The Phoenix Illusion

by Lisa Shearin

  “This is the first time,” Ian was saying, “—that we know of—when people will be in a building that’s going to be taken.”

  “Aside from Tulis in my house,” Rake reminded him.

  “And look how that turned out.” Ian spread his hands. “Boom. Followed by it burning to the ground.”

  “It blew up and burned when it landed,” Ben pointed out. “That could have been because it came from…outer space.” He looked to Rake. “Is that offensive?”

  “What?”

  “Saying it came from outer space?”

  Rake and Tam exchanged confused glances. “Why would it be?”

  “It implies you guys are aliens.”

  “Are we?” Tam asked Rake.

  “We are,” Rake told him.

  Tam shrugged. “I’m not offended.”

  “Me, either.”

  “Good,” Ben said brightly. “We have no idea where they’re planning to send the Phoenix—here or somewhere else.”

  “Kenji’s using satellites to look around the southwest for the cabal’s headquarters,” Ian said. “We’re thinking they may have brought the buildings there. I told him about you sensing a muffled crystal signal from the east of Shiloh City.”

  “I don’t want to be the voice of doom,” Tam said, “but what if the only reason Tulis survived was because he’s a mage and was able to shield and protect himself?”

  There was silence at that pronouncement.

  “We don’t know that there haven’t been people in the buildings that were taken,” Ian said.

  I stopped chewing. “All of them were out in the middle of nowhere. Chances are they were empty.”

  “But we have no proof they were empty. It would hardly be the first time people have been used as guinea pigs in the sick experiments of others.”

  Rake came over and sat on the sofa next to me. “Griselda Ingeborg, one of the mages on SPI’s list with Marek, once kidnapped homeless people to test a…magical hypothesis. I would rather not describe the hypothesis, her tests, or the results, but I heard the people she’d kidnapped did not survive.”

  Tam poured himself another cup of coffee from the carafe on the table. “That Marek and his accomplices have stopped secret testing in favor of public action implies they either don’t plan on those in the hotel surviving, or they have the means to keep them prisoner in the hotel once the building is taken. My bet is on the latter scenario.”

  The rest of us, except for Ben, traded startled looks of realization. Ben was the only one of us who hadn’t been trapped in the Regor Regency.

  Phaeon had used his first-generation magetech generator to seal hundreds of us, many of whom were powerful magic users, inside the Regor Regency. Isidor had conjured a pocket dimension around the hotel to keep us there.

  “We were the people test,” I blurted. “There were only a couple hundred of us trapped inside, but most of the guests were either supernaturals or powerhouse mages—and we still couldn’t get out.” Another lightbulb went on in my head. “Because the generator affected everyone’s magic.” I turned to Rake. “Like what happened when your shields failed when you ran into your house to go after Tulis. There’ll be thousands in the Phoenix tonight, but they’re only human. Power-wise, it’ll be like scooping up a litter of newborn kittens.”

  “But the Regor Regency wasn’t taken anywhere,” Ian pointed out. “And it was only a month ago. Kenji said the buildings started disappearing over six months ago.”

  I spat a word that as a kid would’ve gotten my mouth washed out with soap. “You’re right.” I took another big ol’ swig of coffee.

  “Don’t give up on your theory just yet,” Rake said. “The cube and a Nidaar crystal are not only different in composition, but in what they are being used to do. The cube sealed us in a pocket dimension and powered the mirrors and reflective surfaces to let monsters pass through into the Regency. The Nidaar crystal is mounted in a device that may or may not be the same as that which Marek is using. Yes, Dr. Cheban determined that the casing was constructed of the same metal, but that doesn’t mean what’s inside is the same. Isidor and Phaeon wanted to trap us and send in monsters to finish us off, and that included the leaders of the supernatural races on this world. Their goal was to decimate the races, destroy SPI’s position as an arbiter of supernatural peace, and humiliate me and ruin my reputation and honor as a host who failed to protect my guests.” He paused. “And then kill me slowly and horribly.”

  “They appear to be using the Nidaar crystal only to move buildings,” Gethen said.

  “And those inside them,” Tam added. “I fail to see the strategic advantage in taking a building in a way that would kill those inside. Thinking as our opposition, it would be an incredibly efficient way to kidnap powerful individuals, or even better, many powerful individuals. You wouldn’t need to get anywhere near them, merely get the device and crystal in the same building. Entire governments could be decimated in one fell swoop.”

  “Which is why we need to catch the bastards now,” Gethen said.

  “Which begs the question of why they would take a Las Vegas hotel full of tourists?” Ben asked. “Why not a building with really important people inside?”

  I glanced at Ian. “We need a list of people in tonight’s audience.”

  “Kenji,” we said in unison.

  “And speaking of our source of all unattainable knowledge,” I continued, “Kenji says that while the entire southwest is a nest of ley lines and energy vortexes, it just so happens a massive ley line runs right down the Vegas Strip.”

  “That’s why Las Vegas was built here,” Rake said. “Luck is perceived as being higher near ley lines. Otherwise, why build hotels out in the middle of the desert?”

  “That makes sense,” I admitted, talking fast after nearly two colossal cups of coffee. “As to why here, maybe for their first strike, they’re going for instilling terror rather than for any strategic importance. It’ll be Saturday night in the middle of the Vegas Strip. A hotel vanishes, leaving a ginormous vacant lot. The power will go out up and down the Strip. There’ll be glowing gold swirls in the sky. People will panic. Complete chaos. And when the lights do come on, the Phoenix will be gone. The cabal then sends whatever demands they have to the media; or heck, they just tweet out a video of imprisoned and terrified people freaking out in the hotel, with the ‘you’re next if you don’t give us what we want’ spiel. Or even worse, ‘we’re mages with magic and technology you can’t hope to match. Kneel before your new overlords.’”

  Silence followed my torrent of caffeinated words.

  “I really need some more sleep,” I said.

  “You may need more sleep,” Rake said, “but either of those scenarios is entirely too plausible. However, the last one would be worse.”

  “If they succeed, I have no doubt they’ll tell us their demands,” Ian said. “I’d rather stop Marek now, bring him in, and—in a locked interrogation room with no cameras—find out exactly what the cabal is planning.”

  Rake gave my partner a fierce grin. “Sounds like the man has a plan. I like it.”

  23

  There was a knock on the door.

  It couldn’t be the butlers; Rake had turned down their services, instead preferring the comfort of walking around the suite unglamoured.

  “Expecting anyone?” I asked Rake.

  At the moment of the knock, he and Tam had simul-taneously uncoiled from their chairs in a single smooth move. Ian and Gethen were on their feet an instant later. Ian had a gun in his hand; Gethen was packing a red glow. Rake and Tam had no visible weapons, apparently counting on their innate badassery to deal with whatever was on the other side of the door.

  I tossed a questioning glance at Ben. He shrugged. We followed.

  By the time we got there, the door was open, and Ian had been engulfed by a huge, hairy whatever, and the goblins weren’t doing a thing to help.

  Ben took a step ba
ck. “Is that a sasquat—”

  “Yasha!” I squealed happily. A petite silvery-haired woman stepped around him. “Kitty!”

  At the sound of my voice, Yasha tossed Ian aside, and I was now the target of his enthusiasm. Fortunately, I remembered to suck in all the air I could before my feet left the floor.

  Before my face was buried in his chest fur, I saw my friend was the embodiment of Vegas tourist chic: Hawaiian shirt, cargo shorts, straw fedora, and Oakleys. Instead of the dreaded socks ’n sandals combo, in true Yasha fashion, my werewolf buddy was sporting his favorite combat boots.

  Take that fashion risk, Yasha. Own it.

  When he put me down, I saw the fanny pack. I knew what had to be in there. One of his guns. As a werewolf, it wasn’t like Yasha needed protection. He just liked things that went boom.

  As far as I was concerned, Ian was only one of my partners. Yasha was the other. Ian had my back, but Yasha had both our backs and then some. And the last time we’d dealt with a situation that could only be explained with physics that hurt my head, Kitty had been there to shut it down.

  We had the goblin spellslinger trio for Marek and his gang, Ben for the rocks, Kitty for the sciencey woo-woo, and Yasha to kick any and all butts that deserved it.

  The team was together.

  We might actually live through this.

  *

  After we brought Yasha and Kitty up to speed, we got them fed.

  Kitty looked from Rake to Tam as the two of us sat at the kitchen bar while she had breakfast. “Are you sure they’re not brothers?” she barely whispered.

  “Quite,” they said in unison from across the room.

  Kitty emitted a little giggle. “Oops.”

  “Goblin ears, sweetie,” I reminded her. “They’re good for something besides nibbling on.”

  Ben was working on a bagel, and Ian was stalwartly keeping Yasha company as both men laid into the breakfast buffet. Or maybe it was emotional support. I suspected that Rake was gonna need to have the sideboard restocked. My partners were serious when it came to fueling up for a fight, and all of us knew that’s exactly what we were going to have on our hands tonight.

  Kitty shook her head in affectionate disbelief. “He nearly ate my parents out of house and home. Mom was in heaven. There’s nothing she loves more than feeding people who love her cooking. Though they knew I was bringing a werewolf home a week before a full moon. He’s even hungrier than usual.”

  “Yeah, he is really hairy right now, isn’t he? How did it go with your folks?”

  Kitty beamed. “They absolutely adore him. Dad’s a big guy and gun nut, too, so he and Yasha had a lot in common. They took a case of beer and I don’t know how many guns and boxes of ammo out to Dad’s firing range. From the sounds of things, Mom and I knew they were either having a great time or killing each other repeatedly.”

  “And the whole werewolf thing didn’t bother them?”

  “Not at all. My family has been portalkeepers for too many generations to count. We open and close portals to other worlds and dimensions. I only brought home a man who gets hairier once a month. Well, and then there’s the fangs. But in my family, Yasha’s what’s known as a refreshing change.”

  “Wish me luck next month with Rake and my family. And extended family,” I muttered.

  “You don’t think they’ll like him?”

  “I think they will, but I’m gonna be eating Tums like candy to get through it.”

  “From what you’ve told me of your family, I think you’ll be surprised.”

  “That’s the one kind of surprise I’d actually like to get.”

  Gethen and Tam were reviewing the most recent Keram Rei performance that’d been broadcast. It’d actually been on one of those magician specials on cable.

  “I’ve seen his shows on TV, and last year live in Chicago,” Kitty was saying. “Now, I’m ashamed to say that I enjoyed them.” She lowered her voice nearly to the point of just moving her lips. “He’s hot.”

  I couldn’t tell her she was wrong. What was wrong was that I agreed with her. Just because a guy was evil didn’t mean he couldn’t be seriously easy on the eyes. Some of the most beautiful predators were the most deadly.

  “He’s well known,” Kitty continued. “I wouldn’t consider him famous, but he’s getting there. Yeah, he projects the whole bad boy image, but his shows are fun, too. Though knowing now what he plans to do…” She took a swig of juice. “I mean, who would believe it? It’d be like Penn and Teller going to the dark side.”

  “Did he make anything big disappear in Chicago?” I asked.

  Kitty shook her head. “But then he didn’t have access to an alien crystal, ley line power, and a super blue blood moon tonight. If Yasha didn’t have such good control—”

  “A what?”

  “Yasha would be all-out furry if—”

  “Not Yasha, the moon.”

  “It’s a super blue blood moon tonight.”

  “I thought that was next week.”

  “No, it’s tonight.”

  I turned on my swivel bar stool. “Uh, guys…”

  *

  Turned out everyone knew it was a super blue blood moon tonight except for me.

  That didn’t make me feel stupid. Not at all.

  “Marek probably couldn’t make it work at any other time,” Kitty was saying. “He needs the power boost from that supermoon. Timing is everything. They’ve been planning this for a long time. To move a building full of people will take as much power as they can harness. The amount needed will be nothing short of staggering.”

  “So, there’s no way Marek is doing this by himself?” Ian asked.

  “Absolutely not.” Kitty held up a hand. “That’s only my opinion.”

  “An expert opinion,” Ian countered. “One I am inclined to accept as fact.”

  “Aww, thank you, Ian.”

  That opinion came from a woman who’d once closed a portal linking Hell and Earth, with demons scrabbling up through it. Yes, Rake had been there with her, but he’d been acting more as an emotional support goblin than providing any actual assistance. Kitty had done the heavy lifting all by her lonesome.

  That Kitty was awestruck by the power involved told us there was absolutely nothing good about our situation, considering that we had only hours to stop Marek Reigory and whoever comprised his support team, and to get that generator and all crystals away from them without any mortal in the Phoenix Hotel or cruising the Strip tonight being any the wiser.

  We’d be needing every bit of the luck Vegas’s ley line could be sweet-talked into giving us.

  “The barriers between dimensions and worlds are thinner during these conditions,” Kitty was telling everyone. “They’re not using a portal, but if you were going to pull off something this big with a portal, doing it during a full moon would make it easier—and a super blue blood moon would simplify matters even more. Not that what they’re doing could ever be described as easy. It’s impossible. Well, previously thought to be impossible.”

  “Was that what caused the fire?” I asked her. “Yanking something as big as a house from one world to the next? Was it like…I don’t know, interstellar friction or something?”

  “Size shouldn’t matter. When larger objects are brought through a portal, they don’t burst into flames.”

  Yasha grinned. “Size does not matter?”

  Kitty patted his hand—his enormous hand. “The bigger the object, the more power needed to bring it through, but friction doesn’t enter into the equation. I have no idea why Rake’s house burned. Adding people, especially terrified people, to the mix would merely increase the amount of power needed.” She paused, brow creased in thought. “Though… Again using portals as an example, if a powerful mage is being forcibly taken through a portal, the more the mage uses their magic to resist, the more power and effort is needed to keep that portal open and stable. Rake, do you know if your mage fou
ght back when he felt himself being taken? Or whether he attempted to shield himself?”

  “Yes, to both.”

  “That could have been what disrupted the signal. A better way to describe it might be dissonance, the presence of two opposing powers, one pushing, one pulling, both attempting to override the other. It could’ve caused tension or even friction, if you will, to a level that when your house arrived here, it burst into flames. It’s just a theory, but it might explain what happened.”

  “It’s the only one we’ve got,” Rake said. “It’ll work until a better one comes along.”

  I had a thought. “It wasn’t a full moon in New York when your house dropped in. Was it a full moon in Regor?”

  “As a matter of fact, it was,” Tam said.

  “How about the other buildings taken here?” Kitty asked.

  “We don’t know,” I told her. “Though Kenji might have worked up a spinning 3D model based on the dates he’s gathered for the other disappearances. In fact, I can virtually guarantee it.”

  “The moon wouldn’t necessarily need to be full,” she added. “The gravitational effects of the moon are just as strong during a new moon as they are when the moon is full.”

  I snorted. “He’d be thrilled to hear it. He’d get to make even more adjustments to his model. Now that we know how Marek is doing it, all we have to do is figure out how to make him stop. Permanently.”

  24

  Thankfully, it wasn’t Marek and his megamage cabal against the handful of occupants of an obscenely expensive Las Vegas party suite.

  We had the brains and muscle of the entire SPI organization behind us. They were working on the problem.

  So were we.

  While we could have unlimited boots on the ground within hours, we couldn’t simply kick in the doors to Marek’s penthouse suite, take the generator and crystal, and fight our way out.

  Why?

  In a word—magic.

  One of the local SPI agents was essentially a human magic detector. Ian had just gotten his report. He’d gone into the Phoenix wearing a black suit similar to the uniform worn by the hotel staff. He’d added a gold nametag and fake ID on a lanyard around his neck to add to his bona fides. He hadn’t attempted to get into the penthouse or theater. All he’d needed to do was get close to both.