“Why is he sending them now if they can be removed so easily?” Caradoc brought Jones some aspirin and a glass of water.
“Speak for yourself. I don’t think being thrown across the room should be considered easy,” Aisling said. “But it could have been more difficult, so you may be right. And he gave up Reece without a direct intervention.”
“He doesn’t know what Stella can do. Yes, Aisling and her necklace did their part, but he isn’t familiar with Stella,” Bart said. “He took out Harlie, counting on that loss to stop us.”
Jones sat up to take the aspirin, but looked like he’d just come off a three-day drinking binge. “But why not just kill Harlie? Wouldn’t that have been easier? Not that I want anyone to do that, obviously.”
“Nix, or most likely whoever he’s working for, wants him alive. For whatever reason,” Reece said.
Chapter Thirty-Four
“Any chance that the call from our mother isn’t related? Any chance at all? Because that’s where my mind is going and I would rather be wrong.” Aisling sat down as a nasty series of connections linked up in her head. “She calls to warn me against Harlie, right before a possession-controlled Reece comes at me. Nix would have needed to be working with someone on the Council to get the information about a pushed back spell.” She stopped. Just couldn’t say it out loud.
“You think she’s working with Nix? You said she wouldn’t be.” Caradoc had been adding more doodles to his Nix-tunnel-Area 42 building image.
“I might have underestimated her, or Nix. They wouldn’t be working together because they wanted to, but because they needed to. Or one of them has some blackmail over the other.” Those two working together was almost worse than the veil weakening. Almost.
“I think at this point we have to assume everything is possible, no matter how far-fetched,” Bart said. “I never got to meet your mother, but just by reputation and power alone, she’s not someone I would suspect of working with Nix.”
Jones sat up but still looked out of sorts. “Now what?”
“We’re waiting for a delivery from Mott,” Stella said. “I can’t go through searching everyone for possession and then who would search me? I have a feeling we discussed it while you were a bit out of sorts.”
“We need to get this possession bit taken care of and get out of here. The longer we sit, the more of a target we are.” Reece got up and walked toward his bedroom.
“I know you were the first cleared. But I’d feel better if we all stayed in sight of each other until we get Mott’s toy. Eat up, just don’t leave this room.” Bart sat back at the table and loaded a plate. Reece sat back down. “And moving forward, until we’re certain everyone is clear, we might not want to discuss anything about the case.”
Aisling bit back what she had been about to add, mainly the information about the scroll Nix might still be hunting for. Bart had a good point; there was no way to tell what information Nix had already gathered.
Everyone was lost in their own thoughts when a buzz came from the front door speaker. Bart answered. “Yes?”
“We have a delivery for you. Would you like me to send one of my people up, or do you want to come down?”
“I’ll come...” He turned to everyone watching him. “I’ll be waiting up here. This is one of your people, correct?”
“Yes, my assistant manager, and he took it directly from the mage-express courier. We take our security seriously. He will be there momentarily.”
That was one thing about mage-express, it was expensive as hell, but it was the fastest way to get things sent anywhere in the world. Or so Aisling had heard. She never had anything to send that would be worth the cost of the service.
Bart turned to the rest with a shrug. “Almost forgot about us all sticking together. This is too cloak and daggery even for an old spook like me. Who wants to wait behind the door with a gun drawn?”
Reece got up the fastest. “I will.”
The knock came a few moments later and Bart cracked the door open. To get to this level a person would need to have a special key card. But there was no way to know if Nix heard some of the information about Mott or not. Or how easily he could possess someone.
“Yes?” Bart had his foot braced against the door and Reece was out of sight behind it with his gun raised. The rest were ready but trying to look normal.
“A package for you from a Mr. Linklinsphere?”
Bart turned back to Caradoc. After a moment of confusion, he nodded. Must have been a nom de plume of Mott’s but not one Caradoc was expecting.
“Thank you.” Bart took the package, but didn’t remove his foot from the door. Reece didn’t step out from behind it until the door was shut and locked. Bart sat the box down in front of Caradoc.
“Mr. Linklinsphere? Wasn’t that a cartoon character when we were kids?” It had taken Aisling a few moments to figure out why the odd name sounded familiar. Memory finally kicked in.
“Yes.” Caradoc looked over the box before he opened it. It took him a while and the use of a small knife as Mott had it extremely well sealed. “Mott used it when we first started working together. He thought it was funny since that character was always anti-magic. He must have decided it needed to come out again.” The packing inside was extensive and meant there was no way the item could have been jostled in the slightest. “This is typical Mott.” Caradoc lifted the item out and started laughing. “I think this confirms he sent it and this is for Stella.” He freed a small note from the round box and handed it to her.
Stella carefully opened it, then started laughing. “He wants more cookies.”
“How does this work?” Reece and Jones were hovering over the table.
Caradoc held it up, turned it over, and frowned at it.
“He added that you just need to flick the switch on the rim. The person holding it will be scanned for possession.” Stella laughed again. “He added that you never believe when things are easy.”
Caradoc lifted an eyebrow but then did what Mott said. The box whirled a bit, the lid opened, and a bright light smacked Caradoc in the face. “Damn it!” He hung onto the box, but barely.
“Keep your eyes open. It won’t hurt you.” Stella either recognized what the small machine was doing or there was more in her letter from Mott.
After another few moments, the light went out and Mott’s voice came out of the box. “Clear, there is no possession here.” It was definitely Mott’s voice but it was low, menacing, and had a slight growl. The lid closed.
“Was he trying to sound scary?” Aisling recognized Mott’s voice, but it sounded like it came from an old-time monster movie.
“Yes. He used to do that when he first started working for me too. I had him take it out of anything he did for me, but this was his own toy.” Caradoc handed the box to Stella.
She put down her letter and triggered the rim. Same light, same weird Mott-spooky voice. No possession. Aisling and Bart both showed clear as well.
Reece took it and shrugged. “Can’t hurt, right? And this way we can see what it does after someone has been possessed.” He triggered the process. This time the light started bright white, then changed to a light green. “Former possession detected. Clear now.” Mott’s voice wasn’t attempting to be scary on this recording.
Jones took it and had the same results as Reece.
Stella looked in the box the thing had come in. “There should be another envelope with my...ha!” She pulled out a cardboard tube then gently emptied the contents onto a clean napkin. Silvery shards, no more than a quarter inch long glinted on the fabric. Stella closed her eyes and held one hand over them. “That boy gets a lot of cookies.” She opened her eyes. “These will tell us if someone has been possessed, or repossessed. I’m going to magically implant them into each of us.” One of the shards raised into the air and slipped into her cheek. It glowed a soft gold color then vanished. “If it turns red or orange, the person has been compromised. The face isn’t the best place, but harder
to hide if something happens to one of us.”
Aisling stepped forward and Stella sent one into her. She rubbed her face at the slight sting. “There’s no way to prevent Nix from getting to us? Knowing he has taken over someone is better than not knowing, but stopping it would be even better.”
Caradoc held still as the sliver went into his face then nodded. “Agreed, but not even this technology can do that. And it, along with Mott’s box, is way ahead of anything else. Possession hasn’t been used in hundreds of years.”
“Although your brother might have been able to find a way.” Reece shook his head.
“Yup, if anyone could have, it would have been Harlie. Which is why our mother took him out and tried to convince me he’s been compromised.” Aisling got to her feet. There was no way anyone else could have done what was done to Harlie. It was either her or her working with someone else. “We can leave after this, right? I think leaving here quickly would be a good idea.”
A knock came at the door and everyone looked to Bart.
“No one else should be up here unless they cleared them through the lobby.” Bart walked to the door and looked through the peek-hole. “All I can see is the top of someone’s head. Who is it?” He raised his voice. Another knocking sound, but there was no other response. He called down to the front desk, but there was no answer.
“Damn it. This is the only way out, isn’t it?” Jones had his gun out and so did Reece.
The hairs on the back of Aisling’s neck stood up. There was something extremely wrong.
“Yes. I thought we’d be safe here, so wasn’t worried about it. Dumbass mistake.” Bart nodded to Reece to come behind the door and Jones to stand in front of it with his gun raised. Stella, Aisling, and even Caradoc all had spells at the ready.
Bart opened the door and jumped back as a body fell at his feet.
Jones and Bart turned the body over and Reece stepped out from behind the door to cover them.
“It’s the assistant manager. He’s been beaten and his neck broken.” Bart patted him down. “No explosives planted on him, but someone wanted to make a point.” The bloody trail lead from the elevator but there was no one else in the entranceway.
“Jones and I will go check the lobby; I recommend everyone else stay here until we know what’s going on.”
Caradoc stepped forward. “And me. Sorry, too many weird magic things, and I may not like to use it much, but I can still fling a mean spell.”
“And all of us. Didn’t we just say that for now we stick together?” Aisling ran into her room and grabbed her bags.
Reece’s forehead crinkled a bit and he shook his head. “I think we need to get the hell out of here, now.” He gave a meaningful look to Aisling when she came back into the living room—he sensed something but couldn’t explain it to Bart.
“I agree, we need to leave now. Together.” Aisling stepped to the door and dropped her bags.
Sticking around to find out wasn’t Bart’s normal MO, but he was rattled like the rest of them. Didn’t matter that both common sense and the feeling in her gut were saying to get out now. Even before whatever precog bit started kicking around Reece’s head.
Bart went for his room. “Fine, everyone grab their stuff. We’ll need to take the stairs down.”
They made their way to the stairwell. Bart checked first then went down. After he’d gotten a few steps, Stella followed, then Jones, Caradoc, Reece, and Aisling. Reece had wanted to bring up the rear, but Aisling pointed out that the magic users needed to be spread out. He wasn’t happy but followed Caradoc.
They stayed silent as they went down the flights with either guns or magic at the ready. Or both in Aisling’s case. Carrying her bags draped over her wasn’t great for mobility, yet she needed her hands free. She wasn’t ready to start relying on her magic to defend her or anyone else, but better to be prepared in case it was needed. Having access to more power was great, but so far it wasn’t helping her much. Collapsing while using a spell in the middle of a fight was the fastest way to be killed.
Aisling kept feeling like there was someone behind her, but each time she turned there was no one. Spread out this way going down the stairs would make it safer against anyone coming out of one of the floors, but being the last meant she needed to make sure no one came out after them. She slowed down as the feeling continued. Reece looked back but she waved him on. There was no one behind her, yet the feeling persisted.
She approached the first floor, in the U.K. that meant the one right before the ground floor. The door rattled when she was a few steps away from it, so she stopped and held her gun trained on the space where the door would open. A chill went through her as the doors above her blew out with a bang.
Chapter Thirty-Five
The doors slamming open sounded like some massive pressure was blowing them outward. As if the floors were collapsing. The crashing sound rattled the entire stairwell, and pushed Aisling to scramble down the stairs faster. The building started shaking as more floors pancaked to the one below.
Reece and the others waited at the bottom but she motioned at them to keep going. The others moved back and Aisling was tossed through the doorway as the floors above her collapsed. She scrambled to her feet and ran out of the stairwell.
The front lobby was a murder scene; at least three people were lying in pools of their own blood. But Aisling knew there wasn’t time to get information as to who or what killed them. The building was crashing down on itself. Floor by floor was collapsing under some great weight. Reece and Jones had the front door open for people to escape and Bart was out in the street waving people away from the building.
“What in the hell just happened?” Aisling kept running to a small park across the street. She bent over and forced herself to breathe slowly, the dust and debris from the collapsing floors was choking her. She dropped her bags and put away her gun. A plume of dust rose high over the remains of the building. All around her, people who’d managed to get out, stood in shock.
Once her breathing was under control, she dropped into cop mode. Her L.A. police tat wouldn’t mean a thing here, but attitude and confidence often did. She worked with the others to keep onlookers across the street as the apartment building settled.
Bart started swearing first once the dust cleared but was joined by everyone else. A huge piece of the missing Area 42 building had come down directly atop the apartment building and ridden it down to the ground. There was no way to tell who, aside from the assistant manager, had been murdered, and who had died in the destruction. A few shocked tenants were on the grass, but there could have been dozens of people in there when the collapse happened.
Sirens echoed in the distance and emergency crews came racing in. Aisling looked at the wreckage. She wasn’t sure what they could do. Normally in a building collapse there would be searches for survivors, but there wasn’t enough of the original building for anyone to have survived the collapse.
Bart looked around then dropped his voice low. “This might be a good time for you all to take off. I’ll handle the officials, and will do what I can concerning our newest chunk of Area 42’s building. But I don’t want you to be bogged down here. And since the murders were most likely directed at us—getting out of here is best.”
“I’m going back to London to pick up Maeve, check on Harlie, and see what other disasters have gone on.” Aisling watched as more vehicles pulled in. Two seers came out of one truck and approached the building. Or rather, buildings. They kept walking around but neither looked like they sensed anything living.
“I’m not feeling anything odd about this chunk of building. There isn’t any activity within it. Nor any goo.” Caradoc didn’t have any gizmo’s out; he was using his magic. He’d probably used more magic in the past two months than he had in the previous five years. “I think I’ll go to London as well. We need Harlie back. If it is our mother behind what happened to him, knowing that might help Aisling and I break through to him.”
&
nbsp; Stella watched the activity around the buildings. “I’ll go on to Noth. I have an idea what Harlie was looking for, at least what he indicated he was looking for before we left L.A.” She turned to Jones and Reece. “Boys?”
“It’s up to our boss.” Jones gave Bart a nod. He had a point; Bart was technically all of their boss. He seemed to forget it more than the others.
“What?” He’d been focusing on the emergency crews. “I pretty much figured you’d sort yourselves out. You all have done well free ranging before from what I’ve read. But yes, having people go to Noth now would be a good idea. See what you can find out about it. I’ll be in touch.” He nodded to them, then stalked over to a large black car.
“I’ll get us train tickets back to London.” Caradoc turned to the others. “You two going with Stella? Not sure where the closest train stop to Noth is.”
“I’ll go with you and pick up our tickets.” Jones had been watching Reece but at his nod followed Caradoc.
Stella roamed over to the edge of the park and to watch the containment.
Which left Aisling and Reece.
“I need to go to Noth.”
“I need to go to London.” She smiled. “We’ll join you up there.”
He stared at her for a few moments. “I still wish I knew.”
She stepped forward and hugged him. “Me too. This feels right. But sirens...”
“I know. Trust me, I know. I’m the one who loses if there is some DNA weirdness of mine affecting you. My feelings are real.”
“Unless because you’re a breed, and shouldn’t have powers at all, they’ve mutated inside you and affect you as well.” She hadn’t said to him before this, but it had been there lurking in her mind. Both of their emotions could be messing with them because of Reece’s family line.
He pulled back and looked down at her. “Is that what’s wrong? You think my feelings aren’t real? Sirens affect others, not themselves.”
She shrugged. “Possibly? You have to admit, you’re a bit of a magic freak. Who knows what your magic is doing?”
An Uncommon Truth of Dying (Broken Veil Book 2) Page 26