by T J Kelly
"I wonder what we're supposed to find?" I murmured as I read over my notes. "Visions are so weird. Like, here we are, getting some cryptic message that's supposed to mean something, and yet there's no telling what."
"Don't try to make it make sense," Richard laughed. "You can't. But it will. And maybe even have more than one meaning." He gestured to the tea cart. I declined, but my aunt nodded and he poured the two of them some tea.
My gaze wandered around my workshop, but I didn't focus on any one thing. The clutter was simply a backdrop as my focus remained inward. Then a casual glance at the floor had me bolting upright in my chair. "Are you kidding me?"
"Is something wrong?" Peony asked.
"No, I'm great. Look over there." Shadows from the worktable in the corner cast the floor into a pool of darkness. And right in the center, a rainbow.
The three of us stood and followed the beam of light casting the colors on the floor to the crystal shining in a window. "Ashe," my aunt said. "Of course. That's one of the crystals he gave me. It used to hang in the window of my study and I used it to focus when I meditated. I moved it in here when you came to live with us. I hoped it would help you. You were having such a hard time."
I reached out, pulling the crystal out of the Air pocket that held it in place. "It's a Rector memory crystal," I said. "Cut like a prism." There were so many Rector crystals in my workshop, I only paid attention to the ones I needed at the moment I needed them. Otherwise the silent noise they made would have given me a headache. But it was the center of my focus now. I probed the protections cast upon it, but it was nothing difficult to push through. For a Rector.
"Let's take a look," Richard suggested.
We walked back to our seats, and I set the crystal on the table between us. "All right. Here goes."
I reached out with my bloodline magic and sort of leaned into the crystal, pushing through the protection spell as if it were a thin sheet of ice beginning to form on the surface of a puddle. It broke, but was minor damage, not even causing a ripple.
A flash of colored light pulled us in, as if we were falling into the prism and becoming a part of the rainbow world. Then a memory.
"Take this. Keep it with you," Ashe said. He was talking to Peony, who we all saw through his eyes - it was his memory. She was younger than I had ever seen her, but not all that different from the aunt I knew and loved. "You're not going to remember this until later, but it will start you on an important journey. Others will be there. One will take the right path. Let her lead the way. There's a treasure at the end. You have sons now. Look for the crystal heart."
Then he waved his hand, a burst of light showering my aunt. It looked so much like our work with Recall that it couldn't have been a coincidence. He had obscured my aunt's memory of that moment, using something similar to the spells used on others to cause them to forget. I had worked on them with Armageddon.
We opened our eyes, seeing each other again instead of the memory. "Whoa. A treasure hunt," Richard said, grinning at us. "Today just keeps getting better."
"Well, the next clue is the crystal heart," I said. "Any idea what that means?"
Peony sipped her tea, then took a deep breath, her gaze turning within. "He mentioned my boys," she said. "It will have to do with them. I still have no memory of that conversation, but I recognize that day. It was James's birthday. He was three. Ashe had bought him a giant pile of toys, but also included some heirlooms to give both the boys when they were older. James was so young, and Richard, a baby. I stored them in a box to keep them safe."
"Is that the one you pulled out a few years ago?" my cousin asked. At Peony's nod, he snapped his fingers. "We each picked what we wanted, what called to us. I don't remember anything with a crystal in it, so maybe James has it."
"Well, then," my aunt said. "Niece, I believe you are the one who will lead the way on this trail to our treasure."
"Why me?" I often wondered that. Sometimes I felt like a magnet for trouble, although this was more fun than deadly.
"You're the only Rector left," Peony replied. She slipped her arm around mine as we headed out of the workshop. "But more important, you're family. Ashe was good. He saw things he remembered in a way most seers do not. He kept most of them to himself. Probably out of caution. You had not yet been born, but he would know you were coming, and the connection you would have to us. He may have even known you would live here and why."
I mulled that over. I had a sense that Ashe would have been an amazing person to know. He inspired love and admiration in my aunt - her feelings were always apparent when she spoke of him. And my cousins had known him when they were little and also had good things to say. But knowing he might have been able to answer some of my own questions made me wish more than ever that he was still with us.
Before we reached James's room, another alarm spell arrived. They were coming with increased frequency. As much fun as a treasure hunt or mystery quest would be, we had a job to do.
We turned away and instead hustled downstairs.
◆◆◆
"We've heard chatter about this," Mort was saying as we entered my uncle's office. "They're pulling the records now."
My aunt walked to Armageddon's side where he was studying a legal-size bundle of papers. A contract. I had seen enough of those - and signed so many - I would recognize them anywhere.
"Too late," my uncle said. Thunder boomed in the distance. "With this, the alchemists have no recourse. The Examiner will no longer cover them. He's officially required to focus solely on magician interests when determining law."
"And he's exactly the type to follow the letter of the law." Mort turned to us to explain, disgust written on his face. "Now we know why the Examiner was kept alive last year. He's one of the few men who doesn't allow morals or ethics to cloud the issue. He's on the side of light, but his ego makes that trait useful for the dark."
"This is an attack on our organization, but not the kind that can be countered with a spell," Armageddon added. "There's no telling what we'll find when we get there."
My uncle broke down the nature of the alarm. Agents in the streets of San Francisco, near the warehouses that had already caused us strife with the alchemists and mundane contractors, were calling for help. A group of Unguis clan members were damaging their projects, and it had gotten physical. The Irregulars on scene needed backup.
Peter and James burst through the door, already geared up.
"Come with me," Mort said. "I'll explain on the way."
The three of them moved out into the hallway. Mort's voice faded as they rounded the corner. They disappeared in a flash, heading out to join the agents in the field.
"Grab your vests and follow," my uncle said. Richard and I both took the quick way and transported to our rooms. I was in jeans and a butter-yellow t-shirt, but I didn't take the time to change. I tugged on my vest and followed the alarm trace to its origin point.
An explosion of orange and red light stopped me in my tracks. I had appeared outdoors in an industrial area. The warehouses where Oberon had killed the agents with the Vanesco spell were just down the block. Ducking behind a car, I assessed the situation.
The Unguis were carrying boxes and papers out of a nearby building. Magic tools, crystals, supplies, and metal, tons of metal, all being jumbled and tossed, the fragile items broken as they hauled them out. It looked like an old-fashioned movie scene where the evil landlord destroyed decades of hard work.
Not a surprise, considering that was exactly what was happening.
"That's too delicate, you must stop!" a man cried. He was tugging on another man's arm, doing what he could to save a stack of thin-pressed gold and lead. The Unguis clenched his fist to destroy the sheets, but found he couldn't move.
The two men turned and saw me standing in the open, my arm outstretched, hand extended to freeze his motions. There was no way that man was going to damage the alchemist's work. I could feel the hum of magic from where I stood. It must have taken
months, or maybe even years, to accumulate that much magic into such a small vessel. A feat that required incredible skill.
"You have no right, agent," the Unguis man shouted. "Ownership has been transferred. They should have read the fine print. Everything is now ours and I can do what I please with it." But he didn't move. He couldn't.
I didn't care what he said. It was wrong. We had laws that protected the alchemists. And even if there was some kind of loophole, it didn't matter.
"You know what?" I shouted. "Men like you suck." With a flicker of a thought, I transported the guy to a building with unique architecture I had once seen in Detroit. Enough that I could find it through the darkness and send somebody there. I had learned my lesson. I would never again move a living soul without picturing a destination first.
The sheets of lead and gold remained where they were, hovering in the air near the alchemist who had made them. He reached out and gently moved them into a flat box he had been carrying on his shoulder with a leather strap. "Thank you, milady."
"No problem. I'm sorry this is happening to you," I replied as I walked closer. The flurry of activity slowed. There were no more men stealing things and the spells that had been exchanged between the Unguis clan and the Irregulars had died down. "Secure your metal and then come find me. I'll walk through the building with you and transport whatever you need to a safe location."
The alchemist bowed and then hurried away. I turned back and walked inside to join the other agents. We corralled the remaining Unguis clan members into one place with a loose Air net.
"You're on the wrong side of the law," one man sneered. He was confronting Mort. "The Council will rule in our favor."
"Well, that's their prerogative," Mort replied. "But in the meantime, we won't allow you to cause any further damage or remove any items. These are in the possession of alchemists and bear their maker's marks. The auras trace to them. Until you can prove otherwise in a court of law, our field judgment stands. The alchemists retain ownership and the right to determine position, location, and movement."
The Unguis reacted with fury, but lacked the power to do anything about it. With Peter, James, and Richard's help, Mort transported them away until all that remained were alchemists and Irregulars. He then placed a shield around the building.
"I'm afraid this will cause you trouble," the alchemist I had helped earlier said.
"Doesn't worry me," I assured him. "Agents have a ton of leeway. At least for now. Mortem Impii is the best attorney I know. Anything you take tonight will remain yours. Let's start at the top. Do you have somewhere for this stuff to go, or would you like to use a Rector Enterprises storage facility? We have provisions for emergencies. It will be safe and our alchemists store objects all the time without charge."
"Thank you, milady. I'm the nephew of the aide to Metallum Bellator. He told me that I can trust you. I appreciate your help."
"My honor," I replied. "Come on, let's get moving. Who knows how long it will take that Unguis guy to figure out where I sent him and get back here?" A starting point was as important as a destination during a transport. Until he knew exactly where he was, the man I sent north couldn't return.
I spent the next hour walking through the entire building with my new companion. He introduced himself by his given name of Andrew, probably out of respect for my position and because of his status. I told him to go ahead and call me Lia, but I knew he wouldn't. There were too many class rules in our society for him to overcome in such a short time. Especially when I was doing so many things on his behalf.
Not that I believed that meant he owed me anything. I didn't. This was a war against the side of light and he was collateral damage. But there was no convincing him of that and time really was short.
When I finished clearing the building, I broke the trace. That way nobody could find the contents unless I told them. And only an alchemist would hear it from me. It was their livelihood at stake.
"You think we're in a bunch of trouble?" I asked Mort when we returned to the castle.
"Yes. But don't worry about it. Ged and I will cover you."
"I'm not worried about me," I explained. Everyone was so used to reassuring me. Teaching me and protecting me. But I didn't need all that handholding anymore. "But thanks."
"You got it, kiddo," he said. He was tired. Drained. But still so strong. He patted my head on his way upstairs, a small gesture, yet enough to make me feel safe. If I had been scared about the direction things were headed.
Which I wasn't.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The Mayor's Turn
It wasn't until things settled down a couple of weeks later that I remembered I wanted to speak with James.
"Mind if I come in?" I asked after knocking. My cousin nodded, gesturing me inside. I hadn't realized he was on his phone. It was unusual since they were so easy to tap.
"I'll let them know," he replied to the person on the other side of the call. "Thank you."
"I'm so sorry for interrupting," I said when he set the phone down. "It could have waited."
"No, it's fine. That's one of my burner phones. I hand out the number to my mundane assets. They know to keep it under a minute." Which would help keep standard surveillance techniques in check. He must have a boatload of spells on the phone to block magician snoopers. "I need to send a quick message downstairs. There's more of the same contract stuff going on, but it's less physical. They're focused on dark magicians claiming ownership of alchemist materials. We'll need Mort in the courtroom soon. Have a seat," he offered as we entered his workshop.
James bent over a desk pushed against the wall, writing a quick note and then transported it downstairs. Then he turned to me, his silver eyes flashing in a beam of light shining through the curtains. He looked so much like my uncle in that moment that for the first time since meeting him, it occurred to me he was probably intimidating to everyone he met, too.
"Thanks," I said as I flopped down on one of the beat up old upholstered chairs. It looked a lot like the one my uncle kept in his office. I ran my hands along the arms, and sure enough, there was a loose thread for me to tug on. "I've been working with Aunt Peony and Richard. We were going to stop by but never got the chance."
"How are things going with that?" he asked as he waved his hand, calling up a loaded tea cart from the kitchen. The servants had prepped several, using domestic spells to keep everything fresh and the exact right temperature. They were on hand at all times since there were so many of us in residence and we all had some wacky schedules.
"Good," I replied as I watched him glance over the cart and then transported more drinks from the kitchen. He handed me a cream soda. "Thanks. We can find and access visions ahead of time now. I'm not sure how useful that is. I mean, Richard had a vision where he said we needed to be careful to help the other classes and not ignore them, but we're already doing that, anyway. Plus, by the time the vision reaches its fruition, it would have been too late to prep it ahead of time. So what's the point? Would foreknowledge have changed anything?"
My voice caught, and I took a quick sip of my soda. It was hard not to go on a rant. Not when it came to visions.
"You're thinking of your parents," James said. His tone was gentle and kind.
"They heard a prophecy, and it ruined my whole life." My voice was unnaturally loud, bouncing off the stone of the exterior castle wall.
"I'm sorry."
The fact he didn't argue or try to excuse my parents helped. I gripped my shaking hands together and managed a normal tone. "Okay. They didn't ruin anything. But they were trying so hard to make things work that I barely got to spend any time with them. I moved from school to school so often that I never really even got the chance to make friends and go out with guys and be resentful that I had to come home every holiday instead of hanging out and partying the way the other kids did. I never even knew my mother's favorite color until your dad told me."
I wasn't sure how he acquired them, but ther
e was a red tartan tin full of cookies in his hand. He set it on the side table near my chair before crouching down beside me. "Is that the kind of life you wanted?"
"No. I didn't care about parties and all that crap. But I did care about them. And I was always so lonely. They never would have tried so hard to push my connection to magic if they had never heard the prophecy at all. Will our experiments be worthwhile or are we going to be trapped the same way?"
"That's definitely a consideration." He was still beside my chair. We hadn't known each other for long enough for it to be as natural as it was with my other family and friends, but he reached out and patted my arm, trying to comfort me. The kindness and care in his touch reminded me that was the one thing I had missed the most by being so far from my parents all those years. "I think with your experience, you're unlikely to be trapped in the same way. And you can't discount their love for you. A loving parent would do anything for their child. Even sacrifice time with them, if it means their survival."
"Yeah. You're right." I relaxed back into my chair and he returned to his seat, sliding the cookie tin my way. "I don't know what's wrong with me."
"Family gets to you in a way nobody else can," he said with a smile.
"So I've discovered," I replied as I opened the tin and swiped a cookie. I ate it first, then filled a small plate with finger sandwiches and a scoop of fruit salad as I collected my thoughts.
"I'm curious about why you were headed my way after your session." James had a small plate of his own and popped a sauteed onion and raspberry mustard tart into his mouth.
"Oh, yeah. That's the cool part. Aunt Peony's brother left a bunch of memories in crystals. Richard's vision played out in its own timing and started us on some kind of treasure hunt. I guess you have the next crystal clue."