“Stay with Mischa and the van,” Carter told him. “We’ll call once we check it out.”
Bus nodded, scrubbing his face with a hand and then climbing toward the driver’s seat.
Carter motioned the others onward, and then fell in beside Ashley as they started down the road, Tala on their heels.
In evenly spaced intervals, flourishing trees shaded either side of the street. Brick buildings lined the road, their awnings and colorfully painted window casements shining in the sunlight. Boutiques and cafés filled the lower levels, with apartments and smaller shops on the next floors, but beneath the modern trappings, the history of the district showed through in the engraved names of long-gone businesses in the buildings’ uppermost stonework.
“Shenandoah owns a bookstore at the end of the block,” Carter told her, jerking his chin toward the other side of the street. “She’s lived above it for over a decade now, and I don’t think any of us expected her to–”
Ashley glanced at him as he cut off, and then she looked back at the store. The shop seemed the same as any other, with a handwritten welcome sign and merchandise artfully displayed in the window. On the second floor, another window was raised and white curtains fluttered beside a decorative birdcage with its door open wide.
Samson turned from his vaguely hostile study of the passersby and tracked Carter’s gaze. The younger man swore. With a swift glance back and forth, he headed across the road.
“Come on,” Carter said, all lightness gone from his tone. Taking Ashley’s hand, he pulled her with him as he followed the others into a service drive between the buildings on the opposite side of the street.
Behind the stores, the alley turned, extending the length of the block. Dumpsters lined the brick-walled confines, past due for emptying and supporting more bags against their sides. Ignoring the mess, Samson and the others started toward the rear of the bookstore, and Ashley swallowed hard to see Spider fingering a gun beneath her coat.
“Stay behind me,” Carter said quietly.
She nodded, biting her lip as his hand inched toward a weapon as well.
The back door of the bookshop burst open. Half-running, half-falling, a red-haired woman stumbled down the steps. Her gaze raked the alleyway and then caught on them.
“Carter!” she screamed, scrambling up and racing toward them down the alley.
Ashley gasped as guns came out all around her.
Two men stepped out of the shop.
Blood drained from Ashley’s face. They felt just like the people on her farm. Exactly the same.
On both sides of her, the others opened fire.
The bullets flew past the red-haired woman, and sped at the two men calmly walking down the stairs.
And hit nothing. A great, clear wall of absolutely nothing, from which the bullets ricocheted harmlessly away.
At her side, Ashley heard Spider swear. Carter clicked at Tala, and the dog surged forward as he continued to fire. Rushing the men, Tala barely made it half the length of the alley before a burst of energy sent her flying back to land in a yelping heap on an overflowing dumpster nearby.
Sobbing, the woman strained to run faster.
Ashley just stared.
Energy swelled. Clear, crystal, and impossible. It surrounded the men, growing stronger with every heartbeat.
She saw Carter wince and heard Spider curse again. “Shen!” the girl shouted amid the racket of gunfire. “Get–”
The energy smashed down on the woman like a hammer. For a moment, Ashley watched a shell glisten around her, as though taking the blow. Then it shattered, and fragments of iridescent light flew toward the men.
And disappeared.
Like a puppet without strings, the woman crashed to the ground.
The others shouted. Swore. Gunfire echoed all around her. The monsters looked up from the dead woman and cocked their heads at Ashley curiously, while the energy swelled up around them ten times stronger than before.
She couldn’t move. She was in the middle of the alley. She needed to move, and she couldn’t even breathe.
The energy grew.
Something slammed into her from the side. Carter’s weight carried her into the shelter of the garbage bin, while the brick wall behind where she’d been standing fractured and showered debris on the alley.
“Stay down!” he shouted.
She nodded numbly. Across the alley, Spider and Samson crouched behind another dumpster, firing in turns while the other reloaded with ammunition from Spider’s bag. Contrary to her promise, Ashley peeked around the garbage bin.
“Bus, get here now!” Carter yelled into his cell before rising and shooting at the men standing idly over the dead woman’s body.
The garbage bin across from her launched into the air, taking the others with it. A few yards away, Spider crashed into a pile of garbage bags and then tumbled to the ground. Instantly, the girl rolled to her feet and rushed for the cover of the building’s corner.
But in the center of the alley, Samson lay motionless. Blood seeped from gashes on his leg, and his gun rested beyond his outstretched hand.
She stared. A blast tore through the air beside her, narrowly missing Carter. Trapped at the alley corner, Spider screamed for Samson to move.
It was so fast. So very fast. Between one heartbeat and the next, the energy rose around the men again.
Samson opened his eyes. Gasped. Looked toward the monsters. And Ashley could feel the strike coming.
Bolting from the cover of the dumpster, Ashley threw herself at the gun. Her hands wrapped around it, and rolling awkwardly, she flung her arms out and squeezed the trigger till the weapon clicked emptily.
Bullets spun away from the shield surrounding the men.
And the monsters paused.
Lunging from behind the garbage bin, Carter grabbed Samson’s shirt and hauled the man with him as he rushed after Spider, with Tala running on three legs to follow.
Energy flooded up around the men. Scrambling to her feet, Ashley ran, skirting the corner as the edge of the building shattered in her wake. Debris flew around her, grazing her face and showering the concrete.
The van screeched to a stop at the alley entrance. Racing to the vehicle, Spider threw the side door open, ripped a panel from the floor and then spun, a submachine gun in her hands. She swung up to one side of the door, clutching the overhead railings as Carter hurried Samson inside.
“Get in!” she shouted at Ashley.
Eyes wide, Ashley darted around her and tumbled into the van, Tala coming right behind. In the street, people huddled behind doors and inside shops, and in the distance, sirens howled as police rushed to the scene.
The men came around the corner.
Bus hit the accelerator.
Hanging from the side of the vehicle, Spider unleashed a torrent of bullets at the two men, cutting off as the alley was lost from sight.
Spinning the wheel, Bus sent the vehicle careening around a corner, and then crushed the pedal to the floor. Swinging into the van, Spider dropped into the seat and then yanked the door closed.
She tossed the weapon into the open compartment in the floor and looked back toward Carter and Samson. “Is he…”
“I’m fine,” Samson said, his voice tight. He hissed with pain as Carter pulled his coat back, exposing a dislocated shoulder. Grimacing, Samson clenched his teeth, and then let out a muffled yell as the older man shoved the joint back into place.
Watching them a moment more, the girl exhaled and then turned away, emotions flickering swiftly over her face. Rage won. Closing her eyes, she paused, and then kicked the compartment lid closed.
“Sons of–” she muttered.
“Highway in thirty seconds,” Bus called, veering around another corner in response to chatter on the police scanner. “Where to?”
“Abbey,” Carter said.
“What the–” Samson protested, struggling to sit up and then falling back with a gasp. “Carter, you can’t just bring he
r–”
“Enough, Sam,” Spider said without turning around, her quiet voice nevertheless cutting him off. “She saved your life.”
The girl looked at Ashley briefly, and then started shrugging off her jacket to check the condition of her own bruises. Carter tied a bandage on Samson’s leg and then eased the younger man down onto the bench. Shifting around awkwardly in the tight quarters, Carter climbed to the front, glancing down at Tala as he passed.
“Good girl,” he murmured to the dog, who wagged her tail tiredly.
Ashley stared at them. They were so calm. Yet they’d just… and that woman…
“What…” She swallowed hard and tried again. “What…”
The others weren’t listening.
“They killed her,” she said. “They just…”
Words failed. Directionless, her eyes searched the van for answers and came to rest on Tala. The dog was still breathing, though Mischa licked the other animal’s leg and whined.
Images flashed in front of her. Shenandoah. The men. The window. The others had just started across the street at the sight of the window and then…
“You knew,” she said, looking up at them. “You knew… those men… you…”
“Of course we knew,” Spider said, glancing over at her. “We’ve been fighting the wizards for years.”
Chapter Eleven
“T-the what?” Ashley stammered.
“Wizards,” the girl repeated.
Twisting around, Spider winced at the beginnings of a livid bruise beneath her tattoo.
Ashley nodded slowly. Right. That’s what she’d thought the girl had said.
“Um…” she tried. “There’s, um… there’s no such thing as…”
She trailed off, her brow furrowing distractedly. No such thing as what? People who hurt others with impossible nothings? People who burst into flame?
Spider looked at her curiously. “Your parents really didn’t tell you anything, did they?”
For some reason, the words made her want to laugh, though she couldn’t think why. And meanwhile, the floor kept swimming in and out of focus.
“Are you going to be sick?” Spider asked cautiously.
Bus glanced back in alarm, but Ashley just shook her head, regretting the motion instantly. “No,” she managed. “I’m… I’m fine…”
Watching her a moment more, the other girl shifted her shoulders with a pained grimace and then reached down to check the dogs. “So what’d you think was going on?”
The laugh emerged this time, choked and hysterical to her own ears. The impression must have been mutual, because Spider glanced up again, her brow drawing down at the sound.
“I…” Ashley started, swallowing back the fluttering panic. She shook her head, unable to continue.
Spider’s gaze went to Carter, who looked between them briefly and then jerked his chin at the other girl. Shrugging her eyebrows, Spider took a deep breath and turned back to Ashley.
“So nobody’s told you about Merlin or Taliesin or…?” she trailed off, watching Ashley’s face. “Cripples?” she tried again.
Ashley stared.
“Right. And let me guess. You lived on that farm your whole life and just… what? Never left?”
The mildly knowing tone in her voice was annoying, but the irritation was thwarted by how closely the words hit to home. Yet it wasn’t entirely true. Sure, for the past few years, they’d stayed with Jonathan and Rose, but not out of a nefarious design on anyone’s part. There just wasn’t much of anywhere else to go, and vacations weren’t possible on a working farm…
And then there were about eight years unaccounted for, before her mother died.
Uncomfortable with the turn her thoughts had taken, she shrugged noncommittally, and the girl shook her head.
“Then your family was what we would consider in hiding,” Spider said, her tone fading into seriousness. “And to keep things as normal as possible, some of them don’t always tell their kids why.”
She sighed, seeing the denial rise up in Ashley’s expression. “Okay, look. What you saw today? Those were wizards, and they come in two–” She cut off. “To them, they come in two categories.”
Ashley’s brow furrowed.
Spider shook her head dismissively. “More on that later. What you need to know right now is that they think there are two groups, but they’re all just wizards and none of them are your friends. Primary rule: never trust a wizard. Keep that in mind, and everything else falls into place.”
“Wizards are bastards,” Samson muttered. “Bloody fucking bastards.”
The girl turned, seeming unperturbed by his words. “Try to rest, Sam,” she said quietly.
Grimacing, Samson rolled slightly to one side and closed his eyes.
Her gaze lingered on him for a heartbeat more, and then Spider blinked and shifted back around. Drawing a breath, she continued. “So. We could just say there’s two or more sides, depending on your point of view. They’re in a war, they hate each other, kill any of them if they mess with you. And we could leave it at that. But,” she paused, glancing to Carter, “considering no one ever told you much, it might help you understand what probably happened with your family if you have some background on what’s actually going on.”
Ashley swallowed uncomfortably.
“To start, one side calls themselves Merlin. The other, Taliesin. Their names come from their basic allegiances, which in turn come from two guys who died about five hundred years ago. The original Merlin and Taliesin were brothers, part of a regular old wizard family, except their mom obviously had an obsession with Arthurian literature and their ancestry tended toward talents nobody else possessed. Wizards are all like that, in their way. Some are better at certain things than others, just like anybody. But Taliesin and Merlin… their gifts were rather freakish by wizard standards, probably because they had a family filled with generations of folks with a liking for magical experimentation. Or so the story goes.
“In any case, Taliesin got it in his head that the current state of staying behind the scenes and letting ordinary humans run things wasn’t really ideal. Wizards should fix things. Change the world. Figured if they had these abilities, they should take advantage of them. They should set policy and law, not the regular humans who – to his mind – had thus far just screwed everything up. And lots of people agreed and thought it sounded like a great idea.”
She scoffed. “Wizards don’t have many records of their history, due to everything that came later, but you’ve got to figure there’d been plenty of folks who’d tried the same thing before. I mean, it’s not rocket science. Yet, dammit, those losers must have been stupid or less advanced or something. Why else would they have never pulled it off?”
Spider shook her head and then dropped her sarcastic tone. “But not everybody liked that plan. And ultimately, Taliesin’s biggest opponent turned out to be his brother. Merlin believed Taliesin would end the wizards up in a position they couldn’t sustain. Like his mother, Merlin loved history, and in his opinion, governments that deprived people of any voice eventually degenerated into doing just one thing: using brute force to stay in power. Your regular humans wouldn’t remain docile beneath wizard rule forever, and in event of any uprisings, the situation would go one of two ways. Either the wizards would have to make examples of those who opposed them, and then maintain power through further violence, or they’d be eliminated.
“Whichever the outcome, Merlin foresaw his people becoming something he never wanted them to be.
“So, as the story goes, Merlin gathered up what supporters he could, and tried to stop his brother. It didn’t go well. In fact, it devolved almost immediately into a bloody civil war. And in not too long, the wizards turned into exactly the kinds of monsters Merlin had hoped to keep them from becoming.
“Nobody really knows how long they fought. Accounts are sketchy, since most records were destroyed in the war. All anybody really knows is that, in the end, it looked like Talies
in had to win. His numbers were greater. Simple as that.
“And then Merlin changed everything. Like I said, his family was freakish. Back in the good old days when the wizards weren’t trying to wipe each other off the face of the earth, Merlin and Taliesin’s family had long since developed the skill of taking someone else’s magic and using it themselves, or binding it away from the original owner, which was something nobody else could even dream of figuring out how to do. So of course, this made them both incredibly dangerous in battle… against one person. And then another. And then another, et cetera ad nauseam. But not a whole group. Not a whole battlefield.
“Until Merlin did it.
“In one moment, he bound the entirety of Taliesin’s side. Not just the ones currently fighting either. All of them. Every wizard associated with Taliesin, and their families too. He locked their magic away and left them almost like any human you’d meet on the street. And in a heartbeat, the whole war came to a screeching halt. Thousands of wizards suddenly had no magic, facing an enemy that still had all of their own.
“No one knows how he did it. He never told a soul. Legend says he bound himself to the spell to keep it going, and tied his family line to it as well. And from then on, that was the way things were. The wizards allied with Merlin kept their powers, and the wizards allied to Taliesin suddenly had to figure out how to live without any magic at all.
“But Merlin didn’t think that was enough. At the time, the damage his brother did was too real, and the idea Taliesin might find a way around the spell was too frightening. So he left a mark on the Taliesin wizards – something allowing anyone on either side to tell what allegiance that wizard held.
“If one wizard sees another, they can distinguish them from normal humans with just a glance. They say it’s like a perception just beyond sight, telling them if that person is a wizard and on what side. So apparently, the mark around Taliesin made that perception feel like shadow, whereas Merlin just feels like light.
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