I watched Ma, Kaira, and Graysen go from human- to ant-sized as we left the ground far behind. Clouds surrounded us. The rising sun spilled red-orange light across the sky.
I turned to A.J., only to see that his eyes were squeezed shut. He held both his hands out in front of him, gently waving them like they were fish riding a current.
Smith, who was sitting in the pilot’s seat, also had his eyes closed. His lips were moving, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying over the thrum of the engine.
Our group had been together long enough that I mostly took our magic for granted. At times like this, though, my friends’ abilities blew me away.
“We’ll be there in six hours,” Smith announced once the plane had leveled out. “May as well get some sleep while you can.”
CHAPTER 12
Rise and shine.”
I opened my eyes. A.J.’s face was about half an inch from mine.
“We’re here?” I asked, coming instantly awake.
“Welcome to sunny and barbaric California,” A.J. said. His words were chipper, but his eyes held none of their usual brightness.
I wasn’t sure if that was because of where we were, or because he’d just used his mind to land an airplane. It was probably both.
Smith was a little unsteady on his feet as he stood.
“Are you guys going to be okay?” I asked anxiously.
Here I was, all rested up, and my friends were on their last legs.
“I’m not sure I’m up for kicking any Californian asses at the present moment,” Yutika said, seeming slightly devastated about that fact.
“That’s my department,” I assured her. “Now, let’s go do this thing!”
“I can’t handle your peppy cheerleader thing right now,” Smith grumbled.
“Psh.” Yutika waved a hand. “If you want to see peppy, give Bri a couple glasses of eggnog and a table to dance on.”
“The eggnog is superfluous,” I replied, grinning. “I just happen to be extremely light on my feet.”
“Focus, everyone,” Michael said.
The plane’s hatch opened, and I shielded my eyes from the sunlight.
Compared to the crisp autumn air I was used to back home, it felt like I’d just entered a sauna. It kind of looked like it, too. We were in the middle of a desert.
“Are you sure these are the right coordinates?” Yutika asked, wrinkling her nose at the arid landscape.
“Have I ever been wrong?” Smith countered.
“Only about your choice in soda flavors,” I told him.
We got out of the cool, comfortable plane and stepped onto dirty brown sand. Aside from mountains in the distance and a few scrubby bushes, there was nothing to see.
“There’s no one around here,” Michael said, his gaze searching the horizon.
“And thank the elves and wood sprites for that,” A.J. muttered.
California wasn’t the worst place to go, but it was definitely up there on the do not visit if you value your life list. It had gotten so bad that even the Enforcers had given up trying to instill law and order in the state.
After the Slaughters, all of the states broke up into territories led by whichever Mag or Nat could prove their dominance. The leader of this part of California was a Level 9 Telepath, and according to both A.J. and every news article Smith had pulled up before our trip, she was a few delusions shy of psychotic.
“What’s going on over there?” Kaira’s voice asked from Smith’s laptop.
In answer, Smith shifted his screen so Kaira and Graysen could see the whole lotta nothing we were staring at.
“Take this,” Smith told Yutika, handing her the computer.
“I’m honored,” she quipped, giving the computer a slight bow before gently cradling it.
Smith didn’t trust anyone with his technology.
Smith ignored her as he pulled his poison scanner out of his hoodie pocket. He flipped the switch and held it over his head like a sword.
Nothing happened.
It didn’t make a terrible screeching sound like whenever Smith touched it to an open crate of Agent S vials. It didn’t do anything at all. The only sounds were the wind and rustle of sand across the parched earth.
Yutika was drawing on her sketchpad as Smith walked around, waving his poison wand. A few seconds later, Yutika had a handheld GPS navigator. The numbers on the digital face shifted as she took several steps forward, to the side, and then back again.
She moved slowly, her gaze fixated on the screen.
“Right here,” Yutika said, tapping her foot. “This is the exact location that Pruwist wrote down.”
I held my breath as Smith came closer, his poison wand outstretched.
Smith squatted down to the ground. My heart lurched when the poison scanner gave off an anemic little bleep.
We all looked at each other.
“Are you sure that thing’s working?” A.J. asked.
Smith pressed the tip of the wand into the sand.
Bleep. Bleep.
A flash of yellow light came from the scanner. Then, it went quiet again.
“Yutika, can I get a shovel?” I asked.
Maybe the Agent S was buried here, just like it was in the graves.
Yutika produced two shovels in a matter of seconds. I blew on my fists and got to work. Using all the strength in my titanium arms, I hauled sand faster than a construction machine. The other shovel dug just as furiously beside me, controlled by A.J.’s telekinesis.
Sand kept slipping back into the hole, so it took longer than usual to reach the same depth where the Agent S crates were buried in the Boston graves. We kept digging, even though our shovels came up against only sand and rocks.
Twelve feet later, I had nothing to show for my work except for tangled hair and pit stains.
I might not feel heat when I was titanium, but my body still functioned normally. I was sweating like a pig. Probably smelled like one, too.
“Bri,” Smith called from the top of the hole. “Catch.”
I lifted up my hand, closing my fingers around his poison scanner. I waved it around the way Smith had done. It continued its sad, sporadic bleeping. The yellow light flashed once.
“Come back up, lover,” A.J. told me, his voice sounding as defeated as I felt. “There’s nothing here.”
“Maybe there was Agent S here at one time,” Michael said as I climbed out of the hole. “There could be some trace remnants, which would explain why the scanner is detecting something.”
“That would make sense,” Smith said.
“Maybe we’re missing something.” Yutika tapped her chin in thought.
“Like the other half of Pruwist’s paper?” I couldn’t manage to hide the bitterness in my voice.
“Come home,” Kaira said from the computer’s speakers. “Once Charlotte and Sir Zachary track down our guy, we’ll get the rest of the paper and work this out.”
Graysen’s face appeared beside Kaira’s on the screen. “We’re not going to stop until we’ve figured this out,” he assured me.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to run ten miles and then do a thousand jumping jacks. My titanium skin felt too tight. I felt like a bomb waiting to explode.
“Back on the plane, everyone.” A.J. clapped his hands. “Before we stay long enough to get a California welcome.”
“What’s that?” I asked, trying not to let my bad mood rub off on the others.
In answer, A.J. stuck out his thumb and index finger like it was a gun and put it to my head.
I wrapped an arm around A.J.’s waist. “Then, it’s a good thing I’m bullet proof.”
“People, we’ve got a problem,” Smith announced.
I followed the direction of his gaze. An off-road jeep was bouncing along the uneven terrain and heading straight for us.
A.J.’s face went a shade paler. I cracked my knuckles.
“Should we just get out of here now?” Yutika asked, glancing at our plane.
�
��No,” Michael and A.J. said at the same time.
“See that white stripe across the jeep?” A.J. asked.
We all nodded.
“That means these people work for this territory’s ruler. If we just skedaddle on a plane that doesn’t belong to any sanctioned airlines, they’ll shoot us down before we make it over the border.”
“I’ve got this,” Michael said, his voice as calm as ever. “You all get back on the plane and be ready to take off.”
I went with him, just in case he needed muscle to back up his Whispering. It never hurt to be prepared.
The jeep didn’t slow down. I angled myself in front of Michael, ready to stop the jeep with my bare hands if necessary. During my angsty teenage years, I’d once beaten up Brent’s new car after he tattled on me for sneaking out after curfew.
It wasn’t something I was proud of, but it had taught me that in a girl versus car battle, I’d come out victorious.
The jeep skidded to a stop right in front of us. Sand flew in every direction, coating us in brown dust. Neither Michael nor I reacted. We just waited for the people inside the jeep to come out.
There were four of them. I sensed magic from each of them, but not much. They were all probably Level 1s or 2s. They seemed confident enough behind their assault rifles, though.
Their hair was matted, their faces sunburned, and their teeth rotten. In spite of the heat, they all wore actual fur capes. Even though we were too far away from the plane for sound to carry, I could have sworn I heard A.J. shrieking about animal rights.
“You are now on land that belongs to the Southern California Territory’s ruler,” the man who got out of the driver’s seat said. His voice had a peculiar twang that made all of his words sound clipped. “You will—”
“Be quiet,” Michael said. “And put down your weapons.”
The four men complied without hesitation.
“Thank you.” Michael said. “Now, you may go. You don’t remember seeing us, our plane, or anything out of the ordinary.”
“Okay,” the driver said, giving Michael a goofy smile.
“You also decided you’re animal lovers and will never, ever wear one of them again!” A.J. shouted at the top of his lungs, which meant his voice just managed to reach us.
Michael’s lip twitched. He looked down at the guns on the ground and then back up to the men who were standing slumped in relaxed poses. Michael lifted a shoulder.
“You decided that you love animals and won’t wear their hides anymore,” Michael repeated.
The men were unfastening their fur capes before Michael had even finished his command.
“Go,” Michael told them.
They got back in their jeep. With another spray of sand, the men were gone.
“You make everything so boring,” I teased Michael. “I was really looking forward to beating some Californians up.”
“Sorry to disappoint,” Michael replied, returning my grin.
Maybe, by the time we got back to Boston, Charlotte would have discovered where Cinnamon Guy was hiding. When we did find him, there was no way I was letting Michael get a first shot at him. That pompous ass would be getting reintroduced to my titanium fists.
With that thought cheering me, I headed to the plane.
CHAPTER 13
It was dark when we got back to the mansion. A.J. and Smith landed the plane on our front lawn without fanfare. Ma was waiting outside for us, and by the time I climbed out of the plane, it was completely illusioned. The only way someone would figure out there was a plane parked in the middle of our property was if they walked right into it.
“I’ll keep this illusioned until the next time you need it,” Ma said as she gave each of us a hug. “Hungry, loves?”
“Definitely,” Yutika said. Michael nodded.
Smith and A.J. slumped, exhausted from how much magic they’d used on our pointless venture.
“I’ve got lentil stew already warming for you,” Ma told A.J. as she wrapped one arm around his shoulder. She put the other around Smith. “And I’ve got your ramen all ready to go. All you need to do is add the hot water and poison test it.”
“Thanks, Ma,” both boys said as Ma led them into the house.
Smith wasn’t big on physical contact, but he didn’t seem to mind when it came from Ma.
“You coming?” Yutika asked, when she realized I wasn’t following the others into the house.
I shook my head. I’d spent the flight back from California working myself up to do something I’d been dreading.
“I need to go see my family,” I said. I was relieved when my voice didn’t waver or break. “They need to know what’s going on.”
“Want us to come with you?” Michael asked.
I swallowed around the lump that had formed in my throat.
“Thanks, but it won’t take long. I’ll be back soon.”
Five years ago, my house had been the gathering place for all of mine and Brent’s friends. We had a pool and a kickass game room, and my parents were far cooler than any of my friends’ parents.
But that was before. I didn’t bring other people home anymore.
“Do you have your phone on you?” Yutika asked. “Just in case you change your mind?”
I dug it out of my pocket and held it up for them to see.
“Get some rest,” I told them. “I’ll see you in a little bit.”
✽✽✽
I parked in my parents’ driveway and walked up to the front porch.
It had been a while since I’d been here, and nostalgia hit me like a brick to the face. I caught sight of my reflection in the polycarbonate windows at the front of the house and almost smiled.
It hadn’t taken long into our childhood for my parents to realize that glass windows didn’t mix with Combat Mag and Steel children. Even though Brent was ten years older, and thus should have been more mature, he took his duties as an annoying older brother to the extreme. Despite his superior age and size, we were well-matched. He was strong as a bull, but I was stronger—a fact I never grew out of reminding him. And Brent always retaliated by tickling me, which was my kryptonite no matter what skin I wore. Our wrestling matches that ensued were always lighthearted and came with the potential of bringing down the entire house.
For a few years, my parents had kept the window repair company’s number on speed dial. Finally, they just replaced the glass with stronger and more durable polycarbonate.
I climbed the front steps and knocked on the door. I didn’t need to knock, but it felt wrong to barge in when I hadn’t been here in months.
Guilt fluttered in my stomach as I thought about how little I’d been around in the last couple of years.
Coward, that inner voice I despised whispered.
My mom’s face appeared in the window, and then the door was opening.
“Bri!” My mom wrapped me in a tight hug. “What a wonderful surprise.”
Her body was compact and petite like mine, but her hug was firm. She was a Level 5 Artist, and the proof of her magic was in the artwork covering our walls and her ink-stained fingers. There were so many paintings of our family that it was almost impossible to see the blue from the wall underneath.
“Hi Mom,” I said against her shirt. I almost apologized for having been so absent, but I couldn’t make the words come. Instead, I stepped back and looked at her.
My mom’s hair was thin and gray, and there were bags under her eyes. Before everything with Lilly, she had spent hours fussing with her beautiful hair and doing her makeup. Now, she just looked pale. Tired.
“Look who it is,” my mom said, taking my hand and leading me into the house that felt familiar but also completely alien.
It was the house I’d grown up in, and yet, nothing about it was the same anymore. Instead of my dad’s oldies music playing on the speakers and my mom’s homemade candles perfuming the entire house, it felt empty…even though four people lived here.
Brent and Sarah had moved in
with my parents after Lilly died. Sarah hadn’t been able to cope with the loss of their daughter, and Brent hadn’t wanted to leave her home alone while he went off to work.
The inside of my family’s house felt sadder than all the cemeteries I’d recently visited.
“Hey pumpkin face,” my dad said, using my childhood nickname as he came to hug me.
My dad also looked like a shell of the man he’d once been. As a Level 7 Competitor, he’d always been in fantastic shape. We used to go for five-mile runs together every morning, and then he’d do it again at night. He’d also coached me in wrestling and Brent in baseball. Now, he had a receding hairline and beer belly.
My heart felt like a heavy weight in my chest as I gave my dad a bright smile and initiated our “secret” handshake we’d started when I was in elementary school.
“Hi, little sis,” Brent said, giving me a smile over the couch.
I went into the living room where he was sitting on the couch. Even though it was only eight-thirty, Sarah was fast asleep with her head on his lap. In spite of all the noise the rest of us were making, she didn’t wake.
I remembered when Brent and Sarah started dating. Since they were a decade older than me, I’d thought they were the coolest thing since sliced bread. Instead of getting annoyed with the little sister who was always around, Sarah had hung out with me. She’d done my makeup and curled my hair, and we’d had a tradition of going out to dinner every Friday night. We’d gossip about my brother and whichever boy I was crushing on at the time.
Brent had complained that his girlfriend liked me more than him, and she would tease back that I was the more fun Hammond sibling.
I hadn’t spent any time alone with Sarah since Lilly’s death. She’d shut down and shut out everyone in her life…except Brent.
“How are you?” I asked my brother, before inwardly kicking myself.
His only child was dead, and her death had been blamed on a fake disease. How did I think he was doing?
“Hangin’ in there.” Brent gave me the same tired smile both my parents had offered. “Tell me about you, Ms. Security Chief.”
My parents came into the room bearing steaming coffee mugs. They surrounded me, watching expectantly as I started in on a story about a Mag who had convinced himself he and Kaira were married. The lunatic had tried to rescue his “bride” from the evil villain (Graysen) who was holding her captive.
Mags & Nats 3-Book Box Set Page 79
