Thief

by Sadie Moss

  Ahahaha. Fuck. We are so fucked.

  “Run,” Roman whispers to me. “I’ll cover you two.”

  “No way!” I hiss. “I’m not leaving you.”

  “I’m the demonology expert.”

  “And I’m stubborn and reckless, remember?”

  Before he can respond to that, a hand shoots up out of the nest and grabs the rim.

  I jump, my stomach twisting in fear. What the hell is that?

  The hand clenches, grasping at the sticks and hardened mud of the nest as more of the body rises into view.

  And I see someone I recognize.

  It’s Tandy.

  But that’s… not possible. Tandy’s down in the infirmary with the others. She’s resting; they all are. They couldn’t go home because the healers were worried it would be too much of a strain on their systems to move them. They’re all still fragile and in an almost comatose state, and Tandy’s down there, not up here.

  “What. The. Fuck?” Dmitri says hoarsely, and for once, he sounds anxious.

  Yeah, I concur.

  More of them start to climb over the nest. Tom and the other students who were attacked, and—

  And Cam.

  They’re all naked, which would normally be a bit off-putting, but their bodies aren’t quite human. A weird slime covers them from head to toe, probably residual goo from the eggs. There’s also a strange orange light in their eyes. And where the, well, dangly bits and stuff would normally be, there’s just more smooth skin.

  Alarm bells ring in my brain, my senses screaming that something is off, something isn’t right here. Something is very, very wrong. The six figures are even moving oddly, like they’re not quite sure how humans walk so they’re just doing their best imitation.

  It makes bile rise up in my throat. Especially staring at the Cam doppelgänger. He looks just like the sunny blond mage, but… not. It’s creepy and disconcerting, and I want it to stop—I want to cover my eyes and burst into tears for some reason, but I can’t.

  It’s pretty damn clear we’re going to have to fight these… these others, these doppelgängers.

  The bird-thing lets out another piercing cry. I crane my neck to look up at it, and for a moment, I see a weird glimpse of something. As if there’s a veil between what’s right in front of me and what’s going on somewhere else, somewhere far away, on the other side of the world for all I know. They say on Halloween Night and Midsummer’s Night, you can see through the veil into the spirit world, or the world of faerie, but this isn’t either of those days.

  So what the hell am I seeing?

  I blink and scrub at my eyes like I’m trying to dislodge sleep particles from them.

  The bird bobs its head down and glares at me—yeah, it’s a glare, there’s no other word for it—and I stare back as I hear Roman shout something from beside me. Magic glows around his hands, and Dmitri drops into a battle stance. My gaze is still locked on the bird, and for one brief second, the image behind its face solidifies. For just a moment, I’m not looking at a bird at all, but…

  A man.

  He’s there and gone in a second, just long enough for me to register that it is a man, not a woman or some kind of magical creature. I get a glimpse of a male face wearing an expression of hatred so pure that it makes the air in my lungs go ice-cold.

  What is he doing? He must be controlling the bird somehow, inside its head—the bird’s and the man’s minds acting as one, his will directing its movements.

  Fuck. I remember Raul had some kind of mentor, someone he was magically prevented from talking to us about after we subdued him and turned him in to the Circuit. Could this be the same guy? He attacked the school once before, through Raul…

  But now isn’t the time to ponder any of that. We have six demon-people and an evil bird coming at us, ready to tear us limb from limb.

  It’s time to see what my mirror powers are really made of.

  I don’t know if the doppelgängers have any of the memories or personalities of their originals. I’m not sure whether it’s some kind of perverted affection, or if some of the horror I felt earlier showed on my face and that’s why he’s after me—but the Cam doppelgänger is gunning right for me.

  I take a deep breath. There’s no time for panic, and I’m not going to leave Dmitri and Roman in the lurch because I couldn’t handle this.

  “They’re demons!” Roman shouts. “Be careful!”

  Uh, okay. I’m going to be as careful as I can, but playing it safe isn’t really an option when it’s fight or die. I launch myself at the Cam doppelgänger and try to force down my instinct to hold back.

  This isn’t Cam, I chant in my head. This isn’t Cam, this isn’t Cam, this isn’t Cam.

  But it’s so hard not to freak out when this thing looks like him, moves a lot like him, is so close to being him—except for the fact that it doesn’t talk, is covered in weird slime, and has that creepy orange glow to its eyes.

  I don’t understand how these doppelgängers are made. Are they created with the magic that was stolen? Is that the bird’s power?

  I dodge as the Cam-demon flings magic at me. It’s raw magic, not a properly cast spell like the actual man would use, and I can feel it singeing the air around me. I throw my sonic boom, sending him flying backward into the nest.

  My sonic boom is so powerful it once broke through the concrete wall of a nightclub. If I unleash my full force on someone—which I rarely do—then it could very likely kill the person.

  Not this demon creature.

  The Cam doppelgänger hits the wall of the nest hard. His head snaps back—

  But then it snaps forward again with an audible crack, and his eyes glow. He clambers to his feet and lurches toward me, ready to resume the fight.

  I swallow hard, my stomach roiling.

  Holy shit.

  We are so very screwed.

  Chapter 25

  Here’s the thing: Dmitri is the toughest guy I know, and Roman is an expert in demonology and necromancy.

  If you’d told me a day ago that one stupid bird-demon with its ridiculous fetus doppelgänger children was going to defeat the two of them, I would’ve said yeah, sure, if you chloroformed both men first and blindfolded them.

  But now we’ve got six of these motherfuckers on us, plus the bird, and whoever’s controlling this creature is doing a damn good job of it. I can’t help but wonder if the man I saw through the veil planned for this, if he suspected that someone would find the bird and prepared accordingly.

  All the doppelgängers appear to have the same magic their originals did, although it seems to have taken them a few moments to figure out how to use the powers. Cam’s no longer throwing raw magic—instead, he’s teleporting around the roof, popping out of the ether to land a cheap shot before blipping away again. Tandy’s levitating, the demon copy of a student named Preston is hurling fireballs, and I’m trying to mirror them all as best I can. But it’s hard when there are six of them, and they’re coming at us all at once.

  Images of when my classmates attacked me in Combat class keep flashing through my mind, and I can’t help the bubble of panic that rises up in my throat.

  This isn’t anything like that though.

  It’s worse.

  There’s an active malevolence to these demons, like they’re starving for us, like they’d eat our souls if they could—and I know nobody’s going to swoop in and save me with one threatening gesture the way Roman did.

  My tall, imposing professor is actually nearly back-to-back with me now, gritting his teeth as he shouts out spells, trying to control the demons. Dmitri’s more of a physical fighter, not as accomplished in his magic, but his power works well in conjunction with his combat skills. He phases his fists into the doppelgängers’ chests as he punches, dealing even more damage.

  Both guys are doing as much as they can, and normally, they’d be wiping the floor with these asshats… but not tonight. These demons are insanely strong and seem almost impe
rvious.

  I have to do something. We have to stop them.

  How though?

  I can’t leave to get help—what if Roman and Dmitri die while I’m gone? I can’t risk that happening. And I know neither of them will leave me or each other either. None of us are the most touchy-feely people in the world, but we’re all fiercely protective of the people we care about. Plus, we’re all stubborn as hell.

  But we’re being backed into a corner at this point, and even though I keep lobbing magic at the Cam doppelgänger and the others—shit that would kill a normal person; I’m way past holding back—they keep coming. They’re so much more resilient than humans, and I want to scream in frustration. Well, frustration and fear, if I’m being honest. How are we supposed to hold up against these guys? It’s three against six here, and that’s not even counting the damn bi—

  Wait.

  The bird.

  I dodge as the giant bird tries to strike at us with its razor-sharp beak—it keeps doing that, the fucker, although mostly it’s just letting its children have at us.

  The children it created. Children that are made up of stolen magic.

  As crazy as it sounds, this bird must have stolen the magic from each of the affected students to make each doppelgänger. So that’s its ability.

  It’s not a person with magic, it’s a magical creature, but surely my power can still work in this situation. I mean, it still has a magical ability, right?

  The bird lets out another cry, and the Cam doppelgänger teleports from across the roof, popping into existence just feet from me. I desperately hurl a sonic boom to blast him—it—away, my heart pounding. I hate that this stupid thing looks like my boyfriend, my real boyfriend who’s still downstairs passed out from pain.

  “Guys!” I scream as an insane idea takes shape in my mind. God, I wish Asher were here; his mind reading would come in very handy right now. “Get me more to the left!”

  I don’t want to say anything more out loud. I don’t know how smart this bird or its creepy demon babies are, but the guy controlling the creature has to be smart enough to figure out what I’m planning—unless he doesn’t know about my mirror abilities.

  Maybe he doesn’t though. They’re brand new. How much has he been able to spy on me? On the school? How much does he know?

  I’ve been trying to use my mirror abilities in the fight, but they’re coming on in bursts. Still, he’s probably noticed my attempts by now if he can see through the bird’s eyes.

  Tandy’s doppelgänger comes after me as Cam’s copy hauls himself to his feet on a lower section of the roof. I levitate instinctively, mirroring her power, neutralizing her before she can gun for Dmitri like she was planning to.

  We’re running out of time and strength. How much longer can the three of us last against all of these demons? How much longer before one of us slips up, or we just collapse from exhaustion? Nobody but Asher knows we’re up here, and he’s taking care of Cam in the infirmary. He’ll come looking for us eventually, but by then, it’ll likely be too late.

  I grit my teeth. “Get me a clear shot at the bird,” I whisper to Dmitri.

  He trusts me enough—or maybe he’s just desperate enough—not to question me. Instead, he nods and hockey checks the Preston doppelgänger out of the way, shoving him and taking the brunt of the fight from me so I can rush forward.

  The bird strikes at me again with its beak, but I just manage to dodge, feeling the air ripple past my shoulder where it would’ve stabbed me. I grab onto its tail feathers, crying out in pain at the sharp edges. But I have to be close; I can’t let it get away.

  I feel the mirroring power in my chest, like a string tugging at me, as I reach out my other hand toward the doppelgängers all spread out around the rooftop. The bird is trying to shake me off, its sharp-edged feathers cutting into my hands like knives, but I hold on and concentrate. I can feel the new power inside me like I’m drawing water from a well, familiar and strange all at once.

  Concentrate, Elliot. Concentrate.

  I clench my fist toward the Cam doppelgänger just as he launches himself at Dmitri.

  It’s like a vacuum sucking. Only I’m the vacuum, I’m a starving black hole, and wind rushes in my ears even though there’s no wind around us. Suddenly, I feel power flooding me—power that’s not my own.

  It sits in my chest, burning like an ember that’s just waiting to be sparked and set alight. I stumble, the sharp feathers gouging deeper into my palms, and the bird twists around to lunge at me with its beak, trying to get me to let go.

  I don’t though. I can’t. This is working.

  Doing my best to avoid the bird’s strikes, I focus my power again.

  “Reckless, what are you doing?” Roman yells, clearly worried.

  “I have to steal their magic!” I shout back. As long as I’m near the bird, I have the ability to steal magic just like it does, and I can take all the powers back from the doppelgängers.

  “You’re not a demon!” His voice is strained, and out of the corner of my eye, I see him shaking his head vehemently. “That is literally its power, its function; it steals magic from people and uses the magic to create its children. You can’t hold all that power inside of you!”

  “Not… forever,” I admit as I suck the power from the Tandy doppelgänger. “But for long enough.”

  Long enough to give it back.

  That has to be what the mysterious man wanted—to use the demon-bird to steal magic from the students. Possibly from all of us in time, or maybe just until it got the school shut down. Does this guy hate Unpredictables? Is he working in cahoots with Johnson or something, with those anti-Unpredictable groups that seem to be popping up in the wake of the Trials and Johnson’s outburst?

  Well, I’m not letting him get away with this shit. Fuck that. I’ve stopped assholes from taking over my school and ruining it before, and I’ll stop them again.

  “I have Cam and Tandy’s magic! Take their copies down!” I yell at the guys, pulling more magic into me even as I speak.

  Stealing the magic back from the demon doppelgängers is hard to do, and it fucking hurts. Their power settles in my chest like a ball of fire. It feels like I’m carrying a huge weight, but instead of it being on my shoulders, it’s inside me, actively burning. I’m made of fire, and I can’t hold it for long before it will consume me entirely.

  Just… keep… going.

  The doppelgängers don’t die when I take their magic from them, which was what I was hoping for, seeing as they seem to be made of magic. But they do seem much weaker without it, unable to fight back with any stolen powers as Dmitri and Roman blast them. And I can’t kill the bird yet. Not until I’ve got all six of the stolen powers inside me.

  I concentrate, getting better at it as I go on. The magic flows into me like an invisible, sparking river, something only I can feel and see, until I’m burning up and filled to the brim.

  Now that their powers are gone, the doppelgängers are finally getting their asses beat the way they deserve to by Roman and Dmitri. Which is good, because I can’t help the guys out at all.

  I’m still clinging to the demon bird’s tail and dodging its claws and beak. It nips me a couple of times, and searing pain rips through me where its dagger-like beak slices my skin. I’m not sure if there’s anything special about this demonic creature other than the whole magic stealing thing, but I sure hope it doesn’t have poison-tipped talons or anything on top of it.

  I grit my teeth, trying to think of a way to get rid of this damn bird. There has to be something I can do to damage it.

  It’s strong and nearly impervious, just like its freaky offspring were before I sucked up all their magic. Roman and Dmitri are blasting the doppelgängers to pieces now, and the bird is getting angrier and angrier as each one of its children goes down. It swings its tail back and forth, making it harder for me to hang on, but I can’t let go until I bring the monster down somehow.

  Then I remember.


  I have the magic of six other students burning up inside of me.

  One of the students who had her magic taken—Erin, a third-year—had the power to send disintegration blasts. I remember hearing about it because apparently, she disintegrated her boyfriend’s arm when he tried to assault her. Kudos to her, I say, although I’m sure it was a pretty damn traumatizing way for her to realize she had Unpredictable magic.

  The point is, she’s got disintegration powers.

  Which means, for the moment at least, I have disintegration powers.

  I’ve never really consciously used another person’s magic like this before. Already it’s hurting—and I mean really hurting, even more than the bird’s claws and beak coming at me.

  But I have to try. I have to end this.

  I feel the power in my hands, surging through me. If I do this wrong I could probably disintegrate myself, but what choice do I have?

  “Reckless!” Roman roars. “Be careful!”

  “I could say… the same… to you!” I force out through gritted teeth.

  Then, before I can lose my nerve or my tenuous grasp on the powers inside me, I dart forward and grab onto the bird with both hands right by the base of its wing. As it shrieks and claws at me, I push the power through my hands into its torso.

  It explodes out of me like a grenade going off, and I’m hurled backward, not prepared for the kickback as the magic fires through the bird. I’ve blasted a large hole through it, and it shrieks in agony, a horrifying death cry.

  The sound echoes in the night air as time seems to slow.

  I’m flying backward through the air as the bird sways. It falls, toppling over like a felled tree as the evil, demonic glow inside of it fades away.

  Then time speeds back up in a rush.

  And now I’m falling.

  Chapter 26

  Roman catches me before I can slam into the roof and roll over the side. His solid arms wrap around me as our bodies collide, and then he sets me on my feet, cradling me against his chest.

  I’m burning up. So hot…