I had seen people die before. But that had always been in the thick of a fight, when everything was happening too fast to process anything. This time, Michael had used his magic to hold the Californians in place while he executed them one by one.
My entire body was numb, even though Yutika had jacked up the heat on the plane. I couldn’t seem to stop shivering, even in my titanium form.
Yutika sat beside Michael, trying to coax some kind of reaction out of him. He continued to stare off into the distance, giving no indication he knew she was even there.
In the years I’d lived and worked with Michael, I’d never so much as heard him raise his voice. Now, he’d just killed close to twenty people without batting an eye.
I grabbed a cloth napkin off the table that was still covered with our breakfast leftovers. I dipped the napkin in some water and went to Michael.
I started to wipe the dried blood from his skin. I tried to be gentle, even though he gave no indication he could feel anything at all. Yutika quickly sketched a new, clean shirt to replace Michael’s blood-stained one. A.J. joined us, silently zooming first aid supplies from one of the overhead bins. Antibiotic ointment and bandages applied themselves to Michael’s shallow cuts and sand-burned face without A.J. touching him.
It took both Yutika and me to get Michael’s old shirt off and his new one on. He didn’t resist, but he didn’t help, either. If I didn’t see his chest rise and fall as he breathed, he would have looked like a statue.
Sir Zachary lay down at Michael’s feet. Kaira and Graysen joined us, sitting cross-legged on the floor beside Sir Zachary.
“We’re all alive,” Graysen said, breaking our silence. “For now, let’s just be grateful for that.”
Kaira leaned her head on his shoulder. He turned and pressed a kiss to her hair.
“I’m sorry you all had to see that,” Michael said, speaking for the first time since we’d boarded the plane.
His unseeing gaze snapped into focus and pinpointed on Yutika. “I…I didn’t want you to know that side of me.”
Yutika’s lips parted, but no words came out. I couldn’t blame her. To say we were all shocked by what we’d witnessed would be an understatement.
After a few more seconds of silence from Yutika, Michael’s gaze flicked to the rest of us. “I’ll understand if you don’t want me in the house or as a part of the Seven anymore.”
“Are we in any danger from you?” Kaira asked.
“No.” Michael’s answer came immediately. “Never.”
Kaira nodded. “That’s good enough for me.” She swept her gaze across the plane. “What about the rest of you?”
“We’re the 7.5,” A.J. said. “If members start dropping out, the name won’t make sense anymore. And I already got bumper stickers printed up, so changing our name is not an option.”
“Michael stays,” I said. Whatever the fallout from killing Blade and decimating her army would be, we’d face it together. It was no less than Michael would have done for the rest of us.
Michael still radiated uncertainty. He couldn’t hold any of our gazes. With a start, I realized he was ashamed.
I thought back to several months ago, after I’d accidentally killed Valencia’s brother. Valencia had been trying to shoot Graysen, and when the bullet struck my titanium skin instead, it bounced off and killed her brother. I’d been a total mess afterward, and Michael had been the one to make me feel better. I still remembered the exact words he’d spoken to me.
“You were defending us,” I told him, repeating the same words of comfort he’d given me. “You never need to apologize for that, no matter the consequences.”
The tiniest smile flickered across his face.
Graysen and Smith nodded in agreement. Even Sir Zachary nuzzled Michael’s hand.
The only one left was Yutika.
“Of course,” she said, looking a little dazed. “Michael is one of us.”
She didn’t look at him when she spoke, though. She kept her arms wrapped around herself, trying to contain her shivers.
I couldn’t begin to imagine what she was thinking.
Then again, I was mooning over a guy who hunted down Super Mags to take their power away. Compared to that, everything about Michael and Yutika’s relationship seemed downright normal.
✽✽✽
We stumbled off the plane, covered in dust and mentally spent. A strange sight greeted us on the mansion’s front lawn.
All of the Super Mag kids were sitting in a circle. In their center, Grandma Tashi was perched on a lawn chair like she was a queen holding court. The kids were staring at her in rapt attention.
I didn’t even think they’d noticed that a plane had just landed a few yards away from them.
“What’s going on?” Kaira asked, giving the group a suspicious look.
I didn’t blame her. I’d never seen all of the Super Mags sitting calmly in one place. It was unnerving.
“00445’s momma visited Grandma Tashi,” one of the children said eagerly. “We’re waiting to see if the rest of our parents talk to her.”
The unwavering hope on the kids’ faces pulled on my already-stretched heartstrings. In that moment, I saw the Super Mags the way Kaira and Graysen always had—as children who had been deprived of the things every child deserved: a family and a home.
I wished Diego could see them now…not as wild creatures that could one day destroy the world, but as kids who just wanted to talk to their dead parents.
I wondered whether Lilly had ever dreamed of getting a message from her parents.
I blinked away the sting in my eyes.
“Now don’t start fussing,” Grandma Tashi said in a cranky voice. “I told you it doesn’t work that way. The dead come when they wanna come, and they say what they wanna say. But if you stop your chattering, I’ll tell you a fact. Your parents loved you. I’m a momma and a grandma, and I know there’s no magic stronger than the love a parent feels for their child.”
The Super Mags scooted closer to Grandma Tashi, hanging on her every word. The open longing in their gazes was too much for me. I turned my head.
Emory, who had just caught sight of us, got up from the circle and came to join us.
He had been steadily gaining weight over the last several weeks, and he was looking a little less gangly. His shaved hair had grown out into soft curls, and there was a brightness to his eyes that hadn’t been there before.
“All forty-seven of the Super Mags have agreed to live here,” he announced. To Yutika, he said, “We like the house you built us.”
That was good news…mostly. Before today, only ten of the Super Mags trusted us enough to live with us. With all of them living on our property, we’d be able to keep tabs on them.
The challenging part would be for Smith and me to make sure they didn’t become a security threat. While Kaira and Graysen were determined to make the Super Mags equal members of the Boston community, my first priority was my friends’ safety.
“We’re so happy to hear it, Emory,” Graysen said, holding out his hand for the boy to shake.
“That’s awesome,” Yutika told Emory, offering him a weak smile. “I’ll make some additions to the house so you won’t have to share rooms unless you want to.”
“Maybe we can talk about that Alliance group again,” Kaira said, her voice rising in her eagerness. “You could help us draft the Super Mag laws, and—”
Emory yawned, before hurrying to cover his mouth. His cheeks turned pink.
“Sorry,” he apologized.
Emory might be a Level 14 Intellect, but he was still a kid with an attention span to match.
“Or maybe not,” Graysen said, chuckling a little.
Kaira nodded, trying to hide her disappointment. She wanted the Super Mags to have representation in the Alliance and not to feel so isolated from the rest of the city.
Meanwhile, I had promised to give Diego what he needed to take away their magic.
I’d never felt
like more of a monster.
The front door opened, and Ma stuck her head out. She gave us that motherly up-and-down stare, like she was assessing us for injuries. Or hunger.
“When was the last time you Seven ate?” Ma asked, drying her hands on her flower-print apron and fisting her hands on her hips.
“We had breakfast like three hours ago,” Kaira said. “We’re not wasting away.”
“It’s lunchtime,” Ma said, ignoring her daughter. “And with the time difference in California, you’ll be extra hungry. I’ve got vegan mac and cheese and three-bean chili. Come and get it while it’s hot.”
“Ma isn’t going to be happy until I’m obese,” A.J. complained, rubbing his flat stomach.
“Tell me about it,” Kaira replied.
Sir Zachary zoomed ahead of us, utterly unconcerned about what Ma’s cooking was doing to our waistlines.
We were waylaid by one of the youngest Super Mags, a tiny wisp of a girl who was never seen without one of the numerous teddy bears Yutika had made for her. She was a Level 15 Phaser, which meant she could slip right through solid materials.
Her secondary magic was scary as hell. She could control people’s internal temperatures and burn…or freeze…them from the inside out. Fortunately, she followed Kaira’s cousins around like a lost puppy and didn’t give off any violent vibes.
Now, she was crouched under the hydrangeas and crying.
“What’s wrong, button?” A.J. asked her.
Instead of responding, the little girl just shrank deeper under the bush.
Michael crouched down beside the flowers. Even at that height, he still dwarfed the little Super Mag girl.
“Will you come out and talk to me?” Michael asked in a gentle voice.
The little girl wriggled out of the bush and went to him without a moment’s hesitation. She wound her tiny fingers in his shirt as tears poured down her cheeks.
Michael scooped her up and sat down on the bottom porch step. He bent his head as the little girl whispered something to him. All I caught was …stole Mr. Wiggles and tried to tear his paw off.
Tears continued to roll down her cheeks, but her body wasn’t strained in tension anymore.
“Tell them to go away,” the girl said, giving the rest of us a fearful glance and burying her face in Michael’s shirt.
“You can all go in,” Michael told us, giving the girl a gentle pat on her back. “I’ve got this.”
My brain struggled to wrap itself around the two halves of Michael…the one who comforted sad children and was the Seven’s rock…and the one who had shot those Californians without batting an eye.
“Shout if you need anything,” Kaira told him, before gesturing for the rest of us to head in.
I didn’t know about everyone else, but I felt like a bow string ready to snap. Everything with Blade had gone to hell, and now I had no idea what we were going to do. We didn’t just not have the Californians’ support…we had made them our enemies.
And that meant we were on our own.
“It’s good to be home,” Graysen said, letting out a sigh as his stiff posture eased a little. He wrapped an arm around Kaira’s waist as the two of them leaned into each other.
I breathed in the scent of vanilla wafting from the unlit candle I’d left on the hall table. The comforting smell helped ease some of my own anxiety. I listened to the familiar voices and turned my face into the fall air wafting in from an open window.
My stomach rumbled. Apparently, it was made out of stronger stuff than my brain. While my mind was still trying to come to terms with everything that had happened in California, my stomach had moved on to bigger and better things. The promise of mac and cheese and chili was too tempting to pass up.
Yutika turned off at the stairs. “I think I’m going to get cleaned up and take a nap,” she said, her voice unusually toneless. “Unless you all need anything.”
“We’re good,” Kaira assured her, her eyes full of sympathy. “Want us to bring you up some lunch?”
“No, I’m fine,” Yutika said, already climbing the stairs. “Thanks.”
That was bad. Yutika was always hungry, especially when Ma was the one doing the cooking. But I knew as well as anyone that sometimes, a person just needed to be left alone.
The rest of us followed our noses to the kitchen, where Sir Zachary already had his entire head buried in his food bowl. My gaze zeroed in on the huge pot in the center of the table and loaf of fresh-baked bread, before another sight erased all thoughts of food. My stomach did a somersault that had nothing to do with hunger.
Kaira’s cousins and Oliver were already seated at the table, Oliver with a book and Kaira’s cousins with half-eaten plates of mac and cheese. Sitting across from the two girls, telling them something that was making them both giggle, was Diego.
He had one arm thrown over the back of a chair and a huge bowl of chili in front of him. He grinned at me.
“Hola, mi pequeña diabla.”
CHAPTER 34
What the hell are you doing in our house?” Kaira demanded, since my throat had chosen an inconvenient moment to seize up.
“Kaira Hansley,” Ma said, aghast. “Mind your manners.”
“How did you get past security?” Smith hissed, once Ma had moved out of earshot.
“He probably just flew in from above,” I said, giving Diego a glare that should have laser-fried him where he sat. The arrogant prick just winked and ate a bite of chili.
My face turned to flames as he locked gazes with me before licking his spoon. I drew my finger across my throat in response before shifting my attention to Smith.
“You and I need to talk about rewiring our security so this doesn’t happen again,” I said.
“Definitely,” Smith replied, although he was giving Diego a look that was more intrigue than anger. I got the sense that my friend respected Diego’s skill…and Smith didn’t dole out respect lightly.
I couldn’t decide how I felt about that.
“Stop being mean,” Cora told us. “Diego’s nice.”
“Thank you, princesa,” Diego said, making Cora smile and duck her head in bashfulness.
“Get out,” Kaira said, keeping her voice low enough that she wouldn’t incite Ma’s ire.
“No,” Diego replied. “We have things to discuss that will be of interest to all of you.”
“So call,” Graysen said. “You didn’t need to drop by.”
“I don’t have a phone,” Diego replied, completely nonplussed. “Too easy to track.”
“Huh.” Smith peered at Diego. This time, there was no mistaking his expression for anything other than respect.
A.J. gave me a sidelong glance but didn’t say anything. The rest of us glared at the arrogant Super Mag making himself at home in our kitchen. I gave my scarf a self-conscious tug.
“I went back to the mine earlier today,” Diego said. “I was poking around some more, and—”
“You went back to the mine?” I demanded.
Diego nodded.
“Why?” Graysen asked, his voice laced with suspicion.
“That light-speed train thing is fun to ride.” Diego shrugged. “And I wanted to make sure I knew my way around so I’d be able to get out before you all blow me up along with the mine.”
“Nonsense,” A.J. said, before I could formulate a response. “You’re too pretty to blow up. We might bury you, though.”
“I’m flattered,” Diego replied dryly.
I blinked at A.J. He only teased people when he liked them. It was his weird stamp of approval…and he’d just give it to Diego.
Somehow, in coming into our house uninvited and being as offensive as humanly possible, Diego had won over both Smith and A.J.
Go figure.
“No one said anything about blowing up the mine,” I began, trying to get everyone back on track.
“But it’s the obvious conclusion to all of this,” Smith said. “Once we’ve rescued the kids, of course.”
“You said you learned something useful yesterday?” I asked Diego, before he managed to befriend Kaira and Graysen, too. Although I didn’t think there was any real chance of that.
Diego pushed aside his bowl. He pulled a folded paper out of his pocket and smoothed it out on the table. It was a bank statement.
There was a Magic Bank of California letterhead at the top of the page. Below it, there was an account number and a statement date from last week. The name printed below was Eugene Forrager.
“Who’s that?” I asked.
“The foreman,” Diego replied. “I did some digging into his background. He’s from California and has always been involved in Nat-hating groups. He got pretty wealthy by scavenging and reselling scrap metal all over the state. He made regular appearances in local news for petty crimes and for generally being a dick, but all mentions of him stopped over a decade ago.”
“Probably when he started working in the mine,” Graysen said.
Diego nodded.
“Look at this.” Smith tapped the top transaction on the page. It was for a million dollars.
A.J. whistled. “That’s a lotta mulla.”
In the description section next to the amount, it said, “Account Transfer In.”
“Transfer from where?” Graysen asked.
Diego shrugged. “I tracked the money to a blind trust, but I couldn’t figure out who was behind it.”
“That’s my area, Chameleon,” Smith replied, opening his laptop and getting to work.
We all waited in silence while Smith tapped on his keyboard and muttered to himself.
“Did he fall asleep?” Diego asked several minutes later, when Smith closed his eyes and went still.
“Shh,” we all replied.
Smith’s eyes snapped open. “Huh.”
“Talk, Smith,” Kaira ordered.
“It’s next to impossible to track the original source for these things, because the funds have been funneled through so many dark money trusts. These companies only work with super wealthy and shady people who don’t want their money traced.” Smith’s lip quirked. There were few things he loved more than a technological challenge.
Mags & Nats 3-Book Box Set Page 93
