by L. EE
Another several moments passed in silence as Nia scratched a pair of symbols on the border of her spell. Then she reached into her handbag, pulling out the folded message. The embossed seal was unmistakable even in the dim piss-colored lights.
When Nia handed it to her, Gail raised her eyebrows. “Isn’t there some rule about letting a layman read Academy correspondence?”
“Oh, probably.” Nia turned her back to her spell.
Gail studied the broken seal then shrugged and unfolded the letter. She read through the message twice, making sure she was getting the tone right. Then she looked at Nia, who had stopped drawing and was just staring down at the chalk in her hand.
“Well,” said Gail, refolding the message and letting it drop to the floor, “that was some impressively passive-aggressive bullshit.”
Nia laughed, though not with much humor. “That is exactly what I thought, detective.”
“What did you do to get them so pissed at you?” For the first time, Gail wondered if this assignment was more punishment than opportunity for Nia. When there was no immediate answer, Gail added, “Why don’t you just quit then?”
Nia stared at her. “What?”
“I mean, if they’re going to be such unhelpful assholes and make it impossible for you to do the job they gave you…” Gail shrugged. “They clearly don’t appreciate what you’re doing, so why not tell them to go fuck themselves and go do something more fun and less – well, less being stuck inside a subway tunnel with an evil death train.”
She had expected another laugh or at least a smile, but instead Nia’s eyes darkened and she began drawing her spell with renewed intensity. “It isn’t that simple. If I fail this assignment, I’ll be apologetically blacklisted. It would mean the end of my career.”
But that didn’t make any sense. “Aren’t you one of the best magicians they have? Why would they let you go to waste?”
“If I had to guess, though I don’t really have to, I would say that my success at the Academy has always been considered something of a fluke. The Directors have waited years for my inevitable plunge into self-destruction.” Nia’s tone was light, but she pressed down so hard on her chalk that it snapped in her hand. “Damn.” She cleaned away the resulting smear with her sleeve
There’s a hell of a story here, Gail thought. “So that’s why you decided to come down here by yourself? You thought you could prove them wrong by getting yourself killed?”
“That was not the original intent, I promise you, but yes, it almost turned out that way.” Nia met Gail’s eyes again. “Thank you, detective. I don’t know how much weight my words carry for you now, but I promise I will find a way to undo the damage I’ve done.”
Gail touched the icy scarf to her brow again. “I – well, I’m glad to hear it, but I guess I can’t complain too much about this. If you hadn’t fixed me up, I’d be dead on the floor of that playroom.”
When Nia smiled in relief, Gail felt it necessary to add, “I’m still pissed about the lying and the almost killing yourself.”
“I understand.” Nia returned to work. Gail watched for a few minutes. She had never seen such a large spell before and even through her anger, she had to admit it pretty impressive. If she looked too hard, it became a bewildering, almost chaotic mess of intersecting symbols, but if she leaned back and looked at it from an angle, she could almost see a kind of picture. If asked she wouldn’t have been able to say what the picture was of; it was just an impression, but if she looked at it just right then maybe –
She looked away, gritting her teeth as her headache flared. Through the stabbing pain, she heard the soft click of chalk hitting the tile floor and then Nia was beside her.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” Gail forced out. She squeezed her eyes closed as her vision began to blur. The effort of holding her eyes closed actually made the pain worse, but the double-vision made her sick. Throwing up required movement and right now, she was pretty sure any extra movement would kill her.
“I should have told you not to look too closely.” Nia took the cold scarf from Gail and began wiping beads of sweat from her forehead. “You are currently – technically, you’re –”
“Unconsciously trying to do magic even though it’s apparently crushing my brain?”
“Once again, you put it better than I could have. Magic feeds upon magic, so every time the magic within you reacts to something, it multiplies itself.”
The icy touch of the scarf was finally making a dent in the pain. After a minute or two, Gail was able to take the scarf back from Nia and sit against the wall without feeling like she was about to pass out. She held the scarf over her eyes for a moment, letting the chill numb her brain, then she lifted the cloth to smile wryly at Nia. “I guess I’m not cut out for magicianship.”
“No layman is. It’s a purely biological difference.” Nia sat on her knees in front of Gail, her normally bright eyes dark and fearful. “How are you feeling, detective? Oh, that’s a stupid question, I’m sorry.”
“I’m fine for the moment,” said Gail and it was only half a lie. The pain had receded to a dull throbbing, but there was a tight feeling in the back of her head. If she moved too quickly or spoke too loudly or breathed too deeply, she feared whatever it was would snap. She didn’t know what would happen then, but she didn’t think it would be pleasant. “You better finish your spell. We don’t want to be down here all night.”
Nia shook her head. “First, we need to take care of you. I have an idea of how we could remove most of the magic, but I’ll need Arthur’s help, let me just –”
“Wait,” said Gail before Nia could stand. “I’m no expert, but I’m guessing that big spell over there is going to need a lot of magic to power.”
Nia smiled at her. “Fear not, detective, I can do both.”
“Yeah, but that’s just the beginning, right? Then the train shows up and who knows what else we’ll have to deal with.” Part of Gail was screaming to just let Nia fix her, to let Nia do anything if it would stop the pain, but her logical side told the rest of her to shut the hell up and quit making so much damn noise. Nia needed to be in peak form. Sure, it would be great if Gail was too, but right now, they needed magic more than they needed Gail’s skills. And as much as it hurt – and it did fucking hurt – this affliction of Gail’s had actually helped them once, so maybe it was better to wait until they escaped before getting rid of it. Or at least until Gail started bleeding out the ears.
The way Nia was hesitating, fingers twisting her skirt, made Gail think she agreed and just didn’t want to admit it.
“Look,” said Gail. “We’ll make a deal. If I pass out again, you do whatever you have to do, but so long as I’m walking and talking, we leave it be.” She did her best to look wide awake and not brains-leaking-from-the-ears exhausted.
“Very well,” Nia sighed at last. “It’s a deal.”
“Good. Now you better finish that spell.”
Nia nodded but didn’t move. Instead she looked over at Arthur who was currently inspecting a bottle of rubbing alcohol.
“That reminds me,” said Gail. “Should I tell him that I know about – well, about you know. I think I should, but I’m willing to take your advice on this one.”
“Yes,” Nia answered immediately, though she was twisting her skirt again. “I should have told him myself, but I’m afraid I was rather – distracted this morning.”
That was one way of putting it. “Anyway, what was that you said about an ‘inevitable plunge to self-destruction?’” When Nia’s hands clenched almost hard enough to tear her poor dress in two, she added, “No, never mind, sorry. You have work to do. My mind’s just wandering because of the – stuff. You get back to it and I’ll find something to throw on the track to lure the noisy bastard to us.” But as she moved to get up, which required putting far more of her weight against the wall than it should have, Nia spoke softly to her hands.
“Do you remember last night, when
I told you about the magician who attempted to experiment with unbound magic?”
Gail sat back down, trying to ignore the trembling in her legs. “The one who got all those students killed? Yeah, I remember.”
Nia’s shoulders drew in sharply as if Gail had tried to hit her. Then she took a deep shaking breath. “That magician was my mother.”
“Hell, I’m sorry, I didn’t –”
“It took months – years – for her to convince the Directors to allow the experiment. I was only six at the time and not allowed to participate, but she and twenty specially selected students and a single Director went into a locked room to perform the magic. None of them came out alive.”
Gail shook her head. “You – you didn’t have to tell me that.”
Nia looked up, smiling miserably. “I know. I wanted to.”
Then why do you look so damn sad? “So that’s why the Academy is giving you so much shit? Because they think you’re going to end up making a mistake like your mom?”
“That’s about the whole of it, yes.” Nia wasn’t crying. She looked too sad for tears, which was actually worse. “They’re concerned I’ll eventually cause some monumental disaster that will be remembered for years to come. I suppose there’s some comfort in knowing that at least the Graves family name won’t be forgotten, though infamy wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I set out to make my mark on the world.” The words were joking, but Nia’s voice was as gray and empty as the New Crossbridge sky. “At any rate, now you know. I know it doesn’t excuse anything, I only –”
“Hey.” Against her better judgment, Gail reached out and lay her hand against the side of Nia’s face. “What you did today? Stupid as hell, there’s no way around that. But from what I’ve seen you’re usually pretty damn brilliant and not at all the ‘plunge to self-destruction’ type. So, the Academy can take their concerns and choke on them, okay?”
Nia leaned her cheek into Gail’s hand and closed her eyes. “Okay. Thank you, detective.”
Despite the chill that seemed to radiate from the concrete all around them, Nia’s skin was warm against Gail’s palm. Her hair was soft where it brushed against her wrist and smelled like – of all things – coconut. “You know this is a bad idea, right?”
This time Nia’s smile was edged with mischief. “Oh, terrible.” Then she leaned toward Gail, one hand closing gently on her arm.
Gail had just closed her eyes when a rumbling beneath her startled them open again. “What the –”
“The train,” Nia said softly. She jumped up, still holding Gail’s arm, which meant Gail had to get clumsily to her feet as well. The pounding of the train’s wheels – bull’s hooves – stabbed into her head like hot metal spikes, but by breathing deeply and clenching her fists until her fingers throbbed she managed to stay conscious.
Arthur ran over to them, his leather bag – probably sorted beyond recognition now – slung over his shoulder. “Is it going to stop?”
“I don’t know,” said Nia. “I don’t know why it would. I haven’t finished with the –”
The train roared – the bull bellowed – into the station. The noise of it was unbearable. Gail braced herself against the wall with her free arm and was vaguely aware of Nia squeezing her other hand. If the noise didn’t stop soon, she thought her head might just explode and splatter her brains across the wall.
The roar was suddenly joined by a high-pitched metal screech that obliterated all thought. There was no room for anything in Gail’s head, but red pain as the bull’s twisted horns scraped across the stone wall and threw up flashing sparks.
Stop, she pleaded as the sound tore into her mind. Stop, stop, stop, stop!
The bull bellowed once more – and stopped.
39
Nia Graves
Nia tore her eyes away from the train and ran to Gail, who was slumped against the wall, the enchanted scarf slipping through her fingers.
“Gail, Gail, can you hear me?” Nia pressed a hand to Gail’s face. The detective’s skin was nearly as cold as the stone she was leaning against. Nia almost choked on a rush of fear.
“Nia.” Arthur was gripping her shoulder. “Nia.”
Somehow Gail was still standing, knees locked and hands braced against the wall, but her breath was coming in tight short gasps. This has to count as passing out, Nia thought wildly, already scrambling in her pocket for a piece of chalk. This was a complex spell and would take some time to do, but better she start now then –
“Nia!”
“What is – oh.”
The train had stopped fully, its doors sliding open like a line of waiting mouths.
“That has to be a trap, right?”
“Absolutely,” Nia answered without hesitation. She couldn’t deny that the open doors, for all their eeriness, tempted her. She knew if she could only get on the train, there was a chance she could find Connery and redeem herself in the eyes of the Directors.
But she knew that was what Connery wanted her to think and she had played into his hands too many times already. “Stay away from it,” she said to Arthur. “We have to help Gail or –”
Before she could finish voicing her fears, something knocked her into the wall, jarring the breath from her. She was dimly aware of Arthur catching her before she fell.
“Are you all right, Nia?”
“I’m fine.” Though that wasn’t entirely true, was it? Everything was hazy and unreal, like she had just been jolted from a sound sleep. She had to grip Arthur’s arm tightly to help her focus and it was almost too late by the time she realized why she felt so strange.
Magic. It was like she had been struck by uncontrolled magic. Her entire body went cold.
Arthur confirmed her fears a moment later by crying, “Detective Lin! Gail!”
Nia flung herself forward, but her legs were too unsteady and she fell, landing painfully on her scraped knee.
Meanwhile, Gail staggered like a drunken woman through the open doors. For an instant, she turned back to face them, her eyes as empty as black mirrors.
Then the doors slid shut and the train sped away into the dark tunnel.
40
Gail Lin
Gail had never doubted her own senses before. In fact, she had always been proud of her ability to swiftly understand and respond to situations that left others stupefied. It was part of the reason she had become a cop; she thought she could use her instincts to do some good. When that had proven impossible within the constraints of the New Crossbridge police system, she’d struck out on her own, but her senses had remained as sharp and undoubtable as ever.
But now everything had gone to hell.
She didn’t remember getting on the train, not really. She remembered stumbling through the doors, feeling her hand close on a handrails, but it felt like someone had been pushing her – or pulling her, she didn’t know which. The next thing she knew, she was lying facedown on the filthy floor, riding the metal bull through endless dark tunnels. But why had she left Nia and Arthur? She didn’t know.
Sometime during the awful lurching journey, she had managed to drag herself up on to the plastic seats, which were marginally cleaner than the floor. She lay there, clinging to the edge of the seats and to consciousness with everything she had, but her grip on both kept slipping. She would surface from a river of darkness and pain to find that she had moved around the car. It never seemed to be for any good reason; she would just find herself sprawled on a different set of seats or slumped against a pair of doors.
But that didn’t make it any less terrifying. Worse still were the vague half-formed visions that haunted her brief moments of lucidity. She was seeing things that she couldn’t possibly be seeing. She would open her eyes and see Connery standing over her, his head and arms gone.
Well, of course they’re gone, she thought with a mad chuckle. They’re under Nia’s bed.
Other times she would see blood running through the subway doors, as if the train was hurtling through an
ocean of blood and the seals couldn’t hold. Soon the doors would burst open and the blood would drown her as she lay there half-dead with pain. Then the blood became water and that was worse, because she couldn’t tell if it was real or not.
One wave of pain hit her so hard that she thought it would kill her. Her head felt like it was being crushed under the heavy hoof of an angry bull and through her darkening vision, she thought she saw drops of blood on the back of her hand.
I’m dying.
The train raced on, huffing and bellowing as it carried her deeper and deeper into the dark.
41
Nia Graves
Left behind, Nia and Arthur sat the edge of the platform, staring into the darkness.
“Why did she do that?” Arthur asked after the train had roared away.
“She didn’t,” Nia answered, still a little stunned. “The magic did. It’s worse than I thought. It’s –” She covered her face with her hands, needing a moment to herself. The uncomfortable tingle left behind by the unbound magic was still running up and down her side. Worse, she swore she could still feel Gail’s hand against her face. Oh, why was all of this happening now? It was too much to cope with at once.
But she had no choice. She was an Illuminator of the Academy and she couldn’t fall apart, not with Gail in danger and Arthur needing her protection. Taking a deep breath, she straightened up, scanning the tunnel from left to right. The roar and clatter of the train had already faded, but it had passed this way twice already, it might very well return.
“What do we do, Nia?”
Nia’s first instinct was to dash after the train on foot, but that was foolish. First of all, they would never catch it and second of all, perhaps that was exactly what Connery hoped and as soon as they got close enough, the train would slam into reverse, leaving her and Arthur as bloody streaks on the dark tracks. No, leaving the platform would be suicide.