by Mel Todd
I focused on the men storming towards us. That finally got my memory to click. The guy was outside the police station both times. That was why he looked familiar. But this time, rather than glaring at the sidewalk, he focused on me. Belatedly, I realized Detective Stone was with them too and I almost groaned. This wasn't something I wanted to deal with right now or here.
"Well, this will be a pain," I muttered crossing my arms and feeling myself hunch inward. "Two people with grudges against me."
"So you decked him—he was interfering with your job. I'll back you up. He needs to learn just cause he's a merlin doesn't mean he gets to do whatever he wants." Jorge stood up straighter, glaring at the men coming our way.
My skin itched and I wanted to scratch my scalp, but not here. Right now I just wanted to deal with the idiots, take these poor souls to their final place, and get back to the EMS department. Maybe take a call about a baby on the way or something. I could use a happy reason to end the day. As it was, I knew these victims would join the tree girl as regular visitors to my nightmares, which I didn’t need any more additions to.
They got closer and my nerves flared, the same feeling of danger as that day outside the police station. I didn't understand that feeling. The sensation the other day had been freaky enough. To feel it again made no sense. I forced a long, slow breath as I watched the approaching men.
All of them were at least thirty, with Stone having the cheapest suit of all of them. The merlin's suit made him stand out, as did his body language: arrogant and assured. Two others struck me as junior agents, and though they had mage tats on their temples, they weren't merlin's. It was obvious from how they trailed behind the guy that they reported to him, or at least he had more power than they did.
"There she is." Stone was speaking as they walked up to us. I felt the others shuffle away from me as Stone pointed at me. "That's Cori Munroe. She's the one that found the other girl, but I couldn't find anything linking her to the murder."
"The what?" I heard Jorge mutter. I felt his gaze on me, and heard the confusion in his voice.
"That's because I didn't have anything to do with it. And you know it. I'm just here as part of my job. Nothing else. I'm not involved."
I pulled my gaze away from Stone, enjoying his annoyance at me not cowering in fear, but I got caught by the other man's look. A red inflamed spot on his cheekbone where I'd decked him clashed with his pale skin and dark hair. This time I saw his eyes, a steel gray with no give, no warmth. If you could cast magic like in the old stories and the way movies made it look, I'm sure beams of energy from his eyes would have punctured me. I fought not to back up or quail. Okay, I'd decked him, but he'd deserved it.
Hadn't he?
The merlin stared at me and snarled out the words. "Cori Munroe, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder, violation of the plane stability act, being an unregistered mage, and assaulting a federal agent."
Chapter 13
Ritual magic as a vehicle to power is talked about rarely for good reason, it doesn't work. Or it might work, but those that get it to work have paid a price that most don't regard as worth it. But then, the mage getting the power isn’t the one to pay the price. And any ethical human would never do that. ~ History of Magic
The words fell like boulders in a still pond and everyone erupted with exclamations around me. Even the people I had just met this day were demanding to know what he was talking about.
Me?
I was in so much shock I just stood there, gaping at him.
The plane stability act? An unregistered mage? What in the world?
Even Detective Stone was gaping at him, but the two junior agents had cuffs out and had my hands handcuffed tightly behind my back before it registered to me what they were doing.
"Hey! You can't arrest her for assault. You grabbed her first," Jorge protested.
"She shouldn't have walked away while I was talking to her."
They started to drag me away and my brain finally kicked out of neutral. Maybe I hung around Jo too much. I was even starting to think in car terms.
"I've never emerged. Or if I have, I'm so low I didn't realize it. And besides, you can't arrest me on that as I'm not over the age limit requiring registration. And since I don't know what the plane stability act is, I can't have violated it."
"Ignorance of the law is no excuse," his voice was flat and almost inhuman.
"No, but since you assaulted me first, I'm not over twenty-six, I'm not involved in any murder, and there are people here who KNOW where I was all day, you have no reason to arrest me."
The jerk smirked at me. "I'm a federal agent for the FBI Magical Enforcement Division and I have the right to arrest anyone until they prove they aren't a mage, and all mages are subject to my authority. If nothing else, you're arrested because I said so. And I don't give a damn what you think, you're a mage and there is no way you can't know it. Take her to the OMO testing facility—I want her marked and drafted so I can press the proper charges."
They dragged me away to the surprised exclamations of the people left behind. I didn't bother to struggle. The two men were at least fifty pounds heavier than me, and obviously trained in how to subdue people from the painful hold they had on my arms. I went with them.
Look on the bright side. I was planning on getting tested tomorrow anyhow, so this isn't anything I didn't want. And this way I won't have the guilt of Jo asking why I didn't get tested when she asked me to. See, this actually makes it easier. I'll prove that I'm at best a weak hedgie and it will be over.
I relaxed into the back seat of the stereotypical black sedan they shoved me into. I didn't bother trying to talk to them or to get on their good side. I didn't care. I just wanted this over with, all of it.
The ride didn't take too long. The streets were still closed, and they had a major OMO site near Ruby. I really wanted to hide as people looked at them pulling up to the door and dragging me out in handcuffs. How much more embarrassing could this get?
Treat it as a learning experience. You wanted to know what testing was like and you'll never see any of these people again.
I kept repeating that to myself, trying to not feel embarrassed. It didn't work, but I tried.
The doors slid open and I looked around, almost expecting unicorns or something. Instead, it looked like the reception area of the urgent care clinic. Boring. A small waiting room, with no one there, and a window in the wall with a woman sitting there. She was a little older than me with a tattoo of Chaos on her temple. An Entropy mage marked with swirls of color in Fire and Time. She arched a dark, perfectly plucked, eyebrow on her cream pale face.
"And this is?"
"Unregistered mage. Forced testing and registration with charges pending under the Ronin Act," the agent with sandy brown hair said, with a northerner's clipped accent.
"Unless she has the best skin care regimen in the world, she isn't old enough to charge under the Ronin Act."
"Alixant said she has to test."
"Sorry, has to be willing until after the age limit. Do you have any proof she's a mage?"
I liked her. She wasn't intimidated by these bozos or whoever Alixant was. The guy I punched? It sounded like the name he'd have.
Before they could get into it, I spoke up. "It's okay. I'll register and test. I just want it over so I can go back to work."
"Up to you." I felt the tension fade from the two junior agents, and I wondered if I had refused how much trouble it would have caused.
Oh well. Not worth it. Let me do the damn test, prove I don't have any magic to speak of, and maybe get back to work before I get fired. I wonder if I can get fired for this.
After they unlocked the handcuffs, they stood there as I signed the forms that she gave me.
"Okay, ready?" she asked, once I'd signed my life away. Her name tag said Rachel.
"I guess." She stepped out around and opened the door. "This way." The two agents moved to come in.
"I don't
think so. This is her time. You can wait here."
"What if she runs?" one of them protested.
"You are free to go stand by the back door. Unless she creates another opening, she has to leave by one of those two methods." Rachel's voice was so dry and cutting I wanted to applaud her. Instead, I kept my mouth shut and watched them.
"Go to the back, I'll stay here," the northern said and I just sighed. The other one, who had his blond hair in a short crew cut and had probably done military for part of his draft, headed to the back.
Once the door closed behind her, Rachel took me over to a small area with a height chart. There, I let her take my picture, my fingerprints, and a retinal scan. The DNA swab surprised me, but it made sense. They wanted to know for sure who you were. It took forever to get everything into the computer, but she entered it and I verified everything.
"Okay, the next step is the power level monitor. Most people who come in are either very low and just want to know, or they are suffering from an emergence and tend to be disoriented, so what we put them through happens in bits and pieces. But for you it should be easy." Her tone was friendly, but impersonal. Just another day at work for her.
I followed Rachel out of what was obviously the intake area into the back. Two people stood there, both mages, and one with a merlin tattoo. Another man, someone that screamed tech sat looking at computer monitors, and he didn't even glance my way. The merlin looked up and paled, then he frowned at me.
"You just emerge?"
"Not that I know of. I'm here to prove that I'm not a mage, or at least a very minor hedgemage." He frowned even more as I spoke.
"Fine. Step inside. The door will close, and you may feel waves of pressure or something like wind. Don't panic, it's just testing your magical field. After that, if you are a mage, we'll decide your affinities."
Rachel pointed at something that really did look like the full-body scanners at the airport but the tech kept looking at his monitors. There was another door out of the place, but the older mage, the merlin, had a funny look on his face.
"Why do you think you're not a mage, or a hedgemage?"
I tilted my head looking at the weird contraption. "Never emerged, no family history of magic, no reason to think I am. Only here ‘cause some idiot arrested me citing the Ronin act." I felt a bit of guilt. I did have reason to suspect but still, did it matter? I had nothing to do with any of those deaths.
His eyes narrowed but he didn't say anything, just nodded towards the machine.
I shrugged and stepped into the chamber. The door slid shut and I tensed waiting for something, for anything, to happen. Nothing happened. I stood there bored as I waited. No waves of pressure, no feeling of wind - just glass walls that were frosted, steel gray bars that reminded me of Alixant's eyes, and a gray floor. I sighed and started counting in my head. I reached two-hundred thirty-three before the door slid open.
Finally. Maybe I can leave now. Or at least get those idiots to leave me alone.
I stepped out of the chamber to just Rachel standing there. The others had gone. I looked around, but all the fancy monitors were dark.
"Did the test break?"
Rachel had a smile on her face, but it seemed tense, a bit forced. "No. They needed to go check something. They asked me to take you to the affinity room and get that sorted before they tell you your rank."
"Why? I'm so low the test barely registered? It won't hurt my feelings that I barely qualify as a hedge." I resisted rolling my eyes. Why did people make it out to be such a big deal? I was fine not being a mage. My life was good. I didn't need any complications to it. I just wanted to get back to work and try to have a normal life.
Rachel said nothing, just ushered me into the next room and left. It resembled what Jo had said and there was a woman in there. Her boredom was so absolute she had a magazine in front of her face. All I could see was a puffy haircut and long nails painted a pale pink that matched her skin tone perfectly.
The woman spoke from behind the magazine. "There are twelve objects on the table. Which ones do you like the best? Place them in order of priority to your own feelings on the other table." Her voice sounded odd, muffled behind the magazine, but I barely noticed. A blank marble table stood on the opposite side of me, the empty white space aching to be filled. The various objects on the table held my attention and I didn't understand why.
Jo had told me there would be objects, but she made it seem so mundane, so basic, that the idea of a yard sale table sat in my head. This table was a heavy, dark wood, with the objects scattered across in no grouping that made sense to me. I had expected the same ones Jo mentioned, but none of this looked like what she said. Maybe every office did it slightly differently, depending on who ran it?
In front of me was a silver hourglass, the crystals in it drifting through at a rate that just annoyed me, but I couldn't have said why. I started to reach, then stopped, looking at the other eleven objects. They all seemed odd and strange, yet mundane. A Rubix cube, all in a jumble of colors, a candle with a flame, a water fountain giving the room a gentle tinkle, and a pile of what looked like raw silk yarn.
I stood frozen, trying to decide.
"Just pick as many or as few as you feel drawn to. Don't overthink it." The monitor's voice was vague and distant. I noted her comments, but didn't give them any weight. There was an empty space in the pattern of the objects on the table, and it bugged me. Oh, the hourglass called to me, but the hole ate at me like an itch. I couldn't see a pattern in the objects on the table, but there should have been something over there. I reached out, without conscious thought. I wanted to reach for three or four other things but I moved, and my hand wrapped around something. As soon as I wrapped my hand around it, an object shimmered into existence. It was tiny; a bauble for a necklace of the spirit symbol. I moved it to the other table, though it hurt to lay it down. Then I turned back, reaching and grabbing various items that called to me without conscious thought.
A white disk with the word "black" marring its surface; I picked that up and tried to rub the word off with my thumb as I transferred it to the table. A glass bulb was next, pretty with purples and greens swirling in it, but when I picked it up my knees almost buckled with the need to cry. This had happened twice before in my life. It was one reason I always steeled myself before handing people back things they had left. I set it down on the other table with a shudder, trying not to cry.
That was three, I should be done now, right?
But I couldn't stop; there were things I needed to touch. The need to reach for a few more built inside me, to correct things that were wrong. The hourglass with its crystals going through at the wrong speed - I held it, wanting to fix it. The flow needed to be consistent, but for a moment it would flow through smoothly for five seconds, then go in fits and spurts for the next fifteen seconds, then smooth again for three. I didn't know if I wanted to break it or pull it apart. Instead I set it on the table and tipped it over so the sand quit flowing.
I passed over the mineral that was mixed with at least three substances, the candle, the water, and the shredded ribbon; none of them called to me. But the earth in a vial, with a lone avocado seed in a pot next to it hurt. I poured the dirt over it, planting it in the pot, then set it on my table. As I set the last object on the table, the need snapped and I turned to look at what I'd done, even as cold worry swirled in my belly.
The amulet, hourglass, glass bulb, white chip with the word almost erased, and the pot of earth with an avocado seed in it.
What in the hell is all this?
I felt like I'd come out of a dream or something. I reached back for the amulet, needing it in my hands. A sense of something being seriously wrong seeped into my skull, but before I could focus on it, the other door in the room opened. I turned and only then realized the woman who had been manning the test was gone as Rachel looked at me.
"This way. You're all done."
I walked towards Rachel with the amulet still in my hand.
I forced myself to hand it to her, but she just shook her head.
"You can keep it. They would like to talk to you."
That made no sense as I walked into another room down a short hallway. She pushed open a door. That caught me. Why was there no handle just a swinging door? It opened to reveal a room with four people. Alixant, the woman from the testing room, the merlin who'd talked to me originally, and someone I assumed must be the tattoo artist since she was holding a tattoo gun and wore gloves.
Voices were talking as the door swung open and I focused on the sounds before scanning the rest of the room.
"Dammit. If she was over twenty-four, I'd own her lying ass for the next two decades, and I'd make damn sure she paid for every death in blood and in sweat. I can command drafted mages to pay heavier prices." I recognized Alixant's voice and groaned.
"Well, she isn't, and I don't think she's lying. Let's talk to her first." The woman with puffy hair and long nails quit speaking as they turned to look at me.
Chapter 14
Where there is fire, there is smoke. Where there is fire without cause, there is a mage.~ Qin Lin Proverb.
I swallowed. Their gaze riveted me to the floor. To give myself some time, I let myself inspect the rest of the room and what looked like a dentist’s chair.
I couldn't move. My entire attention fixated on the chair, the young woman who stood next to it, and the tray that stood next to her. A tray with ink, a tattoo gun, and templates.
"I don't understand." My voice shook as I dragged my attention away from the chair and to the other people in the room by the table. One of them was the jerk from the park, Alixant. The other two were the merlin who had spoken to me before I tested along with the woman from the room with the objects. I only recognized her from her puffy hair and the nails on her hands that were laid out flat on a table.
"What in the hell are you playing at thinking you can hide your power?” Alixant’s voice tore at me like a whip seeking a target. “Why weren't you dragged in before? Anyone as powerful as you without training is dangerous as all get out. I knew you were lying. How did you know about the rips?"