Shattered (Alchemy Series Book #3)

by Augustine, Donna

  There are a couple types of quiet in life. The first is the peaceful dead of night when everyone is safe and sound in their beds or snowstorms, when everyone is nestled by fireplaces. Then there is this type. It's the kind I'd never experienced before where everyone is gone, the palette of voices and noise quieted in the wake of some unspeakable tragedy.

  Every so often, I'd smell a whiff of smoke from some fire that was still burning out in the distance. Sometimes, I'd catch the scent of something much worse. A smell that made my eyes water and the bile churn in my stomach and I knew it was decay of a kind I didn't want to see.

  We walked further from the safety of the casino and with each step, I became more and more concerned that I was making an error in judgment. I really couldn't afford any more of those. Fucking up the universe had seriously set me back. I might have maxed out my young and stupid allotment for the year.

  "You're going to get me back alive, right?"

  "I told you, I need you. More specifically, I need what you are capable of. From what I've heard of your past actions, I'd say I'm more invested in your well-being than you are." The little man had the nerve to laugh at his bad joke.

  We finally stopped about a mile away from The Lacard, next to a crumbling building that was once one of the greatest casinos on the strip. Burrom started climbing through the rubble and into a gaping hole in the wall.

  "In there? The place looks like it's going to fall down around our ears at any moment." A chunk of concrete fell a foot from where he walked just as I spoke and made my case.

  "It'll be fine," he said as he dusted debris off his shoulder.

  "I don't know." I looked around at what was left of the structure. The few windows that remained were nothing but uneven shards of glass.

  He waited just inside the ruins and tapped his foot impatiently. "My survival is linked to yours. If I can't get you up to snuff before I go underground, then I'll be dead as well."

  It was a convincing argument. "Okay, little guy, you got me," I said as I climbed over the debris to join him. He stood there, eyes squinty and brow furrowed, obviously insulted by my "little guy" comment. "Oh, come on, it was a joke."

  He snorted. "Are you ready to learn?"

  "Yes." I climbed past turned over slot machines, with coins spilled all over the floor. Money was worthless, even coins had no value. Food and guns were the only currency that counted.

  "You're half Fae, so you should be able to pick up on this stuff pretty quick, even if it is a less preferable bloodline. It's not like you're Ground Fae quality, but it should be enough." He made a face, as if he'd just tasted a mediocre glass of wine. One he'd make do with for the meal, but wouldn't order again. I wasn't insulted. I was just glad there was wine.

  "I thought the Fae gene was suppressed when mixed with a Keeper?"

  "Did a Fae tell you that?" he asked but didn't wait for an answer. "If you want to know how to make a cupcake, you ask a baker, not a mason." He pointed his short stubby little finger at me as he talked and I looked at his t-shirt. I never would have pegged him as a Guns and Roses fan.

  I thought back as I watched him walk further in to the old casino and realized that all my information on being half Fae came from other sources and shook my head.

  "The Fae have a vested interest in not letting other species have control of our abilities. We don't advertise. A half Fae with no training would be inept and easily help us perpetuate the lie. Your Keepers think you are so good at wormholes because of them, but you've already been using your Fae abilities."

  He raised his hands, looked up and around. "We commune with the environment, unlike normal humans. That's why you can manipulate the wormholes better than any of them."

  I nodded, not wanting to cut him off, but the place was getting darker by the second. So far, this was all stuff he could've told me back at the casino. "Can we get to the good stuff now? I know you think I'm this big risk taker, bring on the danger girl, but I'm not really feeling death today." Geez, you do a couple of crazy things and they all think you're down for anything.

  "Give me your hand," he said as he walked back over to me.

  "Why?"

  "Jo, don't you trust me?"

  "No, not completely," I said and held my hand out of reach.

  "Because I'm going to try and cut a few corners and jump start your system."

  He tried to grab my hand again and I stepped out of reach.

  "Like a broken car?"

  "Yes. Pretty much."

  "Could it kill me?"

  "No."

  I held out my hands. "What am I going to feel?"

  He took them but didn't answer.

  "I hope I'm at least a used Porsche. I'd hate to be a broken down…Ow." The jolt he sent through me had my fingers tingling and I felt my heart flutter in my throat. A puff of silver smoke burst from my nose.

  "This is creepy," I said, realizing why Pat had been freaked out.

  "How do you feel?" Burrom asked.

  "Tingly."

  "Try and control the silver smoke leaking out of you."

  I focused on the wisps that lingered up and then disappeared like steam into the atmosphere.

  "And try to hurry up about it, too" he said.

  I looked at Burrom and just shook my head. "Goddamn rippers are coming in behind me, aren't they?"

  He shrugged in a nonchalant, "you knew they would be," sort of way.

  "And this is your idea of helping?"

  "I told you, I can get us out of here, but I'd prefer you tried."

  I turned, dreading the horrible view I was about to see. I hated the things even when I was safely ensconced in the casino, never mind standing next to them among the rubble. Three of them were gliding toward us, with Burrom at my back and me front and center.

  "Can't you at least walk?" I said to the rippers, knowing that it was stupid on so many levels. They probably had no idea what I was saying, and if they did, I probably just annoyed them. But watching them glide freaked me out.

  "Where is your magic going?" Burrom asked from behind me as the silver smoke was dissipating rapidly.

  The creatures edged closer, slowing with their approach.

  "I don't know. Can you give me another jump?"

  "No. Only if you change your mind about dying today. I told you, I can get us back but I want to see if you can fend off the rippers on your own. If you can't, you aren't as strong as I'd hoped."

  The things were edging closer and closer. They stopped about three feet in front of me and stared at me, similar to how I imagined I was looking at them, like a monster exhibit at a freak show.

  "Burrom?" I asked, wanting to ascertain his approximate position behind me.

  "Yeah?" he replied sounding like he was about two feet behind me.

  "You've got this covered, right? Because my magic seems to be failing."

  "Why are they are looking at you like that?" he replied, not answering my question.

  The rippers started to circle around us now, but it was me they kept their eyes on. I would have turned with them but they took different directions, making it impossible to keep them all in my line of sight.

  "Are they getting ready to attack?" I asked.

  "They seem fascinated by you."

  "Is that a yes or a no on the attack?"

  "Probably not?"

  I didn't think so either, but what were they doing? And then, I looked up at the crumbled entranceway we came through and I saw more of them. It was hard to tell how many as they filtered in through the gap, but they just kept coming and coming…and coming.

  "Practice is over," Burrom said, now sounding like he was inches from me.

  "Ya think?" I replied. "You can handle this, right?"

  "Depends on how many more show up."

  "You didn't tell me there were caveats."

  "In life, when aren't there?"

  "So what should we do?"

  "I'm not sure. I can get us out of here, but the more that come at us, the h
arder it is. I'm pretty sure they aren't going to like the taste of Ground Fae. Not so sure about pretty little blond Keepers."

  "How many more can you handle before this is a problem?" I looked around the room doing a quick count of about fifty rippers.

  "Not sure."

  "Guess."

  "About twenty ago."

  "Then why are we standing here?"

  "I've never seen such a large cluster before. Who knew?"

  I watched as they slowly formed a circle around us but never came within more than three feet of me. They edged slightly closer to Burrom. Here goes nothing, I thought as I shuffled just a hair forward. As I'd hoped, the entire circle around me rearranged itself to my new position.

  "That was interesting," Burrom said, keeping pace with me.

  "Are you doing anything?" I asked.

  "Not a thing. I was figuring I'd save it up in case we had to do a mad dash out of here."

  "Just stay by me. I'm going to try and make up some more ground." Slowly, I continued forward. Every step I took, the group of rippers rearranged itself around us. I stepped, they stepped.

  By time I made it to the door, I was taking normal steps. They didn't leave, but they kept a uniform distance from me.

  "What is going on here?" I asked Burrom, as we slowly made our way back to the casino. Slowly because I wasn't ready to try out a jog yet and risk bumping into one of them.

  "I don't know, but I'm not feeling anger from them, or even aggression," Burrom said as he walked next to me.

  "I know," I agreed looking around at them and then straight ahead.

  The Lacard hovered behind them and the real panic set in. There would be no way of getting into the casino unseen now. Cormac wasn't my worry. He'd be annoyed with me, but when wasn't he? My fear was how all the humans, who distrusted me on a good day and hated me most others, would feel.

  The front door was the closest entranceway. I was pretty sure taking this large a group of monsters around to the back entrance wasn't going to do much good so I kept plowing ahead.

  There was a large group of people standing at the front doors as we approached. Cormac was front and center, with Dodd and Buzz on either side. Sabrina was on Dodd's left.

  Looking at their faces, I could only imagine how bizarre a picture I must have presented. Buzz looked shocked, Sabrina concerned and Dodd might have been suppressing laughter. Cormac was stone faced, which meant he was beyond pissed off.

  The humans behind them looked like an angry mob who were preparing for a witch-hunt.

  I climbed the stairs to enter the casino and the rippers parted to the side as we got closer, not able to get within twenty feet because of the wards surrounding the casino.

  Cormac opened the door as we approached. "Do you ever stop and think about what you are doing? Ever? Just once would be nice," he said in a low voice as I passed by him, entering the building.

  I didn't bother replying. Cormac wasn't my concern, the angry looking crowd was. I lifted my head, refusing to cower and took a few steps toward the elevator that would lead me to the penthouse, before the crowd erupted into an angry chant. "Traitor" they started to say in unison.

  They already thought I had ruined the Earth. Seeing these creatures following me was the last straw for them. I understood how bad it looked. My intentions had been good but I'd had a hand in everything that went down. I couldn't even say they were wrong in their presumptions.

  Their angry glares followed me as I walked and their chanting quickly escalated to screaming. I wondered if they were about to try and rip me limb from limb, like I knew they wanted to.

  "Shut up or get out!" Cormac's shout was so loud it was easily heard, even over the crowd. As quick as that, silence once again fell over the lobby of the casino. "Next person that says anything to her will be kicked out immediately."

  The anger still roiled but they were silent about it now, as I decided to change my course and head to the stairway, trying to keep my composure intact. The second the door closed, I leaned against the wall and let myself fall apart.

  Chapter Eight

  I'd barely gotten back to the penthouse when I heard Cormac hot on my heels and the door shutting a little more loudly than normal.

  "What the hell was that?" he asked as he stepped into the room a second later.

  I was taken aback for a second at the sight of him in jeans. I hadn't noticed that downstairs but I'd been a bit distracted.

  "Burrom was trying to help me, and it went a wee bit awry."

  "You think this is funny?"

  Nothing about this was funny. I'd just gotten my shaking under control a second ago. I wasn't planning to share how scared out of my wits I'd been and add fuel to the already blazing fire.

  He took a couple of more steps into the room, stopping several feet shy of me. Crossed his arms in front of his chest and incline his head toward me. "Burrom was helping you? You're going to have to expand on that. There are so many issues with that statement, I don't even know where to begin."

  "He thinks he can help me out with the silver stuff."

  "Again, problem. Burrom doesn't help out anybody for free. What did you agree to? And don't lie because I know it was something. Do you even know who you are negotiating with? He's a goddamn Ground Fae!"

  "You knew?"

  "What did you agree to?"

  "I can't tell you."

  He didn't press me any further, just shook his head and pulled out his phone. "Is Burrom still down there?"

  I watched as he waited on the phone a moment.

  "Tell him I need him in the penthouse, now. No, just him. You guys make sure the civilians stay in line and keep an eye on the rippers." He turned his attention back to me. "And this is why I'm not destroying the contract."

  "What does the contract have to do with anything?"

  He shook his head and walked to the windows. A few rippers were hovering and he yanked the drapes shut. I didn't think it was for me, this time. I got the impression that the sight of them was making him more agitated right now.

  A noise in the foyer heralded Burrom's arrival and he strolled into the room without a care in the world, as if less than an hour ago we hadn't been stalked by crazy monsters.

  He nodded to me and then looked at Cormac. "What did you want?"

  I used to find it odd that this small Fae was the only one that would stand up to Cormac. I got it now.

  "Why are you helping her? What are you getting in return?"

  He looked to Cormac, then me, assessing the situation. "It's a private matter," Burrom said, puffing on the pipe he took everywhere with him.

  Cormac left the room but returned in less than a minute with a sheet in his hand. "Maybe you need to look a little closer," he said and shoved the vellum paper at Burrom.

  Burrom stood deathly still for a minute while he perused the paper, then shook his head while looking at me. "Why didn't you tell me you were joined with him?"

  "Because I'm not, mostly. Or I don't consider…"

  Burrom ignored my reply and turned back to Cormac. "It's already done. You need to honor it."

  "Depends on what it is."

  I'd never seen the small Fae so pissed off in the entire time I'd known him. He looked like he was going to burst a vein at any second. The look he threw at me said he would indeed try to eat me this very moment if he didn't need me.

  "She's going to guard my burial ground."

  Cormac stood back and nodded, seeming a bit placated by the answer. "Why didn't you ask me?"

  "Because I don't even want you to know where it is. And I still don't want you to know." Burrom grumbled to himself, still agitated by the new turn of events. "Besides, what would you have asked for in return?"

  "I would've worked with you," Cormac replied noncommittally.

  Burrom snorted. "I know what your favors have cost me in the past."

  Cormac relaxed his stance a bit and walked closer to me. "So what do you know? What happened today?" he asked Burro
m.

  "I can only speculate on my limited…"

  "Tell me what you think. You made the deal. Honor it."

  The little man walked further into the room, blustering the whole way about how Cormac shouldn't be getting involved. We both watched as he fussed about for a few minutes and then he finally sat on the couch and looked at us.

  "I know how she was conceived. Her mother was barren. I think the senator used magic to jump start her. A magical in vitro, you could say. And not the weak magic, like Vitor has, but the strong stuff that comes from Earth, like I have."

  "Why didn't you tell me this before?" I asked.

  "You didn't ask," he explained. "I had no obligation to tell you my hypothesis."

  I saw how this game was going to work. "Okay, little man, I'm asking now. What else do you know or think? I want everything."

  He pursed his lips and puffed on his pipe. I noticed he did that whenever he didn't want to talk.

  "Burrom?"

  "Fine. I think the rippers stayed away from you because of the amount of magic you have."

  "Why?"

  "Because, to them, it would be cannibalism."

  "But why do they flock to me?" After everything that happened, it was pointless to deny it. I couldn't leave the drapes open without waking up to a slew of them.

  "That I don't know."

  Cormac stared him down this time.

  "I really don't know." He waved his pipe in the air as he threw his hands up. "I think they find her to be an oddity. They recognize the magic she carries, even more so than mine, but their reaction is still strange," Burrom said.

  "Can you help her?" Cormac asked.

  "He tried to jump start me."

  Burrom nodded, "I think it will help but we won't know for sure. It looks like it's going to take a while."

  Chapter Nine

  I made my way down to the conference room where we were meeting Oslo this morning. Our time was up. The plan was to send him back, agreeing to the truce, but without the insurance and let the chips fall where they may.

  We all agreed, the senator was bluffing. He was afraid of an all-out war with us. If he could have killed me, he would have, but that didn't mean he couldn't inflict a whole ton of damage if he wanted.