by T J Kelly
I looked at each of their faces so I would remember them later. Twenty people waiting for me to join them, making twenty-one, the power number of three sevens.
I had debated my decision to include Chas and Adrian, but ultimately decided that they were, for better or worse, irrevocably a part of my life. Whether or not I wanted it, my ties to them ran deep. As deep as anyone else in my family.
Glancing west, I eyed the position of the sun. A light cloud cover hid it from view, turning the sky into an amazing sunset of gold and pink, purple and orange. There was a thin line of blue on the horizon just above the ocean, a clear point waiting for the exact perfect moment when the sun began to disappear. Armageddon hadn't touched the weather - it was simply exactly the way it should be.
The diagrams on the paper dictated silence as I prepared the spells. Everyone joined hands, with me in the position right in front of the mounting block. We could all feel it. Magic, nature, elements, and spirit all blending together through the contact of our hands and the connections in our lives.
"Incipere," we chanted in unison, stating our intention to begin. There really wasn't a lot to say, but most major workings of magic did better with a clear word of intent.
Closing my eyes, I leaned into my power, listening to the beating of my heart, pulling myself into a trance. I reached out, connecting to the circle, the magicians and the alchemists. Deep down, they all felt the same to my senses. Despite our differences, in the end, we all used the same magic.
The sun continued sinking. The magicians levitated the astrolabe, bringing it into position over the mounting block. I held my breath, waiting, feeling, connecting, until the exact moment the world's balance was the same as mine.
"Cosmitto," I said, calling out the binding word as the astrolabe sank onto its final resting place. The alchemists used their magic to weld it in place, an action both magical and alchemical, the two sides of the circle blending as one as the sun broke through the clouds and lit up the silver and gold of the metal.
The air swam, the world tilted, yet everything was held frozen and still as the magic settled into place. The astrolabe hummed, inaudible and indiscernible, but still palpable in a way that any magician nearby would know it was an object of magic.
"It's beautiful," Peony said as the circle broke contact. "The metalwork is incredible."
I looked it over. The rings could shift, but the position they were in was considered net zero, or upright. The small indented spot in the shape of a star wasn't visible as it was located at the top where starlight would shine down upon it.
The sun finished setting and the light crystals lining the walkways and garden paths glowed brighter, casting a muted glow onto Rector House and my guests.
"Thank you all for your help," I said, looking at each of them in turn. "The others will arrive any moment now. I have trays of hors d'oeuvres for you to enjoy. Dinner will be served in an hour."
We broke up, almost everyone heading inside for a snack before the formal meal. Working that much magic really amped up our appetites.
"I don't know what your parents had planned," Peter said as he slipped beside me, his arm touching mine, Light flowing through the link between us. "But I can't shake the feeling this is important."
"Yeah, me too." We slowly walked towards the manor house. "And I think we'll find out why soon."
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Connections
"Anything new?" Mort asked. Peter was giving him a report from Kazumi and the rest of the wait staff.
"One consistent thread was the damage the Irregulars left behind after the confrontation where the junior agents were killed. The warehouses and vehicles belonged to mundanes and alchemists."
"Oh, no," I groaned. It was hard for alchemists to get enough money to purchase anything. Their wages were lower than that of a magician, although most light households paid a fair wage. But they turned around and sent money to their family members who were trapped in contracts with dark clans, which kept the entire class in poverty. "I had no idea. Rector Enterprises has a fund that can help."
"Your uncle has made amends," Mort assured me. "We have Council funds for that. It concerns me there is ill will coming from it. I've received mission reports that negative sentiment against the Irregulars is on the rise."
"I've come across some unhappy people in the field, too," Peter added. "I wasn't aware it was part of a larger pattern."
"Ged included it in the agenda for our next briefing. The more reluctant they are to cooperate, the harder it is for us to gain valuable information."
An agent's job included a fair amount of politics, with community outreach as needed. But we were usually seen as the good guys. The ones who helped. Even if we were mysterious enough to spark off the occasional conspiracy theory. But this was noteworthy.
"There were a few familiar faces I hadn't seen at events hosted by light families before," I said, moving on to my portion of the debriefing. "I used Recall. One man was at the formal dinner we had to attend back when we were still fighting against Adrian. He had been betting on the color of dresses the women were wearing as they arrived."
"I see," Mort murmured as he jotted a note in the field book. "Were you able to identify his companions?"
"He arrived with a Viclean," I said. That had bothered me, since they were allies of our clan, but at the time I was too busy to do more than take note. My stomach tied itself in knots. I needed to warn them. Their bloodline magic created magicians with sixty percent light. That was enough dark to leave them vulnerable to a dark magician's tricks.
"We need to identify the young man and which clan he comes from," Mort said, making another note. The pile of papers he had been adding to the field book was growing.
"At the other dinner, he had a lot of information about the Unguis clan." Traces, ties, connections - they would eventually catch up with a magician. "Did Harris notice anything? He was assigned to that mission." I shifted in my chair when Peter stifled a snort. I gave him a side glance, but didn't ask any questions.
Mort pulled a page and handed it to me. "He did. There is a report of the same young man. Harris recognized his trace and made a memory crystal. It's already with the analysts."
"Good." A sigh escaped my lips as if I had been holding it back for too long. "That's all for me."
"I'm done, too," Peter said.
Mort tucked the file into his desk and stood, escorting us to the door. "You two take a break. You look tired."
"All that partying," Peter joked. He slipped his hand in mine and tugged me towards the kitchen. "I could do with a snack first."
"Fine by me," I said as he pulled me along. Not that I was reluctant. But Mort had been right. I was tired. "Okay. Hey, what was that about when Mort mentioned Harris?"
"Oh, so your keen observation skills failed you last night," he teased. I sat at the kitchen table as he rummaged around in the fridge. "Seems our Harris was quite smitten with a lovely young woman from India."
"Whoa. You mean Kamini?"
"Got it in one," he laughed. Out came a bowl of mixed berries and another of whipped cream, which he set on the counter. Then he made his way to the pantry and pulled out an angel food cake. He used a serrated knife to cut it into chunks and then tossed them into a bowl, piling on the berries and giant scoops of the whipped cream, then slid the dish in front of me.
"That's so weird," I blurted before I took a bite. Things had definitely changed - I had no trouble keeping up an appetite despite the direction our conversation had taken.
"Why? I only dated her a couple of times, and it wasn't exactly a deep and meaningful relationship."
I had never asked Peter to explain what his relationship with Kamini was like. I wanted him to have his privacy, but I had also been scared of his answer. He had every right to date somebody else - I had been with Seth at the time. But hearing it hadn't been serious flooded me with relief.
It took a moment to swallow the huge bite of cake. "I don't know.
I guess it's fine. I mean, not like my opinion counts for anything." Then I laughed. It was so freeing to realize I didn't care one way or the other. Whatever hangups I had about her, which really only ever had to do with how I felt about Peter, were finally laid to rest. It would be nice to see her around more often. I liked her. And if she made Harris happy, then I was happy for him. He was such a good guy.
"Well, I guess you could make their lives hell if you wanted to," Peter suggested, his eyes glittering as he teased me. "I could even help. I mean, we are partners. May as well be partners in crime, too." He took a huge bite of his dessert.
"I'll think it over. You know, for when we get bored."
"Ha. Never, then."
I thought about the events of our lives since I had met him.
"Right?"
◆◆◆
"Where are you off to, pipsqueak?" my uncle called. I had walked by his office door, not realizing he was inside.
"Aunt Peony and Richard are going to work on my lessons with me today," I said as I wandered in. I sat in one of the chairs near his desk. "More memory charms stuff."
"That has been an interesting course of study," Armageddon said. He looked tired. Probably hadn't been sleeping all that often. Not with the end of the world as we knew it looming on the horizon.
"Yes, it has. You should join us one of these times." It occurred to me that I hadn't seen my uncle much lately. Almost not at all since the solstice last month. I missed him. His wise council, loving encouragement, support. Sneakiness. "Wait a second. Are those cookie crumbs?"
A grin split my uncle's face. "Ah. Well. I may have been peckish the other night and found a certain red tartan tin in the strangest place."
"And you just happened to be looking for something to eat in the antique glass storage cabinet?"
"It worked, didn't it?"
I cracked up. It was nice to know some things never changed. "Yeah, yeah. I'll have to try harder next time."
He pulled the tin out of his desk drawer, opening the lid and offering me a treat. "If you can figure out where I hide it," he said, causing me to giggle. Our food wars had evolved into a kind of game of hide and seek with the cookie tin. Much to my aunt's relief since that meant we settled down at the table. Not that I didn't occasionally steal some of his food. Because I did.
It was really a favor to him, keeping him on his toes like that.
"Thanks for the cookies," I said, making my way back to the door. I didn't want to be late.
"See you later, sweetheart."
I took the stairs two at a time. My aunt and cousin were going to meet me in my workshop. I had set up a small area with different kinds of memory crystals and gathered together all the books I had on memory work. Which turned out, weren't many. My studies were pulling me into directions the magicians of the past had never gone.
Richard was standing in the hall. "Sorry to keep you waiting," I blurted as I opened my bedroom door and led him to my workshop.
"I just got here," he assured me. He let out a low whistle as he looked around at my two-story workshop. The sun beamed through the stained glass windows lining the ceiling, casting pools of color all over the floor. "Nice place."
"Thanks. Aunt Peony is the one who set it up, though. I never had anything this wonderful before."
"Yeah, Mom really outdoes herself, doesn't she?" There was pride in his voice. I didn't blame him. She was amazing.
"What have I done now, my lovelies?" my aunt called as she entered the room. She was dressed in one of her casual outfits, which was more dressed up than I normally was. She had on a nice blouse in light teal paired with navy slacks, her eyes glowing a vivid blue beneath her up-swept blond hair.
"Made the best workshop ever," I replied as I led them to the area I had set aside in the western quarter. It was the area of Self and personal vision, and anything to do with memory or prophecy worked best in that quadrant.
"My pleasure," she said. Her hands ran over the crystals laid out on one of the low tables. "Did you know my brother used to store his visions in Rector memory crystals?"
"Whoa, he did?" I took a seat near the wall, leaving the chairs in a roomier location for my guests. "How is that even possible? How could he know to prepare a crystal and have it ready?"
"Oh, my brother made some stunning breakthroughs before he passed," she explained.
Richard shifted his chair closer to the table. "Uncle Ashe was crazy cool," he added with enthusiasm. "Definitely my favorite."
"It was cutting-edge technology at the time," Peony continued. "In fact, it still is. As far as I know, no magician has ever gotten as close to being able to select the time of reveal. Until now. It's a strikingly different method than our Recall work, coupling memories with the crystals. He scattered them about, saying he wanted to try a timing sequence on them. Sadly, that was shortly before he died and we never saw the fruition of his experiments."
The tragedy of a life cut short thickened my aunt's voice. All these years later, and she still missed him. Which made sense. I still missed my parents and always would. "Do you have access to his notes?" I asked. "His work sounds fascinating. Maybe some of his ideas could help us with our altered Recall search for prophecies."
"I'll send for them," she replied. "They're stored in the company vaults."
Although my aunt had chosen to work with my uncle, she was still a member of the Caorthann clan and had access to all of their archival information. Her sister had also chosen a different path, and with Ashe's passing, her cousins were the main family in charge of the clan corporation. Something that happened with frequency in families with enough members that they had a choice.
Not that I resented running Rector Enterprises. I couldn't think of anything I wanted more. It was a major part of my destiny and I embraced it. Fought for it.
Won it.
"What are we digging into today?" Richard asked. He rubbed his hands together, then popped an orange slice into his mouth. I had filled a tea cart with snacks in case anyone was interested.
We had already reclaimed the memories of several prophecies in Richard's mind, following the colors of the rainbow as a guide to which memories we accessed. None had been as significant as the first, when we learned about the scales and doing things a new way.
And watching out for the marginalized.
"Mort said there were a lot of angry people after that battle we had by the warehouses," I murmured. "The mundanes and alchemists were furious about what happened. Maybe we can search out something to do with them and the next colors available."
"A new way will show the way," Peony said, repeating a phrase from the first vision we had Recalled. "We must lift the scales."
"Those are definitely related," Richard said between bites of tea cakes and finger sandwiches. "I can probably find a sense of those visions in my memories."
"Lia, you take lead. Richard, use your power to bolster Lia's search pattern."
"Sounds good." Richard set aside his snack, taking a sip of tea before waving his hand over his dirty dishes, sending them back to the kitchen.
The three of us repositioned our chairs closer together so we could hold hands. After triple cleansing breaths, we leaned into Richard's mind and looked around.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Three...
A multi-colored landscape of bright lights surrounded us. The mind was a fascinating, beautiful place to be.
"That one has come to fruition," Peony whispered. There was no reason not to talk during our exploration, but soothing, gentle speech made it less likely anyone would get startled and jerk us out of position. That wouldn't hurt Richard, but it would add a bunch of time if we had to go back and retrace our steps.
Then we saw a bright red vision-memory flicker and pulse, as if it were counting down to something. I pulled back, easing us into reality and dropped the spell. "It'll happen any moment now. If we let it play out naturally, we can return after and see what the memory looks like. What trace it leav
es."
"Great idea," my cousin said. "I'd love to see what these things are doing to my brain." We shifted in our chairs, pulling back to a more comfortable distance.
"Nothing good, I'm sure," I teased. Richard snorted, but before he could reply, a glazed look slid down his face like a veil as he spoke the vision.
"Time heals all wounds," he said. I glanced at Peony. It must be strange watching her son speak in such an unworldly way. I had witnessed seer visions at Eostre and other solstices all my life and it was still pretty creepy. "Seek and you will find them. The lost will be reclaimed."
There was a pause. "I don't think he's done," my aunt murmured at my curious look. "The vision-memory in his mind looked like a short string of pearls. There are probably several things for him to say."
"Find them," he repeated. "The first casts rainbows in the dark. Follow the trail."
I wrote his words exactly in a small notepad I had left on the table nearby. "Sounds like the vision is giving orders," I said as he paused again. His eyes blinked, but he didn't snap out of it.
"Lift the scales." Then his body straightened, jerking as if he had been startled, and Richard was back to normal.
"How do you feel?" I asked. Now that we were delving into the mechanics of visions, I was curious about everything. "Are you up for me and your mom poking around in your brain again?"
"Go for it." He stretched his legs out in front of him, leaning back into the chair. "I always feel more centered when you're done mucking around. As if I just meditated."
Interesting. But also good to know. I liked that the results of our meddling were positive.
It took almost no time at all for my aunt and I to slip back into the altered Recall spell and find the vision location. The memory was no longer red, or bright. It was a cool, tranquil dusty blue and integrated into the fabric of all his experiences the way his other memories were. If we didn't know exactly what we were looking for, we would have passed right by and never realized it was special.