by K W Quinn
“After being knocked out by a scrawny Air you took for a nymph and thus led into the prison unshackled,” Reyah interjected. Just to keep her humble.
“Yes,” Thana said through clenched teeth. “When I woke up, I lost my temper.”
“And your temper tantrum set off alarms?”
“It, um . . . the power surge knocked out the electrical systems.” Thana’s voice was thin, pressed tight between her anger and her disgrace.
“Don’t you have a backup generator? Some sort of fail-safe?” Reyah lifted her hands and half turned around the cell. “This is a big operation to rely only on technology. I mean, what are witches for?”
“Of course there’s a generator. Stacks of them,” she snapped. “But the routine maintenance hadn’t been completed before the fight, so only a fraction of them were functional. It was enough for the silent alarms—the tremors—but no more.”
“And you knew all this before the fight? That the Dome was weakened? And you still broke protocol?”
“I was—”
“Reckless and greedy. Yes, I know. Please continue,” Reyah said with a sigh. When Tarone had assigned her personally, she’d hoped for a memorable job, but this interrogation was following every other job so far.
“The surge—”
“Your temper,” Reyah corrected.
“It temporarily knocked down the servers and disrupted the protective fields around the Dome.”
“Enough magic to ruin all the technology and security of the whole Dome. I can see why they put you in charge of the dampening field. And yet you still let them escape.”
Thana sat back on her heels and sighed. “Without the generators at full capacity, they were able to make it out in between the tremors.”
“So many mistakes.” Reyah shook her head slowly. She’d heard the story several times now from guards and supervisors. It was a chain of minor inconveniences that led to a catastrophe. “So then they were tracked down?”
“Yes. We tracked them to the business district but then lost them.” Thana’s voice was tight and her shoulders tense. Whether with guilt or anger, Reyah didn’t care. So long as she stayed riled up.
“You lost them? All that magic and technology, and you still lost them?” Reyah scoffed.
“They were out of range.”
“You mean to tell me that the most influential organization on the continent doesn’t have long-range sensors built in to track their assets? Here, in the center of the Earth Conglomerate’s power, the model on which every other town is built, the standard that every city strives for, a couple of kids from the slums can just slip out? That seems sloppy.” Baiting her was too easy. Reyah could cut to the chase and not play dumb, but feigned ignorance made this witch all the more eager to overexplain.
“Are you stupid? We have the most advanced tracking tech available and the strongest magic, Elemental and arcane. Every collar is coded and Spelled to be found anywhere.”
“But you lost them.” Reyah smiled and shook her head.
“It was a fluke.” Thana struggled against her restraints. “Because the tech was offline when they slipped through the gate, because the servers . . . the generators . . . look, they couldn’t establish a connection. The servers were rebooting. Right when the kids crossed the line of the gate, everything rebooted. It’s the only explanation for how they got out. And once the servers were back online, the collar was out of range and couldn’t be brought back into the network.”
“Never trust technology to do what magic can handle,” Reyah said slowly. She stood straight and walked around the captive witch. “But you were out of control, and your little tantrum caused all the witches on the premises to vomit and black out.”
“But the magic is still holding. In the collar, the blood magic is still there. Finn says he can still feel the connection. It’s not as precise as the . . . you know, you can’t triangulate with only one point of information. He’s somewhere out there, and Finn will find him. Witches will fix this,” Thana grunted.
“Of course. But where is the Bonded now?” Reyah needled.
Thana lifted her head, looking around the cell as though some comfort might come from the damp stone walls. This wasn’t one of the nice rooms. “We don’t—”
A knock at the door cut her short. Reyah sighed and moved to yank it open. The crisply dressed guard in the hallway was scowling. Reyah’s face slipped into a matching scowl.
“No good news?” she asked.
“Stop wasting your time. They got a read on the collar.” The guard jerked his thumb toward the ceiling, where the fancy rooms and better witches waited.
“That sounds hopeful,” Reyah said. Inside the cell, Thana was straining toward the door. Her breath was ragged, and her mouth hung slack.
“Would be, but it was a termination notification,” the guard corrected.
“What?” Thana screamed inside. Reyah silenced her with a glare.
“The Bonded is dead?” Reyah asked. She had wanted an interesting job, just not like this.
“Not long ago. The collar unlocked. The Bonding witch said he felt the connection sever. We’re recalling the Sharks. No need to collect the body. Sorry for the inconvenience. Would you like me to escort you to the entrance, Madam Dragon?”
Reyah nodded, crossing her arms. She stepped into the hallway as the guard locked the door. Thana was whimpering inside. Her destiny was sealed, and it wouldn’t be long before she was Bonded, a very expensive slave. The retribution of the Conglomerate was swift.
Behind the heavy iron, Thana’s voice rose in cries of despair. Reyah shook it off and followed the guard. She had her own job to think about.
“Suicide?” she asked.
“Can’t. The collars are Spelled against it. Otherwise, all the Bonded would do it.” He chuckled at the thought. Reyah clenched her teeth shut. It wasn’t funny or fair. Working for people like this grated on her nerves. She walked out of the Dome and on to other leads.
The winding drive back to the sleepy suburbs would give her a chance to find another way to track this target without going back to the soulprint. Just collecting it had been draining. Hard work yielded better results, after all.
Magic and technology hadn’t worked very well on this case so far. She’d use old-fashioned detective work instead. Not because she was scared. There was nothing to be scared of. She was just being cautious. More cautious than Thana. Reyah wouldn’t risk her career, either.
Contract
“The Bonded is dead,” Reyah said over the obnoxious noise of the bell.
Min gently set down the record he’d been cleaning and tossed the soft dusting cloth over his shoulder. This wasn’t the news he was expecting, but he didn’t need his face to tell her that.
“Thought I’d locked that door, since we’re closed now.”
“It was locked, but since when would that keep me out? And closed or not, the Bonded is still dead.”
“Says who?” he asked, taking in her crossed arms and tight lips.
“Says the Bonding witch, that’s who. So not only is my best lead gone, but if I recall, the contract says you’d save the Bonded’s life. Null and void now, isn’t it? What next, muse?” Reyah leaned her hip against the counter and stared down at Min.
He didn’t mind looking up into her enchanting face, but he could do without the know-it-all attitude. Kids these days. Dragons. “I’m not a Spelled object like the collar, willing to be fooled by technicalities. The contract is solid.”
“Technicalities? What kind of loophole did you weave into that contract?” Reyah placed one hand on the counter and leaned closer with a warm smile. She could be charming after all. The training of Dragons was thorough.
“The only way a collar comes off is—”
“Please. I don’t need another lesson.” She rolled her eyes. “My time at the Dome was condescending enough.”
“Just listen, all right? Death or magic. Those are the options, but there is some gray area in between.”
&
nbsp; “So he’s only a little dead? Kinda dead?”
“Not dead at all. Not anymore. Probably.”
“How do you know? If you knew he was going to die, why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know. Suspecting isn’t the same as knowing. But the kid is smarter than I thought. Good for him.”
“So, the Bonded lives, and the contract is still valid, despite the loophole.” Reyah straightened, smoothing her hands down her uniform.
“Good news, right? Magic. In the hands of a competent witch, very little is impossible. Death can’t stop them. Gray area. Loophole. Whatever, it works.”
“How is it possible that the Earth doesn’t know about this? In all the years of Bonding, no one has ever died just a little? Enough to pop the collar off?”
“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. He chose that death, and it didn’t stick, so the contract stands.” Min spread his hands. “His life is saved, and the kid’s soul is mine. End of story.”
“And how did you find out about this little loophole? You make a habit of rescuing Bonded and then kind of killing them?”
“My habits are not up for discussion. You need to go find my soul.” Min crossed his arms and bit his cheek to keep from smiling. This one was going to do just fine. She’d make a great Dragon when she got a few hundred years under her belt.
“Well, that lead is gone, so I’m back to square one. You know anything about the target other than what the signature gives?”
“Can’t you track him with that and the . . . I don’t know, the smell of his Air or whatever? I gave you the soulprint. Use it.” Min didn’t miss the tightening of her eyes at the mention of the soulprint.
She tilted her head and bared her teeth at him in a cruel smile. “I can do a lot of things, muse, but the more I know, the easier it is.”
“Yeah. Right. I mean, you know as much as I do. Kid’s a normal Air. Pretty. Reckless. And now on the move.”
Reyah rolled her eyes. “Well, thank you for that insight.” She turned on her heel and headed for the door.
“Madam Dragon?” Min called. He didn’t want to push too hard, but he knew this was a critical moment. Music thrummed in his veins. “Time is not as important to me as quality. This soul needs to remain intact. Healthy as you can get it. Please, be delicate,” he pleaded with a soft smile. He brushed the curls out of his eyes with one bony hand and waited.
Reyah narrowed her eyes and gave a small bow. “As you command.”
The door shut behind her, and Min let himself smile until his face hurt. She glowed. Softly, but it was there.
The resonance was stronger now, even without making contact. The firefly glow that had caught his eye when the kid walked in was now all over this Dragon. It was remarkable. Min rubbed his hands together, already imagining all the ways this benefited him.
The soulprint. Reyah held her breath and stalked to her car. It made sense. It was the best tool she had for tracking. She’d never shied away from one before. But she’d also never felt a soul like this.
She’d taken dozens of contracts, and each soul hurt in its own way. Some were white-hot and caustic, some cold and hollow. The most-broken ones coiled in her belly like ribbons of oil. Selling your soul was a desperate act taken by broken people. Dragons trained for years to be able to withstand the pain of holding an echo of a sold soul.
She’d held so many echoes, but this one was the worst. Her skin broke out in goose bumps at the memory. Soft and warm, like a bath or a blush. Sweet heat and longing. That was just from accepting the soulprint. What would she feel if she tried to read it?
She would have to find out eventually. Tarone didn’t often send her on jobs personally. There were enough rumbles of favoritism and nepotism without him interfering with the assigned workflow. They kept the lines between family and work clear at all times, so whatever this job was, it was special enough to break those rules.
Reyah wouldn’t let him down. There was no room for failure. She had the training and the experience to do this job, no matter how unprecedented.
Reyah placed one hand over her heart and the other on her stomach, calmed her breathing, and visualized the swirls and whorls of the soulprint as she’d seen it in Min’s shop. In her mind, it was a warm light, growing as she reached for it. She traced the shape of the imprinted signature on her palm. A shudder danced along her spine. Fear and excitement.
The light swallowed her whole, and her eyes snapped open. The town was full of light, paths the target had walked. She just had to choose one to follow.
A cluster of light, a tiny galaxy, pulsed, and she stepped toward it. Her face felt hot, and her heart raced. The target’s emotions raced along the lines of contact, wrapping around Reyah like spider silk.
She tried to shake it off, to remember the incantations for protection she’d used in every other job, but the words were engulfed in the light. It pushed her along, blown down the lines that snaked across the town.
Reyah gasped and crossed her arms above her head, bringing them down swiftly to her sides. The soulprint snapped out of her mind, and she sank to her knees. What the bloody ash was happening? She was stronger than this. Better than this. A line of scars along her ribs, one for each rank she’d achieved, proved that she could handle this job.
Still, when the sun came up, Reyah was shaking. She’d gotten some fitful sleep in her car after reading the soulprint had left her wrung out and confused. She rolled her shoulders, trying to stretch out the kinks in her spine.
Following the energy from Min’s contract to the target’s home was the most she could manage. Trying to remember where the lines of light had converged without falling back into the hurricane of sensations that the soulprint had offered took all the concentration she had.
She’d wandered the sleepy suburb, hoping for inspiration without having to use magic again. The target’s mother had been completely unhelpful, hurling insults and vegetables at Reyah. Then the neighbor joined in with more inventive invectives, so Reyah had learned that the target and the Bonded were neighbors. One weird piece of the puzzle.
She adjusted her backpack and wiped an errant piece of chard off her jeans, grateful she’d changed out of her uniform. Not only was it easier to blend in looking more like a student than a soldier, but it was also too early in the morning to do laundry.
The town wasn’t big, but it stretched and sprawled close enough to the Earth Conglomerate’s seat of power that everyone lived in the shadow of the Dome. People were helpful, if guarded, even to a blue-skinned stranger.
The shops weren’t very modern, but most were clean and well cared for. Gas stations and pawnshops, laundromats and libraries. It was all mundane and uninspiring. None of the destitution and hardship of towns outside the favor of the Earth.
The target’s soul echoed and lingered in the corner of her mind, pulling at her. It was exhausting to ignore. Traditional plebeian methods of tracking were easier, if slower. Reyah stopped at the nearest Starbucks to get some coffee, free internet, and hopefully some new ideas.
She breathed deep the comforting smell of coffee beans and earnestness. Taking a sip of her giant latte with extra Focus and a shot of Clarity, she claimed one of the overstuffed chairs up front, sliding a low, hexagonal table between her knees.
She pulled her laptop from her backpack and began searching for whatever she could dig up on this target, using the few psychic abilities she’d learned to push through the standard search results and see a bit more Truth. Flooded by pictures of the target’s face from every angle and with a wide range of emotions, Reyah sat back and frowned.
From the heat and drag of the soulprint, she wasn’t sure what she expected to see. No two Airs looked alike, but this target was stunning. Ethereal and casual, like a myth come to crash on your couch. Sunshine-brown hair and a wide, toothy smile. Deep, almond-shaped eyes. A jawline sharp as temptation.
What was a pretty boy like this doing messing with a muse? That face could ask favors of
the Mountain himself.
Tarone always said that beauty hid deception better than almost anything else because people wanted to believe that pretty meant good. He told her to use that to her advantage, though she couldn’t see how being blue was a point in her favor.
Not enough dragonkin were left in the world for her to be seen as anything other than an oddity. Something you heard about on the news or in tabloids but never expected to see in real life. She wished her mother hadn’t dropped her off on Tarone’s doorstep before all of her baby teeth had come in.
Now that mother was off in the mountains somewhere, sending sporadic money and bland letters. Reyah had plenty of questions for that absentee mother. Not least of all was how long it took to get used to being stared at everywhere she went. Her hundredth birthday wasn’t too far off, and she still felt like hiding in crowds.
She shook her head to clear the distractions and took another sip of her magic-boosted coffee. If she made it to a second cup, she’d pay for another shot of Clarity. And whipped cream. Eyes back on the screen, she tried to See.
This target was a different kind of beautiful. Not leading-man or hero handsome, but there was something Fae about his features. Striking enough to be a nymph or half-nymph at least. Reyah could understand why the witch had been greedy enough to let her guard down.
Still, it was a stupid move, and a senior witch should have known better. Letting your guard down was the cardinal sin. Thana had paid that price. Reyah couldn’t make the same mistake. She wasn’t far enough up in the ranks of Dragons to be afforded that kind of leeway, regardless of her relationship with Tarone. If she completed this job well, she might make it to captain by the end of the year.
She drained her coffee and shook out her wrists. Leaning on her elbows, she studied his face again. It was all she had to go on for the moment. No employer listed. No higher education. A handful of awkward, teenage photos.
He had expressive eyebrows and long, dark lashes. His nose was cutely rounded, with a tiny mole on the tip. He would have a hard time hiding with a face that stood out like that. That felt all too familiar.