The Black Knights

by Matilda Reyes

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  “Magic,” Dakarai began, “is more than our abilities. That comes from our bloodline. It is part of our soul, infused in our blood. Our abilities are god-sent, something that the average human being cannot attain.”

  Except by a ritual in which someone was killed, and their blood was imbibed during chanting and some other stuff I didn’t want to know. Adriana didn’t need to know that.

  “The magic that you will learn is something any person can master if they have the will and energy.”

  “What is magic?” asked Adriana.

  He smiled at her. “Excellent question. Magic is the ability to manipulate forces in the world through the directed use of energy and will. I don’t mean energy like Jasper’s ability. I mean the energy that lives in human blood, the fire, the supernatural that exists in everyone.”

  “So, everyone is a witch or a wizard?”

  “No, not exactly. Everyone can influence their environment and the objects within it. Few know about it, and of those who know, even fewer are strong enough to control it. Our experiences with our abilities make us more receptive to magical influences. Therefore, some among us can become practitioners of the arcane arts. I am one. You and Jasper will be my students.” He tilted his head to one side. “I would like all the Circle to learn.”

  “Danny will claim to be too busy to learn. Cecilia might not want to open herself up to any more than she’s already experienced,” I said. “And I don’t think Esai should be allowed near anything until I can—”

  “Jasper,” snapped Dakarai. “Not now. You’re right, not everyone is suited. Mikael would be a fine practitioner. Jordan should learn what you learn if he is to be your protector and guardian.”

  Adriana’s eyes widened. “You and Jordan are a team? He’s your bodyguard?”

  “Something like that. Don’t get too googly eyed. He’s annoying.” I turned to Dakarai. “I will tell Mikael to join us. I agree. His sensitivity to the other planes of existence will make him a great wizard. When do we get our magic wands and pointy hats?”

  He rolled his eyes. “You do not need a wand, and unless it’s Halloween, you will not wear a pointy hat in my presence. This is serious, ladies. Adriana, Jasper has had instruction. She will share what she knows, and we will build upon that.”

  Adriana nodded. “Can I take notes?”

  My butt was becoming numb from sitting on that lumpy pillow. I shifted in my seat and rubbed my aching parts as I answered. “Yeah, but leave everything in this room. We’re messing with forces that most people shouldn’t even know about.”

  “Got it. My mother is thinking about transferring me to the school here at the Order but as an independent study student. It would let me work with you and Dakarai more. As long as I get my work done and pass all the tests, I’d be kinda a free agent.”

  “Lucky you.”

  “I guess. Anyway, if we don’t get pointy hats and we don’t need wands, what do we do?”

  Dakarai handed her a stack of books. “You read. You must learn the theory behind the magic, the forces in your body and the universe that work in harmony. You must understand how and when they should be manipulated before you even try.”

  “I’m a speed reader, so that shouldn’t be a problem. I’m guessing you did all that,” she said.

  “Yes. The next lesson, where I’ve been hanging out, is learning the steps to do it. Magic spells and rituals. Those require ingredients, formulas, and willpower.”

  “From there, you will learn how to accomplish some of the same spells just by summoning with a word or phrase,” said Dakarai. “Not all can be done that way, but many spells can be translated to sheer will. Some will require hand gestures or body movements.”

  “I was told by… my other teacher one day, I’ll be able to summon the same spells with a thought,” I said.

  “That’s awesome,” she breathed. “This is better than the freaking movies.”

  Dakarai smiled. “The principles are the same, Adriana. The only difference is that you will do it in real life, without the aid of special effects. I have a few books for Jasper to read, more advanced texts. You will spend the next several days deciphering and parsing the text until you understand it. Then we will practice.”

  “I’m already practicing,” I said.

  “And you will read the advanced texts and practice. Show us what you can do.”

  I closed my eyes and imagined New York City on one of the many Christmas Eves I spent with my family. We’d always gone to Rockefeller Center and watched the ice skaters. On a good year, it would snow and complete the pictures with thick, sticky flakes. My brother and I would compete to see who could catch the most on our tongues. I focused on the feel of the snow, the texture in my mouth for that brief nanosecond before it melted. The way it felt as it landed in my hair, the weight on my winter coat. The perfect chill in the air and the clean scent of a winter night.

  My hands moved in the gestures I’d memorized, making circles and swirls in the air as if I were writing a complicated equation on a chalkboard. I exhaled and murmured, “Elurra.”

  Adriana gasped. “Holy shit.”

  I opened my eyes and smiled. The room had transformed into a winter wonderland with snow falling from unseen clouds. Small mounds of white, puffy powder collected on random surfaces and the temperature were on the side of chilly that required at least a sweater.

  “How do you stop it?” asked Dakarai.

  I shrugged. “It stops after a few minutes. Don’t worry. It disappears, not melts. I haven’t figured out how to make it stay. I guess that my will isn’t strong enough yet.”

  “How did you do that?” demanded Adriana as she ran her hands through the wet snow. She put a dab on her tongue and marveled as it melted. “This is real snow.”

  I explained how my other teacher, as I referred to Ashor, had me read the theory of creating snow. The text had been dull and scientific. He’d drilled me until I understood the process. Then he’d had me use a combination of magical instruments and good old chemistry and physics to create snow from an artificial cloud.

  “Dude,” she whispered. “You’re a friggin wizard.”

  “I’ve been trying to break a plank of wood without touching it. My other teacher says it is much harder to create than destroy, but that plank of wood is so hard to work with. I’ve only caused minor splinters.” I met Dakarai’s gaze and gave him a meaningful look. “Jordan has witnessed that.”

  “By what means?”

  “The weird one,” I said, hoping he understood that I meant via our shared dreams. He jerked in sudden comprehension and nodded. “Can I work on that? I can’t see any use for snow in an attack.”

  “You could blind people with a snowstorm,” Adriana offered. “Make things slippery and dangerous. Same thing with rain. Maybe even super bright sunshine.”

  The kid was sharp. I hadn’t thought of using weather as a weapon. If I could summon a snow storm in the middle of a summer day, I might have an advantage.

  Dakarai shifted on his cushion, muttering about needing more comfortable pillows. I was glad that I wasn’t the only one with a numb rear end.

  “Practice with your wood. I have a feeling that you need to experience destruction just to know you can accomplish it. We’ll work on defensive magic for a while.”

  “I need offensive magic,” I said. “If I’m going to lead an attack, I need every spell I can get.”

  “Patience. We’ll get there. Defending yourself from a magical attack isn’t nothing. Like Adriana said, your snow can be used defensively.”

  “Okay, okay. I’ll bring Mikael with me, and I’ll try to talk Jordan into coming. He will be a hard sell.”

  Adriana checked her watch and squealed. “I have to get to school before history starts. And dude, just do the snow thing. If that doesn’t convince him, then he’s crazy.”

  “He is,” said Dakarai and I at the same time. The three of us burst into laughter and cleaned up. The sno
w I’d manifested was dissipating, a magical sublimation. The layer that had settled over everything was already gone, in fact, such that except a few wet spots where piles of snow had accumulated, there was no sign that I’d worked some serious magic in the room.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  WIELDING MAGIC AND CONCENTRATING my will took a lot out of me. I desperately needed a nap but my day wasn’t close to being done. I hauled myself to the women’s locker room at the assassin’s training facility and slipped into a pair of black leggings and a matching tank top. Exhaustion made it hard to focus on tying my darn laces. Somehow, I managed and forced my face into a perky expression, bright smile, wide eyes, and all. I strode into the gym with an attitude that screamed I was large, in charge, and here to kick ass.

  A maze of an obstacle course had been erected in the middle of the large room. I walked around the monstrosity in awe. Jordan had combined essential physical exercises with quick assault maneuvers. The course kicked off with a climbing wall that led to a window that needed to be breached. On the other side was a dummy that took the place of a victim to be carried through a narrow hallway and up a flight of stairs. Farther down the course, trainees rappelled down a wall and had to cross a simulated minefield. A small group had progressed to the salmon ladders that were required to reach a rope to inch across to another ledge. The body strength to complete the course in full gear, carrying weapons, and sometimes simulated rescued victims, was immeasurable. This made those warrior courses look like children’s playgrounds.

  Jordan caught sight of me gaping at the crawl holes and walked over, his face carefully blank.

  “So?” he asked. “Does this meet your approval?”

  “When can I play?” I demanded. “This is breathtaking. How?”

  “A few of us worked extra evenings to put this together. Shame I couldn’t make it as big as I wanted. This room is too small.” He crossed his arms and jutted his chin toward the highest point, the rappelling wall. “Bringing down a dummy at the same time might be too much. I may make them go in tandem, one mimicking an inexperienced victim. Practice coaching someone down.”

  “Sure. This is your baby. What kinds of drills are you running?”

  “I’m letting them get familiar with the course. We’ll do full and partial gear, with dummies, low lights, complete darkness with flashlights and headlamps, and timed exercises. That’s besides the regular drills we’ll do without all that. Too much?”

  “No, I’d been worried that I was going too soft on them. This is what we need.”

  “You weren’t too soft. You lacked the creativity that comes with experience. The drills got boring even though they were difficult, that’s what I’ve been told.”

  Chagrined, I thought about the dozens of times that I’d made them run through complicated mission simulations. Those damn things had been hard to develop. They were challenging and tested several critical skills. But there were only two.

  “Hey,” he said. “You did great. Few people could come up with such a detailed plan. They bore and need things to change to keep their actions from becoming rote. I plan on changing out components every couple of weeks to make sure they’re paying attention.”

  “I should have known that or at least figured it out.” Swallowing hard, I said what had been eating at me for months. “Maybe you should take over again. You’re so much better than me.”

  “Not going to happen. I happen to like my job. You’re a good boss. You’re great at delegating. You trust us to do our jobs, and you focus on the areas where you’re strongest. I didn’t trust anyone. I spread myself too thin, and certain aspects suffered. This is how it’s meant to be.” He stepped closer and lowered his voice so only I could hear him. “You’re strong and capable. Don’t let him convince you otherwise.”

  “You’re not wrong,” I admitted. “I don’t understand what happened to make him think of me like this. He used to be so proud of me.”

  “Because you’re still more important than he is. Yeah, he was the best choice, but he wasn’t our only choice. The entire Order needs you. You are the leader of the assassins, the most important arm of what we do, who we are. You’re more than just someone who does paperwork and goes to meetings. You’re a representation of the spirit of justice. He’s just a guy who can heal and helps people find new apartments. He’s replaceable. You’re not. Dakarai is not replaceable. Mikael is not replaceable. Cecilia is not replaceable.”

  “And you?”

  A small smile played on his face. “Our souls are connected. If I die, you die. But I’m still replaceable. Not that anyone would be as committed to our cause or to you, but I’m still expendable to a certain extent. Danny, Esai, and Nicholas are just as disposable. I made my peace with it, and so has Danny. Those two? They’re so egocentric that they think the world will stop without them.”

  “Nicholas isn’t like that.”

  “Oh? Then explain his behavior. Everything he’s said shows an ugly side of him coming out.” Jordan took a step back. “Tell me that it’s none of my business and I’ll make a presentation, something I hate, on how it’s impacting the job. You. Your performance. Your self-esteem. I’ll also tell you how I can feel your pain in the back of my head. It’s an echo of deep sorrow that you feel whenever you talk to him.”

  I gaped. “Our bond tells you that?”

  “Yes. I may not feel the extent of what you’re going through, but I know. You can’t lie.”

  “What else can you feel?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know,” he said with a laugh. “We share an occasional dream. I have a sense of what you feel when you’re sleeping. I can feel your pain. You, on the other hand, seem to have no sense of me. Isn’t that interesting? Is it because you can’t or because you don’t care to pay attention?”

  “I can’t do this right now. Run me through the course. Unless you think I can’t handle it.”

  “Once you get comfortable, you’ll crush it.”

  We were on our way over to the beginning of the obstacle course when my phone rang.

  “It’s Hernandez.”

  Jordan’s phone rang. “Jones.”

  “This doesn’t sound good.”

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  The news wasn’t good. It was worse. Nicholas and Brett had taken off telling no one where they were going or what they planned to do. Worse yet, Nicholas had taken off without his cell phone, the only tracking device they had for him. They’d found the vehicle the pair had taken in a parking lot in Hollywood, not that it was any help. The video from the hacked security cameras in the building showed the two of them exiting the parking lot, dressed in regular street clothes, onto a side street and walking toward Hollywood Boulevard. The street was a tourist trap, and the surrounding town was too crowded to find someone who was bent on blending in. It had been hours since they’d been seen.

  “How could you have let this happen?” I seethed.

  Hernandez was calmer than I would have liked. “We didn’t think we’d have to watch Nicholas like a prisoner. The last time I saw him was at the end of my Brett-watching shift. I headed to my bedroom for a nap. They were gone before Candice started her shift.”

  “What the hell are they doing?”

  “My best guess? Nicholas wanted to get familiar with the town before starting in the field. He wasn’t happy studying maps and reading histories. Brett provided us with firsthand accounts of places where the cult had met and places he’d done work for them.”

  “Put trackers in his shoes. In his belt. Sew something into his underwear. Find him.” I disconnected the call and threw the phone into the padded wall.

  Jordan hung up with Jones and walked over. “Jones is in Hollywood now. He’s with Marin and Smith. They’ll find him.”

  “I will murder him.”

  “Get in line.” Jordan hesitated, mulling it over, but not for long. “We need to pull him from the mission. Wrap up the whole thing and start from scratch.”

  Nausea plagued my stom
ach. “I know. I hate him so much right now. He’s so dead. Why would he jeopardize everything for some tourist crap?”

  Jordan picked up my phone, barked out a few orders to the assassins on the obstacle course, and guided me out of the gym. He waited until we were back in my office to speak. “I think he believes that he is helping, taking the initiative. It wouldn’t be the first time any of us have seen it. Esai does it all the time.”

  “We’re so close to getting Carlo. All he had to do was stay on script.” I sat down at my desk and put my head in my hands, fighting a fierce urge to cry out of sheer frustration. There was something wrong with Nicholas, and I didn’t know what to do about it. He was worse than Esai, who at least listened to Jordan. Nick listened to no one, least of all me. “I need you to reach out to your contacts in Los Angeles.”

  “Which ones?”

  “The ones you won’t introduce me to because you think they’d be a terrible influence on me. The ones from your past life.”

  He stilled. “What do you want them to do?”

  “Search for Nicholas and Brett. Bring them back. Whole.”

  “They’re not great at whole. Nicholas will come with them whether he likes it. His injuries are not their worries. They’re also expensive.”

  “We’ll pay it. Los Angeles is more spread out than New York. If Brett wants to lead him into a trap, finding him will be a nightmare. Impossible for five people. Your contacts know the area better.” I met his uneasy stare. “I may want to use them for the final confrontation.”

  “They’re not good people, Jas. Money is their motivation, not maintaining the Balance. They won’t just do the job. They will plunder anything of worth before you blink.”

  “I don’t care. Nicholas has changed the game. We need a new plan, and I want to move fast and take Carlo down for good. If he’s blown our cover, brute force may be our only option.”

  Jordan crossed his arms and considered me in silence. “Give them twenty-four hours to find him. Then I promise I’ll call.”