by Mel Todd
Her amused look dropped off her face as she snapped up straight in her chair, now completely focused on me. It was still intimidating.
"Let me guess, you found her."
"Of course. The cops don't believe that I just happened to stumble across her, but that part doesn't matter. What I am curious about is, have you heard about it? The death was gory, bad. And I haven't heard anything. Have you?"
Laurel turned and typed on her computer for three long minutes, but I just waited. The software to go through open cases wasn't the newest thing in the world. Honestly, some days I suspected it was older than I was.
"No, there’s nothing here. Do you have a name?"
"I have nothing. Heck, I don't even know when she’s being buried. I figured I would at least go, but I kept expecting to see something on the news and I haven't. Isn't that odd?"
Laurel looked at me, settling in. "Describe it to me."
Taking a deep breath, I did, the images still too vivid, too real in my head. Part of me wished I could erase them so I didn't need to hold that in my mind. I already saw it in my dreams. When I finished, she shook her head.
"No. And that is worrisome. I'm not saying Atlanta shares everything, but anything regarding magic should be sent out, especially ritual magic. So there’s your answer. Does that tell you anything?"
"Not really, but it points back to my needing to ask." I shrugged, trying to seem unaffected. I don't think she bought it, but crying wouldn't change anything. "I've never not learned the name before. It feels wrong, disrespectful in some way." And it was driving me crazy.
She nodded. "If I hear anything I can share, I'll let you know."
I got the subtext—some things she couldn't pass on and wouldn't.
"Thanks. The other thing is a weird question, partially because of this girl. Have you ever pulled someone in for testing, someone without mage symbols?"
She arched a brow, frowning, then laughed a little. "Ah, that law. The short answer is no. Basically no one does it. Oh, a merlin or a high-ranking mage might, law enforcement or other first responders? We don't."
I blinked at her, cold shock washing through my body. "But the consequences of not turning them in are really bad."
"Oh true, but if I remember correctly the last time they charged anyone was in the late 1800s. The issue is we don't have time, and most of the time it isn't as obvious as they want you to think. If you see someone vaporize all their hair or something like that, sure feel free. You'll never see it and if you do and they are helping, you'll pretend you didn't see. If they are hurting someone, you'll stop them. In the second case, you let the police take over, but it is one of those things on the books just in case they need it. It's not one they actually expect people to use or do. Magic tends to be much more subtle. And the average person, especially one who’s not a magic user, would never risk it. Mages can be deadly if they want. I know you read what Scott Randolph did." I swallowed and nodded. Laurel just shrugged. "Besides, very few high-rank mages aren't registered. Those that aren't often have a family history of it."
I must have frowned at her because she laughed. "Go look up one of the yakuza families or the magical Russian mobs. The Gregories and the Rasputians. They rarely got tested because that meant they had a harder time staying in the shadows, but since they were outed in, oh the mid 1900s, the OMO will show up and require testing of everyone under fifty. And they show up en masse. Now? Just test. The benefits outweigh the penalties." She tapped her temple. "Besides, it's always better to be on the more powerful side." Her tone had a touch of bitterness as she said that, but she just shook her head when I gave her a look. "You'll see."
We chatted for a few more minutes, then she chased me out so she could finish her paperwork and then meet Martin for lunch.
I walked up the street thinking about what she'd said. So, someone might have seen this person kill the girl and walk away? The idea didn't register with me. How could you do that? But I got the fear. I did, I just couldn't think of being more scared than wanting to help.
The welcome smells of coffee, pastries, and steamed melt pulled me into Grind Down as I pushed open the door. It was busy, as it was still early Saturday morning - not even ten yet. Kadia was at the bar while Carl was bussing tables without a cast.
Kadia saw me first and I winced as her "SQUEE" cut through the air worse than the tornado sirens. Next thing I knew I had an armful of bubbly girl, braids bouncing around enough to make me dizzy.
"Oh, I've missed you. This place is so boring! Nothing ever happens! Why are you back? Are you okay? Did you get a job? Tell me you're coming back here and can work weekends?" Her questions tumbled over each other, a babble brook of words.
"I'm here to visit. Yes, I got a job. No, I'm not coming back." I was laughing the entire time, and watching her face go from excited, to depressed, to excited, amused me. But still, I had missed all of them.
Chapter 6
Order magic is reputed to be one of the most powerful, at least when it comes to its use. By utilizing the spell Pattern or Transform, those with the ability can focus on the tiny images visible only under some of the most powerful microscopes, thereby becoming invaluable. Those with doctorates in Pattern or Transform often spend their draft in the R&D sections of the government, and then benefit from a bidding war afterward. Those not so blessed get the more menial jobs. ~ Freedom from Magic.
They made me coffee on the house, Molly stuck her head out and said hello, then disappeared. I spent time talking to Kadia and a few regulars, but I'd also texted Sally. When she showed up, I grabbed her a coffee and pulled her into a chair. She was someone I wanted to catch up with and ask some questions. She'd promised me an hour, then she had a date.
"I am so glad you could come. I need to talk to you." She was laughing as I corralled her into the chair.
"Not that I mind free drinks," she said sipping her iced blended coffee drink. "What's up? You didn't kill anyone, did you?"
"No," I gasped, my mind breaking on that and completely kicking me off my flow. "No. I just, I got a job at Ruby in their EMS department."
"Oh, that is great! They are a good company. Lots of excitement."
I slumped. "Yeah, if I can stick it out."
"Oh please. You handle everything and never blink. The work won't chase you away, so what is it?" She leaned in, looking at me sharply. After the bus incident where she'd offered up so much hair, it was almost in a bob that hit her chin. It was relatively close to how I wore mine and I noted she actually had nails - not long but not down to the quick.
"They hate me. They just say they don't want to waste time getting invested when I won't make it. Heck the HR lady said the same thing. I had credentials. I was hired. If I washed out, well then oh well, they'd just hire someone else. Why?" I'm pretty sure I seemed pretty pathetic. I'm not saying people always loved me, they didn't, just look at the Munroes. They'd done everything possible to get away from me.
"Ah." She sighed and leaned back, looking at and playing with her cup instead of looking at me.
"What?" I sat there feeling like bees were buzzing under my skin. Did she have an answer for me? A way to make them at least not hate me?
"Cori, this job is hard and strange. You'd be amazed at the number of people that don't make it a month, much less a year. Then you have a certain subset in it strictly for the amount of sex they can get."
"Huh?" The comment made no sense and I couldn't figure out what she meant.
Sally grinned but there was an aspect of sadness to it. "Most of the people we meet are patients and a lot of them are very grateful for our help. There's an entire section of first responders who use that gratitude to get laid. In Atlanta, I'd suspect you have those people. Plus, there are people who don't deal well with the constant violence, and the high cost of living. So while I hate to say it, I get their attitude. Hire you and if you last, great. If you don't, oh well. They don’t waste any time screening you."
I stared down into my coff
ee, looking for answers. "Fine. I guess I can understand that. But why is everyone there so," I struggled for the right word, "standoffish?"
"Why start to care about someone who's going to be gone in a week or two? Stick it out and they'll warm up. Really. It was about three months before I even bothered to talk to Jeff. I was sure with his laid-back attitude he'd bail after the first bad call. Well he didn't, and he got me through that call with calm poise. But yeah, you need to give people time to see that you can handle the job."
I sighed. It wasn't the answer I wanted, but it was probably the best I would get. We chatted a bit more, then she took off and I stared out the window wondering about how to stick it out.
About noon Jo came and got me and we went to her house. She talked the entire ride about how much she missed the shop, doing things with her hands, things that made sense. I didn't say anything, but her first day of school had only been Monday. If she was already jonesing for mechanic work, school would drive her crazy.
"My girls are home!" Marisol grabbed both of us in a bone-crushing hug. "It's about time. Have you lost more weight?" She glared at me, and I just shrugged. Not owning a scale kept me ignorant. I preferred not knowing.
"Mami, we've only been gone two weeks. We're fine." Jo hugged her mother as she continued to fret. I wondered if it was Jo being the youngest, a girl, or just the whole college thing that brought out the fretting in Marisol. Either way it was a new facet to her.
"We'll see about that." She dragged us in. "Now tell me what your classes are because I just know you'll do great. You're the smartest of all of us."
I only noticed because I was sitting next to Jo and the couch sagged like a swayback horse causing me to lean against her, but when her mom said that, I felt her stiffen and flinch at the same time. It was a weird feeling. I pulled away to look at her, but she just smiled and pulled out a piece of paper from her bag.
"I figured you'd ask, so here you go. My class list."
I'd seen it already, so I knew what was on it. Marisol grabbed it so fast I was surprise Jo didn't get a paper cut. She just snickered and leaned back.
Did I imagine the stress? That's odd. She and her parents rarely had secrets. Did they?
We spent the afternoon chatting with her mom and going over the classes. Jo had comments on the teachers and the campus, but she didn't say much about the coursework, using the excuse it was only the first week.
Marisol put us to work getting dinner ready. Even Marco and Paulo were coming over this evening to grill Jo. She just nodded but pointed out we needed to leave by seven as she didn't want to drive in the dark.
That made me hide a smile. It was the perfect way to get out early, cause her mother would never disagree with that statement.
Henri just grinned as he pulled dinner out of the oven. It was a Mexican casserole that should have fed them for a week but might give them leftovers tomorrow. If we didn't leave with most of it in Jo's saddlebags.
Either way, it was a nice day, though I still worried about work and my place in the EMS department. But I couldn't do anything about it right now.
We escaped about seven-fifteen with enough food for tomorrow in her bags and started the drive home.
"Hey. You okay?"
I'd chosen now to ask. The helmets and her inability to turn and look at me might get her to talk where if I cornered her, she'd avoid.
She stayed silent long enough that I thought she wouldn't answer.
"What if I don't succeed?"
"What do you mean?" That idea had never occurred to me. Jo succeeded at everything. A decent B student in high school, sports star, and so good with engines.
"I mean everyone keeps talking about how good I'll be, and they are on me to choose my major. Talking about all the options I have. And well, what if I don't? What if I don't manage to graduate?"
It was probably a good thing she couldn't see my face. I'm sure the surprise and amusement I felt would have been obvious.
"Jo-Jo, I've never known you to fail at anything. Besides, they are paying for the degree, remember. I'm very sure the government will do anything reasonable to make sure you pass so they can use your magic fully."
"You ever think about that?"
"About what?"
"What they do to people who don't succeed, who can't handle college and never learn to use their magic the right way. Do they treat them as ronin and kill them?"
I flinched and the bike wobbled. She got it back under control but my mind was racing down that idea. What do they do? Did they kill people? I wanted to lie and tell her they would never do that, but I couldn't fake that much trust in any government agency.
"I don't think you need to worry about it, Jo. You'll do fine. It's just the first week. You'll get back into the swing of things."
"Yeah, I'm sure I will. Just first week jitters." Her voice was bright and cheery, and I knew all the way down to the bottom of my soul she was lying. But I didn't push it. I'd watch and make sure she was okay. As her BFF I couldn't do anything less.
We got home after nine and we crashed. , the drive and the socializing turning us into zombies.
Sunday, I cleaned since she'd cooked all week. I needed to get a feel for paychecks. Most of the medics just bought food when they were out. I still packed mine, but way too often I didn't get to eat as we were never back at the bay to grab it. That meant by the time I got off shift I was shaking with hunger, which wasn't good. I couldn't afford to get that hungry. It was yet another problem to overcome.
"So, how's your homework going?" I finally broached the subject again Sunday night. After the discussion on the way home, I hadn't wanted to push too hard, but I'd watched her fighting with it most of the afternoon. I knew she was avoiding it when she offered to do dishes. Jo hated doing dishes. "Learning anything interesting?"
Jo groaned. "I swear I wish I'd never emerged this high. This first quarter just might kill me. I don't have to do too many of the stupid courses so that is at least a help, but I need to take basic English. I mean who cares who Beowulf was? I'm not studying to be a historian." She'd slumped backwards in her chair, looking like a woman with all the weight of the world on her.
This, at least, felt real. The fear of failure wasn't as strong, but I still felt like there was something I was missing. But what?
"Oh, it can't be that bad, can it?"
"Nah, yes, no? I don't know. There’s a lot of reading and you know I've never been a fast reader." Something about her tone felt off, but I just nodded. Jo had been the tomboy: more interested in playing sports than doing anything resembling schoolwork. "But the lectures are cool. I have two classes on magic, one the history of it. You should read this textbook. What they taught in high school is like telling us an iceberg is mostly underwater, and nothing else. I like the practical applications stuff, though really the more I get into it, I'm starting to see why mom and dad rarely use it. You have to get super fine control to do anything that isn't going to make you go bald." Her face had brightened, and she sat up. "Here watch."
Jo picked up a piece of her notebook paper and hung it upside down. "This will cost me about a strand of hair." She frowned and the paper waved up as if a sudden wind had hit it, then back down. "That is me learning the cost of things, super basic things, but it will take me about three months to grow back the hair I blew to do that, when I could have just done this." With a wry smile she wiggled the paper. "Yeah, magic seems like a lot of work. I mean moving molecules and stuff takes almost nothing, but you need to learn a ton to be able to"—she paused, then in the tone of repeating something that was a mantra—"visualize, verify, and actuate. Otherwise you're just making offerings that could have been done easier with a calorie expenditure." A wry look on her face. "They promise next semester we'll learn how to use the fat stored in our body to power it. It's one reason so many mages are skinny, if not in good shape. It would be nice if we could build muscle, but I'll take burning fat."
As she talked, she'd brightened up,
with her normal excitement present. My worry faded as I listened to her. I'm sure I sounded more depressed talking about work. New situations were hard. Exhaustion set in as I thought about tomorrow. I was trying so hard not to dread it, but I did. The more I thought about it the more I wanted to sleep. Maybe I would think about my lunch issues as I fell asleep.
"That sounds neat. Kinda sad I'm missing it." A yawn split my words and I laughed. "But I'm headed to bed. I can't express how exhausted I am, though some of it might be dread about tomorrow."
Jo nodded. "Being the new person is hard, but I have faith. Well, faith in you. Go to bed. I have another chapter to read, then I need to start writing a paper on the various cell matter we can use as offerings, as well as ethical considerations for at least one unusual one. That is due at the end of next week and if I don't start it now, I'll never get it done."
"Ova, semen, or uterine lining," I responded without thinking about it much. They were all cells that either regenerated or not all of them were used. They should have the same weight as blood cells power-wise, and most people would never miss them.
Jo blinked at me, then a slow grin spread across her face. "Those are great ideas. Thanks, Cori. We have plans for the next weekend you're off. I figure we'll enjoy exploring while you're off and I'll double down on schoolwork the weekends you work."
"Sounds good to me, but remember we are still on a major tight budget until I figure out how much I'm actually getting. Since I'm working, this weekend should give you a chance to be ahead in everything."
Jo made a funny face then waved her hand. "I'm broke too. What about wandering around Centennial Park and just making sure we know all the cheapest places to get food?"
"That sounds good to me." I waved night and stumbled back to my bedroom. After a shower I crawled into bed, planning on thinking about my lunch and how to carry it with me. I seemed to be back to the starving thing again. But instead, my mind drifted to the girl in the park. I'd watched the news and checked online occasionally, but I couldn't find anything about her. I didn't know what that meant. Did it mean I hadn't seen a dead body?