(Glass #3) Spy Glass

by Maria V. Snyder

My opinion of Galen increased as he navigated the maze of shafts, chambers and intersections with confidence. The trip seemed never ending.

  “How much longer?” I asked. My throat burned from the dust.

  “A few more minutes. We have to bypass the weak quadrants.”

  When the shaft’s incline increased, I hoped I would see blue sky soon. I would never take it or fresh air for granted again. But the passage leveled off and ended in a room. Galen set the lantern on a desk, and I corrected my initial impression.

  “I thought—”

  “You thought wrong.” Galen rummaged around the office and found a canteen and two cups.

  Pouring water into both, Galen handed me one of the cups. Our fingers touched, and I finally recognized the magician. Finn.

  24

  I DREW MY SWITCHBLADE AND STABBED, AIMING FOR his heart. He blocked the attack, but didn’t move quite fast enough to avoid the blade. It sliced his upper arm.

  Finn/Galen growled in pain and I slammed into a null shield. Acting on pure instinct, I flipped my switchblade around and flung it at him. It sailed through the shield, but he deflected it with his power.

  Then the shield pressed on me, forcing me back until it flattened me against the wall, unable to move.

  Finn plopped into his desk chair and drank from his cup. “Too easy, Opal.”

  I glanced at his ripped and bloodstained sleeve. “Next time, Finn, I’ll slice higher.”

  He pulled off his glasses and wig. “Points for following the clues and linking me to Vasko, but I’m not his son Phinnegan. I’m really Vasko’s faithful dog.” He didn’t bother to hide the bitterness in his voice.

  “Then who is Junior?” I asked, managing to surprise him.

  “I didn’t think you’d learn anything useful from Vasko’s office. Your Ixian teacher should be proud.” He watched me. “The Commander isn’t the only one with a network of spies in Sitia. The Council is more aware of what’s going on than you give them credit for. And Vasko’s tapped into that network.”

  “Is Junior working for the Council or Vasko?”

  “He’s me. I’m not related, but I have disguised myself as Vasko from time to time. Occasionally he likes to be in two places at once.”

  “Why tell me all this?” I pushed against the null shield, but it remained firm.

  “You’re going to be a player in this game. You should understand the basics.”

  “What does Vasko want now?” I asked. “He already has my blood.”

  “No he doesn’t.”

  “But he sent you to Wirral?”

  “To gather information on blood magic. The existence of your blood was a nice surprise. One I failed to tell him about.”

  “Why does he…oh.” I connected the dots. “He wants to use blood magic to return Pazia’s powers.” All my actions, whether good or bad, inadvertent or on purpose have all spun in circles and returned with force, slamming right back into me. “Does he know about the side effects?”

  “Yes, but not to worry about your friend. Vasko would never endanger his daughter. Instead he has been experimenting on test subjects, trying to find a way to increase a person’s magic without the addiction.”

  “Should I be horrified by the mention of test subjects?”

  “Oh yes. I am. And I’m not the squeamish type. Vasko makes me look like the nice guy. Why do you think I’m so loyal?”

  “For your private office?”

  He laughed with genuine amusement then sobered. “If I were to betray or double-cross Vasko, I’d disappear in these mines. I’d either become a new test subject or locked in the cells below and left to die of thirst.”

  I reviewed his comments. “If you haven’t told him about the blood, isn’t that a betrayal?”

  He snapped his fingers. “Smart girl, I knew I liked you for a reason. If Vasko found out what I’ve been doing…” He shuddered. “That’s why I triggered the cave-ins. If everyone thinks I’m dead and buried under tons of rubble, no one will search for me. And I’m free to pursue other interests.”

  “Except I know.” A rush of cold fear swept through me. “I’m a casualty, too.”

  “Yep. Otherwise your friends and family would tear Sitia apart looking for you. And they are way too powerful for my liking.”

  “They’ll do it anyway. Unless there’s proof of my death.”

  “The searchers will find your backpack and if they dig deep enough, they’ll find a crushed female corpse wearing your clothes. She’s approximately your age, size and weight and has the same hairstyle. Although I must admit, the short cut looked better on her.”

  I closed my eyes, letting grief for the anonymous woman overcome me for a moment. Then I shoved it deep. I would need to focus. “Why bother with this elaborate ruse?”

  “I’m tired of playing in Vasko’s sandbox. I’ve a new partner. He’s a simple man and only wants one thing in exchange for giving me control over the black diamonds and the super messengers.” Galen gazed at me as if appraising a vein for hidden gemstones. “Aren’t you going to ask?”

  “Who is it?”

  “Aren’t you curious what he wants?”

  “No.”

  “Ah, denial. Doesn’t matter, you’ll find out soon enough.” Galen pulled a dart from his coverall and approached me.

  “You don’t need that,” I said, thinking fast. “I’m lost down here. I can’t run away.”

  “Nice try, but I’ve a few tasks to finish before we go.” He jabbed the dart into my arm. As my head spun, he dropped the null shield. I sagged forward and he caught me.

  “Believe it or not, you’re better off with me,” he whispered in my ear.

  A pounding headache woke me. I kept my eyes closed, wishing I was immune to Finn’s…er…Galen’s sleeping drug, since the magic immunity didn’t do squat against him. Immobilized and lying on my back, I smelled the familiar aroma of damp minerals. Opening my eyes didn’t change a thing. Pure blackness surrounded me.

  The rough floor scratched my back as I squirmed, but I couldn’t move my arms or legs, so he must have secured them. The crook of my right arm throbbed.

  As the drug wore off a strange feeling of being satiated welled. Alarmed, I confirmed my coverall remained on. What had Galen done to me while I was unconscious? I yanked and pulled and tried to free my limbs, but the bands holding them down didn’t budge.

  I waited. The damp air seeped into my skin, numbed my hands and caused bouts of uncontrolled shivers. Keeping my thoughts on the positive, I ignored the panic building in my dry throat.

  My muscles stiffened and ached. Galen had a nasty sense of humor if he thought this was better than… What? Vasko using me as a test subject? Sounded bad, but what tore my heart was my family and friends believing I was dead. What if I never saw them again?

  My biggest regret was not apologizing to my mother, not explaining everything to her and not taking her into my confidence. The reasons seemed petty now. I had wanted to save her from worry and grief, but the real truth was I wanted to save myself from the hassle of having to explain my actions to her and dealing with her reaction.

  And I had pushed Kade away, too. Running off after my blood, I only thought of myself and no one else. At least now, he’d be free to find someone to settle down with. What about Devlen? Would he continue his rehabilitation? I hoped so.

  My thoughts lingered on all the people who would be affected by my so-called demise. Not only my family, but Nic, Eve, Yelena, Ari, Janco and Valek. The list lengthened when I added, Tama, Faith, Reema, Teegan, Fisk and Zitora.

  With all these people in my life, how could I whine about feeling empty? What a brat!

  After an eternity of blackness, a glow pushed it back and then burned my eyes. Squinting, I peered at my surroundings. A small cave with one opening that led to a tunnel which housed the source of the growing brilliance. Boots crunched on loose stones, coming closer.

  As the footsteps neared, I shut my eyes, pretending to be unconscious. The li
ght shone on my face, stabbing straight through my closed eyelids. After a shuffling scrape, a clink sounded.

  “Opal?” Galen asked. “I know you’re awake.”

  “The light’s…too bright,” I said. Speaking took effort and my voice rasped as if I had gargled rocks. I thought longingly of the cup of water he had offered me before.

  Metal rattled and the glow dimmed. I opened my eyes. The lantern had been placed as far away as possible in the meager space. Galen crouched down and lifted my head with one hand and tipped a canteen full of water to my mouth with the other. I gulped it down greedily, making a mess and not caring if it was poisoned or not. The water poured over my cracked lips and soothed my throat.

  He pulled the bottle away and shrugged off his backpack. With a hand dipping inside the pack, he met my gaze. “I forgot to ask. How do you feel?”

  “Do you want me to list my complaints? Or should I just roll it all into one big tale of woe?”

  “Sarcasm aside. Do you feel like your old self?”

  A little zing of… What? Fear, hope and panic zipped.

  Galen withdrew a package wrapped in leather. With theatrically slow movements, he peeled the layers off. The vibrations reached me first, humming deep within my chest. He uncovered a glass tiger—one of mine! An inner fire glowed from its depths and the magic trapped inside sang to me, welcoming me. My heart squeezed with a moment of joy. Then despair crushed it. Even though my magic had returned, it wouldn’t do me a damn bit of good against Galen.

  He had watched my face as he sprang his surprise. “You can thank me later.” Setting the tiger on the ground near my head, he reached into his pack and drew out a vial filled with a bright red liquid.

  My blood?

  He flourished it. “This isn’t what you think it is. I already injected all your blood back into you.” To emphasize his point, he touched the sore spot on the crook of my right arm. “This blood is mine.” Galen set it next to the glass tiger, then retrieved a couple syringes from his pack, lining them up in a neat row.

  “I told you Vasko’s been experimenting with blood magic. He hasn’t discovered the perfect combination, yet, but his tests have produced a number of strange results. A few of them caused the complete opposite effect—test subjects who craved even more power.”

  Questions formed, but they stuck to the roof of my mouth when Galen began rolling up my right sleeve past my elbow. He picked up one of the syringes and filled it with his blood. Then did the same for the second syringe.

  “When you inject a magician’s blood directly into another magician’s bloodstream, it doubles the receiver’s power. It also quadruples the consequences.”

  He tied a rope around my upper arm and rubbed a thumb over the crook of my arm.

  Panic burst from my chest with one word. “No!” I thrashed and strained, channeling every bit of strength I had into breaking free. Nothing worked.

  Galen didn’t have to wait long until exhaustion swept over me and I stilled. No food equaled no energy. Unable to watch him, I turned my head.

  “You may be interested to note that injecting a magician’s blood into a regular person does nothing but make them stink of magic. They remain unable to access the power source.”

  A prick of pain then pure fire raced through my arm. Another prick sent it rushing across my shoulders. I screamed when it engulfed my heart and magical energy consumed me as if I burned alive. Power flowed through my body, sending a healing wave. All my aches and pains disappeared. Strength returned and instinctively I knew I could pick Galen up and smash him into a wall.

  The magic swirled around me, loose and messy and growing. I realized I had grabbed too much just like Teegan. Modifying my advice to him, I imagined the power as molten glass. I gathered it and returned it to the cauldron or rather the blanket of power. The effort left me shaking.

  “Impressive,” Galen said. “You have excellent control. You must have learned something useful at the Keep after all.” Galen repacked his supplies. “With my blood, you have my skills as well as your own glass magic. I can move objects, heal and read people’s emotions enough so I know if someone is lying or not. And there might be a few hybrid powers with the mix.”

  When he unlocked the cuffs holding me down, I puzzled over why he would give me such power, but after sorting through his explanation fear bloomed in my chest.

  “You mentioned consequences,” I said. “What are they?”

  He shouldered his pack and helped me to my feet. I wobbled as a dizzy spell threatened.

  When I steadied, he grabbed the lantern. “I’ll tell you on the way.”

  I followed him through the mines. We encountered no one. After we navigated a series of turns, he slowed so I could walk next to him. “There are four side effects to your current condition. One. You can’t harm me with your magic. Or, more accurately, our magic.”

  Icy fingers stroked the back of my neck as I remembered Galen had injected his blood into me. A creepy sensation flowed over me as if a million ants crawled on my skin.

  He tapped a finger on his chest. “Every beat of your heart mixes our blood together.”

  I stopped. “I was hardly a threat to you before.”

  “Remember when you insisted to Ulrick you wouldn’t be ruled by an addiction? That you were smart enough to avoid blood magic?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well.” He spread his hands wide. “You weren’t smart enough to avoid it. As for the question of addiction, time will tell. You feel fine now, but it won’t be long before you’re begging me to give you more power.”

  “I—”

  “That’s two consequences. Do you want to know the other two now or later?”

  I leaned against the wall. “Now.”

  “Brave girl. The third side effect is we’re connected. You can block your emotions from me by using magic, but each time you use our magic, our connection grows stronger. Eventually, you’ll be unable to resist my orders.” He smiled. “I’m looking forward to that one. Especially since right now you’re stronger than most magicians.”

  Panic squeezed my insides. I panted with the effort to draw in a breath. The tunnel spun and Galen blurred. This was worse than being tortured. I reined in my swirling emotions. Think! Plan!

  The obvious answers appeared first. Don’t use magic. Kill Galen. Find Yelena.

  He laughed. “You can try to kill me, but you lack that killer instinct.” He resumed walking.

  I fell behind, hoping distance would help dilute the connection.

  “You should ask me about the last side effect before you get too far away from me,” Galen said over his shoulder.

  “Why?” I demanded.

  “The test subjects felt too ill when separated more than a few hundred feet from their creators.”

  That one was hard to believe. In fact, the whole situation sounded ridiculous. I tried to suppress my fear and panic. I’d been in bad situations before. However, I couldn’t keep the thought—that if Galen told the truth, then I was truly screwed—from my mind.

  “Fear, panic and was that a hint of acceptance at the end?” he asked.

  Frustration boiled. “Would you stop that!”

  “Make me.”

  If I had any chance of escape, I had to block him. Unsure how to build a barrier, I envisioned a thick glass wall between my emotions and Galen’s.

  He smirked. “The first link in the chain, binding you to me.”

  “Why do this to me? You could have just dragged me along with you.”

  “True, but your glass magic is valuable to me and my partner. And I’m aware of your history. You won’t use your magic because I ask nice or because I threaten you with bodily harm. I guess I could have kidnapped someone you cared for, but that would complicate things. This is a perfect solution. Once the chain is complete, you’ll be my…”

  Galen pretended to be deep in thought. “What should I call you? My creation? My offspring? No, they suggest a fondness between us. My victim? M
y dupe? My servant? No, they’re not quite right. I think the best descriptor is my slave.”

  “How many times did you practice that speech?” Sarcasm and fury sharpened my tone.

  I spent the rest of the trip imagining all the ways I would kill him. The depth of my creativity surprised and inspired me.

  We exited the mines and entered the dark forest surrounding Ognap. A half-moon peeked out between clouds as a warm breeze rustled the leaves. “How long—”

  “Two days,” he said.

  I considered escape as we hiked through the foothills. Soon the lanterns from Ognap flashed between the trees. When we reached the outskirts, I bolted for town.

  Galen laughed and yelled that he would wait for me on the south road. I ignored him. Instead I debated if I should report Galen to the Ognap security forces or find Nic and Eve first. Potential power throbbed inside me. With this much magic, I could contact Yelena from here.

  No. No magic. I headed toward the inn. The streets were deserted at this late hour. I hit the wall about four blocks from the Tourmaline Inn. Not an actual wall, but the…force that slammed into me caused me to stumble. It seized my body and yanked. I stepped back before I realized what I was doing. Concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, I managed to go two more steps. Sweat dripped from my brow and soaked my underclothes. The miner’s uniform’s rough fabric seemed to tighten around me.

  My muscles trembled and I struggled to remain on my feet as bouts of nausea and dizziness rolled through me. Unable to go another inch, I searched the pockets of the coverall for some clue I could leave behind to let my friends know I was still alive. But my switchblade and lock picks were gone. No surprise. Instead, I called Quartz. Sinking to the ground, I rolled into a ball to wait.

  When Quartz trotted into view, relief soothed. Her disappearance could be a clue for the others.

  Fire Lady safe, she said in my mind with pleasure.

  Shock at hearing her creamy voice inside my head dominated for a moment. I pulled it together and asked, Is that my horse name?

  Yes.

  Why?

  Quartz was confused I needed to ask. Images of me gathering a molten slug of glass flashed in her mind. Control fire.