She was silent for a moment. “I think I can pull it off overnight, but I’ll need help.”
“Whatever you need, I’ll do it,” I said. “I owe you—”
She held up a hand. “You’ve already saved me from being buried alive in paperwork fifty times over. But once that amulet is gone, I think you should stay out of Brant’s business. Whoever’s hunting down souls isn’t someone you wanna tangle with.”
“I have no idea who it even is,” I said. “But the thief is probably looking for the amulet, too. After all, they presumably know the Death King’s people don’t have it, or else they wouldn’t be tearing the place apart trying to find it.”
She dropped the amulet onto the desk. “I think you should toss it out. Its owner was foolish enough to detach their soul, so it’s their problem if it goes missing.”
“Nice idea, but something tells me this thief won’t stop with a single soul,” I said. “Besides, Brant said he’d had an inkling I might be drawn into this before it all started, and there’s something weird going on at the Order.”
I might not know what exactly Dirk Alban and I had done which had ultimately left him dead and me with a black mark on my record, but if the spirit thief knew my history, I’d be drawn in whether I wanted to be or not.
Devon swore under her breath. “Get that amulet back where it belongs. Hear me? No getting distracted by side quests.”
“Ha.” I paused. “You should know… Brant also told me he knows someone who might be able to get my memories back.”
Her mouth parted. “Legally?”
“Of course not,” I said. “Reversing the Order’s decrees is breaking the law in a major way, if it’s even possible.”
“Don’t you even think about it,” she said. “Getting those memories back won’t solve any of your current problems.”
“It’ll stop me from getting taunted by every person I run into at the Order.” I fiddled with a loose hangnail. “And it’ll stop me second-guessing everything I did during that time.”
“Is it worth getting shoved in jail?”
“I wouldn’t tell the Order,” I said. “They don’t know how much I remember, besides.”
“Then is it worth it?” Her concerned gaze washed over me. “Liv, I mean it. Forget those shitty guys from the academy. Not that I’m advising you to hook up with Brant now I know he’s in as much trouble as you are, but he at least respects the person you are now.”
“And who the hell even is that?” I said. “I have no idea who I was during that time.”
I hadn’t even started talking to Devon until we’d both been put on the list to retake our exams. Me because of the memory loss, Devon because of as-yet undiagnosed ADHD—neither of which were considered good excuses in the Order’s eyes.
“Trust me, you don’t need to know everything that happened in the interim,” she said. “School was shit. We all know it.”
“Devon, I could literally have ridden a unicorn to the prom with Gap-Toothed Dave and I would have no memory of it.”
“Gap-Toothed Dave went to the prom with Judith. Anyway, if I could get your memories back with magic, I’d remember where I left my fucking keys.”
“They’re in the door,” I said. “And I know it’s not that simple. But those memories have some damned important stuff buried in them.”
Maybe they would even tell me how to get into the Death King’s lair and return his missing amulet. Yeah, right. But it was nice to imagine there was a solution buried somewhere in my subconscious. I doubted the Order had left one, and yes, I should be giving them a serious talking-to, but realistically, what could I do? I was nothing in their eyes except a troublemaker who’d already broken the law. While I was supposed to have two more chances, that wasn’t how things worked in reality.
Devon was right on one count, though. If I didn’t get that amulet off my hands, I’d die before I ever got to the truth.
7
The invisibility cantrip was done by five in the morning, at which point Devon and I went to bed for a few hours of sleep. I set an early alarm, knowing I’d regret sleeping the day away. The sooner this sorry business was dealt with, the better. Not only did I still have that soul amulet, I also had a phantom in a jar which the Order might well use as an excuse to throw the book at us the next time they came here.
And to think I’d expected to take the weekend off.
After I’d taken a shower and dressed, I headed downstairs. The phantom jar wouldn’t fit in my pocket, so I stashed it in my rucksack, hoping the lid was fastened securely enough that the ghost wouldn’t burst out of my bag at an inopportune moment. The invisibility cantrip lay on the front desk, gleaming in the early morning light. I picked up the coin-shaped spell gingerly, grimacing at its sharp heat. Once activated, the invisibility effect would last only as long as I stood within the coin’s proximity, so I wished we’d had time to devise a way to fix it to me so there was no danger of it falling out of my pocket and giving the game away.
In the end, I zipped the cantrip into the pocket of my coat, then I sent a text to Brant telling him I was heading to the Parallel. He’d be annoyed at best if I did this alone, and besides, he’d offered to help me. Despite my numerous misgivings about getting involved with him again, I’d be a fool to pass up his offer of help. It had nothing to do with our past relationship—or so I told myself, anyway.
He responded a moment later: Thought you’d be asleep.
No time, I replied. Want to use the node in my living room to cross over?
I didn’t know there was a node in your house.
How else do you think Devon makes her cantrips? I sent back. Best way not to get caught. I’m not going near Order HQ until this amulet is off my hands.
I’ll be over in five.
That must mean he was staying nearby, surely. He still hadn’t told me the details on this ‘permit’ he’d acquired. Or why. As flattering as it might seem to imagine he’d done all this for my sake, Brant had had over a year to get in touch with me after he’d taken off, yet he’d chosen to wait until my name came up in connection with illegal soul trade. I didn’t think he was plotting against me, but there were people in his contacts I didn’t want to get involved with.
I had a more pressing matter at hand, however. Namely, getting rid of the amulet, and finding out why the Order had sent me on that bogus job to begin with. It was enough to make me suspect more than a simple mistake had been at work, but what did the Order have to gain by getting rid of me? Even if they’d voted to give me the boot, it didn’t seem worth risking the life of whoever’s soul was in the amulet, and as a consequence, incurring the wrath of the Death King. Even the Order knew better than to screw with the Court of the Dead.
It wasn’t like there was anything I could do about it either way. The Order held the authority here, the Death King held it on the other side, and if anyone, even Brant, thought I possessed the power to get in their way, they were going to be sorely disappointed.
Brant knocked on the door, sparing the neighbours from another round of Devon’s wailing doorbell. He’d always been an early riser, so he looked far more awake than I did, his hair curling across his forehead and his dark cloak making his blue eyes look deeper. He’d always dressed well, even in the Parallel.
“Hey,” he said. “You’ve made a spell, then?”
“You bet.” I held up the invisibility cantrip, careful not to flick the switch on the side of the coin that would activate it. “I’d test it now, but it has a time limit.”
I’d never actually used a full-on invisibility cantrip myself, but I’d defused a fair few, including the one in the swamp the other day. I was relying on the hope that the Death King’s people would be outside in daylight, and that the liches themselves didn’t sense my presence even if I couldn’t be seen. There were rumours of their abilities to detect living forms, but it wasn’t like I’d ever had a conversation with one of them. Still, the four Elemental Soldiers were fully human, and they wer
e my ideal targets. I just had to hope they were out and about and would overlook an invisible trespasser.
“Will the invisibility shield cover both of us?” Brant asked.
“If you’re standing close enough.” According to Devon, anyway. “I reckon we stand a better chance of getting the amulet into the right hands if we track down one of the Death King’s four soldiers. They’re human, without supernatural senses, and they also have a direct link to their boss. They’d want the amulet back in his hands.”
“Doesn’t mean it’s worth the risk of showing our faces.” He shot me a concerned look. “Where’s the amulet?”
I tugged on the chain looped around my neck. “It’s secured, don’t worry.”
He tilted his head. “It’s inside your bra, isn’t it?”
“As I said—secured.” I was pretty sure the soul’s owner wouldn’t have a clue. At least, I hoped not. From his suggestive smile, Brant was recalling how his own fingers had explored my bare skin as we’d learned our way around one another’s bodies, but I wasn’t about to open that door when we had more important shit to deal with. “Weird how the amulet’s hooked up to a flimsy chain, isn’t it? You’d think the Death King would have used something more expensive.”
“Hmm.” He cast his gaze around the shop. “Where’s this node?”
“In the back,” I said. “I’ll be honest, I’d rather know whereabouts the Death King’s four soldiers hang out at this time of day before going in.”
“We’ll check the swampland first,” he said. “If his people are still patrolling, an opportunity might present itself.”
I didn’t like going in without a secure plan, but as every DM knows, no plan survives contact with the other players. I led the way into the living room, where Brant took in the cabinets of collectibles and the gaming board on the coffee table. It was weird for him to be here in my house—even when we’d been together, we’d mostly met at his place over in Arcadia.
“Devon’s still asleep?” he asked.
“Yeah, we were up pretty late working on the cantrip.” I found the centre of the node, intending not to disturb anything on this side when we crossed over. “Okay, I’m going in.”
Together, Brant and I stepped into the node’s path. The current caught me, and I let it carry me away, revelling in the rush of energy which thoroughly banished my tiredness. Who needed a caffeine high when you could hop between realms? I fixed the image of the warehouses in my mind and was rewarded when we landed in precisely the right spot, at a safe enough distance from the swamp that if the Death King’s people had been rampaging around, they wouldn’t see us before the invisibility spell kicked in.
“I left Dex near here last time.” I scanned the deserted street. “Hope he’s okay.”
“You’re still hanging out with that sprite?” he asked.
“Yeah, so?”
He shrugged. “I guess I didn’t take sprites for the type who’d make good sidekicks.”
“If anything, being incorporeal is an advantage when you hang out with me.”
“Damn right,” said a voice from behind Brant’s shoulder. Dex appeared in a flash of light, his arms folded across his semi-transparent chest. “Thanks for the help, Dex, you’re welcome.”
“Sorry, Dex,” I said. “I was running for my life earlier, as you may have gathered.”
Brant’s mouth pressed together in disapproval. “No invisibility spell will work on him.”
“Like anyone’s looking for me anyway.” Dex snorted.
“They don’t even know what I look like, let alone you,” I said. “And I’d like to keep it that way. Hence the invisibility cantrip.”
“You have a death wish,” Dex said. “Those wights only cleared off when some of them got into a scuffle with the revenants and got themselves dismembered. His Deathly Highness is not going to be pleased.”
I suppressed a shudder, recalling the wight that’d followed me home. “Yeah, I figured they’d have gone back to the swamp by now.”
Dex flipped over in mid-air. “More like they went back to get reinforcements. Whatever your plan is, I’d like you to tell me so I can decide whether to ditch you or not.”
“That’s nice,” I said. “Our plan is to get into the Court of the Dead and leave the amulet with someone who’ll hand it to its rightful owner with minimal fuss.”
“Meaning…?”
“One of the Elements, of course,” I said. “Why?”
Dex wasn’t generally one to question my plans. He grumbled—a lot—but he took my lead most of the time.
“Oh, nothing,” he said. “I just find it suspect that someone with a castle as well-guarded as the Death King’s abode managed to lose a valuable item to a single thief without anyone tracking him down.”
I blinked. “What are you saying? One of his people helped the thief?”
Maybe they did. It went a long way to explaining how he’d overlooked the theft to begin with, but the Death King’s disputes with his fellow undead were none of my business. I had quite enough adversaries of my own without being forced to take sides in a dispute in the Court of the Dead, thanks.
“Whatever the case, it doesn’t matter,” Brant interjected. “Once you get that thing off your hands, you’ve done your job, and everyone will leave you alone.”
“Exactly.” I held up the cantrip. “Wanna take this for a spin?”
“I’m ready.” Brant stepped to my side.
I flicked the switch on the side of the cantrip, and in an instant, a rush of energy shot through my limbs. Then in a blur of smoke, Brant vanished. I looked straight through him, a peculiar feeling washing over me. The knowledge that he was there warred with the evidence of my own eyes. Looking down, the sight of nothing but emptiness where I knew my legs were made my head spin with vertigo.
Dex flew at the spot where we’d been standing, and Brant made a noise of annoyance. “You crashed into my face.”
“Didn’t see you there.” Dex laughed hysterically at his own joke.
“Let’s get this done,” I said, before he could start needling Brant any further.
The three of us made an odd team as we walked towards the edges of the swampland, past the tree where I’d stashed my weapons. With any luck, I wouldn’t need them—there wasn’t much a knife could do against phantoms or wights, and I did not intend to wind up in a position where I’d have to stab any of the four Elemental Soldiers.
“Stealth check.” I scanned the area. “Here’s hoping for a natural twenty.” As long as neither of us tripped over or sneezed, that is.
Dex flew in circles above our heads. “Being invisible won’t stop you from making footprints in the mud.”
“I know.”
“Or being sniffed out.”
I twisted to face the spot where I thought Brant was. “Is that possible?”
“Maybe.” He sounded doubtful. “Not in this place, I wouldn’t think. The swamp’s smell would mask our traces. He’s right about the footprints, but if we stick to the water, they should disappear.”
“Yeah, got it. I’m not planning on hanging around here for too long, believe me.” I walked on. Water splashed around my feet and ankles, but the marshy ground swallowed up my footprints as soon as they appeared. What with the imminent threat to my life, I’d forgotten my ruined new boots, but that hardly mattered now. I’d gladly swim through the heart of the swamp if it meant getting the amulet off my hands before the Death King realised I was the one who had it.
Low-level fog obscured our surroundings, including the dark shape of the castle in the distance beyond the gates, but not so much as a single wight appeared. Maybe we’d have to ride up to the Death King’s gates to find someone to hand the amulet to. Or I could lob it over the fence, but Dex’s comment about a potential traitor on the inside worried me more than I’d let on. What if I gave up the amulet only for it to fall into the wrong hands again?
A faint breeze blew from the direction of the castle, and with it came the s
ound of movement. I halted, squinting into the fog, as a shadowy figure approached us. Dead or alive? It was hard to tell at this distance, but the amulet around my neck seemed to grow heavier, colder, burning against my neck. I fought the urge to grab it. Chill out, Liv. Whoever it is, they can’t see you.
Dex hissed out a warning. “Element.”
“One of his?” I whispered.
No response came. The figure grew more distinct, resolving into the shape of a person wearing armour. A sword hung at their waist, while their helmet disguised their features. The shape of the Death King’s coat of arms shimmered on the figure’s coat. Although they weren’t on a horse this time, I recognised the armoured gear and the swirling coat. One of the four soldiers had come out alone. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect if I’d tried.
Now all I needed to do was to hand over the amulet.
I walked closer, my heart in my throat. This was one of the most powerful mages in the Parallel, hand-picked and given the title of Element by the Death King himself. Durable armour covered the soldier’s entire body, making it hard to tell their gender or age, nor anything else about their appearance. The inside of the coat was dark green, marking them as the Air Element. Okay. I could deal with that.
I reached for the amulet around my neck, and the soldier’s gaze snapped onto the spot where Brant and I stood. “Who’s out there?”
The guard knew I was here, even though I was invisible. Did they sense the amulet? Maybe I shouldn’t have touched it, but there was no other way for me to give it back. I was so close.
“Reveal yourself.” The sound of metal rang as the soldier’s blade appeared in their hand. “Or I’ll run you through. I know you’re there.”
A cold breeze blasted into me, driving me backwards. I braced my feet on the ground, but the wind hit me like a solid barrier, preventing me from getting any closer. The Air Element’s power held me pinned to the spot. Dammit.
I spoke in a whisper. “I’m not an enemy. I’m here to return something that was stolen from your master.”
Thief of Souls Page 7
