Fire Magic

by Holly Hook

  Her mother was one of those Normals that preferred that we Abnormals didn't exist or at least stayed out of sight and now she was trapped down here with a whole society of them. Some Normals lived down here, especially if they were friends with Abnormals or all into the cause but not very many. Thorne, my martial arts instructor, stayed down here part time.

  Janine's mother hadn't come down here with a smile on her face. She knew the truth about Thoreau and in order to avoid him, she'd had to make the choice. She still had a bandage on her neck from where one of Thoreau's vampire minions had bitten her. I thought she should be grateful that she wasn't turning, like I had. It was a pretty rare gene that caused that, after all.

  “Hey, Mom,” Janine said as she skipped into the room. “Alyssa and I are going to look around the Underground if you don't mind.”

  Her mother dropped the magazine onto her lap. “I don't like you parading around this place with these strange...people.”

  “I'm not strange,” I said, flicking my hot pink pigtails. The dye was bright as ever. I'd just had this done three days ago, right before we'd stormed into the ATC building. I made sure not to open my mouth all the way. I hadn't had the chance to file my teeth down in days and it was bothering me. “Well, maybe just a little.”

  Janine's mom avoided eye contact with me. Instead, she sat all the way up on the bed and glared at Janine. “I don't like you being around these people. You need to stay in the room here and be safe. Look at what hanging around them almost got you.”

  “Mom, that was the mayor who was the problem. The Abnormals here in the underground aren't with him. They're against him. And no, I haven't been bitten or enchanted or otherwise attacked since we got here. These people are cool.”

  “I don't like you going out there!” she shouted.

  I backed towards the door. This was far scarier than fighting Allunna, dodging war magic or even facing Thoreau and those fiery eyes of his. Janine's mom was a force to be reckoned with.

  “It's okay!” Janine yelled back. It was clear they'd been arguing ever since crap hit the fan. “I know you're all stressed because the apartment burned down. You know what? Thoreau did that. You voted for him because you thought he was going to get rid of the Abnormals. He's a demon, Mom. You know that now. He's everyone's enemy.”

  “I know he is,” she shouted back. “Any of these people could be working for him in secret and you don't know.”

  “Normals work for him too,” Janine said. “The ones in suits do. That means we need to avoid the surface just as much as down here. Thoreau's treatment centers for Abnormals aren't really that. That's where he takes them into the Infernal Dimension and makes them sleep or makes them serve him.”

  “See?” Janine's mother asked. “You are staying here, young lady.”

  Janine had backed herself into a corner. “I can protect her,” I said. “I'm her best friend. I have some fighting skills. No one is going to bother her if she's with me. In fact, she's safer with me.”

  “See, Mom?” Janine asked. “I have Alyssa here.” She was finally calling me by my birth name.

  Her mother got up and moved to stand in front of me. She rubbed her bandage like she was trying to make a point. “You sure Alyssa isn't going to bite you?” she asked.

  “Alyssa won't even bite her boyfriend,” Janine said.

  “He's not really my boyfriend--” I started.

  “She wouldn't even bite the people she's fighting. Her martial arts guy offered to let her bite him and she didn't. So why would she go after me? She had lots of times she could have and she didn't.”

  So Xavier had told her about my test fight. I wasn't mad about that. There was nothing I hated more than talking about biting and not wanting to do it. He had taken a burden off my shoulders, like he knew I needed some help in that area.

  “And Alyssa and Xavier got you out of the ATC building. Remember that?”

  Janine's mom was deflating. “Okay,” she said. “Just...be careful. I suppose you've hung out with Alyssa long enough. But don't leave her side and don't break into any more buildings.”

  “I didn't break in,” Janine said. “I walked in and asked what floor you were on like a nice, Normal polite person.”

  Janine skipped around her mother and joined me at the door. We were free. I let out a breath as we left the candle lit chamber behind and Janine's mother sighed.

  “We're just going to see where Xavier lives,” I said. The funeral was supposed to go on for a couple of hours. The Elder Mages all had the duty of speaking when one of their own died and Xavier had warned me that they all got long-winded. The corridors still sounded and smelled empty. Anyone still behind these rows of wooden doors were either sleeping or staying out of sight. There was only the faint bread roll smell that Janine's mother was giving off. She hadn't eaten a big lunch.

  The walk through the corridors was long and full of echoes. I had never heard the Underground this quiet. My sword was all the way back in the testing chamber since weapons hadn't been allowed in the funeral. That was a hike and all we were doing was looking for Xavier's place, anyway. The War Mages must stay in a different area than the other Abnormals and the Normals down here did. I never saw too many of them milling around among the others down here. Xavier was the exception.

  “This place is so cool,” Janine said, stopping to admire a candle that was flickering with a purple flame. “I wonder how they did this.”

  “Mages,” I said. “Humans with magic. There are all kinds. I can think of at least four. You'll see them wearing robes. Magenta means they're a War Mage. If it's blue, it's a Seer Mage. The woman who was up guarding your mother in the ATC building turned out to be a Dark Mage. Bad stuff. I haven't seen any of those down here.”

  “Xavier doesn't wear a robe. That would take away from his hotness.”

  “I agree,” I said. “The older Mages do. I think I hear someone.”

  We stopped in the corridor at a four way. Squeaky wheels rolled somewhere distant. These tunnels were supposed to run under the whole city and a wooden sign hanging on the wall told us we were at the intersection of Frankincense and Durley. Even the street names down here were magical sounding. I hadn't even realized these were considered streets until now. I hadn't been down here long enough.

  Then I picked up a doggy smell. A werewolf.

  “Hello?” I called. The smell was strong.

  A door squeaked open nearby and Les, the towering form I had met briefly when Xavier first brought me to the Underground, stepped out. “I'm here. I'm looking good.” He stood there and flexed his biceps, which were very hairy and bulging from his tight gray T-shirt. Les looked like a human right now, one who might pass as a lumberjack, but his smell was anything but.

  “Where does Xavier live?” I asked.

  “Down Frankincense here and then left down Hammerly,” Les said. “Why?”

  “Just wondering,” I said. “I need to ask him something.”

  “He's probably at the funeral,” Les said. His voice held a barely controlled growl that even a Normal might be able to hear. “Those War Mages are all full of self importance. They might be the most powerful Mages but they forget that they're mortal like most of us.”

  So Les wasn't a friend of Leon's. I'd keep that in mind.

  “Thanks,” I said. “Anything else I should know?” I wondered why he wasn't at the funeral.

  “It's a big door,” Les said. “You can't miss the inflated ego in it. The War Mages all live in their own dormitory. The rest of us get the holes in the wall.”

  “But they're cool holes in the wall,” Janine said.

  She was taking to this Abnormal world way better than her mother. In fact, she thought Abnormals were cool. Hannah had been the same way. She'd wanted to become like me which was why she'd asked me to bite her. I had, but without the rare gene she hadn't turned. Hannah just bled from her neck and had to go to the hospital and my family got ripped apart.

  “Not so after you live in one
for fourteen years,” Les said. “They get old fast. You might want to head there now so you can see how the other half lives.”

  We thanked him and moved on. We turned down Frankincense and walked down the underground road until it started to widen and the wooden doors got newer and newer. The cobblestone got lighter and even showed patterns in the floor. Flowers. Magical blue moons and green trees. The crevices in the walls turned to nice little alcoves with glowing whitish-blue blossoms instead of skull candles and the ceiling arched above higher and higher. We passed under a chandelier complete with regular candles that showed no signs of burning out.

  “This is a lot different from the rest of the Underground,” Janine said.

  “I've never been down here,” I said. “Looks like Xavier lives it up down here. This must be the Beverly Hills part of the Underground.”

  I could see what Les was saying. Balconies hung overhead, complete with little gardens and hanging vines. There was a lot more light here, enough for plants to grow. I felt like we were walking through some subterranean part of Rome now. No one was here. They were all at the funeral. I wondered if we were even allowed here.

  And why hadn't Xavier told me about this?

  “Maybe only War Mages are allowed to live here,” I said. “Or those who have killed demons.”

  “You killed a demon. Well, sort of.”

  I rolled up my sleeve to reveal the tick that had appeared there when Xavier had killed Allunna. Since we were bound we both got the mark of honor when it had happened. It was right above my crossed swords that showed I was Bound to Xavier.

  To Xavier, it was a mark of shame. His grandfather's death had come with that tick.

  Another intersection lay ahead. Another wooden sign told us we had come to Hammerly.

  By now, it was almost as bright as day down here with all the enchanted candles above us. We turned and the apartments only got taller right along with the ceiling. Glass mosaics decorated the top, some of which glittered with stars that couldn't be real. Others showed blue sky and clouds that looked like the real thing. When I stopped, the clouds drifted. There was no way they were the real thing. I wasn't getting sick from the fake sunlight.

  We were walking through a long cathedral now. These past couple of days, Xavier had been pretty absent, letting me recover on my own in my little apartment. He might have spent his time here, or at least some of it. Not once had he offered to let me see his home.

  There was a large wooden double door at the end of the street--the largest one, and it had a lion statue on either side. The marble cats both roared in silence like they were trying to warn any intruders back. Vines and hanging plants hung off the front of two marble pillars that flanked the door.

  “Is that where your boyfriend lives?” Janine asked.

  “I haven't even kissed him,” I said.

  “That place is amazing,” Janine said. “To think, this has been under Cumberland the whole time. I always thought there were like, sewers or something.”

  “Well, there are,” I said. “This is under those.” I could hear no running water here. I wondered what part of the city this was under. It definitely wasn't the expressway or downtown. I'd be able to hear the noise from that.

  As I stared at Xavier's home, I thought of some of the people who lived down here in the Underground. When I first got here, I saw that Elsina lived in an alcove right off one of the narrow streets. Another family lived in a space that didn't even have a door. They were worse off than me and Les. Some people had literal holes in the wall. And now here were the War Mages, living it up better than anyone on the surface.

  I wondered if I could ever look at Xavier the same way again.

  We walked up to the door and I knocked. The wooden doors were heavy and might be guarded with magical wards. In fact, I felt a bit tingly just standing in front of them. Breaking them down might not be a good idea and I wasn't launching an attack on Xavier's place.

  To my surprise, footsteps approached.

  The door on my right creaked open.

  A Normal woman in a maid's outfit stood on the other side. She was an older, plump woman who smelled like a mixture of cleaning supplies and the toast she'd eaten for breakfast. Thankfully it didn't make my stomach rumble.

  “Who might you be?” she asked, friendly and trusting. “I'm Nora, the Lovellis' head maid. They are gone to a funeral right now.” Then she squinted at me and smiled. “You're not Thoreau's people, are you?”

  “No,” I said.

  “If you were,” she said, “I suppose you wouldn't have made it halfway down Frankincense. There are wards that keep out anyone Bound to a demon's service. Or most demons, for that matter.”

  “What?” I asked. “You're saying this area is protected?”

  “Of course,” Nora said. “The Lovellis and the other War Mages have put up wards around this district. They start where the street starts to widen.”

  I couldn't help what came out of my mouth next. “So the rest of the Underground is unprotected.”

  Nora nodded. “It has always been that way. We can't afford to lose any War Mages with Thoreau gaining so much power. The War Mages need to put the magic where it's needed most.”

  She spoke like this was no big deal, like she was talking about building a vault around a huge sum of money. These were people she was talking about. If Thoreau came down here tomorrow, he'd find all those Abnormal families and children and people who weren't trained to fight while the War Mages would be safe here.

  I'd really never think of Xavier the same again.

  Janine glanced at me and raised her eyebrow. We were learning some dirty stuff here.

  “Would you like to come in?” Nora asked. “I can make some tea.”

  “Sure,” Janine said, pushing in front of me to climb the marble (no kidding, marble) stairs and through the open door.

  I imagined a huge, ornate entryway by now and that's what we got. The carpet was red with a hint of magenta, as if the war magic of this place had soaked into every fiber. A chandelier so big that a dozen people could stand on the top hung from the ceiling, which made a huge swirling pattern above our heads. It reminded me a little of Thoreau's little prison chamber I'd found Janine's mother in. Leather couches and chairs stood between entryways to other rooms and paintings hung on the walls. I spotted one of someone who must have been Leon in his younger years—his much younger years. The man had brown hair like Xavier's but that same pointed, merciless face I'd come to know in the now-dead version.

  Janine tugged on my sleeve and pointed.

  There was another painting to our right, one of a younger Leon in a red chair. Allunna stood behind him with her arm wrapped around his shoulder. She was smiling and her eyes were like black pits of coal.

  “So Allunna was more than just Leon's battle partner,” Janine whispered in my ear.

  “Which is why his wife divorced him,” I whispered back.

  I could see Janine's imagination going in the way she studied the picture and shook her head. But before she could say anything else, Nora closed the wooden door with a slow creak and told us to follow. She walked us through the entryway on the right, where we entered a narrow hall lined with oil lamps. Even the elites of the Underground didn't even have electricity. It was part of staying hidden from the topside.

  “This way,” Nora repeated, hurrying us along.

  I almost blurted that I didn't and couldn't drink tea but I hated exposing my secret to anyone, so I stayed quiet. The whole place was silent except for us. Then I caught a whiff of paint. One of the wooden doors was open a little and someone was inside. Paint fumes drowned out any smells but I caught a glimpse of a young woman—I couldn't tell if she was Normal or not—with her back turned to me and an easel out in front of her. She had pure red hair and was sweeping a paint brush on a picture of a young girl with dark hair who was leaning against a coffee table and looking prim and proper.

  But that wasn't what caught my attention.

&nb
sp; There was an unfinished painting leaning against the wall with only the top corner unfilled. I stopped for a split second to see but that was enough.

  It was Xavier.

  He looked almost the same as he did now, with his longish (now cut) dark hair, leather coat and hat. He was minus his sunglasses in this image, leaving his striking blue and purplish eyes very bright and noticeable. I felt like I was about to fall into them.

  But it was the other person in the picture I noticed most of all.

  It was another girl, about my age, with slightly greenish skin and long fingers, five of which were splayed out on Xavier's coat from behind. Her dark green hair spilled around her tank top as she kissed Xavier on the cheek.

  Chapter Three

  I was so shocked by the image that I didn't remember the rest of the walk to the sitting room, which turned out to be another glass dome. I hesitated at the threshold, because behind the glass was a pure blue sky complete with a sun and white clouds. A flowered field spread out in all directions and I really felt like I was about to step outside. Even the carpet was green. A wooden table sat in the middle. There were colorful teacups on the table. It was as if someone wanted their own Alice in Wonderland getaway in the house.

  Janine stepped into the room and faced me with sympathy. She started to open her mouth, but then I stuck my hand in the room.

  No burning. No ill effect. The sun was as fake as the one had been out on the street. I was safe to go in but I couldn't let my guard down. Glamoured white clouds drifted past on a glamoured blue sky. It brought back memories of when I was really small, before I got bitten. An image of my grandparents' huge yard spread out in front of me for a second. I had a pinwheel in my hand, one that glittered with reds and pinks. It was a world that had been stolen from me so long ago.

  Janine sat down at the wooden table and pulled up a matching chair.

  “What's wrong?” she asked before I even sat.