by D. N. Hoxa
“Sure thing,” Travis said and stood up to see me to the door. We were both in a hurry because we didn’t want his mom to come find me there.
“So what are you doing with your life, Travis? College? A job?”
“Job,” he said. “Not ready for college yet but I’ve been saving. I’m working online for a few companies. It pays all right.” He opened the door for me.
“Glad to hear it.” I stepped outside. “Thanks, Travis. Really. You helped a great deal.”
He smiled and his cheeks turned a bit red. “I’ll try to find more, and if I do, I’ll call you, okay?”
I winked. “See ya.”
***
The Fortine Enclave was in the western part of the city—an old, one-story house behind a skyscraper, close enough to it to put something that looked like rust on the edges of the building’s stainless steel panels. The house was about sixty feet away from the gates of the Enclave, and there wasn’t a single light on inside it. It didn’t help that the overgrown bushes didn’t let me see shit, but Sasha Fortine has never been known for her tidiness.
The pictures I’d seen on Travis’s computer spun in my head as I watched the gates, then the street in front of it. Egyptian runes. Who in their right mind would dare to use Egyptian runes for a spell? There was a reason why they were illegal, erased from every book and apparently, the Internet, too. They almost always backfired because their magic was too strong to be predictable—or contained in any way. There was also a reason why nobody knew shit about them, except for the high priests and priestesses, just like Travis said. That’s why I was here, about to knock on Sasha Fortine’s doors, knowing very well this could backfire just like an Egyptian rune would. Still, there was hope. If her fourteen dogs didn’t tear me apart in the first two minutes, I might have a chance.
Sasha was the oldest of the Richmond high priests, and she sometimes came to see Nana at the Enclave. Maybe she’d decide to help me instead of turning me in to the MM—if she wasn’t behind all of this in the first place. Like I said before, everybody was a suspect until proven otherwise, and if that was the case, then I’d rather find out sooner.
There was a panel on the left pillar of the gate with a silver button on it. The bell. I’d never been to Sasha’s Enclave before, but I definitely didn’t want to try and enter without permission. That woman had a reputation for a reason, and while Nana’s spells around her Enclave would just hurt you really, really bad, there was no telling what Sasha’s spells would do to an intruder. I could see the runes etched on the bars of the gates, and they did not look good.
Letting go of a long breath, I went for the bell.
I never even had the chance to touch the button. With a light buzz, the left gate clicked open all by itself.
Heat rushed through me, gathering in my cheeks. She knew. Sasha knew I was there.
Was it a camera, or maybe a spell that gave me away?
Whatever it was, this was my chance, and I took it. Pushing the gate open, I stepped into the Enclave grounds, feeling as though a thousand sets of eyes were on me. My fingers shook, I was very nervous, and a little scared. I walked with my head up and my hands to my sides, ready to grab my chakris at any second if something moved in the darkness. If Sasha invited me in just so she could kill me, I wasn’t going down without a fight, though I wasn’t sure how much I could do against a high priestess even if I did have access to my magic.
When I reached the bushes, I saw something moving in the shadows close to the wide house. Was it the dogs?
No, they would have at least barked by now. The light of the half moon wasn’t enough to illuminate whoever was waiting for me, so I stopped moving. Patience never really came naturally to me, but I’d learned to take control of my body. That’s why I stood very still, even though I wanted nothing more than to throw my chakris right where I’d seen the shadow move.
Instead, I cleared my throat. “My name is Ruby Monroe. I’m here to see Sasha.” I even put my hands up to show them that I wasn’t holding any weapons. Yet.
I expected to be told to wait there while Sasha’s minions went for her or at least for whoever was moving in the shadows to come forward, but neither happened.
Instead, a small fire lighted about a foot from the ground, and it slowly revealed the face of a woman, who was far too close to me, and I hadn’t even noticed.
Taking a step back, I slipped two chakris into my hands.
The flame dancing over the woman’s palm moved to the left so fast, I almost missed it. It glued onto something and became bigger, slowly revealing the fingers of another person I hadn’t seen, standing next to the woman. He was taller than her, but that was all I was able to see before he pulled back his arm and threw the flame at me. I rolled to the side, confused, surprised and angry, and showed them my chakris.
The man and woman came closer until I could see them clearly.
Jesus, they were practically kids. The girl’s violet hair reached her shoulders, and the heavy black makeup against her pale skin made her look like a fucking ghost. The guy standing next to her could have been her brother. Pale-skinned and dark-haired, he watched me like he wanted to undress me as much as he wanted to kill me. His dark eyes shone as they scrolled down my body, and the tips of the spikes attached to the shoulders of his jacket shone, too.
“My name is Ruby Monroe, and I’m here to see Sasha. I don’t want any trouble,” I repeated. I didn’t want to have to fight them. They barely looked eighteen.
The two of them looked at each other and smiled as if that was a secret code of some sort. Then the girl spoke.
“You have to earn your entrance to the Fortine Enclave.”
They didn’t give me the chance to try to reason with them. Instead, the guy grabbed a spike from the shoulder of his jacket, which came off very easily, and he threw it right at my face. I only had time to see the girl blow at it as it left the guy’s hand, and the spike caught fire as it came at me. I spun around again but didn’t get a chance to stop before they threw more of those things. They weren’t going to stop unless I made them.
Spinning around to avoid the fiery spikes, I threw one of my chakris at the man’s torso, but he moved away. I threw another at the girl, but her friend pushed her to the side. The chakri must have grazed her arm because she let out a scream when it passed her by. That gave me a good second to get closer to them before they continued throwing spikes at me.
Getting my whip out from the belt loops of my jeans, I slipped another chakri in my hand, and I began to run toward them. No sense in trying to move away. I would just have to throw the spikes off me with my chakri as well as I could. The fuckers were fast. I managed to thwart off three spikes before they got to me, but the fourth hit me in my left thigh. It hurt like hell, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop now that I was so close to them.
But then…I wasn’t.
I mean, I was—they were right there, but I couldn’t quite get to them. The boy was no longer throwing spikes at me because he’d run out of them. Now, they both watched me with smiles on their faces. Why couldn’t I get to them?
I looked at my arms, and they were moving, but they were moving incredibly slowly. What the hell? I’d raised my left arm hoping to catch the guy with my whip, and it was coming, but so, so slowly. Trying to move faster was only making me slower.
I met the boy’s glistening eyes and smile. He was a mage, a very good one at that. The magic that spoke to him was very powerful. He’d altered my perception of speed perfectly. He was an illusionist. Mages like him were able to tap into your mind and create illusions that only you could see, illusions that felt incredibly real. The truth was, they weren’t. That’s why it was easy to break them. All I had to do was to move as I would normally move, because trying to move faster was going to give strength to the illusion and make my little brain even more confused.
I stopped pushing and let my arm slide down, focusing on the tip of my whip, which could easily wrap around the guy’s shoul
ders now that I was so close. Just like that, everything fell into focus, and I once again moved at normal speed. Magic.
The girl screamed and stepped aside when my whip wrapped around the boy’s shoulders but only half way. Surprised, he ducked down and moved back fast, but I was already close enough to kick him where it hurt most.
Except when I pulled my foot up, the ground beneath me moved. I almost lost my balance but managed to jump back and land on my feet as a hole the size of a small car appeared in front of me. I definitely didn’t see that coming.
I stepped back and looked at the shadows, smiling. There was only one kind of magian who could manipulate the ground like that, and they were called Vetters—land spirits, just like the boyfriend of Travis’s mom. One of them was there with us, and he was slowly coming out into the light of the moon for me to see.
He was a skinny guy wearing a white shirt with the neckline so wide, I could see his very pronounced collarbone perfectly. His bald head glistened as he approached, arms outstretched in front of him. The ground began to shake again. I’d fought Vetters twice before and won both times. I wasn’t about to lose now. The trick with them was to bounce from one side to the other so that they couldn’t predict where you were going to be the next second, and the holes they made couldn’t catch you.
These guys were good—powerful, I’d give them that, but they only fought with their magic. I doubted any of them knew how to use their bodies in a fight. That was my advantage. That was always my advantage. Hopping from one side to the other as fast as my body allowed me, I got closer and closer to the Vetter, who was the biggest threat to me right now. He saw me approaching and dug as many holes as he could with his magic, and I nearly fell in most of them but didn’t. He slowly began to back away, but I wasn’t losing speed. The fear of falling into a hole and then getting buried alive kept me on my toes and moving so fast, my calves were already burning.
The Vetter didn’t try to run. He just stared at me wide-eyed before I punched him in the jaw and he almost fell to the ground. He didn’t try to fight me. I’d guessed right. I kicked him in the back again, just to get any ideas of opening more holes in the ground out of his head, and I stepped back, breathing heavily. The other two were on the other side, looking at me like I was to blame for this whole thing.
“You really didn’t have to put me through all of that,” I said between breaths. I’d hopped around so much, I really needed to sit down.
“Jesus, lady,” the Vetter said, cleaning the blood from the corner of his lip.
“Lady?” When had I become lady? I rolled my eyes. “Take me to Sasha, or I will beat the shit out of you for putting me through that.”
They just stared at me.
I turned to the other two and walked over to them with the most menacing look I could muster. The girl hid behind the guy, who, without the spikes on his shoulders, didn’t look so brave anymore. He raised his hands forward to stop me.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, she’s gone. Sasha’s gone, okay? She’s gone,” he said in a rush.
I stopped in my tracks. “Gone? Where did she go?” He was kidding. He had to be.
“We don’t know,” the Vetter said, slowly stepping closer to his friends.
I explored my options. I could go in the house and search for Sasha myself, or I could make them tell me the truth. Since I was already tired because of them, I opted for option B. I strode to the spike guy and grabbed him by the throat.
“Where is she?” I said, barely louder than a whisper. I had no more patience left. The girl screamed again.
“She took her things and her dogs and she left. She didn’t say where she was going, just that you’d come looking for her,” he said, trying to push my hand away. I wasn’t even holding him tightly enough to hurt him, just enough to get my point across.
“How did she know that I’d come looking for her?” This was beginning to stink real badly.
“She only said that you’d come here, and when you did, to show you a good time and give you this,” the Vetter said. He handed me an envelope.
I let go of the spike guy and took it, stepping back. “And you define that as a good time?” That wasn’t good time. That was wasted time.
“We were only doing what we were told to do,” the spike guy said.
I nodded. I understood that. When your high priest told you to do something, you did it. Unless you wanted to end up like me, of course.
“You did well. Your magic’s good, but you really need to learn how to fight with your hands,” I said under my breath. I wasn’t there to lecture them, anyway.
I opened the envelope, hoping to find a letter that would carefully explain in detail what the hell was going on here. Instead, I found a photograph and an old one at that.
“What the hell is this?” I raised the photograph higher so that I could see it better in the moonlight but no luck. “Hey, do the thing with your hands,” I said to the girl, who was no longer hiding behind the spike guy. “I need to see this.” She was a Pyro, a fire spirit, and could summon fire at will.
Yeah, pretty damn cool.
She was skeptical, but she slowly raised her hand toward me and opened her fingers. A small flame danced over her skin like it meant to seduce me, grinding from one side to the other like an exotic dancer. I brought the photograph closer and was finally able to see.
The first person I recognized was Gwendolyn Love. I recognized her because she looked exactly the same in the picture as she did now. The job she’d done Capturing her youth was really something.
She was sitting on the ground with five other people, and another six stood behind them. I recognized Cornelius Graneheart, too, but he looked much different then as he did now. And then there was Nana. She’d changed so much through the years, but she’d also remained the same. Her hair was no longer dark and her face was no longer wrinkle-free, but her eyes remained the same. The colors of the picture were faded, but the green of her eyes had survived time, even on paper.
And standing next to her was Sasha Fortine. She, too, had aged terribly, but her aura had remained the same.
I didn’t recognize the others or where the photograph was taken. The picture had only caught half of a tree and the grass, a clear sky in the background.
“Did she say what this was?” I asked Sasha’s students, but I wasn’t hoping for an answer.
“We think it’s the Enclave where Sasha grew up,” the girl with the violet hair said.
I nodded. “When exactly did she leave here?”
“Does that bother you?”
I looked up to see the girl pointing at my eye patch.
I smiled. “Not at all.” It bothered the hell out of me, every single second.
“She left three days ago,” the Vetter said. “And we don’t know anything else.”
I looked at the picture one last time and made sure nothing was written on the back before putting it in the envelope and into my back pocket.
“Do you know anything about what happened at Nana’s Enclave?” I asked them, and they all looked away from me.
“We know someone broke in and took her, but Sasha wouldn’t speak to us about it,” the spike guy said.
“You need to go now,” the girl said, taking away the warmth and light of her flame by simply closing her hand. “We know the Ministry is after you.”
So much for that. I turned around to walk away. There was no reason why these people would lie to me. I’d suspected the old mage wasn’t there the second I stepped inside the Enclave grounds and didn’t hear her dogs barking. But never in a million years would I have thought she’d just leave her home, just like that. And her students…
“Are you alone here, or is there someone else inside?” I asked the students, who hadn’t moved from their place and were still watching me leave.
“We’re alone,” the spike guy said.
Great. She’d left three students alone in her Enclave.
Shaking my head, I grabbed the chakris I’d t
hrown at them that had ended up all over the yard, and walked out of that damned place. Once the gate closed behind me, I could finally breathe a little easier.
For a second.
What the hell had Sasha meant to tell me with that old picture? I took it out of the envelope and looked at it again. My eyes found Nana’s face instantly. She was so beautiful, in a wild kind of way. If I’d met her then, I wouldn’t have gone near her, let alone as a kid. Something about her scowl and the way she held her shoulders, even in the picture.
“Where are you, Nana?” I whispered to the night, but there was no answer. I sighed, squeezing my eyes shut. I was getting more confused by the second, and I already hated what the next day was going to bring.
7
I couldn’t go back to Nana’s Enclave, so I had to settle for a hotel room. Motels would have been nicer—cheaper—but that would be the first place the Ministry would look for me. Even the hotel was dangerous, but I had to sleep somewhere, and I refused to sleep in the streets. I took off my eye patch before going in and used only my shades, hoping the clerk wouldn’t be able to identify me without it. I gave her a fake name and paid in cash, claiming I’d been robbed and my purse was stolen. She didn’t really care.
I didn’t get much sleep. By dawn, I gave up trying and took the fastest shower of my life. The wound on my thigh from the spike guy had already healed pretty nicely, but it was still tender to the touch. Magians healed faster than humans, some faster than others. I wasn’t crazy fast, but if I cut my finger, any trace of it would be gone in a couple of hours. Of course, the deeper the wound, the longer it took to close, but so far, I’d been fine. I hadn’t lost any limbs. Only my eye.
I got dressed and left like my ass was on fire, figuring the Ministry would be knocking on the doors of every hotel in the city by morning.
The streets of Richmond had never looked so bad to my eye. Every person that passed me by in the street was a suspect, and I hated feeling that way. I hated not even wanting to speak to anyone, to connect to another soul, to always fear being discovered, locked away, or killed for…nothing. It was in times like this that I missed Avery the most. She had a way of brightening even my darkest days, and nobody has ever been able to do that before or after her. I missed her even more on my way to Gwendolyn Love’s Enclave with nothing but an old picture of her and a bagful of questions she most probably wouldn’t answer. Chances were she’d either kill me as soon as I stepped foot in her domain or hand me over to the Ministry before letting me leave. Only time would tell.
