The Returned

by Bishop O'Connell

  Caitlin felt a little sick as she considered what might happen next. Could they save Anna? What if she was too far gone? Memories of the hall of doors, and the torment she’d suffered at Fergus’s hands there, filled her mind. It hadn’t been real, of course, but the memory of Fiona with solid black eyes, killing innocent children, still woke her some nights. She’d killed that twisted illusion of Fiona. She’d had no choice, which was the torment Fergus had wanted. But real or not, she remembered it all as if it were.

  No, she told herself. She wouldn’t let it come to that for this child.

  “Um, we need to go,” Wraith suddenly said.

  Caitlin looked up at her. Both Wraith and Edward looked a little pale.

  “Oh?” Nancy asked.

  “Yeah, sorry,” Wraith said to Nancy, then looked hard at Caitlin. “We have that meeting we have to be at. You told me to remind you, and I almost forgot.”

  “Oh, right,” Caitlin said. “That’s okay. I’m glad you remembered.”

  Everyone stood.

  “Thank you for your time and for the tea, Nancy,” Caitlin said.

  “My pleasure, darling,” Nancy said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be more of a help.”

  “You were a great help, actually,” Caitlin said.

  “Well, I’m glad,” Nancy said and showed them out.

  Edward and Wraith walked quickly to the car. Caitlin almost had to jog to keep up.

  “Do you have any idea what’s going on?” Caitlin whispered to Siobhan.

  “No fecking clue,” she said.

  Edward got in the driver’s seat and Wraith behind him. Caitlin and Siobhan shared another glance, then got in themselves.

  “What is it?” Caitlin asked as soon as she closed her door.

  “It’s happening again,” Wraith said. “Right now.”

  Edward nodded. “I think she’s right.”

  “What is?” Caitlin asked, but as soon as the words left her mouth, it dawned on her. “Oh my God. How do you know?”

  “I feel it,” Wraith said.

  “So do I,” Edward said.

  “There’s a lot of magic building somewhere,” Wraith said. “It’s drawing in power from all over. It’s kind of like when a big wave is coming and the water draws back from the shore.”

  Caitlin fastened her seat belt. “Can you find its source?”

  Wraith lowered her goggles, nodded, and pointed. “That way.”

  “If you’re feeling the spell building,” Siobhan said, “then the Legion is too, yeah?”

  “If they’re within fifty miles they are,” Wraith said.

  “Drive,” Caitlin said to Edward. “Fast.”

  “It’s the middle of the day during the week,” Siobhan said. “If the girl Anna is behind this, we’re all pretty sure where we’re going, yeah?”

  “She might not be in school today,” Caitlin asked. “Right?”

  No one said anything as Edward pulled away and sped down the road.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  “Keep heading north,” Wraith said. The sense of building power was growing more intense, and she could see the magic itself drifting in that direction like blowing snow.

  “Not to put a damper on things,” Edward said as he turned again, “but do we have anything resembling a plan?”

  “Find her and stop her?” Wraith asked.

  “Without hurting or killing her,” Caitlin added.

  There was a heavy silence.

  “Right, then, I’ll be the cold-hearted bitch,” Siobhan said. “What if that’s the only option?”

  “We find another one,” Caitlin snapped.

  There was another silent moment.

  “Aye,” Siobhan finally said. “For the record, I’m not advocating killing a bleeding kid.”

  “If she still is one,” Wraith said.

  “So leaving the truly horrible parts aside—damn it!” Edward said as he cut someone off and waved an apology in the mirror.

  The other driver responded by laying on his horn and gesturing his displeasure.

  “As I was saying,” he said. “We’re going into a school to try to capture a kid performing magic? Does anyone else see the complications in this?”

  “He’s right,” Wraith said and pulled out her phone.

  “So?” Edward asked. “Any ideas of how we get into a private school—which presumably means they’ll spot strangers—find her, and then confront her without the local SWAT team showing up?”

  Wraith typed furiously, glancing up occasionally to make sure they were still heading in the right direction. When her search came up, she hit the number, opened it into another custom app she’d made, and waited for the call to connect. It took several seconds as the app routed the call through forty-six servers and four satellites. It was possible the call could be tracked, but it was also possible a meteor could hit the school before they got there.

  “Holy Mount School. How can I help you?” a cheerful-sounding woman said.

  “Listen carefully,” Wraith said, pitching her voice low. “There are four bombs planted throughout the school—”

  “Jesus!” Caitlin said and turned wide eyes to Wraith.

  Wraith shot her a baleful look and bounced against the door as Edward swerved the car. She covered the phone and her mouth with her hand. “They’ll go off in thirty minutes,” she said into the phone.

  “What?” said the woman. “Who is this? How do you know?”

  “Don’t be stupid,” Wraith said. “They were set by a student. You’ll never find them in time, but you can save the students. Get them out, now!” She ended the call and checked the app. As she suspected, a trace was put on the call, but it made it through only six severs.

  “Are you insane?” Caitlin asked.

  “Is that rhetorical?” Wraith asked. “ ’Cause I think my lack of sanity is pretty well documented.”

  Siobhan stifled a laugh.

  “This isn’t funny!” Caitlin said. “You just called in a bomb threat to a school!”

  “No one else had any ideas,” Wraith said. “If we’re lucky, they’ll follow protocol and evacuate the place.”

  “And call in the police,” Caitlin said. “They’ll lock down and send in the bomb squad with armed SWAT.”

  “Did I forget to mention my desire not to involve a SWAT team?” Edward asked.

  “Yeah,” Wraith said. “And while everyone is focused on the school, we’ll scan the kids for anyone soaked in magic. I’ll knock her out, then I’ll cloak myself and get her out of there.”

  Caitlin opened her mouth to argue, but nothing came out.

  Wraith smirked and arched an eyebrow.

  “That’s actually a pretty decent plan,” Edward said.

  “Don’t encourage her,” Caitlin said.

  “She just doesn’t want to admit it was a good idea,” Wraith said to Siobhan.

  “Call me provincial,” Caitlin said. “I’m not generally in favor of calling in bomb threats to schools and sending an entire community into terror fits wondering if their kids are alive.”

  “I didn’t say it was a nice thing to do,” Wraith said. “But the alternative is to try to break into a school, possibly facing armed security, or we get there too late and who knows what happens.”

  “I think it’s a good plan,” Siobhan said.

  “Thank you,” Wraith said and nodded.

  The sounds of sirens came in the distance.

  “That was quick,” Wraith said.

  Caitlin gave her a level look. “People tend to hurry when they think kids are going to be blown up.”

  “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t consult you,” Wraith said, and she meant it. “We’re short on time. I thought of it and did it. I’m not exactly used to working well with others.”

  Caitlin let out a sigh. “It’s okay. I know it’s a good plan and probably the best of the terrible choices we had. I just think about the parents and faculty and—”

  “You have a conscience,” Wraith said
. “I’d be worried if the plan didn’t bother you.”

  “Are you saying I ain’t got one?” Siobhan asked. “A conscience, that is.”

  “You’re a pragmatist,” Wraith said.

  “Not sure that makes me feel any better.”

  “Holy . . . ” Wraith said when they turned and she saw the school ahead.

  It was wrapped in a swirling cloud of magic, dark purple smoke billowing out of the windows. Dozens of kids were running out of every conceivable exit and gathering in groups well away from the school. A couple of police were already there and directing the fleeing kids away.

  Edward pulled to one side just as two more cop cars—lights and sirens blasting—blew by.

  “I guess it should be comforting they take threats seriously,” Wraith said.

  “I’m not sure we can get much closer,” Edward said and pulled back onto the street.

  Not even a block later a cop stopped them.

  “You need to clear the area,” he said and directed them down a side street. “Right now!”

  Edward followed the directions.

  “Stop here,” Wraith said a bit later.

  Edward pulled in between a couple of cars and glanced in his mirrors. “I don’t think he saw us park.”

  Wraith got out and crouched so she was hidden by the car. Goggles still down, she scanned over the groups of kids. She spotted a few fifties, which didn’t really surprise her, but she didn’t see the girl. In fact, aside from a handful of kids who had the barest hint of magic on them, probably slingers just coming into their power, she didn’t see anything that stood out. Anna would be spewing magic like smoke from a tire fire the size of Mount Hood.

  “Well?” Caitlin asked.

  “I don’t see her,” Wraith said and looked back at the school. “And the power is still building.”

  “She must still be inside,” Edward said. “Still working the spell.”

  “So what now?” Caitlin asked.

  “No choice,” Wraith said. “I’m going in to find her.”

  “Not alone,” Siobhan said and slid over to get out of the car on the same side as Wraith.

  “Like hell,” Caitlin said. “That place is going to be crawling with cops.”

  “And what happens when they find her?” Wraith said.

  “We’re all going,” Caitlin said and got out.

  “No—” Wraith started to say, but the look Caitlin gave her stopped her.

  “Can you cloak us all?” Edward asked.

  Wraith looked them over. “Probably, but we’ll have to stay close, and that magic could screw up the cloak.”

  “What about a disguise?” Edward asked. “Like you did with the car. I’m guessing some kind of glamour would be less complicated, right?”

  Wraith nodded. “Yeah, and we wouldn’t have the range issue.” She shrugged. “But the magic flowing in there could still screw it up.”

  “So make us look like the police,” Edward said. “There’s going to be a lot of them here soon, so we won’t stick out. And if it does go bad inside, at least we won’t be appearing out of thin air.”

  “Just do it already!” Caitlin said.

  Wraith couldn’t help but smile. She drew together the equations, which was harder than usual. The quantum information kept wanting to drift toward the school, but she managed to hold it together. The glamour formulation—which she based on the same magic the fae used—settled over them all. One moment they were themselves. The next they were four New Orleans police in tactical gear.

  “Not bad, that,” Siobhan said and looked herself over. “Even got an excuse to have me guns.”

  “Absolute last resort,” Caitlin said.

  “Aye,” Siobhan said and nodded.

  They made their way to the school, heading for a back entrance where no one was coming out. A few police looked their way but didn’t give the four SWAT team members a second glance.

  “Do I want to know how you knew what to make us look like?” Edward asked.

  “Educated guess,” Wraith said and opened the door. The closer they got to the school, the harder it was to hold the glamour together, but so far it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle.

  “Hell of an education,” Siobhan said and went inside.

  “Sister, you have no idea,” Wraith said after Caitlin and Edward went in.

  “Oh my God,” Caitlin said. “Even I can feel it now.”

  “Aye,” Siobhan said. “I’m going to need me a shower when this is done.”

  “Which way?” Edward asked Wraith. “I’m kind of on sensory overload.”

  “Me too,” Wraith said. “But I think I feel it pulling this way.” She pointed to the right.

  They moved quickly, everyone keeping a ready eye open. It was more than a little eerie. The school was empty, and the sounds from outside were muted to near silence, but there were papers everywhere, lockers hanging open, and chairs knocked over. Wraith ignored the twinge of guilt and reminded herself it was a necessary evil.

  They reached a four-way intersection, and Wraith glanced in all directions. The magic drifting in the air was churning back and forth, making it impossible to tell if it was coming or going. She closed her eyes, held out her arms, and spread her fingers, focused on the feel of it. The magic passed over her like a hot breeze in summer. It felt like it was pulling to her right. She didn’t second-guess; she just opened her eyes and ran down the hall to the right.

  As they ran, Wraith was acutely aware of each passing second and how few they had; it wouldn’t be long before the real police started clearing the building and searching for the bombs. What if she’d made a mistake? What if this had been a terrible idea? What if, because of her, people got hurt or killed? Could her soul bear any more dark marks?

  “Holy Mary, mother of God,” Siobhan said.

  Wraith snapped back to the here and now and looked up. Her mouth fell open.

  “I think this is the place,” Edward said.

  Wraith watched as the doors shook, then finally came off their hinges entirely and were sucked into the library. Magic was being drawn in like water into a whirlpool. For the first time she could remember, she felt terribly inadequate to the task. Not that she was annoyingly cocky, but she knew she was a serious heavyweight in the magical world. But this, this was something much bigger.

  “Let’s go,” Caitlin said and walked into the library.

  “Bloody hell,” Siobhan said in admiration and followed.

  Edward and Wraith exchanged a glance. He knew how serious this was too. Wraith could see the fear in his eyes, and he obviously saw the same in her. But they also both knew there wasn’t any other option at this point.

  Wraith drew in a breath and hurried after Siobhan and Caitlin, Edward close behind her.

  They didn’t make it a dozen steps before the glamour was torn away. Wraith didn’t bother trying to pull it back together. She suspected she was going to need every ounce of power she could muster. That’s when she recognized the formulations drifting around her. They weren’t the orderly, concise equations of her parents’ magic. They weren’t even the wild, clumsy formulae she’d used before learning to really control her power. This was just like what she’d seen when she’d faced the Order. This was truly dark magic, almost an abomination to magic itself. Wraith couldn’t think of another way to put it. She remembered that final battle, how that dark power had burned the captive souls that touched it. And how it had corrupted her mind and destroyed so many memories.

  “Stay close,” she said and drew up a barrier around them. It wasn’t much, but it was better than letting that vile power take anything more from her or from her friends.

  Close together, they moved past the checkout desk in the library and past the shelves of books. There were dozens of tables in a reading area at the back.

  When Siobhan drew her pistols, Caitlin glanced at her but didn’t say anything, and the Fian didn’t put them away, though she did keep them pointed at the ground.
>
  As one, they descended the few steps into the study area and stopped.

  Wraith blinked at what she saw, certain she couldn’t be seeing it right.

  At a table in the back corner sat the girl from the picture. She was dressed in a conservative school uniform, staring intently at a book that sat open on the table in front of her. The girl was completely unaware, or unconcerned, about anything happening around her. She might as well have been in a class studying for an exam.

  Wraith took a couple of tentative steps forward and looked at the book. Even from twenty feet away she could see it was a Bible. It looked ordinary enough. Then she saw the girl’s hand. It was holding some kind of talisman, her fingers gripping it tight. Wraith’s stomach twisted as she watched the tendrils of dark magic pour out of it, winding their way up Anna’s arm, and weave in and out of her body.

  “I told them I couldn’t leave,” Anna said, her tone one of an annoyed teenager. “I have to finish this.”

  “You have to stop,” Wraith said. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

  The girl looked up, and Wraith had to fight to keep from taking a step back. Anna’s dark eyes were filled with dark purple fire.

  “You wouldn’t understand,” Anna said and went back to her studying, her lips moving as she read silently.

  “I understand,” Caitlin said and took a step forward. “I know the anger you feel inside. But sending those people to kill isn’t going to bring Gerrard back.”

  Anna looked up at her. “What are you talking about? I’m not sending anyone to kill anybody.”

  Caitlin looked at Wraith, but all she could do was shrug.

  “I’m going to bring him back,” she said. “Just like Jesus brought Lazarus back. It’s all right here.” She tapped the Bible and smiled. “I’m close, I can feel it. I just need more time to figure it out.”

  “What exactly is it that you think you’re doing?” Wraith asked.

  Anna let out an exasperated sigh and looked up, then her eyes went wide and she smiled. “You’re like me. You can do miracles too! I can see it in you! You can help me. Together we can bring him back!”