by T J Kelly
Working at Rector Enterprises had taught me there were talents and abilities in surprising places so I went with it. It would make the healing crystals work better and in the end, that was what mattered the most.
It was strange working with Clarissa, but it also gave me a better sense of her magic. There was a purity there beneath the sticky miasma left behind by Oberon's curse. Something I could hold on to and work with. My declaration that I would make her my friend didn't seem so far-fetched anymore. And it would help when the time came for me to break the death curse on her. Because there was no way I would leave it, even if the effort would drain me. It was not yet the right time, but soon.
Richard and I spent the rest of the time packing away the crystals for transport. Peony had crates ready to send to different parts of the world, including Madagascar where Poltens could distribute them to his healers out in the field.
"That was awesome," I said. I felt drained, but satisfied. With the work but also getting to know Clarissa a little better through her use of magic.
"Never a dull moment," Richard replied as he shifted the last of the crates into a pile. "I missed working with you, Mom."
"Me too, sweetheart," Peony said, then gave Richard another one of her long, hard hugs. Clarissa kept her eyes glued to the counter before her, drawing the remaining instruction diagrams to ship with the mechanicals. With a flash of insight, it occurred to me that these moments probably made her feel more like an outsider. It couldn't be helped, and made me pity her. Something else I never thought I would do. "I'm going to send messages to expect our crystals. Thank you for your help."
"No problem," I said.
My aunt left to finish her duties. Richard tugged on the jacket he had draped over the back of a chair while Clarissa collected her fancy, floppy hat. She headed out before we did.
A candle from my aunt's new line sat on a small table near the door. Clarissa lifted it to breathe in the scent on her way out, but like she had done before, lit it after she set it back in place and departed.
"Why?" I blurted. It was so weird, and rude, and pushy. She was acting like everything around her existed for her use, but also that it wasn't important enough to respect other people's work. She left a split second after lighting it, as if it wasn't good enough to bother sticking around. It was so different from what I had just learned from her that it shocked me and ruined the mood of camaraderie.
"Maybe she didn't mean to," Richard suggested.
"Oh, like it was an accident? She's not a little kid," I scoffed. "She's almost reached her final majority. Even dark households teach their apprentices not to leak magic. She did it on purpose and it didn't even occur to her that it's disrespectful." Disappointment filled me. I thought we had made a connection. There was so much more to her than I ever realized but her total lack of regard threw me right back to where I was when she had invaded Rector Enterprises with Oberon. Who did that? Seriously. Who?
"I don't know," he drawled, lost in thought. "I think there's more to it."
No shivers, no goosebumps. He was right. There was more to it. But it had been a long day and if I wanted any sleep, I would have to evaluate her actions some other time. Clarissa had taken up enough of my day.
"Maybe. Hey, I'm going to head upstairs."
Richard still had a faraway look in his eye, but then nodded. "Yeah, me too. Thanks for the nightlight," he added with a grin.
"No problem, cuz," I said as we walked down the hallway together. "Do you mind dropping off the other one for James?"
"Yeah, I got it. He's right next door, anyway."
We separated when we reached the top of the stairs, our rooms on opposite sides of the castle. I walked to my bedroom carefully not thinking about Clarissa at all.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The Vanishing
I hadn't seen David Novato in a while. He had been staying out of sight, but with the way things were headed, I finally accepted that I needed to see more of my allies, not less.
Even him.
That meant I had to fix things. "How's it going?" I asked casually as we loaded our plates at the breakfast buffet. Magicians burned so many calories while working magic, we offered food at all our gatherings. Including the meetings.
He glopped a pile of scrambled eggs onto his plate. I watched with interest as he added a small mountain of cheddar cheese and fresh salsa with a sprinkle of cilantro. It looked good. Something I might eat for breakfast despite my habit of avoiding eggs in the morning.
"Not bad."
Man, I really did a number on him. It reminded me of trying to speak with Clarissa. Like pulling teeth instead of coaxing words out of their mouths. Hopefully, he wouldn't backslide the way she had. "Uncle Ged told me you've been doing a good job cultivating assets among the mundanes." There. Maybe I could get him to talk shop.
"He said that?" David finally tore his eyes from the food long enough to meet mine. And hold my gaze for once. Usually he looked away. Probably thought I would attack him again if he remained in my line of sight for longer than a few seconds.
Not that I blamed him. I had given him a really hard time. "Yeah. He's impressed with the work you do." I finished making the miniature salmon, dill, and cream cheese sandwiches with cucumber slices added for crunch. Then we headed over to the table. It was the first time we had ever acted normally around each other.
"I'm relieved to hear it. Sometimes I feel like I'm in exile working with so many mundanes."
Something personal. That was more than I ever expected to get from him. "I bet. You should come by the castle more often," I suggested. "I wouldn't mind working up some strategies to include your talents. Like, can you direct the flow of your magic into a tight enough beam to isolate somebody in the middle of a crowd? So only they are cut off and everyone else around them can still perform magic? Is there a way to tie the spell to them so it follows them when they move?"
David stared at me, his fork halfway to his mouth. Then he lowered it instead of taking a bite. "I've mostly used a broad spectrum attack," he said after clearing his throat. He relaxed a little more as he thought it over. "But that could be useful. Have you had any success with targeted magic in the fray?"
"Oh, yeah," I replied enthusiastically after sipping my tea to clear away the cream cheese. "Reg taught me the Sand-stinger spell, and I worked out a method for tethering it to my target."
I watched as David ran through the process in his mind, absently eating his breakfast. I bit back a smile. No need to gloat. So he was talking to me. Not that big a deal. And since it had been my fault so many people tiptoed around me, should I really take credit when they thawed a little?
"Do you have time to work on it later this week?" he asked. "I have a lot going on today. The next few days, honestly. But if I can follow your casting for the Sand-stinger, maybe I can apply it to what I do."
"Yeah, no problem. I'm juggling a few things myself, but I can move my schedule around. Just let me know when you're on your way, and I'll arrange time in the practice dome." A lot of the agents had stricter schedules than I did. Mine was mostly self-imposed, so I did what I could to be flexible.
"Sounds good. Thanks."
We turned back to our meals, finishing what we had left on our plates. I was pleased with our conversation - and relieved. Peter had been working on me. He explained how terrifying it must have been for David when I was trying to vanquish him, and I finally listened. The same thing happened to my uncle. He frightened a ton of people. And while that worked out in most cases, he always made a point to ease the minds of his allies. Made those close to him feel safe.
There were worse examples to take after.
More agents filed in, including Adrian and Peter. They both took a seat near me, Adrian next to David, Peter beside me.
"Hey," Adrian said. He and I had a good relationship despite our original tough circumstances, which gave me some relief. I wasn't that bad at letting people in after all. Or forgiveness. "You meet with Armage
ddon yet?"
"Not today," I replied. I noticed that Peter had an extra plate he brought with him, loaded with mini strawberry-basil-balsamic tartlets. Oh, yummy. He saw my interest and handed one over, pushing the plate between us so I had better access. There were several little desserts on offer and he knew my taste.
"We've been using Clypeus as a guinea pig," he said, catching me up on the work to help the agents who had been returning from absences with blank spots. "He was one of the first taken. So far we've identified our enemy's focus during his interrogations but they left behind physical wounds, too. That makes it difficult. Although we may have worked out a treatment plan for the memory gaps."
My uncle assigned Adrian to work with my aunt and Richard, too. He was a good person to help with that job, considering what had happened to him. Armageddon explained the addition to our Recall team, reminding us that it was therapeutic to help others who suffered the same type of damage as Adrian.
"That's great." I snagged a key lime cupcake, surreptitiously pushing the apple tarts closer to Peter's side of the plate. I really hated anything baked with apples in it. "I hope it helps. My uncle asked that I stop by later this afternoon. I assume that's when we'll get into the details."
"Yeah. You're the only other one who has rebuilt the mind from scratch." Adrian looked haunted. I set my food down and waited. There was no telling what part of his brain he was accessing, and since rebuilding so much physical damage had never been done before - at least, not the way my uncle and I had worked it - I was always careful to allow Adrian time to process. None of us wanted to push him too hard and end up hurting him again. Or trigger something. Traces left behind by such strong magic took time to crumble and fade away. "Ged wants to train me to help. You're good at guiding."
"Hey, thanks," I said, touched by his compliment. Guiding others had more to do with personality than magic, and it honored me that he thought so highly of my abilities. "I'm happy to show you the method."
Adrian took a bite of his eggs, sadly plain with a dab of ketchup. Peter leaned against my arm, his Light winding its way through me until I realized he had sent a thought with it. I stifled a giggle at the pert tone of his thoughts as he bagged on Adrian's food choices.
There was a fun upside to silent communication, too.
◆◆◆
At least we had a chance to finish breakfast before the warning spell arrived. Then came the alerts, and alarm spells. Something big was going down, and it was bad.
"I want the Andersson brothers, Reg, Mort, and James to go in the first wave," Armageddon said as we jumped up from our seats. I transported my battle vest from my bedroom. I was already dressed for combat practice, thankfully, and my hair in my favorite battle braids. "Be prepared for traps. The rest of us will follow in twenty-one second bursts, two at a time, and will pull you out if needed."
That was a standard tactic when going into a situation with no prior intel. I would be in the last group since I was still an apprentice and junior agent. Peter would come with me although he had achieved full agent status already. But we were partners and there was no way my uncle would risk me any sooner than he had to. Although after our talk, at least I could go on missions like any other agent.
The group of agents disappeared. For the time being, anyone in the inner circle could function as family. That meant they could now transport directly on and off Castle Laurus property. Security measures were more important than ever, but Armageddon announced that some things had to be sacrificed in the name of expediency.
Twenty-one was three sevens, a power number that responded well to magic battles. Not that we knew there was one, but the quantity of alarms told us whatever was happening was close enough.
Joseph, David, and Richard were next, then followed by Adrian and my uncle. Nobody else had been in the room at the time. There may be other agents responding to the call for help depending on where the alarms were sent, but for the moment, we were all the agents we knew were responding.
"Ready?" Peter asked.
"Yeah." I surrounded us with a shield made of Air, filled it with the scent of shortbread cookies, and braced for the transfer. "Let's go."
◆◆◆
Alarm spells carried a lot of information. Start of incident, number of enemies, location. Images of the area could be projected if there was time to record them. Sometimes there wasn't more than a call for help and then we had to follow the trace. That meant in this moment, we were transporting blind.
There was a way to kind of shift around objects at the landing point. It kept us from arriving in the middle of a wall or car or volcano and getting ourselves killed. It took a ton of practice to learn and never got easier.
Peter took the lead on the transport, but I followed his trace as he did so. It was a habit that helped me almost as much as practicing the spell myself.
"Down!" Mort shouted when we arrived. Peter and I threw ourselves to the ground as a shower of red and blue light exploded above our heads. I took in my surroundings as I hurtled myself down, only getting a quick impression of the area. Warehouses and cars, but not much else.
Besides the magicians. There were tons of them, hiding behind cars and newspaper dispenser stands and bus stop benches as they engaged the enemy. Peter and I rolled to the left, sliding behind one of those garbage cans that were stuffed into a cement column as if somebody would want to steal it.
"I count fifteen," Harris shouted. He and Seth were behind a battered old sedan, dented and mangled. A burst of yellow slammed into it, adding another crater in the door. It had probably been a perfectly nice car before the battle began.
Harris was facing west, which meant his enemy count was in that direction. Then another shout came from the north and Joseph reported twenty more.
Man. Talk about overkill. There had only been five junior agents calling for help. They were grievously outnumbered.
So were we.
Adrian and David reported in with no additional enemies from the east or south. I spotted the heel of a boot under a bench. Narrowing my eyes, I shot a Flash-bang right at it, exploding the wood in a burst of red and purple. A scream rose from the pile of bodies on the ground. I had knocked out three, but whoever wore that boot had probably just lost his foot.
He could be lucky. Maybe my spell only broke an ankle. Either way, it neutralized him and his buddies.
Peter drew a semi-circle in the gritty dirt on the sidewalk, creating a cage over the unconscious men to keep them secure. He then turned and threw a handful of crystals, various spells bursting with force as they landed in a scattered formation near a blue SUV to the west of us.
I used that moment to look around. To my left was a row of warehouses and a chain-link fence that had fallen over. Or was pushed. Peter and I squeezed behind the cement trash can on the opposite side of the street from the enemy magicians, who had spread out between the buildings and dumpsters and any other big objects they could find. There had been fifteen over there. Peter had knocked out at least four, and Mort was engaged in hand to hand combat with three others. Harris and Seth were exchanging scattered spell attacks with even more, both sides of the battle throwing and ducking.
Joseph dove into to a new position, covered by Adrian and David. Reg was running and casting spells at the same time. I slammed my hand onto the sidewalk, connecting to the Earth element in the concrete, then hurled a massive wave of energy at the group foolishly trying to sneak up on my uncle.
Armageddon was a sight to behold. He had made his way to the side of two agents, their Irregulars uniforms turning them into pools of darkness on the ground, making them a more difficult target. He stood over them in their exposed position in the street, arms blurring with the fury of the shields and spells he used to protect them, weaving and circling and stopping attacks from all sides.
I didn't have to say a word. Peter just knew. Of course he knew what I was thinking. Nobody would get away with attacking an ally in front of me.
Especially
not when they were also my family.
"Now!" Peter shouted. I leaped from our shelter and ran into the middle of the street. I used the lead in my bracelet to enhance my power. Nobody was getting through. In that moment, I made myself into a shield of sorts. One that fought back.
I turned my back to my uncle, setting my position to the north of him so the men stationed there would have to go through me first. He continued to fight off the others, but my interference made a small corridor that James used to slip near Armageddon and drag the two unconscious agents to safety behind a retaining wall. My uncle then flipped right over me and ran straight at the men I was blocking, colored light shattering the air between them. There were maybe eighteen left standing but none of them stayed to fight my uncle.
Cowards.
They disappeared. James, David, and Reg vanished after them, leaving the battle to track our enemies on their retreat. The men in the west did the same, and Adrian followed along with the Andersson brothers.
Mort was still fighting through a tight group of magicians. Peter ran to his side, pulling the staff Mort had given him from the pouch on his belt and even though he used the crystal at the top to focus an intense beam of attack at one man, he then used the staff as a bat and slammed it right into the head of another. The three other junior agents were losing ground behind a low row of hedges and we didn't have a lot of time to protect them.
I caught a wave of darkness roiling from the corner of my eye. A flash of black and brown, a burst of light. Oberon Taine arrived.
My teeth ground together, trying to hold off my fury. He didn't show up to do his own dirty work often, and usually only in the most important of confrontations. Five junior agents hardly seemed like they would be worth the bother, especially now that the rest of us had arrived to back them up.