by Sadie Moss
The air crackles around me again, and I leap directly toward Chelsea, turning into a jaguar again as I do it, knocking her to the ground. The bigger I am, the more likely it is that I’ll survive a blast of electricity, and if I’m connected to her, she can’t attack me with it without electrocuting herself as well.
The girl sneers at me, grabbing on to me and trying to fling me off with her super strength. I remember that move from the mage on the mountains, and I sink my claws into her shoulders. I’m not stronger than she is, but right now I am pretty heavy, and I’m not letting go. I’m just going to hold on for all I’m worth.
Chelsea snarls, her face transforming and eyes glowing brighter with magic as she struggles to kick me off her. We roll, and roll again, my claws hooked into her shoulder blades, and I really hope that Logan’s got a medical team on standby because she is bleeding a lot.
“Move!” I hear Nick yell.
His trap, whatever it is, must be ready.
I shift immediately into a hummingbird and fly off just as the electricity around us bends. It crackles and snaps, shifting as it turns into another cage around Chelsea.
“You really think that can defeat me?” she hisses, getting to her feet.
Nick shrugs, fiddling with his device. “I mean, no, not really.”
That’s when Saint barrels into her, shoving her directly into a large dryer and slamming the door shut.
“But that will,” Nick adds, grinning widely.
He holds out his hand, fingers clenching, and… oh, right. Nick’s an enchanter. That means he can enchant objects with magic, imbuing them with a special purpose.
Like he just did to this dryer, turning it into a trap. A cell.
Chelsea beats her fists against the inside of the dryer, screaming in rage. She’s scrunched up tightly inside the thing, even though it’s big, and she looks fucking furious.
I turn back into a human and walk up to her, peering inside. “Are you sure this’ll hold?”
“It should,” Nick says. “She’s powerful, but I enchanted the dryer with a magic-negating ability. While she’s stuck in there, she’s basically just human, no extra juice to her.”
That explains why she can’t get out. Nick fiddles with his other gadgets, and a net of magic appears around the dryer. Probably as an extra layer of precaution.
“Can you hear me?” I ask Chelsea.
The girl doesn’t seem enraged anymore as much as desperate. Tears are sliding down her face. “Help me! Help me!” she screams. “It took me over. It made me do it! You have to help me!”
I remember what Mary said, how she begged us to help her, and my heart clenches. “What do you mean, you need help?”
“If we keep her in there too long, she’ll run out of oxygen,” Saint notes.
“We won’t keep her in there that long,” Nick assures him.
“Why do you need help?” I ask Chelsea, my heart thudding in my chest. “How can I help you?”
“It took me!” she keeps repeating. “It was in my head, it had me—look out!”
It takes me a split second to realize what she means, and then I feel Saint grabbing me and yanking me out of the way as a bunch of electrical wires wrap around the spot where I was just standing.
“What the fuck?” Nick yells, dodging out of the way.
We all turn around, Saint still holding me, and I see one of the Circuit officers standing there, a look of twisted malice on his face.
Wait. He has the magic too? What is happening? How is this happening?
There were a few days in between each infection before, but this must’ve taken just a few minutes.
Saint growls, lets go of me, and launches himself at this new threat. I yank open Chelsea’s dryer and get her out. Maybe the magic’s still in her, or maybe it’s dormant somehow, I don’t know, but she can’t be trapped in there, and I have a feeling this is about to get a lot messier.
“Got him!” Nick shouts—and then another officer comes flying through the open doorway, and Logan rushes in after him, tackling him to the ground.
“What the hell is going on?” I demand, herding Chelsea out through the door and then yelping in surprise as the officer nearly grabs me. I shift into a raven, scratching at his eyes, as the man rears back and tries to bat me away.
Is the magic affecting more than one person? No, I realize, as Logan tackles the officer and I shift back into a human, looking around. It’s almost like it’s… hopping from person to person? No more than one person at a time seems to have it. Chelsea had it, and then the first Circuit officer did, and now this new officer has it.
What the ever-loving fuck is going on?
A virus doesn’t work like that. It infects people, but stays in its original host as well. It spreads outward like a web.
But the moment one of my partners seems to be closing in on victory against someone, the person… drops? Starts begging for help? And then someone else attacks instead.
I don’t know what’s happening, but I’m starting to think that our previous theory, that this is some kind of illness that’s mutating people’s magical DNA, is wrong.
“Look out!” Logan yells.
A second later, he and the second officer go crashing into a row of washers. Logan’s imperviousness has to be the only thing keeping him from getting a serious concussion. Saint leaps in to join the fight, and the two of them are ferocious as they take on the wild Circuit officer in hand-to-hand combat.
Fuck. I raise my hands, hesitating briefly. I want to jump in, to help bind this guy, but I don’t know how to do it without possibly attacking one of my teammates.
“I can’t grab him if you two are up against him like that!” Nick yells, caught in the same predicament I am.
Both men get hit with a blast of magical power and go sailing back. Logan angles his body so that he hits the ground behind Saint, taking the brunt of the force and preventing Saint from hurting his spine.
The Circuit officer gets to his feet, and I move to leap at him, but he holds up a hand. “Stop!”
His voice is thunderous, disconcerting. Cold. Same as the voices of the others when they would mock me.
“If you don’t stop, I will kill myself.” The officer sneers at me. “Just like the others.”
“Okay.” I put my hands up slowly. “Okay, we can talk. Let’s talk, all right? There’s no reason to hurt yourself. We can help you.”
“I don’t want your help,” the man replies. “He does. He very much wants your help. But I’m not going to let you give it to him.”
“Who’s ‘him’? Who are you talking about?”
Is he referring to himself in the third person? Why would he do that?
The man gestures at himself, then gives me a mocking grin, cocking his head in a way that doesn’t entirely seem natural. It reminds me of the smile that I saw on the first mage who went crazy, the facial expressions. Like someone who doesn’t actually know how to make these faces and so is just trying them out as best he can.
“Him,” the man says. “He wants your help. But I don’t. I had to kill the last two, and I will do it again if I must. You all keep trying to wrest control back. So stubborn that way.”
My blood goes cold as I realize I’m not talking to the man at all. I’m talking to something else, something inside him.
Am I talking to the magic? Is the magic itself sentient? But how would that even be possible?
“It’s a pity I need a host,” the man continues. “But how else am I to gain more of this deliciousness?”
He raises his hand, and magic crackles between his fingers like a miniature lightning storm. I swallow hard. Already, just by inhabiting a few people, this magic has gained immense power, and multiple types of power too. How much longer before it’s taken on enough magic that we can’t stop it?
“Deliciousness? Are you… holy shit, are you eating magic?” Nick asks. He sounds fascinated, and I suppose I can’t blame him, he is a scientist. There’s got to be a p
art of him that finds this interesting.
The man just laughs at Nick. It’s a sickening laugh. Like it doesn’t fit right. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I can’t attack this man again, none of us can, not if we want to stop the magic from killing him. But we can’t just let him go.
The possessed Circuit officer wags his finger at Nick. “Now, now, that would be telling. Had to kill the others so they wouldn’t tell. So very boring. You people are so boring.” He laughs and looks at me. “Always trying to help. Stupid little girl.”
I clench my teeth, my fingers curling into fists. I’m a lot of things, including on the short side, but stupid is not one of them.
“Ha!” He crows. Shit, he knows that insult got to me. “You don’t like that I’ve been besting you, do you? It’s okay, girl, it’s not your fault. It’s a part of being human. One of the many downsides, I’m sure.”
What does that mean? Does the magic view itself as… not human? I suppose that makes sense. A chill works down my spine at the implications I’m hearing.
The man starts to back up away from us, raising his hands, and I can see the magic crackling between his fingers again. “Stay back, or I will have to kill him.”
I don’t know what to do. We can’t let the possessed officer get away, but we can’t let this magic, or man, or whatever it is, kill the… vessel? Kill himself? I’m not sure.
A person’s life is more important than trying to stop our target from getting away. I hold back, and the others take their cue from me, the four of us frozen as the officer slowly steps back, walking backward until he’s at the hole Chelsea blew through the laundromat wall, his hands still glowing with sinister magic.
“I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around,” he says, one of those creepy inhuman smiles on his face.
And then he’s gone.
Chapter 20
Shit.
There’s really no other word for it. We’re in the shit.
At least Chelsea and the other Circuit officer that were taken over by the magic are okay. They’re giving statements, although Chelsea was under its control for longer and can give more information.
My team and I meet with Stone right away at IUM while other IUM agents and Circuit officers work to clean up the mess from the laundromat and make sure that nobody else was hurt. I’m already bracing myself for Stone to chastise me or maybe even take me off the case. We had the man—I mean, the magic—cornered, so to speak.
And we didn’t go after it.
We just let it walk out of there, literally, because I was worried about hurting someone. And I like to think that Stone will appreciate my not wanting to risk someone’s life, but surely I could’ve done better to not let it reach that point.
There has to have been a way to get the magic out while keeping the person alive. But whatever that way was, I couldn’t think of it in the moment. I don’t think any of my men did either. We were all stunned and stumped.
As long as that person is still possessed, they’re at risk of the magic killing them. And I don’t know what to do about that. I don’t know how to fix this. It’s all a mess, and I don’t know how to untangle it.
I hate this.
Stone’s first action is to have us contact the family of the Circuit officer who’s possessed and let them know what’s happened to their loved one.
“He might show back up again,” he points out. “He could go to one of them, and they need to be prepared.”
It’s hard to think about how just a short time ago, I was visiting people who had newly discovered Unpredictable magic and giving them good news. They were happy to see me. They were glad to have these powers. And now… now I’ve gone from that to needing to tell relatives that their family member has been possessed by some kind of sentient magic that wants power and thinks magic is delicious.
What does that even mean?
What does this magic want, other than more magic? How is it sentient in the first place? It seems to need a host of some kind, otherwise why would it bother staying in bodies that are clearly trying to reject it? Unless it wanted to torture those people somehow?
A shudder works through me. Oh man. What an awful thought.
“We’re doing everything we can,” I assure Stone when we wrap up our meeting with him.
“If nothing else,” Nick adds, sounding determined, “we’ve learned more about this magic and how it works. That’s a good thing. It means we’ll be prepared next time.”
“More prepared,” I correct him.
Let’s not get cocky and think that we’ll have it all figured out.
So far, this magic’s had the upper hand every time, and we’ve been scrambling to keep up.
Stone nods. “I appreciate the work you all are doing. This is a tough fight, and you’ve had to make tough decisions.” He sighs. “For what it’s worth, I think that it was best we let this issue go instead of accidentally causing the death of another person. IUM’s taking a hit no matter what we do, in the public eye. I’d rather people criticize us for letting this… thing… get away than criticize us because another person committed suicide.”
“It’s not suicide,” I counter quickly. “The magic’s making them do it. Chelsea, the girl it originally had control of in the laundromat when we got to the scene, explained that it took over and was making her body do things without her permission.”
Stone nods. “I’m not sure if that will be more comforting to people or not. Either way. I’m glad that we don’t have another death on our hands.” He stands. “I’ll expect you to use this new information as best you can. We need to track down this magic. But before you do anything else, make sure you inform the family about what happened.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I can talk to them,” Logan says as we exit Stone’s office. “I’m good at that kind of thing.”
I nod. It’s best if we all try to cover as much territory as we can. “Saint, do you want to grab us all something to eat?”
We can’t have him interacting with too many people. Not because he’s bad with people or anything like that, but because I don’t want him to get attacked. I feel protective of him. He’d probably laugh fondly if I told him that, seeing as he’s bigger and stronger than I am, and it seems that in our battles, he’s often the one protecting me. But it’s how I feel. I know that what other people say gets to him, even if he acts like it’s par for the course and he deserves it. This way he’s out of the way, and nobody can get to him.
“Nick, you should get down to the lab, see what you can work on with Ben and the others.” I take a deep breath. “I’ll join you all in a moment. I’ll be right back.”
Logan puts his hand on my shoulder and squeezes, then heads out to speak to the family. Saint looks torn, like he’s not sure if he wants to leave or not, but after a moment, he nods and heads toward the elevator to go down to the cafeteria and get us food.
That just leaves Nick.
I nod at him and then turn and go in search of a quiet space to just… have a small breakdown.
Honestly, I never used to have those. I would just bottle everything up. But then Penelope told me how unwise that was.
“You think that I never have moments where I get frustrated and want to cry?” she told me. “If you don’t let out that emotion sometime, you’re going to explode and then it’ll be a real mess. So take the time sometimes to cry and break down a little.”
That’s what I’m going to do now. I’m going to find a quiet corner and just cry for a minute, and then I can pull myself together and be the leader that this team needs. I’m going to be someone that IUM can be proud of, damn it, and I’m going to defeat this crazy magic. I won’t let it get the best of me.
Making my way to the nearest stairwell, I take the stairs all the way up to the rooftop access door and push it open, stepping out into the bright sunlight and warm air. I stride over toward the low wall that surrounds the edge of the roof, staring out at the ground below.
; Up high, unable to hear anything, the chaos all seems muted. Like there’s more calm and order to things that I’d previously thought. I know it’s a lie, but it’s a comforting one for the moment.
The rooftop access door opens again a moment later, and I glance over to see Nick walking toward me.
“What are you doing up here?” I blurt out.
“I’m making sure you’re okay,” he replies, uncharacteristically serious. He comes to stand next to me and nudges my shoulder with his. “Can’t have our fearless leader thinking that everything’s just on her. We’re a team, that means we support each other.”
“You sound like Logan.”
“Well, the guy does have some good ideas on occasion.” Nick smiles and turns to face me more fully. “Seriously. What is it, Rae? It’s because I named the magic Ichtaka, isn’t it? You think it’s a stupid name.”
I laugh a little in spite of myself. “That’s because it is a stupid name.”
Silence reigns for a moment as Nick looks at me. He’s not saying anything, which in itself is unusual enough that it tells me I need to be ready to give up and just tell him how I’m feeling. But his stare isn’t helping either. It’s penetrating and firm. Like he’s trying to read me the way that he reads computer code.
I sigh. “I’m… I can’t help but be disappointed in myself. I should be more on top of this. And I hate that I don’t know what the answer is here and I don’t know what to do to fix this.”
Nick puts his arm around my shoulders. “Hey, I get it. Studying science is a real exercise in learning how much you don’t know and how few answers you have.”
“But I’m supposed to be better than this.” My hands curl into fists. “I’m supposed to be on top of this! People have died, and more could die after that and I don’t know how to stop it. And I—I don’t know what to do. I never don’t know what to do.”
“I get it.” He sighs. “Trust me, I do. My dad put a lot of pressure on me to be… perfect, basically. I was a genius and so he thought that meant I had to keep being a wunderkind all the time. That I could never fail. That I had to be the goose that laid the golden egg.”