factory Row, a street on the edge of town that housed all the old factories from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It’d been converted into a trendy part of town with apartments and antique shops.
We drove by Potions & Pastilles, a coffee shop/bar that I’d been to a few times before. The lights glowed from within, and a dark-haired guy worked behind the counter, getting set up for the day. Connor, I thought his name was, but it’d been a while.
“Here!” I pointed to the spot where their shop, Ancient Magic, sat.
“Bit early for shopping.” The driver pulled over.
“I know the owners.” I reached into my pocket for my little wallet, but Cade handed over a wad of bills. “Thanks.”