by Amie Gibbons
She shook her head. “I… I’m going to be sick soon if I don’t get food in me. And water. A lot of water.”
“Probably some Gatorade too,” I said. “AB, if we go back out there, will you be okay?”
“Honestly, no. Can you leave me in here?” she asked.
“I don’t know how to leave you without me being in here too.”
“I wish Carvi was here,” she whispered.
I flinched.
“Sorry!” she said, head snapping up. “I didn’t mean-”
“I know.” I held up a hand. “I wish he was too. If Emily didn’t have this place blocked, I’d call out to him.”
“That fucking little whore,” she said, eyes flashing and poison leaking from her mouth. “There’s something wrong with her. She’s got this whole damsel thing down too pat. She’s flirting with Thomas when she’s all ‘traumatized.’ I don’t think so.”
I looked at her, raising my eyebrows. “AB.”
“She’s just like me,” AB sobbed, slapping a hand over her mouth for a moment before dropping it. “How can he be so horrible to me, and all over her, when it’s the same fucking issues?”
“Because he didn’t cause her issues,” a voice said.
I shrieked and whirled, a gun appearing in my hand.
I sagged and shook my head, making the gun disappear.
Grant walked over to us, too fast for the distance.
At least, if this had been in the real world.
“He’s all over her because she’s like you,” Grant said. “She’s damaged and vulnerable, and he’s a predator who senses prey. He sees an easy target. You’ve already been had.”
AB’s mouth worked, and her eyes filled with tears.
“He… he really is that bad?” she finally sobbed, breaking down in tears and wrapping her arms tightly around herself.
I hugged her from behind, looking at Grant around her head. “Grant!”
“She needs to get that through her head,” Grant said.
“I know that, but you were… it’s called tact! Anyway, what are you doin’ here?”
“I noticed you were out of it,” Grant said. “Thought I’d check here.”
“Thought you couldn’t get in by yourself.”
“Who said I’m by myself?”
He stared me down.
And suddenly I wanted to start crying right there with AB.
“Anybody I know?” I asked instead. “I couldn’t call out for help.”
He shook his head. “Boxed spell from a friend.”
I squinted at him. “You told Thomas you couldn’t get in by yourself.”
He shrugged. “I wouldn’t have been able to see what you can, either way.”
“Huh. You’re a really good liar, Grant.”
He nodded at us. “Finish up fast, Ryder. I need to keep an eye on the Fae.”
“Yes, sir,” was outta my mouth before I thought.
But he was already gone.
I sat with AB, letting her cry until it stopped.
How long had passed in the real world?
“I’m okay now,” she said.
“Liar,” I said. “We’ll get you some food, wake everyone up, and I’ll…” I shook my head, sighing. “I’m not sure I can do what Emily wants, but I mean, learning how to get through on purpose would be good.”
“She’s nuts,” AB said. “She took a whole convention hostage. That’s way crazier than anything I ever did.”
“Oh, yeah,” I said. “You never did anything bad. That bitch is crazy.”
She rolled her eyes at me, but said, “Thanks,” and sighed. “I can’t believe I was nice to him. I can’t believe I helped him. He’s this evil user, and I knew it. I knew it! And I helped him anyway. I’m so pathetic.”
“AB,” I said, taking her shoulders in my hands, “you know the Batman movie The Dark Knight?”
She blinked, surprise making her nose crinkle, but she nodded.
“The whole point of the movie,” I said, “is the Joker making other people evil, crazy, turn on each other, whatever. To break the spirit of the city. To prove everyone’s as messed up as him.
“Tonight, you proved your spirit hasn’t been broken. You showed kindness to the biggest bad guy in your life, because no matter how much crazy you think he’s caused in you… He. Hasn’t. Broken. You.”
I stared her in the eyes. “The only way a bad guy wins, the only way they break you, is if they turn you into something as cold and broken as them. Your kindness and compassion make you better than him. And you showing that for him? You proved tonight that he can’t break you. Because after all he’s done, you still haven’t lost that.
“You showed compassion and caring for a human being in pain, when he’s never shown any for you. That makes you a good and kind person, who hasn’t, and never will, let someone turn her heart cold. That doesn’t make you pathetic. That makes you a hero.”
She nodded.
I nodded back, and opened my eyes in the real world.
Grant was still holding his gun on Emily. She was finishing up saying something, but no one had really moved.
We’d been gone a few minutes in the astral plane, but it was only a few seconds here.
I’d never understood how that worked, since in the deeper levels, like where the Fae lived, time ran more or less parallel to ours. I mean, sometimes it got wonky, so there’d be a year there and only a minute here, and then make up for it later by jumping the other way, but still.
“Okay,” I said. “Emily, if you can teach me how to do this stuff, if I can get it down, if the knock out spell works, and if you take it off of my conference right now, I’ll take the job. You know my rate?”
She nodded. “And I’ll pay extra. It’s, what’s it called?” She snapped her fingers. “Hazard pay. I know I’m asking a lot.”
I nodded. “I got a standard contract I can go print.”
“Ryder,” Grant said in my head.
“Not your call, General,” I said. “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Give to everyone who asks you. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Be merciful.”
“Did you just quote the Bible at me, Ryder?”
I sighed. “She may’ve knocked people out to extort me or whatever, but she’s broken. She needs help. And if I can help her, I’m gonna. Because that’s who I am, and that’s what I do.”
“Proving no one can turn you cold, Ryder?”
My head snapped towards him. “You were listening? How? You left.”
“There’s a difference between being a good person who shows compassion, and being an idiot who’s easily manipulated, Ariana. You better be damn sure you know where the line is, and which side of it you’re on.”
“Emily?” I said out loud. “The spell?”
Emily nodded, raising her hand.
The lights blinked off.
I rolled my eyes.
“Really,” AB said next to me. “Does that have to happen when you do this spell?”
“Nooooo,” Emily said slowly. “I haven’t done it yet. That wasn’t me.”
Boom, echoed somewhere off to my right and I felt the front doors blow open.
Chapter four
“Oh, my lord,” Emily gasped. “It’s them.”
“Who!” I said, pulling my skirt up and grabbing my gun from its holster.
I didn’t need my eyes to know my old team had their guns out too.
“I broke the rules,” Emily sobbed as my eyes searched the pitch black. “I brought human police into Fae affairs.”
I couldn’t hear anything over her sobbing.
“Emily, shut up,” AB snapped like she’d read my mind. “We can’t hear.”
“She doesn’t have powers,” Grant said in my mind, the question clear.
“Nope,” I said. “She just has really bad eyesight. She has a nose and ears at least as good as mine to make up for it.”
/> Emily’s sob cut off with a squeak.
I listened hard, sending my powers out.
Searching the world.
And ran into the wall encircling the place.
Crap on kittens and crackers too.
Emily’s spell was still up.
And whatever was coming for us was right outside it.
My breath caught as eyes flashed across my sight.
I knew by now that was me psychically sensing Fae.
Fear gripped my heart, and I held my gun tighter, moisture slicking it up.
It started slow at first, so light it took me a few moments of focusing to hear it.
A high-pitched click, click, clack repeating.
“What is that?” AB breathed.
“What?” Thomas whispered.
“I don’t hear anything,” Grant said a moment later.
“High-pitched,” I whispered. “I think only people who can hear the higher registers can hear it.”
I could almost see Emily nodding as she said, “Yeah. I hear it too.”
“What is it?” I asked, voice still low.
Somehow, we all knew we needed to whisper.
“A spell,” Emily said. “That’s magic.”
“Drop your spell,” Grant said.
“I can’t!”
“Why. Not?”
“They’re blocking me.”
Grant cursed under his breath, so soft only people with good ears like me and AB probably heard him.
“Get over here,” Grant said, tone holding no room for arguments. “Everyone behind me.”
I walked toward the sound of his voice, reaching out and finding AB’s arm.
She didn’t feel as tense as she should’ve.
Oh, right, she was drunk.
Crap.
We were gonna have a seriously sick person on our hands pretty skippy if we didn’t handle this and get her some food and water.
I heard Thomas more than anything.
Something about the way the air moved, the sound of him breathing.
The swish of fabric as he drew his sidearm.
He took up on the other side of AB, and I sighed.
He was at least worried enough about her to try to keep her safe in all this.
AB was planning on drinking today, so she didn’t have her gun on her, just had her little push knife.
I didn’t want to strain my powers more than I had, something told me I’d need every drop of ‘em, but I had to know what was going on.
I closed my eyes, drawing up my sight in a burst.
Psychic echolocation.
The image shot back.
Our team already crowded behind Grant.
The guys with their guns out and flanking the women, who weren’t carrying.
Kat looking around with wide eyes.
Heather’s face calm and impassive, but her heart racing.
She’d only been in danger once on the job, and that was last Halloween, when a tulpa attacked Grant.
They were lab rats, not field workers.
But then again, so was AB, and she’d been faking field work since I first met her last Halloween.
Not that it really mattered who was up for fighting or not.
Unless it did.
Was I assessing who’d be in battle with me?
I was pretty sure I was.
Emily was huddled in the chair, eyes wide, face slack.
Shock.
She was terrified and just shut down.
Grant and Thomas had their guns out and trained on the door.
AB cleared her throat, and I sent out another pulse to see as she tapped Thomas’s side.
He opened his mouth before my pulse cut off and AB barely whispered, “Shhhhhh,” just loud enough for him and me to hear it.
I heard cloth shuffling, and the hint of something else.
Another pulse showed me he’d just pulled a spare gun off his ankle and was handing it to AB.
He’d known what she’d been asking?
We all held our breaths, guns up and pointed at the door.
Something whispered in the back of the room.
From the patio area where Thomas had been.
I gasped and shouted, “They’re behind us!”
I didn’t even get out the ‘they’ before the world exploded with bright light and an ear-shattering shriek.
I screamed, covering my ears and closing my eyes.
The reaction automatic even as the word ‘flashbang’ flash-banged through my brain.
Shouts and magic flew through the air as I forced my eyes open, and I gasped as a flash of red lightning bounced off the air in front of us.
Shots made my ears ring, and I slammed my hands over them again.
Grant’s shield, cuz I didn’t even need to ask who’d put it up, fell a split second before he’d started shooting.
And the two men rushing us as they threw magic went down.
Jet, Dan, and Thomas got their guns up and started shooting other figures my eyes couldn’t get a hold on through the spots dancing through them.
Thomas dropped to a knee, shooting up.
Making sure he didn’t accidently hit any of the people on the ground.
AB followed suit, shooting at the things going around us, dead on, no pun intended, despite her drunkenness.
Maybe she wasn’t as drunk as I’d thought, and her acting sloppy was a defense mechanism?
Our people made a circle, keeping Kat and Heather in the middle.
I couldn’t even see what was rushing around us.
How were they shooting at these things when I couldn’t even grasp them?
“I can’t see them, sir!” I thought at Grant.
“What!”
“They’re like blurs, and when I catch a glimpse, they… they’re too wrong for me to grasp.”
“You’re seeing the magic,” Grant thought. “Turn down your powers and start shooting.”
I focused, drawing an imaginary veil over my eyes.
Blinded in a completely different way now.
But I could see the figures.
They were in black and wearing masks, and there were too many of them, running around and hiding behind tables, unprepared for the humans to be able to fight back, probably.
The guns clicked on empty one after the other, and I handed mine over to Grant as I pulled my powers up again.
Any one of them could shoot, most better than me.
I was the only one who could see what I saw.
The things blazed with boiling red lights that made me feel half drunk, and like I wanted to puke the image outta my mind.
But I focused on one, straining my eyes like someone with AB’s bad of eyesight trying desperately to pass an eye exam without glasses.
It didn’t even resemble human, and the otherness of it made me want to scream and scratch my eyes out.
They may have looked human physically, but whatever it was I was seeing was sick and twisted and alien. So much that it made me queasy looking at it.
Kinda like spiders.
But I stayed focused on the guy I was tracking.
And pushed past my initial reaction to scream at someone to step on him.
He moved with a jerkiness that was so fast it looked graceful. His limbs were long sticks with twigs coming out like fingers at the ends, and there were too many shifting and moving for me to count how many there were.
Their version of bones maybe?
Was that what I was seeing?
No.
It came to me in a flash.
I wasn’t seeing anything physical. This was magical.
Metaphysical.
It wasn’t like they put on glamours to look different than they were so they could pass for human.
They were human-looking on the outside. Some kinda offshoot from us since they could reproduce with us.
At least physically.
I was seeing the Fae’s essences. The twisted, sick, inhuman souls of these al
ien beings.
They may have looked human on the outside, but there was nothing remotely human about them on the inside.
Their souls were spindly mixtures of twiggy spiders and octopi.
And they stank like an industrial garbage can behind a restaurant.
If it had bile and heat busted bugs mixed in with the spoiled food.
The image made me feel better, strangely enough.
Maybe cuz I was able to get a handle on what I was seeing.
Maybe cuz I felt like I could control it if I could face it down and make it into something that could feasibly exist in my world.
Because these things didn’t.
And my human mind was about two seconds from breaking from looking at it.
The guy got up, super slow, as I watched him.
And it took me a moment to realize I’d gone into my slow time, making the world crawl around me as I moved at a normal pace.
I pulled the push knife AB had gotten me for my birthday out of its sheath on my hip right above where my gun had been. I couldn’t carry a gun against my hip without printing, usually, too much curve and too big a gun, but a little push knife stayed hidden easily.
I rushed forward, swallowing down bile as the reek of the clicking and clacking Fae hit me, and I breathed through my mouth.
Really wishing I didn’t have enough control over my powers to sense this thing right now.
Its magic, essence, soul, whatever, spread out in an evil ripple.
Magic, working its will upon the world without the Fae even trying.
This wasn’t some half breed.
This was the real deal.
And he had power.
I grabbed him where my human eyes said his arm was and screamed as little hairs that weren’t really there poked my hand.
Like the hairs on a tarantula.
Ewwwwwwwww.
I dropped my powers and pushed my knife to his once more human neck.
Their souls may’ve born a strong resemblance to a real-life version of the Grinch song, but they’d bleed out as easily as any mortal.
“Freeze!” I yelled.
Thomas’s mouth dropped open and he gaped at me. A few of my old friends weren’t far behind.
The man up against me didn’t stink anymore. Well, at least not any more so than any other random guy who’d been exerting himself and started to sweat.
