Hired Luck

by Mel Todd

  The next two weeks went by with me either practicing or fighting with the school about my transcripts and getting in as a junior. Jo was doing much better and I hadn't realized how depressed she'd been until she wasn't. Mostly I tried to not feel like an idiot. Niall was at the point he was almost friendly and Siab was a kick. I'd actually miss seeing her every day. Other than that, I enjoyed collecting pay for not doing a damn thing but since I had so much free time, Jo made me use our gym membership and work out. Which I hated.

  Friday evening we were at the gym and I almost wanted to beg to go out with her friends, but I needed to build muscle. I'd been putting on weight and had curves, but I wanted to be able to lug all the books around I'd need next year without dying. So I was here. Under protest.

  "Hey," Jo puffed. "You have plans Sunday?" She was on the StairMaster, going up them faster than I could have done with zombies chasing me. I was greatly regretting my desire to get more in shape as I slogged through my time on the elliptical. Evil machine.

  "Uh," I tried to remember my schedule through the haze of exhaustion. "Yeah. The funeral for Jane." I had to go. I needed to put closure to this one and maybe the nightmares would stop. Odd that out of all the deaths I'd seen, this was the one that still haunted me. The look on her face, the face they had to do reconstruction on to match to identification photos. Anything to try to help wipe it away from my memories.

  "Oh well. Papi won tickets to the SEC game this weekend. He's got six. Mami, Stinky, and Paolo are going. Marco had other plans." I could hear the wicked smile in her voice. "If he isn't careful, Mami is going to start wedding plans. He's taking his girlfriend away for a weekend in Helen." Helen, Georgia, was a town north of Atlanta that was all in a Bavarian style from the buildings to the stuff they sold. It was a fun getaway but living there would have driven me crazy. Cute scalloped eaves and everything else was not my personal design taste. I might still be working on exactly what styles I liked, but I knew for sure that wasn't it.

  I had to laugh. "Yes, she will be. Good for him. But nah, you go. I've got the funeral, then I wanted to work on more school stuff. I’m trying to get out of some classes, and I need to write an argument as to why I should be excluded. You'd think my degrees and certifications would be enough of a reason." I was still annoyed at that but because people so rarely went from one to the other, they were balking. That was something else I'd talk to Alixant about if it didn't quit being a pain. I'd have time Sunday. "Why don't you ask Sable?"

  I heard the muffled sound from her and didn't even try to hide my smile as I kept on elipticalling. Was that even a word?

  "You think she'd come?"

  "I think you've been talking about her non-stop, that you text her most evenings, and that since she responds at least as fast as you do, she might be interested. Introducing her to your family as a first date might be extreme but if she's a keeper, you might as well throw her into the deep end."

  "Hmm. I'll think about it."

  Ha, I bet she’s texting her before we even make it to the locker rooms.

  I won that mental bet thirty minutes later as I dragged my wet noodle body back to the locker room.

  "She said she'd love to but to be aware she was wearing orange."

  "And what color will you be wearing?"

  "Neither. I don't like yellow and refuse to wear orange. Papi, however, will be decked out in yellow, which means Mami will be." She rolled her eyes as she grabbed her stuff out of the locker. We headed home to our own showers and a half hour later I was in bed, sound asleep while she finished listening to some of her texts.

  Sunday morning, I got dressed in funeral clothes while Jo tried to decide what to wear to be sexy, comfortable, parent-appropriate, and correctly attired for a football game.

  Her room looked like a tornado had gone through it. "You are a clothes horse, you know that."

  "Of course I am. With this body, I need to display it properly. Make men weep at what they can't have and make women drool." Her comeback lacked its normal zest as she dug through another set of clothes.

  "You're over stressing. She's seen you most days. Wear cute jeans, boots, hair in a ponytail, and one of your favorite t-shirts, one with a V-neck. You'll look awesome, you always do."

  She paused and lifted her head, looking at me for reassurance. "You sure?"

  "Dang, you must really like her. I've never seen you this freaked out. Yes, I'm sure." My phone beeped at me. "And I have to go. Let me know who wins." I grabbed a big purse I'd bought. It was almost nice, but bigger than anything I'd have normally gotten so Carelian could fit in it nicely, for now. In the last three weeks, he'd almost doubled in size and I was starting to worry he'd be the size of a German shepherd before he quit growing. While he still fit in the carry bag on my chest, I refused to wear that to a funeral.

  "Come on. We have a funeral to go to."

  He still didn't talk much, but all the books I read backed up what Indira had mentioned. If you got a baby familiar, and he had been barely past the milk stage, they started out relatively quiet, but soon talked much more. I thought it was odd that even young he'd seemed much older than his equivalent human age, but I wouldn't argue. We'd already started on the toilet training - or more accurately, using the toilet instead of the litter box. But he needed to get bigger before it was easy for him.

  The rideshare waited outside for me and the day was already heating up. Fall didn't really start in Georgia until late October, if then. So the day, at ten A.M., was already at ninety and getting warmer.

  The driver looked askance at Carelian then glanced at my face and got even more pale. I never could figure out if it was that I was a merlin, or that my tattoo looked altered, which had heavy penalties for both the mage and tattoo artist. Either way, it wasn't anything a driver needed to worry about.

  I arrived at the funeral home early. That driver had treated every yellow as a reason to accelerate, leaving me closing my eyes for most of the ride. Funeral homes were all depressingly similar. I made my way in and stayed in the background as people milled around. Thinking about everything we'd talked about in the meetings, I people-watched, keeping an eye out for our unsub. Even the language they used put you at a distance and it made me uncomfortable.

  Now that is an interesting thought. Why does unsub make me feel uncomfortable, but patient or victim doesn't?

  Carelian lay at my feet while I turned over the concepts in my head. I'd been there about fifteen minutes when Alixant walked in, Niall and Siab with him, and a young woman I didn't know. They headed my way, so I didn't worry about getting up and heading towards them.

  Does the man have radar to know where I am at all times? I mean really.

  It was a valid thought. The place wasn't packed, but there had to be about fifty people there already and I was against the wall wearing a dark blue blouse, black slacks, my quietly professional black shoes, and a bright maroon bag. It was the only color they had.

  "Cori," he said as he walked up, the woman with them. "I wanted to introduce you to my sister, Becca. Becca this is Cori Munroe, the Spirit merlin I mentioned."

  "Ah, you're the one that found Jane? The one that is going to help them catch the asshole that killed her?" The venom in her voice was actually refreshing compared to the studied calmness from all the agents. Her hair was the same dark brown as Alixant's and her widow's peak looked better on her than on him, giving her an aristocratic elegance I could never hope to achieve. With dark brown eyes and a long, burgundy dress, she looked like someone who had stepped down from a painting, she was so regal. Her tattoo, brown and dark blue, indicated she was an Earth mage but the grief in the lines around the corners of her mouth and eyes made her human.

  I stood and shook her hand. "Hi. Yes, I found Jane. I'm so sorry. I don't know about stopping the guy, but I will help if I can."

  "That’s good enough. And thank you. I hate the idea of her dying with no one there." Her grip was tight, almost painful, but I could tell it was from emotions not
directed at me.

  "Come on, the service is beginning," Niall said, turning as people streamed into the main area.

  Carelian jumped into the bag and I lifted it. He was still too small to walk with this many people. Getting trampled would not be fun. The idea of him getting hurt at all made my stomach twist.

  I followed them in, trailing at the back of their little group. Listening to the story of a girl's life cut short before she had a chance to be anything, and all I could do was think of Jo being the one nailed against that tree.

  Chapter 39

  While religions and faith still exist, the spiritual landscape of modern America holds little resemblance to that of the Pilgrims. Magic made too many miracles the recourse of men, and being able to talk to the dead shattered many of the beliefs of heaven and hell. While there is a resurgence in Wicca and other religions, for the most part Rome is now home to a figurehead of a religion that many give only lip service to. ~ History of Magic

  No one spoke on the drive to the burial site. I rode with Alixant and Rebecca. I slipped into the back seat before anyone could protest and I occupied myself with petting Carelian, who purred loud enough Rebecca glanced back at him and smiled. It was the first smile I'd seen on her all day. I got the feeling she was a fierce friend, as fierce as Jo. I hated the fact that my mind immediately went to imagining how Jo would react if someone killed me. My hand tightened on Carelian at that thought. I needed to make sure she never had to face that. The thought of her face as lined with grief as Becca's made me ill.

  The funeral was somber. From here I could see her family, while during the service itself I couldn't, though I heard a few people muttering about no viewing.

  They don't know how glad they should be. None of her family should have their last view of her like that.

  I watched Rebecca hug Jane's parents as tears wet her cheeks and I glanced at Alixant. What I saw erased the remainder of my resentment: pain, grief, sorrow, and a determination that made his profile seem chiseled in stone. Right then he could have modeled for a bust and driven the artist world crazy with the emotions it would have held.

  Rebecca walked back and joined us. Chris had another commitment, but from what they had said, no one expected Paul Goins to attend. It was doubtful Jane meant, or had meant, much to him. She was a means to an end, and his goal must be more power. It was the only thing that made sense.

  It made me wonder what his family history was. I knew I was running from my parents. While my desired profession, EMT, was in direct correlation to all the people I found hurt or dying, it also helped that being an EMT had nothing to do with their careers, not even close. Avoiding them still drove me even when fighting with the choices of classes for the next few years and trying to decide what degree I wanted.

  "Would it be against your ethics if I asked for a favor from the FBI merlin?" I asked as we walked back towards the waiting cars.

  "Ooh, hear that Stevie? You’re famous," his sister teased, even though her face still was damp from tears.

  I flinched at the nickname but kept a half smile on my face, shifting my bag with Carelian in it from one hand to the other.

  "I don't know what you could want from me, Cori. But ask." He seemed both amused and curious.

  "I'm having issues with MageTech. They’re saying my job experience and previous classes don't count for much. I've given them transcripts and it was a fully accredited college. As they have told me repeatedly, mages don't come in with college credits, or if they do, it’s only a few. Not me with a triple AA."

  Rebecca looked at me, lifting a brow. It pulled her tattoo up, changing it in a way that caught my attention for a moment. "You have a triple AA? I didn't think that was possible. What did you get them in?"

  Her tone seemed interested, so I answered without the defensiveness that Alixant seemed to kick off in me. "A new program at the community college. You get your degree and/or certifications in Medical Assistant, Criminal Justice, and Emergency Medical Tech. Then I got my paramedics certification. So, I was working as an EMT when your brother decided to interrupt my life." I managed to only keep the comment wry instead of aggressive. I would take that as a win.

  "They are saying those credits don't qualify? No." Alixant frowned down at me, but this time I knew his attitude was directed at the administration of the college. Not me. "Everything you have should count. Yes, you should be going in as a junior though there will be a few lower level mage courses you need to take."

  Becca looked at me, a frown creasing her brow. "You didn't think you'd emerge?"

  I gave a laugh that was only slightly bitter. "I knew I wouldn't emerge. Except apparently, I already had, a decade ago."

  "What?" Becca said shocked.

  Her reaction caused real laughter, and people walking by frowned at us. I cut it off quickly.

  "Yeah. So Alixant? You’ll help?"

  "Yes. I'll get on the phone this week if I can find time. We know people sometimes emerge when they don't expect to, they should be adept at handling just about anything. And not accept work experience?" He got a funny look in his eye. "I’ll bet I can get you some college credits for this. It might not count towards your bachelors, but I bet it would towards your masters, depending on what you major in."

  The hint wasn't subtle, but I just nodded. "Thanks." We had just reached the car when all of our phones went off. I grimaced and heard Carelian whine at the cacophony. Pulling out my phone I noted the time, just after one, as I answered the call from Chris.

  We all must have answered at the same time as the feedback between our phones was crazy. I hung up and moved closer to Siab.

  "We're all here. What's up, Chris. I thought you were at Quantico this weekend?" Niall asked, speaking loudly as Siab set her phone to speaker.

  "He's struck, and it's worse than we feared."

  "What?" Alixant's voice was sharp. "How can you know?"

  "He hit the SEC game. They have over three hundred 911 calls already, the system is crashing, and our seers are foretelling the rips opening so large other things will get in. Things we can't fight against."

  His words made my blood run cold. Indira had mentioned things coming into our world via the rips, but what could be worse than a dragon? Not that I'd ever seen one. Then the rest of what he said registered.

  "The SEC football game? Here in Atlanta?" I clarified, because even I knew there were multiple games on weekends, or at least I thought there were. Maybe it was in some other city.

  "Yes, at the Mercedes Benz stadium. The place is becoming a ground zero for terrified people, mages and non, alike. You need to get there and stop him."

  Aliant broke into a run towards the cars. "Everyone with me, we don't have time for multiple vehicles. Niall passenger, get us linked in and start collecting details."

  I followed, running as fast as I could, holding Carelian in his bag tight in my arms as terror washed through me. I had never felt fear like this before. Jo was there. All the Guzmans were there. I might lose them all. I didn't know how to help. What would I do if I lost Jo?

  I slid into the car after Becca squeezed into the middle and Siab got in on the other side. I held Carelian in his bag on my lap as I tried not to crush him while I struggled to buckle the seat belt and keep my panic at bay.

  Jo, dear Merlin, Jo, please be all right.

  A purr and Carelian rubbing his face against mine broke my thoughts even as the car slammed into reverse and then into drive. Chris' voice came through the speakers as lights and siren began to strobe out.

  "Here's what we know. End of first quarter, calls started coming in. That people had collapsed. It ramped up as time went on, last count was over two hundred." Chris' voice bobbled up and down as Alixant ramped onto the freeway, lights and siren blaring. I braced myself with my legs and held Carelian tight. At least the three of us were wedged into the back tight enough that I only needed to worry about keeping my head from slamming into the window.

  "Any verdict? Do we have ver
ification of any rips forming?" Alixant snapped out the questions as he went into the emergency lane to avoid traffic. I closed my eyes.

  The second I did, the image of Jo, laying there lifeless, the greyness of death around her lips appeared in front of me. My eyes snapped back open. I had to fight not to cry, the image was so real. I took deep breaths, trying to clear my mind. I didn't want to take the risk that just thinking something could make it happen.

  "ETA eight minutes. Take the next off ramp," Niall spoke before Chris could answer Alixant's questions.

  "Right now, they think it’s some sort of poison. No reports of death. A few are writhing in apparent agony. The current personnel can't find any wounds, so no one knows what is going on. If it is a transformation, how the hell can he affect that many people?" His voice sounded frustrated, upset, and perversely, it made me feel a bit better. Knowing it did matter to them helped when they kept a distance from everything. I leaned back in the seat as Alixant stepped harder on the gas. I almost shut my eyes again as Carelian let loose a plaintive meow and wiggled deeper into the bag.

  "Revised ETA, three minutes," Niall said, his voice calm as Alixant raced up a one-way street the wrong way. I felt like I was in a video game, but knowing we were getting to Jo faster helped.

  "Hold on Carelian, I'm going to need to run." I pulled up my phone as he curled up in a tight ball at the bottom of the bag with a sad, worried. Jo had sent me a pic of the tickets as they went through, and I could clearly see the section and seats. I knew where to go. Blue lights caught my attention and I looked up to see us pulling into a parking lot already full of flashing lights from cops, firetrucks, and ambulances.

  "Get out and head in, spread out and see if you can figure out what the vehicle is. Make sure you have your phones." Alixant shouted the orders even as the car slammed to a halt, rocking me forward in the seat. I undid the seatbelt, clutching Carelian’s bag, and leapt out of the car. I didn't even worry about the fact there was nothing to identify me as an agent. I just ran.