by Scott Rhine
“Then you must know everything.”
“Argh! She just stopped a disaster,” Koroya shouted to Freya, who was working the video camera. “Why do I want to choke the crap out of her?”
Freya smirked. “She’s sixteen.”
“Fifteen,” I corrected.
Koroya said, “The Council owns the insurance company that underwrote that building. It’s going to cost us millions to clean up the residue and restore the equipment you destroyed. We had to make a deal with the Smithsonian’s Special Branch to help with the massive cover-up.”
“Huh. I never thought of insurance companies as tools in a conspiracy. People call you first, and the cops will take your word for the root cause. Dad was right. You guys think like the mob.”
“I will not have you compare us—”
Captain Harlow Hutchinson came into the room carrying my cell phone and a frown that was dour enough to silence all of us. “Isa, it’s your father. Tell him to stop making threats.” She used her gloved hand to put it on speakerphone.
“Hi,” I said, afraid I would be getting it with both barrels.
Dad sounded frantic. “Where are you? It’s after midnight. I was so worried.”
“It’s okay. Didn’t anyone tell you? I’m visiting with Aunt Harlow.”
“The Holy Oak house caught fire. I was worried you and Lucretia had been caught inside.”
I winced at the mention of my friend’s name because the captain motioned for someone to follow up on it. If they picked her up, they might find Zak and Dina. I didn’t want my best friend to be mind-wiped, too. “Are you there now?”
“Yes. The Hamadis are beside themselves. Was Dina sleeping over with you?”
“She’s fine. We took a road trip to see Zak. Dina kind of has a crush on him. We’re all safe.” Another lackey was dispatched. “How’s our house?”
“Gone,” he said, barely audible. “Everything destroyed. The police are calling it arson. They’ve detained me for questioning.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I said. “The FBI surveillance team will tell them you were nowhere near the house.”
The captain looked surprised by this revelation but said nothing.
“How do you know?” asked Dad.
“Call it women’s intuition,” I said. “They’ve been monitoring our phones, too.”
Dad cursed in Arabic. “Next, they’ll blame Abdul Baatin. Maybe it was his fault. Did I endanger our family?”
“No. Trust me. Abdul is no criminal, and he’s safe. He helped protect us. They can’t touch him. You need to help Dina guard Zak.”
The captain hit the disconnect button. “You seem to be holding back a lot of information.”
“Immunity first.”
“Give me one good reason.”
I sighed. “I’ll give you two. You can confirm the first with the headmistress of Colony Prep. I’m suspected of being a saint.”
Behind the video camera, Freya said, “That would explain a lot, boss. The levels of chromatic aural radiation her circle blocked could’ve killed our whole team. Just look at the scorch marks on those tiles through a Morris lens.”
“And the second?”
“This will be harder to prove, but I’ve been talking to angels. I have to be careful how much I tell you because you’re not cleared to know it.”
Aunt Harlow closed her eyes. “Your family has been a pain in my ass from the beginning. What makes you think you can dictate—?” Her phone rang, and she answered in a respectful tone. “Sir? Yes, ma’am. As you wish.”
Someone else has been listening in.
In a voice that could freeze water, the captain said, “Your brother and your accomplices won’t be prosecuted. Talk.”
“What about a job? He can’t go back to MIT after this.”
The captain clenched her fists.
Freya replied to my question. “That depends on how much you tell us.”
Wanting to be thorough, I started at the beginning. I also wanted to stall long enough for Dad to reach the Cambridge hotel. “It all started the evening I asked for my first phone.”
20. What It All Comes Down To
Saturday afternoon, I was playing poker with Luca and Dina in their shared room at the hospital. Both of them had IV lines running into their arms and looked exhausted. The same hospital kept me overnight for observation, but I didn’t even show an elevated white count. While they wore flimsy blue gowns, I was dressed in oversized sweats borrowed from the witch SWAT team. Their medic had given me her card so I could call her if I had any delayed reaction or weird symptoms. “I feel awful for exposing you guys to extradimensional radiation.” I opened with a red Skittle.
Dina raised me a purple. “Not a problem.” Her voice had an airy, almost drugged quality. I could tell she had two pairs but not the values yet.
“What happened at the hotel last night?” I asked.
Luca called with a purple Skittle of her own. “I slept through most of it. Pete stood guard. When your dad opened the door and asked, ‘Where’s my daughter,’ I thought he was going to faint. The jerk couldn’t get out of there fast enough.”
“Better you found out about Rat Boy sooner than later,” Dina said. “Not every man can be as reliable as my Zaki.”
Rearranging her cards and frowning, Luca said, “I’m glad the Council will be making Pete forget about me. I wasted my best lip gloss on him.”
“You did not kiss him!” I said.
“We all make mistakes,” Luca said with a shrug. “Oh, that reminds me. We’re not allowed to make contact with Pete anymore because he won’t remember Zak’s name by the time they’re done.”
I could tell she had nothing worthwhile in her hand yet.
Miss Bradstreet had spent the morning submitting me to a new battery of tests. Since coming in contact with my Book, my guessing abilities had increased, but only when the other person was looking at their cards. Their reactions guided me. It’s like people spoke in sign language all the time, and I was finally learning what the symbols meant. But I didn’t show signs of any new abilities. Of course, I hadn’t told my poker pals any of this. What good is a witch who can’t cast spells?
“How many do you want?” I asked.
“Give me one card,” Dina replied.
“Sounds like things got boring once you left campus,” I said.
Luca laid three cards facedown. “Until the shouting started.”
I dealt replacements for everyone. “Shouting? Dad never raises his voice.”
“Mr. Hamadi does.”
Like an abused pet adopted from the shelter, Dina’s wince and refusal to make eye contact told me how much she feared her father. Her expression flickered briefly to excitement when she arranged her new cards. She had upgraded to a full house.
I folded so I could concentrate on the story. “That’s right. We took Dad’s car, so Mr. Hamadi had to give him a ride. I’m so sorry. I didn’t think of that. I was just so worried about your health and Zak being put in a cell.” It did explain how Dad tracked everyone down so fast. He just had to drive through town until he saw where his billboard parked.
Dina nodded. “We know you meant well, but when Father saw me sleeping under the covers in the same bed as a shirtless boy, he freaked.”
“Sleeping?”
“Literally,” Luca replied. “Zak was having nightmares, and she seemed to calm him just by being nearby.”
Sighing, Dina said, “That wasn’t even the best part.”
“Best? You’re grounded forever. What could be good about this?” I asked.
Luca bluffed with a pair of sixes and a bold yellow Skittle. “I thought Mr. Hamadi was going to kill them both… until Mr. Morris suggested a plan to salvage Dina’s reputation.”
Dina folded, continuing the tale while Luca scooped up the pot. “We’re going to announce our engagement to my extended family as soon as we’re all out of the hospital.”
In Zak’s case, the term “hospital” was a
euphemism. “Um… reading all that witchy stuff sort of blew a fuse inside him. He’s going to need time to recover.”
“I’ll look after him,” Dina said, shuffling for the next hand.
Delicately, I tried a different approach. “He writes stuff on walls now and talks about converting the moon into energy so he can make a doorway to anywhere.”
“That’s in one of his anime shows,” Dina explained. “He’s just confused because he doesn’t know anyone at the hospital.”
“Dad’s at the asylum visiting him now. The Council might not press charges because of Zak’s condition. He’s obviously not in his right mind anymore.”
“He thought that evil man had shot his fiancée. That would cause anyone stress.”
Luca looked at Dina like she might need to talk to a therapist, too. “You were pretty shaken up yourself by that ‘feral dog’ on campus.”
Why isn’t she calling it a shadow wolf anymore?
“Yeah. It must be the medicine. Everything about last night feels fuzzy.”
“Freya interviewed her for quiet a while,” Luca said. She wiggled her fingers to let me know the witches had zapped Dina a little. “The inconsistencies will fade along with the trauma. They didn’t wipe her because she’s proven to be a friend to the Council.”
Witches needed friends in the real world. However, I still hadn’t heard what the Council was going to do about me.
Luca only bid one red Skittle, even though she had something good. “I feel bad that I broke my word to your father about no boys in the car. He’s never going to trust me again.”
“Hey, I told him you saved our lives a couple times over,” I said. I tossed in a red one and ate a yellow. I’d eaten most of my winnings so far. “He’ll probably make you a present.”
“Make? Not buy?” Luca asked.
Dina raised two reds because she didn’t like that flavor. “He’ll take your picture and blow it up to the size of those portraits they have hanging up in the lobby. It’ll capture something about you that he admires, and everyone will say you look beautiful in it.”
“And brave,” I added.
Matching the bid, Luca blushed. “I wouldn’t feel right taking something so valuable. I mean, you guys lost practically everything in that fire. It’s horrible.”
Everything but the clothes and the one mandala Dad moved to the cottage. Once I learn enough magic, the first thing I’m going to do is open that vault. “The fire is my fault,” I said, explaining about the search for the Advent killer and how he’d killed Mom. “Last night, someone working for the Council or the FBI overheard that Mom had put the pieces together and tipped the killer. I’m pretty sure the killer torched our house to hide their identity. The Captain kept my phone so she could feed the eavesdroppers false information.” I tossed in Skittles to call and put my only two black cards on the nightstand. I was trying for a diamond flush. I didn’t succeed. What good is guessing what everyone has when my hand is garbage?
Leaning over, Dina hugged me. “It’s okay. You can get another phone. All material possessions can be replaced. Let the professionals handle this and stay safe. I don’t want to lose my sister.”
I smiled. We could actually be in-laws someday. “You need to worry about finishing high school first.”
“A long engagement could work,” Dina said, “as long as we get to see each other regularly. My mother’s willing to drive me and chaperone.”
Normally, Luca would make gagging sounds at something like this. Instead, she was chewing her lower lip.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her.
Luca replied with a question. “Why would your mother give away her phone to the victim? Did she need a map to the police station or something?”
Dina snorted. “Even I know that one.” We both stared at her. “She hid a clue on her phone and sent it away because she knew the Advent Killer was closing in on her.”
I took the pillow out from behind my back and smacked her with it. “Why couldn’t you have told me that before I handed it over to the witch cops?”
“Two reasons: first, you didn’t share this information with us earlier. Second, even if you had, I wouldn’t want this psycho coming after you to steal it.”
I squeezed her hand. “Thanks for caring.”
“Now that Isa has her Book, that girl is going to be invincible,” Luca bragged. “You won’t have to worry about her.”
“Yeah. About that,” I whispered. “The radiation damaged it pretty badly. I won’t be casting like all the regular witches for years, if ever.” That effectively shot my dream of becoming an Inquisitor. Without a Book to protect me, I wouldn’t be allowed in the field.
Luca put a hand over her mouth. “Oh, Isa. Don’t give up. As long as the DNA traces are there, you still have a chance.” Family blood in the ink was the link between generations. “It might heal itself.”
“We can hope. In the meantime, they’re putting me into advanced ward mechanics seminar. Seems I have a knack for it.”
“What’s that?” asked Dina.
“A rare specialization,” Luca replied. “Our police use them to protect important people and buildings from supernatural attacks. You have to be smart and have a will of iron.”
“That’s my bestie,” said Dina. She folded her hand. “I suck at poker. Can I watch the Hollywood gossip show on cable?”
“Sure. Just keep the volume low. If my mother is one of the stories, I don’t want to hear about it,” said Luca. “Even though she hasn’t been in a movie for two years, she’s a celebrity because of who she dates and the scandals she causes.”
“She looked nice in that hair commercial,” I said, trying to be positive.
Dina flipped on the TV.
“Who’s your warding instructor?” Luca asked me.
“Mad Cow will be tutoring me until I can break one of her circles. Then, the school will bring in an expert from the Council.”
“Wow. Creutzfeldt must really like you. She doesn’t make house calls for anyone.” A wicked grin lit Luca’s face. “Unless you aren’t the real reason she’s visiting the cottage.”
“You think my aunt is paying her extra?” I asked.
Luca said, “I think you need practice being a detective.”
“Give me a hint!” I said.
Rolling her eyes, Dina said, “Come on. Who else lives at this cottage with you?”
I blinked. “Dad? You think she wants her photo taken, too?”
Dina tossed her unopened pudding cup at me—tapioca.
“Ouch.”
“Think.”
I waved my hands to erase the mental image. “She not like those other skank witches who’s trying to get Dad drunk and flirt with him. The Cow knows he’s hurting and just wants to help me defend myself.”
“Maybe,” Luca said, convinced I was wrong. “Or it could be she just wants to spend time with you to find out what her children would be like before deciding.”
“That’s just sick,” I said, whipping the tapioca container at her.
She caught it one-handed. Her reflexes were coming back. “Is it? This past day has been really hard on him. When he gets home, he’s going to want to talk about it with a friend. My father’s picking Audra up at the airport and carting her around. Who else is your dad going to call who he can talk to about witch stuff? Who’s his best bud at the school?”
“I don’t like you anymore,” I grumbled.
Luca popped the lid off and dug in with her spoon. “She’ll move slowly and tastefully because she’s a class act, but people have certain needs, Isa. It’s no different than eating.”
“You’re saying my family is doomed?”
“She could make him happy again. Would that be so bad?”
I rubbed my amulet. “Maybe.”
“Look. The tutoring thing works both ways. You can use the time to find out about her, too.”
“Yeah.” If she’s just trying to use him, I can sabotage her plans. My stomach churned
thinking about the alternative. Would Dad forget about Mom? About me? If I don’t have my family or magic, what good am I? “I’m going to the chapel. I need to think about some things.”
21. Interruptions
The chapel was a small room, big enough for two rows of four chairs each and space for a prayer mat to the right. It had a podium but no trappings to identify it as any specific religion. I liked it because it was soundproof, and the rest of the world stayed outside. Unfortunately, a young woman was already sitting in the middle of the front row. She looked twenty, wore thick glasses, and had obviously been crying.
“Sorry,” I said as I started to close the door.
“It’s okay. You can come in, too. I was trying to pray, but I don’t think I was doing it right.”
I stepped inside, closing the door gently behind me. “Who are you praying to?”
“Anyone who’ll listen.”
“Ah. Bad, huh?”
“I’ve been having headaches for the past week, so I went in to my eye doctor Thursday. It’s about time for a new prescription. She said my optic nerves were swollen, so she made an emergency neurologist appointment. Friday, I had an MRI. It came back negative. No tumor.”
I sat in the cloth-padded chair beside her. “Hey, take it as a win.”
“You don’t understand. A tumor was the best outcome. They could operate and do something about that. The other things are really bad, like MS.”
Puts my problems in perspective. “Yikes.”
“I just had a spinal tap, and it made my headache worse. I’m waiting for the results. I don’t even know whether to pray that they’re positive or negative. I’m so afraid!” She collapsed against me, weeping.
Unsure how to proceed, I patted her on the back and said things like, “There, there.” The sobbing was loud. When I could squeeze a word in edgewise, I asked, “What’s your name?”
“Mary (hic) Beth.” She’d worked herself up so much that she had the hiccups, too.
“Okay. I’d say you should talk to God the same way you do your parents, with respect, and don’t start by asking for stuff out of the gate. Here, hold my hands. I’ll start. Heavenly father, we thank you for the beautiful weather today and that Mary Beth’s eye doctor cares so much about her. We thank you that she doesn’t have a tumor.” Her hiccups were less frequent as she calmed. “You know the answers, and what’s in store for her. I’m not asking you to change anything. It would just be nice if someone on your side could let Mary Beth know you’re always there and listening. So she could feel the peace I do when—”
