Millhook had a point. If I could make my case to Calista that there was a mole and they were after me, there was a decent chance she’d let me leave the Citadel. But that wasn’t the only concern. “No, the risk is too great. She’s worked on the Council for so long that she trusts everyone. It’d be too easy for the mole to find out she knew. It puts everyone at risk. I have to figure out who the traitor is and either eliminate them or bring them to the Council. It’s the only way to ensure everyone’s safety. Whoever it is, if they could rig my trials, it means they’re placed highly enough to do real damage. I think Calista would just make the same mistake you are, believing that since you’ve known someone for a long time, they couldn’t betray you. And there’s every chance she wouldn’t believe me. You don’t. I know you think Casper was just messing with my mind, but you weren’t there when he said it. You didn’t see the look on his face. I’ve got to stay and root out this betrayal.”
“I think you’re being damned foolish.” Millhook nodded, his eyes wide, to punctuate his point.
“When do you not think that? Promise me you won’t say anything. Anyone we tell becomes a target, and I can’t live with that. I’ve already endangered too many people, and I’ve seen too much death. This way, the only life at risk is mine. I’m the only person who’s been targeted.”
“For now.”
“If they were going to target anyone else, they would’ve done so already. Promise me, Millhook.” The only comfort—if you could call it that—I took in all of this was that my life was the only one at risk. I’d taken an oath to protect mages when I entered the CCS. That oath didn’t go away because I was scared or in danger.
“All right, all right, you have my word. Don’t know when my allegiance went from the Council to a pidge, but there you have it.”
There were few things in the world I was sure of, but Millhook’s word was one of them. Once he gave it, a weight lifted from me, and I relaxed a little. “How long are you going to be here?”
“As long as Calista needs me. Don’t know how long that’ll be, because I don’t have much to offer here. Not many non-mages come into the Citadel. My only area of expertise is non-mage magic. But we’ll see. Take care of yourself, and I’ll let you know what I find.”
“Thanks, Millhook. Don’t be a stranger.”
“I never am,” the imp said as he left the room.
I was a CCS agent. Tomorrow was my first day on the job. Behind a desk, I didn’t know how much I could do. The mage version of pushing paper had to be more interesting than the human version, right? Besides, no matter what Calista assigned me to do, I’d be running my own investigation on the side. Someone in the Citadel had tampered with my trials—had almost killed me—and I was going to find out who it was before they tried again.
Chapter 9
The next morning, a rather lame-looking guard greeted me as I left my room on the way to work. Even though it wasn’t his fault, I couldn’t help groaning as soon as I saw him. As a CCS agent, I should be in the field gathering intelligence, not being babysat like a little kid.
The guard, whose name I didn’t bother getting, didn’t leave me until I reached the door to the greenhouse where Kellan waited for me.
“Thanks, I’ve got it from here.” Kellan dismissed the guard and opened the door for us.
Great, I was being handed off from one man to another.
When the door shut behind us, Kellan broke into a grin. “So how does it feel being the newest CCS agent? Congratulations.”
“Thanks, but I think you need to keep the cheeriness down. Being stuck behind a desk is not what I envisioned when I started training.”
“Don’t worry, this whole thing will be sorted soon, and you’ll be out in the field. Calista is going to meet us down in the pit.”
“We’ll be working together?” It wasn’t entirely surprising. I had expected to work with him in some form, but that was when I thought I’d be on Earth.
“Yes, in a way.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What do you mean, ‘in a way’?”
“Well, we will be working together. I mean here and once you’re officially assigned to Earth, but until you transfer, I’m also kind of your bodyguard while you’re at work.”
The shock stopped me in my tracks. “Wait, my what?”
“It’s not that crazy. I’m your bodyguard. I follow you around, make sure no one jumps out from behind corners and attacks, that sort of thing.”
I resumed walking to try to process this. I had hoped that Calista wasn’t serious about assigning someone to me inside the CCS. Having it be Kellan, someone I knew and was friends with, was humiliating. “So I get a babysitter in the Citadel and a babysitter at work. This is great.”
“Someone tried to kill you, and they weren’t fooling around.”
This narrative wasn’t helping my cause. “See, that’s where you’re wrong. I didn’t die. So I don’t think it’s that serious. I’ve been training here for months and nothing’s ever happened. One little slip-up in the trials doesn’t mean someone is trying to kill me.”
Kellan stopped walking and grabbed my arm to stop me as well. “Kat, please tell me you understand the seriousness of the situation. I know you think of me as this goofy guy and that’s fine, I try to make the best of a bad situation, but this is serious. I know we haven’t worked together all that much since you’ve been in training, but I know what I’m doing. I’ve killed before, and I won’t hesitate to do it again if it means keeping you safe.”
This was a side of Kellan I had never seen. Goofy Kellan, sure, I knew him. I’d even seen his softer side when we had heart-to-hearts during some of the tough parts of training. But I’d never thought about the fact that he was actually a CCS field agent. He’d been out there on Earth for years now doing the work I’d trained to do—the work that was so dangerous I almost died proving my training.
“You’re right. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make light of the situation. I just want to be out there doing something.”
“I understand. Trust me, I do. That’s why I need you to understand that I’m here to protect you. The more you let me do my job, the sooner this will all be over and we can be on Earth kicking the Directorate’s ass. So let’s stick together, make the most of our assignment, and we’ll be out of here before you know it.”
“Deal.”
Kellan stuck his hand out between us. “Come on, let’s settle this the human way. Shake on it.”
The laughter that shook my chest as I took his hand released some of the tension in my body. Kellan’s obsession with all things Earth was an endless source of amusement for me. The most mundane things seemed to fascinate him.
Before we reached the pit, Calista intercepted us and focused on Kellan. “Did the guard stay with her until you relieved him?”
“Yeah, for all he knows, Kat and I have a deep and abiding interest in horticulture.”
“Good. I can’t overemphasize how important your job is here, Kellan.”
Nothing topped being ignored by the boss who was sticking me at a desk. “Yes, babysitting a trained agent is quite the full-time job, unlike pushing paper, which is what I take it I’ll be doing all day.”
“Aw, come on, Kat.” Kellan gave me a friendly punch to the shoulder. “It’s magical paper.”
The treatment in the infirmary and a good night’s sleep had gone a long way to healing my wounds, but the ache Kellan’s fist left in its wake served as an unwelcome reminder of why his presence was necessary.
Calista finally gave me the courtesy of addressing me directly. “I know this isn’t what you want, Kat. You’re a very promising agent, and you have knowledge of Earth that no one else in the organization has. So believe me when I say we’re all eager to get you reassigned, but until then, the work we do here is important too. We don’t anticipate you’ll be assigned here long term, so you’ll work as a junior analyst. As intelligence comes in, analyze it and file it. Do any research you’re asked to and…do
whatever you can to help out the senior analysts.”
I swear she was about to say, “And stay out of our way with the investigation.”
Without waiting for any acknowledgement from me, she turned and led us into the pit, the nexus of CCS headquarters.
Suspended in the air above the desks was a giant orb known as the globe. In mage culture, the orb had a great deal of significance. It represented Perkusia itself and all the magic that originated here. Not only that, it turned out orbs were useful for a lot of things. This one was ginormous, larger than any other I had seen. On it we kept track of every operation the CCS engaged in both here and on Earth. Despite its shape and name, it wasn’t used the way a globe would be—marking missions according to geographic location. Instead, they were divvied up on the orb according to their priority and objectives.
And occasionally, the globe was used as a communication orb.
“HQ, are you there?” The globe’s display disappeared and a woman’s face took its place.
“We see and hear you loud and clear, Ferrilia. Go ahead with the report,” Brayel, the senior analyst on duty, said.
Ferrilia’s eyes darted around the room as if she just noticed how many people were watching her. “Oh, Councilor Calista.”
Brayel turned, his eyes searching for Calista. When he found our party, he nodded. “Sorry, ma’am. I didn’t see you enter.”
“Don’t worry about it. What report do you have for us, Ferrilia?”
“The intelligence we had about the Directorate using a portal on the shore of the Cushing Sea proved to be correct. My team caught an operative for questioning.”
“How many are dead?” Calista asked, her tone expecting multiple casualties.
“None on our side, ma’am. One Directorate operative was killed and one took his own life before capture. We captured one alive.”
“A three-person party going through?” Brayel asked.
“Yes, it surprised us too. We’re not sure why they’ve increased the number of operatives who travel together. We confiscated a couple of satchels and what appear to be new devices the Directorate has created.”
The room erupted in cheers as the twenty or so agents present reacted to the news. These kinds of victories didn’t come along often.
Calista kept her composure, showing no emotion. “Thank you, Ferrilia. We await the formal report. Please pass on my personal congratulations and thanks to your team.”
“Will do, ma’am.” Ferrilia’s face disappeared, and the globe resumed its usual appearance.
Among the smiling faces, Calista’s somber expression stood out.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “I thought this was what we worked for?”
“No, Kat, we work to maintain peace. This is not peace. It troubles me anytime a Directorate operative is killed. It means we had to resort to mages killing mages, and that’s not the world I’m fighting for. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do, and so do you.”
Beneath the unsettled feeling Calista left me with was relief that I had decided not to confide in her. While Calista’s little speech sounded good, she’d always had a way with words. Right now, I couldn’t afford to trust anyone who showed sadness when a Directorate operative was killed. If given the chance, I’d kill every last one of them myself.
Chapter 10
Turned out, magical paperwork was just as boring as Earth paperwork. Brayel had relished the chance to offload the least desirable tasks to me and Kellan. We read through routine reports from the different field offices, cross-referenced them with each other to make sure they were as inconsequential as the filing agent had thought when he or she hadn’t flagged them, and then marked them for archival.
“Kat, come with me, please,” Lilibet’s soft voice sounded behind me. I jumped out of my chair, welcoming the interruption. I hoped that as my handler, Lilibet came to save me.
Kellan and I followed her to her office, a floor above the pit. It was small, neat, and tidy. The outside wall had an enchanted window that showed what her view would be if her office were above ground.
“Kellan, can you leave us alone please?” Lilibet asked.
“I’m not supposed to leave her side.”
“That wasn’t a request. You can wait outside the door.”
Kellan hesitated then nodded and left us alone.
“Thanks for saving me.” Despite sitting all day, I plopped into the chair in front of her desk and released a yawn. “Being an analyst is definitely not what I want to do. Are you coming to tell me I’m going into the field?”
“Not even close. You should take advantage of this opportunity. The analysts are important. It’s good for you to get this experience.”
“Oh trust me, I have a new appreciation for people who can do this all day.”
Lilibet smiled, but it went away as quickly as it came. “I’ve been working on the investigation, and I want to give you an update. We’ve been over everything. Millhook scanned every inch of the scene room to see if he could detect magic we’re not familiar with. Nothing. So far it looks like a simple mistake.”
“Great.” I smiled and sat forward in my seat. “Then there’s no harm in me getting out of here.”
“We’ve debated that for hours. The consensus is that mistakes don’t happen. There are only two possibilities, neither one pleasant. There’s been no record of non-CCS personnel coming into the Greenhouse, and there’s been no suspicious activity with the general Citadel population. So the CCS has either been infiltrated or…” Her mouth twisted as if she didn’t know how to say what came next.
“Or what?”
“It’s something we never wanted to consider. We’re only considering it now because it’s the only option that would mean one of our own hasn’t betrayed us. There is a form of magic called golem magic. It’s not something we talk about because we didn’t think anyone knew it anymore. It’s a way for a mage to control another mage, incredibly dark stuff, and it breaks all kinds of laws. The last known instance of a mage using golem magic was over two hundred years ago. If the Directorate had access to this kind of magic, we wouldn’t be sitting here talking. The CCS would have fallen ages ago. But those are the only two options: someone’s betrayed us or someone’s been a victim of golem magic.”
“So what do we do? I mean, we need to learn all we can about this golem magic.”
“All the material on it is restricted.”
Knowing there was a mole in the Council meant that it could be both options: we were both betrayed and someone was using golem magic. If it was Thaddeus or Calista, me coming forward without any hard proof would do nothing. They would simply frame an innocent person and banish them to the Vortex all because of me. That wasn’t going to happen. “So you’re telling me, in the entire massive library we have over at the Citadel, there’s not a single word about golem magic?”
“Oh the library has materials on it, but they’re all in section five.”
The library had different sections, each with its own restrictions. I’d used up to section three during training. Section five was the highest level of restriction. “And how does one get access to section five?”
“You’d need special dispensation from the Council.”
Great. This was working out beautifully. If all I’d needed was Lilibet’s permission, I might have gotten it.
“So what’s the plan? I’ll be an analyst forever? Given this new information, is the CCS even going to keep operating at the current level?”
“We feel it’s best to not raise too many alarms. We want whomever it is to think they got away with this. Then maybe they’ll be stupid enough to act again. But make no mistake, we’re on high alert. That’s why I’m telling you. We want you to report anything you see out of the ordinary no matter how innocuous or mundane it may seem to you.”
“If we’re behaving as normal, shouldn’t I be out on missions?”
Lilibet sighed. I was pushing my luck with her. She’d shown an infinite amoun
t of patience during my training, but it looked like I was finding the boundaries of where that patience ended.
“Think of this as a mission. Keep your eyes and ears open, your mouth shut. Your mission is to blend in like a regular junior analyst and report on anything you find suspicious. But let me be clear, Kat: you are not to act on any intelligence you stumble upon.”
I resented the phrase “stumble upon” as if anything I contributed would, of course, be due to dumb luck. “I understand.”
“This is serious. We want you in the field. We want you Earthside. That can’t happen if you get yourself killed while you’re still here.”
“So I am going to be stationed on Earth?”
Lilibet smiled and shook her head. “You have a one-track mind, don’t you? I’m not supposed to tell you this, but I don’t think it will come as any great surprise. Yes, you’re going to be assigned to Earth. Actually, you’ll be part of the opening team for another station there. We plan on you playing a big role.”
Opening a new station was a better gig than I could have hoped for. I would have been happy with a little field office as long as it was on Earth. “And what about you? Will you be my handler?”
“We’ll discuss that later.” Lilibet stood, and I followed suit. Her sidestep on the handler issue had me worried. I knew I had to accustom myself to the idea of someone new, but I didn’t trust easily, and trust was an essential component in the agent/handler relationship.
As I left Lilibet’s office, I couldn’t help being a little happy despite my misgivings. I’d finally found out what my assignment would be, and now I had a solid plan. I had to become as much of an expert on golem magic as anyone in the Citadel. That meant getting into section five of the library. Luckily for me, no one knew that I could teleport. All it would take was practice.
And since the library was in the Citadel and not the Greenhouse, I wouldn’t even have to let Kellan in on my plan. All I needed to do was master teleporting, and I’d vanish from my room into section five without my guard knowing the difference.
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