Myths & Magic: A Science Fiction and Fantasy Collection

by Kerry Adrienne

  Exiting stage left, I jetted down the hallway devoid of deadeners. Why would Riley line his office with deadeners, but install none in the hallways or rooms? Too much reliance on his drug-deadener regimen? Or was I too far gone into the land of ancient, illegal magic to even sense deadeners anymore? Nothing penetrated the ecstatic power cocooning me. The energy erupting from me was so intense it should’ve annihilated every electronic board within a mile. Maybe I had decimated all the deadeners.

  Magic flooded me with energy and happiness. Free at last, it knew no bounds, using my mind and body as a vessel to control and harbor it. Prepare for takeoff, flying fairy-monkeys.

  There wasn’t a soul in sight until I rounded a bend and spied two guards still kicking it and flanking the double glass doors to the vestibule at the front. Another set of doors barred the outside world from the devil’s den. I skidded to a halt, backtracked, and peeked around the corner. A wrought iron gate, lush lawns, and evergreens dominated the front of the complex. Both sets of doors had security pads on them, plus another set of guards—with guns trained on me.

  Just as I was about to send the four a dosage of Aria’s Slump ’n Snooze, my pinkies kinked. Shrill alarms drowned my pulse roaring in my ears. Commands rose down the hallways and booted footsteps rushed me from behind. Doors banged shut, locking automatically.

  As I turned the corner toward the front doors and Riley’s office near the reception area, the first two guards drew their guns on me. Darts shot out, aiming for my torso. A wall of solid, invisible air surrounded me, captured the poisonous barbs, whooshing them away in a cyclone.

  Growing power pounded in my veins and swelled every cell of my being. Voices chanted in my head, obliterating the tremendous pressure building. It would be fun learning what new magic I could flaunt. Like this little number.

  A warrior’s cry escaped me as I threw up a wall of energy. I concentrated on disabling the four weapons centered on me rather than trying to deflect a barrage of tranq darts. The multi-zone clocks dotting the granite wall on the left struck thirteen after the hour. Without squandering a moment, I spun in a circle and threw up another electrical gust. Hopefully, that time it worked. Lessons on knocking out battalions of people were on tap when I returned home.

  The men sported masks of shock, and they drooped to their knees, weapons clattering to the slate floor. Defenseless as dirt, awareness gleamed in eight sets of hazy eyes. I swiped my sweaty palms down my pant legs. Were they dead? I clutched my chest, having to make myself breathe in, breathe out. Damn it, I wasn’t a murderer.

  Dazed, I dashed up to Riley’s office, my gaze landing on Ronan’s familiar hulk heaped on the desk. Eyes closed, his chest moved. He coughed and his legs twitched. I very nearly ran to him, dying to wake him and return us to yesterday. Muscles throbbed in my throat, and I imposed an iron control on myself. Until I understood Ronan’s game plan, I had to escape alone.

  Alarms beeped on the sliding doors to liberty. I sprinted toward them and touched the lock. It fizzled into a thin spiraling stream of smoke, but the door wouldn’t open. Stumbling to the nearest guard, I grabbed the security card clipped to his breast pocket. I slid the access card in the reader and pushed open the doors to my new freedom of chaos.

  My footsteps pounded down the stamped cement path cutting the lawn in two, jarring in my ears. No one followed my escape from freakshow hell. Had I incapacitated the whole building? I refused to dwell on what I’d done, and forcibly chased off the eight hundred pounds of horror riding my back. Par for the course, the inconceivable tossed another wrench in my escape plan.

  Locked twelve-foot high gates blocked my escape hatch. I slid the guard’s card key in the reader on the right and the gates hissed open. I resisted the urge to high-five myself.

  Willing my heart to quit trying to break through my ribcage, and to stop dying, I dashed through the gates. Glorious power sang inside me, even as realization whapped me, and my stomach sank with it.

  Freedom included the price of confusion.

  Half the tools I needed to traverse the Twilight Zone remained behind, along with a fractured piece of my heart.

  Chapter 24

  Except for an occasional vehicle, the streets remained deserted around the Dominion Research building. I ducked in and out of bushes and behind cars. My elation tested no boundaries, but I refused to allow it to nail me. Worry for Adam, Zoe, Kiera and Katrina undermined it sufficiently. Ronan’s fate even chewed away at my self-confidence.

  Had Ronan implanted me with a tracker? Had I killed the electronics in the building? Had I killed my own tracker?

  Dizzy from my lingering headache and residual drugs in my system, I tripped on a rock in the landscaping surrounding a poop-brown building. A low hedge tempered my tumble onto waterlogged mulch. Groaning, I rolled against the windowless wall and sat on my knees. The stench of moldy mulch filled my nose, gratefully stealing away my vertigo. Away from all the deadeners, the newly open Rift spoon-fed me adrenaline in the guise of powerful ancient magic, like tiny conquerors marching into my every cell.

  I breathed in cold, humid air. Halfway calm after counting to twenty, I plucked out Riley’s top bling phone.

  Fingers crossed, I dialed Zoe’s number. It rang twice before she picked up. “Zoe, are you safe?” I hugged my knees to my chest. “I’ve escaped.”

  “Aria!” she screeched. “I’m driving around in this kickass car wondering if I should go to the police, but I’m scared. Can you talk?”

  Quickly, I relayed the events of the last hour. “Come get me.” I looked at the sign on the side of the unmarked building and the address number was thirteen thirteen.

  I shrank deeper into the bushes. Sweet mother of crap. It had to be a coincidence, right?

  Edgy silence lengthened as Zoe sped away from the building. I kept glancing in the rearview mirror, but nobody had followed me. Had I incapacitated the whole circus tent? Were Kiera and Katrina safe? Should we try to rescue them? Apprehension crawled up my spine in a wide trail of ants.

  Zoe veered the Mercedes onto a major thoroughfare. “Where to, lady?”

  I didn’t know what to do. “Just drive.” I rested my head on the headrest, the envelope pressing into my breasts. I wasn’t ready to share the contents with her. The less she knew, the better for her safety.

  The odor of charred burgers hung onto the earthtone interior, causing my belly to rumble against my recharging power. Not good. My stomach never interfered with my telekinesis. I pressed my hand to my middle, nudging down a wispy thread of hysteria. What was inside me now? What had I become?

  “How bad do they want you?” Zoe’s shaky voice scared me.

  A tear escaped my left eye and I choked up.

  “That’s twice. You never cry. It’s bad, isn’t it?”

  Composing myself, I slapped the tear off my face, bitch-slapping sense into me. “I think I’m the Holy Grail that just returned abolished magic to the world.”

  Zoe skimmed the curb and slammed on the brakes in front of a strip mall of lunch crowd eateries and convenience shops. She thrust the gear into park. Her eyeballs would’ve popped out of her head if they weren’t attached. “You? Klutzy Aria?”

  “Thanks for the vote.” I straightened in my seat. “Get moving.” My gaze darted out the windows. “Go.” I pushed her hand on the steering wheel.

  I needed a plan. Was Adam in on Ronan’s backstabbing scheme? I stared at the phone, my forehead scrunched up. I didn’t know Adam’s number. My head was so screwed up I couldn’t even recall his rich family’s last name. Brain massage therapy or a lobotomy sounded golden.

  The car roared into traffic, suffering Zoe’s lead foot. “Riley won’t report the car stolen, will he?” Her long, purple fingernails bit into the leather steering wheel.

  I swished my hand, half-listening. “He wouldn’t risk it. He’d lose me for sure.”

  “We need to rescue those other girls, right?” She swung the car down another major street.

  �
�Yes. I can’t let them stay there. He’ll use them as bait to lure me back the same way he dangled you.” Breathing evenly, I closed my eyes to regroup my brain cells. “Did you call your mom?” Zoe lived in a studio apartment over the garage at her parents’ house, and her mother had a bead on her whereabouts most of the time.

  “Yeah. She thinks I’m on a work trip.” Uncertainty wavered in her voice and I hated it. We glanced at each other for a second, a moment of unspoken understanding.

  “Did she suspect anything?”

  Zoe emitted a cackling witch snicker. “Are you kidding? She was arguing with my stepjerk. I guess she finally fessed up that she’d enrolled the twin twits in private school. He’s having a shit-fit about spending the money.” She paused, a pensive silence descending. “Should we call the cops?”

  “No. We’re illegals.” A branch of ideas sprouted in my head. I jabbed on the GPS.

  “That could be tracking us.” Zoe shoved my hand away from the GPS controls.

  “I’ll take the chance.” I punched in the access menu. “They’re probably already tracking the car.” If I hadn’t killed everyone, that is. That spot on my neck tickled, and I rubbed it, not feeling anything beneath the surface. “I think they implanted me with a tracking device.”

  “What? That’s illegal.” Zoe smacked her palm on the steering wheel.

  I blinked up a breeze to keep from rolling my threadbare eyes. “Like anything they do is legal. Get a grip, Zoe. This isn’t fun and games. These people are murderers, kidnappers, who knows what else. They probably kill animals for paranormal experiments.”

  “Kill the sick bastards!” She tossed back her hair and gunned the car on a clear stretch.

  I squeezed her arm. She made a sharp turn, dislodging my hand in the movement. “Did they hurt you?”

  “They were decent. Even that dumbass Ian didn’t hurt me.”

  “I heard him slap you.”

  “I raked my nails down his neck first.”

  “Seriously?”

  She sucked in her bottom lip. “Do you know if he’s okay? Riley’s other men shot him when they grabbed me. They wanted you hard.”

  My mouth flapped in amazement. “Why do you care what happens to that creep?”

  Her lips softened in an innocent smile. “He’s not so bad. He was forced into that life. You know, like the mob, death’s the only way out.”

  Again, I bribed my eyes from rolling into their sockets. “You picked that up with your empathic skills?”

  “He was going to make a deal with you guys before Riley’s mug-ugly dogs chewed him up.”

  “Holy cow.” He was planning to flip on Melisande. I chewed on a fingernail, the next course after snacking on my cuticles.

  “What are you hiding?” she asked with deceptive calm.

  She knew me better than I did sometimes. I told her what had gone down at the mission church. “I need my phone.” Plus, I needed a magical recharge from the Rift, to feed my waning reserves after my magic show at Dominion Research. I could barely float my hair. The gut feeling that magic still flowed out of the Rift refused to budge.

  “Where is it?”

  “Washington Park Arboretum.” Punching in recreation sites on the GPS, I set the park as our destination.

  “I’m not even gonna ask,” she murmured, listening to the female GPS voice spew out its first direction.

  Chapter 25

  The police had posted temporary “closed” signs along the park’s perimeter fence. Regular police and Paranormal Vice Division officers—as evidenced by wicked purple bands around their shirtsleeves—guarded the visitor center gates.

  “Keep driving.” I clutched the door handle. “Something’s up.”

  “Ya think?”

  A news van cut in front of us and stopped. Zoe stomped on the brakes, jolting us in our seats. My seatbelt practically cut my ribcage in half. Another van blocked us from behind. Reporters, police, and bystanders surrounded a suited, gray-haired man preparing to give a briefing in front of the visitor center. “Go see what’s up.”

  Zoe unbuckled her seatbelt, her hands shaking. “Are you also wanted by the police?”

  “Not yet.” I waved her away. “Hurry, he’s speaking.”

  Magic wavered in the air. My aura spiked trying to pull me in the direction of the stone circle, wanting to party at the Rift. Could I risk getting closer to the wild energy with all these people in the area? What would it do to me, to those around me?

  Moments later, Zoe shouldered through the knot of bystanders and slid into the car. “A dead area of the park is spitting out tons of paranormal energy.” Excitement bristled off her, leaving her voice singing. “There’ve been reports of people lured to the site, and their ESP abilities—” Zoe froze, mouth hanging open. “Cue the evil organ music. You did it, didn’t you?”

  I chewed on a torn fingernail. “What?” I stared at her accusingly, or at least I tried to, but I think it came off as a look of contrition.

  “Don’t you dare spin it. What’s going on?”

  “ESP abilities skyrocketing?” I finished her sentence softly. “Are people turning into fairies and sorcerers?”

  “They didn’t exactly say, but the milling people were making wild guesses.” She leaned slightly forward as if to force the words on me. “Your eyes are glowing.”

  “What?” I jerked the visor down.

  “Oh. My. God. Aria, you’ve been affected—”

  My gargled screech drowned Zoe out as I examined my face in the lighted mirror. A glow edged my eyes and painted my face with a new luminosity. Copper and gold streaks highlighted my golden hair, at least two inches longer than yesterday.

  “Uh no. No.” A warning wailed in my brain. “I’m not one of them. I can’t be.” I didn’t look like a fairy! Neither did Adam, much. We had too much human blood. I edged my finger around my ears. Normal. Would we eventually change? Had Riley been telling the truth about our fae-sorcerer origins? The contents of my stomach pitched. In case I needed to toss my cookies, I searched the ground outside the car. I might as well hook disposable barf bags on my wrist if this kept up.

  Hordes of curious people surrounded our car trying to get into the park. The SWAT team had arrived for crowd control. Night sank fast beneath a billowing mantle of soaked clouds. The earthy scent of winter-spent vegetation drifted in with the faint breeze ruffling the bare trees. It whispered across my skin, invaded my senses, became a part of me. “We need to get out of here pronto.”

  Zoe gauged our access space. “We’re in the middle of a jammed parking lot. Try again.”

  “Then we hoof it. We need to ditch the car anyway.”

  “What’s the plan in case we get separated?” Grooves drew her eyebrows close to unflattering unibrow terrain. She hooked her hair behind her ears, a sure sign of her agitation since she hated exposing her ears.

  I had no choice but to confide in Zoe further. I might be endangering her life, and I hated that part the most. I trusted her with my life and secrets, though. It wasn’t like I had a stack of best friend applications waiting at home. I loved her too much to replace her.

  “If I tell you, I’ll have to kill you.” She received my wicked eyewink.

  “Bite me, fairy wench.” She whacked my upper arm. “I’m already into this up to my red roots.”

  “Seriously.” My fingers bit into her arm. “Anyone connected to me is in jeopardy. I may end up on the run for the rest of my life to elude the dirtbags who want me alive and jerkoffs who’ll want me dead.”

  She gave a wonky shrug. “I need a new adventure. You know you can trust me. Besides, we don’t know anyone else who has two ESP abilities. I want to know where I fit in this creeptastic world.”

  “No kidding.” I linked my hand with hers.

  “Damn straight.” She banged our hands down on the center armrest. “So what’s the grand plan?”

  I squeezed our fingers together, released her hand. “If we get separated, contact Adam…Freshfields.�
�� I smacked my forehead, finally remembering his last name. “I’m not a hundred percent certain I can trust him, but if he’s still alive, he’ll help you.” The neckline of my sweatshirt tightened. “Use your empathic talent to scope him out first. Then tell him everything that’s happened.” I plucked on my sweatshirt, releasing the anxiety threatening to choke me.

  “Adam Freshfields? The guy voted the number one hottest catch in Silicon Valley under thirty?” I nodded. Zoe’s face transformed into her do-I-have-a-date-prospect-for-you gleam. “Oh, this is getting better by the moment.” She dry-washed her hands. “What if I can’t find him, or trust him?”

  Ideas weren’t zinging into my head with my newfound superpowers. “Go to the PVD if you feel threatened.” Who else could help her? Ronan Turncoat? Hell to the no. “I can’t risk finding my phone. It’s in the middle of this shitstorm.” I hesitated, stared long and hard at her. “Listen and don’t ask.” I downloaded the book-cover blurb of everything I’d left out earlier.

  “Hot damn.” A mischievous grin lit up her face. “You’re a direct descendant of the thirteen Forbidden sorcerers?”

  “According to Riley and my mom, I am the thirteenth. The most powerful of them all.” I nearly choked up a hairball at the idea.

  “Hmmm… Riley thinks you’re the master key to unlocking Forbidden magic?” Gears turned in her mind, almost visible in her brightly widening eyes. “It explains a lot about you.”

  I swatted her arm. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  She nibbled on her bottom lip. “Just that I can’t always read you when you’re unblocked.” My eyes bugged out. “Your thoughts waver in and out with your emotions like you’re not all there.”

  She’d never once said she couldn’t read me. That’s why I kept my thoughts blocked half the time around her. “That’s because I wasn’t all there,” I muttered half to myself. I twisted in my seat, surveyed the park. The crowd had thickened. “We should blend in now.”