A Flicker of Steel

by Steve McHugh

  Layla had thought that the practice of taking fingers was a myth, that it had never happened, but then Tommy had appeared in her life and a lot of things she thought were myth turned out to have at least a nugget of truth to them. She’d considered asking Tommy but didn’t want to risk making him relive something awful to sate her curiosity. And asking Tommy’s wife, Olivia, or daughter, Kasey, just seemed rude.

  Tommy stopped next to Layla. “You okay?”

  “Are you going to ask me that every time we do something? I’ve worked for you for years now. I think I’ll be fine.”

  Tommy nodded. “I know. But I heard about what you found in that mansion. And what happened on Shoal Point. It’s a lot to deal with in a short time. And I know that I speak for myself, but some of us haven’t always dealt with awful stuff in the best way.”

  “Even you?”

  Tommy nodded. “When I was your age, I wasn’t what you’d call well-adjusted. You’ve thrown yourself into mission after mission, and though I’m all for that, you need downtime, too. You still need to go out and be twenty-three years old.”

  “Not easy to do when a large number of people either want to experiment on me or kill me.”

  “I never said it was easy. I just don’t want you to burn out. Take a few days off, rest, relax, and have fun. Not necessarily in that order.”

  Layla sighed. “I get it. I’m not going to burn out. I’m not going to let everything pile up until I can’t bear the weight. I get your concern, and I thank you for it, but throwing myself into work is how I deal with the awful stuff. It’s how I’ve always dealt with it. It’s comforting. And now I get to punch people, too. That’s therapeutic.”

  “Now that, I agree with,” Tommy said with a laugh. “There’s been too much misery and sadness around here since Arthur decided to turn us into enemies of the state.”

  “Do you need to take your own advice?” Layla asked.

  “Yep. That’s why I have to make sure that no one else is pushing themselves too hard. I know what it’s like to take comfort in the work. I’ve been there, seen it done. Olivia, too. It took us both a long time to figure out how to relax.”

  “What happened to the people we found in the mansion?” Layla asked.

  “They’re being taken care of, and Alfred is in the process of telling us everything he knows. He’s recounting his life story at the moment—it’s a bit like living that scene with Chunk in The Goonies.”

  Layla recalled the time Sky had sat her down and almost forced her to watch the film, calling it a classic. She hadn’t been wrong. It was a happy memory.

  “What about the scrolls?” Layla asked.

  “Well, we haven’t been able to search all of the cave because the explosion essentially destroyed it, and what we’ve found isn’t great. None of the scrolls had any spirits left in them. They’re just burned paper now.”

  “What does that mean for my team?”

  “It means you’re on standby until we figure out what Alfred knows. You were searching for the scrolls, we found a lot of them, and they’re destroyed. Right now, you deserve some time off.”

  Layla nodded. She was upset that the scrolls had been destroyed, and that she’d spent so long working with her team to find them only to have them torn from her grasp. But on the other hand, they’d saved a lot of lives over the last few years and helped those who were in danger of falling under Avalon’s crushing machine. That was something she was proud of.

  “Do you think we’ll ever be able to leave this place for something more than a mission?” Layla asked.

  Tommy looked around the huge hangar at the dozens of people running about, working to ensure that the compound continued to function without problems and everyone was kept safe. “We’re on it.”

  “That sounds very secretive,” Layla said as the pair reached the door to a stairwell leading to the offices and rooms underground. Diana, Remy, and Chloe had used it moments earlier, presumably to go and shower off the stench of Alfred and his people. The stairs also reached the walkway above the hangar, which allowed people to walk out onto the mountain.

  The part of the compound above ground had become Layla and her friend’s temporary home and was officially a research station. The people who worked at the complex lived there, too, but they also shared a large village that had been built into and around the mountain. The settlement housed thousands, but to reach it you had to go through the hangar. It just so happened that inside the hangar were enough heavily armed people to give any invading force second thoughts.

  “I’m going home,” Layla said. “I’m going to sleep for a day, eat a lot of cake, and watch truly awful films. Try not to have an emergency in that time.”

  “I miss awful films,” Tommy said. “I miss good films, too. I have such a backlog that, frankly, it’s embarrassing.”

  Before Layla could touch the door, it was opened from the other side, revealing Olivia and Kasey, or “Kase” as she was known. Kase smiled and hugged Layla tight.

  “Kase, mind my bones,” Layla said as the woman lifted her off the ground.

  “You’ll be fine,” Kase said with a laugh. She had inherited her father’s werewolf powers and the water elemental powers of her mother. She was the same age as Layla and had grown up best friends with Chloe. The three women were usually sent on missions together, and Kase had taken exception to being left out of the trip to Louisiana.

  Kase put Layla back on the ground. “I have time off.”

  “Me too,” Layla said.

  “I’m glad the mission went well,” Olivia said. She was a little shorter than Kase, and her hair was dyed a dark red, while Kase kept hers brown. Olivia was several centuries old but could have passed for Kase’s only slightly older sister: one of the benefits of having a lifetime measured by centuries and not decades. In hundreds of years’ time, Kase would probably look only slightly older than she did now.

  The thought made Layla sad. She might have been an umbra, but her lifespan was only a few times that of a human, and not the dozens and dozens that were possible for some of the other species that resided on the planet.

  “Thanks,” Layla said. “I’ve had more fun, but we did what needed to be done.”

  “Go rest,” Olivia said to Layla before turning to Kase. “You’ve both got a few days, so use them as wisely as twenty-three-year-olds usually do. Don’t pass out anywhere stupid.”

  Kase saluted before she walked through the door with Layla, causing Olivia to roll her eyes and Tommy to stifle a laugh.

  A few minutes later, the two young women were on the travelator heading to the rear of the hangar where the windows on the walkway showed several groups of people in training.

  “You think this will ever end?” Layla asked. “All the training, missions, evading capture.”

  Kase shrugged. “I hope so. Greenland is a lovely place, but I miss England. I miss that my country is no longer a place I’m able to feel safe in. I miss proper chocolate. The American stuff they keep shipping in is not chocolate. It’s . . . odd.”

  “You know I’m half-American, right? There’s nothing weird about American chocolate—it took me a while to get used to how sweet your stuff is.”

  “And your bacon is weird. It’s not proper bacon. What you eat is streaky bacon.”

  Layla paused. “Okay, I’ll give you that one.”

  Kase threw her hands in the air. “You can’t make a bacon sandwich with streaky god damn bacon. Frankly, I’m considering taking helicopter lessons just so I can steal one, fly to England, buy several pigs worth of smoked back bacon, and bring it here.”

  “I’ll be right there with you.” They were quiet for a few seconds until curiosity got the better of Layla. “Why did you have to stay behind?”

  “Ah, my mum felt I hadn’t passed my weapons training tests.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I hadn’t taken them. I’ve been training to fight with a variety of weapons since I was old enough to hold them, so I ki
nd of started to skip some training sessions. She made it clear that I still had to attend, even if I’ve already mastered them. Twenty-three and still having to make sure I go to class on time.”

  “You know your mom wasn’t doing it to just wind you up.”

  “My mum is a disciplinarian. She has always been a ball-buster, but I know why she does it. She doesn’t want people saying that I get any kind of privilege for being the daughter of one of the people in charge.”

  “Ball-buster?”

  “The term still fits. Balls are fragile and easily bruised and vagina-buster just sounds . . . you know, weird.”

  Layla laughed so hard she started to cough. “Please don’t use that term again.”

  “Can I ask you something?” Kase asked, suddenly serious.

  “Any time,” Layla said.

  “Do you ever get freaked out about the blood curse we all have? About the link to the bracelet?”

  Layla considered it. “Not really. I’ve removed mine outside of the compound. It didn’t blow up, and I could still use my powers, so as it also lets us use our powers here, I’m not really sure what it does.”

  “That’s my point. Blood curse marks aren’t known for their pleasantness.”

  “You spoken to your mom or dad about it?” Layla asked.

  “Yeah, but they said I was fine. Dad can’t lie for shit, so I’m sure he’s telling the truth, but I really do find it strange.”

  They got off the travelator after several hundred meters and stepped out into a large open area with a helipad to one side. The village stretched out before them. Layla wasn’t sure exactly when the mountainside had been changed to accommodate the settlement, but work had already been underway when she’d arrived. All she knew was that a cave had been excavated and turned into what many would consider paradise.

  A ten-foot-wide river of glacial water bisected the area and several stone bridges connected the two halves of the village.

  “Still takes your breath away, doesn’t it?” Kase said from beside her. “You get elementals to work with sorcerers, and this is the kind of magic they create. It’s still the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to in this or any other realm.”

  Layla had been schooled about the realms: how the Earth was at their center and that from here, portals led to the other realms. For the most part, each doorway led only to one realm, so if you wanted to go to a different one, you had to travel back through Earth.

  Layla had been told that there were hundreds, if not thousands, of realms, ranging from the familiar ones, like Asgard or Tartarus, to some known only to those who had grown up under Avalon, like Shadow Falls. She hadn’t left Earth, although hoped that one day she would be able to travel. It was a dream that had helped her get through the tougher moments.

  Not only were the gods, goddesses, and creatures of all mythology real, but the places Layla had only read about in stories as a child were too. Not all of them were accurate descriptions from what she’d heard, but since the same could be said for the gods, goddesses, and creatures she’d met, that wasn’t too surprising.

  The crater in the middle of the mountain range was large enough to house several thousand people. At night, runes glowed around the tips of the mountain high above and kept them hidden from anyone flying over. Runes, magic, glyphs, sorcerers, werewolves, vampires, and elementals were only the tip of the iceberg of what Layla had discovered in the last year. For a while, she had felt there would always be something new, something incredible, to learn. That was slowing down now, although she still occasionally found a species, or type of power, that she’d never encountered before.

  Before a lunatic with the need to make everyone kneel to him had run Avalon, the organization had kept a fairly tight lid on the existence of other species. Now that was done. Over. But Layla was impressed that they’d kept it secret for so many years, as gods turned into myth and legend and humanity stopped believing that magic existed.

  Layla lived in a seven-bedroom house close to the entrance of the village. It reminded her of the mansion in England where she’d stayed while coming to terms with her abilities, before it had been deemed too dangerous to remain. She shared it with Harry, Chloe, Kase, Remy, and Diana, who she assumed was only there to make sure the rest of them behaved. Or to make sure Remy did.

  Kase tapped Layla on the shoulder. “You sort of zoned out there for a minute.”

  Layla blinked. “Sorry, I was miles away. I still can’t believe so much has happened in such a small amount of time.”

  Layla and Kase walked down the slope toward the village and, reaching their home, stepped into a sparsely decorated foyer. A hallway stretched to the right and left, leading to the many rooms on the ground floor. A large staircase in the middle of the foyer was the only way for residents to get to the bedrooms above. Space was at a premium, so there were no gardens in the settlement and very few people had a home to themselves, but Layla was happy to have her own bedroom, bathroom, and more than one person in the house who knew how to cook.

  Harry Gao appeared in the corridor to Layla’s right, talking on his mobile phone. Harry was human, and seemingly had no interest in changing that fact. He was born to a Chinese-American general in the US Army and an English mother who was a doctor. Harry had helped the group hunt and stop Elias Wells, Nergal’s last psychotic employee. “Gotta go, Mum, see you soon.” He ended the call and hugged Kase and Layla. “Glad to have you home safe.”

  “Your mum and dad still checking up on you?” Kase asked.

  Harry rubbed a hand over his almost bald head. He was several inches taller than Layla, and his build was what Kase had once described as wiry. “They think I’m working a marine biology job in Greenland. I’m sure my dad would be calling in favors from his old military buddies to drag me home if they realized what I was actually doing. I love my parents, but protective doesn’t even begin to describe it.”

  “We any closer to finding out where Nergal has established his main base of operations?” Kase asked. Harry had been trying to get a handle on Nergal’s location since they’d all moved to Greenland.

  “No. Not even a little bit.” Harry replied. “And, seeing how I’m on a bad news kick, we’ve also received word that Avalon forces are searching for Hades’ hidden compound in Canada. At the moment, Hades doesn’t seem to be worried, but Persephone is still running interference with Avalon, trying to make them think whatever she wants them to think.

  “And, I’d like to take this chance to say that as one of the few pure humans living here, it’s still weird as hell to work with people I read about in stories as a child. Does that ever go away?”

  “Eventually,” Layla said. “You just need to train with a few more of them. Trust me, the awe disappears when they’re kicking your ass.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” Harry said in a tone that suggested he didn’t want to do anything of the sort. “Jared is in your room, by the way.”

  Layla smiled. After being forced to leave England, Layla and Jared had grown close, and had eventually decided to start a relationship. It hadn’t always been easy to maintain with both of them playing active parts in the operation to bring down Avalon, but they managed to steal a moment here and there.

  “I’m going to go say hi,” Layla said.

  Kase punched her on the shoulder. “I’m not sure if that’s the correct response when someone’s friend is about to see their boyfriend for the first time in two weeks, but it was that or wolf-whistle, and as a werewolf, I feel like I’m meant to be offended by that term.”

  “Really?” Harry asked.

  “Honestly, I’m not sure. I just know that I don’t like people doing it at me.”

  Harry and Layla shared a glance. “What did you do?” Layla asked.

  “Well, there was some wolf-whistling, and cat-calling, and then shortly after, they found a giant werewolf standing in front of them. After that, there was a lot of pants-pissing, followed by running and screaming.”

  L
ayla turned away and smiled, while Harry chuckled. “I would pay to see that on film.”

  “It was pretty cathartic.”

  Layla left Harry and Kase to chat and bounded up the stairs to her room, which was one of two at the rear of the building. Harry’s room was opposite hers, which was quite useful when they stayed up late to drink vodka and watch whatever film their housemates had managed to acquire. Movie night was about as close to normal as they got.

  Layla opened the door to her room and found Jared lying on her bed reading a book. His long, dark hair was tied back in a ponytail, and he looked up at her with piercing blue eyes and a warm smile.

  “Now that is sexy,” Layla said.

  “Me lying on your bed?” He had a slight Irish accent.

  “No, you reading.”

  “Ah, I found it in the library. Did you know this place has a library? I heard some of our residents were unhappy at the lack of books, so people have been acquiring them and bringing them in. I also heard you were coming back today, so I thought I’d wait. Hope you don’t mind.”

  Layla walked over and kissed Jared on the lips, lingering there for a few seconds. “I need a shower,” she said, pulling away.

  Jared sniffed. “Yes, yes you do.”

  Layla hit him playfully on the arm. “I can’t believe you sniffed me. You’re not meant to agree I stink.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, you smell divine. Or swampy. I get the two confused. How did the mission go?”

  “Saved some people, found a bunch of Nergal’s scrolls. Then lost the latter when someone killed themselves and blew them all up.”

  Jared opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again.

  “Yep,” Layla said. “It’s been a weird day.”

  “How long are you off for now?”

  “Not sure. I guess until someone tells me otherwise. At some point, all of this hornet-nest-kicking is going to get Avalon’s attention.” Layla walked into the bathroom and switched on the shower before undressing and turning back to Jared with a smile on her face. “So, you feel like washing my back for me?”