“I flunked wards at the Academy,” he said, “but I can still see them.”
“I know you did, but I feel better that you can see them before they shred us,” I whispered. “That will be real helpful.”
I wasn’t feeling better at all and I really didn’t enjoy the thought of coming across another exploding ward, but I needed these inhibitors removed. This was the only way I could think of short of turning myself in to the Enclave and having them do it.
We crossed the street and headed to the rear of the block. Circe’s house was opposite us as we cut into the alleyway. I didn’t see any Shadows or PTF vans. We crept quietly to the back door of her house. I was about to try the door when I heard the breathing behind me.
“I would not make any sudden movements if I were you,” said a female. “You are not PTF or Enclave, so I will give you twenty seconds to tell me who you are, or I leave you to your fate.”
“That sounds ominous,” Ross said. “What are we going to do…explode?””
I stared at him and he gave me a mischievous grin.
“Actually the wards you are standing in will strip the flesh from your bones slowly and then incinerate what is left,” she answered. “Twenty seconds after that there will be a contained explosion destroying the property, what’s left of you, and the Enforcers waiting inside.”
“And your neighbors?” he asked. “You would blow up citizens?
“They will remain unscathed,” she answered. “I am not a monster. Ten seconds.”
“Wait, Circe, I need to talk,” I said. “Please don’t mind him. He usually speaks first and thinks never.”
“Who are you?” she asked. “What do you want?”
I turned slowly and faced her. She was a tall blonde with an athletic shape. The first image I got was that of a Nordic goddess. I could see the strong family resemblance to Ghost in the strong cheekbones and piercing eyes.
“My name is Ava and I’m with the MID,” I said. “I’’m looking for your father.”
ELEVEN
“MID?” SHE ASKED. “You are the ones who investigate mystics, right?”
I nodded.
“Good, then you can rot in hell,” she said, backing away. “Enjoy your death.”
“I don’t think she likes the MID,” Ross whispered.
“Stop her,” I said. “Now.”
Ross disassembled a garden wall that was next to us and surrounded Circe with large blocks. They floated lazily around her head.
She stopped walking and smiled at me.
“This will not stop me,” she said. “I just need to wait until the ward activates.”
“I need your help,” I said.
She looked around at the blocks and crossed her arms.
“You have an interesting way of asking for help.”
“Can you stop the ward?” I asked. “Just hear me out.”
She stepped close to me and placed her hand on the ground for a moment.
“It is paused,” she said. “Once he drops the stones, I will listen.”
Ross let the stones fall gently to the ground.
“I need you to remove these,” I said, showing her my wrists and the inhibitors.
She stepped closer and grabbed one of my wrists.
“Why would you be wearing void inhibitors?”
I explained the events of the last day to her and she started shaking her head.
“I cannot undo my father’s wards—no one can,” she said. ““They can probably be delayed or masked, but that would take a level of skill I do not possess. I don’t think anyone is that good, honestly.”
“Two explosions convinced me otherwise,” I said. “Whoever is doing this has my uncle.”
“And is a skilled warder,” she said. “Or has access to my father.”
She held my wrists in her hands as she inspected the wards on the inhibitors. She looked in my eyes and nodded.
“I will remove these if you do something for me,” she said. “Do you agree?”
“Without hearing what it is, I don’t know if we can—” Ross started. I gave him a look and he went silent.
“Yes, I agree,” I said. “What do you need?”
“I need you to find my father,” she said. “I have searched his home and the places where he frequents, but he is nowhere. He was always a private person, but this is not like him.”
I looked in her eyes and saw the pain I felt. A gut-wrenching hole tugged at you every second you didn’t know. Your mind created worst-case scenarios and you tried to prepare against what might be coming, but there was always a sliver of hope. I saw that sliver in her eyes as well.
“I will find him,” I said. “And bring him back to you.”
She traced her fingers around the inhibitors and spoke under her breath. After several seconds, the inhibitors clicked open and fell into her hands. I felt the flow of power race into my body as the symbols on the backs of my hands flared. Inside the house, I heard the chirp of an auric calibrator.
The back door exploded outward as two Enforcers rushed at us. I felt their ability wash over me. Both were nulls. Circe slammed her hand on the ground and they stopped midstride.
“Are you going to melt them too?” Ross asked.
“I disabled that and it would take too long to reactivate,” she said. “The ward I have in place will hold them in stasis. They are Void Mystics, so it will not be effective for long.”
She placed the inhibitors in my hand as we ran back the way we had come. The sky grew lighter as we left the alleyway. She placed her hand in the ground again at the entrance of the alleyway.
“Something painful to distract them,” she said and smiled. “They still work”—she pointed at the inhibitors—“so be careful with them.”
I put them in an interior pocket and made a mental note to study them later.
“How will I find you?” I asked.
“You won’t,” she said as bullets raked across the wall next to us. “I will find you—now go.”
She ran across the street and disappeared between two cars. I shook my head at the sight.
How did she do that? Did she have a mystic circle in place?
“Time to go,” Ross said as he grabbed my arm. “You may want to consider charging that thing.”
He looked down the Black Heart that hung from my neck. I diverted some of my power to the crystal and ran across the street. We got to the Rhino when I felt a wave of energy wash over me, followed by screams. They had triggered the nasty surprise Circe had left for them. Whatever it was, they deserved it.
“Remind me never to piss her off,” Ross said as he looked back. “How do we find your uncle or Ghost?”
I looked at my aura and saw the familiar shimmering effect letting me know I was cloaked. I let the rest of my power work on healing any wounds I still had. I felt whole again.
“I need to make a call,” I said.
Ross made a face. “You’re going to call the mystery man, aren’t you?”
I needed information. I pulled out the phone Rafe had given me and dialed. It did its usual bouncing around until I got the silence.
“It’s me,” I said. “You have anything for me?””
“Plenty, but we can’t do this over a phone, not even one as secure as this,” Rafe said. “You are going to have the privilege of a tete-a-tete with yours truly.”
“You’re joking,” I said. “Face to face?””
“I never joke about compromising my security,” he said. “I will send you the time and address.”
“I have Ross with me,” I said.
“Yes, I know, bring him with you,” he said. “Don’t be late.””
TWELVE
“HE WANTS YOU to meet him?” Ross asked. “This is a setup, Ava. Don’t do it.”
“Do you have a better idea?” I asked.
“I could make some calls—”
“And let everyone know you’re running with a fugitive?”
“I don’t like it
,” he said. “This would be a perfect way to get you now that you have the cloak.”
“He says he has information for me, and if he wants to meet, it’s serious,” I said. “Besides, I’m not going alone, you’re coming with me.”
“You’d better believe I’m coming,” Ross said. ““This reeks and someone needs to watch your back.”
“I feel safer already,” I said and smiled. “With you back there I’ll be less of a target.”
He rolled his eyes. “Not even remotely funny,” he said. “Why would someone want your uncle?”
“I don’t know but he left me this at the house,” I said and gave him the note my uncle had written.
“I’ve heard that line before about energy,” he said. “Something my old instructor at the Academy would always say.”
“My uncle was the same way when I was training,” I replied. “He kept drilling that into me.”
I took the Rhino to the west side of the city and found one of those old diners that were rapidly disappearing. Ross went in to grab us some food when I got the message on my phone. One look at the location convinced me Rafe was insane. He wanted to meet at Sylph’s in thirty minutes.
“That place is going to be crawling with PTF,” Ross said when he got back with the food and I told him. “Does he want you to get caught?””
“I have a way in, but I have to make sure it’s okay with Buck,” I said. “The cloak should keep me off their calibrators.”
I called Sylph’s and Buck answered in his usual charming manner.
“Sylph’s, speak to me,” he said.
“I’m headed your way,” I said. “Can I use the same place?””
“Come in the way you left,” he said. “It’s hot in here.””
“Sounds like there’s still PTF on-site,” I said as I pulled off into a side street and drove across town.
“What a surprise,” Ross answered. “You plan on just driving up to the place and walking in the front door?”
“We’re taking another entrance.”
I pulled onto 15th Street and walked around the block to the building with the tunnel to Sylph’s.
We went downstairs into the basement. It took me a few minutes of looking before I found the door. I placed my hand on it and the wards around the entrance flared briefly for a second before it opened.
“It recognized you,” asked Ross. “You’ve used this passage before?””
I nodded as I entered and headed down the tunnel, followed by Ross.
“A few days ago, but I didn’t know it would do that.”
We got to the end of the tunnel and the entrance to the basement was open. I saw the familiar chaises and lounges. The nonagon in the center of the floor pulsed with energy. It gave off a dull orange glow that filled the space with a subdued light. The tables were all empty, except one.
“You won’t need your cloak in here,” a voice said. It was Rafe.
He was seated at one of the tables farthest from the center of the floor. Standing around him, I could just barely make out two figures. I stood at the table opposite Rafe. He was younger than I expected, with a boyish face and a dark complexion. If I had to guess, I would say Polynesian or somewhere from the South Pacific. His black hair hung loose to his shoulders and his dark eyes gleamed in the low light. He was muscular, but not overly so, filling out the expensive suit he wore. The waves of danger came from the two women beside him.
“Rafe,” I said, and nodded in his direction.
He made a gesture with his hand and I sat across from him. He smiled at me and then grew serious.
“Buck must really like you,” he said. “The basement is usually reserved for first-degree mystics or higher. Maybe there is more to you than what you show?””
“That would explain why I never heard of it,” Ross said.
“I’m here,” I said. “What do you have?””
“Good of you to come,” he said and produced a folder. He placed it on the table in front of him and rested his fingers lightly on it. “You are going to want to know what is in here.”
He pushed the folder across the table and pulled out what appeared to be a thin sheet of gray metal. It was letter-size and reflective. He placed it on the table and pressed a thumb against it. The metal unfolded and I realized I was looking at a laptop. Once it powered up, his fingers were a blur over the keyboard.
“Why couldn’t you just tell me this over the phone?”
He held up one finger and continued typing.
“Have you ever heard of the Kurokami?” he asked. “The Black Spirits?”
I shook my head no, but behind me, Ross cursed.
“Wait, where are my manners?” Rafe said. “Ava, Thaddeus—I hope you don’t mind me using your first name—this is Pei and Mei, my security.”
The two women gave me a slight nod but remained silent. I couldn’t tell them apart even with Rafe giving me their names. The edges of their bodies were hazy and indistinct and I understood now how they had earned their name—the Shimmering Twins.
“You’ve heard of the Kurokami?” I asked Ross.
“Of course he has,” Rafe said. “Every Enforcer, or in this case, ex-Enforcer, knows about the Black Spirits. It’s part of their training. It’s how they are trained.”
“What are they?” I asked. “Why would Enforcers need to know about them and not MID?”
“It’s more like who,” he said. “The Kurokami are the ghosts in the machine. They are everywhere and nowhere.”
“Is that why we’re meeting down here?”
“Precisely, since Sylph’s affords me a certain level of…security that I have not been able to replicate,” he said. “Even the Twins can barely maintain their shimmer, which is a testament to the power of this place.”
And a testament to their power.
“Whoever is doing this has Sebastian and probably Ghost,” I said. “I don’t have the luxury of time, Rafe.”
“You need to see this, and then I will explain,” he said and turned the laptop to me.
There was another news report playing on the screen. The reporter talked about how a window washer had fallen from his platform, became entangled in the cables, and resulted in the man being cut in two. They were still looking for the bottom half, which appeared to have gone missing. I knew that was a fruitless search. It was probably ashes.
“No,” I said. “Another one?”
“This one was an Air Mystic,” said Rafe. “There were a few strange things with this death, though.”
I know what he is going to say before he says it.
“The way he died had nothing to do with the cable,” I said. “Or the fall.”
“Exactly—once again the spin,” he answered. “So I dug a little and discovered our window washer—the Air Mystic—had something called cyanosis of the face. Do you know what that is?”
“Are you saying he was asphyxiated?”
“And then his body was severed with something incredibly hot,” he replied while looking at me intently. “Something only a Fire Mystic could use: a flame sword.””
I could feel my face start to flush. My power was leaking away from me. Behind me, Ross put his hand on my shoulder.
“I don’t use swords, much less flame swords,” I said, touching my truncheons. “It wasn’t me.”
My words came out sharper than I intended.
“Yes, I figured that, except the PTF isn’t as motivated to get to the truth as I am,” he said. “There was one other thing.”
“Another one of my truncheons?”
“Melted in the glass they found a symbol,” he said. “It looked like that.”
He pointed at my hand, which gripped the side of the table. He was pointing at my triquetra, my mystic family crest. Behind us, the stairs formed and dropped silently to the ground. I saw Buck on the last step. He nodded to Rafe and then motioned for me to join him.
“Excuse me,” I said and stood. The table smoked where I had gripped it.
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“By all means,” Rafe said as he gave a half bow.
I walked over to Buck and I knew he was upset from the set of his jaw.
“Get your power in check or get out,” he whispered. “I have citizens and mystics upstairs and the mystics are sensing something is off.””
“I’m sorry—” I began.
He raised a hand to cut me off.
“The Nine is active. If you unleash your power in here, which I don’t know how you’re even accessing it,” he said, his voice tight, “the failsafes will kick in upstairs and downstairs. It’s not going to be pleasant for a primary mystic. You won’’t be able to handle the backlash.”
“Understood,” I said.
I took several deep breaths and brought my power under control.
“Good, and we need to discuss how you even managed that, but not now,” he said. “Get this meeting finished.”
He headed back upstairs and I walked back to the table, somewhat shaken.
How did he sense my use of ability through the negating aspects of the nonagon? What is going on?
“I take it our host is perturbed?” he asked. “Probably wondering how a primary mystic like you could use her ability in his nine-sided room of negation?””
“Something like that,” I answered.
“I’ve been wondering the same thing, actually,” he said. “Are you certain you are only a primary?”
“You were discussing the Kurokami,” I said, not wanting to discuss my ability.
“This is what is not in the files,” he said. “The Kurokami is a secret arm of the Japanese Enclave. They make Enforcers look like rank amateurs. These are the black ops of the black ops. This group was once led by your grandfather—Ichigo Tanaka.”
“I’ve never heard of this,” I said. “Why wouldn’’t my uncle tell me this?”
“Did you get the part about secret organization?” he asked. “No one outside the Enforcers has heard or speaks of them. Enforcers who do are dealt with…permanently.”
“How did you find out about them?” I asked.
“I’m skilled and have earned some unwanted attention by getting this information,” he said. “There’s more. Two ruthless men led this organization. One they called Kaze—the wind of death, and the other was known as Sebu—the shadow of death.””
A Dream of Ashes: An Ava James Mystery (Chronicles of the Modern Mystics Book 1) Page 6
