The Wizards on Walnut Street

by Sam Swicegood

  Chapter 20

  The silence left a ringing in my ears, and I could hear my heartbeat clearly over my heavy breaths. Killian and Apollo both looked down to the ground, unsure if this was the moment that the over-arching fear of the Dragon’s appetite for people he disliked was about to come to fruition.

  I, however, kept my gaze. The way that the Dragon had so matter-of-factly admitted the one answer I had spent to very long seeking was so thoroughly disturbing that it made my heart sink deep in my chest only to get swallowed up somewhere in my stomach. Before I could come up with some kind of witty response to this confession of guilt, or even consider a plan now that the three of us were now backed—quite literally—into a corner, the elevator doors attempted to close.

  Todd shifted his foot into the line of the doorway and they sprung back open. “Out,” he commanded, and Apollo and Killian scampered past the angry Dragon and into the hall, where several more purple-and-silver guards were waiting. I continued to stand, shaking, in the elevator. Todd looked at me, his eyebrows knitting together deeply as he considered me for moment. “Step out of the elevator, Apprentice LaFayette.”

  I didn’t move. “Or what? You’ll kill me, too?”

  “No,” Todd replied without hesitation. “Or I’ll have you arrested. You want answers? I’ll give them to you. But you need to follow me, or you’ll get nothing.” The Dragon then turned on his heel and strode back toward the opposite end of the hall, toward an open doorway.

  I looked helplessly to Apollo and Killian, who both stared obediently at the floor. Both of them were breathing very heavily, and they followed behind the Dragon without a word. I still didn’t move, and as they walked away I saw Killian glance back at me and mouth the word “please.”

  I finally stepped off the elevator and, flanked by two more guards, followed the others into the office. Todd had apparently set up a makeshift workspace here for the symposium; a tuxedo hung over a nearby armchair with his fancy jewel hanging off the breast pocket and a desk was covered in papers and forms along with an open briefcase full of what looked like ancient scrolls of parchment.

  “Silencers, show yourselves,” the Dragon commanded as he took a seat behind the desk. Instantly, the three guides appeared behind the desk obediently: Iktomi sat perched on the Moddey Dhoo’s back, while a curvy, wild-haired woman in a toga relaxed against the wall with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth.

  “First,” the Dragon said, taking a seat behind the desk, “Prince Apollo. I am rather disappointed that you’re entangled in all this. So I am temporarily suspending your privileges in the city effective immediately. And do not worry,” he added as Apollo looked up and opened his mouth to reply, “the Lilin will not suffer punishment. I will deal with Agatha personally.”

  He moved on. “Killian Fletcher. There was a time when you were a rising star in this city. And now you stand here, a party to a conspiracy against me and my city. This will…this will not do.” He took out a smartphone and typed into it. “I will inform 50 Thousand that you are no longer to be employed there. And then you will be turned over to the Sorcera Society for further judgement. I expect they will terminate your membership and reimage your memories.”

  “Please, no…” I heard Killian whisper, but the Dragon turned his attention to me.

  “And you. When I had heard that you had not only applied at 50 Thousand, but had aced the Sorcera society examination, I must say that I was rather taken aback. Your father was rather insistent that you were not knowledgeable in any of the magical arts, and as his last request asked that my office not contact your family. Curious. But now here you are, trying to get into my private sanctum. For answers? Or to finish what he started?”

  “Why did you kill my dad?” I said, my courage rising in my throat. I had given up all hope of having an amazing and wonderful plan stashed in the back of my mind, and at this point I had simply come to the conclusion that I was no longer afraid. Whatever happened to me now, I needed answers.

  “Your father,” Todd replied calmly, “Betrayed my greatest trust. Five years ago, for his service to the city, I granted Lord LaFayette the right of Pro Veritate. He took that gift and used it for his own gain. What he failed to know is that the tradition of Pro Veritate is not the right to no longer be accountable…It is the right to be accountable directly to the Dragon of the City.” Todd picked up a cigarette from the desk and put it in his mouth. It lit on its own, and he took a drag from it. “When an informant told me that your father entered into a conspiracy to betray me and put another Dragon into power, I knew the score. So I met him, at his home. I talked to him. I gave him the chance to confess and turn on his co-conspirators. He refused, out of whatever misguided loyalty…so I enacted my rights of the city. And I do not regret it.”

  It was a moment of truth which hung in the air like fog, and I realized that my breathing had suddenly risen to a deep panic, but now it was subsiding on its own. The conflicting feelings in my chest, and the cognitive dissonance in my brain had begun to fall into place as the part of me that had a loyalty to my absent father slipped away down a drain in the back of my head, and I realized then that I had now inserted myself so far into his tangle of betrayal that I had practically implicated myself in his actions. “What are you going to do with me?” I asked after a moment.

  “That remains to be seen. From the looks of things you’ve decided to follow in your father’s footsteps, but I don’t have any evidence of that yet. So I am going to hold you here until we can discern the truth.” There was a knock at the door and he rose from his seat. “I have a Symposium to run and I simply do not have time to sort this out right now, so you three will stay here. You will be joined by security shortly. And do not—” He addressed Killian and Apollo specifically, “—attempt to escape. It will not end well for you.” He turned to address the silencers. “I order you as Dragon of the City: if they attempt to use any magic or flee, kill them.” The three Empyrean bowed halfheartedly as the Dragon walked past us, picked up his tuxedo, and disappeared out the door with his guards.

  I dropped into the armchair, head in my hands. “I’m so stupid,” I said through the muffling of my fingers as I squeezed my eyes shut.

  Apollo rounded on Killian. “OK, what exactly did you get us into here, Killian? You’re joining evil cults and betraying everyone you know? Betraying me—me, of all people. What is wrong with you? I have always been on your side, even when I shouldn’t have.”

  “I didn’t have a choice, OK?” Killian was raising her voice in a way I hadn’t quite heard her do thus far. “And I thought that one—” I assumed she was gesturing to me “—was in on it the whole time. You know, since Andy ended up getting Tom’s condo, which meant Andy got the coin. I thought it was intentional.”

  I looked up, coming to a sudden realization. “Hey Killian—” I lurched back in the chair as Killian spun on me, her face flushed with anger. “Um…you said I gave you a fake coin. What did you mean?”

  Killian fished the drachma out of her pocket and brandished it toward me. “This thing. Really friggin’ clever, Andy, but when I put it in the vault nothing happened. So I almost got caught, and if I had then the other Magisters would have—” She stopped herself and I could see her formulating her next words, “—done something about it.”

  I rose defiantly and faced her, eye-to-eye. “What would they have done, Killian? What is so awful and important that you would have betrayed everything…?” I trailed off as my gaze drifted over to the Incubus who was standing there, quietly confused. It clicked into place. “They threatened Apollo, didn’t they?”

  Killian didn’t reply, but as she gritted her teeth and dropped her shoulders I knew I wasn’t wrong.

  Apollo closed his eyes and leaned back against the desk. “Killian—”

  She held a hand up and avoided looking at him. “Don’t. Just…don’t.”

  “In any case,” I said, pulling the coin from Killian’s other hand. “I know why this didn’t work. Y
ou said the coin became mine when my dad left the Condo to me, right? Well, I didn’t give the coin to you—”

  “I took it,” Killian finished my sentence in realization. “So the coin was still yours the whole time.” She swallowed hard and composed herself. “OK…I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what I did—”

  “Later,” I said insistently, and gestured to the room. “What are we going to do now?”

  Apollo perked up. “Someone is coming,” he said, gesturing to the door with his chin. I pocketed the coin as the door opened, and five masked figures dressed in suits walked into the room. Each was armed a standard-issue grey particleboard wand, pointed straight at us. They parted and allowed a sixth through who was dressed more outlandishly, a black and red cape hanging from his shoulders and his body strapped with spiky armor that looked like it must be absolutely uncomfortable to wear. As he moved closer, however, I could see that the spikes, and the rest of the armor, was clearly plastic and might have been purchased as a Halloween store.

  “Magister LaRouge,” he said with a flourish of his arm and his cape, “So good to see that you have kept the young LaFayette out of trouble. Unfortunately I can’t say the same for yourself. Dormi!” He raised his wand and pointed it at her; there was a ripple in the air that lasted a moment before Killian’s eyes fluttered with sleepiness and she dropped backwards into the armchair, quickly falling asleep. Apollo made a move to go over to her but one of the others held him off with a wand.

  Grimsbane erupted into a deep and raucous laugh, and the body language of the other masked people made me think that they were rolling their eyes behind their masks. “But it doesn’t matter. The ritual has been done.”

  “What ritual?” I demanded, taking a step forward, but as two of the others raised their wands I jumped back against the desk.

  “The ritual,” the leader said, raising his arms, “To bring the Dark Lord back from his imprisonment in that lunar exile of so long ago! That he might rise and cover this land is a darkness do deep that no light can possibly—”

  “Lord Grimsbane.” Another masked man cleared his throat. “Maybe this isn’t the proper time to talk about our plans…?”

  “Oh, but it is, Magister Rathnul!” Grimsbane protested, “And do not dare interrupt me again! For now we stand on the precipice of chaos! We, the chosen ones, will serve the Dark Lord in the tasks he has set before us! With the Dragon of Cincinnati’s defenses gone, there is nothing to stop us from—”

  CLANG. Grimsbane crumpled forward like a ragdoll, hitting the floor with a disgusting crunch. Behind him, Rathnul had picked up a serving platter and struck the leader across the back of the head with it.[29]

  “I am sick,” he said, striking the leader again with the dish, “Of you acting like some kind of stupid—” CLANK. “—evil—” GLANK. “—overlord—” FLONG. “—with no regard for any kind of…of…planning! Or resource management! You wouldn’t even give us guns when we all keep telling you that guns are deadlier than curses, you stupid—” PONG. “—asshole—”

  We watched Rathnul cursing and hitting the poor dude on the floor over and over until, it appeared, he was all out of his bottled rage. None of the other masked men made any move to stop him, and indeed a few of them nodded silently in agreement with the executive decision that had been made.

  I watched on in horror as he continued to heave heavy breaths for a few moments before he dropped the platter to the floor, which echoed loudly in off the office walls. “Hey, uh…” one of them piped up, now trying to ignore the slowly pooling blood trailing across the tile floor, “Can we take these masks off? They’re hella hot, make us half-blind, and in twenty minutes it’s not going to matter who knows who we are.”

  The new leader reached up and yanked his headgear off, throwing it to the floor. Instantly I recognized the trimmed beard and professional haircut.

  “Blake!” I shouted, gripping the desk with my fingers. “I thought 50 Thousand was on Todd’s side! Protecting him?”

  The wizarding manager ran a finger through his hair while the other Magisters removed their masks. A few faces looked slightly familiar, but I couldn’t attach them to names. I didn’t see Hampstead. “Shut up. I’m not answering your questions. Besides, you wouldn’t understand. Gerhart, put some silver cuffs on them all. And gag the incubus.”

  Oh, I understood. Everything was starting to make a lot of sense. “So let me get this story right,” I said as two of the guards, wands out, came over to me and clapped handcuffs on my wrists, “50 Thousand casts magical protective spells on Todd because they’re all reputable and stuff, right? Powerful enough to repel pretty much anything, I’m guessing. So then someone, I guess that guy—” I gestured to the probably-dead guy on the floor, “—convinces you all that it’s a good idea to change the regime. Or blackmails you. I just can’t figure out why.” Blake ignored me, typing on his phone.

  “Money,” Apollo replied before another guard threw a rune-decorated rag around his face and gagged him.

  I thought of what Carrie told me about Dark Magic and a light bulb went off in my head. “Oh…of course! Not too many places that practice Dark Magic, but the Dragons of Cincinnati have never made it legal. So…you get my dad involved because he doesn’t have a silencer. He’s also the Vaultkeeper of 50 Thousand, and you’re his boss so he does what you tell him. Or maybe he just does it because he’s an asshole, whatever. But he steals one of the drachmas, and that means that 50 Thousand’s protection spells lose a lot of their effectiveness. Then all you guys have to do is somehow get the Harrow back to Earth and he goes and challenges Todd. New Dragon, new rules, right? And the company makes a crap-ton of money as it starts offering a brand-new service: dark magic. That’s what it’s all about, right? Money?”

  Blake finally looked up, irritated. “It’s always about money, LaFayette. And it wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for your old man. So how about you just stay over there and chill?”

  “That’s right, that’s just what you want, isn’t it?” I took a defiant step forward, but the guard grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back. “You figured out that my dad left the coin to me when he died but you didn’t know where it was. So rather than try and find it, you just tried to scare me into hanging onto it. Bribed the goblins, the pixies…whatever. Because it didn’t matter who had the coin as long as it never got back to the vault. But here’s the thing.” I leaned back against the desk and shrugged. “I don’t care. I don’t work for your stupid company. And now I found out that Todd killed my dad…so I’m not really against you. You can, like, do what you want.”

  Apollo turned and gave me the most incredulous look I could imagine, but I pretended to not see it.

  Blake narrowed his eyes. “So why are you yelling at me? Why are you even here?” he asked.

  “Because it’s my job! I’m here delivering food! I deliver food for a living ever since 50 Thousand fired me! I’m a freaking delivery driver!” I shouted, angrily kicking the bag of delivery food over to Blake. “Here! Take it! I’m giving it to you. I’m about an hour late for my delivery anyway so I’m probably going to lose that job too. And if I’m lucky Sorcera will wipe my brain and I won’t have to worry about your stupid conspiracy and your stupid evil plans. Enjoy your lunch. Enjoy your murder conspiracy. I just. Do. Not. Care.”

  Blake considered me for a long moment and then put his phone away. “That’s fine. Everything is done. Now all we have to do is watch the action.” He pointed at the wall with his wand. “Vizio.”

  The others around him glanced at each other curiously. “What did that spell do?” Someone piped up.

  “The TV,” Blake grumbled. “Put the Vizio over there so we can watch the beginning of the symposium, so we don’t miss our cue.” The henchmen set about locating the TV in a cabinet and moving it to the other table.

  My pocket buzzed. I looked over to see that Apollo had dug in his pocket and was texting behind the armchair where Killian was still snoozing peacefully. Blake a
nd his men appeared to be fully consumed with setting up the TV and were having an issue with the input cables and figuring out which channel they needed to be on, so it seemed safe to dig out my phone, too. what are u doing ????

  Trust me, please. I put the phone back into my pocket as Blake finally got the TV turned on to watch the symposium.

  Chapter 21

  The arena had been a good choice to hold the symposium. Not only did it have eighteen thousand seats and a great accessibility from Downtown Cincinnati, but it had the additional advantage of a covered roof, meaning that the new issues involving drones and spy cameras could be greatly mitigated.

  The center of the arena was a raised where dozens of rows of seats were laid out in front of a podium. One hundred and fifty-eight dragons were in attendance at this symposium, from cities all over the world. The rows and rows of dragons waited politely, showing a deep respect to the one whose city hosted this year. To dare interrupt the hosting Dragon would be unthinkably rude at best and considered a challenge for power at worst.

  One dragon, however, did not have an invitation. He strode past the guards with his teeth gnashing, the razor claws he bore substituting perfectly for any form of identification needed. He entered the bright lights of the Arena with a puffed chest and his yellow-green scales glittering.

  Todd had been at the podium for a few minutes already, the jewel of his office hanging about his tuxedo collar and jangling lightly as he welcomed the visiting dignitaries from around the world. There was much business to be done, and a lot of posturing about how this year had been an exceptional year for Cincinnati, for all of the Societies, and for magical creatures everywhere.

  He paused for a moment to indicate an empty chair in the stands, draped with black. “We see here that there is, for the first time in a long time, a complete absence of one of us. The Vampire—who agonized over the protection of mankind and magical being alike—has finally found its eternal rest. These late years the threat of hunters have continued to plague us. But we continue to stand up to them and refute their demonization of us. Many cities—Cincinnati included—have eradicated their kind from our borders. We are strong. Evil has no place here.”