by T J Kelly
Something I would definitely never forget, even without a memory crystal.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
A Curse, A Friend
"Still no word," Harris reported hours later. He and his brother were trading off, running between the Council's outer chambers and the castle. "Neither of us have been able to get in."
"All right. Get something to eat and rest up while you can," my aunt said. Harris waved at me as he left.
I looked around at my fellow agents. We had converted the main sitting chamber on the ground floor into a communications center when Peony had taken control during Armageddon's absence. Richard and James were by her side supporting her as agents, and family. The chamber reached up to the second story in the oldest part of the castle and they kept the location of the Irregulars up to date on a huge map tacked to the wall.
Joseph was in charge of a massive region of the United States. Since he was with my uncle, David Novato was coordinating with his people. Their territory was closest to the Center of the Universe and had a majority of the distractions contained in that area. The Council removing the leaders was a strategic move on their part, but we always had a backup plan.
Adrian was in Poland. The issues there would take days to sort out. I was still so new in my position as CEO that I should have been there, but the alchemists understood. They could file a petition of no-confidence in my leadership if I didn't take my responsibilities to them seriously. Metallum Bellator would make certain that didn't happen in case any of the alchemists in my satellite locations weren't aware of the current situation.
Several other incidents of a similar nature had been reported. Caeli and Iuvo split up, each taking over a Rector Enterprises location. I was hoping our enemies stopped at three. It was a power number and worked to their benefit, but I was running low on major players in my organization who had enough recognition to keep the locals safe and understand that I wasn't ignoring them. Or worse, abandoning them. There was enough bad blood between us and the other classes thanks to the efforts of our enemies for them to believe it.
"Where's Reg?" I asked, noting his absence.
"He took Tian and some junior agents to Baku," Peony replied as she continued to roll bandages. Laurus Commodities had partnered up with the medical field to weave in mechanical healing magic. It had been a special project of hers and Poltens Sanator. Healing magic was personal, but they found a way to make it more generalized and useful out in the field.
"Where you went to find those missing kids?" Peter asked. He was drawing partial sketches, prepping for more detailed work later.
"Yes. They are safe now but the local magistrate has been bombarded by rumors and planted media stories. It's caused tensions that have just now come to a boiling point."
"Perfect timing, of course," I added.
"Right. Reg has been there before as backup so they recognize him as one of the heroes who rescued the children. It would be better if I were there since I was the face of the project," Peony said, her frustration coming out in her voice. Her spellwork on the bandages remained smooth and even from long practice, despite how she felt. "But we can no longer afford to handle the distractions ourselves."
I knew exactly how she felt. Not helping my own employees was hard on me, too. "So we have them on assignment, and the trio at the Council," I stated, giving a nickname to my uncle and his companions. "If the Baku troubles are meant for you, what is happening while Uncle Ged's back is turned?"
"Excellent question," David Novato said. He was studying a chart and detailed maps of Joseph's territory. "I have messages arriving every hour about new incidents. The agents on the ground aren't sure where it's leading, but a pattern is starting to emerge."
I walked to his side, pleased to note he no longer flinched when I came near. Good. Times were hard enough without my prior behavior making it difficult to plan in the war room. "Who are the targets?"
"Mundanes and the most junior of alchemists," he replied, handing me a dossier. "Look at the locations."
There were diagrams and color markings on several of the sheets showing where the most intense activity was located. Every incident drew closer until the area around San Francisco was almost completely filled in with red and orange, as if the entire region was on fire.
"We'll have to go out there," I said. "If worse comes to worse, you can neutralize the magic and level the playing field." I dug around in the pouch I had attached to my belt, pulling out a baseball size lump of lead. It was incredibly heavy and meant to be held against the body in a magical container of some kind, or stuffed into a vest pocket with a large enough opening. "Here, take this. I think you can use the opposite magic method on your null spell to access the effects of the lead, then form a kind of force field around it to double back on your null magic to make it stronger."
David's dark eyes sparkled. "Ricochet my null, flip to amplify, double it with the lead. I'd be able to neutralize magic for miles. My affinity for Earth will help me control it."
"Good point."
"Looks like you've got your marching orders," Peony called across the way. "Good job, you two. David, I'll send some agents to back you up. Lia, can you come with me? I have a task for you. You can join David after."
My eyebrow raised. I exchanged a look with Peter, but he only shrugged. I trotted across the room and then walked out a side door into a small room that used to act as a buttery. Now it was storage.
"I didn't realize I was going out into the field," I said, curious about the change.
"Your uncle and I discussed this last night," she replied, leaning against the low counter against the side wall. "The prophecies all point to you, but we don't know where you're needed. We also don't want to send you where the enemy wants you. So you're going to be roaming around to a lot of places over the next few days."
The autumn equinox was only three days away. We had to bring enough pressure down to make sure the battle happened by then to have the advantage, even if the actual day was the last moments of the light half of the year. We would have to force it to happen in broad daylight to miss the changeover at sunset.
"Sounds like a plan," I said. My blood raced through my veins as excitement filled me with a sense of euphoria and purpose. It had been the longest summer ever. Now, with fall looming, things were finally coming to a head. "You want me to go with David? Who else is coming as back-up?"
"I'm sending Chas and Clarissa. They're already aware and on the lookout for the message. I had them pack and send their belongings to a safe house. Kamini made a temporary connection near the Taine compound for them. Once they use it to come to our aid, there is no going back for them."
"So it's time to break the curse," I said. I had reported to my uncle what I saw attached to Clarissa, but we had kept it confidential. The same death curse Oberon placed on all of his servants and lower class workers to keep them trapped. Chas was still under his blood oath, but since the deal included him not being forced to serve his father, there was wiggle room that allowed Chas to stand against him in a limited capacity. He couldn't make a direct attack against Oberon, but he could work around that in the background. It was Clarissa who had the most peril. For the moment.
"Are you ready?" Peony didn't know the extent that it had drained me when I broke Sera's death curse, and that was when I had the help of my uncle and Poltens Sanator. But their part was actually minor. The real problem had been how much Dark I had to ingest to break it. Thankfully, the one person who could counterbalance it was also my boyfriend.
"Oh, yeah. I can't wait to mess with Oberon's plans. I'll go change into my uniform. Can you have David tell them to meet me and Peter at the safe house? I'll do it before it can take hold of her the way it did to Sera."
At the time, we knew nothing of the curse. Sera had woken in the night, shivering and feverish, already in the curse's deadly grip. At least we had forewarning this time around.
"I will. Take care, sweetheart," my aunt said, giving me a hug. "If
you run into trouble, send us an alarm spell immediately."
"You got it."
◆◆◆
"You make it okay?" I asked as Chas and Clarissa popped into existence on the lawn in front of the safe house.
"No chasers," Chas replied. Peter reached out and took Clarissa's bag. I guess not everything had been transported earlier. "What's the assignment? The message we got was pretty sketchy."
"It's time," I said. He nodded, acknowledging the moment where he was turning his back on his heritage - again - without a word.
"There's more," Peter said as he set down the bag on a side table in the living room just beyond the entry. "Clarissa has a tracker attached to her. We're going to break it."
Neither of us said a thing about the curse. The thought that she had meant so little that they trapped her the way they did any of their forced-labor servants was too awful. Peony said she would explain later, but we didn't know what Clarissa's response would be and we needed her in top form. She didn't have enough power to make it into the Irregulars, but she worked well with Chas and could even blend her magic into her voice and harmonize with him. It was an exciting method of magic to explore. Later. For now, we needed her focused on the task ahead and not how crappy her family was.
"I want to help," Chas said.
But Peter shook his head. "No time, man. You need to transport to the castle and have David brief you on the situation. We'll follow shortly. This one is tricky and might take time we don't have."
Fortunately, Chas took Peter at face value. He turned to Clarissa, who had remained silent and motionless ever since we entered the safe house. "You okay?" he asked.
"Yes," she said. Her voice was firm. Determined, even. She didn't seem as snotty as she used to, although I suspected that was a defensive mechanism. In my brief encounters, outside of Oberon's stupid games, she was nice and maybe even a little shy. "I'll be there soon."
Peter and I turned away to give them some alone time. Sure, they would meet up again shortly, but at this point in the game, there were no guarantees. For all they knew, the safe house could be attacked before Clarissa made it to the castle.
And for all we knew, the curse could win this time.
But I wouldn't let that happen. No way. Oberon was never going to beat me again, not in anything. I would make sure of it.
After Chas transported away, taking her bag with him, Clarissa turned to us. "I know I don't have a tracker on me. I already checked. What's really going on?"
Ah. Well, not that shy after all. I may have kept quiet about it before, but I wasn't going to lie. "They put a death curse on you."
She stared at me, her face frozen and unreadable. "I see," she said, her soft voice barely reaching my ears. "I've heard of such things, but have never encountered one."
There was no sign of fear in her, but the prickling at the back of my neck told me she was hiding something. I didn't blame her. It was easier to maintain control when I didn't speak my fears out loud, too.
"It's not too bad," I assured her, starting to chatter away as a distraction. "All you need to do is stand there. You should see it from my end. It's like drinking down fifteen buckets of nasty, rancid honey. Oh, my gosh."
"You've done this before?" she asked as we walked outside, Peter closing the door behind us. We moved onto the lawn where the afternoon sun could beam down on us.
"Oh, yeah. Sera had one, too."
"So young," she murmured. Disgust dripped in her voice. Of all the things she had ever said or done, her revilement of a death curse on a tiny child endeared her to me the most. I felt the exact same way.
"Are you ready?" I asked, my voice gentle. We could talk about random things all day long if she needed me to. But I wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. There was the aftermath to deal with and I wasn't sure what I would need to recuperate after. I had passed out last time and that wouldn't be useful to the cause.
"Yes. Let's get this over with." We stood face to face. I took her hands in mine, as if I were about to do healing magic. Which I kind of was. Peter placed his hands on my shoulders, already cranking up the flow if Light at twice his normal speed.
"All right. Close your eyes and picture your favorite place or thing. Concentrate on that. It will help me if your mind is otherwise occupied." Sometimes a magician could inadvertently stop those who came to help them if they focused on the problem.
"I will. I'm ready. And Lia?" she said, her words back to being hesitant and careful. "Thank you."
There was something in her voice that broke my heart. She was surprised. Shocked that anyone would help her the way I was about to. I could feel it through the contact we had made when we clasped hands.
"Anytime," I said, then dove headfirst into the curse.
Swirling, sticky, cloying evil surrounded me. It was like Sera's, but her curse had already been so much further along. Clarissa had set hers off when she left knowing she wouldn't be back, but it took time to build. There was less darkness for me to deal with.
I set a reminder for my body to breathe. It wasn't easy to keep up when I was drowning in magic. Then I opened myself up, every part of me, and pulled.
Hard.
Darkness rushed in, growing, expanding, overflowing. And still I pulled. Peter tapped into the sun above, giving himself an unending source of Light, counterbalancing the curse with everything he had. And then more. And more. Dark and Light, balancing, mixing, evading. Spinning.
Good thing Peter had his hands on me because I rocked back, dizzy from the swirling mass of the curse. "Ugh," I groaned, unable to remain silent against the onslaught. But I couldn't articulate any further. I was in too deep.
The darkness lost its grip. Then ran from the Light, forcing its way into Clarissa's soul, as deep as it could tie itself. But I was having none of it. It was all or nothing. I couldn't leave her tied to that curse. It would come back, regenerate. I chased it, deep, into every part of her magic, through her heart.
And into her mind.
Chas was singing to her. That must be her favorite thing. I didn't blame her - his voice was incredible, even when he wasn't using it to work magic. There was a look on his face that I had never seen before, even when we were dating. Pure, true love.
I had experienced the same, but only from Peter.
Maybe it wasn't the best time to think about it. But I was glad, so glad, that everything had turned out exactly the way it had. It didn't throw me off course. It wasn't a distraction. Love for Peter was exactly what I needed to feel.
I connected to the Light he gave me on an even deeper level. The Dark had taken refuge in Clarissa's memory, in the most real moments of her life. There was something so cruel about it, worse even than the curse on Sera. Hers was to keep her under control. Clarissa's was designed to do as much damage as possible before taking her life. The darkness was rooted deep, hiding itself. But that was okay. I could find it. Dark was my heritage.
With one last heave, being careful to shield Clarissa's mind from damage - avoiding the final trap set by the curse - I tore the remaining darkness out of her.
The shared grip of our hands dropped. I opened my eyes, watching through a haze as she fell to the ground, exhausted and emptied of the drain on her very soul. She probably never knew it was there. Then Peter's magic surged and for the first time I realized he had been chanting.
His name, Armalucis. Mine, Praelia Nox. Over and over.
Weapon of Light. Battles the Night.
Then my vision cleared, and I was free. The Dark inside me was my own. Comfortable. A part of who I was. This time I had won without such a high price to pay.
I reached down to help Clarissa to her feet. "Sorry about that. I didn't know it would knock you over. Are you okay?" Touching her gave me a jolt. Her magic, which had always been of decent strength, was so much more than before. I pushed in, tracking the change, and found the burned out trace from where she bore her curse. Her magic had been operating nearly her entire life, count
erbalancing the darkness Oberon had placed on her for control. It had masked her power, which was more than most.
Well, there was always room for one more agent in the Irregulars. If she wanted. She could make that choice.
Later.
"I'm fine. Not even a scratch. Thank you for everything."
"Don't mention it," I said, feeling the urgency to go home pull at me. Then I tugged her closer to Peter so we could transport together. "Come on, let's get back to the castle. There's a bunch of stuff going down. Besides, I'm starved. How about you?"
"I could eat," she said. There was a lightness to her, an open connection. In one fell swoop, I made her my friend.
Cool.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Historical Patterns
A flare of light from the hall warned us of a new arrival. We had just finished eating, taking our meal in the war room instead of the dining chamber.
"Harris sent me," Kamini said as she burst into the room. Every ally now had access to the castle, but only family and inner circle could bring somebody with them. If they wanted company, they still had to transfer outside the gates and go through the border spells and guards. "They can't keep up. Four more junior agents have been lost to darkness."
The coconut tart I was eating turned to sawdust in my mouth. That hurt.
Oberon had used a ton of magic to perform the Vanesco spell near the warehouses. No ordinary magician could have managed it. That meant the main fighters had just entered the playing field.
"Reg is wrapping up in Baku," Peony informed her. "I'll send him in to help. Poltens Sanator has joined the fight. He'll come as well. He's good at saving lives."
"Have you eaten today?" Peter asked with concern. I waited for Kamini to answer, ready to transport in more food from the kitchen.
"I'm good. But if you have anything packed for the road, I'd like to bring something back for the guys."