She was about to call on the next patient when Hannah tapped her on the shoulder. Hannah had been helping out with the running of the clinic since business had picked up.
"There's someone here to see you out front," said Hannah.
"Have them take a number," said Aurie.
Hannah had a cagey expression. "You probably want to take this one. You're caught up anyway. The rest of them just need a minute under the music box."
Hope bloomed in her chest as she thought about who the visitor might be. The little bell on the door rang when it closed behind her. That hope evaporated when she saw him.
"Nezumi," she said, trying not to sound disappointed. "It's good to see you."
He gave her a short bow. "Nezumi happy to see you, Aurie-mage."
"You look well," said Aurie, noting his clean clothing. "How is Annabelle?"
His black eyes lit up. "Annabelle have good strong tail. Sharp teeth like her mother. Grow up strong. Now that wakers gone, Nezumi move family back home."
"Great," said Aurie sheepishly. It'd been her fault they'd had to move. She was glad it had worked out. "Stop by anytime."
Nezumi pressed his hands together, face pinched with thought. "Nezumi feel bad about Aurie-mage's friend."
Frank Orpheum's mass hypnotism had left the district's residents with holes in their memories, but enough remembered the day of the battle that it had become common knowledge.
"Thank you, Nezumi," said Aurie with a heaviness on her heart.
Even though Frank Orpheum had gotten his just deserts in the end, it didn't erase the pain she felt about losing a friend, especially when it'd been her decision to involve him. Thinking about it only made her more dedicated to the clinic.
The little man stepped forward, his coarse eyebrows waggling. "Nezumi ask favor?"
"What is it?" asked Aurie.
"It would be Nezumi's honor if you would have dinner with family tomorrow night. As thank you," he said.
Images of unsavory meals went through her head. She must have done a poor job of hiding her expression because Nezumi chuckled.
"Worry not, Aurie-mage. Wife Christa is head chef at Le Petite Bistro," he said with a giggle.
"Wonderful," she said, relieved. "I'll be there."
Nezumi looked away, mumbled to himself, then sighed.
"Please ask sister-mage to join. But only if not threaten Nezumi or family," he said.
Aurie stifled laughter behind her cupped hand. "Yes. I'll bring Pi. Don't worry. She's much nicer than she seems."
Nezumi said his goodbyes and went across the square to his brick house.
Aurie was about to go back inside when she sensed someone watching her. A figure in a dark hoodie leaned against the dragon fountain. Plumes of water sprayed out of the dragon's mouth, sending streamers of mist into the wind.
Aurie squinted away the sun and approached. Her skin felt tingly and her thoughts scrambled.
"Zayn," she said softly as he pulled back his hoodie.
A moment of pain crossed his gaze as he looked at her. "Aurie."
"Congratulations on graduating," she said.
He bit his lower lip. "You know the last time I saw you, you were dead. I didn't learn the truth until I read an article in the Herald of the Halls about your win."
"I'm so sorry," she said, stepping forward to touch him, but feeling a barrier between them. She ached to hold him, kiss him. "I didn't think about that. That you wouldn't know that I was alive."
"It's okay. I deserved it. I was the one that got you mixed up in Priyanka's schemes. It wasn't an accident that you and your sister ended up in a group with Raziyah," he said.
"That's right," said Aurie, remembering the sorting contest. "I always wondered how we both ended up in the same one."
"When I saw you and your friends with Ernie, I knew you would be the best hope for him," he said.
"What about Rigel?" she asked.
"He got unlucky," said Zayn.
"Why? Why were you risking yourself? If Priyanka found out she would have killed you," she said.
"She would have," he said. "But for the same reason you were risking yourself. The only thing I didn't know was that Orpheum had hypnotized her. It's a good thing he's dead, or she'd make him die slowly for that."
When she made a face of not understanding, he added, "I talked to Pi earlier. That's how I knew where to find you. She told me everything. Though you two were the first people I thought of when I heard that he'd died."
His death had been immediately felt by his students and followers. The mourning went round the world. They were planning a Frank Orpheum Day in many countries, including the United States. Aurie had no plans to celebrate it.
"It's the first time a patron has died, well, since Invictus," said Zayn.
"I feel bad for all his students," she said.
The entertainment industry was a wreck. Without a patron to protect them from faez madness, production on new movies and TV shows had ground to a halt. Only the mundane plays and musicals were running on Broadway and at the Frank Orpheum theater. Mages from other halls had been recruited, but they weren't trained in illusions like he had been.
"Some of the older mages from his hall, the ones who are hardened against faez, have taken a patronage role, but the number is tiny compared to the whole industry," he said. "They're just not strong enough to keep it going."
Every paper in the world was currently debating what to do. When Invictus had died, it'd mostly been a Hundred Halls problem, since the patrons had lived long enough not to need his protection any longer. Though it meant no new halls could open until a head patron was reinstated.
When Orpheum had died, that orphaned a large population of mages that a massive industry had been built upon. Governments around the world were debating the impact.
"How's Priyanka?" asked Aurie.
"It's a good thing classes are over. She's in a foul mood," he said.
"What's she really like?" asked Aurie, thinking about Raziyah. Despite her best efforts, Aurie missed the nerdy black girl.
He gave her a shrug. "I wish I could tell you for sure, but she doesn't really let people in close. The only things I do know is that she's brilliant at what she does, and she's a survivor. I want to believe that she's generally good, but she's practical enough to be brutal if she thinks it's important enough. Why do you ask?"
"I don't know. I spent a year hanging out with her. I'd like to believe that some of Raz was real, though I'm not foolish enough to get my hopes up. I also recognize that this whole thing with Invictus dead has to be coming to a head. The Cabal have too many plots and schemes for it not to. So I'm wondering if she's the enemy or not," said Aurie.
"Give her a reason to be on your side and she might be. Might," he said.
"What about you? What are you doing now that you've graduated?" she asked hopefully.
"I'm headed home," he said. "I have things I have to take care of back there."
"Why? Why can't you stay?" she asked.
"You know when you found me in the closet, half naked, and I said I was a diabetic? That was a lie, sort of. I have to take regular injections, or I die."
"What? That's terrible. Is that an exotic disease or something?" she asked, brushing her fingertips across his arm.
"Not a disease. Think of it like my blood is poison, and I have to take the antidote to keep it from killing me. It's not exactly like that, but close enough," he said.
She wanted to crush him in her arms.
"So you see," he said, "I don't know if I'll be back. There's only one place to get the antidote, and that's back home. I was only allowed to come here to get training, and now that it's done..."
"Oh," she said softly.
He stepped forward and grabbed her hands, squeezing them tightly.
"What I said on the Spire," he started, but Aurie cut him off.
"I know. You didn't mean it," she said. "I knew it at the time, though it didn't hurt any less to hear it."
"I really like you," he said. "In ways that, given my circumstances, I shouldn't."
"Vague much?" she taunted.
"Sorry. I wish I could say more," he said.
"You don't need to," she said. "I can see it in your eyes, whenever you mention your home, that you have a lot to deal with. But if you ever need someone to talk to, I'll be here."
His eyes were watery, so she leaned in and kissed him. He tasted like mint. She wrapped her arms around his neck. They kissed until some passerby whistled at them.
When Aurie pulled away, she felt drunk, knees wobbly.
"When do you have to leave?" she asked.
"Tomorrow morning, early. I'm taking a bus," he said.
"Good."
"Good?" he asked.
"That means you can spend the night with me," she said, grinning.
"Really?" he asked, excited. "Where?"
"Meet me at the usual place."
He nodded hungrily.
She glanced at the sky. It was the sort of blue that hung over a mountain range.
"I think there might be a storm tonight," she said.
He looked skeptically at the sky.
"If not, we'll make one," she said, pulling him back in for another kiss.
###
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Also by Thomas K. Carpenter
THE DIGITAL SEA TRILOGY
The Digital Sea
The Godhead Machine
Neochrome Aurora
GAMERS TRILOGY
GAMERS
FRAGS
CODERS
ALEXANDRIAN SAGA
Fires of Alexandria
Heirs of Alexandria
Legacy of Alexandria
Warmachines of Alexandria
Empire of Alexandria
Voyage of Alexandria
Goddess of Alexandria
THE DASHKOVA MEMOIRS
Revolutionary Magic
A Cauldron of Secrets
Birds of Prophecy
The Franklin Deception
Nightfell Games
The Queen of Dreams
Dragons of Siberia
Shadows of an Empire
THE HUNDRED HALLS
Trials of Magic
Web of Lies
Alchemy of Souls
Gathering of Shadows
City of Sorcery
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Thomas K. Carpenter resides near St. Louis with his wife Rachel and their two children. When he’s not busy writing his next book, he’s playing soccer in the yard with his kids or getting beat by his wife at cards. He keeps a regular blog and can be found on twitter under @thomaskcarpente.
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Web of Lies (The Hundred Halls Book 2) Page 25