by Liz Schulte
He shrugged. “Why go looking for people when they can find me and bring their friends, then pay me for the opportunity? I can throw one stone and hit a whole lot of birds.”
“How’s your recruiting?”
“Not as good as yours, but I do all right.”
“I can imagine. Your group control is marginal and shallow, but that was an impressive individual attack. If you were more focused and hands on in your assaults, I bet you could double your recruit stats for the month by the end of the week.”
“Why are you here?” he asked, annoyed.
“I’m the new North American commander. I’m checking out the talent.” I started to walk away, not sure about him. He didn’t seem strong enough for a captain, but he was intelligent.
“What’s in it for me if I double my recruits?” he asked as he caught up with me at the door.
“What do you want?”
Phoenix tilted his head back and thought for a moment. “A mentor.”
The words, “I don’t mentor,” stuck on my lips. I wanted to say it because it was the truth, but then again, teaching the kid a few tricks would be a small price to pay for an ally. “How old are you?”
“85.”
I nodded. “If you double your recruits, I’ll teach you some things. Come by and see me.”
I left and headed to my final stop, Isaac Cicero. Cicero was the hardest of the three to get to. He ran with society, the rich and jaded. While most jinn lived outskirts, Cicero was right in the thick of it. I charmed my way into the private party then blended the best I could while I looked for him. Before I could make a complete round two bouncers, vampires if I had guess, took me by either arm and led me to a back room where Cicero sat behind a large desk.
“You weren’t on my guest list.”
“True.”
“Since you are a fellow jinni, you have two minutes to tell me what you want before Frik and Frak remove you from the premises.”
I shook my head. “That doesn’t work for me.” I twisted my hands around so I could clasp their wrists, and I directed all my energy into one long and glorious release with the single thought of pain. As I held on, boils rose on their skin and their mouths moved in silent screams. When I had enough, I reached down and snapped both of their necks, leaving two ashy piles on the floor.
Cicero leaned back in his chair and swallowed hard. He wore a shiny silver suit, had a slightly receding hairline, and had on a pair of sunglasses. “What is it that you want?”
“I don’t want anything.” I sat down in the chair across from him. “I’m the new regional commander.”
“Ah.” Cicero studied me from behind his glasses. “Very interesting you chose to come here.”
“Why is that?”
“My talent isn’t flashy enough for most jinn.”
“I understand the benefits of understated. Holden Smith.” I offered him my hand.
He took his feet off the desk and shook my hand. “It is nice to meet you, Mr. Smith.”
“Likewise.”
“What are your plans for the region?”
I smiled slightly. “The organization has gotten sloppy. I plan on cleaning it up, putting in new hierarchies. Many changes have to be implemented to produce the results Hell desires.”
“And why did you come to see me?”
“I’m looking for people who can understand my vision for the future of the jinn.”
His eyebrows rose above his glasses and his lips twitched. “And you are here to ask me?”
I shook my head. “Nah, like you said. I’m just looking.” I stood up. “Have a good evening, Mr. Cicero.”
Cicero needed me. His power and friends were strong, but he wasn’t. He would benefit from my protection, but could I benefit from his influence?
Fourteen
I couldn’t figure out what was happening with Olivia. She was quiet for the entire week, only speaking when asked direct questions. Her eyes seemed far away all the time, but she still put in the effort to learn everything I told her. She had a lot of trouble mastering nudging which frustrated her and made it even harder for her to do it. I kept explaining she had to relax and find her inner peace to nudge with any consistency, but still it evaded her.
Her mastery of light manipulation was light years ahead of where other new recruits were after only a week or so, however. Maybe it was her photographic eye, but she seemed to have no problem recreating whatever she saw in wonderful detail. I anticipated light travel wouldn’t be much of an issue for her either so I planned to tackle it as soon as we got her acceptable at nudging.
“You are going to meet someone new today,” I said.
Olivia’s head snapped up from her coffee like she had forgotten I was here. “Who?”
“A good friend and fellow guardian, Jace.”
“Why?” Her eyes narrowed as she studied me.
“I think his talents align closely with yours. He is very proficient at light manipulation, and he can even do the direct influence like you.”
Her entire face lightened. “How do know?”
“I went to see him after you left that day. I figured if any guardian could explain what you did, it would be him.”
“And this is the first I’m hearing about it?”
“You haven’t exactly been in a talking mood, have you?”
Olivia nodded and looked down. “Sorry. I have a lot on my mind.”
“I can’t force you to talk to me, Firefly, but I think you should consider it. I can help you.”
She blinked and leaned back in her chair. “When do we leave?”
I winced. “Would it be easier for you if someone else trained you? Perhaps I was not a good choice?”
She shook her head. “It’s not you. I just need to deal with some things on my own. If it makes you feel better, I wouldn’t talk to anyone about it. You’re fine. I don’t mean to be difficult.”
Relief filled me. I didn’t want her to go. As difficult as she could be, it was nice to have her around. I had been alone too long and Olivia and her moods were a breath of fresh air in a room that had gone stale. “Well then, shall we be on our way?” I held out a hand to her. She laid her soft hand in mine, and it occurred to me that I might miss transporting her places once she could do it herself. I dismissed the notion immediately—Olivia was, and could be, no more than a pupil to me.
Jace was waiting for us in a wine bar off of the Boulevard de Port Royal.
Olivia looked around the new city, a small smile toying at her lips. “I love Paris.”
“After you.” I motioned her inside. She walked directly to Jace’s table, recognizing him as a guardian.
Jace looked startled at first, then smiled widely at the two of us. “You must be Olivia. Well, I’ll be, I thought you were human,” he said, ignoring her outreached hand as he hugged her. Olivia had been repressing her light all week. I didn’t know why, and she didn’t want to tell me.
Olivia hesitated a moment then hugged him back. “It’s nice to meet you. I haven’t heard anything about you.”
Jace laughed. “Yes, Quintus has done a good job of hiding you from the rest of us as well.”
She glanced back at me, then returned her gaze to Jace. “That may not be entirely his fault. I haven’t been feeling overly social.”
Jace patted the chair next to him and motioned me to sit down across the table. “It’s completely normal,” he told her. “It takes time to adjust to life like this. The human in you just wants everything to be as it was, but nothing is the same.”
“Exactly.”
“This means you don’t feel much like you belong. I felt like an impostor the first several years as a guardian. I still feel like that occasionally.”
Relief washed over her and some of the tension in her shoulders eased. Jace hit the nail on the head, but how could Olivia not feel like she belonged? She was born into this. I didn’t understand her at all.
“And here I thought I was the only one,” she said.
Jace patted her hand and looked over at me. “She’s lovely. I can see why you like her.”
Olivia frowned at me and her shoulder stiffened again.
Jace looked back at her. “No, dear, I only meant that Quintus thinks highly of you. I’ve known him a long time. I can tell when he thinks a recruit has promise.”
“But I’m not a recruit. Apparently, I was born.”
Jace flicked his eyes at me, and I shook my head enough for him to know not to say anything. “Yes, you were and you’ll be wonderful. I hear you already have impressive talents.”
Olivia blushed. “I don’t know about that. I can’t even nudge.”
Jace moved his hand like he was brushing her doubts from the air. “There are more important things than that. We all have our strengths. I would like to see yours. Can you demonstrate?”
“What?” She looked back and forth between the two of us suspiciously.
“The suggestion of course.”
She pressed her lips together. “You can do it too, right.”
“Yes.” Jace nodded to her.
She rolled her neck and looked around the bistro until her eyes honed in on one person. She took a nervous breath and a stream of white light no bigger than a piece of yarn threaded its way through the room to a middle aged woman sitting along the window. It wrapped around the woman three times and a second later she had her phone in her hand, dialing. Olivia broke eye contact and let the light dissolve. “That’s it,” she said with a shrug.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“Had her call her daughter.”
“Why?”
“She was upset about something having to do with her, so I eased those emotions and pushed her to call.”
Jace still watched the woman. “How do you know she was upset with her daughter?”
Olivia shrugged. “I don’t really know. That’s just what it felt like. It was vague but there.”
He finally looked back at her. “And how do you feel?”
“Fine.”
“Not tired? Drained?”
“No. Why? Should I be?”
“I don’t know. Can you explain what you do?” Jace smiled widely at her then at me. “This is marvelous.” He seemed excited to be learning a new trick, while Olivia looked horrified.
“You said you could do this. You said—” her eyes filled with fear and she shook her head.
“I can, just not as well as you. Tell me your technique.”
She looked hesitant and chewed on her lip, but nodded. “Are you sure this is normal?”
“It isn’t something everyone can do, but you aren’t everyone else, are you?”
“It can’t hurt to try, Olivia.”
“Yeah, right.” She made a ponytail holder appear in her hand and pulled her hair back from her serious face. “I focus on the person and study their aura to see how it looks wrong. Then I reach out for their mind, feel their stronger emotions and blend my own thoughts with theirs. Does that make sense?”
It didn’t make any sense at all. I couldn’t see human auras or feel their emotions enough to decipher where they were directed, but Jace nodded slowly and looked around the room. He pointed towards a blond man in the corner. “Like him?”
“Yeah,” she said. “Do you see it too?”
“Tinged in red, angry about something.” Jace stared at him with his own serious expression. “I can’t really tell what.” A wider band of light came from Jace and went towards the guy. When it reached the man, unlike Olivia’s which wrapped around the person, Jace’s light went right into his chest.
Olivia nodded encouragingly. “It’s fading.”
“But it’s so draining.”
“You’re sending too much.”
“I don’t know how to control that.”
She looked at me helplessly.
“How do you control it?” I asked her.
“I don’t know. I just do.”
“Pull back, Jace. We’ll talk through it,” I told him.
Jace turned back, deep frown lines creasing his tanned face. “It’s the fine tuning I’m missing. How are you so proficient so fast?”
She shook her head, her cheeks coloring. “I have an idea.” She took Jace’s arm and directed her attention to the man. “Can you feel what I’m doing?”
He closed his eyes while she sent her suggestion. When she finished, Jace nodded. “I think I understand.”
We left the bistro in search of other people, and Jace practiced all afternoon until he was doing well enough that he stopped questioning Olivia and she started questioning him.
“If you see the auras as I do, do you ignore those who need help unless they are assigned to you?”
“I wouldn’t know how to help them. You seem to sense their emotions far more clearly than I am able. I can only see a little coloring here and there.”
She nodded. “Is that a born thing?”
“Probably,” I answered quickly before Jace could tell her he was born too.
“Is it possible that it’s not? That it’s something else?”
“What else could it be?” Jace asked her.
Olivia walked off without answering. I assumed it must have something to do with Holden since that was her gut reaction to anything having to do with him, but I couldn’t imagine what he could have to do with this. Jace looked at me and I shrugged. “She gets moody sometimes.”
“Definitely an elder trait.” Jace laughed and we walked behind her. “She would be an excellent companion for you, Quintus.”
“You know I cannot.”
“Why the devil not? She’s smart, nice, you like her, and she would be a powerful ally someday. A little moody, but I know none so patient as you.”
“Her destiny is greater than me.”
“Yes, but she can make up her own mind. She’s in the position to choose whomever she wants.”
“Then she won’t choose me.”
“Perhaps because you haven’t tried.”
I watched Olivia and wondered if maybe Jace had a point. Maybe the best way to help Olivia forget Holden was to give her another option.
Fifteen
I read the article for a second time just to be sure before I stormed towards Quintus who was reading at the table. I slammed the paper down in front of him. He looked up and raised his eyebrows.
“Right here.” I pointed to the small article on the bottom corner of the page.
Quintus set his book to the side and looked at the newspaper. He read for a few moments, then looked up at me. “That’s very sad.”
“That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”
“What else would you like me to say?”
“That you were wrong. That you should have let me save her. That would be a place to start.”
Quintus looked at the paper closer. “The girl from the coffee shop.” I nodded to keep from yelling. “It wasn’t our place to interfere. We can’t save everyone. She had been marked by the jinni and it’s difficult to undo—even for someone with experience. Plus we had no directive to interfere.”
“But why not?”
“I don’t know how those we help are chosen, but I’m sure there is a big picture we just can’t see. We must follow orders. There aren’t enough of us to help everyone who needs it.”
“I don’t care about orders. I wanted to help someone in need. That’s what I agreed to do! I didn’t agree to come back and fall in line and be a good little soldier. You can’t be happy doing this either, can you? Why can’t we help the people we encounter who need help? Why can’t we look for those missing guardians?”
Quintus looked at me carefully and tilted his head back. “Olivia, this is the way we do things. It has worked for many, many years. I understand your frustration, I do, but give it time, and I am sure the reasoning will come to light. Don’t rush into judgment until you are more acquainted with our ways.”
I couldn’t even respond to him. He was so confident and calm and sure of his answers. Surel
y Quintus had to see my point. Surely he had to care more than he let on. I rubbed my fingers between my eyes. “You don’t mean that.”
“Just give our ways time. Learn them and understand them before you condemn them. If you still disagree, then you can solicit change.”
“But how do you feel?”
“I have not thought much about it in a long time.”
“I can’t believe you. Don’t you question anything?”
“Of course, but I am not so arrogant to think I know better than the elders.”
Arrogance? I didn’t think my desire to help people who clearly needed my help when I had the means to do so was arrogance at all. It made sense to me. The only thing that didn’t make sense was why I couldn’t. “Who exactly are the elders? When do I get to meet them? I want them to explain this whole process to me.”
Quintus cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Not for a while yet. You need to complete your training and establish yourself a bit more first.”
I sighed. We had worked on nudging since the day with Jace. I hated it, but was gaining ground. I hoped the rest of the lessons would go smoother than this one, which had become the bane of my existence, or I would never get to meet them.
“Give them a tap on the shoulder, don’t hit them with a sledge hammer,” was what Quintus constantly told me in his ever patient voice. I took a few deep breaths. I was so quick to fly off the handle these days. I would do as Quintus said and give being a guardian a chance before I set my mind against it.
“I’ll consider your advice.” I sat down in the chair next to him and pulled a knee up under my chin. “You haven’t told me much about the guardians.”
“Haven’t I?” Quintus picked back up his book as if to begin reading again.
I waited for him to continue, but it became clear our conversation was over in his mind. “Am I boring you?”
“No, not at all. There just isn’t much to say that I haven’t said. We are a simple group.” He started reading again.
I rolled my eyes and went back to my room. Lying back on the bed, I tried not to think. I needed to get my emotions under control. Quintus had to think I was insane. Half the time we were almost friends and the other half I could hardly stand the sight of him. I needed to stop dwelling on what I’d lost and move forward.