by Jamie Davis
She motioned for the other woman to follow her as she moved around to the garage’s far side. There was a door there.
She tried the knob. Of course, it was locked.
“I can help with that,” the woman behind her said. “Move over.”
Quinn slid farther into the narrow space between the garage and the tall metal fence protecting the rear of the building next to this property.
The woman crouched until she was at eye level with the doorknob. She raised two fingers on her right hand and muttered a few quiet phrases while she twitched her fingertips a few times near the keyhole.
After a few seconds, she smiled and stood, turning the knob and opening the door to reveal the dark interior beyond.
“Neat trick,” Quinn said. There were more than a few times in her past on the streets where that would have come in handy.
“It’s not hard once you understand how locks work.”
“Let’s get out of sight while we wait for the return call. Get in there while I check the alley one last time.”
The other woman sighed and stepped into the dark interior of the garage. Quinn checked to make sure the alley was still clear and then entered the garage, closing the door. Very little light filtered in through the single grimy window in the far wall. Like most garages Quinn had seen, it didn’t contain a car. Instead, moldy cardboard boxes and stacks of broken furniture filled the space.
Quinn pulled a chair with a broken back off a stack nearby. It shifted a little when she settled her weight on it, but it held her.
She gestured to the pile. “Take a seat. We might be here a while.”
“I’ll stand if that’s all right.”
“Suit yourself.”
After a full minute of awkward silence, Quinn glanced at the woman pacing by the door. “What’s your name?”
“Miranda. I gather from the phone conversation your name is Quinn?”
Quinn nodded, noticing the scrapes on the woman’s elbows. “I’m sorry if I hurt you. There’s something going on here I don’t understand yet. Some sort of magic clouded my mind and made me chase you. The good news is you’re safe for now.”
“What about my friends? We’ve been working on an important project together. We have to continue it.”
Quinn shook her head. “I don’t know. They have other people like me chasing them.”
Miranda’s eyes widened. “Hopefully, they’ll all come to their senses like you did before anyone gets hurt.”
Quinn’s expression must have answered the other woman’s question. Quinn quickly said, “Maybe your friends were able to lose the others in the crowd. They might already be safe.”
There was another awkward pause as Miranda went back to pacing. She favored her right leg.
“Is your leg okay?” Quinn asked.
“I don’t think anything’s broken, but I’m pretty banged up. You try getting tackled onto concrete and have someone land on top of you. It’s not pleasant, trust me.”
The awkward tension between them and the matter-of-fact way she said it almost made Quinn laugh despite everything that was going on. She covered it with a cough and cleared her throat.
She was about to remark how the whole situation was crazy when Miranda’s phone vibrated, signaling an incoming call.
Quinn tapped to pick up and put the phone to her ear. “Hello?”
“Quinn, is that you?”
Quinn let out a sigh. “Clark, thank God. I’m calling because I’m back inside the VR system.”
“What? You were supposed to stay home and keep your friend there with you.”
“That didn’t work out, and then they used some kind of control magic on me, so I had to do what they asked me to.”
After a spate of unintelligible grumbles from the other end, Clark said, “Where are you?”
“I’m in an alley between Fells Point and the Inner Harbor. I have a woman here with me. She was my target for the mission.”
“Is she all right?”
Quinn rolled her eyes. “I didn’t kill her if that’s what you mean. Look, I don’t know how long I’ll be here before they recall me from the VR system. What do I do? They’re going to want a good reason why I didn’t kill my target this time.”
“All right, I think I know the area where you are. I’ve got an idea, but you’ve got to hurry because you’ve got some distance to go.”
“What do we do?”
“Head east toward the waterfront. You’ll come out between some warehouses next to a pier. I’ll meet you there.”
“What do we do when we get to the water?”
“I’ll explain later. Take the woman with you and meet me there. Go now.”
Clark hung up before Quinn could ask any more questions. She turned to Miranda. “He wants me to head east from here to some warehouses by the harbor. You’re to come with me. Are you good with that?”
Miranda thought for a second, then nodded. “Yes.”
“Good, then let’s get moving. Let me go out and check to make sure none of the others are around.”
Quinn stepped outside and looked both ways, then called to Miranda, “It looks like we’re in the clear. Are you ready to run? As long as we keep moving, we should be able to stay ahead of the other hunters. Run when I run. Stop when I stop. Got it?”
Miranda nodded.
“Good, let’s go.”
Quinn and Miranda ran down the alley. Quinn stopped long enough to check the street, then the two of them darted across it into another alley that led toward the harbor’s edge.
The alley ended in a tall wooden fence. Quinn slowed as she approached it to try to figure a way over. Miranda did the magic jumping thing again and vaulted to the top of the fence.
She reached down to help Quinn up.
Quinn laughed as she reached the top. “You have to show me how you do that, too.”
“I’m not sure you’ll be able to do that sort of magic, but if you can, and we live through this, I will.”
Quinn smiled and jumped down to the lot on the other side. She and Miranda continued zig-zagging between buildings and alleys until they reached the dockside area Clark had described.
Miranda pointed across the street. “The water should be one block that way through the industrial park.”
She started to step out from between the buildings where they hid, but Quinn hissed a warning and pulled her back into the shadows.
There, standing between two buildings across the street, was Taylor. Luckily, she’d turned away from them and scanning the area the street in the opposite direction.
“That’s my friend, Taylor. We can’t let her see us.”
“What are we going to do? If she’s there, the others are probably close, too. We don’t have time to wait. Just fight her so I can get by.”
Quinn shook her head. “If I fight her, she’ll remember it when we get back.”
“What do you mean when you get back? Aren’t you coming with me?”
“No, I can’t. Look, Miranda, it’s a long story, but somehow, I’m not really here. I can’t explain how, but they can sort of teleport us to places where they want us to hunt down people. All I know is that when they decide to pull me out, I’ll simply wake up back there. We can’t afford to have Taylor know I helped you. Even though she’s my friend, I don’t think she’s acting of her own volition right now. They use magic to supplement the technology, and I think it has a mind-control component to it.”
Miranda stared at Quinn and said, “I have so many questions about what you just said, but if it’s true, you’re right, we don’t have the time. I can help solve your problem, though. I can do a short-term memory wipe. It’s only good for clearing out about thirty seconds of memories, but if you can disable her in that timeframe, I’m pretty certain I can make it so she doesn’t remember what happened.”
Quinn didn’t want to fight her best friend, but that was the only option they had to get across the street.
“All right, we’ll
do it your way. I’m going to run over to her. When I reach her, run after me. Have that spell ready. The sooner I disable her, the better. Then you do your mojo while I pull her out of sight between those warehouses. We’ll leave her there until she comes around.”
Miranda nodded, and Quinn turned to look up and down the street again. Then the hunter darted out of the shadows and ran straight across the street toward Taylor.
Taylor caught the movement and turned to face it, crouched and ready to defend herself. She had a short-bladed tantō in her hand.
She relaxed and waved when she saw Quinn. “Hey, I killed mine and came to help you. Where’s the woman you were chasing?”
Quinn didn’t answer, just continued toward her at full speed. When she reached Taylor, she tackled her to the ground. Taylor’s knife skittered across the pavement.
Taking advantage of Taylor’s stunned expression, Quinn pulled out her knife but shifted her grip so she brought the pommel down hard on the side of Taylor’s head just in front of her ear.
Taylor shouted once, then her eyes closed.
Initially, Quinn thought she’d been successful.
A mere two seconds after her eyes closed, Taylor’s eyes popped open again, and she swung a wild punch at the side of Quinn’s head.
Wincing at both the strike to her head and what she had to do, Quinn realized she was going to have to hit her friend again. She batted away Taylor’s flailing arms and managed to land another strike in at the same spot. This time Taylor’s eyes rolled back in her head, staying closed as she fell silent and laid still.
“Stand up and step away from her,” Miranda called as she ran up behind them.
Quinn got up, sheathed her Bowie, and moved away to stand next to the spell-caster.
Miranda once again traced signs in the air, waving her arms while she muttered, “Forget.”
There was no visible change in Taylor.
Quinn looked at Miranda. “Well? Did it work?”
Miranda shrugged. “I hope so. We won’t know until you get back. It should’ve worked, but if she’s not here in her own body like you said, I don’t know for sure.”
Quinn wished she’d known about the woman’s doubts before now. She reached down to drag Taylor into the shadows nearby.
There was a brief flash of light that left Quinn blinking in surprise at an empty spot on the pavement.
“Where’d she go?” Miranda asked.
“I guess when she lost consciousness, the VR system recalled her. I sure hope that spell worked, or I’m screwed when my turn comes.”
Realizing it could happen to her at any moment, Quinn pushed Miranda toward the two nearby warehouses. “Go, I’m right behind you. When you get near the water, look for an old guy in a black trench coat. If you see anyone else, zap them or something. You can do more magic, right?”
Miranda shook her head. “We’d been casting all day. I might have enough juice left for one more spell.”
“I’ll defend you, but be ready with that forget spell if I call you over.”
While Miranda started though the last stretch to the harbor, Quinn scanned the street behind them one last time. There was no one there, and Quinn turned to race after Miranda.
Five minutes later, the two of them stood at the edge of a pier, staring out at the water.
“Now what?” Miranda asked.
Quinn opened her mouth to answer but closed it when Clark once again startled her with his surprise appearance trick. “Now you let me take it from here.”
Quinn glared at him. “Stop that. It’s not nice to sneak up on people. I could’ve killed you before I knew who it was.”
Clark looked down at her and laughed. “You? Kill me? Not hardly.”
He turned to Miranda and offered a slight bow at the waist. “Sorry I wasn’t close enough to protect you and your coven, Milady. Hopefully the others survived as well.”
“It is nice to see a hunter who still understands the proper forms,” Miranda said. She cast a sideways glance in Quinn’s direction. “Some of your people are a little rough around the edges.”
“She’s not my people, at least not officially. She’s an interesting anomaly I recently discovered.”
Quinn scanned their surroundings for the other hunters and pretended not to hear his remarks. After making sure it was still clear, she turned back to Clark and Miranda. “Look, I’m glad you two are having this reunion, but we need to get this figured out. They can pull me out of here any time.”
“The plan is, you’re going to tell them you chased her here, where she fell in the water and disappeared.”
Quinn stared at Clark, trying to understand how this simple statement was going to solve anything. “That’s it?”
Clark nodded. “You’ll be credited with the kill, at least initially. If they examine you for the taint, it’ll help explain why they can’t detect a stain on your soul. They’ll assume it was an accidental drowning, not attributed by the higher powers to you. It’s the perfect answer, really.”
Quinn wasn’t sure. “If you say so. How are you going to get her away?”
“I can keep her hidden long enough to get us out of the general area. I’ll take care of protecting her in a safe location while I try to find the others from her coven.”
He eyed her, taking in her outfit. “Nice. Are you going to be able to get away when you get back?”
“I think so, now that I’ve got this cover story about the drowning.”
“Well, there is one thing I can do to help you. I should’ve done it last night while we were together. Take out your amulet. I have something to show you.”
Quinn did as she was told, holding it between her thumb and forefinger.
“One of the first protections an initiate learns is to conceal themselves from those who seek them. It’s a useful skill, and given how attuned you’ve become to your amulet growing up, it shouldn’t be a problem for you to learn it.”
“What do I do?”
“First, this will work only as long as the amulet is touching your body. On the chain around your neck is fine, as long as it’s touching skin. Got that?”
Quinn nodded.
Clark continued. “Find a shadow nearby, any shadow, and concentrate on it. In the beginning, you’ll need a keyword to activate it. Eventually, you’ll be able to do it without the word. Either way, you’ll be able to sort of disappear. You’re still there. It just makes it so people don’t notice you. It won’t work on everybody, especially anyone with magical abilities who knows you’re there and looks for you, so be careful how you use it.”
“What word am I supposed to use?”
“I used ‘mist’ when I was younger. Try that.”
“That’s it? I say ‘mist,’ and I’ll just disappear from view?”
“It won’t work in any sort of bright light, but if there are shadows nearby, you’ll be able to fold them around you so you go unnoticed.”
Quinn nodded, glancing down at her amulet before dropping it back inside her t-shirt. “You’d better get going. Taylor will probably wake up soon back at VirSync, and Fergus can’t be far behind me along with the others. Go. I’ll be fine.”
Clark smiled and reached out for Miranda’s hand. He glanced over his shoulder at Quinn, nodded, and started walking down the pier. As they moved away, they both slowly faded from sight. They were gone in less than five steps.
The instant he disappeared, shouts came from behind Quinn, and she spun around to see Fergus and the other two racing toward her from between two of the warehouses.
Fergus called to her, “Did you kill the witch? Don’t tell me she got away from you.”
“I got her, all right.”
Fergus looked around as he approached. “Where’s the body?”
She pointed to the harbor. “I chased and fought her all the way to the edge, but she went over, right into the water. I watched her struggle for a bit before she went under. She must’ve drowned. There’s been no sign of her since.”
Fergus laughed. “You didn’t gut her with your knife first to be sure? That’s pretty sloppy.”
Quinn shrugged, trying to sell the story as best she could.
The two with him seemed doubtful too, but they let her story stand for now.
Fergus beckoned to the others and started back toward the warehouses. As they did, they winked out in a flash of light one by one.
After the last one disappeared, Quinn felt the familiar pull at her core, and darkness closed in around her as the system pulled her back to the testing room at VirSync.
Chapter Fourteen
Quinn jolted awake in the testing room. She lay there for a few seconds, staring up at the ceiling in the dim light through the VR visor’s tinted glass.
She tried to lift her arms to remove the visor and headgear, but nothing moved. For a panicked instant, Quinn thought she might still be trapped under the control spell from before the training session began. If that was the case, she’d be unable to lie about what had happened in the scenario.
Right before the outer door opened, she started getting feeling back in her arms and legs, much to her relief. Quinn slowly lifted the visor as she sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the exam table.
Phillip strolled in with a big grin on his face. “I got a text from one of the other monitors. Their candidate said you made the kill. Good job, Quinn.”
“Thank you,” Quinn said, searching for the right thing to say in this situation. She closed her mouth instead.
Phillip gestured to her. “Come on out with me, and let’s check in with Velma on the system parameters to make sure everything went as planned. It shouldn’t take too long.”
Quinn placed the headgear on the rack and slid off the exam table to follow Phillip from the room. She tried to keep her expression neutral. She figured she’d still be under the control spell.
In the outer control room, Velma sat in her chair behind the bank of computers and screens, a puzzled frown plastered across her face.
Phillip glanced at her and laughed. “What’s wrong? Did you forget to save the program files or something?”
“It’s nothing like that. I just don’t see anything on Quinn’s vitals and system stats showing she got the kill, even though we got word she did.”