The Wizards on Walnut Street

by Sam Swicegood

  Todd, for his part, made no point to acknowledge the slight breach in decorum, but I could see on Hampstead’s face that Devin had likely erred. He stepped in to steer any perceived faux pas in a good direction. “Apprentice Birch is a rising star here in 50 Thousand. He’s definitely going places.” I saw a bead of sweat slipping down Hampstead’s face and I could only imagine that he was like an overworked secretary here, trying to balance the whole situation for fear that any calamity might be blamed on him personally. And given the insistence at every corner that angering the Dragon of Cincinnati even slightly would end in disaster, I hardly blamed him.

  The Dragon shook my hand and then moved on, and I actually felt quite relieved to not hear the words “I knew your dad” because it was honestly starting to grate on my nerves that everyone and their brother seems to have known about my dad and what he did except me. This did, however, leave the question open about why exactly the Dragon of Cincinnati wanted me there personally. I gulped down the rising lump in my throat and kept on politely smiling. I watched Devin for a moment as he sort of butted into the conversation Todd was having with the Wizard I had been introduced to as Columbia.

  “So now that we’re all here, let’s have a seat.” He gingerly took his place in the leather chair and gestured for us all to sit on the couches. “This was meant to be sort of an informal meeting with you three,” he gestured to the wizards, “over my upcoming symposium for this year. And we’ll get to that. But I also thought it would be a good opportunity to also meet you three,” he gestured to Devin, Nannette and I, “and congratulate you on your Sorcery permits. The three of you scored the highest of the candidates this year on the Sorcera Permit Application Exam. so…well done.” He applauded quietly.

  I blinked. There was no way that I had gotten a high score on that multiple-choice test. I had guessed in over half the answers. I had been surprised I’d succeeded enough to get a permit in the first place.

  “I make it a habit to know who is doing what in my city, so I thought it might be a good idea to do a little meet-and-greet. You meet me, I learn a bit about you.” He turned to Nannette. “Let’s start with you, Miss Mariemont, was it? Please.”

  Nannette looked momentarily taken aback but recovered. “Well, my name is Nannette Mariemont and I work in research. I have degrees in English Folklore and European Linguistics. I shared a class with the Espresso Machine from the break room,” she added to the Wizards on the opposite couch, eliciting knowing chuckles. I briefly wondered how exactly an espresso machine might take notes. “I was really lucky that the exam focused so much on identities and descriptions as well as folklore…it was really far up my alley.”

  It suddenly hit me that I had met this girl before. She had given me that list of books in the Cincinnati Library, which I still had not had a chance to thumb through.

  Todd nodded with a smile and then looked over to me. “And…Andy, right?”

  I nodded. “Yes, sir. I’m Andy LaFayette. I’m a casting technical analyst. I have an associates in liberal arts and uh…” I felt so thoroughly inadequate. I also didn’t want to add in anything about dad because unlike the smarmy jerk next to me I was proud of getting here without prior networking, even if it had been sheer luck. “And I am learning a lot and hope I can really…uh…be an asset to the company and contribute positively to your city.”

  Todd nodded his approval. “I’m sure you will. And Devin?”

  Devin stood up and gave a low bow. “Most Venerable Sir, I am thoroughly humbled to be in your presence and I thank you for the opportunity you have presented. My name is Devin Allen Birch, and I am a senior Apprentice…but I don’t have business cards yet because I’ll be a Wizard soon enough.” He gave finger guns. Finger guns. If I had been one of the wizards I’d have been mortified, but they stayed rather stony-faced on the other couch, watching Devin like he might catch fire any moment.[16] Todd was similarly unreadable, even with his bright and optimistic smile, and I wondered if he was eating up all of Devin’s sycophantism or was just getting ready to eat Devin himself. Devin thankfully took a seat before he could ruin his own image further.

  “I really appreciate you three being here. Every year there is a hiring season and permits get made and I get to see name after name cross my desk, and the opportunity to put name to face for rising stars like yourselves is a great boon to an old dragon’s memory.” He stood up. “One thing I want to emphasize is that this city and its people are deeply ingrained with a culture and beauty all their own, and that we—which is to say, all of the societies, not just Sorcera—have a duty to protect them and live among them in peace. You are part of an ancient and honorable craft that spans lengths of time nearly to the limits of Human record. You have the opportunity to be the example. Be like these fine wizards before you who have time and time again proven their invaluable nature protecting people from the forces of darkness. Be like the many Apprentices who walked before you and took up a mantle of right in the face of wrong, and proved the work was…worth doing.” These last few words rung with a great emphasis, and I felt uplifted hearing them, like my heart had become lighter.

  Todd thanked us again and then excused us to return to work, so we rose and headed out the door. Devin fell in far behind as he had stopped to shake the Dragon’s hand vigorously once more, but we all boarded the elevator together and rode to the bottom in silence. We strolled across the courtyard and, at the direction of the sunken-faced butler, were led to a stone arch at the far end. On the other side of the arch lay a Cincinnati street that looked a lot like Race Street. We passed through and began the trudge several blocks toward the towering green 50 Thousand building.

  Devin ignored Nannette and I completely, tapping away excitedly on his phone as we walked. I imagined him updating his social media with his adventure meeting someone as awesome and influential as The Dragon, and wondered whether wizards used any social media with hashtags that might be appropriate. I vaguely envisioned a wizarding version of twitter, and Devin rolling out updates like just got done chilling with the Dragon of Cincy, #tight #friendsinhighplaces.

  Nannette was quiet as well, but her nose was deeply in a book. I caught her glancing at me a few times on our walk and wondered if she was wanting to say something but couldn’t get the courage. I know I’ve felt that way more than a few times, so I tried to strike up some conversation.

  “Research sounds like a fun department.”

  “Yep.” She continued reading.

  “You uh…I met you at the library, right? Thanks for that book list.”

  “Sure.” She didn’t even look up.

  “I uh… I thought you were Vulnerabl. From the bracelet. How did you end up being part of Sorcera stuff?”

  She gave me sidelong glare and I realized that might have been a bit too much of a personal question. So much for dispelling the awkward silence.

  Not wanting to bother her further, I kept walking along to 9th and then all the way down to Walnut, where we crossed the parking lot and stepped into the comfortable and spacious lobby of 50 Thousand. We boarded the elevator and waited. Devin was the first to get off, on the 2nd floor, and I pulled out my phone as the doors closed—

  But my hand was suddenly grabbed. Nannette was looking at me, and she suddenly looked terrified. “Did you say your name was LaFayette?”

  “Y-yeah—” I tried to pull away.

  “Was your dad Tom? Tom LaFayette?” She seemed desperate and on the verge of tears.

  “Yeah—!”

  “I need to tell someone but I don’t know who. I found out something down in research. There’s a plot to kill the Dragon of Cincinnati. Someone needs to know. Your dad found out about it and was investigating. He came to talk to me about a month ago and asked for all my notes; he said it was important that it get in the right hands. And then he was killed like the next day.” By now Nannette was gripping my lapel with her other hand. “Someone needs to know, but you have to be careful. They might already be looking at you. Th
ey might already know. They might try to kill me. You need to get out of here. Like really.”

  I wasn’t really sure how to respond. “Why would someone want to kill—?”

  “If the Dragon dies then another Dragon takes its place. Makes its own rules. There’s a group called the Black Magisters. They have a replacement dragon, like…somewhere, and they want to kill Todd and replace him with the other dragon. They’re going to do it at the Symposium. Please, you have to believe me—”

  The door opened and Nannette released her hold on me, looking quite normal again as she exited the elevator onto the 10th floor. The door closed, and I stood there shaking, my brain trying to parse the information I had just heard into something manageable. I didn’t know what to do…but I knew who would.

  Chapter 13

  I punched the button for the 14th floor and stepped off, rounding the corner to the glass-windowed office and dashing up to the counter to ring the bell.

  A muscular man (honestly, like, a sack of muscles shaped like a man) stepped out of the back office and glowered at me. “Can I help you?”

  I was taken aback slightly but recovered. “Killian Fletcher, please?” I said as steadily as I could.

  “Yeah, yeah,” I heard her voice from the back and the tower of muscles retreated as she appeared. “Got another shopping list or some—” she stopped when she saw me practically quivering. “What happened, and who do I gotta beat up?”

  I steadied myself on the counter and spilled what I had just been told by Nannette in the elevator. By the time I was done I was practically in hysterics and Killian took a step closer to put her hand on mine as I talked. “Breathe, Andy.”

  I breathed. “So what do we do?”

  She shook her head. “We aren’t doing anything. I will file a report and see what I can do. You will take some meds and calm down. I’ve got this.”

  I grabbed her hand. “No, you can’t. I can’t let you get involved in this. I’m a new hire but you’re not and I can’t risk your job if something is—”

  “What was that I literally just told you about breathing?” She was looking particularly annoyed. “As for whether or not people know you associate with me or something…” She paused, her tongue touching her top lip thoughtfully as though she was trying to figure out how to word something important. “It’s fine. I know people. Let’s talk about it later, okay?”

  I took another few steadying breaths. “Alright, fine. I’ll let you handle it.”

  Killian nodded sagely and patted me on the shoulder. “Seriously now, go back to work, don’t worry, everything will be fine. I promise.”

  I looked at Killian with searching eyes, trying to read her expression. I had to remind my anxious brain that Killian had been here far longer than I, and that she seemed to have a lot more expertise in this kind of thing than I did. “I’m just…I’m not sure.”

  “It’s my job, literally. Look in your Employee handbook,” Killian said with what sounded like a mildly-irritated tone. Killian waited with growing impatience as I stood there and steadied myself with more deep, anti-anxiety breaths. “Andy, please just go back to work. We’ll talk about all this later, I promise.”

  “But what if—”

  “No. Stop. Back to work, drink some tea, put your mind back to work. If you keep going down this road you’re going to end up with heart problems.” She gave me a very stern look and I dropped my gaze to my feet. I didn’t say goodbye as I slipped out of the security office and out into the elevator bank, where I pushed the button for the 19th. The elevator seemed to take an inordinate amount of time to get there, and when the mechanical brakes finally slid to a stop and the doors opened I felt slightly lightheaded, like my head was rubber band that had been stretched out and then relaxed, leaving it all wrinkly and less stretchy.

  I pulled out the thick 50 Thousand Employee Handbook out of my drawer and opened it in quietly on my desk. There had to be something else I could do. I pulled the thick book out of my bag and flipped it open stubbornly, finally spotting a section on “Internal Security”. I scanned the relevant section[17] twice, noting that it seemed maybe slightly too relevant, and I had to push to the back of my mind the idea that the book was somehow able to understand my current situation. I flipped to another random page which made me sick to my stomach to read it[18] and then closed the book. There was no way to know if I was being watched like Nannette had suggested.

  The rest of the day was almost unbearable. I kept looking at my phone in between piles of sorting, hoping for a text or email from Killian, but none came. I worked through my lunch, trying to keep my mind occupied and preventing it from drifting too far into the realm of a massive panic attack, and with the help of mid-day medication I was able to make it through to the end of my shift. I felt like I had aged twenty years while doing so.

  I finally decided to text Killian on my way up the elevator of my condo. I hadn’t reached out to Apollo yet, trying not to scare my sassy black mom-friend.

  What happened?

  No response. I put my phone away and calmed my nerves with a breath as the doors to my floor slid open.

  There stood Killian, hand on her hip and looking royally pissed. I just stood there, not sure what to do or say, and feeling somewhat afraid to make sudden movements. She just stood there and surveyed me for a moment. “What did she tell you?” I stuttered and the elevator door started to close. Killian slammed her hand against the door’s side, making it retreat back inside, and her demeanor got, if possible, more irate. “What did she tell you, Andy?”

  I took a slow, and deliberate, sidestep around Killian and off the elevator. “S-she said my dad had come to her and asked f-for her notes. And she handed them over, and Dad said he’d investigate…and that he ended up dead the next day.” I felt hot, anxious tears welling up in my face and I did my best to hold them back. “I d-don’t know what’s going on. She didn’t say anything else.” I gasped a breath. “And she said something about a group called the Black Magisters. I think they might be behind it.”

  Killian didn’t react at all to this. I might have thought that she’d turned into a pissed-off, redheaded mannequin with as silent and still as she had suddenly become. Finally, she seemed to relax a little. “OK, this isn’t working. You need to get the coin.”

  I nodded and started toward the condo. “Yeah, ok. I put it inside, come on. What are we going to do with it?” I unlocked my condo door and stepped inside. In the kitchen, under a jar of marmite on my shelf, was the coin. I had hoped that any home invader wouldn’t want to touch the jar of marmite and thus the coin would be safer.

  “We are not going to do anything.” she replied, closing the door behind me. “Here, give it to me. I’ll keep it safe.”

  I stopped and turned, slowly. “What…you know something, don’t you?”

  Killian glowered and held out her hand. “I am not playing with you, Andy. Give it here. Please.”

  I didn’t move. “Killian. Please tell me what’s going on.”

  She slowly lowered her hand, fixing me with a gaze I did not very much like being the target of. “You really don’t know what the coin is, do you? I thought you were just playing stupid. But you really don’t know.”

  “Killian, you’re freaking me out.”

  “See, 50 Thousand was founded a long time ago when someone paid a group of sorcerers 50 Thousand Drachmas for protection.[19] They still have those coins, and the story goes that as long as those 50 thousand drachmas stay owned by the firm, all of the company’s magic stays strong and its luck continues to hold.”

  I nodded slowly, still gripping the silver coin in my hand.

  “If one of those drachmas was to somehow change ownership, then I’d guess they’d become the luckiest person around. And 50 thousand, meanwhile, would slowly see its spells unravel. So you see, Andy, I need you to give me the coin.” She held out her hand again.

  I still hesitated. “So…all this stuff that’s been happening to me has been…luck
?”

  “I heard you got a really high mark on the Sorcera exam. People who have been living around wizards their whole lives didn’t get scores like you. I’m guessing you guessed a lot on the answers and they just happened to be correct? That kind of thing happens with multiple-choice tests but I guess nobody noticed.”

  It was like my heart had been suddenly dipped in cold water. All this time it had just been luck. And not just any old luck, but artificial luck. It somehow made my cheap success even cheaper.

  Killian shook her head. “Someone got to her before I did. I went down to see her, to try and hush her up before she got hurt, but it was too late. Looks like someone set it up to look like she fell off a bookshelf, too.”

  I took a step back, leaning against the kitchen counter. “Oh god. So she was right, then? About—” I paused, all of Killian’s words sinking in. “Why were you trying to ‘hush her up’? Did you report the plot? If she’s dead…that’s evidence, right?”

  Killian leaned against my kitchen doorway, her eyes fixed irritatedly upon me. “Do you think it was luck that you ran into me last week? Or that I keep being the one to run into you for company security stuff? No, I was assigned to you. Because the rest of us didn’t know how much you knew about your Dad’s involvement.”

  I took a few long breaths, refusing to tear my eyes away from Killian’s gaze. “What do you mean by ‘the rest of us’?” I already knew the answer before it was said.

  “The Black Magisters,” Killian said casually, “Your dad was one. And so am I.”

  I stood there for what seemed to be an inconveniently long second before I bolted for the door, but Killian was far too fast and exceptionally too prepared for my slow, inexperienced ass; I saw her touch a runed metal ring on her finger and a moment later the windows had grown inexplicably dark and the door clicked shut. I ran to the front door and tried to unlock it but the lock was stuck and the door was jammed. I pulled fruitlessly at it for a long moment, trying to get out as quickly as I could, but it was to no avail.