by May Dawney
“H-How? Who’s watching us? Why did no one see us when we left?” Zaleska seemed on the verge of tears.
That reminded Viktoria: was there still a scryer in the Society who had met her? From what she remembered Noah teaching her, there was no way for a scryer to spy on a person unless they’d met them. Perhaps they could watch a location? In that case, she could have picked up a magical stalker while in the Zaleska girl’s house.
There was no way to be sure. They’d have to operate under the impression that they were, indeed, being watched—which meant they had to hurry.
Zaleska still rattled off questions. “Is it going to happen again? Am I going to…to…explode again?”
Noah sighed. “All right, I suppose those are fair questions.” She checked both sides of the alleyway again, then lowered herself onto the cobblestones. “You manifested, that is what we call it when…” She faltered. “You will think I am a mad woman, but I am not. I promise I will explain better when we arrive at the safe house. A manifestation is when a mage comes into her powers.” When the Zaleska girl opened her mouth to interrupt, she held up her hand. “Please, we do not have time. I will give you answers, but then you must come with me. We will have a long talk in the safehouse. Agreed?”
Zaleska nodded.
“Good. Just like I was drawn to the site of your manifestation, other people will be too. Some are dangerous. We call them the Inquisitio.”
Viktoria sucked in a breath. It was one thing to know that Noah had gone back to the Society after their break-up, but to hear she felt she was in danger from the Inquisitio caused a stab of anguish in her gut.
Was it really so surprising, though? The Inquisitio did hunt ‘their kind’.
Her kind.
Mages.
The Inquisitio did. She did.
Another painful stab. It was one thing to look at numbers in a boardroom, quite another to see the impact in the eyes of an ex-lover.
“Inquisition?” The Zaleska girl’s eyes went wide.
“No, without the N; Inquisitio, although they were also a driving force behind the inquisition.”
Zaleska squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them again. “Are you real? Is any of this?”
Noah nodded. “It is. It is also magic.”
Just like that, the Zaleska girl laughed, loud and without mirth; a hysterical laugh—a laugh of the damned.
Noah rushed to look around. Her gaze went right through Viktoria, but she still felt the impact of it. Oh, she remembered those eyes, the soulfulness of them, the kindness and warmth they could instill.
Viktoria shivered and wrapped her arms around her waist to keep the chill at bay.
“Please be quiet, Ania. You may not believe me, but your life depends on keeping you hidden as long as we can. Please, cooperate.”
The Zaleska girl giggled and shook her head. “Magic isn’t real.”
Noah seemed to have prepared for that response and countered it instantly. “What happened to you, then?”
Zaleska opened her mouth but shut it again and pushed herself up a little straighter.
“That is what I thought.” Noah sighed and inspected her. “I am a shadow walker, also known as a shadow mage. I have the magical ability to cloak myself and those near me from detection, both magical and sensory. That is what I used to get us out of your apartment building, and that is why no one saw us. We do not want the Inquisitio to know you survived, because they will hunt you. Which—” She took in her surroundings again. “Is why we should leave. Now. We are not safe here, but we can be safe soon, if you will let me help you.” She extended her hand.
The Zaleska girl examined it. Tears welled up again. She drew her gaze upward, to Noah’s eyes.
A searing flutter of jealousy tore through Viktoria’s insides as she watched and she couldn’t bite back a snarl.
“Noah?” Zaleska whispered her name like a goddamn prayer. She wiped her eyes.
“Yes, Ania?” Noah still held out her hand. It hung in the air between them, unwaveringly, as if Noah was sure she would take it.
“Is it going to happen again?”
Noah sighed. “You have a very special ability, and if you will come with me, I will tell you everything I know about it. I swear this to you. For now, let me answer your question as best I can: I suspect that if we do not actively stop it from happening, you will have another manifestation, and another, and another. And I fear for your life if you do.”
“Can you help?” Zaleska tone was pleading, and Vitoria hated her even more—it wasn’t logical, it wasn’t fair, but she did.
Noah held the Zaleska girl’s gaze. “I do not know, but I will make you this promise: I will do everything that is in my power to do to protect you, and I know people who can help.” She wiggled her fingers. “We must go, Ania. Are you ready to go?”
“Yes.” Zaleska licked her lips. “Yeah.” She glanced at Noah’s still outstretched arm.
“Then we shall go, yes?”
The Zaleska girl reached out and put her hand into Noah’s, and Viktoria wanted to jump forward and separate them again. She had just enough sensibility to remember she was looking at a time recording, not current affairs.
“Okay. Take me there.”
Noah smiled and stood so she could pull the Zaleska girl up. “Can you walk by yourself?”
Zaleska tried a few steps while she held onto Noah’s hand, then nodded. “I think so.”
Noah leaned in and wrapped her arm around Zaleska’s waist. “This will help, perhaps?” The height difference between them made the help seem like a hindrance rather than a boon, but the Zaleska girl leaned into Noah’s body, regardless, and wrapped her arm around her back.
“Yeah, it will. Thank you.”
They shared a smile that made Viktoria’s magic rush to her fingertips.
“Quite all right, Ania. I am here to help.”
With that, the Zaleska girl leaned her head against Noah’s shoulder.
Within a few steps, they were once more swallowed up by Noah’s magic and there was nothing left to see.
“Follow them.” Viktoria already took a step forward, which caused Gigi’s hands to slide from the side of her head.
Vertigo overtook her a second as the two alleyways misaligned, followed by one of the images falling away.
Tempest caught her by the upper arm. “Steady.”
She hissed when his fingers closed around her arm like a vice.
Tempest’s hold relaxed. “Sorry.”
“I-It’s all right.” She reached out to put her hand to the wall for stability instead. “I’m okay.” Her arm throbbed; there would certainly be a bruise. Her head throbbed even more. These little trips into the past were going to be the death of her.
“I can try to follow, but unless they stop the magic, I won’t see.” Gigi shrugged. “Want me to do more?”
She didn’t know. She didn’t know anything right now. “I—”
“Why don’t you go try, hm?” Tempest motioned for Gigi to go ahead. “We’ll catch up.”
Gigi threw up his hands. “Okay, okay, I will do what you want. But I get the bonus, right?”
“We haven’t found them yet. Go.” Tempest gave him what in his world was probably a gentle shove, sending Gigi stumbling down the alleyway. “Don’t wander off.”
Viktoria watched him go. She withdrew her hand from the cold stone and massaged her bruised arm.
“Are you okay? You look like you saw a ghost.”
She chuckled, but it was a hateful sound. “Perhaps the ghost of Christmas past. Come on, we should make sure he doesn’t go anywhere or does anything stupid.”
“Viktoria…”
She finally met his gaze. “What?”
“You need to sort out whatever it is you need to sort out about Noah. Unless you are ready to leave the Inquisitio, this is business, and Noah is Zaleska’s protector. If push comes to shove, you will have to go through her to get to the girl. You have to be willing to kill or
at least incapacitate her.”
Just the thought flushed her body with ice. Then heat drew up from her toes to the crown of her head. Her cheeks prickled. “I can do that.” She had to look away from his gaze, however. So much for never lying to him.
“Can you? Can you really?” He stepped into her line of vision and forced her to look up. “If you can’t, tell me now and I’ll do it for you. I’ll get Otieno out of the way.”
She shivered. When tears welled up—unwelcome tears, tears that made her feel weak and much younger than she was—she sniffed and forced them down. “W-We’ll have to catch up with them first.”
She hated the part of her that hoped they never would.
* * *
“I tire of this.” Viktoria pressed her fists into her sore lower back and pressed, eager to alleviate the tightness in the muscles.
“We’ll get ‘em.” Tempest looked out over another one of the many squares they had walked onto in the past two hours.
As predicted, they were no closer to finding the wild mage and Noah.
Gigi, a hundred or so meters in front of them, sat down on the cobblestones. Before Viktoria could object, he groaned loudly and laid down.
A couple of tourists looked up. A few people, who were probably residents, didn’t.
Viktoria was still in two minds over what she wanted to happen—find them or not find them—so she chose to change topics. “We’ll have lunch at the hotel, then try again.”
“More circles?” Tempest raised a brow as he looked at her from under his fedora.
“Maybe, yes. We might have to strategize.” She pressed her lips together. “Maybe it’s possible to narrow down the point of origin of the second manifestation? From there, we could focus our attention on the area between Zaleska’s house and the second spot, or we can circle that second spot if the first area doesn’t lead to anything.”
“Hm.” He seemed deep in thought. “That’s going to be hard.”
“Any other bright ideas, then?”
He shook his head. “None.”
“Then we’re getting lunch and we’ll strategize.” She inclined her head toward the drunk on the ground. “Go fetch him, if you please.”
Gigi was easy to fetch, but manhandling him into a taxi and up to their suite was an entirely different matter.
“I will take the 100,000!” He looked back longing at the elevator. “I will take 50,000, just no more walking, please!”
Tempest shoved him into the room Viktoria had just unlocked. “Quiet.” He looked around, then followed the two of them in. “Here, indulge.” He reached over and handed Gigi the menu before he sat down behind his computer.
Viktoria slid onto the bed and pulled her laptop toward her. “I’ll take something with meat.” She tipped the screen up and hit the ‘on’ button.
Gigi lowered himself down onto her bed as well.
“Get your filthy self away from my bed linen!” She sent him a glare fueled by annoyance not just over his behavior, but over his failure to deliver her the wild mage. “Now!”
“Then where do I sit?” He got up, but the effort was accompanied by moans and groans. “There are computers on the table and I probably can’t sit on his bed either.” Gigi threw his arms up. “Where does a man sit, hm?”
“Sit on the ground and shut up.” Tempest beat her to her exact answer.
Gigi gasped and spun around, which nearly cost him his balance. “No, you cannot say that to me.” He sent a squinted glare at both of them. “You have very fancy room, you should have more fancy chairs.”
“Not that fancy. Just pull the chair out and sit. We have things to take care of.” Tempest’s fingers already slid along the keyboard.
How a man as rough-hewn and boorish as he was, could type as fluidly and gracefully as he did, was beyond Viktoria’s understanding.
Gigi did as told, but he sagged into the plush like a teenager and folded his arms across his chest.
“Pick something to eat so we can have a look at the menu.” Tempest didn’t even look up.
Gigi huffed, but he pulled the menu away from his chest and started to read.
“I’ll check for information with the—” She only just managed to stop herself from saying “Heads of House.” It was so easy to forget that Gigi didn’t know about them being Inquisitio.
She wondered if he would care if she assured him their deal would hold, but she also didn’t want to risk the possibility of losing him. They only had about five hours left, but a lot could happen within that time. “…with our friends.”
Thankfully, Gigi didn’t look up from the menu.
Viktoria licked her suddenly-dry lips and shook her head. Too close.
* * *
[(14:33)] Wagner has entered the chat]
(14:34) Wagner: We found a trace, but the shadow mage cloaked them again. We need the location of the second manifestation. Ideas?
(14:35) Reisch: Not my area of expertise. Steven? What was the trace?
(14:36) Wagner: They uncloaked for a minute or two to talk, then they went on. We searched, but to no avail. Another search point would narrow things down, maybe even to the safehouse the mage said Zaleska would be taken.
(14:36) Joyce: Those must be everywhere, especially because there isn’t a Charter close by. I’ve been trying to track the wild mage. It’s complicated.
(14:37) Reisch: Explain.
(14:37) Joyce: Duh.
(14:37) Joyce: I need an eyeroll emoticon.
(14:37) Joyce: ó_ó
(14:37) Joyce: Consider that an eyeroll from now on.
(14:38) Reisch: Joyce, I swear to God, if you don’t get on topic soon, I’m flying back to Lucerne.
(14:40) Joyce: Fine, ó_ó. It’s complicated because it’s magic. We haven’t found a way to track it. We can detect its electromagnetic field (which is a bitch to type, so EMF for short), but the readings are so weak that you’d have to literally point a detector at a practicing mage and you know, once you get that up close and personal with one, you might as well just use your eyes. Unless you’re blind, then you’re just fucked.
(14:41) Reisch: Your point?
(14:43) Joyce: Anyway, moving on… EMF. Awesome. Puny mages, not so awesome. We all but abandoned that route, but now, here we are, with an explosion of magic that echoed across the world. Not so puny mage. Hulk mage. Everyone still with me?
(14:44) Reisch: Yes.
(14:44) Messerli: Yes.
(14:46) Joyce: So, hulk mage went nuclear and every mage on the planet turned into a sexualized version of the girl from The Exorcist. Seriously, Wagner, that was creepy as fuck.
(14:46) Wagner: Just explain. Also: nuclear? Is she radioactive?
(14:47) Joyce: Anyway, the fact that every mage on the planet felt this happening made me dig out the old Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) detector after the fact. Nothing, obviously, but since I was busy I left it on and BOOM! A spike in EMP! Granted, not a big spike. Maybe I should have said “boom,” but whatever. A spike.
(14:47) Joyce: No, sorry, not nuclear like Fukushima, nuclear like “kablooey.” Mage EMP waves are like brain waves, which are very low frequency and decidedly non-nuclear.
(14:48) Joyce: So, I caught a spike. I figured that there had to have been a massive EMP output generated by the initial manifestation, soooo I hacked into DEMETER.
(14:48) Wagner: Demeter? Like the Greek goddess?
(14:48) Messerli: DEMETER, like the French micro-satellite in orbit around Earth. It went dead in 2010.
(14:49) Joyce: Au contraire (or something). The French told everyone it went dead in 2010. It’s still alive and kicking, and it picks up the whole electromagnetic and electric spectrum. Everyone’s prepping for the big war and the EMP pulse that will disable the globe and such. Any spike and a bunch of scientist and military personnel go apeshit. You should read the chatter.
(14:51) Joyce: Anyway, DEMETER was extremely helpful. It confirmed there had been two spikes and after I got my team to set
up a little algorithm, I could track the spread. Not very well, I mean, “somewhere around Kraków” was the closest I got, but it’s progress.
(14:52) Reisch: How about you cut some exposition out and focus on the now? And how all of this is helpful?
(14:54) Joyce: Thank you for ruining my mojo. I deleted what I’d just written, which was all kinds of awesome science to give you the “science for dummies” version instead. ó_ó. That version goes: I did a bunch of stuff with science and now I can use DEMETER to track another manifestation down to a roughly fifty feet radius. That’s about ten meters for you European folk.
(14:55) Wagner: How did you do that? That’s perfect!
(14:55) Joyce: MAKE UP YOUR MINDS! Do you want the science or don’t you?
(14:56) Reisch: No! Stop encouraging him. We can talk about “the science” at a later date and how it can help our efforts. I see potential.
(14:57) Joyce: No science then. And yes, my accomplishment is impressive. It’s also useless to us unless Zaleska manifests again, which is unlikely. The Society knows their magic, they won’t allow her to explode again. So, we need another way. A localized way. Guess what’s so special about Kraków?
(14:58) Messerli: They’re the leading city in electromagnetic field management.
(14:59) Joyce: Way to steal my thunder. Yes, exactly. Kraków has been monitoring and reducing EMF waves since January 2017, and to do that, they’ve set up measuring stations around the city.
(15:00) Wagner: So, you can track her? Even if she doesn’t manifest?
(15:01) Joyce: Maybe not down to the inch, but I can get pretty close. Say, half a city block? 20 km2? Maybe a little closer if I can use some of the DEMETER data to extrapolate? You’ll have to drag your seer along to narrow it down more.
(15:01) Wagner: Not a problem! I’ll get him there. Send Tempest the coordinates or an address, his line is most secure.
(15:02) Joyce: Will do!
(15:02) Messerli: Well done, Steven. Appreciated.
(15:02) Reisch: Agreed.
(15:03) Joyce: High praise! Guess all the lost sleep has been worth it!
(15:04) Wagner: Lunch has just arrived. I’ll leave you to your sarcasm.
