by K. K. Perez
1 new message
Her lungs practically collapsed in relief. Claudia was the sender.
Your services are required. If you wish your friend to remain unharmed you will make your way to Long Island City within the next 90 min. Further instructions to follow. Come alone.
The parking lot whirled around Lucy. Shaking, she passed the phone to Ravi.
His fingers tightened around the case as he read the message.
“It’s a trap,” he said.
Rage like snow settled over her and the haze of her mind cleared. “Obviously.”
“You can’t go.”
Lucy balled her hands into fists. “Don’t tell me what I can’t do.” Her voice was colder and more dangerous than black ice. “This is the Order of Sophia, isn’t it? They’ve kidnapped Claudia to get to me. Well, they can have me.” And if they touched a hair on her friend’s head, she would make them regret it.
“No.” Ravi framed her face with his hands, his eyes beseeching. “You’re too important, Lucinda.”
“To the Archimedeans?” She couldn’t care less about them when Claudia was in danger.
“To me.” He crashed his lips into hers, heedless of the fleeing prom-goers. This kiss was wild, fevered. Flames licked the underside of Lucy’s skin. She kissed him back with forceful lips and teeth before pulling away.
“Claudia’s my family, Ravi. I have to do what the Sophists say. You would do the same.”
His chest rose and fell as he stabilized his breathing, regaining control.
“I don’t think it’s the Order of Sophia.”
“Why not?”
“They wouldn’t require your services,” he said coolly. “They don’t want you to use your powers at all.”
“Who else could it be?” Lucy grabbed for the tourmaline even though the stone had failed to stop her eruption in the gym. “Who else could know about me?”
“Has there been anyone new in your life lately?”
“Besides you?”
Ravi didn’t laugh. “Besides me.”
New in her life? Other than Ravi, she couldn’t think of anyone. It had been the same ol’, same ol’. Cole, Claudia … Holy crap.
“Not in my life,” Lucy said. “But Claudia just started dating Jess around the time—in fact, they met the same day you started teaching at Eaton High. I don’t know, though. She seems so smitten, I find it hard to be—”
“Blast!” Ravi exclaimed. He hammered a fist against his thigh. “This Jess, if that’s her name, do you have any photos of her?”
Lucy took back the phone and began to scroll. No. Oh no, no, no. Jess had refused to be in the prom photos for a reason—and it wasn’t shyness.
“Claudia said Jess had to make a call earlier. I thought it was strange to be phoning anyone during prom.” Her voice faded out as she recalled the times she’d made direct contact with Jess. Lucy had felt guilt. She’d just assumed it was her own for not wanting to share her best friend before they left for college.
Ravi cursed. “The blackout provided a useful diversion.” Catching Lucy’s stricken reaction, he added, “It would have happened regardless.”
That didn’t make her feel any better. Defeated, her head drooped. She stared at Claudia’s megawatt smile on the screen of her phone.
“If the Order of Sophia didn’t take Claudia, who did?” Lucy asked miserably.
“The Freelancers.”
“The who now?” Her gaze flicked up. “You’re telling me there’s another faction of crackpots I have to worry about?” Reality had just taken the bullet train to the Twilight Zone. She laughed in desperation.
“The Freelancers are defectors from both Orders. Mercenaries. They contract for the highest bidder.”
Could they have been the ones to send the photograph of Lucy to the Sapientia Group? Had they known about her for years?
“This all just keeps getting better and better,” Lucy told him. “What do they want with me?”
Ravi exhaled through his nostrils. “Nothing good. Whatever it is, I’d wager it has something to do with the Tesla Egg. They must have stolen it.”
Lucy smacked her forehead.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I saw Jess and Claudia before I caught the train that day. She saw me with the egg.” Lucy really didn’t want to believe that Jess could have been playing Claudia, but it was the only thing that made sense.
Did the Freelancers know the egg amplified Lucy’s powers?
“Bollocks. Could Jess have planted a tracer on you?” Ravi asked.
“Anything’s possible. My super spy skills are a little rusty.” She’d meant it as a joke, kind of, but her words flew out daggered.
He ignored her tone. “We need to check.” He glanced around the now mostly empty parking lot. “Not here.”
“You think it’s still on me?”
Ravi nodded grimly.
“But I’m not wearing the same clothes. And I’ve been known to take a bath.”
“It would be subcutaneous.”
“I think I’d remember being injected with something.”
He surveyed the lot again. “It might have felt like a pinprick. Perhaps not even that.”
Lucy shuddered. “’Cause that’s not disturbing at all.” And even more reason to do whatever the Freelancers wanted to get her best friend back. “I need to get Claudia. Now.”
“I can’t let you play into their hands, Lucy. The Freelancers always have an agenda.”
“Not my problem.” She raised a hand before he could interrupt her. “I don’t care about some centuries-old feud between the Orders or the Freelancers or whoever else. I need to find Clauds.”
“I can’t put it beyond them to be collecting you on behalf of the Sophists.”
Lucy crossed her arms. “It’s a risk I’ll have to take.”
“You don’t know what they’re capable of.” Ravi was shifting his weight onto the balls of his feet. If Lucy tried to bolt, he was prepared to snatch her.
“They don’t know what I’m capable of, Ravi. Exhibit A: the worst prom ever.”
“Lucy,” he cautioned.
“How do they know about me? Huh?”
One hand curled into a loose fist. “We must have a mole,” he said.
“A mole? Great. Just great. What’s to say this mole hasn’t told the Order of Sophia where I am anyway?” she huffed, power curling inside her, begging for release. “You’re doing a real bang-up job of protecting me.”
All emotion left Ravi’s face. “The mole will be discovered and dealt with.”
“While you’re working on that, I guess I’m at the service of the Freelancers.”
“I admire your bravery, Lucinda,” Ravi said in clipped tones. “But we’ll figure out another way to get your friend back. Perhaps we can offer them something else. The Freelancers are always open to a trade.”
“Ravi, they want me. And I’m going. I’m not asking your permission.”
“Please, be reasonable. You’re already injured.” He pointed at a speck of blood she’d missed on her upper lip.
She scrubbed at it. “Nothing that hasn’t happened before.”
“What?” Fresh alarm tightened his features.
“It happens after training sometimes. It’s not a big deal.” She gave an exaggerated shrug.
“Lucy. You should have told me.”
“There are a lot of things we should have told each other, it seems. Like the existence of mercenary alchemists!”
Ravi tore at his gel-laden hair. “I didn’t want to scare you.”
“How about you try trusting me for a change? Claudia’s been kidnapped—kidnapped—because you didn’t trust me!”
Lucy spun on her heel and he grabbed her around the waist, dragging her back against his chest. His grip was tight but his energy was warm, gentle. Her powers were still telling her he was on her side. He just didn’t want Lucy to get hurt. But that wasn’t Ravi’s choice.
“If you care abo
ut me you won’t try to stop me,” she said hoarsely. “What would you have done if you’d been given the chance to save your parents?”
Ravi turned her around in his arms to face him, emotions warring on his features.
“If you go, Lucy, I go.”
“They said to come alone.” She raised her chin stubbornly. “I won’t jeopardize Claudia’s safety.”
“They’ll never see me.”
“I don’t know…” Lucy could probably use his help, since she had no idea what she was doing, but …
“Come on.” He stroked her cheek and smiled. “Let’s pick up my toys.”
GHOSTS
Ravi’s apartment was barren. A one-room testament to austerity: white walls, a double bed in the corner, a small kitchenette with two stools tucked under the countertop. The only decoration was an outdated wall calendar featuring photographs of New England birds. Lucy didn’t take Ravi for much of a birdwatcher. She’d never even known there was a studio to rent over the gas station. Probably because nobody ever rented it.
Ravi watched as Lucy made a quick review of his living quarters.
“Not much, is it?” he said. He pulled his bow tie loose.
“It looks like a ghost lives here.”
Stripping off his tailcoat, he showed her a half-smile, a Ravi smile. Not the hard one he’d flashed her back at school.
“A friendly ghost?” Ravi asked, unbuttoning his dress shirt. Oh my. Lucy skewed her gaze to a patch of mold on the ceiling, intensely aware of the fact that he was undressing in front of her.
Since this was a studio, Lucy was essentially standing in his bedroom. Grow up. Ravi wasn’t acting like this was anything out of the ordinary. Aside from the fact that Claudia had been kidnapped and he was changing so they could go rescue her, of course.
Crouching down, he rifled through a duffel bag at the foot of the bed. He fished out a short-sleeved black shirt, Lycra, like one of Cole’s racing jerseys. Lucy wrinkled her nose just thinking his name. She never wanted to hear it again.
“White tie isn’t really stealth,” Ravi said, sounding apologetic about the wardrobe change.
“Neither is flapper wear.”
“I’m afraid I don’t have anything in your size.” And he sounded genuinely remorseful.
Lucy waged an internal war against admiring his abdominal muscles that had definitely not been sculpted by investigating quantum geometry.
“You never unpacked,” she noted. “Is the whole Spartan aesthetic thing part of your cover?”
A whip-quick headshake. “Between boarding school, uni, and traveling for Professor T, I’ve learned to live with just the essentials. Ready to drop and roll at a moment’s notice.”
“Your essentials include white tie?”
His eyes lanced her as he rose to standing. “That was a special order,” he said. “I wanted to look good for your prom.”
Lucy inhaled through her nose, closing the short distance between them.
“Mission accomplished.”
Ravi smiled. “I could offer you track-suit bottoms? You’ll swim in them, though.”
“You mean sweatpants,” she said, eyeing the puddle of navy blue inside the duffel bag.
“The term ‘sweatpants’ is inherently uncouth.” He pretended to shiver.
She laughed, releasing some of the tension that held her tight.
As Ravi discarded the dress shirt, his eyes followed hers to the scar tissue webbing the left side of his torso. The burn marks were raised, some streaks lighter than his brown skin, others darker.
A muscle twitched in his jaw, and her heart throbbed for the boy who lost his parents. The boy who carried his scars inside and out.
Impulsively, Lucy splayed her hand across them. The tissue was softer than the rest. Ravi shivered as she stroked him, air whistling through his teeth, and he closed his eyes.
Taut silence strained between them. He didn’t stop Lucy’s fingers from exploring, although she could sense him clinging tightly to his virtual shield.
Diffident, opening his eyes, he asked, “Not too off-putting?”
“Not at all.”
Her gaze roamed his torso, then returned to his dark eyes. He slid his arms around her waist, hugging Lucy whisper-close.
“We’ll get Claudia back. I promise,” Ravi told her. Determination filled his voice.
Jolting into action, he released Lucy, pulled the T-shirt over his head, changed his patent-leather dress shoes for combat boots, and grabbed a toolbox from under his bed—all in one blur of motion. Lucy could only watch, dumbfounded.
Ravi held up a wand-shaped metal detector, the kind used at airports.
“Step back and hold up your arms,” he ordered. “Please.”
“Won’t my electromagnetic field confuse the machine?” Lucy asked, raising her arms.
A measured glance. “Possibly.”
Ravi started from behind, skimming the wand down her spine. Lucy’s heart pounded as he examined every inch of her. His movements were performed with military efficiency. But. This was Ravi. She couldn’t help the thrill his nearness inspired.
“How long have you been training with the Archimedeans?” Lucy asked to distract herself. If he noticed her labored breathing, he didn’t let on.
“Since I was fourteen,” he said. When he got the tattoo. Ravi hadn’t had a permanent home since the Order of Sophia killed his family, Lucy realized.
“Seems like a lonely life.” Hers now seemed like a cakewalk by comparison.
“Not so lonely lately.”
Lucy’s breath caught for a second. “So … in addition to getting a Ph.D., the Order has been training you to, what, be all Navy SEAL?”
“I think you mean SAS. But no.” Ravi shook his head, laughing softly, as the wand traveled the length of Lucy’s right arm.
“The Order has many branches, divisions, departments. It’s a bit of a hydra. Too much to explain tonight.” He moved on to her left arm. “Primarily, I’m a researcher. I’m attached to Chrysopoeia Tech, with Professor T. But we all have enough training to take care of ourselves.”
He positioned himself so they were toe-to-toe.
“I’ll keep you safe, Lucy.”
“It’s not my safety that worries me.”
“I know,” he agreed. “And that’s what worries me.”
Beep. The wand detected the necklace. Lucy’s eyes dropped to the night-sky stone.
“Ravi, I’m sorry for blowing up at you back there. What I said about the mole. About this being your fault. It wasn’t fair.”
His brow furrowed. “You weren’t wrong.”
Lucy chewed her lip as Ravi continued scanning her down to the scalloped hem of her dress. Nothing. He muttered something under his breath.
“What is it?” she prodded.
“If there is a tracer, then it’s most likely an isotope.”
Her temper came dangerously close to spiking.
“It’s in my blood?” Meaning there was no way to get rid of it.
“The good news is that the half-life of radioactive isotopes isn’t all that long,” Ravi offered. “It may have worked its way out of your system already.”
“If not?”
He tossed the wand onto the bed and took Lucy’s hand.
“The range for detection is also relatively short. They can’t track you over long distances.”
“Yay for that,” Lucy said.
He interlaced their fingers. “You don’t have to do this. We can find another way.”
“No.” She clenched her fists. “This ends tonight.”
THE LION’S DEN
Ravi broke the speed limit and a plethora of other traffic laws getting to Long Island City. The Archimedeans probably had a way to skirt moving violations. A smaller, also black, duffel bag full of Ravi’s toys jostled in the backseat.
Ten minutes earlier, Lucy had received another text. An address on Vernon Boulevard.
Queens whirred by in a blaze of orange streetl
ights.
Lucy’s skin crawled at the notion that there was something inside her disclosing her location to the Freelancers at this very moment. Once she got Claudia back, she would do whatever was necessary never to let her body be used against her again.
The wheels of the SUV ground to a halt a few blocks from the designated address. Lucy surveyed the narrow side street. The odd townhouse was interspersed between old factories that had been converted into art galleries and craft-beer breweries. The neighborhood hardly screamed Criminal Activity Takes Place Here.
Lucy pitched her gaze at the dashboard. Two minutes late.
“I’ll walk the rest of the way,” she told Ravi, and reached for the door.
Shadows obscured half his face but his concern was plain as day.
“Wait.” He grabbed the duffel in a rushed motion. “Two can play at the tracker game.”
“Won’t they just check me?” Lucy said, hesitating. “I don’t want to piss them off.” Or give them any reason to hurt Claudia.
“They might.” Ravi pinched something clear and plastic, smaller than an earbud, between his fingers. “This is the latest technology. Undetectable.”
“An Archimedean special?”
He answered with a grin. “May I?”
Lucy nodded and Ravi leaned across her, his touch gentle yet surgically exact as he planted the device inside her ear. She inhaled the sweet, mellow scent of cedar. When he was satisfied the device was secure, he lowered a hand to her shoulder but didn’t lean back.
“I’ll be able to hear whatever you hear. Try to get them to tell you as much as you can about what they’re planning. Drop hints about what you see around you.”
“Does it let you track me?” she asked.
“The range is short, but I’ll stay as close as I can without drawing suspicion. The com works on radio waves. The Freelancers won’t be able to distinguish it from regular transmissions.”
“Okay.” She nodded.
“You’ll be able to hear me too. I’ll be with you the entire time.” Ravi tilted his face closer. “I won’t leave you.”
“I know you won’t. Just one more thing—” Lucy tugged him toward her and planted her lips on his, fierce and sweet, before hopping onto the pavement.