Mags & Nats 3-Book Box Set

by Stephanie Fazio

  A few seconds later, I sped away from the curb. I didn’t look back.

  ✽✽✽

  I cut the engine at the bottom of the driveway so I wouldn’t wake anyone. It was a true mark of how upset I was that I hadn’t even enjoyed speeding along empty streets on a sort-of stolen motorcycle.

  I left the bike and walked around to the back of our property, where the fewest security cameras and guards would see me come in.

  I smiled at the guards on duty, said all the right things, and hurried past before anyone got a good look at my face. I didn’t need anyone realizing I was about two minutes away from breaking down.

  I was halfway across the lawn when I stopped in my tracks.

  “Damnit, Diego!”

  He stood in front of me, his arms crossed.

  “Who do I see about stolen property?” he asked, his lip twitching.

  I was so not in the mood for his lighthearted, flirty bullshit.

  “You can fly,” I pointed out. “You don’t need it.”

  “After I lose my magic, that won’t be true.” Diego’s teasing smile faded. “But that was really just my excuse. I didn’t like the way we left things.”

  I laughed bitterly.

  “Bri, is everything okay?” one of the guards on duty asked.

  “Fine,” I said quickly, dragging Diego into a dead zone between two cameras. Smith and I really needed to do something about that.

  “I’m not going down with your sinking ship, Diego,” I whispered, not wanting to draw any unwanted attention. “You’re so determined to be the bad guy. I’m done trying to convince you you’re not the monster you think you are.”

  “You’re one to talk.” Diego uncrossed his arms and closed the short distance between us. “Tell me you aren’t the same.”

  “I’m nothing like you!”

  “Right. Then look me in the eye and tell me you don’t blame yourself for Lilly’s situation. Tell me you aren’t carrying the weight of your entire family’s grief on your shoulders.”

  “You piece of shit—”

  “Tell me I’m wrong,” Diego challenged.

  I couldn’t, and we both knew it. In that moment, I hated him for seeing my vulnerabilities and throwing them in my face.

  “You want to be the one who spent her life down in that mine.” Diego threw his hands in the air. “You think if you punish yourself enough, it will somehow make up for something that was never your fault in the first place!”

  “It is too darn early for all this hollerin’,” a voice that was neither Diego’s nor mine huffed.

  Grandma Tashi, followed by Kaira and Graysen, was crossing the lawn toward us.

  Great. Just great.

  “Problem?” Graysen asked, giving Diego a cold look.

  “No problem,” I said. “This pendejo was just leaving.”

  “Language,” Grandma Tashi snapped at me.

  Too late, I remembered Kaira’s father had been Mexican. Clearly, her grandmother had picked up at least some of the language.

  “Sorry, Tashi,” I began, but she wasn’t paying attention to me anymore.

  “I know you,” Grandma Tashi said, stalking over to Diego.

  Diego shook his head. “I don’t think we’ve ever met.”

  Tashi reached up, grasped his chin in her bony hand, and pulled his face down until it was level with hers.

  “Grandma,” Kaira began, and then gave up when her grandmother held up a hand to hush her.

  “Boy, you do look like your daddy, don’t you?”

  I heard Diego suck in a surprised breath.

  “You knew my father?” he asked.

  Tashi shook her head. “But your mamma came to visit me a few months back, and I could see your father through her.”

  Diego’s face clouded over in confusion. As much as I hated him at that moment, I couldn’t stop myself from explaining, “Kaira’s grandma is a Medium.”

  Diego swallowed. “My Amá…came to see you?”

  “Twice,” Tashi replied, still studying Diego. “She was talkin’ to me about the slaves down in that mine, and how their bodies weren’t buried the way they shoulda been.”

  I thought about all the empty graves and biohazard containers I’d dug up over the last few months, and then I thought about that tomb in the mine. I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly aware of the chilly air.

  Diego bowed his head, hiding his expression.

  Tashi said, “She came to see me a second time soon after that.”

  Diego jerked his head back up. “What—”

  “She didn’t say anything, but I could sense her sadness for you. She felt responsible for whatever you’ve been going through. She was…conflicted.”

  Grandma Tashi’s brow wrinkled, and for a second, her brown eyes turned cloudy.

  “She loves you deeply, and that love is also mixed with deep regret,” Tashi said. “I believe she wanted more for your life than what she felt she gave you. She felt like she failed you.”

  “No. Never.” Diego reached out a hand to Kaira’s grandma, as though he could get to his mother through her.

  I looked away, unable to bear the anguish on Diego’s face.

  Kaira and Graysen were turned into each other, pretending like they couldn’t hear what was being said.

  “Please,” Diego said in a rough voice. “I need to tell her—I just—” He braced his hands on his knees. “Can you tell her something for me?”

  I had to stop myself from going to him.

  Just as she did whenever someone asked her a similar question, Tashi shook her head. There was sympathy in her usually-hard features.

  “It doesn’t work that way, but I’ll tell you what. I know your Amá loved you very much.”

  She stroked her thumb across Diego’s cheek, nodded to the rest of us, and then headed back the way she’d come.

  “Diego,” I began, having no idea what to say, only knowing I couldn’t let him suffer alone.

  “Don’t,” he replied. He stayed where he was for several seconds. Then, he straightened.

  Diego walked away without another word.

  Kaira cleared her throat. She gave Diego’s retreating figure an inscrutable look before turning her attention on me.

  “Bri, we hit a wall with the Super Mags. I’m so sorry.” Her eyes watered as she reached for my hand.

  “What?” I asked, my mind still reeling from everything with Diego.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Diego stop to listen to what Kaira was telling me.

  “We tried,” she said, her grip tightening on me. “I swear, we tried.”

  “They’re scared,” Graysen added, giving me an apologetic look. “After everything they went through in MagLab…well, they’re afraid of getting locked up again.”

  “I get it,” I said, dully. And I did.

  If it wasn’t Lilly’s life at stake, I’d be relieved. Super Mags or not, I didn’t want to drag a group of kids into a dangerous situation with me.

  But that left us back where we’d started.

  “We have a plan, though,” Kaira said quickly, following the direction of my bleak thoughts.

  “Okay,” I sighed. “Let’s go gather the troops.”

  I glanced back once as the three of us made our way to the house. Diego was gone.

  CHAPTER 45

  Even though it was barely 5AM, the 7.5 were awake and gathered in the living room. A.J. gave me a questioning eyebrow raise. At whatever expression crossed my face, he nodded in understanding. He plopped a very excited Sir Zachary in my arms and said he had a new nail polish color that would look divine on me.

  I bit my lip until I tasted blood, because all I wanted to do was lean on A.J.’s shoulder and cry.

  “You’re all in for a treat,” Yutika said by way of greeting. “Check these babies out.”

  She held up the most intense-looking gas masks I’d ever seen.

  “I’d like to see any of the MRP gas get inside these,” she said, knocking o
n the hard-plastic exterior. “They’ll block out any toxins and even pump fresh oxygen inside if the air is contaminated.”

  “Why are they pink?” Smith asked, frowning over the top of his computer screen.

  “Because I wanted them to be,” Yutika replied, at the same time A.J. asked, “What’s wrong with pink?”

  “So, Kai and I were thinking,” Graysen said quickly, before the conversation could devolve. “Since we don’t have the Super Mags’ help, we decided it would be better if we didn’t have to waste time fighting the Synthetics. If we can keep them distracted long enough to get the slaves out—”

  “—then we can blow up the mine with all the bad guys still inside,” Kaira said.

  “I can’t Whisper to them,” Michael said. “Their minds are porous, or something. As soon as I Whisper, it’s like whatever I told them filters right out of their brain again.”

  “We’ll figure something else out,” Graysen said.

  “Maybe Sexy Cinnamon Man could help with the distraction part,” Yutika suggested. “Like, he could fly around and make the Synthetics chase him, and then he could go all Chameleon before they kill him.”

  “Diego’s not an option,” I said shortly.

  I had decided that I wouldn’t stop him from getting his Agent S. I owed him that much, since he’d already have it if he hadn’t helped me go after Lilly first.

  Once we were all out of the mine and I had Lilly, Diego and I could go back to being enemies. Then, I wouldn’t feel even a shred of guilt about hunting him down and destroying whatever Agent S he’d salvaged.

  But for now, I owed Diego a debt.

  “It wouldn’t hurt to ask,” Yutika said. She narrowed her gaze at me. “And by the way, you never mentioned what it was like spending the night with him.”

  Queasiness roiled through me.

  “Flying buttresses,” A.J. said quickly.

  “What about them?” Michael asked.

  “Nothing,” A.J. replied. “I just like the sound of it.”

  “The first time I heard that term,” Kaira said, catching on, “I thought it was referring to literal flying butts.”

  “I love Kaira-isms,” Graysen said fondly.

  The conversation spiraled from there, sparing me from any more mentions of Diego.

  I noticed the way Yutika and Michael were staying on opposite sides of the room and making a point of not looking at each other. Between the three of us, there was enough heartbreak in this room for the whole place to combust.

  Before I could expend any more mental energy on that pitiful thought, Smith jerked to his feet. His eyes were closed, and I instinctively reached out to steady him before he knocked into his chair. A.J. rescued his computer, which was about to crash to the tiles. Instead, it floated carefully onto the center of the table.

  “Smith, what?” we all asked.

  “We’ve got a situation outside.” Smith’s eyes snapped open. “Valencia’s here.”

  I was titanium before he’d even finished speaking. All 7.5 of us moved in a flurry of curses and magic.

  I hurried out first, making sure there wasn’t a security threat before I let the others follow.

  “No weapons,” the head of my security team said, meeting me halfway across the lawn. “She’s claiming her right to gather in a public place.”

  I saw the reporters first, who were setting up camp all along the street. A few of them were even trying to climb our fence to get a better vantage point.

  Valencia was standing in the street as close to our property as she could get without touching the grass. She stood on a precarious stack of crates and had a group of her Nat bigot friends in front of her. All of them were working together to hold up a banner that read “Make Boston Natural.”

  “Can we buy the whole street and arrest her real quick?” Yutika asked from behind me.

  “I’ll look into it,” Smith replied.

  I was going to kill Valencia. We were supposed to be on our way to the mine to rescue Lilly, and now, there were two dozen reporters standing right outside our gate. We weren’t going anywhere until we got rid of them.

  “Director Gald-ah,” Valencia called into a megaphone. “I have solved our city’s biggest problem. You’ll thank me when I tell you that I’ve found a way to make your wife normal.”

  Kaira’s eyebrows flew up. Graysen’s friendly gaze turned colder than ice.

  “I’ll take my wife exactly as she is, thanks,” Graysen said.

  To prove his point, he took Kaira’s face in his hands and gave her a long, slow kiss. The reporters’ cameras flashed.

  “Ooh, one of those is going to look great on the Globe’s front page,” A.J. said.

  When Graysen came up for air, he turned to face the reporters.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, glancing in Valencia’s direction and giving the reporters a puzzled look. “Were you still here, Valencia?”

  The reporters tittered at that.

  “I’ve called the press here this morning to share an exciting new discovery my Nat scientists have made,” Valencia said. She wobbled a little on her stack of crates before righting herself.

  That was when I noticed the small group of nervous-looking people in white lab coats standing behind Valencia.

  Valencia snapped her fingers at one of them, and the woman passed her a syringe.

  “My scientists have recreated the Magical Reduction Potion,” Valencia announced as she held the syringe over her head. “It’s so easy and effective, anyone can make it at home. Once I share my recipe, we’ll be able to make Boston what it should be—Natural!”

  “What’s she talking about?” Yutika said, nervously looking around.

  I clenched my hands into fists so I didn’t go across the street and rip Valencia’s head off her body in front of all these cameras. She was basically inviting Nats to brew their own concoctions and inject it into any Mag they could find.

  “I want to be very clear with the entire city of Boston,” Kaira said in a clear voice that somehow carried farther than Valencia’s, even though she wasn’t holding a mike. “It is illegal and unethical to attempt to remove a person’s magic.”

  “The Alliance’s Report of Laws calls for a minimum five-year sentence for magically-motivated attacks of any kind,” Graysen added. “I speak for the Alliance’s Magical Law Office when I saw we will prosecute anyone found attempting to make or utilize MRP to the full extent of the law.”

  “We’re Bostonians,” Kaira said. “Our city is a haven because Magics and Naturals are equal.”

  “Woo!” A.J. shouted, clapping his hands. The rest of our friends and most of the reporters joined him.

  “Director Gald-ah,” Valencia said. “I invite your wife to be the first to come forward and accept this gift.”

  “That’s it,” Graysen growled. “I’m going to kill her.”

  He started forward, but Kaira pulled him back. Her gaze darted to the cameras in warning.

  “Kaira,” Michael said in a quiet voice. “Let me take care of this.”

  He stepped behind a tree where only we could see him. Then, he was gone. My eyes caught on the movement of a tiny bunny on the lawn, right where Michael had been.

  “OMG adorbs,” A.J. whispered.

  If any of the reporters had been looking at the ground, they might have noticed a bunny walking on its hind legs. Fortunately, Valencia was doing all the work of captivating everyone’s attention.

  “It’s scientific,” Valencia said, emphasizing the word like she’d just learned it. She held the vial right in front of her face, letting the cameras capture the yellowish liquid inside. She turned to the white-coated Nats at her back, who were looking more nervous by the second. “Tell the report-ahs how it works.”

  The white-coated man who now held the megaphone in his trembling hands gave the cameras a deer-in-the-headlights look.

  “Hello,” he said awkwardly. “The thing is, we’re not yet ready for the trial stage. The serum Ms. Stark is hol
ding is more of a concept rather than an actual, usable—”

  Valencia snatched the megaphone from him before he could finish. The reporters’ snickers grew louder.

  “The serum relaxes the magic muscle,” Valencia said with great confidence, “and so their pow-ah just slips right out. It doesn’t even hurt.”

  Her lip curled in distaste at that—clearly, she would have preferred it to be an agonizing experience as one’s magic was being stolen away.

  “What a crock of shit,” Smith said. “That makes no sense.”

  “Which begs the question,” Graysen said grimly, “what the fuck is in that serum?”

  All at once, Valencia’s expression turned placid. She tilted her head to the side.

  To anyone who didn’t know what was happening, it would probably seem like she was just gathering her thoughts. To the Seven, it was obvious Michael was Whispering to her.

  Valencia cleared her throat and brought the megaphone to her mouth. “I’m going to prove my serum is perfectly safe and works as intended,” she announced. “By injecting myself.”

  The scientists behind her erupted into a flutter of lab coats and frantic whispers. One of them tugged on Valencia’s arm, trying to pull the syringe away from her.

  Valencia batted the scientist away. With a smile for the cameras, she plunged the needle into her arm and squeezed the plunger.

  The small crowd went silent. Almost at once, Valencia’s face contorted. Her cheeks reddened and her shoulders hunched. She made a strange grunting sound.

  “Ugh,” one of the reporters standing closest to her said. “What is that smell?”

  “Her pants,” Yutika gasped, holding her stomach as she started to giggle. “Look at her pants.”

  We all did.

  “Ho-ly shit,” I said. “Did she just—”

  “You got the shit part right,” Graysen said, grinning.

  The scientists and reporters were backing away, but the video cameras were still rolling. The reporters who weren’t busy holding their noses were explaining the situation to everyone who was watching the broadcast live.

  The Seven of us looked at each other. Yutika snorted, and the rest of us were done for.

  It felt good to laugh, and even better to see the look on Valencia’s face as she hurried away from the reporters. A dark streak marked her path on the road behind her.