The call lasted more than an hour. We told the Hansley clan the gist of what we’d witnessed at MagLab and about Remwald’s plans for starting a war between the two races. And Kai told Cora and Grandma Tashi about our relationship.
The Hansleys were all righteously angry at the ones who were threatening our city and supportive of our decision to expose it all. Even Grandma Tashi muttered that I was a handsome boy, which I took to mean she believed me and supported us.
“You could be in danger,” I told the Hansleys.
“Don’t worry about us, G-Baby,” Ma said, wiping away tears. “We know how to take care of ourselves. You do what you need to do.”
After that, there was a lot of grumbling and banging of pans in the kitchen while Ma muttered about them still needing dinner even if the world was coming to an end.
Shaking her head, Kai told her family she loved them and then ended the call. She handed me the phone.
I heaved a sigh, steeling myself. The last time we’d spoken, my dad had pretty much said he thought I had killed Penelope. I wasn’t sure he would react any better to the news I had to share now.
“Get it over with,” Kai said, lacing her fingers through mine.
Sighing again, I dialed my dad’s number.
The phone rang four times before my dad picked up. I didn’t turn the call to video. I didn’t think I could handle seeing my dad’s expression as I told him everything I had to say.
“Who is this?”
“It’s me, Dad.”
“Mr. Galder?” Kai reached over and took the phone from my hand. “You might not remember me, but my name is Kaira Hansley, and I lived across the street from you.”
“Sure, sure,” my dad said, distracted. “Ma Hansley’s daughter.”
Kai told him about taking out her tracker, but before she could move on to the part about stealing her file, my dad interrupted.
“So, you’re fugitives together now, are you?” His voice was uncharacteristically bitter.
With Kai’s hand firm and warm in mine, I told my dad everything. I started with my relationship with Kai. She interjected when I got to the part about her file. Her voice was steady, but tears tracked down her cheeks as she apologized to my dad for everything that had happened. Then, it was my turn for admissions and apologies.
I didn’t apologize for protecting Kai. As guilt-ridden as I was about lying to my dad for so many years, I couldn’t be sorry for the choice I had made.
Throughout our long explanation, my dad stayed silent.
We told him everything, all the way up to what we’d discovered in the last week. My dad just listened without saying a word.
“You might be in danger once everything becomes public,” I finished, my voice raw from so much talking. “Go to the Hansley’s. You’ll all be safer together. Or, if you don’t want to be with them, Kai has a safe house in Back Bay—”
“Graysen.”
I had no idea it was possible for one word to hold so much disappointment. I had thought my dad was listening…that there was a chance he’d understand. But with that one word, I knew. I knew everything we’d tried to tell him had fallen on deaf ears.
“I raised you better than this,” my dad said.
“Dad, please listen—”
“Don’t call here again.”
The line went dead.
I sat there with the phone still in my hand as an icy cold washed over me. Kai wrapped her arms around me and buried her face in my neck.
“It’s my fault what’s happened between you and your dad,” she said, her words vibrating against my skin. “I promise, once we’ve taken care of the emergency with the Alliance, I’m going to help you fix things with him.”
I didn’t think it would be that easy, but it made everything more bearable having Kaira by my side. For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t filled with doubt and a crushing sense of helplessness. I had made a choice, and I stood by it.
“You ready to do this?” Kai asked me.
I shook my head. “There’s one more thing we need to work out first.” I took a few moments to set aside the conversation with my dad so I could put all of my focus on Kai. “I know I don’t have the right to ask after everything that’s happened, but I’m going to ask anyway.”
She crossed her arms and gave me a suspicious look. “If this is about me filling up our bedroom with all my clothes, then I can’t help you.”
I felt a small smile curve my lips, not least because she’d said our bedroom.
“It’s not about the clothes.” I took both of her hands in mine. “Kaira Hansley, will you be my girlfriend…again?”
She laughed in surprise, and then she threw her arms around my neck. “My answer to you will always be yes.”
Those words lightened the impossibly heavy weight that had settled on my chest.
“I’m never letting you go,” I warned her.
“Psh, I’d like to see you pry yourself loose from my viselike monkey grip,” she replied.
“Viselike monkey grip?” I raised an eyebrow.
To demonstrate, Kai wrapped her arms and legs around me, until not even air separated us.
I held her just as tightly. When she raised her face to meet my gaze, I kissed her. It wasn’t one of the soft and tender ones we’d shared the night she’d been shot. It was a heart-stopping, forget-the-world-exists kind of kiss. Everything else slipped away as we lost ourselves in each other.
“What did I say about making out?” a faraway voice complained.
We were breathless and still clinging to each other when I realized Bri was standing at the bottom of the stairs. She was scowling at us, but there was amusement rather than anger in her eyes.
The others were sitting on the stairs, and I wondered if they’d been there the whole time. I realized I didn’t care, and that seemed like its own kind of magic.
“You have to admit, the Nat-Mag thing aside, they’re the hottest straight couple ever made,” A.J. commented.
“You mean aside from me and Michael, obviously.” Yutika gave A.J. an affectionate smack on the back of the head as she skipped down the stairs.
Bri snorted. Michael blushed.
“I give it a month before your pretty faces are on the cover of Vogue,” A.J. told us. “They’ll do a big cover story about your love, and then all the copies will sell out, and then you’ll need to hire a manager because you’ll be so famous.”
“Are you volunteering?” Kai asked.
“Yep. I charge twenty-five percent off the top for my invaluable advice.”
“Can we be serious for a minute?” Smith broke in. “I think the best way to do this will be to hack into the National Alert system. That way, our video will reach every device country-wide.”
“Remwald will have heard about what happened at MagLab by now,” Kai said. “We don’t have time to sit on this.”
“I think he’ll want to keep things quiet until the vote tomorrow,” Michael said, frowning in thought. “Especially given that he knows we know the truth. He’s got as much to lose as we do.”
“But there’s always the chance he’ll send some of his Combat Mags over to disappear us,” Yutika said, glancing nervously at the front door.
“I’d like to see them try.” Bri cracked her knuckles.
“There’s no point in waiting,” I said. “I want to make sure we’ve made our move before he can make his.”
“Well, you just factor in time to shower and change,” A.J. said. “I’ll lose my job as chief image consultant before I’ve even started if I let you hack into everyone’s devices looking like that.”
CHAPTER 45
Smith was busy piecing together the various files on his computer, while the rest of us reviewed everything Kai and I would need to say once we were on camera.
At one point, A.J. disappeared upstairs for several minutes. When came back, he announced that he’d left outfits befitting the occasion on Kai’s bed for each of us. Then, he’d proceeded to c
ut my hair with a pair of scissors that wielded themselves.
“If you poke my eye out, you’re fired,” I informed the Telekinetic as the scissors continued their frantic work.
The scissors responded by snipping warningly in front of my face.
After, when a hand mirror zoomed in and positioned itself in front of me, I had to admit it was the best haircut I’d ever gotten.
We spent the next hour planning and strategizing before we were ready. While Smith set up the tri-pod in front of our blank wall, and Bri did jumping jacks to work off her nerves, Kai and I went upstairs to change.
When I saw Kai in the outfit A.J. had chosen for her, my mouth went dry. She was wearing a gray skirt that hugged her slender hips and ended just below her knees. She wore four-inch black heels with a wicked point that put her almost at eye level with me. The white blouse A.J. had picked out looked incredible against her caramel skin. The outfit was simple, professional, and made her look like the smoking hot badass she was.
“I’ve gotta admit, that guy knows how to pick out clothes,” I said admiringly. “You’re gorgeous.”
“So are you,” she said, checking out the tapered lines of my suit. “But don’t tell A.J. His ego is bloated enough as it is.”
“I heard that!” A.J. called from outside our room.
A few minutes later, we were all gathered in the living room. When Smith tried to tell Yutika how to work the tri-pod, she batted his hands away.
“I might not be a Techie,” she grumbled, “but I can figure out how to operate a video recorder I brought into existence with my own hands, thank you very much.”
Smith positioned himself on the couch where three laptops were set up on the coffee table in front of him. Kai and I stood in front of the blank wall and tried to breathe.
“You sure about this?” I asked. I was looking at Kai, but the question was for everyone. “We’re going to start a real shit storm if we do this. Boston is going to lose the only thing that has kept it from being like every other city. The fallout is going to be…intense.”
“Lucky for Boston, this city has something none of the rest of them do,” Yutika said.
When we all looked at her, she said, “Us. Duh.”
“I feel like we need some kind of high-five or chant, or maybe a logo, now that we’re like an official team,” Bri said.
“I’ll get right on that as soon as this video is done,” A.J. said.
I didn’t think he was joking.
“I wonder what they’ll name the movie they make about us later,” Bri said, a dreamy expression coming over her face.
“Presumptuous to think we’re that important,” Michael grumbled.
“Please.” Yutika waved a hand. “We’re exposing the corruption in the most powerful organization in the country, and we’re going to be the ones to help get our city through the disaster that follows. They’re definitely making a movie about us.”
“Ooh, I’ll totally be played by Zachary Quinto’s grandson.” A.J. clapped his hands.
Bri scrunched up her nose. “Does he even act?”
“With a god of a grandfather like Sir Zachary, how could he not?” A.J. fanned his face.
“I’d like to have a title in mind, just so we’re not caught unawares when the agents come banging down our door,” Yutika said, tapping a finger against her lips in thought. “Any thoughts?”
“I know,” Kai said.
We all looked at her.
She smiled at me. “The Nat Makes Seven.”
CHAPTER 46
Everyone ready?” Smith asked.
Giving a speech in front of large crowds might be paralyzing for most people, but it energized me. I imagined every resident in the city of Boston crammed into our living room.
“Ready,” I said, letting out a breath.
“Ready,” Kai echoed.
When she leaned forward to straighten my tie, I stole a kiss.
“Ready.” Yutika squinted through the lens of the camera. “In three, two—”
“Wait!” A.J. shrieked.
Everyone froze.
“What’s wrong?” Kai demanded.
A napkin flew across the room and started to wipe my face.
“What the hell, A.J.?” I demanded, swatting at the napkin.
The napkin unfolded itself and zoomed in front of each of our faces, displaying a trace of Kai’s lip gloss.
Bri snorted.
“You are unbelievable,” Michael said mildly.
“I think what you mean is thank you for saving us all incalculable regret and humiliation,” A.J. retorted. “That color is far too dark for Graysen’s complexion. He’s much more of a peach than a plum.”
“I am neither,” I assured him.
“Can we proceed, your Majesty?” Smith asked.
A.J. waved a hand. “Proceed,” he said in a lofty tone.
I heard all of the phones in the room start to buzz the National Security alert as Smith hacked into every device in the country. The TV in the corner of the room, which Bri had switched on, went from the news to a blank screen.
I watched Yutika’s fingers above the camera count down from three. The TV flickered, and then Kai and I appeared on the screen. I waited another second. And then I began to speak.
“Hello, America. My name is Graysen Galder. You might have seen my face on the news a time or two in the past week.” I offered the camera a little smile. I felt Kai relax, and it emboldened me. “I’ve been accused of the magically-motivated murder of Penelope Heppurn, and I’m the chief suspect in another Magic murder. I’m taking up your time today because I have proof that Director Edwardian Remwald is responsible for the murders that took place this week. He planned and carried out the murders with the assistance of Valencia Stark.”
“And I’m Kaira Hansley,” Kai said, her voice clear and strong. “You haven’t seen my face before because I’ve been unMarked since my Test, when I was Marked as a Level 10 Animate Illusionist.
“I destroyed my records and went into hiding because I believed the system of Marking hurt, rather than helped, unity between Nats and Mags. I’ve since learned the Alliance is being led by people who seek to perpetuate fear and distrust between our races by lying to all of us.”
Kaira and I had decided not to use cue cards since we didn’t want our speech to sound scripted. We’d outlined the gist of what we each intended to say, but now, hearing her speak, I knew I was looking at the future of the Alliance. I was surprised my buttons weren’t literally bursting from how proud I was.
“We have more to say, but before we do, you need to know the truth about the Director of the Alliance,” I said into the camera. “Edwardian Remwald is not the man he has projected himself to be, as you’ll see from this recording.”
I glanced up at Smith. I saw the image on the TV screen change as the Techie played the footage we’d recorded at Remwald’s estate.
The video displayed Remwald, illusioned as the older man who had met with Valencia, stepping out of the house. The shot kept Remwald in focus as his illusion flickered. And then the face of the man the whole world knew as the Alliance Director was revealed.
“The Alliance Director has broken the second high law, too,” Kai said. “The effect you are seeing here is two Animate Illusionists who are matched in strength cancelling out each other’s Magic.
“Remwald admitted that he has been using a potion to suppress his magic, which has fooled the world into thinking he’s a Nat.”
There was a seamless switch as Smith started to play Remwald’s confession. It was eight-and-a-half minutes of uninterrupted video. Kaira and I stayed quiet, letting Remwald’s confession speak for itself.
I let silence fill the air for several seconds at the end of the video before I began to speak again.
“There’s more, and it’s related to a confession I want to make. I am guilty of committing a high crime, although it isn’t the one I was accused of.” I glanced at Kai before turning my attention back to
the camera. “I’m in love with a Magic.”
I felt a rush of emotion at speaking those words out loud. I’d never said them to anyone except Kai, and now, the whole country knew. I never imagined that a few simple words could infuse me with so much strength.
I could almost hear the intake of breath as every American glued to their devices watched my confession.
“Today, we learned the reason behind the third high law—that children born to Magic and Natural parents carry deadly bacteria—is a lie. We discovered a place called MagLab. It’s a secret branch of the Alliance where these children are kept in isolation so they can be used in the war Remwald intends to start. The truth the Alliance doesn’t want any of us to know is that children of Magic and Natural couples are more powerful. There is nothing dangerous or deadly about them. Their strength simply threatens the current balance of power, and that has scared our governing body enough to imprison and kill innocent people for the sake of keeping their secret.”
I paused while Smith flashed short video clips from the footage my tiny camera had taken in MagLab.
I watched the progression on the TV screen in front of us. When the images moved on from the basement experiments to the pregnant women in the cells, I reached down and entwined my fingers with Kai’s. It was an unconscious gesture, but when she squeezed my hand, it made me stand taller.
I let the pictures of the kids in those glass cages speak for themselves. After, with Smith’s text noting the addresses of MagLab and Remwald’s private estate scrolling across the screen, I began to speak again.
The words that came out of my mouth weren’t the ones I had planned to say. In that moment, the speech I had written weeks ago, back when I was preparing to be valedictorian of the BSMU and start my new job in the Alliance, came back to mind. I was surprised to discover that much of what I’d written then still applied.
“I’m proud to be a Bostonian. But we can no longer be content with the status quo, where the corrupt rule and Magics are tracked like animals. There is a magic of new beginnings, one which we must all embrace if we want our future to be different from our past.
The Nat Makes 7 (Mags & Nats Book 1) Page 32
