The Lightning Conjurer

by Rachel Rener

  The woman was a total badass.

  “Good afternoon, everyone,” she bowed. The rest of us bowed awkwardly in return. “I am so grateful that the five of you came so quickly.”

  “It was our pleasure, Minister,” Aspen replied politely.

  Liar, I mouthed. Ori saw and gave me a good nudge to the ribs.

  “Please,” Mei said, gesturing for us to follow her, “my assistant has assembled an early lunch for everyone. You must be famished from your travels.”

  A chorus of enthusiastic thank you’s ensued as we followed her into a large meeting room. I couldn’t speak for anyone else, but I for one could hear my own stomach snarling like a werewolf. Unfortunately, my excitement was cut short when I saw the trays upon trays of raw fish spread across the long table in the center of the room – not that anyone else was complaining at the extravagant selection of “delicacies.” Savannah was practically moaning in pleasure as she heaped translucent slabs of dark red meat on her plate.

  I bit my lip, praying for a vegetarian option or two hidden among the cornucopia of raw fish. Handwritten labels had been placed in front of the unsettling platters, detailing what was what. As the others chattered excitedly, my stomach sank with each passing tray: Sea Urchin w/ Quail Egg, Yellowtail Collar, Octopus Balls, Horse Sashimi.

  Horse? I felt the blood draining out of my carefully-composed face. While my omnivore pals loaded their plates with various sea and farm life, I crept to the very end of the table to scout for a cucumber roll or two. Sighing with relief when I eventually found them, I heaped a dozen pieces on my plate and took a seat beside Ori. Mei stood at the end of the table with her hands clasped in front of her.

  “I want to thank you all again for coming,” she said, addressing each of us. “I apologize for my rudeness, but I must get right to the point. We are the only members inside this chapter apart from my guards and trusted assistant – a feat that was rather difficult to arrange, I must admit – but others will arrive within the hour. Given the delicate nature of your presence and upcoming mission, we must ensure that you leave without being seen. Now, Mr. Levitan—”

  “Ori’s fine,” he chimed in. “We’re not in session.”

  “Ah, yes. Of course,” she smiled. “Now, Ori-san’s first campaign rally is scheduled to take place right here at the Tokyo Chapter tomorrow morning. We’ve made arrangements for him and—” Her eyes darted to Aspen, who absolutely hated formalities such as “Prophet” and “Pentamancer” and had told Mei that many times. “…R-Rowan-san,” she practically choked on the informality, “to stay here in Shibuya tonight. As for everyone else, you’ll be staying at the Tokyo Station Hotel, since your train is scheduled to depart very early—”

  “Ah, excuse me, Minister,” Aiden cleared his throat. “Sorry – only Ori and Aspen will be staying in Shibuya?”

  Uh-oh. Back at the cabin, Aspen had stayed relatively mum about the obvious tension simmering between Aiden and Ori, but anyone with eyes could understand what was up.

  “Yes, Aiden-san,” Mei answered gently. “Because of time constraints and pressing new intel, I must send the rest of you to Shirakawa-go, where Savannah has informed me a small but powerful group of Wilders has been residing for many years. The opposing campaign team is coming to Tokyo in three days’ time for Kaylie’s own rally, however several of her associates have already arrived at Narita Airport. Therefore, the rest of you must travel to the village immediately. We do not know what information Kaylie’s people have and it is imperative that we find these Wilders first. And because we do not know whether or not they would be friendly to such a visit, we cannot risk sending in too small of a group.”

  Aspen glanced at Aiden, whose ears were turning an interesting shade of crimson. “But Minister,” she all but implored, “couldn’t we do the rally and then head to the village right after? I don’t see why we have to split up—”

  “Have you been listening to anything?” Savannah interrupted. “Time is of the essence. If Kaylie or any of her other sub-Prelate cronies get to these villagers first – and it’s perfectly reasonable that if we know about them then she does too – she has that many more supporters devoted to her cause. And this particular group is very old and very powerful.”

  “I know, but—”

  “Now, I for one am not particularly concerned with the welfare of your grandmother or anyone else outside of our Community, but if more and more Elementalists hop on the supremacy train, guess who has the most to lose? I’ll give you a hint – it won’t be the people who can wield the wrath of nature at their fingertips.”

  Aspen pressed her lips in a fine line. “Minister, would it be possible for me to go to the village instead of the rally?”

  Mei shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Rowan-san, but it is of the utmost importance that Ori-san garners enough support to win. We must have you there. His campaign is our first priority in order to keep the minister’s seat in the right hands. If he loses, there is no number of Wilders that will help us make up for the danger of having a radical supremacist in the most powerful seat on the planet.”

  I raised my hand. “But, Minister, couldn’t you just publicly endorse Ori? You’re so popular – I’m sure the rest of the Community will follow your lead.” Both she and Ori were shaking their heads before I even finished my question.

  “The minister has to be impartial,” he explained. “Barish wrote that in his Manifesto which was carried over to our Assembly bylaws. If Mei even hinted which one of us she preferred, Parliament would have every right to pull support for that candidate.”

  “But Parliament doesn’t vote for the Magistrate,” I argued. “The Community does.”

  “The Parliamentary Assembly’s function is to elect two candidates from their own twelve-member Prime Representative pool,” Mei explained patiently. “After the two candidates complete their tours, the Community will cast their votes for the winner, which Parliament will then confirm.”

  “Similar to the Electoral College in the States,” Aiden added, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

  “You’re a Chapter head, Eileen,” Savannah sniffed. “You really should know these things.”

  I shot her a scowl. “Yes, Savannah, I am a Chapter head. And last I checked, I was the Aggregator while you were Sequestered for being a complete—”

  “And we are so grateful to have your combined expertise,” Mei interjected, her gentle voice oozing politeness. “The two of you have individually recruited more members to the Community than any other Aggregator in the last ten years. It is imperative that you both work together and use every tool you have at your disposal to help recruit any Wilders we find along the way.”

  “Of course, Minister,” Savannah practically purred. “I was just thinking the exact same thing. I just hope that Eileen will remember that I have far more experience in this area and she would be wise to heed my advice.”

  “It’s true,” I smiled sweetly. “After all, you do have years and years and years and years of experience.”

  Savannah bristled at my insinuation. “Just how old do you think—”

  “Ladies,” Mei interjected. “I’m terribly sorry, but I must move onto discussing tomorrow’s plan. Now, the train for Shirakawa-go departs at exactly…”

  As the minister delved into travel and logistics for the rest of us, my stomach let out a large growl. Oh, right. I hadn’t eaten in sixteen-plus hours because the plane had run out of vegetarian meals. With the ravenous appetite of a wildebeest, I forwent my chopsticks and tossed one of the hunks of rice-wrapped cucumber in my mouth. Oddly, when I bit down, it wasn’t cool and crisp. No, whatever I was smashing between my molars was somehow rubbery and grainy and briny and slimy all at the same time. My eyes watered at the God-awful texture. Reaching forward to snatch the label from the tray I’d served myself from, I held back a gag as I re-read it: Sea Cucumber Roll.

  I didn’t mean to do it – I swear it was just a reflex – but right in the middle of Mei’s explanatio
n, a massive hunk of half-chewed sea-worm flew out of my mouth with the force of a cannon, landing – I kid you not – smack dab in the middle of Savannah’s protuberant cleavage.

  An earsplitting – and thoroughly entertaining – meltdown ensued.

  Chapter 8

  he Japanese train system is an entire culture in and of itself. During peak work commute times, businessmen will literally leap into a sardine-packed train car, elbows first, to make sure they make it inside before the doors close – even though the next train is only two minutes and seventeen seconds away. Suffice it to say, punctuality is a big thing in Japan. That old myth about station attendants who forcibly shove people inside overflowing train cars just to make sure the doors close at the exact second they’re supposed to? Yeah, totally not a myth. Luckily, things are a lot calmer on the early-morning long-haul trains, like the one we were traveling on. The cabins are spotless since eating or drinking of any kind – even water – is prohibited. They’re also completely silent – seriously, you’ll get dirty looks if you so much as raise your voice above a whisper.

  Not that there was much talking between Aiden, Savannah, and myself. The three of us had been crammed side-by-side in economy class since the crack of dawn, with poor Aiden being the cream filling to our cranky Oreo cookie. I kept shooting death glares at Savannah until she finally shifted her coquettish attention away from Aspen’s clearly uncomfortable fiancé and pulled out her sleeping mask to take an open-mouthed nap against the large window. The woman was insufferable.

  With a relieved sigh, Aiden turned to look out the window where a patchwork of high rises and apartment buildings passed us by. I couldn’t help but note his sullen expression and feel pity for the man. Not only was he separated from the love of his life – who was almost certainly getting hit on nonstop by Ori – but he also had to deal with his own ruthless pursuer in the form of one of his least favorite people in the entire world. I shook my head lightly. What a good sport, man. Aspen certainly snagged one of the good ones.

  As for me, I hadn’t spoken to my own spouse since landing in Tokyo since our respective time zones were so wonky, and also because I’d fallen asleep precisely 0.253 seconds after my face hit the pillow the night before. Feeling a terrible pang of guilt since I was decidedly not one of the good ones at that very moment, I whipped out my phone, calculating the time difference in my head – 9:00 a.m. in Tokyo meant 5:00 p.m. in Denver – and wrote Sophia a suitably apologetic text. As always, she was a lot more gracious than I would have been:

  I glanced over my shoulder to see the young woman who was wearing the kimono yesterday snoozing quietly in the row behind us. Today she wore an oversized sweater and faded jeans, her heart-shaped face half-hidden behind a curtain of dark midnight-blue hair. Her sheathed katana was sitting in the empty seat next to her. So badass, I grinned. When we first met, I’d initially thought Kumiko was much younger, but up close, I guessed she was somewhere in her mid-twenties. Had I bumped into her in the street, I would have brushed her off as a fragile little thing. But with that “III” stamped just below her blue Hydromancer tattoo, I knew better than to underestimate her based on size alone. Lucky for me, my own Level-three Water-wielder was a gentle soul.

  “Eileen?” Aiden asked softly.

  In a dead-silent cabin of mostly snoozing travelers, the sudden noise made me jump. “Gah. Aiden. What’s up?”

  “Sorry.” He leaned away from Savannah’s sleeping form, careful not to rouse the beast. “I just wanted to ask… how are you feeling about – well, you know. All of this?”

  “Pretty much totally and completely underprepared,” I replied, setting my buzzing phone in my lap. “And also really, really nervous.”

  “Right? So, it’s not just me?”

  “No way,” I shook my head firmly. “This whole thing feels crazy. Ori running for Minister, us teaming up with Sleeping Beauty over here like some sort of Aggregator Fellowship of the Ring, then trekking all over the planet like the Amazing Race to recruit a Wilder army before Kaylie does—”

  Aiden frowned. “Not an army.”

  I glanced around at the rest of the car, confident that no one else could hear us, but lowered my voice even further just in case. “I mean, maybe we’re not trying to make an army, but you heard Mei – her sources think that Kaylie is actually, literally, trying to round up an army so Elementalists can come out of the woodwork, X-Men style. I mean… it’s insane. And what’s even more insane is that we’re the ones trying to stop her. Why us? Why not some top-secret Asterian task force that’s actually trained to do this kind of work?”

  “Who’s to say Mei’s not looking into that as well?” he pointed out. “Maybe she is and is just trying to keep everything hush-hush. After all, we don’t have solid proof that Kaylie’s making an army. Nothing that would hold up as hard evidence, at least.”

  “No, just encrypted texts and shifty behavior and a few comments made to Ori post-coitus.” I grimaced at the unpleasant image. “The thing that gets me is, Kaylie’s the one who killed Jahi, remember?”

  This time it was Aiden who grimaced. I didn’t blame him – it was a rather grizzly scene, what with the fire hose of boiling Water that she hurled at him.

  “Sorry – what I’m saying is, Keres and Jahi were the ultimate ‘Elementals should drop a nuke on the rest of the world’ kind of villains. So why kill your mentor, particularly if you secretly support everything he says?”

  “Because her hands were tied,” he replied. “She burst in there with the others and saw that half of the Inner Circle had been ousted and her predecessor’s dirty laundry had been aired for everyone else to see. Her mentor had lost. She was smart enough to realize that she’d be implicated as well so she did what she needed to do to save her own skin. And that’s the scariest part.”

  “How so?”

  “In my opinion, the worst villains aren’t the ones hiding out in plain sight, twirling their waxed mustaches while airing their grand ‘Master Plan’ to the world… No, the real bad guys are the ones who remain in the shadows, inconspicuous and methodical. The quiet ones. The chameleons.”

  I considered his words. The few interactions I had with Kaylie Branson had made one thing clear: she was a Grade-A people pleaser. Soft-spoken and reserved, never drawing attention to herself. Every word measured. Every opinion presented either as a meek question or sugarcoated into obscurity. Completely innocuous until she was overtly hitting on your girlfriend before a certain Pentamancer’s Christening or screaming ad hominem expletives at poor Ori behind closed doors, as I’d once heard her do at A&A’s engagement party. (Although, to be fair, he had been openly hitting on another man’s future bride right in front of her.) And of course, we’d just seen the video that Mei showed us from Kaylie’s rally in D.C. two days ago. The woman was as fiery as her wild auburn hair, supremely confident, and fiercely outspoken. And while she never stated anything explicitly discriminatory or xenophobic, we all heard it: “putting the Community first,” “addressing their shortcomings, not ours,” “having the courage and conviction to step out of the shadows.” The implications were loud and clear, and the audience was eating it up. Kaylie’s popularity shot up five points from that appearance alone.

  Still, that was before anyone knew that Aspen would be throwing her support behind Ori at his first official rally. Which would be happening – I glanced down at my phone – right about now.

  “After today, these Wilder missions won’t even matter.” I patted Aiden’s hand reassuringly. “You’ll see. Once everyone sees Ori and Aspen together, no one will even remember Kaylie’s name.”

  “Yeah,” Aiden murmured, turning to stare out the window once more. “It sounds like the two of them have everything under control.”

  “Hey.”

  He turned to look at me. The edges of his eyes were creased with tiny lines of defeat that made my heart hurt for the guy.

  I plastered on my most convincing smile. “Aspen is madly in love with you. You know
that, right?”

  He scoffed. “Aspen – gorgeous, powerful, and brilliant as she is – doesn’t have much experience in the dating world. She could have any man she wanted – she just doesn’t realize that yet.”

  As I opened my mouth to give him a strongly-worded retort, a tone sounded and the conductor’s voice came through the speaker system. Whatever he was saying, he was murmuring so quickly I couldn’t understand a word of it. But it was enough to wake up Savannah, who yanked off her mask wildly. I flinched as her elbow came within millimeters of Aiden’s right eye.

  “Excuse me, mina-san,” Kumiko whispered from behind us, “but we’ll be arriving at the bus station shortly.”

  “Thank you, Kumiko-san,” I replied over my shoulder. “Hey – apart from what we already discussed yesterday, can you give us a more specific idea of what we’re going to be dealing with when we get to Shirakawa-go?”

  “I really cannot say,” she replied. “I only know what you know, which is that they are very old and very powerful.”

  “Stop fretting, Eileen,” Savannah yawned. “It’s just a bunch of supernaturally old people who’ve formed their own little mountain community. They’ll probably offer us tea, politely listen to us waste our breath, and then send us on our way.”