by Jasmine Walt
“I did not say that. In fact, if your innocence was proven, you could be valuable to the Alliance. But there is the matter of your origin world. We don’t want to run up against any problems.”
“Seems like you have plenty of problems on your hands,” I muttered.
She raised an eyebrow, as if to say, “Go on”.
“Well, you haven’t caught the killer. I’m innocent. Maybe it was the same person who set the wyvern loose in the Passages.”
“Wyverns,” she said, “are not native to the Passages. They’re from Cethrax, and only come into the Passages when lured there. And you also used magic in the Passages, Ada. Magic always leaves a trace. We might not be able to pinpoint the user, but it’s plain to see that it was not one of our stunners.”
The Tasers?
I could do no more than sit in silence, hardly daring to breathe.
She continued, “Kay told me that he believes you have an internal magical source. Having examined all the possessions you carried in the Passages, we’ve concluded that the source is not external. On Earth, the low levels of magic in the atmosphere make it a physical impossibility for a person to be born with that ability. The way the cuffs affected you wouldn’t have happened to an Earth-born magic-wielder, so the only explanation is that you were born offworld.”
They knew too much. Far too much.
And then came the punch line: “We are currently testing a sample of your blood to determine your origin world.”
My blood. It was all I could do not to make a sound. I couldn’t meet her eyes anymore.
There was no hiding my own DNA. Soon, the Alliance would know I came from Enzar. And it was one small step from there to the rest of the truth. If I came from Enzar, someone had smuggled me out. Everything that Nell had worked her whole life for, everything we’d risked ourselves a thousand times over, and the countless people we’d saved—would be in danger.
The silence crushed me with its weight, and my skin was clammy all over. I could feel my composure—or what remained of it—cracking like fake glass.
“In the meantime, Ada,” said the woman, “we are not so unkind as to leave you here indefinitely. An escort will take you to the bathrooms in order to clean yourself up. You will also be given new clothes, and your cuffs will be removed. If you attempt to escape, it goes without saying that we’ll be reinstating them.”
That figured. Swallowing, I nodded. The door clicked open again, and I looked up to see two guards enter the room. Neither was familiar to me. I wondered how many employees the Alliance actually had. No matter. I was completely, hopelessly outnumbered.
I hated feeling weak. Hated the way the guards smirked at one another as they hauled me to my feet, and uncuffed my wrists and ankles. I was tempted to use my I know how to kill a man with my bare hands line, but these guys would probably laugh at me.
“Don’t let her out of your sight,” said the woman. I got a glimpse of her name badge under the light, “Ms Danica Weston: Supervisor”. “She’s a magic-wielder. Not from Earth.”
The smirks faded from the guards’ faces. Now they were all business.
Thank God none of them followed me into the bathroom. Not that I had an opportunity to escape either way—there were no windows, and Ms Weston herself stood guard at the door. I had a quick wash in the sink, as I was covered in grime from falling in the road and my knees were a mess of matted blood. Could be worse. The bruises weren’t too painful, anyway. I’d half-expected them to give me black faux leather to change into, but the T-shirt and trousers were made of soft material.
Even without the cuffs, I was still weaker than I’d have liked, though I walked upright amongst the guards as though they didn’t intimidate me. My mind raced every time I saw a gap where I might be able to make a run for it. There had to be a way…
I absently reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, and stumbled forwards. The guards moved closer to me like they expected me to run, but I carried on walking obediently. Hoping they couldn’t hear my pounding heart.
My fingers had brushed against something metal behind my ear, something invisible. Something I thought I’d lost.
The earpiece from Jeth’s Chameleon.
10
Kay
Ms Weston cornered me as soon as I came out of Ada’s room. Or cell, really.
“Well?” she demanded. “What did she say?”
“She wasn’t very responsive, but she’s fairly easy to read. Has a temper, but she’s not a killer.”
“She could be a practiced liar,” said Ms Weston. Her expression challenged me.
“I’m sure she is, actually,” I said. “But she gives too much away with her body language. She’s hurt and angry, and not used to being under pressure, I’d guess.” That much I could read. But unless she started talking, we were no closer to finding out what she’d been doing in the Passages.
Ms Weston sighed. “You should have pushed her harder.”
“How so?” Come on, she didn’t seriously expect me to threaten someone who was cuffed and powerless. Or maybe she did. Should’ve sent Aric, then, I thought, and was glad she hadn’t. It was bad enough that they’d left the cuffs on. I didn’t particularly care for the memories it stirred up, of the last night I’d spent in a similar cell. I’d known warning her about magic would get a defiant response, but I’d at least had to try.
Ms Weston muttered something. I caught the word, “disappointing.” I knew it. She’d been testing to see what the youngest Walker was capable of. Well, tough shit. I’d rather be a disappointment than a sadistic bastard who’d get a kick out of tormenting a prisoner, guilty or not.
Using my calmest tone, I told Ms Weston everything Ada had let slip, including my suspicions that she came from offworld.
“Any idiot can see that,” she snapped. “She has inherent magic-wielding abilities—she’s either from one of the outer worlds, or…”
She trailed off. Her eyes cut right through me, and I was seized by a cold, horrible suspicion. I blinked, determined to meet her stare. “Or what?”
It can’t be. She couldn’t know—couldn’t know Earth had once been involved in magic-related experiments. It was impossible. How long ago had she joined the Alliance? Could she really have been there when…?
No. I was still shaken from what I’d read in that file. That was all.
Ms Weston drew in a breath. “I am going to talk to the prisoner. You go and finish filling out those files. Don’t disappoint me again.”
So she was going to interrogate Ada now. I wondered how that would go down. Not that it was any of my business.
Annoyance at the whole universe made it impossible to concentrate on anything all afternoon. I went in search of a caffeine fix, and took out my frustration on the vending machine.
“Watch out,” said Markos, passing by. “It might hit you back. Like the door.”
“Yeah, very funny,” I said.
“What the hell’s up with you?”
Where to bloody start? “Ms Weston,” I said, retrieving my espresso from the machine and heading back in the direction of Office Fifteen. “Also, the prisoner.” Markos on my heels, I went back into the office. “And Saki. Did someone send out a memo telling every woman in Central to yell at me?”
“I didn’t get it,” Ellen said, glancing up from the paperwork she was filling out. She smiled at me. At least one person wasn’t looking at me like I was the freaking criminal.
“Oh, poor you,” said Markos. “Weston’s terrorised almost everyone on the floor. I could hear her yelling at Aric from all the way over here.”
Well, that was the first bit of good news I’d heard all day.
“It was scary,” Ellen said. “I gathered he attacked the prisoner yesterday or something.”
“Yeah, because he’s a moron,” I said. “He tried to choke her. I stopped him, and that was when she tried to get away.”
“And kicked you,” Markos added.
“I wondered what h
appened to your face,” said Ellen, wincing. “Ouch.”
Would I never hear the end of this? I shrugged, took a sip of coffee. “We got her back to Central. She’s locked up now.”
“And you talked to her, didn’t you?” asked Ellen, eying me curiously. “Markos told me.” She held my gaze slightly longer than necessary, but not in a particularly unappealing way.
“Yeah. Couldn’t get any answers out of her.”
“It’s suspicious that she was in the Passages,” said Markos. “Right by Central.”
Suspicious. But we couldn’t rule out coincidence.
“She might just have been sneaking onto another world, when that wyvern jumped her.” That didn’t seem right, either. From her defensiveness, I figured she’d had a purpose of some kind. Something to hide.
“Maybe,” said Markos. “I heard Aric talking to Ms Weston about Academy kids sneaking into the Passages, when he could get a word in edgeways.”
Shit. “Yeah, it’s not uncommon,” I said.
“You broke into the Passages?” From Ellen’s tone, I knew what answer she expected. If Aric was putting it about, it was only a matter of time before the whole freaking office knew. Great.
“This is strictly off record,” I said in a mock-conspiratorial voice. “But yeah. A few times.”
“Ha,” said Markos. “Who is the girl, anyway? What’s she like?”
“Her name’s Ada. I don’t think she’s originally from Earth…this is off record too, by the way,” I added. “Ms Weston might not be thrilled to hear us talking about it. We’re supposed to leave it to the Law Division.”
“Oh, screw them,” said Markos. “I think we can do a little investigating of our own.”
I hesitated to share my suspicions with the others—partly because they weren’t based on much more than paranoia. And partly because I wasn’t a freaking detective. I just wanted to do my job. Ever since I’d driven into Central for the first time, it seemed like everything had conspired to prevent that from happening. “What did you have in mind?” I asked.
“I don’t know yet,” said Markos. “But my ideas are spectacular.”
Ellen rolled her eyes. “So modest,” she said.
“Kay Walker?” Alan opened the door to the office.
“Yes?”
“They’ve changed the rota. You’re on the next patrol. And you, Ellen. You’re with Carl and Aric. Oh, and they think there’s a chalder vox on the loose.”
Well, damn. “All right,” I said, and downed the rest of the coffee in one. I was going to bloody need it.
At least going out on patrol snapped me back onto full alert. There was no long safety lecture from Carl this time, though he did take the opportunity to remind us not to harm any person with the stunners. With a significant look at Aric and me. Clearly, he knew about our little altercation last night. If Ms Weston did, though, she hadn’t mentioned it.
“Right. This is a tricky one, but it’s nothing you Academy graduates can’t handle. The creature’s around the same place the wyvern attacked yesterday—something’s up in Cethrax, I’d wager. But we want to bring the chalder vox down as swiftly as possible. No fancy tricks, and try not to hurt it unless you’re close enough to deal a fatal blow. Remember—they’re pain-tripping masochists. They get stronger the more damage you deal them.”
“We know,” Aric interrupted. “The Academy drilled us on this a hundred times. Both in simulation and real life. I could do it blindfolded.”
I could tell the cocky bastard was trying to rebuild his ego from when Ms Weston had stamped all over it. Moron.
“Arrogance,” said Carl, giving Aric an irritated glance, “is what gets people killed. Your stunners will paralyse it for a moment, use them instead of the daggers, if you can.”
Carl led the way, and I walked alongside Ellen, keeping one eye on Aric. We moved in complete silence this time. Even in the daytime, no one came near this back street, and the sounds of traffic and human noise were a distant hum. When we entered the Passages, any other sound was cut off as the door slid closed behind us. This time, we took a different path, one that led down a sloping corridor with fewer doors but more of a static buzz in the air that usually meant magic was high. Something about that observation struck me as off. Since when could I feel the difference in levels of magic? That was new. And not entirely welcome.
Then came a noise, like a faint breeze. But I picked up on it, and so did the others. Without a word, we moved into formation. This was more like it. A situation I knew how to handle.
Chalder voxes moved stealthily as living shadows, but we were quieter. Stunners in hand, we advanced down the corridor, the faint scraping noise growing louder with every corner we turned. This wasn’t a Passage I’d patrolled before.
One last corner.
Oh, it was a monster, all right. Six feet of concrete-like skin, four stumpy legs and two arms, huge ears, and an ugly, jagged-toothed smile—all materialising from the shadows. And a gaping wound in its shoulder. Great.
We got within two metres when it spotted us. I prepared to sprint after it, but instead it ran towards us, limbs flailing. Damn, it was stoned. Carl hesitated, clearly taken by surprise, but recovered in time to duck its flailing fist and zap it with the stunner.
Then footsteps came out of a side tunnel, loud, hurried steps. There was more than one of them.
Of course—it never would have engaged an entire patrol alone. Stupid assumption to make. I cursed myself for letting the events of the past few days distract me to the extent that I’d forget something as basic as that. The formation broke as Carl jumped at the first monster, stunner in the air. And then the second beast was on us.
I spun to face it, stunner at the ready. Of course, the first instinct was to aim a punch at it, but that would give the monster an advantage—a mistake, the Academy had warned, which had cost more than one guard their life. Tackling it head-on did more damage to you than the enemy, even with the impact-absorbing uniform.
Instead, I jumped. I used its bulky arms for leverage and pulled myself onto its back. Their one weakness was ridiculous, an indentation behind the ear or on the back of the neck, easy to pick out. I held on one-handed, forced to duck as it moved under a lower part of the ceiling. Its discordant bellows echoed around the Passages, magnified by the magic thick in the air. The stunner thrummed in my hand. I could paralyse it… but it was rabid. It’d only wake and go on a rampage later on.
I had to kill it.
I switched the stunner to my left hand and used my right to pull the dagger, flicking out the blade. It was much more streamlined and smoother than the ones used in drills at the Academy, my hand fitting the handle like it was meant to be there. As the monster bucked and tried to throw me off again, I lunged for its weak point. The blade went right in, and shadows flowed out instead of blood. Its knees buckled, and Ellen, who’d been fighting the second beast below, leaped out of the way as it fell to the ground. Carl and Aric were also dodging attacks from the second beast, which was in an even more rabid state than this one, drool hanging from its curved teeth, spittle flying.
My hand twitched on the dagger. No, I’d never killed a person—whatever that girl might have thought of Alliance guards, the Academy trained us to incapacitate, not kill—but I knew too well that that was a line easily crossed. It took more self-control than I’d expected to let Carl finish off the second monster with a stab to the back of the neck. Danger averted.
“Cethrax really needs to keep better control of their pets,” said Carl, referring to the beast’s origin world. The Cethraxians were one of many who’d been denied entry into the Alliance due to their blatant disregard for human or cross-species rights… or any kinds of rights, really. Unfortunately for a world which wanted nothing to do with the rest of the Multiverse, theirs was ridden with entrances to the lower-level Passages and generally anything monster-related could be traced back to them.
“Odd, though,” Carl said, frowning at the chalder vox’s pro
ne form at his feet. “This is nowhere near the doors to Cethrax. They weren’t heading our way, either.”
I glanced at the other monster’s body and the tunnel it had come from. Wait…
Though it had been months since I’d looked at the map, it was imprinted on my memory. And now I thought about it, this particular tunnel wasn’t covered by the Alliance’s patrols. It supposedly dead-ended.
So where was that light coming from? A faint stream of gold light, not at all like the blue radiating from the Passage walls. Like a staircase…
“That tunnel.” I jerked my head in that direction. “Is that to the lower level?” But that didn’t fit right with the map I had in my head. “Because there’s light coming from somewhere down there.”
Carl skirted around the monster’s body and came to stand in the tunnel entrance. “Damn. You’re right.”
There was a pause. Then a high-pitched screech sounded, reverberating through the Passages.
“Shit,” said Aric. “That was a wyvern!”
“Oh, hell,” said Ellen. “Sounded like it came from that way.” She pointed ahead, to where the corridor divided.
“That’s off our route,” said Carl. “We’d never get there before it got through…shit.” He tapped the screen of his communicator. “We need backup. We suspect there’s a wyvern on L1, around the junction of Doors 12B-F.”
A buzz of assent from the other end, and then silence. Carl indicated we follow him, leaving the tunnel with the strange light behind.
“We’re going to do a full search of this area,” he said. “Sounds echo, so it could be anywhere in this sector. We can’t afford to risk it breaking through one of the doors.”
No one dared argue, even Aric. He just nodded, serious for once. And no one spoke as we followed Carl.
I ignored the magic, though it was stronger than ever, like a live current running through my veins. There was definitely more of it in the Passages than before. That must be what attracted the wyverns. But it didn’t happen of its own accord.