by Gina LaManna
I slumped further onto the floor and attempted to look as pitiful as possible. I wasn’t hoping for sympathy, but I was crossing my fingers he’d get bored of smacking me around if I looked weak enough.
“This was my plan,” he said. “All mine. And I’ll take over Wicked, just you watch. Maybe I will keep you around just so you can see it happen. Make an example out of you.”
“Go ahead,” I said. “I’d love to watch you get taken for a ride.”
“He’s a partner, not a master—or whatever you called him.”
Bingo, I thought. Something I’d said had struck a nerve. My words had hit home, made him realize that maybe there was a kernel of truth to my words. Worse yet, he’d probably always known it and was just now realizing it.
“Right,” I said. “Sure. Okay, then.”
“We’re partners,” he repeated, his voice growing stronger. “He has others call him Master, but not me.”
“What do you call him?”
His lips spread into an ugly smile. “Very nice try.”
“I’m just saying, here you are keeping his identity a secret while yours is blown wide open. Why are you the face of this plan? Why are you subjected to teaching at a piddly little school and managing a group of misfit kids? Where is he during all this?”
Harrison’s eyes narrowed.
“I’ll tell you why, buddy. It’s because he doesn’t have time to deal with this crap. He’s busier with the big picture. And when you get caught—because it’s only a matter of time—he’ll let you burn for it all.”
“That’s not true.”
“Tell me this: has he confided his real identity to you?” I watched Harrison’s face morph into an intense shade of angry purple. “Exactly. So, what’s your leverage against him? When the cops find you—before or after you’ve killed me—what will you be able to tell them that will get you off the hook in case your partner’s promise to rescue you falls through? He did promise, didn’t he?”
When Harrison didn’t respond, it was my turn to offer a bloody smile. One of his slaps had split my lip, and I tasted metal.
“Nothing,” I said. “You won’t have anything to offer them because he’s set you up as a pawn to take the fall for yet another of his schemes.”
Harrison leaned forward, yanked me up by the handcuffs in a painful jerk. Then he threw me unceremoniously through the door and into a small cavern where I landed hard on the floor. Each time he tossed me around, I got slower at peeling myself up, and unfortunately, not all of it was an act. While my plan to anger Harrison and make him see reason was working, my body was paying the physical price.
I gave Harrison a moment to calm down as I glanced at my surroundings. We’d entered into an offshoot of the below-ground tunnel system, a small room with only a flicker of torchlight separating us from total blackness.
Pale legs extended from the opposite end of the room—a body on the ground. It had to be Bleeker, though whether she was alive or dead I couldn’t tell. I fought the urge to rush toward her, but instead glared up at Harrison, who had regained his sense of power and was calm and smiling again.
“She’s alive,” he said, reading my mind. “But she won’t be for long.”
I gritted my teeth. I knew he’d lied to me about letting Bleeker go if I cooperated, but ultimately, it hadn’t impacted my decision to give in to Harrison upstairs. If I hadn’t, we all would have ended up dead—only sooner—thanks to the massive black magic he carried.
“You never finished your story,” I said. “How you connected with Mason, and what Professor Bleeker did to deserve all of this.”
“I’m sure you can guess, Detective.” Harrison looked mildly annoyed. “After hunting around, I found intel on one of the files. It’d been given to a witch—”
“How’d you find that information?” I couldn’t help interrupting. “Even when I knew what I was looking for it was difficult to find.”
Harrison paused in thoughtful silence, but when his eyebrows twitched in frustration, I knew my point had finally sunk in. He’d been fed information on the sly. Led to believe he’d discovered it all himself when, really, he was nothing more than a pup on a leash for his master.
“Not that it matters,” I said. “You found Mason. But how’d he come after you?”
“He saw me,” Harrison said. “I went to Texas to study him. I needed to find the location of the missing file. So, I followed him around for a bit, discovered the guy was quite peculiar. He didn’t seem to care a lick about magic. I wondered if that was the catch until I realized that I had the wrong White. It was his mother who had hidden it, not him.”
“But it was too late by then,” I said. “He’d taken off his glasses and spotted you. He was probably spooked by the Residuals you had coming off you—as we’ve discussed, the black magic makes it quite noticeable.”
“I wondered if he might be a closet Reserve,” Harrison said, an interested lilt to his voice. “Unfortunately, I hadn’t realized he’d seen me in Texas. Then, the next thing I knew, he’d enrolled in Orientation. That was a bit of a surprise.”
“He must have done his homework and figured out where you worked, wanted to get close to you,” I said. “But that was too dangerous, so you killed him when you realized he had recognized you.”
“He hadn’t figured everything out,” Harrison said, sounding defensive. “He didn’t know about the files. All he knew was that I wanted whatever was behind that door in his parents’ house. I went after it one day—that must have been what triggered him into looking for a cop. When I heard him talking to your brother in the library, I knew he had to go. I was already watching him—he knew it, but there was nothing he could do. There never is, Detective, not once I set my sights on you.”
Harrison stared at me with an overt threat in his twisted smile.
“Mason must have recognized the defensive Residuals from the door in his house clinging to you,” I said softly. “That’s what finally clicked the puzzle together for him. But Bleeker...”
“She took an interest in history at an unfortunate time,” he said. “She wanted to take a sabbatical and research prophecies in the Sixth Borough.”
“That seems too coincidental to be innocent.”
“I was onto him.” A voice croaked from the corner. “You think I didn’t notice you creeping around, Harrison? It wasn’t difficult to put two and two together. It’s was naïve of you to think nobody would notice that every student you took under your wing dropped out at some point. All of them lost interest in my class, one after another. If only I’d had more time, I would have figured out why.”
“And now you know,” Harrison said matter-of-factly, “and so you must die.”
“You promised to let her go,” I reminded him. “I came down here willingly.”
“That’s stupidity on your part. Or fear. Rightfully so,” Harrison admitted. “As a cop, you have limitations. I, however, am not afraid to use any means necessary to make sure nobody interferes with my plans.”
“You think you’re clever,” I said. “It wasn’t a bad idea, framing Bleeker with the Strangler Spell. Setting up a meeting to make sure I saw her—but really, it backfired. All that did was turn our attention toward the professors on campus. And now we have everything on you.”
“It doesn’t matter if they can’t find us,” he said. “We’re safe down here.”
“Are you?” I asked, letting my own smile slip out as I raised my hands. “Aren’t I missing something?”
Harrison studied my hands for a long moment, the confusion finally clearing. “A piece of fabric isn’t going to help anything.”
“Not even if it was left right outside your secret door? You forget, we have Reserves, werewolves, and plenty of other supernaturals on our side. We have ways to track you that you can only imagine, but I bet your master didn’t tell you that. In fact, I bet you don’t know why you were supposed to come after me.”
“You were getting too close to cracking the cas
e open, to discovering the truth.”
“I bet he tossed my name out, didn’t he?” I prompted. “And do you want to know why?”
The silence told me he did, but he’d never admit it.
“Sure, I was close to cracking the case,” I said, “but that’s not a big deal. I did it with a partner. I worked with a slew of other cops. They all have your name, so why come after me specifically? It’s already over for you, Harrison. Murdering me isn’t going to change any of that. The only reason someone would send their minion after a cop—”
“I’m not a minion!”
“What are you, chief of staff? Pick your title,” I said. “You’re not running the show, so it doesn’t matter. The only reason he’d send you after me—a well-known cop—is because he’s done with you. It’s suicide to go after someone in law enforcement. You’d never get away with it.”
“I have a way out.”
“What is it? Where is he?” I asked. “After you kill us, what happens?”
Harrison eyed me, frothing with fury. Both at me and, if I had to guess, at himself. For falling for a plan that had ruined his life. It was over now, we all knew it. His only hope was to get out of here alive and run off, tail between his legs, and hope the Sixth Precinct tired of chasing him.
He must have come to the same realization because he turned suddenly and stepped through the doorway. A second later, a heavy wooden panel swung shut, followed soon after by the click of a hefty lock. He’d locked us in the cavern.
“I’m going to get you out of here,” I told Bleeker as echoing footsteps grew more distant on the other side of the thick door. “Just hang on. Are you hurt badly?”
“I don’t feel great.” Her voice was weak, stiff. “But I’ll live. Detective, are you saying The Hex Files prophecy is real?”
“I don’t know anything about that, and it’s best if you don’t either.”
I heaved myself upward and made my way toward Bleeker. I studied the professor under what little light we had from the flickering torch fastened to the wall. She had bruises up and down her pale skin where it was visible, a split lip and a blackening eye, but otherwise looked okay.
“I don’t have any way to get our cuffs off yet,” I said. “But I have friends on the way, and a partner who I’m sure will be here in a few minutes. I’m guessing Harrison ran upstairs to grab the shawl I left at the door—there are cops everywhere by now. They’ll find him.”
“If they don’t?”
“I’ve got to be prepared in case he comes back. You okay to lay here a little longer?”
“Been doing it for long enough now I’m practically an expert at it.”
I reached for my Stunner. It’d been an oversight on Harrison’s part not to disarm me, which told me two things. First, he was a rookie at this whole leading-an-evil-empire thing and hadn’t taken many prisoners. Second, he hadn’t planned to keep us alive for long. So I had to be ready if he succeeded at retrieving the shawl without getting caught.
I raised the Stunner and fired it at the back of the doorknob. It sizzled once but didn’t open. I cranked the setting up to lethal and fired again. That busted the lock straight off the handle. A kick against the hefty wood panel, and the door swung open.
I poked my head through and squinted against the darkness. I couldn’t see a thing. And with magic-proof cuffs on, I had no chance of using magic to add light to the place.
I waited there, hesitant to venture out and leave Bleeker alone. It turned out to be a good decision to stay because it wasn’t another minute before footsteps sounded from the murky beyond. I slunk back behind the door and eased it shut. My only hope was to pounce the second he entered the room. The knob on the door was broken, but hopefully in his fury, combined with the all-consuming darkness, he’d be too distracted to pay it much thought.
I held my breath and moved into a crouch. The gun was steady in my grasp as I situated it against my knee, finger on the trigger. The footsteps were closer now. Quiet, stealthy. I glimpsed a shadow in the torchlight as Harrison pressed open the door and stepped into the room.
I exhaled a breath, lined up the gun with his chest—and stumbled backward in shock.
“Primrose! What the hell?” I leaped to my feet as gracefully as possible with both hands cuffed. “I just about Stunned you into the next realm! Make a little noise next time, will you?”
She grinned broadly. “Good to see you, Detective. You okay? I’m glad to hear your voice.”
“I’m fine, but Bleeker’s hurt.”
“I’ll survive,” Bleeker croaked. “Did you get him?”
“Harrison?” Primrose asked. “He’s not here?”
“Shit,” I said. “He must have taken off through the tunnels. Do you have a set of keys, Primrose? Get these cuffs off me, will you?”
Primrose made quick work of unlocking the magic-proof cuffs. “Nice work on the shawl, Detective. Took me a bit longer than it probably should have to find that door, but—”
“Your timing is impeccable,” I said. “I’ve gotta get Harrison. Stay here with Bleeker, will you?”
“Yeah, right.” Primrose muttered the words for a Signal Spell, often used to mark crime scenes, and it bloomed in her palm. She dumped it on the ground. “Renola, you see the flare? We’ve got one injured in here.”
Renola appeared moments later, breathless. “Others are coming. I heard footsteps heading the other way. Was it Harrison?”
I nodded. “I’m—” I hesitated, cast an apologetic look to Primrose. “We’re going after him.”
“Good luck,” Renola said. “I’ll wait for the others, then get Bleeker medical attention.”
“He would have gone left,” Bleeker called from the corner. “That’s the way he always moves when he leaves here. I think it gets him off campus.”
I thanked Bleeker as I pulled up a tiny torchlight in one palm and gripped my Stunner tight with the other. We took off at a jog down the dark passageway. Thankfully, the ground was gritty with dirt and oil, and Harrison had been in too much of a hurry to worry about leaving evidence behind. The footprints were easy to follow.
Primrose kept pace just behind me, her Stunner in hand, the beginnings of a Deflector hovering in her palm.
“If we find him,” I said. “Get your Deflector up and let me take the offensive.”
“When are you going to stop telling me what to do?”
“Sorry,” I said. “When you’re not a rookie?”
“Yeah right,” Primrose said with a snort. “I’ll always be a rookie compared to you.”
“I appreciate all you’ve done. Trust me, I wouldn’t spend my time partnering with someone unless I thought they had potential. You’ve got loads of potential. Don’t let your feelings get in the way of it.”
“I was joking, Detective. But I appreciate that.”
“Shit.” I came to a stop where a low trickle of water suddenly began to fill the passageway. Before us was a fork in the road with three possible entrances and no way to tell which one Harrison had used. “Any ideas?”
I stepped into the middle passageway while Primrose took the left. Seconds later, there was a low rumbling sound that came from deep within the tunnel system.
“You hear that?” Primrose called. “What is it?”
By the time I realized what ‘it’ was, exactly, I was too late. “Primrose, get out of there—”
I backed out of the middle tunnel just in time to see a tidal wave of water smack into the rookie and take her for a ride. She crashed backward, hit her head hard against the wall. The other two tunnels remained dry, making it an easy guess as to which one Harrison had used to squirrel himself away from us.
I rushed to Primrose’s side, knelt, and felt her pulse when her eyes remained closed. My own heart was racing. “Wake up! Primrose, you hear me?”
I gave her a light smack to the cheek when I felt a pulse, saw breathing.
“Come on, Primrose. You can do it. Do you hear me?” I held my own breath. “
Hang in there. We’ve got a guy to catch.”
Finally, Primrose’s eyes fluttered open. “Of course I can hear you, Detective. You’re screeching.”
“Oh, thank God. I thought—” Feeling my throat tighten, I pushed the worries away. “Can you stand?”
She shook her head. “Go on. There’ll be more where that came from. Leave me here, I’ll send the other officers after you. There’ll be backup in just a minute.”
“I can’t leave you here.”
“It’s a command, boss,” she said with a weak grin. “Don’t let him win.”
I nodded. “Hang tight. I’ll be back for you.”
“Get him, Detective.”
I stood, firing a flare down the hallway toward Bleeker and crew so that with any luck, an attentive Renola would see it and know to send for help. I was out of a Comm and had no other way to communicate, so it was the best I could do. Then, I took off down the still-soaked passageway.
It was quiet, too quiet. The tunnel was growing narrower, smaller, tighter. My breathing became shallow and difficult as I had to crouch to continue moving forward. The stream of water grew around my ankles, drenching my feet. I moved onward, pausing every few seconds to listen and wait.
That’s when I heard it: footsteps. With one problem.
They were behind me.
I whirled around, caught a glimpse of Harrison’s hair in the tiniest reflection of light from the water on the ground. He must have tucked himself into a tiny offshoot, a crevice, and waited for me to pass.
I reached behind me, felt the end of the cave. A very dead end.
And I knew it had all been a trap.
“Goodbye, Detective,” Harrison said, raising his hands and drawing more water from the walls. “Hold your breath.”
I used my Deflector against him, which held the first sprays of water at bay, but it was clear he was going to flood the tunnel with me inside of it. I couldn’t hold him off with my Deflector—he’d purchased Drowners from The Void. His energy would last a lot longer than mine. Illegal spells were more powerful by nature than basic magic.
