A shard of ice shot into my lower back. Pain enveloped my entire body. I couldn’t control the yell that escaped my lips, too lost in the pain to care if my captors heard me. If I hadn’t gotten my shield up when I did to protect against the steam, that shard of ice would’ve cut clean through me.
It would only be a matter of time before the mages I had fought found me. With all the strength I had, I crawled forward, not expecting to get away but knowing I had to try.
On my right, the ground gave way under dark purple acid. Spots of it seemed to bubble up from the earth and then spread. The consistency was thick and gooey, not vaporous. I recognized it from a demonstration in training. It could devour a person. Some appeared to my left. Mustering all of my strength, relying on good old-fashioned human adrenaline, I crawled forward with new urgency. If the acid got on me, I didn’t think I’d survive, not with everything else. The vines still pulled at my body. My magic melted the shard of ice in my back with a burst of heat. Burns were preferable to having it lodged inside me, slowing me down.
Another pool of acid appeared next to my left shin, growing larger by the second. I needed to alter course to my right to avoid it. I was surrounded. I couldn’t get away in time. If only I were a foot ahead of my current position. That’s all I needed. The ground was clear there. If I could just get that last foot.
Every fiber of my being focused on making it that last foot out of the reach of the acid. My right hand broke free of the vines and reached as far forward as I could using all of my strength to pull my body along. It wouldn’t be enough. It all came down to less than a foot between me and death. I closed my eyes in resignation. What a pathetic way to go.
No, I had to keep going. The Directorate operatives would find me, and they’d also find the device I’d stolen from them. I couldn’t endanger the CCS like that, no matter how much my body screamed at me to give up. Mustering all of my strength, I pulled myself forward and opened my eyes.
There was no longer acid in my field of vision. My body didn’t burn with the caustic liquid. Over my shoulder I saw the acid I had expected to encounter. Somehow in my moment of need, I had teleported. My mind flashed to the time I spent with Casper. It had only been when I had felt fear, when intense emotion had been behind my need for magic, that I learned how to use it. The same must’ve been true with teleporting.
“Stop! Shut it down!” A woman’s voice sounded above me, as if she were yelling from a great distance. My brain was too muddled to decipher what it meant.
“Shut it down!” The same female voice, only closer. Calista.
Lights came on overhead. Ice stopped raining from the sky. The vines retreated into the ground. The yellow fog dissipated, and the acid dried up until it was just a speck that also disappeared. My entire body ached and burned. For a moment, I thought it had been foolish to hold on to life so strongly. Surely death was preferable to this. But I kept going, all because I thought the CCS needed me to save them from infiltration.
The entire thing had been a ruse.
The trials.
My heart raced. Had anyone seen me teleport? It hadn’t been very far. Someone would have needed to be watching me closely at the exact moment to see it. All I could do was pretend like it hadn’t happened and hope no one noticed.
“Are you all right?” Calista asked kneeling at my side.
Lying face down on the ground, I didn’t want to move, but it seemed like I had to. When I rolled over, I couldn’t suppress my groans of pain.
“What happened?” Thaddeus’s gruff voice demanded, as if the entire thing were my fault.
Before I could answer, Calista spoke. Maybe his question had been directed to her all along.
“I don’t know. Someone tampered with the trials. It wasn’t meant to happen like that. Kat, hold on. We’re getting you to the infirmary.”
Lilibet knelt down on my other side. “Kat, you’re going to be all right. You don’t even have to move. I’ll levitate you. Don’t let it shock you.”
“Lilibet, stay with her,” Calista said as my body rose into the air. “I’m going to have Gareth assign her a guard. Someone tried to kill her.”
Floating to the infirmary, pain consuming my body, all I could think was that I’d been too stupid to die.
Chapter 7
In the infirmary, the medic gave me twilight dust while she worked on my wounds. Everything felt floaty, like I was underwater. It seemed as if my mind detached from my body. Under different circumstances, I would enjoy the high, but it couldn’t make me forget that someone had tried to kill me. Not only that, I’d just failed my trials.
Whatever investigation they were doing, I needed to be a part of it. I was tired of letting other people decide my fate. I deserved a second chance.
“What’ll happen?” I asked Lilibet.
“I don’t know. This has never happened before. The trials are carefully controlled. I know everyone says you can die during them, but that’s just a myth, a bit of hazing for the trainees.”
Clearly this had gotten out of hand. I needed Lilibet’s help. “I should’ve taken your advice and rested more.”
“Don’t say that. This had nothing to do with your ability. You were doing wonderfully until the scenario went wrong.”
When Lilibet brought me to the infirmary, I noticed that we left what we all called the scene room. It was used to simulate different scenarios for us to practice. “Those mages didn’t even fight back.”
“Like I said, we don’t want anyone getting hurt. They didn’t fight you more because they felt there was a chance you’d kill them. After you left the hallway, they said you were so good at getting the device they didn’t even notice until it was gone.”
If they missed me calling the device to me, perhaps they also missed me teleporting. “I shouldn’t have even allowed myself to be captured like that. Some agent I’d be.”
Lilibet took my hand. “It’s not about preventing bad things from happening; it’s about how you react to them. Every step of the trials is a test, and you passed each one. You took stock of your situation, you freed yourself, you gathered the intelligence, and instead of trying to escape to save yourself, you put the CCS first by getting the device. Each decision you made was the correct one.”
“But—”
“But nothing. You did everything right. What happened in there was”—Lilibet shook her head—“I don’t know what. But we’ll find out.”
“I can’t let them decide what happens to me without being there. Where are Calista and Thaddeus?”
Lilibet hesitated. “I don’t know.”
Bullshit. They were probably in Calista’s office in the Citadel. She and Thaddeus met there often.
The medic had finished working on me. Gritting my teeth, I rose from the bed and strode to the door without faltering. It hurt like hell, but I was determined to not let Lilibet see the pain.
Outside the door to the infirmary stood a guard who moved to follow me. Without pausing to acknowledge his presence, I continued on my way to where Calista and Thaddeus decided my fate.
“Wait,” Lilibet called. I didn’t slow. “Kat, give them time to figure out what happened.” She reached out and grabbed my arm, but I shook off her hand.
“No. How are they going to know what happened without me there? I’m the one it happened to.”
We turned the corner and ran into Councilor Gareth entering the corridor from the opposite side of the hallway.
“Whoa, where are you headed?” Gareth asked.
“If you’ll excuse me, there’s something I need to do.” I was antsy to get past him but didn’t think it would be wise to push aside a Councilor.
Gareth nodded to the guard. “You can go.”
The guard snapped to attention and then turned and left. Gareth focused back on me. “I presume you’re going to see Calista and Thaddeus. I’m headed there myself. I’ll go with you.”
I didn’t like the idea of Gareth being there. I was already outnumb
ered as it was. But as long as he wasn’t standing in my way, I wouldn’t argue with him.
When we reached Calista’s door, Gareth moved to open it ahead of me, but I beat him to it, barging into the room. Calista and Thaddeus looked up from what appeared to be blueprints they had been discussing.
“What are you doing here?” Thaddeus asked.
“Oh, Gareth, thank you for coming so quickly,” Calista said.
Gareth nodded to her. “You’re welcome. What’s going on?”
“First, she needs to leave.” Thaddeus looked at me.
“No.” I squared my shoulders, ignoring the pain in my arm. “You’re in here deciding my fate, and I’m not having it. You and the rest of the Council have made enough decisions for me.”
“Thaddeus, she has a point. I have no problem with her staying,” Calista said.
Thaddeus reluctantly nodded. “Lilibet, wait outside.”
Lilibet left, leaving me alone and outnumbered three to one.
Calista turned to Gareth. “Kat has been training to join the CCS. Today, she underwent her trials and there was an accident. During the obstacle course part of it, all the obstacles triggered at once instead of staggering. It’s amazing she survived.”
Gareth’s eyebrows shot up at the mention of me joining the CCS. Agent identities were kept secret even from the Council except on an as-needed basis. Surprise turned to fury at the news of the accident.
“What? Someone here, in the Citadel, tampered with the trials? Are you sure it wasn’t a malfunction?” As head of security, Gareth’s tone said he took this as his responsibility.
“We will be performing a thorough investigation,” Calista said, “but a preliminary sweep shows that someone must have reconfigured the trials.”
“We’ll keep a guard on her until we have this figured out. In the meantime, I’ll scour all the logs, look for anything strange or anyone who might have slipped through our security.”
“Thank you, Gareth,” Thaddeus said before turning his red gaze on me. “Until this is resolved, you’re restricted to the Citadel proper.”
“What? Why? I need to be practicing at the Greenhouse. I deserve another chance at the trials. It’s not my fault it was sabotaged.” I wouldn’t be grounded like a child when I had done nothing wrong.
“It’s also not safe. You didn’t finish the trials, so you’re not an agent,” Thaddeus declared, crushing six months of my life with a few words. “Until the investigation is complete and we are satisfied with the result, you’re just another citizen of the Citadel.”
“That’s not fair! I survived. Lilibet said I did everything right. Why am I being punished for something I didn’t do, for circumstances that aren’t my fault?”
“I’m inclined to agree with you, Kat,” Calista said. “We’d hoped to discuss this without you present, but I believe you should be made an agent.”
Thaddeus looked at her as if she were crazy. “She almost died during the trials and you think she should be an agent? She isn’t safe.”
“And since when did safety become your primary concern? I don’t recall it being your top priority on any of your missions.”
“Just because I’m a fool doesn’t mean she should be.”
“She passed all the tests. The fact that she didn’t complete the trials is a technicality. There was hardly anything left anyway. She got the intelligence, she put the CCS first above her own life, and let’s not forget that even on a rigged course she managed to stay alive. She was going to finish the trials or die trying. That’s exactly what we look for. She passed.”
I nodded along with Calista. I had come this far. Could I really be an agent?
“How could she be an agent when she can’t leave the Citadel?” Thaddeus asked.
“I’m not sure keeping her here’s the right move. Gareth, what do you think?”
Gareth considered me and then turned to Calista and Thaddeus. “I think the best thing to do is get her away from the Citadel. She’s not safe here. It’d be better to station her at one of your field offices. I can have a complement of guards assigned to her.”
“They don’t have clearance.” Thaddeus shook his head. “We won’t jeopardize our entire operation to indulge the desires of one mage. That is hardly putting the CCS first.”
Thaddeus’s words stung, as if I wanted any of this to happen. I could see his point though. None of this seemed right.
Gareth took a deep breath and pursed his lips. “Looking at this from strictly a security perspective—if the CCS weren’t involved—I’d have her moved from the Citadel immediately. My security has already failed her here. For all we know, whoever did this is still here, waiting for an opportunity to strike again. We have to work under that assumption until we’re proven wrong.”
“I don’t see how she would be any safer away from here,” Calista said. “I think we should make her an active agent and assign her to the Greenhouse as an analyst. Yes, our defenses were breached today, but it’s the first breach we’ve ever had. Now that we’re aware of the danger, we’ll do a better job protecting her here. Gareth’s security can guard her outside of work, and within the CCS, we’ll assign our own guard to her.”
“Wait, so I’m getting a desk job?” That was not what I signed up for.
“If I were you, I’d be grateful you’re an agent at all,” Thaddeus said, his voice low. “This is a compromise I can live with. You’re to report to the Greenhouse tomorrow for your assignment. And I’m warning you”—he pointed at me menacingly—“be grateful and keep your nose out of our investigation or I’ll have you thrown in the brig. Is that understood?”
I narrowed my eyes as I stared him down. “Yes, sir.”
“Then get out of here.”
I stormed out of the room, right past Lilibet where she waited in the hallway. Six months of training, a near-death experience, and I would be riding a desk with a babysitter trailing my every move.
Chapter 8
“She lives!” Millhook exclaimed when I entered my room.
His presence was a welcome surprise and cooled some of my anger. “What are you doing here?”
“That’s some kind of welcome. Calista asked me to find out what went wrong in your trials. From the way they tell it, you were lucky to get out alive. I see the mishap didn’t injure your tongue.” Genuine relief filled Millhook’s face as he saw I had nothing more than scrapes and bruises. The adrenaline that had kept my injuries at bay receded, and I gave in to a limp as I crossed the room to my bed.
I sucked in a sharp breath when I lowered myself to a sitting position. “I’m glad you’re here. I need someone on my side.”
Millhook pulled the chair to my bedside. “Your side? Everyone’s on your side. Who isn’t on your side?”
“Trust me, you wouldn’t feel the same way if you were in the meeting I was just in. I’m being assigned to a desk job until this is all figured out. If it were up to Thaddeus, I wouldn’t even be considered for the CCS anymore.”
“Well, he seemed mighty concerned about you when I spoke to him. While you were off getting patched up, we were trying to figure out what happened.”
“Did you find anything?”
Millhook shook his head. “Not yet, but we just got started. Calista and Thaddeus asked me to scan the area. They’ve been locked away in her office going over the design of the scene room to see if they can figure out any vulnerabilities.”
“I should be helping. I don’t understand what good it does to sit me behind a desk. I didn’t die. Obviously, I can handle my own. I don’t know why Thaddeus refuses to acknowledge that I’m a capable agent.”
“It’s not that. I hate to say this, but you’re still new to this world.” Millhook raised his shaggy eyebrows. “And I don’t mean just because you were raised human. You’re young in all sorts of ways. You haven’t seen everything that’s out there. I’ve been around for three hundred years, and this has got me stumped. Ain’t nobody safe when a controlled environment l
ike the trials can go wrong as it did.”
“I don’t see anyone else getting benched.” I couldn’t help the pout that crept into my voice. I might as well have crossed my arms and jutted out my bottom lip.
“No one else was almost killed. Listen to me, Kat, this is dangerous stuff here. This isn’t one of your human mumbo-jumbo contraptions. It didn’t just malfunction. Someone sabotaged it and left no trace behind. If that doesn’t scare you, then you’re crazy.”
“Keeping me here doesn’t solve anything. If they’re all concerned about my safety, then they should get me out of the Citadel and put me on Earth where I can work. The mole is trying to eliminate me because I’m the only person who knows they exist.”
“And how would they know you knew? Think about that. You don’t know if this has anything to do with the mole.”
That brought me up short. Since Casper told me about the traitor, I’d thought about it constantly, but the mole couldn’t know I was aware of their existence. Casper’s revelation happened moments before his death, and no one was around to overhear it. “Well, you don’t know it doesn’t.”
“Aye, you’re right. Why don’t you tell Calista and make your case to her? If you talk to her rationally, she can reason with Thaddeus. They’ve worked together for a long time now.”
The idea was sound, and it seemed like my best shot to get out of the Citadel and into the field. But Millhook didn’t share my belief that the mole could be Thaddeus. At this point, I was willing to admit that it could be anyone. “And what if the mole is Calista? What if it’s Thaddeus? I can’t risk it.”
“I’ll tell you what, if the mole is Calista, we’ve got bigger problems. She’s the cornerstone of the Council. There’d be no stopping her if she’s the mole, so there’s no harm in letting her know.”
Magic Betrayed_Elustria Chronicles Page 4
