by Hall, Linsey
“Yeah. I know. I’m determined to fix this. It’s just that I’m not handling things well at all.” In the past week, I’d spent more time mired in self-doubt and pity than I ever had in my life. I didn’t like who I was becoming, and though I tried to fight it, I didn’t think I was doing a great job.
Del’s signature knock sounded at the door. Rap-rap-rappity-rap.
“Come in!” I yelled.
She entered, looking bright and clean. The blood and grime had been replaced with her usual black leather.
Black leather was her bounty hunting wear, but I think she also liked looking like a badass. With her black hair, blue eyes, and wicked sword, she was a top notch badass.
My usual attire of jeans, tall boots, t-shirt, and a fitted brown leather jacket wasn’t nearly as cool as her stuff, but it worked for me.
“Want a beer?” I asked.
She eyed my can of PBR doubtfully. “Not that swill.”
“Yeah, yeah, fancy pants. I put some of that jet fuel IPA you like in the fridge.”
“You’re too good to me. But it’s not jet fuel, you heathen. It’s high gravity.”
“Snob.”
“Then someone will have to drive to the memorial service,” Del said. “Because I’m tapped out.” Though Del could transport anywhere and bring two people with her, her power wasn’t unlimited. She’d used it all up bringing us back from Egypt.
“Then it’s your lucky day, because I’m driving.” Nix held up her bottle of water to indicate she wasn’t having a beer. “So you might as well have one.”
“You convinced me.”
I grinned as she walked toward my tiny kitchen. Though I lived on the top floor of the building we rented, most of it was reserved for my treasure trove, which was full of weapons and leather jackets and boots. Living quarters were teeny.
Del returned to the living room. “Any word on that dampening charm?”
“Won’t work,” I said, shifting my arm so she couldn’t see that I wore the cuff. I knew it didn’t work, but maybe…
“Don’t worry. We’ll find a way—”
“Thank you for your help, Del. We’ll find a way to get my powers back. I know.” Sympathy cued my water works, and I didn’t want to hear it.
Did I though? I’d only been trying to get them back for a week, and it already felt a bit hopeless. But there was no way in hell I was giving up, so, hopeless or not, I’d be slogging through.
“I just want you to know you did a good thing, taking the Nullifier’s power,” Del said. “Whenever you’re feeling down about losing your innate gifts, just keep in mind—you and he saved Magic’s Bend. Hundreds of lives. Our town would have been sucked into that portal if it weren’t for you and the Nullifier.”
“Yeah,” Nix said. “The Monster would’ve won.”
He’d created the portal. To break the portal before it could consume the town, we’d asked a Nullifier to come help destroy it. But the Monster had killed him. I’d used my FireSoul ability to take the Nullifier’s power and finish the job.
The memorial service tonight was for the Nullifier. He shouldn’t have had to die to save Magic’s Bend. But he had. And the local government and the Order of the Magica wanted to hold a ceremony to honor him.
I was all for that. Normally, I wouldn’t have gone near an event that put me in the way of Order members. But with my new nullification power, my own FireSoul ability was stifled to the point that they shouldn’t be able to sense that part of me. I should be nothing but a magical void.
After the ceremony, I was supposed to meet the Order of the Magica representatives to receive their thanks for my part in the whole thing. I didn’t want that part, though Aidan was right—the Order would be hella suspicious if I didn’t show. And I wanted to go to honor the Nullifier. Though I wasn’t looking forward to it.
I had to hope my spotty nullification ability didn’t fade out on me so that I could keep a low profile.
“Don’t call him the Monster,” I said. “We made up that name when we were young and afraid of him. He’d probably like it. So let’s use his boring, miserable name. Victor Orriodor. ”
“Because fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself,” Nix said, quoting Dumbledore.
“Exactly.” I nodded. If one couldn’t go to Dumbledore for advice, where could one go?
“Harry Potter nuts.” Del grinned.
Nix and I clinked our drinks together.
Del glanced at the clock. “We should get going. Don’t want to be late. Are we meeting Aidan there?”
While Del and I had gone to the pyramid to find the dampening charm, Aidan had been working on his own lead, locating Aethelred’s known associates and trying to find tracking charms. We’d borrowed three from Aethelred, and when we finally found him, we wanted to give him the replacements…otherwise he might not talk to us.
“Let’s do it, then.” I set down my half-drunk beer. “Let me grab my jacket.”
“Can we take your car?” Nix asked. “Mine is leaking something weird.”
“Think you can handle Cecelia?”
“For sure.”
“Hmmm, questionable.” Cecelia was the old junker I’d bought about five years ago when we’d finally earned enough money to escape our old boss—Old Man Bastard, OMB for short. Cecelia had been running fine ever since. A bit persnickety maybe, but fine.
I went to my room and grabbed a black leather jacket, different from my usual brown. But this was a memorial service. They wouldn’t be getting me into a dress, but the least I could do was wear black.
I shrugged it on and took my daggers off the dresser, carefully strapping them into my thigh sheaths. It was a good thing Magic’s Bend was an all-magic city, hidden from human eyes, or people would have looked at me strange. As it was, I blended well. Even at a memorial service, the weapons wouldn’t stand out too much.
I joined Nix and Del, and we went single file down the narrow stairs, past Del’s apartment on the third floor and Nix’s on the second. Ancient Magic was on the bottom.
The sun was setting as we made our way out the green door and across the street to Cecelia. The old car sat in front of the park that was opposite Factory Row, where we lived and worked. Rent was low and the company was weird, which made it perfect as far as I was concerned.
And on late summer evenings like this, it was hard to believe there was a better place to live. Though the flattering light couldn’t conceal Cecelia’s chipped paint and dented bumpers, I loved the old girl and wouldn’t get another car ’til she sputtered her last.
Not to mention, living on Factory Row and driving an old junker allowed me to put all my spare money toward padding my trove.
“Shotgun!” I called.
Del groaned and climbed into the backseat. Nix and I got in, and she cranked the ignition. She drove through town like a maniac, zipping by the tall buildings of the business district and the ornate, 18th century buildings in the historic part of town. We passed Darklane, where everyone knew the black magic practitioners lived, and I peered at Aethelred’s window as we passed.
It was dark and empty.
Damn.
By the time we pulled into the parking lot at the Museum of Magical history, I was slightly queasy from Nix’s Mario Kart driving.
“I really wish they hadn’t chosen this place,” I said as we climbed out of the car.
It’d been more than a week since the portal had sucked in half the museum and the big brick building looked entirely normal again, but I’d had enough of it for a while.
“I guess they wanted to prove that everything is okay now,” Del said.
“And the Nullifier’s sacrifice did save this place.” Nix shoved the keys into her pocket.
I rubbed my chest absently as we set off across the parking lot toward the huge brick museum.
“You doing okay?” Nix asked.
“Yeah. Just a tic.” I’d developed it after losing my powers. Like a person with a stomachache rubs the
ir stomach, I rubbed my chest. I could feel the emptiness.
We climbed the massive stairs to the front of the museum. An imposing figure in a conservative black dress stood in front of the door. Her dark hair was scraped back from her forehead, and keen green eyes peered out from behind dark spectacles. The magic that radiated from her was strong and smelled like some kind of incense.
Her gaze snapped to me, and I realized where I’d seen her before.
An Order investigator. Her job was to fix problems and sniff out FireSouls. A cold sweat broke out on my skin, and I tried not to look shifty.
This was exactly the kind of person I didn’t want to run into here. It was her job to find my kind and throw them in the Prison for Magical Miscreants. That fate had always been my greatest fear. Nix and Del had good control of their power, but I never had. They could be around Order members without igniting suspicion, but that idea was foreign to me. Even with the nullification masking my own magic, I was still trembling. The fear was too ingrained.
I nodded at her as we walked past to reach the door, trying to keep my breathing even. Her gaze followed me, burning into my back.
We passed through the large doors into the main lobby of the museum, which was set up with a temporary stage at the far end and rows of folding chairs in the middle. Subdued flower arrangements had been placed at either end of the stage, giving the whole thing a funeral-like feel.
Lilies. The worst funeral flower.
“This is going to be a blast,” I said, then felt like a jerk. The whole point of this was to honor the Nullifier, who’d died to protect us all. I really needed to get my head out of my butt.
“Agreed,” Del said.
A crowd milled in the middle of the huge room, far more people than I’d expected. Several hundred, at least. It’d be standing room only.
A moment later, Aidan appeared in the crowd. His gray gaze landed on me, and a smile stretched across his face.
I grinned and jerked my chin upward in that lame greeting that frat boys do. It was ridiculous, but then, I was a bit ridiculous when I was around Aidan.
I’d started off our acquaintance all cool and collected. The collected had gone out the window pretty quickly, and now I was just trying to play it cool.
I was probably failing.
Aidan strode toward me, his big form easily cutting a path through the crowd. He was well over six feet and built like a Greek god—I’d gotten a peek last week and confirmed my suspicions that he looked even better out of his shirt—but it was his face that was frankly ludicrous. People shouldn’t be as handsome as he was. It made the rest of us uncomfortable. He looked like some kind of model—the rugged kind, not the pretty kind—and I wanted to point at myself and go “me?” every time he made it clear he liked me.
“Hey,” he said as he neared.
“Hey yourself.”
“Come here.” He put a hand behind my waist and pulled me toward him, then brushed a kiss against my cheek as he murmured in my ear, “Missed you.”
His rough voice sent a shiver over my skin. “Missed you, too. Did your lead work out?” I asked as Nix and Del joined my side.
“No. I can’t find transport charms anywhere. I’ve had four people on it for the last week, me included. Every wizard they check is suddenly sold out. And we’ve done everything we can to convince them to sell to us, but it’s not working.”
So, massive amounts of money, then. Aidan was the Origin, a descendent of the first Shifter, and currently the most powerful one in the world. In addition to being a massive badass of that nature, he was also ridiculously wealthy. Over the last month, he’d thrown a bit of that money around in scenarios like this.
Scenarios meant to protect me.
“Something weird is going on,” Nix said. “Transport charms have always been hard to come by, but not impossible.”
“Maybe I need to start making some,” Del said.
It was one of her gifts, related to her own ability to transport, but it was difficult to do and sapped her power for a long time, so we normally relied on buying them from wizards.
“Maybe,” I said.
“It’s Victor Orriodor, isn’t it?” Nix asked. “He’s responsible for the scarcity of the charms.”
“That was my thought. He’s got something planned, and if his appearances in your life are any indication, he’s gaining power.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face, suddenly weary. “I think you’re right. He needs those charms to sic his demons on me. And to capture other FireSouls. I just wish I knew what his endgame was.”
Aidan reached for my hand and squeezed. “We’ll figure it out.”
“Yeah.” I lifted my head. “We have to.”
He nodded approvingly. “Come on. I want to hear what they have to say.”
“Sure, but let’s stick to the back.” I followed him through the crowd, glancing back over my shoulder to make sure Nix and Del followed. Nix, who was right behind me, put her hands over her chest and made thumping heart motions. Del was making kissy faces behind Nix.
I hissed at them, then turned back around.
Aidan led us toward a darkened corner in the back where a massive statue of a female warrior loomed. It was perfect. She’d guard us, figuratively speaking, and I didn’t like the idea of being surrounded by other Magica while my powers were gone.
I looked toward the crowd, and Dr. Garriso caught my eye. He made his way toward us, looking so much better than he had after I’d saved him from Victor Orriodor’s portal last week. His white hair was neatly combed and his tweed suit freshly pressed. My shoulders loosened a bit. Thank magic he was okay. He was a tough old goat, and I was glad to see him back to his usual spry self.
But when he approached, the worry in his gaze was stark.
“Hi, Dr. Garriso. What’s wrong?”
“We have done an inventory of the museum and found a missing item. A massive dampening charm encased in the Gundestrop cauldron. It’s Celtic, and the artifact itself is ancient, found in a bog in Denmark. It’s quite large and heavily decorated. But the dampening charm that it houses is even more impressive. It’s the strongest of its kind, able to knock out the magical power of dozens of supernaturals at once.”
My breath whooshed out. When I could breathe again, all I could do was wheeze, “Shit.”
“And you have no idea what he might do with it?” Aidan asked.
“No, but I wanted to let you know. However he bypassed the museum’s security, he put a lot of money and power into it.”
That was no surprise. Victor Orriodor had a lot of both. But we were both seeking dampening charms? Why?
“Thank you for telling us, Dr. Garriso,” I said. “I’m glad to see you are feeling better.”
“Because of you, my dear.”
I gave him a quick hug, and he left to find his seat.
“Well, that’s a real kick in the pants,” I muttered.
“No kidding.” Del thumped her head back against the wall.
The lights flickered, signaling that the ceremony would begin soon.
“So how’s this going to go?” I asked.
“It won’t take long,” Aidan said. “Just some speeches, then we’ll meet the Order after. They’ll thank you, and it’ll be over.”
Okay, that wasn’t so bad. I just had to keep everything under control and act like a normal Magica.
I almost laughed. I’d never been normal, so this wouldn’t be easy.
We stood in silence and watched the chairs fill up. The lights dimmed until our corner was cast entirely in shadow and a subtle yellow glow illuminated the stage and the depressing flowers. Freaking lilies. Magic’s Bend might be full of Magica and Shifters, but our memorial practices were as dreary and boring as the humans’.
The museum looked so different tonight, full of people and not half disappearing from Victor Orriodor’s portal.
But what was that bastard’s end goal? When he’d created the portal, he’d done it to steal somethi
ng from this museum. He’d managed to get his hands on the dampening charm, but also the Chalice of Youth, which had been in Dr. Garriso’s office. Only a truly evil person could drink from it, and if they did, they’d become immortal.
So, definitely not a good thing to leave in the hands of a psychopath. But what he wanted with the dampening charm, I had no idea.
The lights on the stage glowed bright, catching my attention. A procession of black-clad Magica entered from the right. The power that rolled off them, varying signatures of all varieties, told me that they had to be upper-level members of the Order. They all strode out with slow steps, lending a gravity to their entrance that I was sure they got off on.
The last man to enter the stage came a few steps behind the rest. He wore an immaculate dark blue suit instead of black like the rest, but it was his face that made my skin turn cold.
Victor Orriodor.
He’d controlled his magic signature—the smell of rot and decay, the taste of death, and the feel of bee stings—so it seemed that the crowd had no idea what was in their midst.
My hand tightened on Aidan’s as my heart threatened to break my ribs. Why the hell was he here? Was he an Order member?
I wasn’t about to stick around to find out. Not when I didn’t have my magic to protect me. He was outnumbered against all the Magica in the room, but there was no way I’d hang out and let him see me.
But the Celtic cauldron. If he had it here, he could dampen everyone’s powers and overtake them.
I glanced at Del and Nix, whose wide eyes met my own.
“See if you can find the cauldron with your dragon sense. If it’s in the building, we need to know.”
They both closed their eyes, though their magic didn’t give off much of a signature. They were both being careful to control it around this many Order members.
Nix opened her eyes first. “It’s not here.”
“Seconded,” Del said.
Without the cauldron, he was definitely outnumbered. Whatever his reason for being here—and it might be because he was an Order member, magic forbid—he was playing the long game.
We had to get out of here. Nix jerked her head toward a side exit and I nodded, then tugged on Aidan’s hand. His gaze snapped to mine and he nodded.
