by K. F. Breene
I tapped on the arm rest, my other little secret on the tip of my tongue.
“Go ahead and spit it out,” she said, reading my mind.
I exhaled a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. “I’m not going to let him push me away from the fight. I could be wrong, but I think he has doubts, and I get the impression that he thinks this is an impossible battle—”
“He’d be stupid not to.”
“I could help,” I said. “I’m learning really fast—”
“Lightning fast.”
“—and I can clear a room already. Like you said, maybe I can turn the tide.” I leaned my forehead against the window as we parked in the farthest available spot in the corner parking lot of the magical government building. “He is trying to do the best thing for me by keeping me away. But…” I shook my head, rolling my forehead against the glass. I pulled back. I would draw attention if I had a big red spot in the middle of my forehead. “He needs the help, and I can’t in good conscience do nothing. I believe in his cause. Valens is a big dickhead. He needs his day of judgment, and I want to bring it to him. Not to mention that I want to help Kieran. This is my fight, too.”
“Amen, sister. Put ’er there.” She threw up her hand for a high-five. I frowned at her, but it would be unthinkable not to follow through with a high-five. “I hoped you’d say all that. Well, not about falling hard for Kieran, but about sticking with the fight. I’m excited to see what you unleash. It’ll be awesome.”
She got out of the SUV.
“Wait…” I nearly tumbled down after her. The SUV was a little higher than I remembered from getting in. “I didn’t say I’m falling hard for him, just that he’s gotten to me. It’s different.”
There were limits to my honesty.
“Sure.” She put a hand up, stilling me.
The parking lot gently sloped down to the large magical government building. The bay beyond it sparkled in the sun, all the fog cleared away from this area by Valens. Anxiety unfurled in my middle, knowing the might that awaited inside those walls. There was no reason for the top tier to notice me, not yet, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t. There was no telling what they’d gleaned of Kieran’s plans, and who was helping with those plans.
Hell, there might’ve been cameras overlooking the beach. They could have my face on wanted posters. Anything was possible, and I didn’t have a clue about any of it. I was walking in blind.
“Okay,” I said, expelling a breath and trying to calm my nerves. “All we need to do right now is go in there, talk to the ghost, and get out. We’re looking for information. We don’t need to cause a scene.”
Bria nodded, pointing at a little trail cutting across an undeveloped area and curving down the hill toward the building. “I’m pretty fluent about the positioning of all the cameras in this joint. There are quite a few outside, but not as many inside. Definitely not a lot in the common areas. Valens’s office will be dicey, but that’s what ski masks and fire alarms were made for.”
“What? No—” I followed her onto the trail. My foot slipped on loose rock and dirt. “Did you hear me? We’re just here to contact the ghost.”
“Yeah. And then we should check out Valens’s office. We found stuff in his house, so we’ll probably find stuff in his office, too.”
“No, Bria…” I put out my hands for balance as the trail ran down the hillside, much steeper than it looked. Only a few pieces of driftwood haphazardly cut into the dirt provided any sort of foothold. One slip and I’d be rolling ass-over-end. “If we want to break into his office, we need a better plan. We certainly can’t go in the middle of the day.”
“There is a lot more security at night. That’s when they’ve had all the break-ins in the past. Don’t worry, though. I got this. We won’t get caught.”
“That’s what you said about his house!”
“And look, we didn’t get caught. But seriously, it’s fine. I brought supplies to start a fire.”
“Wha—whoa.” I flailed my arms to keep my balance as my feet slid. My toe hit a rock, tipping me toward Bria. I jogged down and clutched her shoulders to stay upright.
Somehow, she wasn’t having a problem managing the path.
“No fires. No breaking in. That ghost seemed to know what our guy looks like. And while spirits aren’t good with the passing of time, I can probably work with her. I can figure out a way to pinpoint how often the spirit trapper comes around.”
“All of that sounds very logical,” she said, and though I couldn’t see or hear it, I got the distinct impression she was laughing at me.
“No fires,” I reiterated.
We finally reached the wall of the building, and she turned right toward the back corner. Once there, she glanced around the side. A black orb clung to the underside of the overhang, above a nondescript gray door. A small red light blazed from its backside.
“Okay,” she said quietly, watching that orb. “When that light goes off, we’re going to—”
The light clicked off and she sprinted forward, pulling her backpack from her shoulder at the same time. I jolted after her, my heart jumpstarting as adrenaline dumped into my bloodstream.
She came to an abrupt stop at the door and I barely kept from slamming into her back. With economic and lightning-fast movements, she pulled out a card with a cord attached and flashed it in front of a black pad stationed on the wall. After a metallic click, she yanked the door open and dashed inside. I jetted in after her, peeling off to the side and breathing heavily. The door swung shut behind us and another click announced it was locked again.
“Okay.” She stashed the card into her backpack, zipped it up, and swung it over her shoulder. “Sneak in through the back. Check.”
Without another word, she started off down what looked like an off-white service hallway, with a couple of large canvas bins on wheels and racks of cleaning supplies.
“Why does the camera turn on and off?” I whispered, checking behind us periodically to make sure the coast was clear.
“The feed rotates back and forth between two entrances, and the rotation moves pretty fast. Fast enough that the idiots in charge think it’s secure. Okay, where are we going?”
“Either the lobby area, or the hallway near the medical area at the top of the front stairs.”
“Got it. Upstairs is a little more sheltered than the lobby, so we’ll hit that up first.”
“No fire,” I reminded.
She navigated the hallways with ease, somehow dodging in and out of people without drawing their notice. I, on the other hand, drew eyes constantly. Some people smiled, some scowled, and one had the fiercest resting bitch face I’d ever seen. I was the one staring at her, that time. She looked like she was about to kill someone. If not for her bored eyes, I would’ve assumed she was on a murderous rampage.
“Do I have stuff on my face?” I asked as we climbed a set of stairs I didn’t recognize. The building was large and I’d only been there a couple times in my life. I had very little knowledge of it. It was a stroke of luck Bria had decided to countermand Kieran’s demands and bring me here anyway.
She glanced back. “Nope. Why?”
“I seem to get…” A round-faced man glanced my way. His gaze stuck. “People keep staring at me,” I whispered, trying not to look back and see if he was still staring.
He was.
“Yeah. You’re dressed nicely and your hair is combed.”
“So? You’re dressed…” I glanced at the side of her Motley Crue T-shirt, a name I didn’t recognize. Judging from the big-haired guys with guitars on the front, it was some sort of eighties band. A leather bracelet embedded with spikes wrapped around her wrist, and black cargo pants draped her legs. “Your hair is combed.”
“I’m merely good looking, made weird by the punk-rock edge. You are extremely pretty. And with those new clothes, you look polished but not too polished. Fly-aways, no makeup—you’re a natural beauty, and you show it off without intending to show it off
. It’s a real good look. If I cared, like, at all, I might give it a go myself. As it is, I’m cursing myself for letting you go out like that. I was so afraid you’d wear pants only useful in a flood that I forgot about the bigger picture.”
It was hard to pretend the staring wasn’t making my skin crawl. I’d never been noticed this much in my life. In fact, usually I wasn’t noticed at all. That’s what was so great about the dual-society zone— you could skirt around people with your head down and usually get through a day without anyone glancing at you at all. This was…disconcerting.
“This is the hall, right?” Bria said with a hush, slowing.
I recognized the far end, with the fashionable metal tree climbing the wall and spreading across the ceiling. There was a little alcove over where I’d first seen the girl. She’d pointed out a skulking Jack…
I hadn’t even thought about having a tail. “Who was on duty this morning? At my house?”
“No one.” We both drifted to the side as a few important-looking businessmen passed us. “Kieran pulled them off duty. I was confused until you showed me the note. It seems like it’s true. He’s gone. He’s out. That means the Six are gone, too. He’s leaving you to your life.”
A strange rush of pain coursed through me, quickly followed by ol’ trusty, my anger.
“Well, fuck that,” I seethed.
“Yeah. I agree. What if you were in danger? I mean, the cameras aren’t going anywhere, but still.”
“What about the kids? Did he just walk away from them, too?”
She shrugged. “Don’t know. Though even if he did, I have a feeling the guys aren’t going to give up. Zorn definitely won’t. They might keep training them on their own time. He could stop them, but…” She shrugged again. Kieran had left some gray areas.
I pushed it from my mind. Now wasn’t the time to fret. I needed to focus on the situation at hand.
Two men crested the stairs when we were halfway down the hall. Both were dressed in similar expensive suits that contoured their trim bodies, and I had to bet they went to the same tailor. The fair-skinned, twenty-something man on the left had gorgeous black hair that cascaded down beside his face and over his shoulders in a shiny sheet. His conditioning game was on point! The guy next to him, freckle-faced and with rusty orange hair, was probably so jealous he didn’t know what to do with himself. I would be.
The freckle-faced guy, in his forties, glanced my way, and his eyes sparkled with self-importance. When he looked away, it was as if his chest puffed out. The other guy must’ve noticed, because he straightened his shoulders and lifted his chin.
They were trying to advertise their importance. Except they looked like cheap clones of the clearly important people we’d skittered away from a few moments ago. These guys probably had mundane jobs with a teeny bit of clout, and it went straight to their heads. What douches.
Bria’s hand hit my shoulder and her foot jutted out in front of me. She shoved me into the wall.
“Ow,” I said without thinking, reaching for my banged-up shoulder.
The red-haired man glanced back, momentarily slowing, and a strange spark of power flared in his middle. Small specks formed in the air around him, barely discernible. In a moment, the specks were gone, and he’d picked up his pace.
“Go,” Bria whispered, hurrying us along. “Go!”
34
Alexis
I looked around for an attack. “What? What’s happening?”
“What do you mean what?” She grabbed my upper arm and hustled me along, jerking me to the side at the last moment. The tree climbed the wall not far away, its metal branches spreading across the ceiling.
Freezing cold stopped my breath and passed through my body, sucking at my energy. It passed out through my back, out of sight. Bria had found the alcove I’d been looking for, and it was occupied.
“Crap, no!” I jumped like I’d sat on a cactus, then spun away, hitting the fake tree. I stumbled backward and finally fell on my butt, way out in the middle of the hallway. Thankfully, the guys who were making their way to the end, about to turn the corner, didn’t look back.
She darted out, grabbed my arm again, and bodily dragged me to the side. “Get up, you donkey! I swear, I’ve never seen someone stick out so much in all my life. It’s like you are trying to grab people’s attention.”
“What did I do?” I asked, pushing myself up to standing.
“What did you—” Her mouth dropped open and she widened her eyes as she swung her hand back toward the way we’d come. “Oh nothing, just stared at those clearly well-paid guys with all the confidence and swagger of someone at the top of her game. It’s like you were challenging them to prove themselves, you nitwit. Around here, they just might. That’s a way to get noticed. We’re actively trying not to get noticed.”
I huffed out a laugh. “Those guys aren’t all that well paid, trust me. Decent paychecks, fine, but they suffer from small man syndrome. They have to advertise their coolness to get noticed.”
Her glower turned into a confused frown. “How do you know that?”
“It’s written all over them. Those nearly matching suits, the forced bravado, the attempted swagger—give me a break.”
Her head tilted, her eyes going distant as she probably replayed their images in her head.
I’d never truly appreciated how much insight I’d gained from reading people and their ghosts at the freak show until this moment. And while I could be wrong this time like any other, the ease with which I’d found Lyra’s skin had given me more confidence.
“Anyway,” I said, “I wasn’t staring at them. I was just noticing the one guy’s awesome hair. Did you see how shiny it was? I wonder what product he uses…”
“Genetics.” She stepped deeper into the alcove, right next to the teen girl I’d been looking for, with her large eyes and her fingers nervously picking at her large buttons. “You’re fucking with my chi, Alexis. You are really fucking with my chi, right now.” She took a deep breath, collecting herself. At least now I knew one thing could mess with that breezy calm of hers. Me. “Now.” She adjusted her backpack. “What are you looking for?”
I pointed at the girl beside her.
“It happened,” the teen said in a squeak, who’d clearly been waiting for a chance to speak.
“What?” I asked.
“What?” Bria asked me.
“I’ve been taking the calendar days,” the teen said. “From the desk. Today is the second. I knew you’d come back.”
“You’ve been taking the calendar days?” I shook my head in confusion. “I don’t know what that means.”
“Shit.” Bria braced herself like a spider, knees bent and arms out to the sides. “Is there a spirit around me right now? Why can’t I—oh shit, I do feel her! Damn it, Alexis.” She pushed away and flattened herself against the adjoining wall. “You’re taking me out of my game.”
“The little…” The teen made a box gesture with her hands, ignoring Bria. “Calendar days.”
Understanding dawned. “The joke-a-day calendar type things?”
“Today is the second,” the teen reiterated.
Adrenaline dumped into my body. “Meaning…it happened today? The guy came today?”
A woman glanced at me as she passed, her silk dress swimming around her legs. Another highly paid somebody-or-other, only this one had a shitload of arrogance to go with it.
I curled my lips in and ripped my gaze to the ground so Bria didn’t get any ideas about throwing me down the stairs or anything.
“What happened today?” Bria whispered, her gaze darting around. “The spirit trap?”
“I was downstairs,” the teen said, “watching people coming and going, and it happened. The white-haired man came. I snatched a calendar day and then came up here to get away from him. He tries to slice off parts of me. He’s not strong enough, but it still hurts. I hate it.” She shivered and pulled her sweater tighter around her body.
“Is sh
e talking?” Bria asked, watching my face. “What’s she saying? Because if the trail is fresh, we can bag this bastard right now.”
“Hurry.” I gestured at the teen. “Show us the calendar days.”
She nodded and pushed forward into the hall. A moment later, she disappeared.
“Dang it,” I whispered, hustling toward the wide stairs that led down into the lobby.
“What happened?” Bria asked, right beside me.
“She’s an Apporter. She just teleported away. She clearly forgets other people don’t share her ability. She’s insanely strong. Or she used to be, at any rate. She was going to be in Valens’s Elite group but she got pissed off at a trainer one day and teleported him outside. She was on the fourth floor or something. High up. He went splat.”
“Oh shit,” Bria breathed. “I heard about that. That was like…four years ago, I think. She was extremely powerful and rare, but uncontrollable. Valens himself had to kill her. No one else could lock her down.”
“That explains why he trapped her,” I said quietly. “Grudge match.” I walked down the stairs as quickly as would still appear natural. “I just hope she was going to the lobby desk or else we lost her.”
“I get the grudge match, but why trap her here, specifically?” Bria asked in confusion. “Why not transfer her to that warehouse and stick her in a body or two? With a strong enough Necromancer, she could be made to follow orders. Her power would be useful.”
“But they don’t have a strong enough Necromancer. He had to scramble brains or whatever to make the spirits easier to handle, remember?”
“Still, they could’ve tried. Or done something else. Trapping her in the government building doesn’t make sense.”
When we reached the bottom of the stairs, I scanned the lobby, immediately finding the teen beside the large information desk. There was no sign of a white-haired man or anyone who would meet her description of the caster.