The Phoenix Illusion

by Lisa Shearin

  Rake had done it to me before. I knew how my body had reacted. If Griselda was female and breathing, she was on the receiving end of much the same effect.

  As the crowd closed back around them, my attention went to Yasha. How could it not? I could see through his glamour, and under it, Yasha had gone full-on werewolf. He and Kitty were within smelling distance of one of the restaurants, and I knew it had to be all Yasha could do not to attack the biggest steaks I’d ever seen, being brought to the table closest to the restaurant doors. But he was holding it together. Kitty was the very picture of poise and composure at his side. Yasha started to growl and Kitty pinched one of his paw pads, turning the growl into a chastised yelp.

  Portions in casino restaurants were enormous. I guess they wanted you fueled up to play for another twelve hours before you had to stop again to tank up.

  A dark haze appeared at the edge of my vision by the elevators.

  It was a well-dressed man. Tall and distinguished.

  At least that was what his glamour told the world.

  I saw something else.

  The dark haze told me he was a black-magic practitioner. The out-of-focus features told me he was wearing an embedded glamour, a combination of a permanent glamour to disguise his real face, combined with a ward to make him instantly forgettable to all who saw him.

  Rake started walking away, and since we were holding hands, he was taking me with him. “Let’s grab a drink and watch Tam.”

  “Wait. I see something better. A guy who’s had permanent work done.”

  Rake was careful not to look where I’d been looking. “Embedded glamour?”

  “Uh-huh. He doesn’t want his real face seen or even detected.”

  Since I couldn’t get an ID from his face, I focused on his body. Not the pieces and parts, but how he carried himself. You couldn’t disguise that, at least not easily. Great actors could pull it off. This guy was no actor. He probably could’ve if he’d needed to, but it would’ve been heavy-handed, obvious. He wasn’t bothering to do that and the way he carried himself told me why.

  Arrogance.

  This was a game to him, a highly entertaining game. He was enjoying himself. It was all part of a larger scheme.

  His larger scheme.

  Then I knew.

  I’d seen his silhouette twice, standing on the other side of a portal. Tall, slender, supreme confidence twisted into malicious arrogance.

  Later I’d seen him in person, after he stepped out of the best veil I’d ever seen. A veil that had seamlessly blended his entire body into a stalagmite.

  High-elf arrogance personified.

  Rake’s nemesis.

  I tightened my grip on Rake’s hand before I said anything.

  “Isidor Silvanus,” I whispered.

  Rake froze beside me, but to his credit, he didn’t look. I knew he wanted to do more than look. He shifted, and I squeezed his hand. Hard.

  “Focus,” I told him. “He’s not our mark tonight.”

  “The hell he isn’t.”

  Isidor got on the elevator.

  Rake growled. “He’s getting away.”

  “No, he’s not. He’ll be back. If not tonight, some other time. Delayed gratification, darlin’. Embrace it.”

  I slowly felt the violence drain out, leaving him as calm and serene as a mountain lake.

  I patted his hand. “The best way to ruin Isidor’s life is to ruin Marek’s night.”

  28

  Ben spotted another member of the cabal.

  Dietrich Wolf from Berlin.

  A few minutes later, the doors to the theater were opened and a sea of people began flowing inside. Dietrich Wolf was arm in arm with Griselda Ingeborg. They were escorted to a staircase that led to the theater’s boxes. Our group was led to the stairs on the opposite side of the lobby.

  My arm was linked with Rake’s. I leaned close to his ear. “Perfect. We’ll be able to watch them.” I glanced around and did a quick head count.

  “Where’re Tam and Ben?”

  “Busy. They’re checking something. They’ll catch up with us later.”

  At the top of the stairs was a hallway with doors down the left side leading to the boxes. A uniformed man bowed slightly as he opened the door to our box for Cassi.

  We’d found photos of the theater, but none of them had done it justice.

  It was a vision of classic Las Vegas extravagance. Chandeliers and gold. Everywhere and everything shades of gold. Oddly enough, it wasn’t tacky. It was surprisingly elegant and tasteful. To pull that off was nothing short of a stunning interior decorating achievement.

  When we sat, Rake kissed my hand and released it.

  I suddenly felt naked, in a defenseless kind of way. “Are you sure that’s safe?” I asked him.

  He gazed into my eyes. “I wouldn’t have let you go if you weren’t safe.” His brow creased in confusion. “You can’t feel the wards?”

  “I think my skin’s too busy crawling to feel anything.” I rubbed my hands briskly against my upper arms. “They’ve got the AC seriously cranked in here.”

  “That’s not air conditioning; it’s Marek’s wards.”

  I stopped rubbing. “Oh. Then yes, I feel them. They’re supremely icky—and cold.”

  “I couldn’t agree more. However, that ‘icky’ is effectively hiding all of us from detection. Marek and his people laid them on thick. From what I can sense, the wards have seeped out to cover the entire hotel and the grounds. You’re safe everywhere now.”

  I looked across the way to where Griselda and Dietrich were seated with people I didn’t recognize, either from a personal encounter or our most-wanted list. My seer sight detected a faint haze over all of them. I wasn’t sure if a black magic aura worked kind of like secondhand smoke and contaminated everyone nearby, or if they all were practitioners. I told Rake and Ian.

  “Intriguing,” was all Rake said.

  “Apprentices?” I asked. “Here to witness an evil master plan in action?”

  No response from Rake, but his eyes never left the box and its occupants as the lights dimmed.

  Showtime.

  Rake leaned over to Ian and they talked quietly for a few moments. I was sitting near the box’s curtain, which conveniently allowed me to see everything I wanted to see, but at the same time I couldn’t be seen by anyone in the Chock Full o’ Evil box across the way.

  As dramatic music swelled to fill the theater, Ian turned away from the sound and anyone watching, and raised his hand to his ear. A few seconds later, I saw his lips move in his favorite word of expressing extreme annoyance.

  He leaned over to me. “Mac, Kitty’s having problems with her comms.”

  Crap. Kitty’s portal was our getaway. We had to be able to talk to her. Yasha didn’t have any comms because his werewolf ears were too big. He and Kitty were at the poolside bar, which was outside the hotel itself, enclosed by trees and gardens and surrounded by a wall that wasn’t attached to the hotel building. If the hotel was taken, they would be safe. The bar area was easily accessed from the theater. We thought it’d be the best place for Kitty to set up shop, and we all knew the quickest ways to get there from anywhere in the hotel.

  Ian reached in his jacket pocket. “You’ve pointed everyone out to us, so we’re good for right now. I need you to take her a spare.” He pressed the earpiece into my hand.

  “You got it, partner.” I put it in my purse and checked to make sure I had my ticket stub so I could get back into the theater. I held it up for Ian to see before I put it back. He gave me a thumbs-up.

  I stood and miraculously managed to leave the box without tripping on anything or falling on anyone in the dark.

  It didn’t take me long to get to the pool area, but I went from a jog to a snail’s pace when I got there. It was Saturday on a warm fall night in Vegas with a blood moon rising overhead. This place was jumping. It sounded like there was a live band here som
ewhere, but I couldn’t see where they were.

  I threaded my way through the crowd to where Kitty and Yasha were. They’d scored themselves a romantic little grotto, tucked away behind a hedge. Kitty had wisely ordered Yasha some of that raw beef sushi that I could never remember the name of. Judging from the empty plates on the table, he’d been packing it away.

  A full werewolf was a happy werewolf.

  When she saw me, Kitty’s eyes got huge, and Yasha jumped to his feet with a growl.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “Wrong? Nothing’s wrong. I’m just here to give you Ian’s spare comms.”

  Kitty looked confused. “Huh? There’s nothing wrong with—”

  “You didn’t try to call him?” I asked, as the bottom fell out of my stomach.

  “No.”

  I was furious. “He tricked me. He and Rake. They tricked me.”

  “What? Why?”

  “They wanted me out of that theater.”

  *

  I understood why they’d done it, but that didn’t make me any less livid.

  I turned to go back in.

  Yasha’s massive hand/paw wrapped around my upper arm. Literally. Engulfed the entire thing elbow to armpit. To any human who might have seen us, he looked like a really big, seriously intense guy.

  “You have to stay here,” I told him. “I don’t. Your job is to protect Kitty and our way out. My job is in there.” I bit back a growl of my own. “Even though some people don’t agree.”

  “Mac, they had a reason,” Kitty said. “They’re trying to protect you.”

  “My job isn’t to be protected. It’s to point out what they can’t see, and I can’t do it from out here. I’ll be back. We’ll all be back.”

  *

  When I got back to the theater doors, they were closed, and no one was at the box office windows. It was dark, like they’d turned off all the lights and gone home.

  I tried the doors. They were locked.

  Okay, that was a fire code violation.

  I knocked. Nothing.

  Harder. Still nothing.

  I keyed my comms and called Ian.

  Static.

  Oh no. My heart skipped a couple of beats.

  I called Rake.

  Static.

  Okay, girl. Calm down. Think.

  What about Tam? Yes! He wasn’t in the theater. At least I’d assumed he wasn’t, from what Rake had said. I called him.

  More static.

  Screw comms. I got my phone out of my purse. No bars.

  I cut loose with profanity’s greatest hits. Too bad there wasn’t anyone around to hear me. They’d have been impressed. Or appalled.

  Fine. Thanks to the floorplans, I knew of other ways to get in, none of which were for the public, but I wasn’t the public. Not anymore.

  I was an agent of SPI. Protector of humans and the supernatural from the supernatural, and I had a job to do.

  *

  I was glamoured, but I wasn’t a mage, so I had no way of making myself invisible.

  That was a skill I could really use right now.

  The doors that weren’t locked were guarded or warded. Heavily guarded and warded. By Khrynsani mages. Rake had been right. When it came to his own security, Marek would go with his own people, and those people weren’t about to let anyone in or out.

  I silently recited the flip side to profanity’s greatest hits.

  “I don’t care if you know where they’re sitting,” said a man’s voice from around the corner.

  I flattened myself behind a column, held my breath, and listened for all I was worth.

  “And I care even less what that elf wants,” he continued. “Don’t move on them. Marek wants them taken with the others. There will be plenty of time for the elf to have his fun and games once we have—”

  Another voice cut him off, but I couldn’t make out a word he was saying.

  “Because the hotel won’t be there for them to find. The second base is operational as of—”

  The other man cut him off. I still couldn’t hear him.

  “I answer to Mr. Kain, who, may I remind you, is paying your salary. Shall I tell him you’re questioning his decisions?”

  Silence.

  “I thought as much. Tell the elf that as long as he’s working for us, he will follow our orders. Understood? Good. Now get back to your station. I want to see the next part of the show before we leave.”

  I didn’t so much as breathe until I heard them walk away and a door open and close seconds later.

  And even then, I still wasn’t breathing right.

  Marek knew we were here. He wanted our team taken with the rest of the audience.

  To another base. They had a second base.

  Breathe, Mac. You’re not going to do anyone any good if you pass out.

  I gritted my teeth, breathing in and pushing it out, one after another, trying to calm myself.

  No comms, no phone, no way to warn my friends.

  But I might have one thing, and it was right around that corner.

  A door.

  A way into that theater.

  29

  I finally caught a break.

  The door was unlocked. Better still, it led to the theater’s backstage area, which was wonderfully dark.

  I slipped inside.

  What wasn’t so wonderful was that half of those backstage were goblins with built-in night vision.

  My seer vision didn’t rely on light to tell me who was sharing any given space with me. Auras put off a slight gleam that was visible in all but pitch darkness. The only source of illumination I could detect came from the red glow of emergency lights. All it did for me was give the goblins around me a creepy red candy coating.

  While I would’ve loved to have had some night vision goggles, that would’ve made me stand out more than I already did. I always tried to carry anything I might need in my purse. Rake had bought a little crossbody evening bag to go with my jumpsuit, and it only had room for the essentials. I should’ve carried my backpack.

  Everyone backstage seemed to have a job, so I tried to act like I had one, too. The key to not being questioned was to act like you should be wherever it was that you were. I needed to be able to see what Marek was doing on stage, so I purposefully set off in that direction.

  I was halfway there when a goblin woman stepped in front of me, blocking my path.

  “Why aren’t you in costume with the other girls?” she snapped.

  “Uh…my Jeep’s in the shop and I couldn’t get an Uber?”

  “That’s no excuse. You only have fifteen minutes. Go!”

  There weren’t any dressing rooms on the side of the stage I’d come from, so I darted off in the direction I’d been going. The woman didn’t yell at me for going the wrong way, so I assumed I was headed where I was supposed to go.

  I spotted the seven “other girls” standing together near the left side of the stage and got a look at what they mostly weren’t wearing.

  It was essentially a bodysuit, except the suit part was sheer mesh with strategically placed golden sequins and feathers. From what I could tell, I didn’t have enough curves to lift those sequins and feathers over my strategics, let alone cover ’em up. Then there were the heels. Dang. Little, strappy bits of gold and sparklies, with heels as high as my hand was long.

  Uh-uh. No way.

  I got a not-so-polite push from behind. “Hurry up!”

  Well, if we were all gonna die anyway, I might as well have a side order of humiliation to go with it.

  There was an extra costume in the dressing room, and it was my size. Apparently, one of the girls hadn’t shown up and I’d been mistaken for her. All this would work out fine—if she didn’t come walking in anytime soon.

  I changed and gave myself a quick look in the mirror. All in all, not half bad. Just as long as I wasn’t supposed to be a dancer, I might even
escape humiliation.

  “Fat lot of good sex did,” I muttered. I was a nervous wreck again.

  I got my one defensive item out of my purse and stuck it into my cleavage. It was amazing how this mesh could make even my girls stand up and say howdy.

  I joined the others, staying in the shadows, but still earning more questioning looks than I wanted.

  I gave them a little finger wave. “I’m the new girl. I think she got the flu…or something contagious.”

  The girl next to me—who had no worries about filling out her costume—took an obvious step back from me.

  With her out of the way, I could see out into the theater. I was on the opposite side from our box, so I could see Ian, Rake, and Cassi. Gethen was just visible behind Rake. Still no Tam or Ben, at least not that I could see.

  They were safe. For now.

  I had no idea where the base had been moved to, and no way to warn Kenji, Claire, and the team who had to be there by now—or to warn my friends here who’d somehow been discovered and were sitting ducks.

  I felt myself hyperventilating again. This was way beyond terrifying. If Marek succeeded, this entire hotel and everyone inside would be here one moment and gone the next. Gone to where? Somewhere on our world? Another planet? Gone with possibly no hope of ever getting home again?

  Two of the girls had turned and were watching something behind us. The others took a glance and arranged themselves into two lines.

  I turned to see.

  Oh. My. God.

  Freight elevator doors had opened, and the Ark of the Covenant, aka the magetech generator, was being unloaded. It was perched atop a golden platform that must have had wheels mounted under it, given the ease with which it was being moved. It even had poles mounted to each side for carrying—or in our case, for pushing—just like in the movie.

  It was being wheeled over to us—eight sequined and feathered showgirls lined up four to a side.

  Not only did I not have a plan to stop Marek from killing us all, I was about to help bring him the means to do it.

  *

  When we got our music cue to process onto the stage with the generator, I had a few ideas, but none that were worthy of being called a plan. Either the crystal would kill me, or Marek would, but I had to stop him.