Shattered by Magic

by Rebecca Danese

  At least it looks like we aren’t going back upstairs any time soon.

  “Here we are, boys and girls: the warehouse,” Cassie says theatrically, waving us into a huge space at the bottom of the building.

  A large loading bay stands to the right, while stacks and stacks of wooden crates from floor to ceiling fill up the rest of the room. One lorry is being unloaded by Augurs and the contents disassembled, smaller boxes being placed into the back of a fleet of cars parked in bays against the rear wall.

  We walk past a pair of workers, who open one up and retrieve vials of clear liquid that don’t look like the shimmering, coloured Air I’ve seen before.

  “So nice of you to join us, Curtis, Ella.” The Duke nods to us. “You’re just in time to see phase one of my plan commence,” he says proudly, gesturing to the industrious activity happening before our eyes.

  Mulberry barks orders to a team of telekinetics, telling them to be careful when a crate lands heavily on the ground. Munday is nowhere to be seen, but my back is aching, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was lurking somewhere here.

  “Serum One, also known as Ella’s serum,” the Duke says, gesturing to a crate of glittering liquid, “will be distributed over the course of the day, through my most trusted staff, to every corner of London.” He smiles with pride but gives me a mock frown when he sees my face. “Oh, Curtis, don’t look so glum. You’ve wanted this as much as the rest of us, even if you won’t admit it to yourself. This”—he stretches out his arms to embrace the sight before us—“is what I’ve been working towards for decades. Augurs will no longer be treated like parasites as we’ve been accustomed to. We will be the ones in control.”

  “And you’ll be there to lead them?” I complain.

  “Curtis,” he says condescendingly, “it’s not about leading. None of this is about me. It’s about freeing my people. Do you know how many doses of Ella’s serum they’ll need to be completely transformed into self-generating power sources?”

  I shake my head and look at Ella, who averts her eyes from mine and fidgets. She helped to create the formula, so she probably knows the answer.

  “Three. Three doses of a miracle serum, straight to a major artery, and they’ll be more powerful than they’ve ever experienced,” he says proudly.

  “Overpowered, erratic, and bonded to you, their saviour, while they’re at it,” I snark.

  “Oho, nephew. I thought that, surely, you’d be pleased. Ella won’t need to run and hide any longer.” He reaches out a hand and lifts my chin, examining my charred skin and tutting, as if the damage wasn’t caused by him.

  I pull my face back and bat his hand with my left arm. “Ella doesn’t care about me.” I don’t look at her, but I feel her stiffen beside me. “I have nothing to be pleased about. There are bad Augurs, just as there are bad Normals. What if you dose up the wrong guy, huh? What if you make a serial killer one of the most powerful Augurs in the city? Or a thief? The police won’t stand a chance,” I reply. I may be useless to stop him, but I won’t fail to remind him of what a mistake he’s making. “My friends might be dead, thanks to you, for all I know. My aunt. My cousin. Your son.”

  His smile disappears at the mention of Edward, and I use the surprise to my advantage.

  “Oh, you didn’t know? You didn’t know that Edward was in the lab that you ordered demolished and that you killed him?” My voice rises, and the workers around us stop, bringing everything to a quiet standstill.

  The Duke pauses, his hand just inches from my face. Maybe he’ll choke me out here and now. Maybe I’ve pushed him over the edge. I’m not sure if it matters whether I survive through this, but if he tries to kill me, will Ella stop him?

  I don’t get to find out the answer to that, as he drops his hand and fishes out another vial, this one blood-red. “I had no idea Edward had betrayed me too,” he says, rolling the vial in his fingers. “It seems my entire family has let me down more than I could have ever imagined.”

  I watch his movements, the horrible feeling that something bad is about to happen sending alarm bells through my aching body. The vial slips between his fingers, over and under, as he seems to toy with an idea.

  “Phase two,” he says quietly, “is to eradicate the Augur problem once and for all.” He holds the vial in front of my face and smiles cruelly. “The trouble with you is that you only ever think in problems. I, however, think in solutions. You worry about thieves and killers with Augur powers, but you don’t dare to think what would happen if the authorities you seem to put so much faith in had Augurs on their side too.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Phase two, Curtis. Selective Augur creation, also known as Munday’s Serum.”

  I try to piece the meaning of the words together in my mind and work out what he’s referring to, but I’m no wiser. The red vial flicks backwards and forwards in front of my eyes and tempts me to snatch it out of his fingers, but he whips it away just before I get a chance to.

  “Not only do I get to pick and choose the Augurs that receive Ella’s serum, but I also select which Normals receive Munday’s serum,” he says, so quietly that only I can hear him.

  “Normals? You can turn Normals into Augurs?” The shock of what he’s saying is like a bucket of ice water down my back.

  “The solution to the Augur problem, Curtis, is to eradicate Augurs from the minority and instead make them the majority. Munday’s serum selects out those Normals strong enough to take the Augur gene and eradicates those who are too weak to handle it.”

  “By ‘eradicate’ you mean that they die?” I reply incredulously.

  “Something like that, yes,” he says faintly.

  I look at Ella for any sign of recognition, but she continues to look at her hands.

  “Did you know about this?” I accuse, but the Duke cuts her off before she can reply.

  “It’s a work in progress, but I think I’m ready to test out the formula on a human subject,” he says, flicking his fingers. An Augur loading one of the cars runs over with a small case and opens it, handing the Duke a syringe.

  “What are you doing?” I ask, taking a step back and almost stepping on one of the Duke’s lackeys, who puts a firm hand on my shoulders.

  “Testing out a theory, Curtis. It will take converting approximately twenty percent of the population of the city to turn the tide on the Augur problem. As you love Augurs so much, I think we’ll start with you.” He pierces the top of the vial with the needle of the syringe and fills it, tapping out the air bubbles and allowing a little to leak out of the top. It reminds me of blood.

  I struggle in the grip of the Augur holding me, but with a broken arm and my strength ebbing, I’m no match for him.

  “This isn’t what we agreed!” Ella says, stepping forward and angling herself between myself and the Duke.

  “We didn’t agree on anything, my dear. What was it you said? Oh yes, ‘Do what you like with him. I don’t care.’ Something like that. Surely, if you don’t have feelings for my nephew anymore, then you won’t mind a little experiment being done on him. It’s all for the greater good, of course.” Clarence smiles, and it reminds me of a snake.

  Ella looks at me helplessly, her eyes wide with fear. She knows as much as I do that the outcome of this won’t be good. “You don’t even know what it will do to him,” she says, placing a restraining hand on his arm, only to have him flick it off.

  “I know that we’ll all be better off if he dies, Ella. The formula may not be perfected as of yet, but it will clearly show us that he’s not capable of handling power like ours. Tilly’s side of the family always was weak,” he says disdainfully.

  This is it. He’s going to kill me with his science, just like he and Munday did with so many before me. But I’m not going out without a fight.

  I lean forwards a little, pulling the Augur behind me closer and snapping my head back in time to collide with his nose, which crunches against the back of my skull. He immediately re
leases me, and I turn around to push-kick him in the abdomen. Two more grunts rush me, and I duck the first that makes a grab for me, kicking his leg out from underneath him in a low sweep, using my good arm to ram his head against my knee. The second takes hold of my broken arm, and I cry out, nearly passing out with the pain he forces on my radius. I roll myself up into a crouching position and thrust all my weight into my left fist, hitting him in the jaw and sending him backwards. Just when I think I’m victorious, a cold hand pinches the back of my neck, and I freeze.

  “Stop now,” Cassie commands, and my fists flop to my sides. The inside of my head is buzzing with the effort to fight against her control, but my body won’t cooperate.

  “You are such a nuisance, Curtis,” the Duke says, stepping over one of his recumbent guards and pointing the syringe at my neck. Sweat drips down my forehead with the effort of trying to pull away, but Cassie’s hold is too strong on me.

  “Your Grace, Clarence, please!” Ella pleads, standing in front of me and holding her arms out as if that will ward him off. “You can’t do this! None of this was what we agreed.”

  “You seem to have forgotten where your loyalties lie, my dear. Or has seeing the father of your child addled your mind?”

  He knows, I realise with shock. Ella places a protective hand over her bump and takes a step away from us.

  “D-do s-something,” I manage to force out, fighting against Cassie’s hold. She could throw everyone across the room with a flick of her wrist if she just used her powers, but for some reason, she isn’t even trying.

  “I can’t,” she replies, looking at me. “My powers hurt the baby.”

  “What?”

  “Oh, Curtis. You didn’t realise that Ella, being a self-generating power source, could kill your child if she used her powers? And there I thought you knew everything about us,” he mocks. A snap of his fingers brings another one of his workers over, who firmly pulls Ella to one side, but she doesn’t attempt to fight him.

  “Well, dear nephew,” the Duke says as the needle pierces a vein in my neck, “this may be goodbye for us. I can’t say you’ll be missed.”

  “W-what ifff it w-works?” I sputter, using any strength I have left to speak against Cassie’s will.

  “Oh, I doubt it will work on you. So far, only the strongest of candidates have survived Munday’s serum, and I’m afraid you have nothing on them,” he says softly, pushing the plunger and releasing the formula into my veins.

  Within seconds, it feels like my blood is on fire. All the pain from my broken bones and burns, cuts, and bruises are multiplied. He grimaces at me as my body begins to judder, taking a step away.

  “It’s a messy death, Ella; you may wish to look away,” he says to her, turning his back on me.

  Cassie releases my neck, and I collapse onto the floor, waves of agony flooding through every limb. I thought I knew pain before. I thought that losing Ella was the worst thing that could happen to me, but this is something else. The pain fills every corner of my mind, until I can think of nothing else but wanting it to stop.

  My lungs begin to close up, squeezing air out of me slowly as if I’m being choked from the inside. I think I can hear someone sobbing nearby, but as the shaking stops, a coldness seeps through me, from my fingers all the way to my heart.

  “Curtis,” Ella whispers by my ear. Something hits my cheek, and I realise it must be tears. “Curtis, I failed you. I failed.” My vision is blurred, but I sense her lifting up my head and placing it on her lap. “I failed,” she says one more time, her voice fading out. Then all I hear is silence.

  CHAPTER 18

  Chaos and disaster. My world is smoke and dust, grey and silver all around me.

  Ella releases a cry of suffering so acute it sends a ripple through the air, sending anything within a few metres flying. People topple over, sent sprawling across the warehouse, while crates teeter precariously on the tops of their stacks. Even the Duke is caught off guard, being pushed over by the force of her pain.

  “Don’t just stand there,” he yells. “Stop her!”

  His soldiers right themselves quickly and make a beeline for her, prepared to choke her into silence if needed.

  Out of nowhere, Jer, Lou, and Marco appear, dusty and bruised. Marco. If I understood what was going on, I’d be happy. Elated to see him. He’s alive.

  They don’t hesitate for a second, Jer firing off a tranquilliser dart into the Augur nearest Ella. Lou sends out a wave of energy from her fingers so powerful that an entire stack of crates topples, its precious contents smashing onto the floor and crushing someone standing underneath it.

  Marco seems to be mostly recovered. Pale but fully functioning, using his ability to allow punches to pass right through him and returning hits at a fierce rate. The three of them manage to take out seven of the Duke’s workers before they become outnumbered.

  The Duke roars instructions, and a mixture of Magic Circle and Society members pour in from other areas of the building, surrounding them. The door to the loading bay crumples beneath the force of Maisie Anderson’s fists, and behind her, Michael, Plague, Bubble, and Gloria pile in.

  An Augur with glowing arms hits Jer with searing force and sends him flying across the room, but he’s caught by a purple shadow in midair and set onto the ground carefully. The shadow slides along the ground and wraps itself around the attacker, squeezing him until he passes out, then returns to its creator, Pru, who stands in a corner, shrouded by darkness and invisible to everyone who runs past.

  A figure zips in and out of focus, wielding a wooden cane, attacking Augurs and then darting away before he can be caught. Gus seems to have the ability to move like no seventy-year-old I know and makes short work of two Augurs who are throwing alternate blasts of fire and ice towards the others.

  An Augur in white overalls begins to projectile vomit somewhere nearby, as Plague claps him on the back.

  “That’s right, buddy, let it all out,” he says, before cuffing him over the head and allowing him to pass out in his own puke.

  Bubble shrieks as someone tries to grab her from behind, but her body frame is too much for him to handle. She whips around, placing an outstretched hand on his face and sending him into a deep sleep right where he stands.

  Michael and Maisie stand back to back, her knocking out anyone who comes near with one hit, him sending sparks flying from nearby lights and zapping anyone who slips out of her reach. The whole scene is like something out of an action movie, and it doesn’t occur to me to wonder why I can see it all.

  My body is numb, colder than a carcass, greyer than stone. I know I can’t be alive. Death hangs over me like the grim reaper himself, and yet every event happening in the room is in sharp focus, as though I’m looking through a lens at each and every person. I can see every detail, from the sweat glistening on Jer’s brow to the heartbeat of Ella as she scoops up a gun from one of the Duke’s fallen henchmen. And the heartbeat inside her, almost inaudible over the sound of shouts and grunts from a hundred bodies in conflict. I can hear it all.

  The telltale rumble that signifies Kai is nearby shakes the walls.

  “Tell Kai not to destroy the warehouse!” The Duke barks to no one in particular. The ground cracks open, and Mr. Earthquake stands at the end of it, cracks forming around his feet. His eyes are alight with energy, so high on Air that he isn’t listening to instructions. A crate falls off the top of the pile and almost crushes Plague and Bubble, stopped only by a blast from Lou, who sends it flying across the room to crash into one of the Duke’s fleet.

  “He’ll topple the whole building on us if he isn’t stopped!” Lou screams to anyone who’ll listen.

  A gush of water knocks Kai off his feet, and I look to see Lorenzo march over to him, his Italian suit pressed and clean, his shoes polished to a shine, all the while wielding a lasso of water in his hands. He wraps it around him until Jer runs over and puts him down with a tranquilliser dart.

  Another group of Augurs that I ca
n’t identify appear from a fire escape in the far corner of the warehouse. Enzo’s backup, I figure, with everything from a woman who can fly to a man who can shoot spikes from his fingers, pinning his attackers to the crates in front of him.

  Suddenly, the odds are evening out.

  A black streak darts across the room, leaping over debris and ducking under cars. Algernon? I try to track his movements, but he’s faster than any cat I’ve ever seen. One minute, he’s clawing at the face of an Augur that can shoot beams of light from his eyes, and the next, I find him on top of one of the Duke’s vans, pushing a crate of the serum off the back so that it crashes to the floor. How very...cat-like.

  Any questions I might have about how he ended up here, of all places, are quickly shoved from my mind as I hear a voice, clear as a bell, through the cacophony.

  “Get my car around and get the serums out of here now!” The Duke barks at Mulberry, who nods in understanding.

  “What about Munday?” Mulberry asks, signalling two other Augurs over.

  “Kill him,” the Duke commands, marching across the warehouse to a nearby exit, “We don’t need him anymore.”

  “Get to the garage, Your Grace,” Mulberry calls before disappearing through a fire exit door.

  “Not so fast, Father.” Edward steps out of one of Pru’s shadows and blocks the Duke’s escape route.

  “Edward,” the Duke replies breathlessly. “I thought I’d lost you.”

  Is that relief I hear in his voice?

  “Oh, you lost me a long, long time ago,” Edward replies, disdain dripping from every word.

  “Come with me, Edward. Come with Mulberry and me, away from this madness,” the Duke seems to plead.

  “No chance. I’m here to end this,” Edward says, his hands igniting, surrounding him with flames that burn white and yellow.

  “Son, please, don’t make me do this,” the Duke begs, pulling a tiny handgun from inside his pea coat and pointing it directly at Edward’s forehead. “Come with me, where it’s safe.”