Mags & Nats 3-Book Box Set

by Stephanie Fazio

  “Few more minutes,” he said without looking up from his work.

  I knew what that meant. If I didn’t force the issue, he’d stay in this exact position until he’d solved whatever problem he was working on.

  “Come nap with me, and then you can come back to this.”

  Gray rolled his shoulders. A flicker of pain crossed his face.

  “Okay,” he conceded. “Just a couple of hours.”

  He tucked the books under his arm as he headed for the stairs.

  “I’ll be up in a few,” I told him.

  There was something about watching the flurry of paper shreds that was putting me on edge. I gathered up the empty mugs and brought them into the kitchen. I washed all of our dirty dishes by hand, even though A.J.’s magic could accomplish the same task with far less effort.

  Then, I went over and uncrumpled the notebook Bri had tossed away. We’d been through all of it, but I still flipped through the pages, desperate to find whatever we were missing.

  “Go to bed, Girlfriend,” A.J. ordered me. “You need your beauty rest, and all your fidgeting is making me nervous.”

  I didn’t argue. I went upstairs before I got desperate enough to hover around Smith and ask what he was doing, which was about as safe as poking a grizzly bear during hibernation.

  I shut the bedroom door and checked my phone once more. My pulse jumped when I saw a text from Ma.

  Desiree is home. Love you.

  Letting out a sigh of relief, I sent back a quick text and tossed my phone on the nightstand.

  The door to the bathroom was open, and I heard the gentle splash of water against the tub. Gray’s books were open on the bed. The margins were full of his notes.

  When I glanced at the open pages, simultaneous pangs of guilt and love went through me. Both books were open to sections about the second high law, and all the provisions related to Marking.

  I crossed the room to the overflowing dresser that took up most of one wall. Even though my clothes were spilling out of the drawers, I rummaged around until I found one of Gray’s T-shirts. I had enough of my own PJs that I could probably wear something different every night for a month, but nothing beat sleeping in one of my boyfriend’s oversized shirts.

  Even after Gray and I had broken up, I’d slept in the one T-shirt he’d left at my place more often than not. It had helped me pretend it was his body rather than just his clothes surrounding me in the dark.

  My throat thickened at the memory. Even though I’d had Gray back in my life for weeks now, we’d gone three years apart. Part of me was still expecting to wake up and find him gone again. I liked to think of myself as an independent, self-sufficient person. And yet, living without Gray had felt like living without half of myself.

  I changed into the comfy shirt and climbed into bed. I was just getting settled when Gray came out of the bathroom. He was wearing only a pair of boxers, which showed off his sculpted everything. He’d been toned in high school, but he was even fitter now. I drank in the sight of him.

  Gray climbed into bed and wrapped his arms around me. The ends of his hair dripped water onto his bare chest. I chased one of the droplets with my tongue.

  Gray made a deep rumbling sound that was like a lion’s purr. He pulled us down until we were cuddling against the pillows. He pressed his face into my hair and inhaled deeply.

  “You smell like home,” he murmured.

  His hands found their way beneath my—well, his—T-shirt. His fingertips skimmed up my sides, leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake. He bunched up the fabric and pulled it over my head as my hands came to rest at the hollows of his hips.

  Gray rolled us over so I was beneath him. The blue-green color of his eyes was bright even in the dark room as he looked down at me.

  “I love you, babe,” he said.

  As I reached up to run my fingers through his hair, he leaned down to kiss me.

  “Love you too,” I managed, my breath coming in short gasps as his hand continued to stroke up and down my body.

  It took about two seconds to rid ourselves of our remaining scraps of clothes, until there was nothing separating us.

  We devoured each other with our hands and mouths until we were both panting. I reached for the knob on my nightstand, but Gray’s hand shot out and caught my wrist.

  He brought my hand to his lips and kissed it.

  “What are your thoughts on ditching the condoms?” he asked, his gaze pinning mine.

  An old, ingrained terror washed through me.

  “What?” I asked in a breathless voice.

  “You’re on the pill,” he said, “and we don’t have to worry about wiping away an entire civilization if we do end up getting pregnant. So, what do you think?”

  Our entire relationship had been dictated by paranoia—fear of getting caught together and fear about the damage our love could cause others. But Gray was right. We didn’t have to worry about any of that anymore.

  “It’s okay if you don’t want to take the chance,” he assured me. “I’m more than happy to keep going like we’ve been.” He reached over for the drawer knob.

  This time, I stopped him.

  “No, you’re right.” I said.

  Gray searched my face. “Are you sure?”

  I nodded. The thought of no barriers between us, literal or otherwise, was a new kind of intimacy I hadn’t even realized I wanted.

  A sharp knock on the door had me groaning and Gray cursing.

  “Go away!” we both shouted.

  “Kaira, Graysen, get up!” Smith called.

  “What’s going on?” I demanded, as Gray and I reached for our scattered clothes.

  “There’s a huge group of UnAllied outside,” Smith replied. “And they’re heading straight for our house.”

  CHAPTER 23

  We raced downstairs. The others were crowded around Smith’s desktop, which showed a view of the street outside our house.

  “Did Ma’s illusion break?” I demanded.

  Smith shook his head and adjusted the camera outside our house. When it turned, it showed the brick wall illusion was fully intact. No one would come inside unless they knew what was really here.

  And yet, I couldn’t imagine what else a huge group of UnAllied was doing marching down our street and chanting Get Galder. Get Galder. Get Galder!

  Even in the dark, the camera picked up Valencia with her bright red hair and hot pink dress. I heard the patter of raindrops on the roof, even though the street right outside our house was free of rain. Dread crawled down my spine.

  “What do we do?” Yutika cried, gripping her sketchbook in her arms.

  “How the hell did they find us?” Bri demanded. She was wearing a satin tank top, boxer shorts, and was fully titanium.

  “I told you all that cell phones are death traps,” Smith said. “When this is done, we’re going dark.”

  “We can worry about that later,” I said. “Right now, we need to figure out how we’re getting out of here.”

  “They have the street blocked off on both ends,” Smith said. “They also set up spike strips that’ll shred our tires if we try to drive out of here, and it looks like they’re guarding them.”

  Michael strode over to the window and pulled back the curtain an inch. Sir Zachary let out a plaintive whine.

  “They’re almost here,” Michael said. “I’ll be able to slow them down a little, but there are too many for me to Whisper to all of them.”

  I bit my lip. After the way Michael had reacted earlier, I wasn’t sure he was up for any kind of a fight. I didn’t question him, though. Ready or not, Valencia was coming for us.

  “Don’t worry.” Bri flashed a smile that was all Steel. “I’ll take care of the rest.”

  “Okay,” I said, strangely calm now that we had the bare beginnings of a plan. “You two will be our first line of attack. I’ll cover you.”

  I ran over to the side table, where we kept our earpieces and mikes. I tossed a set to e
veryone.

  “I’m on Defense!” A.J. announced. Then, he saluted me like I was a general.

  “Yutika,” Gray said, his expression as fierce and deadly as I’d ever seen it. “Can you make me a baseball bat?”

  “Coming right up,” Yutika replied.

  Bri knocked her titanium fists together, letting the harsh clang speak for itself. “I’m ready.”

  “Me too,” A.J. said. He rolled up his sleeves.

  I heard voices outside. Sir Zachary let out a low, threatening growl that sounded like it should have come out of a much bigger dog.

  “Oh shit.” Smith looked up from his computer. His face had gone completely white.

  “What?” I demanded.

  In answer, Smith flicked his hand, zooming in on the man climbing the steps to our porch.

  Valencia’s Shield brother stood on our doorstep.

  I reached for my illusions and felt…nothing. I turned to Bri, whose skin was just skin again.

  “Step aside.”

  Gray.

  He stalked to the door, gripping a new metal baseball bat. He positioned himself against the wall and waited.

  “The Shield’s got a knife,” Smith warned just before the door crashed in.

  There was a crack of metal against bone. The Shield let out a deafening screech. Gray swung again, and the Shield collapsed.

  “Moth-ah fuck-ah!” Valencia shrieked. She charged.

  This time, when I reached for my illusions, they came without hesitation. I transformed Graysen into Valencia, and Valencia into Graysen. I relayed the change into my mike so none of the Seven would attack the wrong person. And then the house was full of UnAllied.

  There was a blur of silver. Bri was everywhere at once. Her fists moved so fast it made me dizzy to watch her. She leapt up, caught hold of the door frame, and swung her legs outward. She took out four UnAllied with each thrust of her legs.

  The ones who got past Bri stumbled into our hallway. They wore dazed expressions as they followed Michael around like lost puppies.

  I kept the UnAllied busy by illusioning more and more of them to look like Graysen. Valencia was yelling at her people to get Gald-ah, but in the madness, none of her people could track the real Graysen.

  One of the UnAllied stalked toward me. I was illusioned to look like one of the UnAllied who had come up against Gray’s bat and was now unconscious on our floor.

  “Password?” the man demanded, giving me a suspicious look.

  “Um, get the fuck out of my house?” I guessed.

  Apparently, that was the wrong answer. The guy charged me.

  “Kaira, duck!” A.J. shouted into my earpiece.

  I dropped into a split. A millisecond later, our toaster flew through the air and struck the man in the head. He fell.

  The toaster backtracked and wacked another UnAllied in the head…and then another. A pile of unconscious UnAllied was building up in our front hallway. I backed deeper into the house, switching the Seven’s illusions to keep the UnAllied from knowing whether they were attacking one of us or their own.

  There were more of them than us, but we were more powerful. Valencia had never attracted the most powerful Mags, and it was clear the B team was here now. Still, there were a lot of them.

  “Fight fair,” A.J. said in my earpiece.

  I looked up in time to see a gun lift right out of an UnAllied’s hand. It dropped without warning, smacking the woman on the top of her head. She crumpled into a heap.

  All around us, UnAllied weapons were lifting out of their owners’ hands and knocking them unconscious. Pots and pans flew out of our cupboards. They sailed through the air and smacked the UnAllied on the heads.

  “Take that!” Bri shouted, leaping over a pile of unconscious bodies and slamming two UnAllied with her fists.

  She did a double backflip, taking down everyone in her path. Bri was a one-woman war machine. The few who got back up after she was done with them went right back down after Michael Whispered to them.

  And yet, the UnAllied kept on coming.

  There were plenty of UnAllied whose power gave them inhuman strength, and even the low-level ones could kill with a single punch. Bri was mostly taking care of those, but there were plenty of others who were powerful in their own right.

  There was one Mag who was blowing darts through a tiny dart gun with such speed it was taking all of A.J.’s concentration to deal with him.

  I whipped around when Yutika let out a little cry. She was cowering in the corner. The man who faced her wasn’t fooled by her illusion, and none of us were close enough to reach her.

  “Yutika, dive to your right in three,” Smith’s voice said over our earpieces.

  Yutika didn’t wait. She dove.

  The UnAllied turned toward her, but before he made it a step, the computer plugged into the outlet next to him exploded. The man screamed as sparks landed on his face.

  “Plenty more where that came from,” Smith said.

  I jumped back as Bri and a Combat Mag came crashing right through the wall behind me. Wood splintered, and bricks turned into dust.

  More UnAllied poured through the front door.

  “I’ve had just about enough of this,” A.J. announced. “Seven, when I say so, press yourselves up against a wall and stay there.”

  “A.J.,” Yutika began, “what are you—”

  “Now!”

  I did as I was told, dragging Yutika along with me.

  There was a tremendous thudding from the stairs. I looked over in time to see my dresser, overflowing with clothes, come bumping down the steps.

  It flew straight into a line of UnAllied, toppling them.

  The heavy piece of furniture took to the air at the bottom of the stairs, bashing into UnAllied as it steered around a corner. My clothes flew out of the drawers and landed on top of Mags’ heads.

  As soon as they were free from the dresser, my clothes seemed to take on a life of their own. They wrapped themselves around the UnAllied’s faces, blinding them. A pair of my pants fluttered to the floor. When an UnAllied went to step over them, the pants leapt up and tripped the man. He sailed headlong into what was left of our wall.

  “And my boyfriend thinks I have too many clothes,” I said, as we all watched my wardrobe single-handedly defeat our enemies. Well, it was really A.J., but still….

  “I stand corrected,” Graysen said. “Nicely done, A.J. Kai—way to plan ahead.”

  “Thanks babe.”

  We exchanged a grin over the sprawled, groaning, and unconscious UnAllied.

  For the first time since the fight began, we had a second to breathe. I looked around. I scanned the bodies on the floor once, and then again when I didn’t see the one I was looking for.

  “Where’s Valencia?” I asked into my mike.

  A maniacal laugh came from the broken-down front door.

  “Right here, fuck-ah.” She leveled a gun straight at Gray.

  I screamed.

  “Valencia,” Michael began.

  The Rain Maker started shouting “La la la” at the top of her lungs.

  I didn’t wait to see if she would pull the trigger. I ran across the crumpled figures on the ground and threw myself at Gray.

  We hit the ground just as a thunderous crack split the room.

  There was a spark and a hard plink as the bullet struck Bri’s titanium skin and bounced off.

  Relief filled me, until I noticed a trickle of blood oozing across the wood floor.

  I looked down, uncomprehending. The trickle was turning into a puddle. It took me several seconds to understand where it was coming from. I followed the gory trail with my eyes to a body lying just inside the doorway.

  Valencia’s brother.

  The Shield, who had still been out cold from Gray’s baseball bat, was making a choking, gurgling sound. Blood bubbled between his parted lips.

  Had another gun gone off? I’d thought there had only been Valencia’s, but—

  “Broth-ah!
” Valencia shrieked. She shoved through the few UnAllied still standing and fell by her brother’s side.

  I could feel the man’s magic slipping away as his life faded. We watched in horror as his gurgling stopped. His body went completely still. His open, glassy eyes were fixed on his sister.

  “Oh my God,” Bri whispered, the sound coming out harsh across our earpieces. “I killed him.”

  That was when I understood. The bullet that hit Bri had ricocheted off her titanium skin…and it had killed Valencia’s brother.

  Michael was the only one of us who wasn’t too horror-stricken to act.

  He grabbed Valencia’s gun off the floor and unloaded the weapon in a fluid, practiced move. He threw the pieces across the room.

  Before Michael could open his mouth, Valencia shoved past him with enough force that he was thrown off balance.

  “UnAllied, to me!” Valencia shouted, still sobbing as she ran out the door.

  “We need to go after her,” Yutika said in a panicked voice.

  “People, we gotta go,” Smith said. “Forget Valencia. More UnAllied are coming.”

  That snapped us out of our stupor.

  “Grab whatever you absolutely need, and get to the van,” I told everyone.

  “Bri, smash the laptops into oblivion,” Smith ordered. “And for the love of all things private, take your goddamn cell batteries out so we can’t be tracked.”

  We all fumbled with our phones as we ran for the garage. I heard voices at the front door, but I didn’t turn around as Gray pushed me toward the car.

  “Seatbelts,” Michael said calmly from the driver’s seat as we all piled in. And then he stepped on the gas.

  “Wait!” A.J. shrieked.

  I went temporarily deaf. The seatbelt burned my chest as Michael slammed on the brakes.

  “A.J., what—” I began.

  “Sir Zachary!”

  A.J. wrenched open the door and sprinted back into the house.

  “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Smith said.

  “A.J., get back here!” I shouted.

  When he disappeared from view, I cursed and got out of the van. The others were right behind me.