The Untangled Cassie Black
Page 1
Contents
Title Page
Description
Dedication
Author's Note: Tower Terminology
Title
Prologue - Let Me Catch You Up
1 - The Aftermath
2 - Prophecies & Portals
3 - Magical Enzymes
4 - D Spells
5 - Bad Company
6 - Unexpected Returns
7 - Demands & Annes
8 - Kissing Cousins
9 - Lunch in the Bubble
10 - Send Him Through
11 - Sands Through the Hourglass
12 - Making Requests
13 - Alone at the Portal
14 - Interloper!
15 - The Tower Tumbles
16 - A Good Morning
17 - Bridge to Nowhere
18 - Harsh Reality
19 - A Chat with Morelli
20 - Eavesdropping Again
21 - Back to the Armory
22 - Mid-Morning Argument
23 - Gift Giving
24 - Professor Cassie
25 - Nothing to Celebrate
26 - Missing Scans
27 - Swimming with Ghosts
28 - In the Lbrary
29 - Connecting the Dots
30 - Previous What?
31 - Orbs & Explanations
32 - Short Connections
33 - Tobey Appreciation Day
34 - Illegal Portals
35 - Caught in the Act
36 - The Ghost Knows
37 - Message from Beyond
38 - The Portal
39 - In the Tunnels
40 - The Contraption
41 - Becoming the Battery
42 - The Final Spell
43 - The Prophecy
44 - After the Fall
45 - Language Lessons
46 - The Scream
47 - Some Explanation
48 - A Farewell to Magic
49 - Parting Gift
50 - The End?
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The Story Behind the Story
About the Author
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Back Copyright
The Untangled Cassie Black
The Cassie Black Trilogy, Book Three
by
Tammie Painter
—THE UNTANGLED CASSIE BLACK—
Sometimes taking an overdose of magic is the least of your worries.
Cassie Black has just lost two people through a magic portal. Her archenemy, the Mauvais, is threatening to destroy city after city if HQ doesn't hand her over to him. And HQ isn't exactly saying no to that offer.
As HQ debates Cassie's fate, Cassie refuses to sit by and watch the grass grow between the toes of the surveillance gnomes. Biting back her life rule to never get involved, she knows the only way to stop the Mauvais is to go after him herself.
Which is exactly what he wants. Because the instant Cassie falls into his hands, the Mauvais will gain the unlimited power he’s always craved.
So don't get captured, right? Easy for you to say.
Trouble is, there's a traitor within HQ who's proving to be more devious, more powerful, and to have more tricks up the sleeve than anyone could have ever guessed.
In this page-turning conclusion of the Cassie Black Trilogy, the curses are flying, the pastries are plentiful, the bookworms are slithering, and the magical batteries are charged to capacity.
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to my mom for always having an encouraging word even while I’m having a writer’s meltdown.
And to my dad for all his dogged attempts to open the ebook versions and for earning the silver spittoon in Typo Hunting.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: TOWER TERMINOLOGY
As with The Uncanny Raven Winston, the majority of this book takes place in the Tower of London. The Tower of London has many towers…which is a little confusing, so let me again explain how I use the term "Tower" in this story.
The Tower of London is a large complex that includes walls, living quarters for the Yeoman Warders, and structures like Wakefield Tower, Salt Tower, and the White Tower (the castle that started it all).
As in The Uncanny Raven Winston, I use the word "Tower" by itself only when referring to The Tower of London as a whole. Other towers within the Tower are referred to by name.
I don’t know if this is helping dispel the confusion, or adding to it, but there it is.
If you’d like to see an excellent map of The Tower of London to get an understanding of the layout (of the non-magical bits, anyway), take a gander at the one provided by the Historic Royal Palaces website at:
https://www.hrp.org.uk/media/1587/tower-map-2018.pdf
THE UNTANGLED CASSIE BLACK
PROLOGUE - LET ME CATCH YOU UP
"Magic is not about passion or anger or the power of friendship. Magic is about control, focus, and being able to concentrate when you’re drowning to death."
—Ben Aaronovitch, The Hanging Tree
* * *
Morelli here. So the last time you were hanging out with that dimwitted tenant of mine, she’d gone and gotten herself into a huge heap of trouble. When I heard about it, I wasn’t a bit surprised. Always figured she’d end up on the wrong side of a problem.
So here’s the deal in case you ain’t just read that second book of hers and you might’ve forgotten a few things.
The Queen of Mistrust, who’s already been on this loop-the-loop ride of trying to sort out whether Alastair’s a two-faced jerk or not, had gotten her panties in a twist seeing Alastair kissing Olivia. She’d also failed a pretty important test and faced the risk of being booted from the magic community (should we be so lucky). And so, as Black tends to do, she went and had a knee-jerk reaction that landed her right where the Mauvais wanted her.
This girl, I tell you. Makes me glad I never had kids.
‘Coz not only did she get herself in a tricky situation, she got Tobey and Alastair in a bind. Literally. And when she walloped the Mauvais, he tumbled into a hidden portal. Along with Alastair and Tobey.
Like I said, the girl’s a nitwit. That cat of hers has more smarts than she does.
But, you know, you lose some, you win some. Because while she did lose two people, she also found two people…her parents. Not sure if that evens up the balance sheet, but I’m gonna guess not.
Anyway, when you last saw her, she was running down the hallway of an abandoned building calling for her mom. Which I suppose is kind of touching. Except it’s Black we’re talking about, so I’m sure she’ll screw it up somehow.
So that’s it. I’ll let you loose with the story. I’ve got to go whip up a BLAT for that boss of hers. Great guy that Mr. Wood. Man after my own heart. Can’t believe he actually likes that nitwit tenant of mine.
Speaking of, if you see her, tell her the rent’s due in three weeks, five days, and sixteen hours.
1 - THE AFTERMATH
ENOUGH WITH THE comments from the TV-binging troll. It’s me, Cassie, and yes, you did last see me running down a hallway calling for my mother. Something I believe I’ve only ever done in my dreams.
Let me just be clear, my parents were in awful shape. They hadn’t been washed in what smelled like months, they appea
red to have been fed the bare minimum to keep them alive, and they had been drained to the point that even a nineteenth century lobotomy victim would have seemed a MENSA genius in comparison. I recognized myself somewhere in my father’s emaciated face, but I didn’t for a moment fool myself into thinking they knew me. There wasn’t even a spark of awareness.
And so I left them behind in that abandoned building. Probably easiest for everyone if we just let them wither away and die.
I’m kidding. Do you actually believe I’m such monster? Wait, don’t answer that.
I did leave them, but only to race back to the Tower to get help since I knew, even in a big city like London, a young woman escorting two drooling, stinking imbeciles down the street is bound to draw unwanted attention.
Olivia, not once questioning what I’d been doing out of the Tower, immediately called in the magic medics, told them where to go, and what they’d find. I went with them. First, I had to see my parents brought back with my own eyes; and second, I wasn’t ready to face Olivia’s scrutiny.
It wasn’t a pretty sight. My parents fought, spreading their filth across the people who were trying to help them. They cried out in fear, and my heart broke at the sound. Finally, one of the medics gave up playing Mr. Nice Guy. He hit them with a Stunning Spell and we whisked them back to the Tower.
They were then rushed to the Tower of London’s medical ward — yes, located somewhere in the White Tower, seriously the place is a wonder of the world. After a few attempts to jump start their recovery failed miserably, Olivia pulled me aside and insisted I meet with her and Mr. Tenpenny in her office while we let the medics do their job. Once seated, with scones and tea served up despite the late hour, I told them what had happened.
Dressed in perfectly tailored, dark grey slacks and a crisp, dove grey shirt, Mr. T abandoned his stiff upper lip and broke down in tears when I told him about Tobey. Of course, being British, he begged apologies for his foolish behavior, took all of three minutes to compose himself, then asked for the full story.
"Alastair told me he’d detected you on the lock," Mr. Tenpenny said once I’d finished, "but not that he’d found that address. I’m not surprised he went after you. I would have insisted he do so had I known what you were up to, but he should have taken backup. Still, how did Tobey get there?"
"I’m not taking any responsibility for that. I did use him to get out of the Tower." I darted a quick glance to see Olivia’s reaction to my escape. Her face remained disconcertingly unreadable. "But I had no intention of him going anywhere beyond the galleries of the V & A. I ditched him at the cafe. He’s the one who followed me to the building where the Mauvais was." I paused. Flashes of memory returning to me in harsh detail. "I said some awful things to Alastair. I thought he was helping the Mauvais, but now I’m not sure. I just don’t know what to think. They were there together when I arrived. There was the whole Vivian thing, the donuts the morning of my draining—"
"Which he explained to you," Mr. T scolded. "Cassie, this mistrust needs to be tamed as desperately as your magic does."
"Does it? Is it really so far-fetched? He made the watch. He was a close ally of the Mauvais. He—" I wanted to bring up the fact that Alastair was the last person who’d been near me on the day I was kidnapped, but I knew from the exasperated expression on Busby’s face that he would only make excuses and say Alastair’s name had been cleared from that case long ago. "My point is, every time I start to trust Alastair, some new piece of information comes along and eats holes in that trust. It doesn’t take an overactive imagination to think maybe he was leading me on, luring me in to either hand me over to the Mauvais or give my power to him. Then, seeing him and Olivia, well, that was the final straw."
Mr. Tenpenny shook his head. I hated the disappointment overflowing from such a simple gesture. I was about to redeem myself by telling him some confidence in Alastair had eventually won out. After all, I did give Alastair a hit of my magic in the form of an absorbing capsule. You know, right before he got yanked through a portal to who knows where. But Olivia cut me off before I could salvage my already-tarnished reputation.
"I don’t understand. What exactly did you see between me and Alastair?"
"You and him," I started, my throat suddenly resistant to saying out loud what I’d witnessed. I took a gulp of tea, then forced the rock-like bolus down my throat. In a rushing surge of words I said, "You and him groping each other on this desk. His face buried in your neck. You groaning with pleasure."
"Cassie," Olivia said, her face completely impassive as if I’d just informed her Alastair ate a toasted cheese sandwich for lunch yesterday, "I’ll put this as bluntly as I can and hope it gets through that surprisingly thick skull of yours: I don’t like men in that way. I have never kissed Alastair other than in greeting, and if he tried to put his lips anywhere near my neck I’d probably slap him. No offense, he is devilishly good looking."
"Then how did I see that?" My voice trailed off as I recalled the Mauvais morphing into Tobey for just the briefest moment back at the building. I told them about it. "Could he have morphed into you, Olivia? Is that what I saw?"
Not that the idea of Alastair making out with the Mauvais was anywhere near a comforting thought.
Mr. T and Olivia exchanged a meaningful glance.
"Don’t do that thing where you have a secret conversation with your eyes," I said. "It’s really annoying."
"You’re already aware that we suspect the Mauvais is somehow gaining power, and that we worry he’s gaining it from someone within HQ?" Olivia asked. I nodded as I bit into an orange-and-almond scone. "It’s the only way he can have gained enough strength to morph into Vivian, to make the portal he escaped through, or to do any of the tricks he’s used lately. At one time he may have been pulling magic from your parents, but from the state of them, that source had to have been exhausted years ago."
"He did mention having Tobey under some sort of BrainSweeping Charm. He said he used it to convince Tobey to carry absorbing capsules with him when we were in the file room together. Maybe other times as well," I added doubtfully, thinking of our lunch at the Museum of London, plus all the times Tobey had found me wandering the Tower grounds. Had he sought me out because he was under the Mauvais’s influence? I should have known Tobey Tenpenny wouldn’t willingly have wanted to spend time with me.
"But that doesn’t explain how he got the capsules once they’d been filled," said Olivia. "Tobey certainly wasn’t leaving the Tower to deliver them to him; the gnomes would have commented on such frequent comings and goings."
"It had to be whoever is working with him," Mr. T said distractedly. "Still, it doesn’t explain how he had enough strength to do a Morphing Charm."
He shook his head in frustration. But I think I knew the answer to that. Alastair had told me that, thanks to the watch’s influence on my magic, my power could easily replenish itself. It’s one reason I bounced back so quickly when Runa drained me. Well, that and the four donuts I’d inhaled just before the draining. With this unique quirk to my magic, if the Mauvais could get even just a small amount of it, it would grow, and he wouldn’t need much to boost his power. Of course, that power boost would only be temporary since transfusions of magic were tricky business, but if he had a steady supply of Cassie Juice coming to him…
I explained my theory to Olivia and Busby.
"And when did you say you saw this, um, event between Olivia and Alastair?" Mr. T asked.
"It was the day before my second test, when those dark clouds came in. I left this office, then Tobey was in the hallway. We ended up in front of the office door, and then I saw, well, you know."
"That day. The corridor was rather dark?" said Olivia.
"It’s not like this hallway is well-lit to begin with, but yes, the clouds made it even darker."
"That would have helped," commented Mr. Tenpenny. "Even if he didn’t have the strength to do the Morphing Charm w
ith exactness, in such dim lighting he wouldn’t need it to be perfect."
"There’s still the matter of you seeing something that didn’t happen," Olivia said, dipping a lemon scone into a bowl of melted chocolate. "As a Magic, he couldn’t have done a BrainSweeping Charm on you." She took a bite of the scone, magically clearing away the chocolate that dripped onto her desk with a swish of her index finger. She then nodded as if she’d just figured something out. "A Mirage Hex. It’s the only thing that makes sense."
"But I don’t understand how he could have done a Mirage Hex on Cassie. That requires not only being near the person, but touching them as well. That touch, that connection, it’s the only way to hone in on a person’s mind. It’s not a spell you can do at a distance. What happened when you were in the hall? Did he get close to you?"
"He touched me, ran his fingers along my cheek. Then he showed me what was going on in here. After I saw, or thought I saw you two, I hit him and—" I swallowed hard, feeling a little foolish after just showing my jealousy over Olivia and Alastair, "—he kissed me," I said, grimacing and most definitely not adding just how intense that kiss had been. Nor that I hadn’t exactly resisted it.