“I’m afraid there wasn’t. No, Raegan and I were the only two people in here. She served me a cup of joe an’ then I took her home in my truck, seeing as she was probably too late to catch the last subway train on account of me. Didn’t want her to risk being stranded in the middle of the city late at night.”
They left together, she thought. Could that be verified? Sure it could. So could Helena walking into the diner, because she must have at some point. CCTV Cameras supposedly operated all over town at all hours of the day and night. Whether or not they worked was a different story.
“Did you see her lock the diner door on the way out?” Cameron asked.
“Come to think of it, no I didn’t,” he said. “I wasn’t paying a lot of attention. It’s possible she could have left without locking the place up. Might have been how the thieves got in.”
“And the woman,” Alice asked, “The blonde. You didn’t pass her on the road or anything?”
Doug shook his head. “It was late. I’d have seen a pretty blonde girl walking along the sidewalk if we’d crossed paths.”
Alice nodded. “What about Raegan,” she asked. “Have you seen her since?”
“Not since that night. Heard she gave a statement to the police, but she hasn’t shown up around here. Probably blames herself for what happened. Poor girl. A woman wanders into the diner she left unlocked and gets killed by the thieves who then rob the place… can’t imagine that’s making life easy for her.”
“Have you tried making contact?”
“No, ma’am, that isn’t my place. Old man like me running around after a pretty young woman like that would raise all sorts of suspicions, wouldn’t you agree?”
Something about him, Alice started to think, but she couldn’t complete the thought.
“Do you know where we could find her?” Cameron asked. “Raegan, I mean. I think she has information that can help us in our investigation.”
“Find her?” Doug asked. “What information could she have?”
“Maybe she’d seen the victim before, or maybe she came back after you dropped her off—maybe she remembered she had left the place unlocked and when she came back she found the blonde girl dead. This wouldn’t be the kind of thing she’d tell the police, but she may tell us.”
“Could be… y’all look like trustworthy people, but this isn’t the kind of thing anyone would own up to easily.”
“If this is weighing heavily on her, then we need to find her and help her get the truth out. For her sake.”
“I believe when you say you’re looking out for her best interests, an’ the last thing I would want is for anything bad to happen to that girl. She was real nice.”
“So you’ll tell us where we can find her?”
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Alice said, jumping in before Doug could say another word. “She was a person of interest, but she was cleared.”
“Maybe,” Cameron said, “But if we don’t clear her ourselves, then we aren’t doing our jobs as private investigators.”
With his leather jacket and the bristles on his jaw he looked more like a stereotypical bounty hunter—the kind you see on TV chasing down assholes who have broken bail—than a private eye. But he was playing the part, and Alice could appreciate that… even if she didn’t appreciate getting involved with Doug. She couldn’t reach his aura, but there was something about him.
“Fine,” she said, “Let’s go talk to Raegan.”
“Now hold on,” Doug said, “I didn’t say I could give you her address. I know where I dropped her off, but I don’t know what building she went into. I could probably get her address from the manager, though.”
Alice nodded. Doug stood and stepped away from the booth. With Doug busy talking to the waitress, Cameron said “We came here to find out what happened to the Greek woman and we found out, but I can see it on your face; you know something doesn’t add up as much as I do.”
“You’re right.”
“Then regardless of what he’s told us, we need to find this girl and see for ourselves.”
“Are you saying you think he’s lying?”
“I’m not saying anything except for what I’ve just said. We need to find this girl. We need to know.”
Alice looked across Cameron’s shoulder toward the counter, toward Doug. He was still talking to the manager, who was also a woman, all smiles and nods and eye contact. The manager wrote something down on a Post-It for him, and he took it with a grateful nod. A moment later he was at Alice’s table with Raegan’s address in his hand.
When he offered the Post-It, Alice took it.
“This is it,” Doug said. “Girl lives with her mom. You know how to find the place from here? I don’t mind leading y’all in my truck. My rounds are gonna take me down there anyway.”
“Thank you,” she said, “But we can find it ourselves. You’ve been a great help.”
Doug nodded, smiled politely, and backed away. “Alright, you have a good night now. I hope you find what you’re looking for.”
Alice turned the paper around in her hand a couple of times before finally deciding to chug the remains of her coffee which, incidentally, tasted like coffee ought to taste; thick, sweet, and nothing like a mouthful of wet soil. She then stood up, pulled a ten out of her wallet, and dropped it on the table before heading for the door.
“You ready?” Cameron asked as they stepped outside, and Alice nodded. She was ready. Maybe Nyx was nowhere near Raegan. In fact, Alice hoped she wasn’t. She didn’t want Raegan to have fallen prey to Nyx and her awful power of possession. But it had happened to someone; Helena’s body lying cold on a metal slab somewhere was proof enough of that. If it was Raegan, Alice would need to be ready to do what was necessary.
She gave the address to Cameron and threw her leg over the bike behind him. The Harley grumbled to life and the world beneath her began to tremble. As Cameron peeled out of the drive and his bike became a taillight in the distance, the garbage man—Doug—was coming out of Kasey’s Diner with a cigarette burning between his lips. He tossed the butt and jumped into his truck, happily humming a little Johnny Cash as he went. He wouldn’t beat them to Raegan’s place, but he didn’t need to.
The bitch had come to the diner just as the dark lady had predicted; and now the bitch was headed right where he wanted her to go.
CHAPTER 8
It Starts With A Taint
The illusions of time and space have the power to put humanity in a box, but they mean nothing to magic. With a strong enough act of will, two points in either space or time could be made to become one, allowing an intelligent mage to pass through them without consequence. Isaac was such a mage, and although the spell wasn’t his own, he emerged at the specified place a heartbeat after having drawn upon the power of the Tempest.
Only he didn’t know where this place was.
Isaac took three calming breaths and expelled the nerves he had felt a moment ago, assuring himself that Logan can’t find her. Alice was safe. He knew her name, but that on its own was irrelevant. Their connection had severed the moment Isaac had teleported out of the apartment, and Logan hadn’t had more than a couple of moments to rifle through Isaac’s already jumbled thoughts.
Still, worry prevented him from using his own power to get off the ground. It was the hand of a stranger, reaching out to him from the relative darkness of the place he was in, that caused Isaac to act. He scurried away from the hand and fought to get on his feet. Feeling around, he found a wall and clung to it.
“Isaac,” said the voice from the darkness. “It’s Jim, please relax.”
“Jim?” Isaac said. He closed his eyes, concentrated, wrapped his left hand around the bangle on his right wrist, and when he opened his eyes a soft blue light was illuminating the room. “Jim … what are you doing here? Where are we?”
The librarian peered at Isaac from the gloom and poked his glasses back into place. “I apologize for not warning you,” he said, “That couldn’
t have been pleasant.”
“Warning me? About Logan? Did you know that was going to happen?”
“I did, and you must understand why I couldn’t outright tell you.”
“I could have prepared myself better had I known.”
“And had you known, you would have implicated me in your breakout.”
“Implicated you? You’re directly responsible!” Isaac’s voice was harsh, but no louder than a forced whisper. He still didn’t know where he was.
“I knew Logan was coming, knew what he was going to do… I had to do something, but I didn’t want to risk him finding out and changing his plans. He came to get you and found you where you were. The fact you had no idea he was coming meant he thought he was in control. Your disappearance will have knocked him off balance. He will need to figure out what to do before he acts again.”
Isaac regarded Jim’s glowing face. The soft blue light emanating from the bangle allowed Isaac to see shapes in the room he was in. By the echo of their voices, he assumed the room was windowless. There were boxes here, also, though he could not identify them. Food crates? Is this a cellar? Is that a wine shelf? That can’t be right.
“Where are we?” Isaac finally asked.
“Somewhere safe. I wanted to take no chances. If they’re smart enough and capable enough to follow you, I didn’t want to lead them anywhere close to where I want to take you.”
Isaac dusted off his shirt and jacket before running his hands through his hair. “Considering I’ve just escaped from a legionnaire, I’m almost certain I will be followed.”
“Ah, but not officially. Logan had no authority from the praetors to do what he did to you.”
“How do you know what he did to me?”
“The same way he knew there had been someone in the room. The place was tapped—we knew that. Only, when I was there, I ensured the taps would malfunction to some extent.”
“But you knew Logan was going to come pay me a visit even before your first visit. How?”
Jim sighed and leaned on one of the crates. “He had petitioned the praetors to allow him to scan your mind and find out what you’re hiding, but they denied him.”
“So he broke the Magus Codice on purpose.”
“I knew he would. Logan is a wildcard… but he’s also right.”
“Right about what?”
“About you hiding something.”
Isaac said nothing.
“Those symbols I showed you,” Jim said, “It is true you don’t understand what they mean, I’ll allow you that. But you do recognize them because you’ve seen them before. I know you have. You can’t expect me to believe someone standing in the same room as you had a magical object and you couldn’t sense it. This was your museum, for God’s sake. If the camera had been found anywhere else I would have given you the benefit of the doubt, but the fact that it was discovered in a place you had magically warded to protect against and warn you about intrusions… I can’t be expected to believe you know nothing.”
He really is smart, Isaac thought. Smarter than himself? Maybe, and sharp too. James Allen, as librarian, was entrusted with the protection of secrets, places, and things of magical value. In order to protect these things, Jim needed to know about them—every last possible detail. His attention to detail was sharp to the point where it was deadly, and he had proved as much now.
“Why did you bring me here, Jim?” Isaac asked, “Not that I’m complaining. You did spare me from a terrible headache, after all. But I would like for you to get to the point.”
Jim pushed himself off the crate he was sitting on and approached so that he was rendered more visible in the soft blue light filling this dark, dank cellar. “I want to know the truth about the camera,” Jim said. “I want to know who had it, how they acquired it, and—more importantly—who destroyed it.”
“Why would I even admit to having any such knowledge? For all I know, this was all a ploy and you’re playing the good cop.”
“Don’t you think it would have been quicker, and less risky, for me to simply let Logan violate your mind?”
“Fair point, but I think such a situation could have been staged. Logan is Legio Prime of this caucus. Would he really risk his title simply to get at whatever knowledge he thinks is hiding in the back of my mind?”
Jim slipped his hands into his pockets and rocked on his heels. “The way I understand it, you made him look like a fool in court.”
“He made himself look like a fool.”
“Maybe, but that really pissed him off.”
Isaac went quiet again. As he scratched his chin, the light coming off his bangle caused the shadows to shift and dance in the dark.
“I want to trust you, Jim,” Isaac said.
“Then do,” Jim said, “We’re friends, Isaac. Tell me what you know about the camera. Did you make it?”
“No.”
“Was it yours?”
“No.”
“Did it belong to another mage?”
“No.”
“I’m going to need you to elaborate. There are certain facts I want to get straight before I tell you what I have learned… about you.”
“About me?” Isaac asked, his eyebrows pinching together. “What about me?”
“That’s not how this works. We have to exchange information—all of the information.”
“If I tell you,” Isaac said, “I’m putting someone I care about in danger. You’ll understand if I choose not to divulge any names.”
“We may not need names. I just want to know how that camera ended up in your museum, and how close you got to it.”
How close I got to it? Isaac thought, but then he stopped thinking, stopped questioning. His Guardian was nearby, his magic had returned, and he was no longer in Logan’s grasp. More importantly, Jim didn’t need Isaac to give him any names, meaning Isaac could still keep Alice a secret. The risk here was small, so Isaac took it.
“Alright,” he said, “I’ll tell you what I know and what I suspect. But I warn you; if any of this leaves this room, we will have a problem.”
“I’m not a snitch, Isaac. In any case, I’m not here to help the magistrate.”
“Then who are you helping?”
“Everyone.”
Isaac narrowed his eyes, and then he began to explain what he knew about the camera, how he had seen it being used, and who had destroyed it. The part where he was attacked at the museum rang true with a lot of what he had already explained to the magistrate, however, adding the reason for the attack—Alice, though he didn’t mention her by name—made the facts stick together more cohesively.
Jim listened intently, nodding his head and making verbal cues, acknowledging that he had heard and understood. At no point did he stop Isaac to ask questions, nor did he dismiss portions of the story as lies or exaggerations.
Finally, when Isaac brought the story to a close with his final confrontation with Nyx, Jim finally spoke.
“You dueled with her,” he said. “That part was true?”
Isaac nodded. “She was powerful, Jim. Not as powerful as she could have been had she been in possession of a worthy vessel, but I could feel the power bubbling beneath the skin. I only made it out alive because she chose to flee instead of continuing the fight. If she had stayed… I’m not sure we would be standing here today.”
Jim nodded. “Then it’s true… the camera was made by a Void Weaver; it isn’t a fake.”
“I saw it in action. It was unlike any magical artifact I have ever seen before.”
“I haven’t either. I would have loved to be able to see it working.”
“You may still have a chance.”
“What do you mean?”
“The film reels at the Cinema Royale… they were like the Polaroids that would come out of the camera—filled with ghosts. A Void Weaver must have had a hand in that.”
“Maybe it was the same Void Weaver.”
“The thought had crossed my mind also.”
> “If I know this kind of technology, and I think I do, then the projector itself isn’t special; we would have to find the camcorder.”
“It’s possible the Cinema Royale’s records hold some information that can help us, although I doubt it. If Void Weavers are as secretive as you say, he or she would have left fake trails and fraudulent paperwork.”
“I’ll see what I can find out. But Isaac…” Jim pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, but they kept slipping down, likely because of the sweat on his skin. “Do you understand why I went to such risks to help you escape?” he asked.
“I think I do, but that’s not important. The important thing is that I have kept up my end of the bargain, and now you have to also. If you know something about me that I don’t, you have to tell me on your honor as a fellow Mage of House Pluto.”
“You’re right,” Jim said. He took a breath, waiting a beat, and said, “From the moment I saw you enter the courtroom tonight, I knew you were different.”
“Different how?”
“Your aura has changed. Shifted. The alteration is subtle, but it’s my job to know the aura of every mage operating within Ashwood so that I can identify their magical fingerprints, and yours is not the same as it was the last time we spoke a couple of weeks ago. At first I didn’t know what the shift was, but then the camera was brought to me, and I analyzed it… and I thought of you. It was the weirdest thing. Touching the camera made me think of you, and your aura. When the realization came, it was like a stroke of lightning, but I needed to be sure. I needed you to tell me what you’ve told me.”
“Should I be worried?”
Jim removed his glasses altogether and began rubbing them clean with the hem of his shirt. “Yes,” he said. “I won’t sugar coat this, Isaac; there’s a taint to your aura. I don’t know how bad it is or if it’s spreading, for the moment it seems contained, but it’s present.”
“What exactly should I be scared of? Is it going to kill me?”
“It might.”
Isaac took a deep breath. Nodded. “Don’t keep me waiting, Jim.”
“I don’t know when the taint formed,” Jim said, “At first I thought exposure to the camera and its power may have done it, but then you said you had dueled with Nyx. I don’t know what Nyx is except for what I have learned from the books in the vault, but if any of it is true, then Nyx is a creature of the Void, and the things she touches are tainted by it.”
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