Open Fracture

by S A Magnusson

  Making my way forward, I focused on the emptiness, that helpless sense which was necessary for me to draw my connection to magic, but with my heart pounding in fear, it didn’t come. Maybe that was for the best—then again, without any access to magic, there was no reason I should be heading out here.

  I reached the doorway separating this part of the warehouse, the office space, from the rest of it. I found two people lying motionless, and I hurried toward them, checking for pulses, and found that they both still had one. They were breathing, so presumably they were both unconscious and nothing more.

  The door hung partially open. There was no sound from the other side of it. Had something happened to Barden? He was the most powerful mage I knew, and yet even he could be overwhelmed with the right type of magic. I had seen it, and was aware that although he was incredibly skilled, he wasn’t all-powerful.

  I needed to know. Stepping forward, darkness throughout the warehouse made it difficult for me to see anything. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, and when they did, I found Barden. He stood in the center of a circle that appeared to be made out of his blood. I had seen him use a similar circle before, and yet I had never felt the energy surging from him the same way I did right now.

  Another figure stood opposite him, fixed in another circle.

  Matt.

  7

  I approached slowly, carefully, watching Matt as he stood in the center of the circle. He was far too comfortable for someone who appeared to be confined by a dark mage and whatever protective circle Barden had placed. I was still working on getting the hang of circles like that, and hadn’t fully mastered the technique, but I recognized it, like I recognized the amount of power that went into forming them. Barden in particular had a considerable amount of strength he was able to use in situations like this.

  “Dr. Stone, I don’t think it’s wise for you to be here.” Barden didn’t look over at me as he spoke, and there was strain in his voice, mixed with a level of concern.

  “He’s not going to hurt me, Barden.”

  “This is the same man who decided to draw you into the politics of the paramilitary. I am nothing if not uncomfortable with the idea you have been working around him.”

  I flashed a smile at Barden. Though he tried to hide it, he was a bit of a softy. He wanted to protect those he viewed as family—or whatever it was that he thought of me. Considering all I had gone through when I was younger, having someone like Barden who stood up for me and had done everything in his power to ensure my safety was nice. I knew he had trauma of his own that he had endured when he was younger, and that trauma was part of the reason he was so willing to advocate and fight on my behalf, but I had not been able to ascertain exactly what he had been through. It was something Barden kept to himself, and as far as I was concerned, he could keep to himself. There was no reason I needed to know all the details of what he had gone through.

  I turned my attention to Matt. “Do you intend to harm me?”

  Matt stared at me for a moment. “If I wanted to harm you, I would’ve done so long ago.”

  I didn’t like the way he said it and didn’t care for the tone. There was a hint of a threat in it, almost as if he wanted to make certain I knew he still could harm me if it came down to it.

  “You will find I am not very accommodating to those who would threaten people under my care,” Barden said.

  Matt turned his attention back to Barden, fixing him with a hard-eyed stare. “Did I threaten?”

  “There was plenty of threat in your comment, and I just want to make sure we are on the same page when it comes to what you will do to Dr. Stone. If you make any attempt to continue to threaten her, you will find me nothing if not harsh toward those I perceive to be endangering people who work with me.”

  The sense of magic began to shift, and at first, I wasn’t sure what it was. I noticed it as a tingling that washed over my skin, leaving the bracelet Kate had given me cold, the itching along the surface of it tingling, but then it tightened, making my arm jolt with a surge of pain. There were times when I wondered whether I should keep wearing the charm bracelet. It was useful for several purposes, not least that it allowed me access to the condo, but at the same time, the charm bracelet also gave me an awareness of magic as it was used around me, and in the case of what Barden was doing, the magic he was utilizing was incredible—and incredibly powerful.

  I watched Matt, waiting to see if he would show any sign of pain at what Barden was doing, but if he felt anything, he didn’t show any sign of it. Matt kept his face neutral, his hands at his sides, and there was almost a hint of amusement twitching at the corners of his eyes. Could he be enjoying himself?

  I approached Barden, staying close behind him, allowing his circle to be between Matt and myself. “How did he find you?” I whispered.

  “I don’t necessarily keep a low profile any longer,” Barden said.

  “I thought you still needed to conceal your activities.”

  “As in my magical activities or otherwise?”

  “Are they separate?”

  “Most of the time, they are.”

  It was enough to make me look around the warehouse. I still didn’t know everything Barden was into, though I was compelled to try to figure it out. If I could understand what he did, the things he involved himself in, I wondered if I would think any less of him. Probably not. Barden wasn’t a bad person, regardless of whether he got involved in bad things. He might try to give off the appearance of someone more dangerous, but in that I knew better.

  “Are the two of you finished?” Matt asked.

  I glanced over at him. “Why are you here?”

  “I came looking for you.”

  “Me? You just saw me earlier in the night.”

  “Not you. Him.”

  I turned to Barden, frowning. “Why are you after Barden?”

  “I need his help.”

  I laughed. “First my help and now his? I thought you worked alone.”

  “Typically I do, and it makes me uncomfortable that I’ve been needing help.”

  “It’s okay to ask for help. Look at all the people Barden works with.” I swept my gaze around the room, noticing how quiet everything was. As I did, an understanding came to me.

  Matt had incapacitated everyone Barden worked with.

  More than anything else, that sent a chill working through me. There had to be a dozen or more people all throughout the warehouse, and if he had managed to incapacitate all of them quickly enough that Barden hadn’t been able to intervene, Matt was every bit as capable as Barden had suspected.

  “I tend to be particular about how and when I ask for help,” Matt said.

  “This does not appear to be you looking for any help,” I said, glancing from Barden to Matt.

  Barden motioned toward me. “Dr. Stone, I would prefer if you would return to the office while I finish taking care of this.”

  “Barden, I don’t know that I want you to take care of it this way.”

  “I’m not going to leave him out here, not if he intends to continue to attack my people.”

  “My attack on your people is done. What more do you think I need to do?”

  “Matt, you’re not helping things.”

  He ignored me, keeping his gaze on Barden. His hands were out of his pockets, and from what I knew about Matt and the way that his magic worked—magic that was similar to mine in that he was a hedge mage, however powerfully connected he might be—I knew he needed access to things he kept stored in his pockets in order to utilize his magic effectively.

  Barden continued to do something with his power, though I wasn’t able to determine what. It seemed to constrict upon Matt, though whatever he was doing didn’t seem to be causing Matt any difficulty, and he stood there, almost as if he were happy to be standing where he was.

  “What are you after?” I asked. I would have to be the one to intervene, and somehow I would have to be the levelheaded one in between these two.
Barden was acting out of a sense of protection, wanting to protect not only me but the people he had here, whereas Matt was after something else altogether. If it was only to clear his name, he shouldn’t have been as willing to attack as he had. He had come here for Barden, but there wouldn’t—and shouldn’t—be anything here that Barden would have for him. If he was worried about the paramilitary, I didn’t even know if Barden would be able to protect Matt. It was possible he wouldn’t.

  When he didn’t answer, I stepped forward, putting myself in between Barden and Matt. I could practically feel Barden’s displeasure with my doing so, but I needed them both to stand down, and while I wasn’t sure whether they would—or whether they even could—I wasn’t willing to stand there and watch them continue this standoff.

  “How long do you intend to do this?” I asked Matt.

  “As long as necessary.”

  “So will Barden, and my guess is that in time, his people will come around and will cause you a little bit of a challenge.”

  Matt nodded to me. “Most likely.”

  “And if you know that, then why are you pushing this?”

  “Unfortunately, I don’t have a choice.”

  I laughed, no longer trying to hide the annoyance I felt. “Matt, you always have a choice. I don’t understand what you think you’re doing, but whatever you are after, you will find that Barden has methods of stopping you. He is nothing if not talented.”

  “I’m counting on him being talented.”

  “Then why push this issue?”

  “Maybe it would be best if you return to his office, like he said.”

  “No.” Matt and Barden turned their attention to me. “I’m not going anywhere, and I’m not going to let you blast at each other with whatever magic you have. I think we’ve already established that you are capable, Matt. And you obviously know what Barden is capable of, otherwise you wouldn’t have come with the nature of the weapons I can tell you have.” I watched him, wondering whether he would acknowledge that or not. He tipped his head in a slight nod. “Before Barden’s people start to come around and this turns into something else, why don’t you tell us what you are after?”

  Matt took a deep breath. “I need a place to hide.”

  “You do realize that coming in here like this, slinging around magic and attacking Barden’s people isn’t the way to do it?”

  “I needed to speak to him.”

  “Why this way?”

  “They couldn’t know I was here.”

  “Why not?” This came from Barden, and I had the sense he had released his hold on whatever magic he was utilizing. He still held onto his barrier, the circle that offered him protection, but there was no longer the same strange constricting that the bracelet had suggested was in existence. Whatever Barden was doing now was merely defensive, and it seemed as if he weren’t planning on attacking, though I wouldn’t have put it past him to be ready to attack at a moment’s notice.

  “Something is taking place, and I’m prepared for whoever is out there and might betray me.”

  “As I don’t know you, it would not be so much of a betrayal, would it?” Barden asked.

  “I suppose not, and yet given what you know of me, and what you know I was responsible for a year ago, you have done nothing to intervene.”

  I glanced over my shoulder at Barden, and he kept his gaze fixed on Matt. What was Matt getting at?

  “I felt it best to hang onto that knowledge,” Barden said.

  “Why?”

  “It is in my nature to accumulate knowledge.”

  Matt laughed, a bitter and dark sound. “Blackmail. That’s what you’re after?”

  “Not blackmail, unless it comes down to that. Like I said, I acquire knowledge. Sometimes that involves understanding who a person is and who they work for, and sometimes a different approach. I have yet to determine what approach would be necessary for you, but seeing as how you thought to involve yourself in the dynamics of this city—and you have remained here—I thought it prudent to ensure I maintained an understanding of you.”

  Something about what Barden said triggered a question, and I looked over to him. “Wait. Did you know Matt had stayed in the city?”

  Barden nodded. “It wasn’t difficult to track. He had played at working as an emergency room physician before, and I suspected he would use a similar cover, and I made sure to keep track of anyone who might fit his description.”

  “Why did you think he would use the same cover identity?”

  I couldn’t help but feel strange talking about Matt in such terms. Everything sounded almost like a spy movie, but what was it other than a spy movie? The things we were dealing with seemed so beyond what I had ever known, I had a hard time even fully comprehending them. And yet, here we were. Matt worked for a magical paramilitary organization, serving as a secret operative of sorts, protecting the world from dangerous magical attacks, and somehow I was a part of it. Stranger still, after having seen where he worked, the place he had once considered to be his employer, I couldn’t help but understand that he had been a part of something else, and something far greater.

  “It was fairly straightforward. In order for him to use such a cover identity, he would have to have taken time to establish it. Furthermore, he needed to have the necessary knowledge to make it effective, and from what you have told me, he was skilled at making it seem as if he were knowledgeable in medicine.”

  I nodded. “I wouldn’t have known if it weren’t for the fact that he wasn’t listed in our hospital registry.”

  “And I suspect he has taken pains to ensure he didn’t make the same mistake again. With the connections I have discovered his organization has, it would be surprising for them to make such mistakes repeatedly.”

  “No. I wouldn’t make the same mistake again,” Matt said. “And were there not the need to operate quickly, I wouldn’t have made that mistake then.”

  “As I said. Then there was something else.”

  “What?”

  “An observation. He seemed to enjoy what he was doing.”

  Barden watched Matt, and I turned my focus to Matt too, studying him. Was Barden right? Did Matt enjoy what he was doing? It was easy enough for me to believe he had only taken on the assignment because he had thought he needed to, and yet there was something about that which didn’t quite fit. He had apparently enjoyed it. Although he might try to hide that fact, there was something to him that suggested to me he had very much enjoyed being a part of the practice of medicine.

  Conversations Matt and I had came back to me, a memory of what he had told me. He had seen enough death and destruction during his tour, and I believed that from him. He had come into medicine wanting to help and to save, no longer to hurt.

  “I needed to maintain a presence in the Minneapolis area,” Matt said. “It was nothing more than that.”

  “Perhaps that’s the case,” Barden said.

  “Why didn’t you tell me he was still around here?” I asked.

  “Because I didn’t want you to be involved in the dangers he presented.”

  “You don’t need to protect me, Barden. That much,” I added.

  “It’s not a matter of needing to do anything, Dr. Stone. You weren’t prepared. You have been working with me and my people, trying to get a handle on your connection to your abilities, but you are not yet ready to face dangers like those he would present.”

  There was a certain logic to it, but at the same time, I didn’t like the idea of Barden controlling who I did and did not spend time with. It wasn’t that I would have spent any time with Matt in particular, and yet, there was a certain appeal to him. I had a sneaking suspicion he would be able to teach me far better than I had managed to learn from Barden. It wasn’t a matter of the things Barden had taught me being ineffective, it was just the nature of my magic felt as if it had found a familiar place with Matt.

  I would have to deal with that issue later. For now, I needed to make sure these two didn’t ke
ep assaulting each other, and in order to do that, it involved them stepping back, turning aside from their attack, and continuing to have a conversation.

  “I thought you told me you had a place you could stay,” I said to Matt.

  “I thought I did, but it turns out it wasn’t nearly as safe as I was hoping it would be.”

  “What happened?”

  “It wasn’t as safe as I would hope.”

  I studied him, looking for signs of injury, but I came up with nothing. Whatever he had encountered hadn’t caused him any difficulty.

  “So you came here?”

  “Knowing how much he has done to protect you, I thought that—”

  “You thought he would do the same for you? He doesn’t know you, Matt.”

  “No, he doesn’t, and there’s no reason for him to offer his assistance to me, is there? What could a man like Barden Leifan ever think to gain by housing a man who has lived his life working for an organization such as I have?” He looked past me, studying Barden.

  I didn’t need to turn to know the wheels were already churning within Barden’s mind. I could guess just what Barden would hope to gain from such an arrangement, and furthermore, it wasn’t a stretch to believe Barden would find it incredibly valuable. For him, it likely was incredibly valuable. Having access to the paramilitary, and to better understand who they were and how they operated, fit exactly with the kind of thing Barden did. If it was about accumulating knowledge, what better way than to have leverage over someone who had intimate insider knowledge?

  “I’m not sure I have anyplace that will offer you the safety you require,” Barden said carefully.

  “Even if I provide you with details?”

  “It depends on the nature of the details. The sacrifice involved might be considerable.”

  “I will ensure your people come to no harm.”