by Sarah Noffke
“Plato,” Liv said, heat in her voice.
“What?” the cat said, standing suddenly. “Do you hear that?”
Liv paused. Tensed. “No. I mean, I hear a lot of things. What specifically am I listening for?”
“The sound of me leaving,” he said and disappeared.
Liv huffed, realizing she should have expected that. “One way or another, I’m getting that secret out of you, Plato. And soon.”
The smell of pastries from a nearby bakery attracted Liv’s attention. She considered strolling over and buying a few dozen to refill her magical reserves. It would be another hour or two before Ireland made it here, if not longer; she wasn’t well versed on commute times for public transport in and around London. Well, really, she wasn’t well versed on commute times that didn’t involve portals, which were always instantaneous.
Liv had almost convinced herself that a couple of donuts were the answer to most of her problems when she noticed a familiar face striding down the crowded sidewalk, headed her way.
Unfortunately, she lost any advantage she would have had by spying the girl first. Kayla recognized her immediately from down the block and halted. She shot Liv a murderous glare and sprinted in her direction.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
This street was much more crowded than the one in Brighton. Liv couldn’t risk a mortal getting hurt, having gotten in between her and Kayla. She also couldn’t risk another episode of confusion like what had happened in Brighton when everyone thought she was a murderer.
Liv didn’t know that her interaction with Kayla was going to end in a fight to the death, but the way the girl was charging at her, with her black hair whipping around her face, left her with a strong indication.
Liv took a moment to study the girl approaching her. The bitterness in her eyes was unmistakable. This was not a person who wanted the good of all kinds. Liv had been paranoid about Kayla Sinclair from the beginning, and here she was, on the heels of the deaths of two illusions of Spencer.
Kayla was behind this, Liv mused. Yes, that made the most sense. She’d created the illusion of Spencer, who had always seemed like a shell of a person. Now Liv knew why. The Kayla Sinclair rushing toward her was the real deal. Her gift was creating illusions, and she’d taken up her uncle’s mission to destroy mortals.
It was going to stop here. Well, not exactly right here, Liv thought, realizing she was still standing in front of the bookstore’s entrance. The mortals in the street couldn’t get caught in the epic fight that was about to ensue. They couldn’t confuse Liv as an enemy this time, either. And if Ireland returned early, they couldn’t be close, so that he didn’t get caught in the crossfire.
Liv glanced up, catching sight of the fire escape staircase on the side of the nearest building. It didn’t lead all the way to the ground level, having been cut off at some point. She could have just floated up, as she’d done before, but less attention was best.
Liv took off, racing for the bottom of the stairs. Only a few pedestrians noticed when she sprang off one wall and onto the other, catching the platform. She was up it in a matter of seconds, wishing she’d gotten one of those pastries before all this to replenish her strength. After this fight, she’d get nachos, but not here in London. Who had nachos in London?
When Liv had made it to the rooftop of the three-story building, she glanced down, thinking she might need to taunt Kayla to get her to follow her. The girl stopped just short of where Liv had been moments prior. She peered up at her, vengeful hate in her eyes—and then she disappeared.
Liv didn’t have to wonder where the girl had gone because she saw sparks in front of her, indicating that someone was about to teleport into a location.
Not only could this magician create multiple illusions at once, but she could teleport. Liv swallowed, pulled Bellator, and uttered a silent prayer. She might have met her match. Kayla Sinclair appeared to be a very powerful magician.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
The gray skies overhead reflected Liv’s confidence level. Similar to the brooding storms, she felt things could go one of two ways. Either she’d have a decisive win over Kayla Sinclair, or she’d be slaughtered. As with the storm clouds overhead, there wouldn’t be anything in between. It was either torrential rain, or nothing.
Just as she expected, the shimmering dust was a precursor to the arrival of the other Royal. Liv backed up several feet, glancing around to study her surroundings. From the rooftop, she could see the top of the London Eye in the distance, and many other notable attractions. However, what caught her attention were the chimney stacks at her back. They gave her a sudden idea. Distraction was her friend, especially when dealing with this magician.
Liv continued to back up, positioning herself behind a chimney that was puffing out plumes of smoke. Kayla arrived, looking unlike Adler and Decar with her black hair that was short on one side and long on the other. It was as if she had changed her mind halfway through a haircut, deciding she didn’t want to go through with it after all.
However, her eyes were definitely like her uncles’, small, round, and constantly narrowed in irritation.
“So you’re the illusionist?” Liv asked. She glanced around again, continuing to get her bearings from the rooftop.
Kayla didn’t respond. Instead, she stepped to the side, looking through the smoke partially blocking Liv from view.
“Did Adler recruit you before I killed him? Were you to pick up his mission, should he fail?” Liv asked, hoping it wasn’t obvious that she was buying time.
Kayla still didn’t answer. Instead, she pulled a curved sword from her belt, brandishing it with a murderous expression.
“Or did Adler work for you?” Liv continued. She still hadn’t figured out what was going on. Was Kayla the mastermind behind all this? Somewhere, in the back of her head, she knew she was missing something critical to understanding the situation, but she had no idea what it could be. She doubted that Kayla was going to give her any information.
“Spencer doesn’t exist, does he?” Liv asked, starting to silently work a complex spell that would either get her killed or buy her time. It was hard to say when facing a deranged murderer on a rooftop, she thought. Things could go either way. And unfortunately, or maybe, fortunately, she’d been in this situation enough times to know that was true.
“Spencer was my brother,” Kayla said through clenched teeth.
Liv had finally figured out how to get the girl to talk. Spencer was her trigger, she realized, seeing the fire in Kayla’s eyes intensify. “Was? As in, he’s dead? Did you kill him? Or did Adler? He liked killing siblings. I should know. He killed mine.”
Kayla twirled the sword in a blur as if she needed to test the grip while also expelling energy. Or maybe it was a show to intimidate her, Liv thought, continuing to cast the spell. She needed a few more moments for it to be complete.
“He wasn’t murdered,” Kayla stated, sidestepping around the chimney. Liv followed suit, ensuring the smoke stayed between them.
“Oh, so he died of boredom, then?” Liv asked.
“What?” the girl said, obviously caught off-guard by the question.
“Well, you’re not the best conversationalist, if I’m honest,” Liv jibed. “I’ve had conversations with alligators that were more entertaining than this.”
Kayla leaned forward with growing hatred in her eyes. Liv almost had her where she wanted her. When people became enraged, they were blind to things that others could see, like the obstacle growing between them in the smoke. All Kayla seemed to see was the gray smoke and Liv’s distorted image behind it. Little did she know, things weren’t exactly as they appeared.
“Spencer was my twin,” Kayla stated. “He died at birth.”
Liv swallowed. The same thing had happened to Sophia’s twin, Jamison. Suddenly she didn’t want to say anything else. It felt wrong to make fun of someone’s dead sibling who had died as an infant. Then she reminded herself that this magician was responsibl
e for countless deaths, for trying to destroy the Mortal Seven, and for sabotaging many efforts by the House of Fourteen. This wasn’t a person who deserved her sympathy, now or ever. That would only distort things for Liv, giving Kayla yet another advantage.
Like her uncles, Kayla was a racist. She cared only for herself and her agenda, and that was all. That was the opposite of the mission of the House of Fourteen. People like Kayla needed to be expelled from their ranks, once and for all.
Liv looked forward to getting rid of her and the entire Sinclair family from the House of Fourteen. It was overdue that they be replaced, erasing the evil they’d brought into the magical world.
Strangely, this new piece of information regarding Spencer being Kayla’s twin actually made complete sense to Liv. Of course, using Spencer as an illusion would be easier for Kayla since she was still connected to him as her twin. That was why she’d chosen him, and also one of the reasons that she could create multiple illusions of him and control them at once, which should have been very difficult. It was also because she appeared to be a very skilled magician, which was why Liv was quickly working to finish the spell she’d been crafting. She didn’t need much more time.
“So you killed your twin?” Liv asked, taking another step to the side.
Kayla copied her movement. “What?! No! How dare you say such a thing?”
The spell was suddenly complete, leaving Liv’s reserves seriously drained. She pretended she didn’t want to pass out, faking a wide-eyed expression. Liv wished she would have had one of those pastries from the bakery.
“Well, it makes sense,” Liv went on. “You’re a leech, draining everything around you. I bet you stole all of Spencer’s nutrients.”
“That’s not what happened!” Kayla roared, her eyes flashing red. There was no goodness in the person before her. Liv could plainly see it now, and wondered how she’d been blind to it. Of course, Kayla Sinclair had been the bad guy all along. She’d been the one behind the SandMan and the Reynolds’ death. And now it was time she paid the price.
“Or maybe he just couldn’t take another second being with you and killed himself,” Liv mused, enjoying taunting her enemy. She wouldn’t have taken such pleasure if the Sinclairs hadn’t made this personal by killing most of her family. Liv’s hand rested on Bellator, ready for what would come next.
“That’s not what happened!” Kayla yelled. “He didn’t kill himself. My mother said that my magic overwhelmed him.”
Liv paused, astonished that she’d been right in her effort to taunt the magician. She used that to her advantage. “So you did kill your sibling, and now you bring him back regularly as an illusion. That’s sick.”
Kayla sprang forward, jumping up onto the chimney stack. She dove across it, but when she was almost on the other side, she hit what appeared to be a clear glass wall. That was exactly what it was, and Liv had been able to construct it because of the skills she had gained working on recent home remodeling projects. The smoke from the chimney had helped camouflage her efforts; without it, her spell work would have been extremely noticeable.
The glass shattered, raining down, but Kayla rolled out from underneath it before it hit her. This gave Liv the chance to dive to the side, swinging Bellator just as the other magician sprang up to her feet.
The distraction hadn’t worked as well as Liv had expected. Kayla seemed momentarily caught off-guard and distracted, but she quickly recovered.
That led Liv to her second plan. She turned, running for the edge of the building. Within seconds, she knew Kayla was following her by the sounds of her shoes clapping on the roof.
Liv leapt when she came to the edge of the building, diving and rolling out of the jump. The clouds overhead hadn’t broken, as she expected. Almost worse, the fog had come in as the sun began to set, making her efforts to traverse across the rooftops even more challenging. Liv felt like she was running on clouds, sprinting through the patches of fog.
The next rooftop was half a story higher than the one she was on. She wanted to use her magic to help her jump the height, but she was already desperately low. That was why she made an impromptu right turn, sliding down the side of a diagonal wall of windows like it was a slide at a playground. The glass cracked as her weight slid across it, splintering in all directions.
Liv was certain she’d fall through to her death. The cracks deepened like spider webs, creating a cacophony of foreboding noise, and the surface under her began to sink. She was sure it would give way, but thankfully she made it to the other side before it shattered. This didn’t deter Kayla, though. The magician leapt over the bank of diagonal windows, clearing them easily and landing at Liv’s heels as she set off for the next rooftop.
Liv didn’t dare turn around. Instead, she continued to sprint forward, but Kayla grabbed her hood, slinging her back in the opposite direction. The momentum threw Liv off-balance and she almost fell over the edge of the building to the street three stories below. Thankfully, she caught herself, but her heart was in her throat as she teetered on the side of the building.
Liv threw her weight low, hoping to correct the momentum. It worked, and she skidded to a halt when her boot was halfway over the edge. She swung Bellator around, hoping to trip Kayla.
The magician jumped like they were playing jump rope, and Kayla easily cleared the sword as it swung under her feet. As Liv rose, Kayla brought her sword down. She reacted just in time, bringing Bellator up to protect her. The two blades met halfway between the magicians, sending sparks into the air with a loud clash. Liv tried to force Kayla back with her blade, but she was strong and stood firm, her eyes narrowed with dark hostility.
The two magicians were at a standoff, pressing their swords against one another. Both had their teeth bared as they clenched their jaws, each trying to push the other back. Kayla was fierce and took the advantage, inching Liv closer to the edge.
Liv’s strength depleted moment by moment, Bellator slipping closer to her face as Kayla gained on her.
She dared to look over her shoulder to see how much space she had before Kayla sent her over the edge. To her horror, there was less than an inch. Then her eyes swept over the side to where the pavement should have been below. The fog had moved in completely, covering the road and passing cars, making Liv feel she was fighting this deranged murderer on a cloud in the sky.
Liv grunted as she tried to take back some space between her and Kayla, but it was no use. The other magician was holding her ground, not allowing her to push back one inch. It was like an arm-wrestling competition, and Liv was close to having her arm slammed to the table. She knew it. Kayla knew it. And soon the people on the street would know it too, when she crashed down on the road, creating serious traffic delays for the commuters rushing home after a long day.
The heel of Liv’s boot slipped back half an inch, decisively sending her over the edge. There was little holding her there at this point. One more push by Kayla, and it would all be over. Liv decided to do the only thing left available to her. It was a risk and might not work, but she had no choice.
Liv pulled one of her hands off the hilt of Bellator and pressed it over the other side of the blade at the top, careful to not cut her hand, keeping it to the flat side.
Now that she had a better hold, she pressed harder. With the strength of her shoulders and a fire in her stomach, she grunted, forcing the blade away from her. However, Liv didn’t use her energy to push Kayla back. That would only send her toward the center of the rooftop, where she’d still be safe and the fight raging onward. Instead, Liv pivoted her body, using her renewed momentum to shift Kayla’s balance, switching places with her, suddenly making her unstable.
Liv pulled Bellator away, ducking as Kayla’s blade came down. For a second time that day, Liv tried to knock Kayla’s feet out from underneath her. She moved as fast as her depleted magic would allow her. Liv dropped her weight, bringing Bellator with her and swinging it around. The blade connected with the other girl’s ankles, send
ing her feet out in front of her. For a brief moment, everything slowed down.
Kayla was suspended in air, her arms spread to her sides, her feet straight out in front of her. The sheer panic in her eyes was enough to make Liv’s chest hiccup. It wasn’t easy to see your enemy completely helpless before they fell to their death, but watch was what Liv did. She also took a giant step back from the edge.
Kayla reached for her like she knew what was going to happen next. However, Liv held Bellator high, ready to attack again if necessary.
Kayla’s feet kicked, touching the side of the building. It appeared that she might save herself by throwing her body weight forward.
Twice Kayla rotated her arms forward and back, trying to overcorrect for the balance issue. She was teetering on the edge. Anything could bring her back to the roof or send her over the side of the building to her death.
That was why Liv used her remaining energy to send a gust at the illusionist. As soon as the choppy wind hit her in the chest, the results were clear. Kayla sailed off the side of the building, falling to the street below. She disappeared into the fog before Liv could see the magician’s tragic end.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Liv thought it was better that she’d been saved from seeing yet another villain die by her hands. Yes, she knew she’d been the one to end Kayla Sinclair, but it was better for her mentality if she didn’t have the memory of her falling to her death, cracking the pavement as it also cracked her.
Still, the fog was a problem. Liv needed to determine that Kayla was dead. She’d seen her fall. Heard the impact. The screams from below. But seeing her with her own eyes was important.
Liv rushed down the nearest fire escape, which unfortunately was on the other side of the building. Her magical reserves were desperately low, or she would have simply portaled to save time.