“We’re just doing some research, Ess. Nothing for you to worry about. I promise we won’t touch anything we’re not supposed to,” Kellan said as he drifted right past her. I shrugged my shoulders at her as I passed, and Kellan walked all the way to the farthest table in the back. “I don’t know what her problem is. What does she think we’re doing down here?”
“In her mind, we probably all want to ransack the place,” I said as I sat. “Where do you want to start? I think we should look up all the activity around the Cushing Sea for the last year and send any names or imprints we find back to Priya. She can see if anything cross-references with more recent activity. What do you think?”
Kellan stared over my shoulder at the guardian, and I turned to see what held his attention. She was berating some poor soul bringing down material to be archived. I turned back to Kellan. “Just ignore her.”
“I have a better idea. Didn’t you want a list of all the CCS personnel to investigate who rigged your trials? Process of elimination and all that?”
“Well yeah, but this seems a little more urgent. You didn’t see Lilibet earlier. She'll be pissed if we don’t have something for her.”
“And we will, but right now, Ess is distracted. This'll be our best chance. Come on, it probably takes two agents to access the list anyway.” Kellan strode to one of the crypts in the wall and pulled it out like a drawer in a filing cabinet. Water flowed through the bottom of the drawer, and we each placed a hand in the liquid. Kellan spoke our request, “A list of CCS personnel.”
The liquid flashed red, and we each added our other hand so that four hands rested in the water. It turned green and then back to blue, and a bubble rose out of the water growing larger and larger until it disconnected from the pool. Kellan placed his palm underneath the bubble and it popped, releasing a scroll into his hand. He unfurled it to reveal tiny writing listing out each agent’s name and assignment. The scroll seemed to go on forever. When Kellan finally reached the end, it resembled the mess from an unwound toilet paper roll on the floor. He handed it to me. “I do not envy your task. I had no idea this many people worked for the CCS.”
“Yeah, me either,” I said in amazement. It would take a few minutes for me to roll up the scroll.
Kellan chuckled, and the scroll snapped back into its tightly wound roll. Of course, a mage would think to use magic to do such a menial task. “Thanks,” I said.
“No problem. You’ll think like someone who was raised as a mage soon enough. In fact, given that you’re going to be on Earth, it’s probably better if you don’t. Now that that’s out of the way, what's next?”
I tucked the scroll in my pocket and sighed. “I guess we need to start combing through everything from the Cushing Sea station.”
Chapter 22
We spent the rest of the night down in the archives and didn’t find a single thing that would prove useful. Priya and Darian hadn’t fared much better. Lilibet appeared more agitated than I’d ever seen her before. I was a little surprised Calista and Thaddeus hadn’t spoken to me about my mother’s work, but I expected they would the next day.
Kellan and I worked until we were too tired to keep our eyes open. He escorted me all the way back to my room. When he stumbled into his, I thought how fortunate it was that mages didn’t have to use regular keys, because he would’ve never been able to get his door open.
Once I had settled in bed, the tiredness fled, leaving me with my racing thoughts. How had the Directorate proceeded so far without my mother’s notes? Had they found her other talismans? Had she left notes with them? There were too many unanswered questions and too many lives at stake. I needed help. I couldn’t stop thinking that this could’ve been avoided if I’d done something sooner.
I went to my desk and grabbed some of the parchment and a fountain pen I kept stocked there and started writing.
Alex,
It feels like Millhook delivered your letter ages ago, but I suppose it’s been what, a week? Still, it feels like too long. So much has happened that I don’t even know where to begin.
I’m officially a CCS agent, so yay for me. Don’t get too excited though: I’m confined to the Citadel. I suppose you didn’t even know my trials had happened. I wanted to keep them from you so you wouldn’t worry. Turns out, I should’ve been more worried than I was. During my trials, the obstacles didn’t trigger correctly, and I almost died. I think that’s a slight exaggeration, but since I know Millhook will be delivering this letter and I’m sure he will tell you I barely escaped with my life, I might as well put it out there. It sucks. I wish you’d been here to talk to then. I know you can’t be, and I get that, but I miss you. Talking to Millhook just isn’t the same, and no one else here even comes close to understanding me. Who would’ve thought the night we met that I’d be wishing for you to come back? God, it feels like we’ve known each other for so long.
Anyway, they haven’t found out what exactly happened at my trials or who did it, so I’ve been confined to the Citadel until they do. I’m being shadowed by a guard at all times which more than cramps my style. I’d hoped to be back on Earth by now, searching for my mother’s talismans. Everything has worked out so differently than I imagined.
A sorcerer came to the Citadel today. I sat in on his audience with the Council. A dead sorcerer whose magic had been partially drained was found. As you can imagine, the rest of the day’s been crazy. I can’t help but wonder if this is my fault. I should’ve done more, trusted more, but I still don’t know who the mole is. I’m not any closer to finding out who it is than I was when I entered the CCS for training. I have my suspicions. Thaddeus is chief among them, but everyone seems to think he is my main protector. I don’t see it, but I also worry that I let my emotions and personal prejudices cloud my judgment. Just as we saw with Casper, I’m not always the best at judging people. I can’t help but think that if you were here, we would’ve figured this out by now. You have a sixth sense about people that I lack.
Oh, I almost forgot, Gareth found a listening device in my room that I had missed. It exploded as soon as he found it. So yeah, I’m feeling a little lost right now. I was supposed to come here and become this badass spy who could take care of herself, who would find the talismans Meglana created and make everything right again. Now I feel more like a little girl playing pretend than I ever did back home in Wizards and Fae. How odd.
I hope you’re doing well. Millhook seems to think you are. I’m beginning to understand the appeal of spending life as a solitary panther. You’re probably the smartest of all of us.
I know I don’t have any right to ask you for favors. You’ve done more for me than anyone, enough to last several lifetimes. But I can’t help feeling guilt over this development with the sorcerers and my mother’s involvement with the Directorate. I’d do it myself if I could, but I can’t.
What exactly did I want him to do? I wrapped my hand around the amber talisman and closed my eyes, searching the memories it held for the notes my mother had left in a safe-deposit box in Vienna.
I read through them all in my mind’s eye, looking for where she wanted to send her heir next. My mother had been paranoid with delusions of grandeur. I suppose they weren’t delusions. She had figured out how to do what no mage before her had done. Though I never met her, I felt like I knew her. I had my father’s memories of her and her writings, and that was all I needed. She wouldn’t make it easy to find her other talismans. She would’ve felt that her successor needed to earn them, prove they were worthy.
The only direction I found was, “My knowledge lies inside the sloping rock in the meadow of the stags.” If I had the Internet, I might be able to solve it. As it was, all I could do was ask Alex to follow up on it. He might be able to figure it out, and if not, at least I did something, at least I told someone.
I scoured my mother’s writings and the only clue I can find is, “My knowledge lies inside the sloping rock in the meadow of the stags.” I know it’s not much to go on, and
you’re probably better off keeping your distance from all this, but if you can figure it out, I’d appreciate it.
I hope we'll see each other again soon. Every time I think I’m getting closer to my goals, something comes and pushes me down. That can’t keep up forever, right? I mean, someday I will get out of here and back to Earth to finish what I started. Until then, please keep writing me. Even if it takes me a while to reply, your letters always help keep me going.
Yours,
Kat
All that was left was to give it to Millhook. He said he’d be around the Citadel for a while looking for work. If he was here, I should be able to get a hold of him with an orb. If not, I’d have to port to a tree and summon him, which I’d like to avoid. Every time I ported, it was one more time I could get caught. That was a secret I couldn’t afford to let go of.
As soon as I called him, Millhook’s face appeared in the orb in front of me. “Ha, finally decided to make contact again. What can I do for you?”
Just hearing his voice made me smile. “I have some time tonight, and I thought it’d be nice if we could talk. I’m having trouble sleeping. Can you come to my room?”
“Pretty girl like you asks me to come to your room in the dead of night? Of course I can come. I’ll be there faster than a wood sprite can wiggle her nose.” Millhook’s face disappeared. I couldn’t help giggling at his turn of phrase. He had introduced me to more slang than anyone else in Elustria. Though I suspected that his version of slang was like my grandfather’s had been: not something other people actually used.
Even though the guard outside my door was for my protection, I couldn’t help feeling like a prisoner. If I wanted to speak privately with Millhook, it had to be in my room. If I went anywhere else to meet him, the guard would hover.
A minute later, I heard a muffled voice outside. “Of course she’s expecting me. What, you think I’m some weird imp who shows up at a random mage’s door in the middle of the night? Step aside, you big oaf.”
I opened the door. “It’s all right. I’m having trouble sleeping and asked him for some company.”
“That’s really the sort of thing you should run by me first so I know what to expect.”
“Sorry. I’ll make sure to let you know next time.” I shut the door behind Millhook, and he humphed into a chair.
“I don’t know how you do it. I’d go stark raving mad if anyone tried to control my life like that.”
“I’m discovering stores of patience I didn’t realize I had. I was wondering if you’d do me a favor.”
“Whatever you ask, it shall be yours. Not only are you my favorite mage and the best pidge I ever met, but I’ve also turned up empty on the work front, so I’m all yours. What did you have in mind?”
“I was hoping you’d deliver a letter to Alex for me.”
Millhook’s eyes widened, and he perked up. “It’s about time. Did you come to your senses and tell him what’s going on?”
I put the letter into Millhook’s outstretched hand. “Yeah, I’ve told him everything.” It wasn’t quite true, but I had told him everything that Millhook knew. The only bit I’d left out was about the golem magic. “And if I didn’t, I’m sure you can fill him in. I asked him to do me a favor. I don’t know if he will or if he even can, but if he does, he might ask you to send a reply.”
“I’ll get this to him tonight, unless you wanted to sit around and chat some more, perhaps about the Council meeting you were at?”
“You heard about that?”
Millhook glared at me. “This place is buzzing louder than a skik bug’s nest with the news.”
That was a new one. “What are people saying? I didn’t think the Council would release news of the meeting.”
“Oh they haven’t let anything out, but there’s speculation as usual. A sorcerer can’t make it into the Citadel without people taking notice. I know the details ’cause Calista has already consulted me about the issue.”
“You didn’t tell her anything, did you?” I trusted Millhook, but he did have a tendency to blab.
“About you? No, I told her what any other imp would’ve told her: that doing something like that requires a mighty strong knowledge of magic and a certain dark and twisted soul. The only person who’d try it is a mage. The rest of Elustria has no need to steal other people’s magic, not when we got it going through our veins the same as sorcerers do.”
“Thanks.”
“I’ll never let any of your secrets go. As if it’s not hard enough being a pidge, having the world’s most evil mage as a mother can’t be a picnic either.” Millhook snapped his fingers and the letter bent as if it were being sucked up by a vacuum until the nothingness swallowed it. “Well, if you can do without my eloquent company, I shall deliver the letter and bring his response most expeditiously.” Millhook did a little bow then disappeared through a portal.
Chapter 23
The pit was a flurry of angry activity when I arrived the next day. I hadn’t gotten much sleep. Patience had never been one of my virtues, and I couldn’t wait for Alex’s response. I wished I at least knew if he was going to do me that favor. Preoccupied with my thoughts, I didn’t pay much attention to my surroundings until I entered the pit. Kellan appeared as disoriented as I was.
“What’s going on?” I asked him.
“I don’t know why you think I have any more information than you do. This is crazy though.”
Darian strolled up to us. “How nice of you to join us. Great day to not be on time.”
“Totally my fault,” I said, waving my hand in a dismissive manner. “You know us Earth-raised mages, can’t figure out how to use that fancy magic stuff to get ready in the morning.”
Darian shot me a baleful look and focused on Kellan. “Word just came in. The Directorate operative we captured a few days ago from the Cushing Sea died during interrogation.”
“What? What do you mean died? Died how?” Kellan’s confusion was understandable. No CCS agent would do anything to a Directorate operative that would result in death during an interrogation. It wasn’t our way.
“That is under investigation. I expect we’ll have a long, stressful day.”
“You three, you’re with me. Come on.” Lilibet didn’t even wait to see if we had heard her before she proceeded down the hall to the mission room we had used the previous day. Most teams did their work in the pit, but it must have been decided to keep our team’s mission a secret for now.
At the table, Priya was scanning a scroll where words continuously appeared. I assumed it was a live feed into the mission report that was being filed on the dead operative. I’d hate to be the agent writing that right now.
“Given the news we got this morning, we are now officially taking over all field operations that in any way might relate to the dead sorcerer. Since Kat is still restricted to the Citadel and Kellan is her shadow, you'll be going out in the field alone, Darian. You three will be his support team here. We need to find out who is providing the Directorate with a portal to that area of the Cushing Sea. So far the team we have out there has come up empty-handed. They were being lazy and depending too much on getting intelligence from their captured operative. The only intelligence he gave us before he died was that the Directorate was working for equality between sorcerers and mages.” Standard Directorate propaganda.
“It’s your job to find out who made their portal and where they were going. I don’t care how you make it happen, just do it. You have full use of CCS resources, that means weapons and gold. If we’re lucky, whoever did this for them did so out of greed. If they did it out of ideology, we won’t get anything from them. Your team has priority right now. Come up with a plan and submit it for my approval within the hour.” Lilibet left without taking questions.
“Let’s get settled in,” Priya said. “I already have coordinates we can work from.”
Darian had been half right. The day had been stressful but not long. We came up with a plan within a half hour, and
it was approved in record time. An hour after Lilibet had taken us to the mission room, Darian was in the field. As soon as he left the Greenhouse, I knew what it was to be part of a team. He may be an asshole, I may hate him, but he was my teammate, and every minute he was out in the field was a minute I worried. I had to come up with some way to deal with that. Of course, in the future, it would be me in the field leaving someone else behind to do the worrying. That would suit me better.
Kellan and I had a quick workout to release some of the stress and were then sent away. Priya would notify us if we needed to come back in, but I think Lilibet just wanted me and my nervous pacing out of the way. Besides, she would need both Kellan and I fresh to act on whatever intelligence Darian retrieved, and we’d both worked late into the night.
“So what are you going to do for the rest of the day?” Kellan asked.
“Try to catch up on sleep. I didn’t get much last night.”
“Smart. You’re doing good work, Kat. Your first live mission is always stressful, this one even more so. You’re doing well. It might not feel like it, but you are.”
Together we walked back to the Citadel. I wish Kellan’s words helped, but he didn’t understand the depth of my feelings. At this point, any additional knowledge I had wouldn’t be of any help to Darian. We still needed to find whoever was providing the Directorate with a portal at the Cushing Sea and where it went. There was nothing in my mother’s notes about that, but I still couldn’t help thinking I should’ve done more earlier.
In my room, exhaustion seeped into my bones. Before I could stop myself, I collapsed on the bed and didn’t wake until both suns had disappeared below the horizon. I jumped to my feet before I let my fatigue convince me to stay put. I had no intention of sleeping away the day. There was too much to do. I needed to continue my studies in section five. Yesterday had been too busy for me to get away, and I needed to make up for that missed time.
Magic Betrayed_Elustria Chronicles Page 11
