Steel for 5 (Mags & Nats Book 3)

by Stephanie Fazio

  The boy finished filling his cart with my help and then repeated the same call. I took the cart’s handle for him and began to pull it up the tunnel in the direction the little girl had disappeared. The slave boy and my friends fell into step behind me.

  As the cart creaked and groaned its way up the tunnel, I channeled my willpower into keeping my footsteps steady. All I wanted was to tear this place apart with my bare hands.

  But we still didn’t know what we were up against, and if I did something rash, I’d put all the kids in even more danger. So, I gritted my teeth and concentrated on pulling the heavy cart up the tunnel.

  CHAPTER 21

  Ihadn’t thought this place could get any worse…until we reached the end of the tunnel.

  We stepped into a cavernous room with high ceilings. The walls were cement, and harsh white lights dangled from long chains overhead. There was a large, printed sign on the wall that read, Level 5: Agent S Extraction and Processing.

  Everything was controlled chaos. Dozens of carts full of Agent S came out of various tunnels and headed for an open elevator on the far side of the room. The elevator transported the carts to the upper levels of the mine. But none of that was the reason why my feet were rooted to the floor.

  I estimated there were a hundred people working in this one room, and all of them were children.

  “I knew Remwald was a monster,” Yutika said, “but this is so far past monstrous there isn’t even a word for it.”

  I couldn’t have said it better myself.

  “We have to get them out of here,” Kaira whispered, her voice tight with fury.

  Desperation to do something boiled inside me.

  The children worked at a feverish pace. They scampered to and fro, exchanging full carts for empty ones.

  All around, the call of “Steel for Five!” rang out as more carts were sent down the mine tunnels.

  The clanging, creaking, and shouting were enough to make even the sanest person crazy.

  “Don’t let him see you resting,” a Steel kid hissed as he hurried past me with an armful of raw Agent S. “You don’t want to go to the isolation chambers.”

  The little girl down in the tunnel had said something similar to Michael. I couldn’t imagine how awful the isolation chambers must be if it was worse than this.

  “Thanks,” I managed, but the boy was already gone.

  A piercing whistle cut through the other sounds. I felt a sudden urge to run and hide. Or at least to cover my ears.

  The children stopped their work and hurried to the center of the room. They lined up shoulder-to-shoulder, leaving a few inches of space between them.

  None of the slaves spoke. Without the movement of the elevator and carts, it had gone eerily quiet in the high-ceilinged room.

  “This can’t be good,” A.J. murmured.

  “Nothing about this is good,” Smith hissed back.

  “I hate to say it,” Michael said, “but we should get out of here before we’re noticed. We can come back with the police, and—”

  “No.” The word came out more forcefully than I’d intended. “I’m not leaving until I find out what happened to Lilly.”

  Whether she was buried in that tomb or not, I had to know what had happened to her. Brent and Sarah needed to know the truth, even if that truth would force them to begin their grieving process anew.

  “Then neither are we,” Kaira said in a firm voice.

  No one else argued.

  “I can bring reinforcements to us,” Smith offered.

  “Who would come?” Yutika said.

  Graysen, illusioned to look like a wraith of a child, nodded in agreement. “We’re not in Boston anymore. Alliance laws don’t apply. If we try to bring in Boston cops, we’ll have an inter-territory incident on our hands.”

  Graysen was right. And since California was essentially lawless, that wasn’t a fight we wanted to start. We were on our own.

  “We’re sticking out like sore thumbs,” A.J. whispered.

  A.J. was right. We might look like the other slaves, but we weren’t acting like them. The others were all standing in a line, while we were huddled at the mouth of the tunnel we’d come out of.

  “I’m too worn out to do any more animal illusions,” Kaira said. “The lack of natural light down here is making it harder for my magic to adjust, so this is the best I’ve got.”

  “Blend in,” A.J. ordered.

  My friends and I hurried to join the line. We got a few strange looks from the children on either side of us. I glanced to the side, and then linked my arms behind my back like everyone else.

  I felt every kid in the line go stiff with fear as a set of heavy boots clomped across the floor.

  “Did we meet quota today, kiddos?” a harsh, raspy voice asked.

  “Yes, Foreman,” the children chorused.

  The man stopped at the other end of the line. He was large and barrel-chested. His metal skin had the rusty varnish of a Steel who was made out of copper. His matted hair and beard were the same color as the dirt floor—whether that was natural or due to lack of grooming, I had no idea.

  Even from my spot at the other end of the line, I could see the bulge in the man’s hairy cheek from what must be a wad of tobacco. His beady eyes roved up and down the line of children as he swung a titanium baton around his hand.

  The foreman spewed out a stream of brown liquid onto the ground, inches away from the nearest kid. The slave didn’t so much as blink, making it clear this was typical behavior.

  My muscles quivered with the need to turn this man into pulp.

  When the foreman stepped to the side, I noticed there was another adult standing behind him. The person wore a long cloak and had a hood drawn over their face. I couldn’t see anything about them, but I could feel their magic. It wafted off them, just like it did around the other Super Mags I’d encountered.

  “What’s a Super Mag doing down here?” A.J. whispered, clearly sharing my thoughts.

  “There’s something wrong with that person’s mind,” Michael said in an urgent voice. “I can’t—”

  “Shut yer trap!”

  The foreman tromped down the line toward us. The hooded figure retreated back into one of the tunnels, their cloak undulating behind them like a wraith.

  The children around us shrank back as the foreman approached. They stared at him with dread in their hollow eyes.

  Almost as one, my friends and I stepped forward. None of us wanted the foreman to take out his anger on the wrong target.

  “Huh,” the foreman grunted, looking us up and down. Kaira kept our slave children illusions in place, but it was obvious the foreman could tell we didn’t belong. His mouth moved as his beady eyes flicked down to the other end of the line. “What the—there are seven too many of you’s.”

  Well, so much for the wait and see approach.

  I did the only thing I could. I threw myself at the foreman.

  There was a harsh clang as our metal skin collided. The baton flew from the foreman’s hand and struck Michael. If he’d actually been the scrawny little kid he was illusioned to be, the metal bat would have hit Michael’s chest. With the way he groaned and crumpled in on himself, it had clearly connected with a more delicate part of his anatomy.

  Michael stumbled to the side, his head striking against an overturned cart’s metal wheel. His whole body went boneless as he slumped to the ground.

  Yutika screamed.

  I checked to see that Michael was breathing, and then I left my friends to focus on him. I turned all of my attention on the foreman.

  I slammed my fist into his face.

  The blow should have been enough to obliterate his skull. Instead, he just shook his head and came back for more.

  The foreman struck back.

  The fact that we were having a Steel-on-Steel fight right now defied every law of magic I knew. The fact that I was titanium to his copper meant I was the stronger Mag, and yet, his skin was still metal.

>   What the hell?

  Something was definitely wrong with my magic. The foreman barreled into me, shoving me back several steps. Normally, I was completely unmovable.

  The foreman blocked my next blow with his elbow. He spat out a stream of tobacco juice, which landed on my shirt.

  “Pig,” I snarled, wrenching his arm aside and head-butting him.

  The foreman staggered back a step. One measly step…and then he was back for more.

  “Little fucker,” he huffed as he delivered a kick to my stomach.

  “Where are the rest of the kids?” I demanded, strangely out of breath as we circled each other.

  I was never out of breath in my titanium form.

  “What you blabberin’ about?” The foreman tried to kick me again.

  This time, I ducked.

  “All the kids you stole from the hospitals.” My fists pummeled his copper shoulders. He slid back a few steps but was otherwise unaffected. “Where are they?”

  Where is Lilly?!

  “I don’t answer to you!”

  Clang. Crack. Thump.

  We collided over and over again. No matter how hard I hit him, I couldn’t get the upper hand. We were evenly matched.

  Impossible, my mind shouted. He should be a mess of blood and shredded flesh on the floor.

  As we continued our brawl, I became aware of a strange feeling inside me. It felt like a weighted blanket had settled over my insides. It was kind of like when Diego had injected me with the temporary Magical Reduction Potion, except this time, I could still reach my magic. It was just…dampened. I was still stronger than I would have been in normal human skin, but it was nothing compared to my usual titanium strength.

  My friends must have realized something was wrong with me. With the exception of Yutika, who crouched protectively over Michael’s crumpled form, the rest of the Seven joined the fight. Graysen, Smith, and Kaira grabbed onto the foreman, doing their best to pin his limbs while I pummeled him. A.J. used his telekinesis to throw sharp objects at the foreman’s head.

  “Don’t just stand there!” the foreman bellowed. “Get them!”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the kids surround us. They yanked my friends away from the foreman. When I couldn’t be manhandled so easily, they began to hit me with their metal fists.

  “I’m trying to help you,” I yelled. “Get out of the way!”

  The kids ignored my pleas. They continued to hit, kick, and shout at me. The foreman stood just out of reach, panting and spitting brown tobacco juice onto the floor.

  “I don’t know where you seven came from, but I’m gonna find out,” the Foreman growled. To the kids, he yelled, “Get them into the isolation chambers. Now!”

  The kids swarmed my friends and me.

  “Not good,” A.J. murmured, swaying a little from the force of one kid’s kick to his shin. “Not good at all.”

  If Michael had been awake, he would have resolved this whole shitshow of a situation in just a few words. Since he was still out cold, that left us with two choices. We could fight the kids, or we could give up and let them lock us up. Since none of us was going to raise a hand to a single one of the children, we submitted.

  “Now,” the foreman said, smiling nastily at us as he twirled a key between his dirty fingers. “Let’s see how brave you are after a week in the isolation chambers.”

  CHAPTER 22

  Ihad no idea how long I’d been sitting on the mud floor of my prison.

  After we’d been herded onto the elevator, the slaves had escorted us up to the next level of the mine. When we got off the elevator, I saw a rusted sign with the words Level 4: Isolation Chambers. There had been nothing else to see except metal stalls set up along a dirt-packed corridor. The slaves had locked each of us into our own cell.

  I’d shouted myself voiceless before concluding that the cell was sound-proof. After that, I heard nothing except the drip, drip, drip of water on the metal wall and my own harsh breathing.

  I had spent God-knew how long pounding at the door and walls of my prison to no avail. The enclosure was titanium, but even so, I should have been able to break through…or at least dent it.

  I wasn’t sure if it was my inexplicable weakness, or some other magic at work, that made me helpless to escape. After exploring every inch of the small chamber, which was four steps in length and five in width, I’d finally accepted there was no way out.

  There was a thin slot in the door that was too narrow to even get my hand through, which I guessed was meant for passing food to the prisoners. No matter how much pressure I applied to the opening, I couldn’t use it as leverage to break open the door. The cell was sealed tight around me.

  I peered into the blackness, even though I couldn’t see anything except the silver glow of my own skin. Finally, I just buried my face in my hands and did my best to hold onto the tattered remains of my sanity.

  All my life, steel had been my ally. Now, it was my cage. It felt a little like being imprisoned in my own body.

  I understood why all the children dreaded being put inside one of these chambers. I’d never felt more alone and helpless.

  There was nothing for company except the dripping water and a bucket in the corner that I stayed as far away from as I could get.

  My magic churned restlessly inside me. I still felt weak in a way I never had before, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. All I could think about was the children who were forced to live and work in this nightmare of a place. I thought about Lilly.

  Plunk. A silver tear hit the mud. Plunk, plunk.

  My tears sparkled, looking like silver jewels nestled in the mud. Scowling, I kicked at the solid tears until they were buried. I blew on my fists, transforming myself back into regular skin.

  I hated crying in general, but it was worse when I was titanium. The tears stuck around as permanent reminders of whatever had caused them in the first place.

  I’d spent the last five years putting on a brave face so my family wouldn’t have to deal with my grief in addition to their own. But I was alone now, with no one to see or hear me. So, with my tears dissolving into the mud, I cried.

  There was a grating of a metal hinge. It was so soft I wondered if I had imagined it. Then, a tiny rectangle of dim light appeared as the food slot opened.

  “Is that you, cariño?”

  I leapt to my feet in the squishy mud.

  “Diego?!”

  “Shh,” he hissed.

  “What are you doing here?” I whisper-shouted.

  So, it hadn’t been my imagination when I smelled cinnamon before we stepped onto the flying train car. Sneaky bastard.

  I could just make out the gleam of Diego’s eyes through the food slot’s opening.

  “You followed us,” I said. I was so relieved to see him, rather than the foreman, that I couldn’t summon the energy to be annoyed.

  “And aren’t you lucky I did?” he replied. “I don’t see anyone else busting you out.”

  “There’s something wrong with my magic,” I said, feeling the need to explain why I was stuck on the wrong side of a door I should have been able to tear apart with my bare hands.

  “I like the damsel in distress look on you,” Diego said. He sniffed loudly. “Although, I didn’t imagine you smelling so foul while you did it.”

  “Can you get me out of here, or not?” I demanded. My relief at seeing him quickly morphed to my usual urge to start hitting things whenever he was around.

  In response, Diego dangled what appeared to be the same key the foreman had been holding earlier through the food slot. Before I could reach for it, he snatched it back.

  “Where did you get that?” I asked.

  “Nabbed it off the foreman,” Diego replied.

  “Good for you. Now, stop talking and put that key to work.”

  “If you want out, it’ll cost you,” Diego said in that mocking tone I loathed.

  “I don’t have time for games,” I seethed. “My friends
are locked up, and I have someone I have to find.”

  “Lilly.” His voice softened. For some reason, that pissed me off even more than his cockiness.

  “Get me out of here, or I swear—”

  “Not until you promise to do something for me.”

  “What?” I asked, wary.

  “One favor. Whatever I ask, whenever I ask. You’ll say yes.”

  “I’m not having sex with you, Diego.”

  A deep, male chuckle.

  “Oh, I’ll happily take that bet. But we both know I won’t need to call in any favors for that.”

  “Diego—”

  “Do I have your word?” All his teasing was gone. “Bri, look me in the eye and swear to me you’ll keep your word. Whatever I ask, you’ll do it.”

  “I won’t kill anyone,” I told him. “Or do anything that will hurt my friends.”

  “I’m not a monster,” Diego replied.

  I wasn’t so sure about that. I thought of his bathtub full of MRP and those handwritten Super Mag files.

  “So, do we have a deal?” he pressed.

  I nodded before realizing Diego probably couldn’t see me. I took a deep breath. “We have a deal.”

  CHAPTER 23

  Even though the tunnel was only dimly-lit, it hurt my eyes after the blackness of the isolation chamber.

  “Can you walk?” Diego asked.

  “I’m not an invalid,” I snapped back.

  “Jesús, sorry.”

  I took the key Diego offered me and quickly unlocked my friends’ cells. Their voices were as hoarse from screaming as mine.

  “You okay?” I asked Michael when I got to his cell, noticing the streak of blood across his temple now that he was no longer illusioned.

  “Nothing Oliver won’t be able to fix,” he replied, referring to Smith’s Mender father.

  Graysen and Kaira were holding each other like they would never let go, but neither of them seemed hurt. Smith, Yutika, and A.J. seemed fine, too. Aside from bumps and bruises, I didn’t think there would be any lasting damage.

  “Is everyone okay?” Yutika asked, hugging Michael.