Firewall (Magic Born)

by Sonya Clark

  “Follow this tunnel all the way to the exit. You’ll know when you’re there. Be careful getting out but you should be fine. You’ll be in Midtown. Do you have your ID?”

  Paula nodded. “Do you think they’ll be stopping people?”

  “Yes.” A worrisome thought occurred to Tuyet. “Did any cops see your camera?”

  “I don’t know. Probably.”

  Tuyet held out her hand. “Give it to me. We’ll get it back to you, probably through Jason. If you get stopped, just stay calm. Don’t tell any elaborate lies, maybe say you were part of the march but got scared when things got violent so you hid. Something like that. Just get home as fast as you can.”

  Paula held out the camera. “Please—just—don’t lose the memory card. The world needs to see what happened here tonight. People died out there.”

  “We’re going to find a way to get this out.” Tuyet clasped her hand briefly as she took the camera. “I promise.”

  Paula squeezed her hand. “Good luck with the injured man. I hope he’s okay.” She turned and jogged into the tunnel that would take her to Midtown.

  The tunnel Tuyet and Hayes should have been in.

  Tuyet sighed, shifted the duffel to a more comfortable position, then hurried to catch up with Hayes and Nate. They’d get out the next night, or the night after. She knew all the best routes and could get them anywhere as long as they had good IDs and a decent vehicle. Another day or two in New Corinth was only a minor delay, not a problem.

  They were halfway to FreakTown when an explosion made the tunnel shudder and flex. The concrete fractured with lines. The witchlight that ran like vines on the roof flickered several times before stabilizing.

  Hayes said, “What the hell was that?” He shifted Mekhi’s weight on his shoulders.

  Cold fear gripped Tuyet. A rumbling sound echoed through the tunnel, getting closer by the second.

  “That’s coming from the tunnel to Midtown,” said Nate.

  “The river.” Horror dawned as Tuyet pieced together a theory. “That tunnel runs alongside the river for several blocks before turning.” She looked at Hayes. “What if he saw? We thought he was already gone but what if he saw enough to figure it out?” Channing had the know-how to work with any kind of munitions he could get his hands on, and people like them always knew how to find weapons and gear. They developed an instinct for it after years of training and operating in the field, were able to sniff out the dark corners where bad things could be had for the right price.

  Dark corners like Riverside, where Channing ventured on a regular basis with untraceable cash.

  The rumble grew louder. Hayes reached for her hand. “Run. Now.”

  Tuyet screamed, “There are people in that tunnel!”

  Nate took her by the shoulders and bodily moved her forward. “If that tunnel’s flooding, this one will too. He’s right—we need to run.”

  Dozens of people, Hayes had said. How many were Magic Born and almost to FreakTown now? And how many were Normals trying to find a safe way home? Paula was in that tunnel, and Tuyet had sent her there with a promise of safety.

  “Snow, please,” Hayes said. “We don’t know how fast that water’s moving. We have to go.”

  Nate said, “Give me Mekhi. Drag her if you have to.” They switched the injured man from one set of shoulders to another. “Come on, Tuyet.” Nate hurried farther into the tunnel.

  Her phone buzzed. Tuyet withdrew it quickly to find a text from Paula.

  Tunnel flooding. Is there quicker way out?

  The sound of rushing water was now unmistakable. Tuyet wasn’t sure if she was hearing screams or just imagining them. Hayes gripped her hand and pulled. In the tight confines of the tunnels, there were few exits. For her and Hayes, the sole way out was through FreakTown. The only other exit between that one and the one in Midtown was covered over with trigger-happy police, and even that might be underwater soon.

  Another buzz. Ppl drowning. Can you help?

  “Baby, please.” Sky-blue eyes pleaded with her.

  “She’s asking for help.” Tuyet held the phone up. “They need help!”

  “Is there anything we can do? Anything at all?”

  Bile rose in her throat. If it were a drainage tunnel, part of the sewer system, she could direct Paula to a manhole and possibly contact people in Rock to meet them. But it was the old subway tunnel, damaged decades ago and with only a few exits. None lay between the branch where she’d said goodbye to Paula and the line’s final exit in Midtown.

  Run, she typed. Run as fast as you can.

  Water too high.

  “No.”

  “Tuyet, if we can’t help them we have to go!”

  Tuyet sent another message. r u there?

  No answer. “No, no, no.” Her heart beat too fast, a trapped bird. Spots marred her vision. This could not be happening. This whole night, it couldn’t be real.

  The rumble of water grew louder, closer. The witchlight that lit the tunnel blinked rapidly, the spells thrown into disarray by the energy churning in the air.

  “Snow, please.”

  This time when he tugged her forward, she ran with him. The pounding of their footsteps echoed a loud, steady tattoo that competed with the oncoming water. The first lap of it at their feet came at the last bend, yards from the FreakTown entrance. With alarming speed it was up to their knees.

  Up ahead, Nate pounded on the sealed door. The edges of it glowed with magic, and then it opened with a whoosh. He carried Mekhi inside. Water spilled into the small space that marked the beginning of the underground rooms. Tuyet and Hayes put on a burst of speed, splashing through river water now waist high.

  Vadim appeared in the doorway. “Come on, come on!”

  Hayes crossed first, dragging Tuyet through the threshold as a surge of water hit. Vadim and two others shoved the door in place, then a third witch chanted the incantation that warded it. Hayes leaned over, hands on his knees, gasping for breath.

  “Are either of you hurt?” Vadim handed Tuyet a handkerchief. She wiped her face, not sure if the wetness was from splashes of river water or her own tears.

  “We’re okay,” Hayes said. “The guy who was shot?”

  Vadim nodded. “He’s being worked on now. Come on, let’s get out of this water.” The others had already left. Vadim led the way through a short hall and another door. Once they were past it, there was no more water. As she stepped through the doorway, Tuyet felt the mild sizzle of a magical ward. Someone had erected a quick-and-dirty barrier to keep the deluge out.

  They entered the main section of the underground facility. With the railroad no longer running through FreakTown it had been converted to a secret clinic, and it already had beds and supplies. They were needed tonight. More Magic Born than she’d realized had slipped out to take part in the protest. The number of injured people shocked her. Most of the wounds were mild, not life threatening. A lot of bruises, cuts, scrapes. Damage from being hit by flying projectiles. Tear-gas inhalation and pepper-spray burns. Most of the witches were kids, and one she recognized was no more than eight years old. Most were teens, some in their twenties. Mekhi appeared to have the worst injury. He was in a separate room, being worked on by a mix of magical healers and witches with medical training that was only semilegal. Zinnia hovered at the curtained entry, her face a study in agony.

  This time, the Magic Born were the lucky ones. Anyone caught in the flooded tunnels was dead.

  Chapter Twenty

  Hayes followed the big guy to a small anteroom while Tuyet stayed to talk to Vadim. A slight woman with purple hair jumped into the other man’s arms. Hayes stepped away to give them privacy, setting the duffel on the floor and dropping into a chair.

  Channing must have seen them leave through the tunnel. It wouldn’t have taken m
uch exploring and research to find a map of the old subway routes. Hayes had done that himself in a matter of minutes. Channing’s attitude made it easy to underestimate him, but that was a mistake. Hayes could see that now. He’d been more concerned with Tuyet, his head scattered in a dozen directions over what happened in those moments he’d helped her ground. Now he wished he’d killed Channing when he had the chance.

  Tuyet would blame herself if the girl was dead, no matter that Hayes was the one really at fault.

  Purple Hair offered him a fragrant mug. “Drink some tea. It’ll warm you up and calm your nerves.”

  He accepted the cup, raising it in thanks. “Hayes.”

  “Calla.” She waved a thumb over her shoulder. “That’s Nate.”

  “Didn’t he beat me up the other night?” The tea tasted of chamomile and honey and spread soothing warmth through his body, easing some of the tension that had his muscles in knots.

  “Yeah, I did.” Nate took the other chair, Calla balancing herself on his lap. “Sorry about that.”

  Hayes made a dismissive gesture with one hand. “No problem. How long will Tuyet be?”

  Calla answered, “I don’t know but we have a couple of big problems to deal with.”

  It was one thing to see witchlight and charms outside the zone. All these people wounded on the same night as the worst riot the city had seen yet added a whole new level of trouble—local DMS would throw every single one of them in jail and tear the zone apart looking for secret exits. “A cover story,” Hayes said. “You need a cover story for all these people. And a damn good one for the guy who was shot.”

  Nate said, “Thank you for helping me bring him back. Mekhi’s a good friend.”

  Hayes nodded, drained the mug, and stood. “I can’t just sit here. What can I do to help?”

  Calla started to speak but stopped when Vadim burst into the room. Vadim said, “Nate, I need you to help ride herd on the kids. We’re moving everyone into the arcade section of Sinsuality.” He pointed at Calla. “I need you to go round up equipment. Hide the best consoles for trancehacking. Leave out the older stuff.”

  “What are we doing?” She took the mug from Hayes and carried it to a table in the corner.

  “We’re going to let the kids trash the place. Make it look like a fight broke out and got out of hand.”

  “That’s good,” said Hayes. “The perfect cover story for all these injuries.”

  “So glad you approve.” Vadim looked him up and down then nodded to the couple. “Go, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  Nate and Calla left. Vadim called out, “Don’t let the brats in my office!”

  Hayes said, “What can I do to help?”

  A sharklike smile split the older man’s face. “And you even volunteered. That makes this so much easier. Come on, let’s go find Snow.”

  “She lets you call her that?”

  “No, but I don’t ask for permission.”

  They found Tuyet in another room, talking quietly with a young woman with a tear-stained face. Hayes went to Tuyet’s side and slid his arm around her waist. Until that moment he hadn’t realized how badly he’d needed to touch her.

  She moved closer. “They need our help but it’s a little complicated.”

  “Good thing we do complicated really well,” he said.

  “This is Zinnia.” Tuyet indicated the other woman. “She and Mekhi are handfast. That’s like being married.”

  “I know what it means.” He squeezed her hip. Turning his attention to Zinnia, he said, “What can we do for you?”

  Zinnia took a deep breath then smoothed her cinnamon curls back from her face. “Vadim came up with a cover story for all the other injuries, but Mekhi is too serious. It’ll be days before he’ll be strong enough to go home, but with everything that went on tonight, they’ll be checking on everyone in the zone.”

  Hayes nodded, the plan clear to him. “Okay, so you need me and Snow to be you and Mekhi. I’m guessing somebody’s working on glamours now?”

  Vadim spoke up. “Yes, and they’ll be damn good. Zinnia can give you a crash course on personal details. One of us will walk home with you, make it as casual as possible. If you just keep your head down and your mouths shut, this should work.” He didn’t sound entirely convinced.

  “As long as no one wants Fake Mekhi to do any magic,” Hayes said.

  “That’s where we catch a lucky break,” said Vadim. “Mekhi’s parents were Magic Born but he has no magical ability whatsoever. He’s as Normal as you, not that that got him a ticket out of here.”

  “I’ve never heard of that. Is it common?”

  “It’s not exactly common, but it’s not unheard of either. The only thing crazier than the Magic Laws are the genetics that make such a crapshoot of our lives.” Vadim paused to rub his temples. “I’m really missing cigarettes and booze right now. Sobriety doesn’t suit me.”

  “It suits you better than you think,” Tuyet said.

  He regarded her for a moment before nodding. “The healers are saying he needs several days, possibly a week. If you two can pull this off, it’ll keep both of them out of jail.” He placed a hand on Zinnia’s shoulder. “Then we’ll figure out how to get you two out of here.”

  Hayes said, “Was that the only tunnel?”

  “There’s one other that comes into FreakTown, but it’s in bad shape. We don’t normally use it. There’s another way but it will involve cooperation from some, shall we say, less civic-minded folk.”

  “Let me guess,” said Tuyet. “Your unfriendly neighborhood nightshade dealers.”

  Vadim quirked his eyebrows. “They’re still supplying product to the dens in Riverside. I don’t officially know how they’ve managed that trick.”

  “Or which guards they’re paying off.”

  “But the depth and breadth of things I know that I’m not supposed to know would shock even you, Snow.” Vadim winked. “Captain Cream Puff, thank you for your help. I’ll leave the two of you with Zinnia. I have to go help trash my pride and joy.” Tightness around his eyes belied the jocular attitude.

  These people were doing their best to get by, but the wear and tear was evident even to someone like Hayes who didn’t know them. He focused on Zinnia, doing his best to absorb everything she told him about Mekhi and the public expectations of him on his own and the two of them as a couple. It kept them all busy for hours. Finally he and Tuyet were in a room alone while Zinnia went in search of new clothes for them.

  He sat on the floor beside Tuyet, wishing for some sort of wisdom he could impart, or a bad joke to make her smile. Anything. She looked hollowed out, ready to collapse at any moment.

  “Nate got an email from somebody in the PD who’s still willing to talk to him.” She sounded like she’d been chewing gravel. “They’ve sent divers into the river to look for bodies.”

  Hayes recalled how long it had taken him and Tuyet to make it through that section of tunnel just days ago. Thought about the timing of their parting ways with Paula Miller and the explosion. It didn’t add up to anything that gave him hope. He took her hand and threaded his fingers with hers. “I’m sorry.”

  “So stupid, her ideas about telling stories. Nobody gives a damn about the people who want to keep their kids, or the witches living in pens. They won’t even care about the people who were killed tonight.”

  There was nothing he could say that would soothe the hurt she was feeling now; he knew that. And he hated it. He hated the senselessness of what they’d witnessed, the loss of life. The threat to the couple they would soon be disguised as. He would gladly throw his all into helping two strangers, but it didn’t feel like enough. Not near enough.

  “Are they treating it like a criminal investigation?”

  Tuyet shrugged. “I don’t know. You think it would d
o any good to tip them off about Channing?”

  Now it was his turn to be unsure. “I don’t know this town like you do. Will they try to cover up the shootings?”

  “They cover up everything else. Why not that?”

  “If they cover up the shootings, it would make sense to fold the tunnel explosion into that and hide it too.”

  “I don’t want him to get away with this. I know we were leaving but I can’t. Not now, not after this.” Her voice cracked on the last words and he gathered her in his arms.

  “I know,” he murmured, lips against her hair. “We’ll figure out what to do. Right now, let’s get through the next few days.”

  Tuyet looked up at him. “Thank you for doing this. Mekhi and Zinnia are good people—they’re friends of mine.”

  “We’ll be fine at this. Just another variation of Mr. and Mrs. Jones.”

  “Mekhi’s a pretty low-key guy. No enemies. I’m more worried about getting out of FreakTown than passing as them for brief periods in public.”

  A knock sounded at the doorframe. Zinnia pushed the curtain aside and entered, a bundle of clothes in her arms. “The glamours are ready and Calla’s here to walk you home. To my home.” She shook her head, curls bouncing. “This is weird. But don’t worry about it, okay? Feel free to make yourselves at home. Eat, drink, whatever.”

  Tuyet stood and took the clothes. “We’ll do our best not to invade your privacy.”

  “Are you kidding? For what you’re doing for us, invade away.” Zinnia hugged Tuyet awkwardly around the wad of clothes between them. “Thank you so much.”

  “You’re welcome,” Tuyet said, embarrassed.

  Hayes said, “How’s Mekhi doing?”

  Zinnia walked back to the doorway. “Stable but weak. Let’s just say I’m feeling a lot better about things than I did a few hours ago.” She left, determination carved into her soft features.

  Tuyet sorted the clothes and passed several pieces to Hayes. “You ready for this?”