Magic and Mayhem: A Collection of 21 Fantasy Novels

by Jasmine Walt

  “So the killer got in through the window?”

  “The gate was unlocked when we came back,” Markos said. “It shouldn’t have been, right?”

  “I normally check every ten minutes,” said Carl, “but the alarm went off and people started gathering out here. The killer must have run fast, if that’s when they got in.”

  “Something’s not right,” Markos said. “That girl we saw. She’s the killer? Did anyone see her face?”

  I didn’t even see it was a girl. She’d moved wicked fast.

  “Hopefully, the other guards will bring her in,” said Ellen. “We were supposed to be headed for the Passages now.”

  A burly guy beside her nodded. “Yeah, we’ve the next shift. Reckon we’d better get a move on.”

  “Hold it,” said another guard. “We all have to stay here, wait for the police to come down. They want to speak to everyone who was here.”

  A collective groan from everyone. “Seriously,” Aric muttered. “They expect us to stay here all night?”

  I glared at him from out of the corner of my eye. If anyone here were capable of committing murder… but of course, he had an alibi. And no motive that I knew of. My mind was already racing through the possibilities, even though I knew there was nothing we could have done.

  It was going to be a long night.

  5

  Ada

  “You were foolish,” said Nell for about the fiftieth time, from the other side of the kitchen table. She’d waited up for us, and I’d predicted her reaction dead-on. “Never assume that you’re invulnerable no matter what tricks you have up your sleeve.”

  “It’s Jeth’s fault,” said Alber, and our foster brother glared at him. He hated it when one of his treasured technological contraptions failed to do its job. He was fiddling with the Chameleon device and had scattered dismantled bits of metal and wire and God-knew-what all over the table.

  “Look, everything glitches sometimes,” he said. “These Chameleons are ninety-nine point nine percent reliable. By that, I mean they’ve never just stopped working before. It should have had at least another hour’s charge in there. I checked them all. Honest.”

  “Yes, well, that’s not the important thing,” said Nell. “Ada, you shouldn’t assume that because something has always worked, it will continue to work in the same way.”

  “What was I supposed to think?” I said. “Besides, there were a ton of people gathered out back at Central. They have two guards, and they never come near the back entrance. Something must have happened.”

  “Let’s hope no one saw your face,” said Nell. “Their cameras, too.”

  “I had my hood up,” I said, with more confidence than I felt. I hated feeling vulnerable. “Still, I got the powdered bloodrock, and plenty of it. We won’t need to make another trip there for a while.”

  Nell sighed. “Well, that’s good news, at least. I’ll send one of the others to hang about the Alliance for a bit tomorrow, to find out what happened.”

  And that was that. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t get much sleep that night, and when I did, it was only to wake sweating and shaking from nightmares of being chased down the Passages. Just as I was finally dozing off, someone banged on my door.

  “What?” I groaned. “I’m asleep.”

  “It’s midday,” said Alber. “Nell wants to talk to you.”

  “I thought she was done lecturing us already.”

  “Nope. She’s just getting warmed up. Also, someone died at Central last night.”

  I sat bolt upright. “You what?” Sliding my feet into slippers, I went to the door. “You’re joking.”

  “Nice pyjamas.” I was wearing the blue rabbit-patterned ones Jeth had bought me as a joke. Idiot older brother. “Seriously, though. Some supervisor or something. He was killed at Central last night. That’s why there were so many people outside.”

  “Oh. Shit. We were there.”

  “I know. Damn. Hope no one saw you.”

  “You and me both.”

  I wished I was working. Not that I’d spoken to my boss since missing my shift yesterday. Oh, crap.

  On cue, Nell’s voice rang through the hallway: “Ada! Stop hiding in your room. I need to talk to you.”

  The dreaded words. I came out into the hallway, still in my rabbit-patterned pyjamas. Nell was in the kitchen, and on the table in front of her was the bag of powdered bloodrock I’d taken from Central. The bag was half-open, revealing the transparent glittering dust.

  “Someone was killed last night?” I asked. “For real?”

  “Skyla called me this morning,” said Nell. “She heard two Alliance guards talking about it.”

  “How did they die?” I asked. “Was it when we were there?” When I was in the building? They wouldn’t have seen my face—I’d moved too quickly—and yet I’d run right past a group of them by the gate. And at least one of those guards could have seen me. I looked at the powdered bloodrock and wondered if it was worth formulating a disguise for myself. But there were others who needed it more than I did.

  “I don’t know,” said Nell. “No one knows. This person was working late, alone in the office, and someone went in there and killed them. No clue about motives. Not to mention how they got in there in the first place.”

  I thought of the Chameleon and shivered. Jeth was the only person who had those devices, I knew that much, and we’d never shown them to anyone else. It was a fairly major thing to be able to use magic-based technology on Earth and have it actually work how it was meant to. Most people didn’t know much more than the three basic principles, which were broadcast on the news daily because the media thought the public needed a constant reminder. In case they started, I don’t know, waving wands and trying to conjure things. The most even a magic-wielder could do was fire a first level power jolt, no more damaging than a static shock. I’d used it to open the window…

  What if the killer got in by the gate I left open?

  No. I wasn’t going to feel guilty for the death of a stranger. It had nothing to do with us. The last thing I wanted was to get wrapped up in the Alliance’s business. As horrible as the idea of a murder was, it didn’t affect us. We could just go on as normal. We had to.

  “That’s bad and everything,” said Alber, “but we don’t need to go back there again anytime soon. As long as we keep our heads down, we should be fine, right?”

  “In theory,” said Nell. “But this gives me a bad feeling. Also, I need someone to take this bloodrock to the other shelters.”

  “Thought you didn’t want me running any more risks,” I said, but I brightened at the idea of getting to talk to some of the others. People like us, and the few Nell trusted.

  “Jeth’s at work,” said Nell. “Take it to the usual places. Save a third of it to give to the Campbell family. They need a bunch of it, ASAP.”

  “Wait, what?” I frowned. “You mean, Delta or one of his brothers? But that would mean going back into the Passages.” Valeria’s citizens were allowed to leave their world as they pleased, which was how Delta and I had met, incidentally. He’d sneaked up on me and I’d almost choked him to death. The start of a beautiful friendship.

  “Yes…” said Nell, slowly.

  “Taking an illegal substance into the Passages right after what happened? Seems a bit…”

  “Don’t you pretend to be concerned about safety, Ada Fletcher. You’re just trying to get in my good books.” She knew me too well. “It’s not ideal, I know, but there’s a big group of Karthos rebels coming through next week and it’s going to be a challenge to get them all in without causing suspicion.”

  The doorbell rang, making us all jump.

  “I’ll get it,” said Alber, while I hurried back to my room to dress in something a little more dignified than rabbit-patterned pyjamas.

  It turned out to be Skyla, who’d come to check up on us. She was about a year younger than me. Her thick dark hair was swept in a high ponytail and she wore a smart shirt and trouse
rs which looked odd on her. In the five years she’d helped at the shelter, I’d never pictured her as the type to work in an office as a secretary. She looked like she should be running gym classes instead.

  “I was trying to call you earlier,” said Nell. “Ada’s going to need your help to make a couple of deliveries.”

  “Ah, I’m on my lunch break at work, so I can’t stay here long. I wanted to make sure Ada was okay after last night.”

  So she’d heard about the whole debacle. I said, “I’m fine. Honestly.”

  “Well, if you say so. I’ll give you a hand with those packages of…” Her eyes widened as they landed on the bloodrock. “Is that what I think it is?”

  “Yeah, that’s what I almost got caught stealing,” I said. “But I only just found out someone was killed. Do you know what happened?”

  “No more than anyone else does,” said Skyla. “I listened in on a conversation on the way to work. Guy strangled in an empty office. Total chaos in Central, seeing as it’s the first time someone’s been murdered on the premises. Of course, it’s nothing to do with us, but it might make using the Passages tricky. There’s a chance they could alter their patrols.”

  “Dammit,” I said.

  “Yeah,” said Skyla. “I’ve never seen them like this. They’re interrogating all their staff. Well, that’s what I heard them talking about, anyway. Wouldn’t wish it on anyone else.”

  “I’m more concerned with whether they recognised Ada,” said Nell. “If anyone saw her face…”

  Shivers ran down my back. For once in my life, I didn’t want to go outside and deliver the packages, but only Alber and I knew the addresses of all the others who helped the refugees. Nell wouldn’t trust anyone else with that information.

  “I can help,” Skyla offered. “Not that I really want to be caught running around with that stuff—also, I have half an hour before I have to be back at the office.”

  “I’ll go with Ada,” said Alber.

  “Tell you what,” said Skyla, with a glance at her watch. “I’ll meet you after work and come to the Passages. I can be your lookout. Okay?”

  Nell’s eyes narrowed. She implicitly trusted Skyla, because she was sensible and didn’t take unnecessary risks, and we’d gone to meet Delta in the Passages together a few times before. But after everything that had gone wrong in the past twenty-four hours, Nell’s barriers had gone up again. She turned back to the bloodrock, contemplating the six heavy bags, and sighed heavily.

  “Alber, Ada, you two go make the usual rounds. Save the Passages till last. Skyla, would you have the chance to check if the Alliance are running their usual patrols?”

  “Sure, I’ll take a look,” she said. For all her pretence of posh office girl, part of the reason Skyla had interviewed for a job at that particular office was because it’d give her the perfect view of Central, patrols and all. I’d never seen her workplace, but it was on the road facing the Alliance building. “Come on, Ada, Alber. We’d better go deliver this contraband.” She grinned. Like me, she couldn’t resist a challenge.

  “Sure, I’ll get my stuff,” I said, heading back to my room.

  “It would help if you put socks on,” Skyla called after me. “No shift today?”

  “Haven’t talked to my boss yet. Crap.” And sure enough, there were several unread messages on my phone, which I’d not heard when I’d been asleep.

  “Ada, I need to talk to you. Come and see me at two p.m.”

  “Crap.” This had ‘bad news’ written all over it. Plus, I could hardly show up for a meeting with my boss carrying a ton of bloodrock, even if most people on Earth wouldn’t have a clue what it was. He’d probably think I was trading illegal drugs or something. “Alber, could you hang onto that stuff while I go meet my boss?”

  “You couldn’t have picked a better time?”

  “I don’t have a choice,” I said. “I’ll be quick as I can.”

  “I’ll head back to work, then,” said Skyla. “I’ll message you, okay?”

  “Sure.” I’d have to run if I wanted to make the meeting.

  “I’ll come for moral support if you buy me a Coke,” said Alber.

  I needed more than moral support. I needed a miracle.

  KAY

  “This is a disaster,” Markos said.

  “No shit,” I said. Markos, Ellen, Lenny and I hovered around the main office the following afternoon, all in varying degrees of tiredness. Markos stood by a filing cabinet and occasionally shuffled papers. Ellen had given up on work entirely and was texting someone. And Lenny hadn’t stopped shaking. He’d been called out for questioning three times already—the rest of us had got off lightly with once each, but Lenny had made the mistake of admitting he’d been the last person to speak to Mr Clark before he’d died. It was obvious he was the least likely candidate to commit murder, but then again, there was no evidence to speak of.

  With no one to leave instructions, we were at a complete loose end, turfed out of our old office, and most of the area was under investigation. Nothing was out of place; all the offices had been in the same state we’d left them at the end of the day. That was the last time we’d seen Mr Clark alive.

  How could any of us have known that? Death wasn’t uncommon in the Alliance, by any means—the average guard ran into more than their fair share of near-fatal situations, and Ambassadors risked their lives every time they went into hostile offworld territory. The death list was a mile long. But there was a world of difference between that and a brutal murder right here at headquarters.

  I’d been too rattled by the murder to sleep in the few hours at my apartment last night and now that I was wired on caffeine, hanging about the office all day was slowly driving me insane. I paced back and forth, counting the seconds to my next patrol shift so I could get the hell out of here and do something useful.

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake,” said Markos. “Quit your bloody pacing. You’re making my head spin.”

  “Well, what am I supposed to do?” I said. “It’s a waste of time us even being here.”

  “Tell me about it,” said Ellen, yawning. “It’s all right for you guys. You have an alibi. I arrived ten minutes before Clark died and they’ve given me a right grilling.”

  “It’s awful,” Lenny mumbled. “And that’s just the regular police. The Law Division’s going to be involved later, and then we’ll all be screwed.”

  “Your optimism is infectious,” said Markos. “Where’s that idiot Aric?”

  Good question. He had zero moral scruples, if the wyvern incident proved anything. But killing our supervisor? Even I thought he’d have to have a damn good reason. Besides, he’d been with us.

  “No idea,” said Ellen. “That guy’s the most disrespectful ass I’ve ever met.”

  Markos looked at me. “What’s your guys’ problem with each other?” I groaned inwardly. I was not in the mood to discuss Aric. Typically, we were both on the same patrol later. Someone up there was having a really good laugh at my expense.

  “We both went to the Academy. He didn’t quite grasp that he needed to actually study and not try to bribe people to do it for him. He scored an ‘A’ in ‘Being a Twat’, of course.” I stopped pacing to open the window. It was too damn stuffy in here.

  “Hmm,” said Markos, plainly not satisfied with that explanation. “He needs a reality check. Most offworlders wouldn’t stand for his bullshit.”

  “Well, he must have got in on connections,” I said. “His family are offworld technology tycoons with links across three universes.”

  “That explains it,” said Markos. “I tried to quiz him on the new restrictions in offworld trade. He didn’t seem to appreciate it.”

  “Considering it probably lost his family a crap-ton of money, I’m not surprised,” I said. The Alliance were right to push up barriers on offworld trade, considering the absolute chaos that inevitably resulted when magic-based technology went wrong on worlds like Earth, where knowledge of magic was next to none. It
was like time-travelling back to the Stone Age and handing out grenades.

  “Most Academy graduates who come in here haven’t a clue how to deal with the reality of non-Earth negotiations,” said Markos.

  “The Academy did cover offworld law, believe it or not,” I said, pacing again.

  “Thought it was more about chasing monsters,” said the centaur.

  “That too,” I said, and Ellen laughed.

  “Sounds exciting.”

  “Sounds mental,” said Lenny, shuddering.

  “Not the first time I’ve heard that,” I said.

  “Wow,” said Ellen. “I think I’m glad I went through an apprenticeship instead, but I always wondered.” She was still looking at me. “Did you get to go offworld?”

  “Aside from the Passages? No. Guess they didn’t want a bunch of teenagers running amok with hover cars in Valeria.”

  Ellen grinned. “Fair point.”

  “Never been offworld?” Markos inquired, giving me an assessing look.

  “Not yet.” I could have, since I’d turned twenty-one, but the permit application process was so long-winded and tedious that ultimately I’d decided to hold off until I’d graduated and had full access to the Passages and the main allied worlds as an Alliance employee. Now I was regretting that decision.

  I paused by the filing cabinets at the office’s end, checking my communicator again. “Law Division’s coming down here this afternoon, by the look of it.”

  “Crap,” said Lenny, paling. “They’re not going to arrest me, are they? I didn’t murder anyone. None of us did.”

  Ellen sighed. “I think we should do something.” She indicated the walled-off section of the corridor outside, which led to Mr Clark’s office.

  “Leave it to the Law Division,” said Lenny. “Can they use magic to track who killed him? Or weren’t there DNA traces or anything?”

  “Apparently, the killer hid their tracks,” said Ellen. “Didn’t you hear them?”

  “He was being questioned,” Markos reminded her. We’d all eavesdropped on one of the discussions that had taken place among the guards and law enforcement, in which it seemed apparent that the killer had somehow removed their own DNA traces from the victim.