by B N Miles
“Last chance to turn back,” Lumi said as they marched up the concrete steps.
“I know you’re against this, you already made yourself clear.”
“I’m just saying, Waters isn’t going to help us.”
“Why are you so sure?”
She was silent for a moment until they reached the third floor and stopped outside of the door. “The Magi families like the system the way it is.”
“They’re all in competition with each other.”
“That’s true, but it’s almost friendly competition. Nobody actually thinks they’re going to overthrow the order of things because one family happens to make more money than another in a given year or something like that. Waters plays the game like all the others. They won’t want to change the rules.”
“The Medlar are about to flip the table,” Jared said, shaking his head. “There won’t be a game left to play if they get what they want.”
“I know you’re right, but I’m not so sure the other families will see it.”
“We have to try, at least. We need information, and right now the families are the only other reliable source we can turn to.”
She nodded and gestured at the door. “By all means then, let’s walk into this trap.”
He rolled his eyes and pushed the door open.
They stepped into a large, spacious hallway with tiled floors and ancient paintings hanging on the walls. Their every movement echoed and Jared wondered why anyone would design a library with such acoustics. A pair of massive doors stood in the center of the hall, but Jared ignored those—they lead into the main reading room, which wasn’t their goal. Instead, he walked to the far end of the hall and stopped outside of a plain pair of brown doors, almost boring and invisible compared to the massive constructs behind them. He knocked twice, waited a second, then pushed them open.
The room was small, almost cramped, with a green carpet and bare white walls. A whiteboard covered one wall, and a large conference room table dominated the center. Jared stepped inside, followed by Lumi, and the two people sitting at the table stood, one woman and one man.
“Hello, Mr. Bechtel,” the woman said, giving him a large smile. She had straight white teeth, perfect wavy brown hair, and wore a smart, tight white button-down shirt and a pair of dark slacks.
The man next to her was her mirror image, except taller, broader, and wearing a darker suit, his jacket still on. “We’re glad you could make it,” he said.
“Call me Jared.” He gestured at Lumi. “And I’m sure you know who this is.”
“Lumi Medlar,” the woman said. “How are you?”
“I’m fine, Jacqui. I see you brought your better half. How are you, Alastair?”
Alastair beamed at her. “Quite well. It’s been a long time.”
“Not long enough.” Lumi walked over to the table, yanked out a chair, and sat down.
Jared smiled uncertainly, but neither of the Waters representatives seemed to mind. As far as he could tell, they were entirely alone, but he couldn’t be sure of that. He didn’t sense any Meta auras or magic nearby but that didn’t necessarily mean much.
Not that it would matter. Jared knew the Magi families well enough by now to realize that they were glorified corporations. Making money was their primary goal—that, and grabbing power. Their members were skilled and strong but they rarely had much experience in protracted fights. Once they came of age and served their time in the Fist of the Magi, they tended not to bother with battle magic much.
Jared, on the other hand, was like a sharpened and honed battle axe compared to a pair of steak knives. They were sharp, sure, and dangerous, but tiny and pathetic compared to him. He could level the entire city block if he wanted to, and he doubted this pair of Magi could stop him.
So he sat down and crossed his arms over his chest.
The Waters reps followed suit. Jacqui leaned toward them and put her hands flat on the top of the table.
“I have to admit, you two are becoming quite famous.”
Jared quirked an eyebrow. “Are we?”
“Of course. Lumi Medlar here left her family, which is essentially unheard of for the Medlar. And you, Jared Bechtel, you disappeared off the face of the earth years ago, joined the Meta Marshals, and basically became a civilian. And now you two are together, and you’ve been very busy.”
Lumi tensed. “How much do you know?”
“We know that several Medlar installations have been attacked over the last few months. We know all of them have been destroyed.” She spread her hands. “I can’t say for certain that you two are behind it, but—” She shrugged.
“My sister here means that we understand you two have been actively trying to sabotage the Medlar, and frankly, we like it,” Alastair added.
“I’m sure you do,” Lumi said.
“I know we have our differences, Lumi, darling,” Jacqui said. “When you were a Medlar, we didn’t exactly get along.”
“I remember you as a very prissy, stuck up bitch with a quarter of my power and a big mouth.”
Jacqui didn’t miss a beat. “Thank you, darling, that means the world. I’m glad to see you haven’t changed.”
“You’re right that we’ve been working against the Medlar,” Jared said, steering the conversation away from their personal sleights. “And I get the sense that your family’s been trying to do the same thing.”
“What ever gives you that impression?” Alastair asked with an impish smile.
“We recently came into possession of a laptop owned by Wieland Medlar.”
“Interesting,” Jacqui said. “And how did you end up with that?”
“Luck,” Jared said. “We managed to decrypt it, and we found some very interesting emails about your family.”
Alastair leaned forward and seemed to be paying closer attention. “What did those emails say?”
“The Medlars are worried about you,” Jared said. “They don’t like whatever it is you’ve been doing. I got the feeling the Waters family has been actively moving against the Medlar in some way, and when I saw that, I thought—well, maybe they’d be worth talking to.”
“I see,” Alastair said, glancing at his sister.
“The Medlar are up to something,” Jared said, leaning closer. “They’re planning something big, something about which I suspect you’ve only heard whispers. Maybe you realize it already, or maybe you don’t, but the Medlar need to be stopped. The stability of the entire world’s at stake.”
Jacqui seemed unimpressed. “That’s a large claim.”
“An incredibly large claim,” Alastair added.
“And yet we see little to no evidence of any… enormous instability.” She pursed her lips. “Of course, if we have been working against the Medlar, that’s all in the normal course of business for the Magi families. We’re always going up against each other, and the Medlar happen to be a particularly large target. They’ve spread themselves thin, you see, and we believe we can take a chunk of their business away.”
“This is about more than business,” Jared said, looking at Lumi.
Her face was hard to read. “You won’t believe what they’re trying to do.”
“Try me. I can be very flexible sometimes.” Jacqui’s smile got bigger, more inviting, and Jared wondered how well the two of them knew each other.
“They want to destroy the Accords.”
Jacqui went very still. Jared watched her closely, but he didn’t see shock, or disbelief, or even amusement—instead, she looked tense.
“The Accords?” she asked, tilting her head. “Why would they want to do that?”
Jared realized then: they already knew. He glanced at Alastair, but the man was studiously staring at his fingernails like they might break off at any moment. They were terrible liars, and he wondered why the hell the Waters would send these two—and then it hit him. The Waters didn’t think Jared and Lumi were a real threat, or even worth sending upper-echelon representatives.
And yet they knew. He was sure of it.
“That’s right,” Jared said, leaning toward them. “The Medlar want to destroy the Accords, and they’re going to use a Worldhopper to do it.”
Alastair opened his mouth but his sister smacked a hand down on the table, interrupting him before he could speak.
“That’s absolutely absurd,” she said, staring at Jared.
“And yet it’s the truth.”
“The Waters family doesn’t—”
“Cut the shit, Jacqui,” Lumi said. “I’m tired of this politicking bullshit. You two are second-rate even in your own damn family, which is full of backwater hicks and inbred morons, so I’m aware that this meeting isn’t high on the Waters’ priority list.”
Jared snorted. “How long did it take you to figure that one out?” he asked Lumi.
She glared at him. “The second I saw these two grinning morons.”
“I don’t like your tone, Lumi Medlar,” Jacqui said, though her brother had the good sense to cross his arms and keep his mouth shut.
“And I don’t like your stupid face, but here we are.” Lumi leaned forward. “You need to run this up the flagpole of your damn organization: the Medlar are going to fuck each and every one of us, and the god damn Vampire Hierarchy is working with them now. The Vamps want the Accords broken so they can turn Humanity into an all-you-can-eat buffet, and the Medlar want the Accords broken so they can dominate the world with magic, as if they don’t already run shit from behind the scenes. So you’d better get your heads out of your asses or we’re all fucked, each and every one of us, including your precious and very overrated house.”
Jacqui and Alastair stared at Lumi like she’d grown a second head, and Jared couldn’t help but bark out a laugh. He hated the main Magi families and always imagined that the nine were a bunch of immensely powerful and intelligent organizations. Back when he was still a Bechtel, he would’ve been terrified to sit at a table with two Waters and a Medlar.
Now, he thought the whole damn thing was hilarious. The Magi families were so fractured and broken and foolish that they couldn’t see the obvious machinations of one of their own. The Waters knew what the Medlar were up to, and yet they were so stuck in the old way of thinking that they couldn’t put up a fight.
“I don’t know what you expect me to do,” Jacqui finally said, sounding more annoyed than insulted. “Like you said, I’m not exactly important. If what you say is true—and I’m not admitting that the Waters family is aware of anything—then you’re right that we all have something to worry about.”
“You know the Medlar are making a move,” Jared said. “And I think you know it has to do with the Accords. This won’t just affect the Magi world, it’ll affect the entire planet. The Vampires have had a few thousand years to build their strength, and I’m not exactly looking forward to the day when they’re not held back by the Accords anymore.”
“God damn, Jacqui,” Alastair said. “I hadn’t thought about the Vampires. What if they’re right? If the Medlar break the Accords—”
“Shut up, Stair,” Jacqui snapped.
Her brother shut his mouth but looked anxious. He rocked back and forth in his chair and crossed his arms, almost like he wanted to hug himself.
Jared sighed and leaned his head back. They were drowning in shit, with the Medlar halfway to breaking the world and the Vampires chomping at the bit to start feasting on Human blood, and the Waters sent these two.
“Listen to me,” Jared said, looking back at Jacqui, since she seemed like the stronger of the two. “I know this sounds insane. I don’t blame you for thinking I’m full of shit, or whatever you might think, but trust me when I say this. The Medlar are going to royally mess up the world, and if that happens, your family will not be safe. None of the Magi families will be safe. We need to come together and fight the Medlar, even if that’s the last thing you all want. So please, take this message back to your superiors, and convince them to help.”
Jacqui stared at him without speaking for several seconds then rubbed her temples like she had a splitting headache. She stood abruptly and kicked back her chair, sending it clattering to the ground. For half a second Jared thought she might attack them, but instead she turned her back on the table and paced along its length.
“I’ll do what I can,” she said finally. Her brother looked up and seemed to relax somewhat. “But I’m not promising anyone will listen.” She stopped pacing and stared at Jared. “My family knows the Medlar are trying to break the Accords, but nobody truly believes it will happen. Frankly, it’s become something of a joke, and they think you’ve all been sucked into a useless, pointless confrontation.”
“It’s not useless or pointless,” Lumi said. “Believe me, I wish we could walk away from it.”
Jacqui nodded once and put her hand on her brother’s shoulder. “I’ll speak with my parents and try and get some traction.”
“We need information,” Jared said. “Even if nobody else in your family believes you, maybe you can help.”
She squeezed her brother’s shoulder and he grimaced. “What can we do?”
“We need locations,” Jared said. “Every Medlar facility you’re aware of, the bigger the better. We’re looking for a plausible site for a very powerful ritual.”
She snorted. “Powerful is putting it mildly. To break the Accords, the Medlar need something astronomical.”
“Then find the source and we’ll take care of the rest.”
She let out a breath and stepped back. Her brother fidgeted then stood, staring down at the ground. He seemed to hang there, suspended in front of his sister, then looked up with shining, wet eyes.
“We’ll do what we can to help,” he said, nodding once like he wanted to reassure himself. “I promise we’ll try.”
“Thank you,” Jared said, glancing at Lumi. She seemed about as bemused as he felt.
“I know how to contact you,” Jacqui said. “Expect something soon.”
Without another word, she left the room through a side entrance. Her brother lingered, looked like he wanted to speak, then hurried after his sister. Jared sat there and stared after them before turning to Lumi.
“That was bizarre.”
“I know,” she said, shaking her head. “Those two have always been strange.”
“No, I mean, the Waters family knows what the Medlar are doing.”
“They don’t take it seriously.” Lumi thumped her fist on the table. “Would you? I mean, if you hadn’t seen it with your own eyes?”
Jared worked his jaw then grunted. “Alright, fair enough. I’m not sure I would. It’s still hard to accept.”
“But it’s the truth. I think those two believe it now, or at least they believe that the Medlar are up to something bad, something that’ll hurt their family.”
“Vampires seemed to scare them.”
“Vampires scare everyone.” Lumi got up and stretched her back. “Speaking of which, let’s get back home.”
“Maybe we can find our own favorite Vampire, see what she’s up to.”
“Oh, you know Nikki. Probably lounging about half-naked, bored out of her mind, complaining about the food, and waiting to work her frustrations out on us.”
“Sounds delightful.”
Jared followed Lumi to the door. He didn’t know if those two were going to come through for them, but at least it was another lead. They needed as many hooks in the water as possible, because the Medlar were not going to make things easy.
19
Jared spent the next few days resupplying the tiny, secluded village they’d managed to carve out in the city. Travel out of the bubble was restricted only to those that could defend themselves, which meant Jared and Lumi found themselves doing a lot of grocery shopping.
They cooked communal meals out of one house with a surprisingly large kitchen. Allie, Kerrin, and a few of the other girls would work hard most of the day cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner, doling it out to the rest of the Metas
. Jared would help out when he could, and he caught Jessalene, Cassie, Lumi, and even Nikki pitching in from time to time. It became a sort of shared space, and the meals were almost sacred: everyone loved them, even if the food wasn’t amazing.
Jared lounged on the front stoop after one particularly mediocre dinner. It was just before sundown and the streetlights cast long shadows over the concrete. He sipped a beer and watched some of the Meta girls walk up and down the block, over and over again, desperate for any level of physical activity. He couldn’t blame them, since being stuck in a block-sized bubble wasn’t ideal, but they knew it was for their own protection, and he wasn’t about to start letting more people out just because they were bored.
The front door opened and Jared looked back over his shoulder. Penny loomed there, blinking up at the receding evening light like it was full-on afternoon, then stared down at Jared. A little smile burst across her face.
“I was looking for you,” she said.
“When was the last time you left that basement?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Yesterday? Or maybe it was Monday.”
“It’s Friday.”
She waved him off. “Doesn’t matter.”
“Are you eating?”
“Izzy brings me meals.” She came down the stoop and stood in front of him, looking annoyed. “Can we talk about something that matters now please?”
“You have to take care of yourself, Pen,” Jared said. “That’s important, you know.”
“I think I solved the problem.”
He frowned a little bit, trying to think of what the problem was. She had a million problems, each of them going at the same time. Penny had an incredible mind and a work ethic unlike anything he’d ever seen, and he was pretty sure she’d stay locked in that basement for the rest of her life if someone would just bring her food and keep her experiments stocked with materials. It wasn’t healthy, but she seemed happiest with her head in an experiment.
