Rising Fury (Hexing House Book 1)

by Rasmussen, Jen

  “So a hex is a thing, but not really.”

  He smiled at her. “Now you’re getting it. Ready for more?”

  Nero kept sending hexes of increasing intensity at her for another twenty minutes or so. Thea, confident by then, resisted them all. It took more effort with the bigger ones, but only a little more. She never felt overwhelmed, or even like she was exerting herself all that much. Nero seemed impressed, but it was impossible to read the expressions of the three behind the glass, even Graves.

  When they’d finished hexing her, Graves came in and hexed Nero instead. Nero sat down on the floor and smiled at the wall.

  “What is that?” Thea asked.

  “Hex of serenity, usually inflicted on those being punished for the sin of wrath. This is a diluted version of it. See if you can remove it.”

  Thea felt a clutch of panic. Did passing depend on being able to do this? “How?”

  “That’s for you to figure out. Don’t worry if you can’t. This is really advanced stuff. It generally requires specialized training, like a doctor’s. But I just want to see how far you can go.”

  So, more like extra credit then. Thea relaxed and looked at Nero, as she’d looked at him before. This time he was insulated in peace and calm. She stepped closer to him and flicked her hand, like she was clearing spider webs off him. For a second she thought she actually felt something, physically, but it was too brief to tell for sure.

  Nero looked up, blinked, frowned, blinked again. Then he stood and said, “Did you already hex me?”

  “Very good, Thea,” Graves said. “Now for something a little more complex. Nero, you can go back to your desk. Thanks for your help.”

  “Okay, you’re welcome.” Nero pulled some sort of necklace out of his pocket and put it on. Seeing Thea watching him, he held up a round pendant dangling from the end. It was made of a metal Thea didn’t recognize and was, as far as she could tell, just a flat circle with no markings at all. “Amulet,” he said. “Protects you from having other furies poking around in your sins. You’ll get one.” He left with a wave.

  Graves followed Nero out of the room. He was gone long enough for Thea to get nervous, then came back with another fury in tow. She was bent nearly double as she walked, although she didn’t look old otherwise, and her skin, instead of the usual purple tinge, was the color of chalk. She didn’t say anything, but there were tears in her eyes.

  “See what you make of this one,” Graves said.

  Thea looked at the new arrival, stepped closer, looked harder. There was definitely something there, but it was different this time. Not a single, unified impression, but a cloak of simple awfulness. She tried pushing it aside with her hand again, but nothing happened. She focused harder, stared until she thought she might set fire to the woman with her eyes. But the fury did not move or respond in any way.

  “Well, it was worth a try,” Graves said. “Go back and talk to Alecto and Megaira. I’ll be back with you when I’ve gotten her back to Wellness.”

  In the room behind the glass, Alecto and Megaira regarded Thea with identical calculating looks.

  “We haven’t tried having her hex somebody yet,” Alecto said.

  “Oh come on, Lexie, nobody can do that without training, let alone a human,” Megaira said.

  Lexie? Thea had to bite her bottom lip to keep from smiling.

  “But Uncle Graves thinks this one is terribly special,” Alecto said with a smirk. “We won’t know if she can until we try it.”

  “Special or not, you’re being unreasonable.” Graves had come back while they were talking. “If there was even a chance non-furies could do it, we’d be out of business, wouldn’t we?”

  Alecto tossed her braided head and shrugged. “What was that last test? Was that Lavinia? What was wrong with her?”

  “We don’t know,” Graves said. “She came back from a job like that. They’re trying to sort it out at Wellness, but nothing’s working. I figured we might as well let Thea try.”

  “Keep me posted.”

  “I will. What about Thea?”

  Alecto sighed and turned away from them, arms crossed. For a long time she stood, seemingly staring into space. Neither Graves nor Megaira tried to speak to her, so Thea didn’t either. But mentally, she prepared her arguments. If her tests hadn’t convinced Alecto to let her stay, she’d have to try to find another way.

  “I’ve made a decision,” Alecto said finally. “She can train.” She held up a hand, as if anticipating an interruption. “But she has to pass in one month. During which time she will not be allowed any off-campus contact, to protect our knowledge capital.”

  Thea’s stomach went cold. “Wait a second. I’m a prisoner now? Graves told me I could come and go as I please.”

  “And you will, when your transformation is complete.”

  “I can’t even call my aunt?”

  “Not until you get your wings.”

  “And if I can’t pass within the month?”

  “Then maybe we’ll keep you around to clean toilets. Or maybe we’ll just poison you and dump your body in the river.” Alecto shrugged, as if both options were equally viable, and went to the door. “One month.”

  Alecto sent her assistant to see about a residence for Thea, while Graves gave her a tour of the campus. Thea felt lost as he rattled off the names of the various buildings and departments, and wondered how long it would take to learn her way around.

  “HRI, what does that stand for?”

  “Human Relations and Investigation. Sales, basically. They meet with the clients who want to hire us and investigate potential cases. We don’t punish anyone who doesn’t deserve it.”

  Thea made a derisive noise, which Graves ignored.

  “They also ease the humans in, make sure they don’t get too freaked out by us. Most of them have heard of us by word of mouth, but half of them don’t really believe it until they see it.” He pointed. “Right there is the FR building.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Fury Resources. You’ll report there at eight tomorrow morning to begin your training, so you’ll see that soon enough. And here, let’s go inside this one. Infliction. These are the ones who do the actual hexing.” He held a door for her.

  “So this is where you work,” Thea said.

  “Not really. I’m semi-retired now, so I just poke around odd jobs here and there. I was head of RDM before Maggie.”

  There were at least two dozen desks in the Infliction office, arranged in rows without cubicle walls to separate them. But there were only five furies there, all male, all wearing ties. Everyone seemed delighted to see Graves. After much shoulder clapping and hand shaking, he introduced Thea as a new recruit.

  “No shit, a human transformation? When’s the last time that happened?” The fury who spoke—Elon, she thought Graves had said his name was—was tall, and Thea imagined very handsome, if you were into purple. His smile might have dazzled a girl who wasn’t completely uninterested in men these days. When he stepped closer, she smelled the same spicy clove scent that all furies seemed to have.

  “Well before your time,” Graves said. “And keep your language appropriate, please.”

  “Surprised Alecto let her in,” said someone else.

  “She’s got a lot of talent,” said Graves.

  “In that case you should be an Inflictor,” Elon said. “Maybe we’ll see you in the fall, when you’ve got your wings.”

  “More like August,” Thea said. “She only gave me a month.”

  Elon coughed, and several of the others stared, but nobody said anything. Thea glanced around at their uncomfortable faces and, with a sudden queasy feeling, remembered Graves saying the average was three months. Alecto had more-or-less set her up to fail. She tried to look confident and not at all terrified, but she doubted she did much of a job.

  As they left the building they nearly bumped into a female fury alighting at the entrance. She wore a dark suit that, like Graves’s, looked custom tail
ored, and her tomato-colored ponytail suggested a possible relationship to Nero. Thea hadn’t seen any other redheads here, and it was an unusual color anywhere. But her skin was paler than Nero’s, making it clash less with the hair, and her cheekbones were sharp and wide below enormous green eyes.

  “Graves!” she said with a smile. “Where’ve you been? Haven’t seen you in ages.”

  “No rest for the old and decrepit,” said Graves. “Cora, I want you to meet Thea, she’s a new recruit. Thea, Cora works in Tech.”

  Tech. That might mean access to all sorts of information. Thea gave her a friendly smile that was stiffly returned.

  Cora nodded toward the building and asked Graves, “Did you see Elon at his desk?”

  “Yes, he was just welcoming Thea.”

  The slight wariness with which Cora had been regarding Thea deepened to downright suspicion. Thea knew her type. She’d encountered even more of them in L.A. than she had snotty assistants: beautiful women who wanted to be the only beautiful woman in the room, and resented trespassers. So much for befriending the woman from Tech. Thea silently wrote Cora off as they said goodbye.

  They’d come almost full circle around the main part of the campus by then, and were approaching Administration again. “How did you end up here?” Thea asked.

  Graves looked slightly offended. “I’m ninth generation.”

  “No, I don’t mean you personally. I mean Hexing House. How did it end up in a school?”

  “Oh, that. My father used to be the head of the colony. He bought this place for a steal, years and years ago. Gives us plenty of space. We’ve been very happy here.”

  “But how do you manage it?” Thea pointed at an old-fashioned looking lamp post skirted in juniper. “All the power and everything? I’m guessing nobody’s mailing you an electric bill at your magically hidden campus.”

  “We’ve got fuel of our own invention that runs all the generators, and technology to access satellites and other communications systems. I can’t go into too much detail.”

  “No of course, you’ve got to protect that knowledge capital.”

  “Alecto is only doing what she feels is necessary to protect the colony.”

  “Which may or may not include dumping my body into the river?”

  “She was joking about that.”

  “Really? Because she doesn’t seem the joking type.”

  A young fury—no wings—came out of Administration, and hurried forward when he spotted them. “Mr. Graves, I was just coming to look for you. Mr. Vlad asked me to tell you your new hire’s residence is ready.” He handed a key to Graves rather than Thea. “House C, residence 13.”

  “Thirteen?” Thea glanced at Graves. “There’s no way to change that?”

  “Superstitious?” Graves asked.

  Thea shrugged. “Seems like I have enough challenges.”

  “No, there’s no way to change it. And if you’re going to get strong, overcoming an irrational fear of a number seems like a good place to start.”

  He took her elbow and guided her toward the back of the campus, where several buildings that looked like they’d once been dorms circled a large pond. The brick facade of House C was painted over in a stately gray, but a little flower garden out front saved it from looking too bleak.

  Residence 13 was on the third floor. Three is good, Thea thought. Maybe that will help offset the thirteen. When had she started counting again? She thought she’d outgrown the habit when she was young, but apparently she’d fallen back into it without even noticing.

  At first glance, the residence was like an apartment: a bedroom and a sitting room, both furnished, a bathroom, even a walk-in closet. The carpet was beige, and so were the walls. It took Thea a minute to realize what was missing.

  “There’s no kitchen,” she said.

  Graves shook his head. “We feel it’s more efficient to have centralized meals. You’ll find the Colony Center around the other side of the pond. The dining hall is the center wing, then there’s a gym, and an auditorium where they show movies on Friday nights.”

  “Today’s Friday.”

  “So it is. Movie will be at eight-thirty. Dinner is any time between five and eight.”

  She was pretty sure she’d been permanently turned off movies. As for dinner, Thea’s stomach was already feeling empty, but the prospect of a dining hall full of strangers—and furies—was a bit much. “Um. Oh. I don’t suppose you’d…”

  He gave her an annoyed look. “No white beard, remember? And I do actually have things to do.” He patted her on the shoulder, not unkindly. “Welcome aboard. You’ll do fine.”

  Graves opened the door, but Thea called after him. “Wait. What about my cousin?”

  He turned back, looking impatient. “What about her?”

  “You promised you’d try to find her.” Thea didn’t really believe he would, but she wanted to see his reaction.

  His expression didn’t change. “I haven’t forgotten. I’ll be in touch.”

  And with that, he left her alone.

  Someone had already put her suitcase in the closet, but Thea had brought so little that it only took her a few minutes to unpack it. She found what she wanted most in the front pocket.

  There were only three windows in the residence, and one entrance, which left her with three extra bells. She looped them over the knobs on the bedroom, bathroom, and closet doors. The tightness in her chest eased a degree with each one she hung.

  She’s weak.

  She was. But she’d done enough scary things for one day, and still had the ordeal of dinner ahead of her. She couldn’t manage without her bells, not tonight.

  Thea considered skipping dinner altogether. Her leg was sore from all the walking she’d done that day, and it would be so easy to just curl up in bed. But she could only go so long without eating, and she didn’t suppose it would be any easier at breakfast. So at five o’clock exactly—she figured there would be less people in there, so early—she grabbed her key, and forced herself down the stairs and out the front door of House C.

  She went slowly along the walking trail that wound around the pond, watching the ducks and turtles and avoiding eye contact with the two furies she passed, one too young to have wings. Others flew over the pond directly, toward an enormous building of yellow brick, newer looking than those on the main campus.

  Thea fought one last urge to flee, and walked in. She found herself in a large vestibule carpeted in dark gray, with halls to the right and left, and glass doors propped open in front of her. It smelled surprisingly good, like buttermilk and gravy and something frying. She stepped forward until she was just inside the dining area.

  She’d been expecting something like a cafeteria, but this was much more like a restaurant, dimly lit and cozy. Booths and tables seating anywhere from two to ten were scattered around the large room, and a winding iron staircase led up to a second level. A few of the tables were already occupied.

  “Can I help you?”

  A male fury approached her. He was dressed in black, with greasy dirty-blond hair and a sullen expression.

  “Um, yes. I’m new. A new hire. I was told to come here for dinner.” Thea resisted the urge to rub her sweaty palms against her pants.

  He shook his head impatiently. “How many in your party, is all I need to know?”

  “Oh. Just me.”

  “This way.”

  To Thea’s dismay, he led her to a small table smack dab in the center of the room, where everyone could stare at her. But he was so unfriendly, she couldn’t get up the nerve to ask him if she could choose a different one. She sat down with a short nod of thanks and looked down at the crimson tablecloth. Normally she’d bury her head in her menu, but there wasn’t one. She pulled her napkin onto her lap and twisted and plucked at it until another fury—female this time, and more welcoming than the last—approached.

  “I’m Diana, I’ll be your server. I take it you’re new?”

  “Yes,” said Thea, an
d wondered whether she should introduce herself. You didn’t normally to servers in restaurants, of course, but they were members of the same colony now, too. Was it rude not to? Would it be weird if she did?

  Before she could decide, Diana asked, “Married in? Husband working late?”

  Thea shook her head. “I’m a new hire. Um, Thea Gideon is my name.”

  Diana whistled low. “Human transformation. I heard about one once, when I was a little girl.” Judging by the wrinkles in a face that was more gray than lavender, her girlhood was quite some time ago. Assuming furies had similar lifespans to humans. Thea had agreed to become one, but she didn’t even know.

  “Well, welcome. We’ve got sweet tea, water, wine, and beer to drink. And tonight’s meals are pot roast, fried chicken, or eggplant parm for the vegetarian.”

  “Oh. Thank you. May I have fried chicken and a beer? Would I be able to get water too, if it’s not too much trouble?”

  Diana gave her an odd look, as if confused by her politeness. Probably because she could see that it was really fear, and was wondering how such a weakling had been hired for a job like this. But she only shrugged and said, “You got it.”

  While she waited for her food, Thea sipped her beer and tried to figure out what her next steps were. She’d known coming here would be dangerous, but it was worse than she’d feared. Alecto already hated her, and clearly wanted her gone. Thea would never pass a single safe moment here.

  But I never feel safe anywhere. Maybe I need to make my own safety. With something stronger than bells.

  The sooner she found out what happened to Flannery and got out—hopefully with her cousin in tow—the better.

  But if I stay I get wings. And claws.

  She pushed the rogue thoughts away and looked uneasily around the room, only to meet the eye of a fury who was staring straight at her. He was sitting in a booth with four others, young like he was, and his expression was predatory and arrogant. When she looked at him, he stood and sauntered toward her table. Men with that look generally only came to talk to Thea for one reason, and she sure as hell wasn’t up for fighting off advances tonight. She took a big gulp of her beer as he pulled out the chair opposite her and sat down without asking.