“All three of them died at Boston’s Magic Hospital for Children, supposedly because of DAMND. And their records are gone.”
“Gone?” I repeated. “What do you mean gone?”
“I mean, there’s no birth records, no tracking information, no files. There’s only the death certificates that were issued when the bodies were released to their families.”
That was interesting. I had no idea what it meant, but it was interesting.
“The second thing,” Smith continued, “is that they’re all buried in the same cemetery.”
“Huh.”
All at once, the dead kids’ cryptic words were seeming a little less cryptic.
It’s all a lie; the graves are empty
“Okay, and the third thing?” I asked.
“It’s less of a thing, and more of a problem,” he replied.
Why wasn’t I surprised? I rolled my eyes at the water-stained ceiling.
“I found Valencia,” Smith continued.
That sounded like good news to me.
“Call the cops and let them deal with her,” I told him.
It wasn’t our responsibility to police the city.
“Already did, and they’re not going to do shit about it,” Smith replied.
“Care to elaborate?”
“You’re going to want to see this for yourself.”
My phone buzzed, and I saw that Smith had texted me an address. It was only a few blocks away from Ma’s.
“Alright, we’ll head over now,” I said. “Tell the others to put on some grungy clothes. As soon as Gray and I get back, we’re going to go visit that graveyard.”
CHAPTER 9
We said our goodbyes to Ma, Grandma Tashi, and Cora. Gray and I hefted up the giant glass trays Ma had stuffed full of cookies for us to bring home.
“A.J.’s are in the bottom container,” Ma told me, giving me a kiss on the cheek as I staggered under the weight of what must be fifty pounds of cookies. “Tell him I used coconut oil instead of butter.
“And I’m going to swing by later and strengthen the illusion on your house.” She pursed her lips. “I don’t want to take any chances with all the craziness going on.”
“Thanks Ma,” I told her. “Love you.”
Graysen and I maneuvered the cookies and ourselves through the narrow hallway that led to the front door. I was just debating how we were going to open the door with our hands full, when I heard the stairs creak.
“See ya, baby killers.”
I turned. Desiree was sitting at the top of the stairs and glaring down at us.
I didn’t bother correcting the insult. Logic had never mattered much to Desiree. Instead, I gave her a saccharine smile and said, “Keep talking like that, and I’ll illusion you into a bullfrog.”
Desiree hated frogs.
“Ribbet,” Gray said, darting out his tongue.
We got ourselves and the cookies outside with nary a retort.
It had gotten dark out, but I still illusioned us just in case anyone was watching. I didn’t think Valencia’s threats back at the courthouse had been idle.
I made us look like a chubby old couple. First, so no one would look at us and think we might be a threat. And second, so our enormous cookie trays wouldn’t seem so weird.
The air was pleasant and carried a faint hint of lilacs from a nearby window box.
I loved early summer in Boston. It was hot during the day and cool at night. Perfect for showing off the full range of my wardrobe. In Boston, a person could blink and miss the entire miniskirt-and-sandals season.
Clothes shopping was one of the few normal-people activities I’d clung to after I went unMarked and chose to turn my life upside down. In the last three years, filling my room with colors and fabrics had gone from a passion to more of a distraction. As a result, I had more clothes than I knew what to do with.
It was a cloudless night, and I could just make out the hint of stars overhead. The peacefulness seemed at odds with everything that was happening in our city.
“What are you thinking?” Graysen asked me.
I shook my head, trying to make sense of the jumble of ideas tossing and turning around in my brain. “That whole thing with Jenny Yang isn’t sitting right with me.”
“That was seriously messed up,” Graysen said.
It was, but that wasn’t the part that was niggling at some foggy part of my brain.
The courtroom…Remwald’s murder…Jenny Yang killing herself…Mallorie turning infantile….
“There’s too much weirdness for all of it not to be connected,” I said. “We’re missing something. I can feel it.”
Graysen’s response was lost as uproarious shouting filled the night.
We glanced at each other and picked up our pace as we covered the last few blocks to the address Smith had given me.
We turned the corner and found ourselves in the midst of an UnAllied mob. I maintained our illusions as an old couple as we wove through the crowd. Aside from a few people who gave us dirty looks when our cookie trays bumped them, no one paid attention to us.
There was enough going on that I didn’t think anyone would notice there was a Nat among them.
“Up there,” Graysen said in disgust, jutting his chin at the building before us.
We were on a residential street lined with brick and stone townhouses. Valencia stood on a narrow balcony a story above us. She was flanked by two men I had hoped to never see again. The first was Valencia’s brother. He looked like the male version of Valencia: wild red hair, big-boned, and pissed off.
Valencia’s brother raised his hand. A street light glinted off the metal blade of the knife he held. A spark of rage went through me when I remembered the way he’d held that same knife to Bri’s throat the last time we’d had the displeasure of crossing his path.
Valencia’s brother was a Level 5 Shield, which meant he could strip away the magic of anyone in his near vicinity. He was far enough away that my illusions were still intact, but I knew from experience how powerful his magic was at close range.
The sight of the man on Valencia’s other side made an icy chill go down my spine. He looked the same as he had the last time I’d seen him…when he’d been aiming a loaded gun in Gray’s face.
He was a huge, biker-looking dude with a long beard, tattoos, and leather jacket. His teeth were plated with silver grills, and he made no effort to hide the bulge of a gun in his jacket pocket.
The man was a Level 9 Energy Manipulator, which meant he could absorb other Magics’ abilities and wield them himself. I took an unconscious step back and melted deeper into the crowd. At the same time, Graysen shifted his body so he was between me and the Manipulator.
With the power those two men wielded, no Mag would be able to use their power against Valencia. And no Nat would dare to even approach her.
There was a line of Boston police at the other end of the street, but none of them were coming closer. The Mag cops must not have wanted to risk having their abilities taken away and being used against them, and the Nat cops would be killed by a storm of magic if they came any closer.
It made me sick to see Valencia up on that balcony, when she should be awaiting her execution.
Every time she made a public appearance and avoided arrest, Valencia’s power over Boston’s Mag community grew stronger.
“We won’t take this insult sitting down,” Valencia called to her captive followers. “Edwardian Remwald was a hero, and the Nats crucified him. Are we gonna stand for this?”
“No!” the UnAllied shouted back.
I exchanged a look with Graysen. Did Valencia know something about Remwald’s murder that we didn’t?
I balanced the cookie trays on my hip so I could pull out my phone. With my free hand, I shot off a quick text to Smith. His response came back almost immediately: Valencia is full of shit. The cops still don’t know anything about Remwald’s murderer.
“They take one of ours, we take one of their
s!” Valencia yelled.
“Hell yeah,” the guy standing next to me said. He had one arm looped around what I assumed was his girlfriend’s neck. The other pumped the air as he shouted anti-Nat slurs.
“This is wicked awesome!” he shouted in a Boston accent almost as heavy as Valencia’s.
I forced a nod and a smile when I realized he was talking to me.
There was movement on the balcony above us, and then a cop was dragged out beside Valencia. His uniform identified him as Boston Nat Police.
The Manipulator loomed over the cop, who was cowering. He flashed his grills and then struck the cop in the face.
The UnAllied went wild.
Even from here, I could see the blood streaming down the cop’s face.
The cop’s momentum pulled him forward. His whole torso struck the railing. The Manipulator lifted his foot and gave the cop a swift kick to the back.
The cop went up and over the balustrade.
I barely managed a hoarse scream before the cop struck the pavement below.
He’d only fallen a story, but there’d been nothing to ease his fall. My relief at seeing the cop move was short-lived.
The crowd of UnAllied swarmed the man as he struggled to his knees. I pressed my hand to my mouth as the Manipulator leapt over the balustrade and landed on his feet beside the cop.
The Manipulator pulled his gun out of his jacket pocket.
I started forward, but the crowd was too thick for me to get far. Beside me, Graysen was shoving his cookie trays at UnAllied to force a path through them.
The Manipulator aimed.
The gun cracked. UnAllied cheered and pumped their fists into the air.
Gray went motionless. Bile rose into my throat.
“My broth-ah and I will lead this city to a new beginning,” Valencia shouted. “Down with these corrupt Alliance fuck-ahs. Down with the Nats!”
By silent agreement, Graysen and I retreated back the way we’d come. There was nothing we could do here. Besides, if we stayed for another second, I’d be sick to my stomach.
“Hey, where you goin’?” the skinny man called out to me. “You’re gonna miss all the fun.”
His girlfriend cocked her head at me. Then, she blew a bubble with her gum that popped across half her face.
I glanced back in the direction the man was pointing and immediately regretted it. Valencia and her brother were reeling the cop’s lifeless body onto the balcony by a rope tied around his limp neck. The UnAllied hurled pieces of garbage at the corpse, making it swing back and forth.
“The Alliance is broken,” Valencia shouted at her audience. “Even though Director Remwald is gone, he’s not forgotten.
“We’ll tear apart every Nat in the city. And we won’t stop until we kill the one responsible for taking away Remwald…Graysen Gald-ah!”
CHAPTER 10
That bitch,” I said when we rounded the corner and I found my voice. “She’s pinning Remwald’s murder on you?!”
“The UnAllied won’t even care that she’s lying,” Graysen said. “They just want a Nat scapegoat.”
“Remwald didn’t even care about the UnAllied,” I fumed. “He was just using them.”
“I know,” Gray replied in a grim voice. “But that isn’t going to stop Valencia from making a martyr out of him.”
“As soon as we get home, you’re calling Pruwist,” I told Gray. “I don’t care what he needs to do to get her back in custody, but if he doesn’t, I swear I’ll deal with her myself.”
Gray’s soft chuckle did nothing to cool my anger.
We cut through an alley that would shave off a few blocks. There was a single light over one of the garages, where half a dozen moths were fluttering. The air stank of the garbage that was piled up on the curb.
“Funny, but the two of you don’t sound like a couple of old people.”
I froze. Backing against a brick wall, I searched for the source of the unfamiliar voice.
A sharp whistle had me spinning around. The man who had spoken to me a few minute ago was dangling off the roof of the building and looking down at us. The garage light just illuminated his profile as he twisted his body and scaled down the wall, gripping the smooth brick with his fingertips.
A Spider.
Small pincers in his hands and feet allowed him to grip the flat surface. And he was fast.
Graysen and I started to back away.
Ironically, if we could get back to the mob of UnAllied, we’d be able to lose ourselves among everyone else.
A new, female voice came from behind us.
“The boyfriend and I were having ourselves a think.”
I spun around to face the Spider’s girlfriend. She was small but wiry. I could feel magic wafting off her. Whatever she was, she was probably a Level 5 or 6. Plenty of juice to do some serious damage, depending on her ability.
“We sensed his absence of magic,” the woman continued, sneering at Gray. “And we were wondering why a Nat was at an UnAllied gathering.” She stalked toward us.
Her boyfriend was at the other end of the street. We were being sandwiched in the middle of the alley.
“We’re only here for the Nat,” the woman told me. “Leave now, and we won’t tell anyone you were consorting with one of them.”
Please, Gray mouthed, giving me a pleading look. Go.
“Over my dead body,” I told him.
“That can be arranged,” the Spider said. “Filthy Nat lover.”
I scoffed. “You have no idea.”
Gray stopped moving, mostly because we had nowhere else to go. I transformed our appearances from the old couple to exact replicas of the Spider and his girlfriend.
The UnAllied couple let out startled cries. Before they could recover, Gray slammed the tray of cookies he was holding into the Spider’s face. The man let out a loud grunt and stumbled, but he didn’t go down.
I threw mine at the girlfriend. It hit her head hard enough to crack bones…if she’d had any.
Her magic became glaringly apparent the moment the woman’s skull warped to absorb the tray’s impact. She was a Contortionist. It was unclear whether she was actually boneless or if her bones could turn mush at will. Either way, the effect was the same.
The glass tray crashed to the pavement. The Contortionist smiled.
Gray was already tangled up with the Spider.
“Bring it,” I goaded the Contortionist. “If you’re cool with trying to mess up your beloved’s face.”
I gestured to my face, which I’d illusioned to look like the Spider’s.
She gave me a snaggle-toothed smile. “I was getting ready to break up with him anyway.”
She threw herself at me.
I might not have had her freaky body-bending skills, but four years of semi-professional ballet hadn’t gone to waste. I bent over backwards in an inverted U. The Contortionist, who hadn’t been expecting the move, sailed right over me. She hit the brick wall hard enough that she would have knocked herself out if she had normal anatomy.
Unfortunately for me, she didn’t.
The Contortionist bounced off like she was made out of putty and came right back for more. We collided in a tangle of limbs.
I illusioned myself to look just like her. That threw the woman off long enough for me to free one of my arms.
I grabbed her long hair and yanked, because it was the only part of her I could reach. And because I wasn’t opposed to fighting dirty.
“You’re dead!” The Contortionist wrapped her arm all the way around my torso and squeezed with unnatural force. I managed to free my left elbow enough to jam it into her back.
She might not have functioning bones, but she did have kidneys. The Contortionist let out a pained hiss and released me.
I looked up in time to see the Spider and Gray locked in a deadly embrace. They each had their hands around the other’s throat.
Gray was bigger and stronger, but the Spider had the advantage of pincers. I could see bl
ood spurting from the places where his fingers were locked on Gray’s neck.
I switched Gray’s illusion so he was identical to the Spider. The man’s eyes bugged, and he loosened his hold. Clearly, this couple loved themselves more than they cared about each other.
Gray didn’t hesitate before smashing the Spider’s head back against the brick. The man went down, coughing and sputtering. Gray started for me, limping a little.
Before I could take a breath, the Contortionist was back on me. Glass crunched as we hit the ground. I screamed in rage.
Even though I still looked just like her, the Contortionist didn’t fall for the same trick again. I switched to an infant swaddled in a baby blanket.
“Like that’ll stop me,” the evil woman cackled.
I should have known someone who wanted to wipe Nats off the face off the earth wouldn’t mind throttling a baby.
The Contortionist began smacking her jellied arms across my face. The sensation was much like what I imagined it would feel like to be struck by a whale’s flippers over and over again. It sucked.
I tried to think about all the times I’d seen Bri take down impossible enemies. Since all of my limbs were otherwise occupied, I pulled my head back as far as it would go and slammed it into the Contortionist’s.
It felt like bashing my face into one of A.J.’s tofu blocks. Her skull just absorbed the blow. She laughed as she dragged me across the ground. Heat spread across my back as the crumbled glass raked across my skin.
Gray was shouting, but I couldn’t see him. The Contortionist’s leg was wrapped around my neck. Stars burst across my vision as my throat compressed.
I fought for all I was worth, but my blows were useless. The woman was a sponge. I couldn’t reach any of her vital organs with the full body lock she had me in.
The Contortionist’s grip slackened when Gray threw himself on her back. I sucked in a burning gulp of air before the Spider yanked him off. The two UnAllied went for Gray.
I scrambled for oxygen and some way to get us out alive, since I refused to die in a trash-filled alley.
My shaking hands searched the ground, closing around a triangle of broken glass. I didn’t think. I slashed it across the Spider’s back.
Mags & Nats 3-Book Box Set Page 40
