by Alex Steele
The smell of Chinese food drifted toward me as Swift walked into the kitchen. My stomach growled eagerly.
“About time, I’m starving,” I said as I eagerly sat up, dropping my feet to the floor so she could sit. “Are the others almost here?”
“Yeah. They should be here any minute now.” She pulled out a container and handed it to me.
“Chicken lo mein?”
“Of course. I got three for you so you can eat something other than Oreos.” She arched an eyebrow in disapproval.
“Oreos are full of vitamins.”
She snorted and began unloading the rest of the takeout containers. There was enough to feed an army. Or a few hungry mages and a shifter.
I opened mine and the tantalizing smell of noodles and chicken greeted me. This was the best sort of food for late night work. I dug in with a pair of chopsticks and shoveled a huge bite into my mouth, groaning in happiness. That crappy pizza we’d had yesterday had been too unappetizing to eat much of and I hadn’t had a proper meal since. Swift was right about the Oreos, not that I’d ever admit it.
The doorbell rang, echoing through the house like a gong. I flinched and glared in the general direction of the door. It was better than wailing, but Bootstrap really needed to stop messing with everything. All I wanted was a normal doorbell and a basic security system.
“I’ll get it,” Swift said, already hurrying toward the front door without waiting for me to respond.
“Make yourself at home,” I said with a long-suffering sigh.
She just laughed at me and kept walking.
I didn’t actually care that she’d let herself in or that she’d invited the others here tonight though. The manor felt empty most days. This was a big change from my days of being a loner. Perhaps a change for the better.
“Are you eating all the chicken lo mein?” Viktor asked from behind me.
I almost fell out of my chair as I whipped around. “How the hell did you sneak in here like that?”
There was a door that led in from the other side, but it normally squeaked.
“I walk quietly.” Viktor snatched up one of the open containers and sniffed it, then shrugged. “This will do.”
“Did you see the latest protest on the news?” I asked between bites. “They’re saying at least five dead, dozens injured, and twenty-six people arrested so far.”
Viktor gave a curt nod. “I saw them. They were very well organized.”
“All that organization went to shit when the magisters tried to arrest their leader, Talos,” I said with a shake of my head.
He lifted one shoulder then let it drop. “That seemed intentional as well.”
Lopez came in through the kitchen door ahead of Swift and marched straight up to Viktor, punching him in the arm almost hard enough to spill his rice.
Her glare softened slightly. “Glad you’re back.”
He smiled at her — something I’d never seen before and hoped to never see again. “Calm down, kotyonak, I was never in danger today.”
Lopez muttered something in Spanish and grabbed a carton.
I hadn’t noticed Danner had arrived with them, what with all the punching, until he pulled out the chair across from me.
“Now that we’re all here, we can get to work and figure out a plan,” Swift announced, grabbing the orange chicken.
“To deal with the protestors and Mage’s Guild or Bradley’s upcoming trial?” Lopez asked.
“Both. They’re the same problem, really.” Swift jabbed her chopsticks into her container. “Bradley is suffering from the same corruption that is screwing with everything else.”
Swift jerked her chin toward the envelope. “Blackwell followed their leader, Talos, during the riot. They vanished in a dead end alley and left that for him.”
Lopez leaned forward and inspected it as she chewed a large bite of food. “Wha’ innit?” she asked around the mouthful.
“Don’t know yet.” I flipped it over. “We were a little hesitant to open it. Not sure if it’s meant as something friendly, or as a threat.”
Lopez held her hand out for it, so I gave it to her and sat back. She lifted it to her face and sniffed carefully around the edges and seal.
With a shrug, she dropped it back on the table. “No active magic left in that. Sixty percent chance it’s safe to open.”
“Guess the odds are in our favor,” I said dryly.
Swift rolled her eyes and grabbed it, breaking the seal before I could object. Nothing happened. She opened and carefully shook out the letter inside. It wasn’t normal paper though. It was old-fashioned papyrus. These people had a serious and unnecessary flair for the dramatic. From what I’d seen of Talos, it suited him though.
I picked up the letter and unfolded it.
“A tyrant's trust dishonors those who earn it.”
We both want the same thing. Let us see how we can help each other.
Come to Bound at midnight tomorrow.
- Talos
Ps...Are you awake yet?
I looked up at Swift in confusion. “What does that mean? It sounds like a quote from something.”
She frowned and held her hand out for the letter. “It does. Perhaps something from Greek mythology but I can’t place it.”
“Sounds ridiculous to me. I don’t trust ‘em,” Danner said with a decisive shake of his head. “We need to be worried about the old chief’s trial, not some loony bin reject.”
“About that,” I said with a wince. “His trial date has been canceled and they haven’t updated it, and he’s been moved.”
“To where?” Lopez demanded, sitting up straight.
“No clue,” I said with a sigh. “Bootstrap is bringing in someone to help though.”
“Someone we can trust?” Swift asked.
“I certainly hope so. Bootstrap trusts him. I’ve worked with the kid for a while and he’s never let me down.”
“Man, do you only compliment me behind my back?” Bootstrap asked as he walked into the kitchen. “You could show a little appreciation to my face every now and then boss man.”
“Shut up and get some food,” I muttered, shoving the last carton across the table toward him.
He grabbed it and climbed into the chair next to Danner, smiling at the mage with a mouth full of food. His smile was not returned.
Viktor set his food down and leaned back in his chair, surveying the group with a hard gaze. “Helping Bradley is the priority, but until we find out where he is, we have other problems.”
“The Awakened?” Swift asked.
He nodded. “Yes. As well as the Mage’s Guild and your parents.”
Swift stiffened uncomfortably.
There was a thump and Viktor looked at Lopez with a frown. “Why did you kick me?
“Maybe we should invite them over for tea again and just ask them what they’re doing,” I said, trying to ease the tension.
Swift snorted. “It might just work. Last time you got a house out of it.”
“I still can’t believe he just handed you the deed like that,” Lopez said, shaking her head. “You’re sure there’s no listening devices or surveillance runes?”
“I’m sure,” Bootstrap butted in, waving his chopsticks around. “I checked every crevice of this house so thoroughly I might as well have had sex with the place.” He laughed. No one else did. He slouched down into his chair and dug out a piece of broccoli with his chopsticks. “Anyhow, I’m sure.”
“My father was likely just trying to show Blackwell how...little of a threat he is. It took everything Blackwell had to keep me from being arrested, and my father can hand it all back to him without it mattering.” She tucked her hair behind her ears and shook her head. “He thinks he’s invincible, and with the Mage’s Guild behind him, perhaps he is.”
Lopez set her now empty carton of food down on the table. “We know the Mage’s Guild is corrupt and we know who the enemy is there. The Awakened worry me more because they’re a wild card. Are t
hey on our side? Or are they just troublemakers?”
Viktor nodded in agreement. “These are important questions.”
“They seem fairly fanatical. I don’t think we’ll be able to get answers just from asking,” Swift said, twirling her chopsticks idly between her fingers. “Even Ashley, one of the Awakened we ran into at the first protest, was hesitant to tell us much, and she didn’t seem to be all that fond of the organization. We might need to send someone in undercover. See if they could get recruited and get some information that way.”
“If we could find them, who could go undercover? It’d be easy enough to find out we’re all IMIB agents.” I asked.
“I can,” Viktor said with a shrug. “I have openly cut ties with the Mage’s Guild. It wouldn’t even be a lie to say that I was interested in taking them down. Based on the riots, I suspect the Awakened are interested in that.”
Lopez didn’t look pleased, but nodded. “Viktor has the best chance of getting recruited probably.”
“What about me? They’d totally trust me too. I’m a hacker,” Bootstrap said, leaning forward excitedly.
“Can you get in touch with them online?” Swift asked.
“Maybe. I’ve never really tried, so not sure how hard it’d be.”
Swift glanced at me and I sat back with a sigh.
“Alright, but—” I said, cutting off Bootstrap’s excited response with a sharp gesture. “You do it cautiously. They’re probably going to test you to see if you’re really into whatever they have going on. It’s not worth doing something stupid just to get a man on the inside.”
“Why are you lecturing me on this, but not him?” Bootstrap asked, gesturing at Viktor.
“Because he knows what he’s doing and you don’t.”
“Rude.” Bootstrap shoved a big bite in his mouth, accidentally smearing sauce on his cheek, and chewed sullenly.
“They seemed interested in Swift and they left me this letter. There’s a chance they are willing to trust us, or that they want to talk,” I said, tapping my chopsticks against the side of the carton as I thought through the possibilities.
“Pretty good odds one of you will be successful,” Lopez said with a shrug.
Swift nodded. “Maybe we can get information on where the next riot will be and stop it before it starts. I don’t think they realized how hard the Mage’s Guild could come down on them, but now they know. The mage we grabbed was young. They didn’t live through the war. They don’t know how ugly it can get.”
“That’s for damn sure,” Danner muttered.
Something beeped and Bootstrap pulled a small tablet out of his bathrobe. “Aw, hell.”
“What’s wrong?”
He held up the tablet, showing another riot. This wasn’t just mages though. The vampires and werewolves had gotten involved.
“So much for having time to sort this shit out,” Danner muttered, shaking his head like he’d known all along it’d never work.
Viktor got up and threw his carton away, then tapped on Lopez’s shoulder and nodded toward the door. They disappeared to talk and Danner took that as an opportunity to leave as well. I sent Bootstrap up to get to work on his part in all this which left Swift and I alone in the kitchen.
She picked at the leftovers, looking as tired as I felt.
“So, before you can accuse me of not sharing, I should tell you I heard the voice again. The mayhem magic sort of helped me during the riot, though I couldn’t completely control it—”
She accidentally snapped the chopsticks in her hand. With a frown she tossed the pieces into an empty container. “You lost control?”
“No, not really. I asked it to do something, and it did it.” I pushed my hands through my hair. It was getting too long, but I hadn’t had a chance to go to the barber recently.
“Do you think you should...encourage it?” She picked a shrimp out of the last carton of fried rice with her fingers and chewed it with a worried frown.
“I don’t think I have a choice. It...is the mayhem magic. I’d told Sakura it felt sentient and it looks like I was right. It’s not normal magic.” I twisted the family ring on my finger as I remembered the hungry look in the eye as it had stared at me from within the blade. “I formed the katana I fought Fear with and I saw this...creature...in the blade. Its eye and its mouth.”
“Well, that’s creepy,” Swift muttered.
I snorted. “What’s creepy is that it’s in my head.”
She leaned back in her chair and propped her feet up. “Maybe we need to arrange an exorcism.”
“Ha. Ha.”
Sixteen
I approached the Rune Rentals desk, needing to kill some time while waiting on Swift who was running behind.
“Hey, Billy,” I greeted with a nod. It was a relief to see him back at work, safe and sound. We’d run out of there pretty fast after the riot, and I hadn’t been able to follow up with anything more than a text.
Billy’s head popped up. “Hey, man. Anymore life or death emergencies today?”
I shook my head with a chuckle. “Not yet.”
“Oh, Sarah wanted me to give you this. She talked with them before we left, and they told her a little more about the people they work for. Not sure if it’ll be helpful though.” He pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it over. “They made a list of every place they remembered even though Ashley said it was useless.”
I opened the note and found a list of five addresses and various Greek names and the roles of those people within the organization. Talos was written at the bottom with a question mark, and ‘important’ in all caps.
“This is helpful. Tell her thank you.” I tucked the note in my jacket pocket. It could be a good starting point. We could fill in the blanks.
“Did you just come by to say hello, or did you need a car?”
“Both. Swift and I are headed to Seattle today.”
“Awesome. I can get you something decent there.” He typed out a few things, then grabbed a pair of keys. “They lifted your restrictions after the attack.”
“Really? That’s the last thing I expected to hear.”
“Surprised me too,” Billy said with a shrug. “I guess saving the day has its perks.”
Swift emerged from the crowd and headed over, holding a bag of what looked like donuts. “Good morning, Billy.” She pulled out a smaller bag and handed it to him. “Got you a glazed and chocolate.”
His face lit up with excitement. “Thanks! I’m starving. Didn’t have time to eat before I left home.”
I reached for the bigger bag, eager for a treat, but she pulled it out of reach.
“Stop it. That’s for our meeting with Gresham.”
I sighed, eyeing the bag plaintively. “Then we should hurry there. I ran out of Oreos last night.”
The Rune Rail for Seattle arrived at the terminal.
“Gotta run. See you next time, Billy,” I said with a wave.
Swift and I jogged over, having to hurry a little bit to get on before the train left again.
We took our seats and lapsed into silence as the doors closed and the Rune Rail took off. Everyone on board was tense, eyes darting around like the thing might explode any minute. My fingers itched for the katana I no longer carried. Crutch or not, I missed it hanging at my hip.
“I hope Gresham will have some insight into that letter.”
“If anyone can help, it’s him,” Swift agreed with a decisive nod. “I’d like to look into the gods as well, which means we’ll have to tell Gresham about all that. There have to be records throughout history of them acting, or influencing things in some way.”
“I think it’s time he knew.”
A smile tugged at the corner of her lips. “Growing up, he was always going on about mythology and history. I think he’ll be very excited to learn they exist.”
“Maybe less excited when he finds out they aren’t all that friendly.”
She shook her head and laughed. “That won�
�t dampen his enthusiasm in the slightest.”
The Rune Rail arrived at its destination and everyone crowded around the doors, eager to escape it.
We were carried out in a wave of people, finally making it off the platform. I tracked down the car. It was nothing special, but at least it wasn’t a taxi.
It was raining by the time we made it. The steady downpour soaked us straight through on the run to the front door. I pulled my jacket off as we stepped inside, draping the sopping wet thing over my arm.
It was comfortably warm inside. The old woman — who I still suspected might have been dead — wasn’t at the front desk. It sat empty. I shook out my hair like a wet dog, earning a glare from Swift.
“Seriously?” Her own pink hair hung in wet tendrils around her face.
“What? It’s annoying when it drips everywhere.”
The employee entrance door burst open, startling both of us, and Gresham stuck his head out. His fluffy white hair was crazier than ever and he looked like he hadn’t gotten much sleep.
“Oh, Lexi, so lovely to see you,” he said, hurrying over to wrap her in a hug. “And you too, Logan.” He grabbed me before I could dodge him, squeezing me tight like we were old friends.
I patted his back awkwardly. “Uh, thanks.”
“Here, let me take those wet things. I’ve got a nice fire going in the back. The best sort of thing for rainy days.” He took my jacket before I could protest.
Swift shook her head in amusement at my grumpy expression. “Calm down, he’s not going to do anything to it.”
We followed Gresham through the bookstore. The rain was a muted thunder above us. For a moment, it took me back to the night of my parent’s death, though the storm had been much worse then. I shook off the memories which had been cropping up more than I was comfortable with lately. For nearly fifty years, I thought I’d moved on. Apparently I hadn’t.
