Forbidden Magic: The Complete Collection

by Anya Merchant

  Victor watched her face for several seconds, trying to get a read on her intentions. It was almost impossible, in part due to how attractive and lovely her face was. Annette flicked her eyes up at him and smiled coyly, and Victor felt his ears tingle with warmth.

  “You still haven’t told me what you want from me,” said Victor. “I assume it’s to be a double agent? To work for you, and to keep working for him?”

  “Victor, we’ve only just started talking.” Annette reached across the table and set a warm hand on top of the back of his. “Let’s just relax, drink some coffee, and enjoy each other’s company, shall we?”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Victor saw Ella materialize beside the table. She was wearing a pink pair of running shorts and a tight, white crop top, as though she’d just finished with a workout. She walked over so that she was standing next Annette and then caught Victor’s eye.

  “I don’t think she’s told you any lies, yet,” she said.

  Victor shrugged one of his shoulders in a minuscule gesture, as though asking if that meant that it was alright for him to trust her. Ella, always there, with a better understanding of him than anyone else could possibly have, knew what it meant.

  “I don’t know if I’d say that you can trust her at this point,” she said. “But the enemy of your enemy is your friend.”

  Annette was watching Victor, and suddenly frowned. She turned to look in the space that Ella was standing in, but of course, saw nothing there.

  I can’t let her start to suspect anything, even if it would be a longshot for her to figure it out.

  “Do you do a lot of gardening?” asked Victor. Annette smiled and let out a short, tiny laugh.

  “Only a bit,” she said. “I enjoy it. But I can’t say I have all that much skill.”

  “So the big, fancy gardens outside…”

  “I have employees that come to sculpt them a few times a week,” she said. “Would you like a tour of them?”

  Victor nodded.

  As the two of them stepped into the front yard, Annette extended her arm to him, gesturing for him to loop his through it. They walked slowly along the path, toward the side of the property where a variety of plants and flowers grew in complicated arrangements.

  “I want you to feel comfortable trusting me, Victor,” said Annette. “That, more than anything, is my ulterior motive, if you’re looking for one.”

  She turned to look at him just as the wind blew through the yard, knocking down white petals that Victor didn’t recognize. A few of them landed on Annette’s head, standing out against her glossy black hair. She didn’t seem to notice, or if she did, she didn’t care.

  “Trust isn’t something that happens overnight,” said Victor.

  “I know that as well as you do,” she said. “And I also want to feel comfortable trusting you.”

  “You don’t trust me?” asked Victor. “That’s probably wise.”

  She nodded.

  “I have a feeling about you,” she said. “Call it faith, or hope, or maybe history repeating itself. I haven’t gotten to where I am today by doubting myself.”

  There was a small apple tree in the yard, and Annette gently steered the two of them over to it. She looked up at a branch that held two perfect looking apples on it, and then looked at Victor. He chuckled, and then reached up and pulled them down, handing one to her and taking a bite out of his own.

  “They aren’t ripe yet,” said Annette, watching as he began to chew. “I just wanted to see if I could get you to pick them without saying anything.”

  Victor suppressed the urge to glower at her and stubbornly continued to chew.

  “I want to know what’s really on your mind, Victor,” she said. “Do you know in job interviews, when they ask you where you see yourself in five, or ten years?”

  Victor nodded.

  “Are you asking me to answer that question, or just musing?”

  “I want an answer, but one that is guaranteed to be truthful,” she said. “And it just so happens that I have a way to get one.”

  Victor felt a stab of annoyance in his temples.

  “What, are you going to hitch me up to a lie detector?” He pitched the half eaten apple across her lawn and folded his arms. Another breeze pushed through the yard, and Annette leaned into it slightly, letting it blow her hair back behind her.

  “Something like that,” she said. “I’ll be honest with you, Victor. I really want to trust you. And I feel bad about giving you a test like this. But…”

  “But?” Victor stepped in a little closer to her, surprising himself with his boldness.

  “But I knew your father,” she said. “And I get the feeling that you’re just as unpredictable as he was.”

  Victor could see the truth of her words in the gleam in her eyes. A dozen questions burned on his lips, but he held them back, knowing that the subject would only prove to be a distraction.

  “The test,” he said. “Tell me more about it.”

  “I think showing you would be more appropriate.”

  Annette led him around to the back of the house, near where the pool and outdoor patio area were. A small door leading down to what appeared to be a cellar jutted out of the mansion’s foundation nearby. There was a fingerprint scanner next to the door, along with a second, more conventional lock. Annette pressed her thumb to it and then pulled a ring of keys out of her pocket, slipping one into the hole.

  Victor heard something click in the mechanism, and reached down to pull the door open for her.

  “Thank you,” she said. “Follow me.”

  A long stretch of stairs led down to a cellar that was much larger and nicer than what Victor had been expecting. The floor was polished concrete, and from the temperature of the room, it was apparent that some kind of heating system had been installed.

  It also reminded him of what he’d seen a couple of times in the research departments at Monteiro Tower. The walls were lined with computer stations, and in the center of the room straight a strange device that looked a bit like a high-tech electric chair. Victor looked over at Annette expectantly and realized that she’d been watching him, analyzing his reaction.

  “Do they have anything like this in Monteiro Tower?” she asked.

  “That would depend on what ‘this’ is,” said Victor.

  Annette did a slow circle around the device, smiling faintly.

  “It’s an experience simulator,” she said. “The computers in the room provide the processing power to allow a person to experience a new reality.”

  “Like the simulation rooms,” said Victor. “Yeah. We had something like this, then. But it worked differently.”

  “Victor,” said Annette. “I want to know where you really think you’ll be in five years. This machine will… give me a sense of that.”

  Victor stared at her, feeling his skepticism working its way up his back.

  “How can I trust that’s all you’ll do?” he asked.

  “That’s up to you,” said Annette. “If you’re here for honest reasons, then you’ll understand that it’s a rather necessary process that will expedite our relationship. If you’re here to eventually double-cross me, you’ll understand that refusing to take the test is the end.”

  I’m damned if I do, and damned if I don’t.

  Victor took a slow breath and then nodded.

  “Fine,” he said. “I’ll take the test.”

  Without prompting, he walked over and sat down in the chair, feeling the cold metal of its frame even through his clothes. There were two wrist straps almost identical to what would have been on an electric chair, and Annette set about fastening them over his arms. Victor tried to stay calm as she pulled the metal headpiece into position, looping a strap under his chin and pulling it secure.

  “It’s going to be… very sudden, when I turn it on,” said Annette. She walked over to the computer closest to the machine and began tapping on it.

  “That’s fine,” said Victor. “Go
ahead and-“

  CHAPTER 8

  Victor was outside, standing upright, and peering out into one of the bleakest landscapes he’d ever seen. He flinched backward, feeling a strange sense of vertigo, almost like he’d been knocked unconscious in the recent past.

  The ground in front of him stretched out for miles, charred black in some places, riddled with large craters and unnatural hills in others. There was a collection of old, ruined buildings spread out across it, most of them standing close to each other in two lines, as though they’d once been a small, rural town hugging close to the edge of a highway.

  The sky was a meek gray, and the air smelt of smoke and plastic. Victor took another step back. He spun around, feeling panic welling up in his chest. None of the scenery behind him was any more encouraging, just an empty, barren field full of metal wreckage and spots of brown grass.

  “You need to learn the difference between being bold and being stupid.”

  Victor yelped audibly as Ella materialized next to him, wearing the same running shorts and top she’d had on before. She looked annoyed and frowned at him as he met her eye.

  “Jesus Christ, Ella,” said Victor. “Warn me next time before you do that!”

  “Yeah, likewise, jackass,” she said. “You do realize that by strapping us into that machine, you took me in here with you?”

  Victor shook his head.

  Honestly, I’m glad that she’s here with me. I’ve grown used to her always being there.

  He opened his mouth to tell Ella as much and then saw the way she was looking at him.

  “If you’d asked me if this was a good idea,” she said. “I would have told you that it was a terrible one. Annette is going to learn about my existence, most likely.”

  “It can’t be helped now,” he said. “Besides, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?”

  Ella didn’t argue, though Victor knew that she did have a point. He needed to be more careful. He took a few steps forward. A thin layer of ash coated the top of the ground, and his shoes left footprints as he walked across it.

  “What is this supposed to be…?” he muttered. “It’s, well, straight-up post-apocalyptic.”

  He looked over at Ella for a reply, but before she could say anything, a shape tore across the sky, headed straight for him. Victor felt for his auras, but barely had time to decide which one to deploy when a person landed in front of him. He both did and didn’t recognize her.

  “Find anything?”

  Victor stared dumbly at Kiara, alive and well, and a good bit older than he remembered her. Her hair had grown out further, not as long as Lucy’s, but long enough to make a comparison a little more valid.

  She wore a dirty, ripped pair of jeans along with her leather jacket, which had what looked like a Kevlar vest underneath it. There were dark bags under her eyes, which were red and bleary. She looked tired, and more than just that, she looked hardened.

  “Well?” she repeated. “Did you find anything?”

  Victor walked over to her and pulled her into a tight hug. Kiara didn’t stop him, and after a second, she pulled back and planted a soft, full lipped kiss on his mouth.

  “Alright, that’s all for now,” she said. “We have to finish the patrol.”

  “What are we…” Victor trailed off, thinking of the best way to approach with his questions. “I feel a bit foggy right now. Can you give me a rundown on the situation?”

  Kiara looked at him as though he’d just asked what planet they were on. Ella was standing unseen next to her, and mimicked a bit of the look, with a small amount of jealousy added into it.

  “The situation is that we need to watch for the next Omega attack,” said Kiara. “We got word from Queensville last night. Apparently, another one of the remaining towns was attacked.”

  “An ‘Omega attack’?” Victor frowned, not wanting to wear his ignorance openly, but not having any real choice in the matter. “What the hell is-“

  With lightning fast, diamond aura enhanced reflexes, Kiara grabbed Victor’s shoulder and pulled him flat to the disgusting ground. A small, oddly shaped aircraft appeared in the sky on the horizon, passing over the area with a strange, spinning flight path.

  They waited for several minutes, each frozen in place, as it cut off to the side without passing over them. Only once it was out of sight did Kiara stand and help Victor to his feet.

  “What’s going on with you?” asked Kiara. “Tell me the truth.”

  Victor shook his head.

  “I honestly haven’t the slightest idea,” he said. “Just, uh, pretend like I have amnesia.”

  Kiara looked skeptical and more than a little annoyed, but she shrugged and seemed to accept his explanation.

  “We don’t have time for this right now,” she said. “Just be ready to fight. If that lookout saw us, the Omegas will know that we’re outside the city.”

  “And that’s bad… why?”

  “Because they’re the ones trying to kill us,” said Kiara. “Hell, maybe your fogginess is the result of something they did. I have no idea. Just try to stay close to me.”

  She started walking toward the ruined buildings in the distance. Victor followed at her side, pondering the situation and feeling increasingly unnerved by what was happening.

  “There,” said Kiara. “Fuck! Get ready!”

  Something dropped down to the ground in front of them, moving too fast and hitting with too much impact force for Victor to make out what it was. He took a staggered step back, shielding his eyes.

  A man stood at the center of a large, newly form crater. He was surrounded by a bubble shaped forcefield, which held back the dust in the air, but paradoxically seemed to attract larger pieces of debris, holding them in stasis at an even radius.

  “Kavutcha khem nombra. Mexixhk Al Ex.”

  Kiara bound her scarlet aura and hurled a blast of flame larger than Victor had ever seen anyone, including himself, manage before. She didn’t wait to see it hit, immediately grabbing his hand and pulling him into flight with her as she bound her diamond aura and took to the air.

  Victor saw the man, the Omega, shrug off the blast as though it had been a bb gun bullet. He watched them retreating for a moment, and then took off after them, closing the distance at a faster speed than what should have been possible.

  “This is it!” screamed Kiara. “I, I’m sorry!”

  “What’s going on?” yelled Victor.

  “If you manage to get back to Undercliff, tell them both that I love them and that I’m sorry.” Her voice cracked in a way that made Victor’s heart ache with sadness.

  “Tell who?”

  “John and Lucy,” she said. “Our-“

  The Omega sent a blast of pure energy sailing to them that ripped the air in advance of it, creating an ear-splitting sonic boom. Victor slammed into Kiara, pushing her out of the way, and putting himself in front of the blast. It hit him head on, and the entire world burned bright as his body disintegrated.

  CHAPTER 9

  Victor thrashed against the metal chair’s restraints, grunting and making sounds of distress and panic. His eyes were open, but it took him a moment to process Annette standing in front of him, waiting for something.

  She’s probably waiting for me to calm the fuck down.

  He took a deep breath and nodded. Annette walked over and loosened the straps. Victor stood up, opened his mouth to say something, and felt his body double over and begin to vomit.

  “Shoot,” said Annette. “I should have remembered to bring the bucket.”

  “…My bad,” managed Victor. “That… What the fuck was that?”

  “Relax.” Annette stood behind him and softly rubbed his shoulders as a second spasm wracked Victor’s stomach. “None of it was real. The machine is just superb at making it seem like it is.”

  “It was… the future,” said Victor. “The world was fucked up.”

  “It was a simulation,” she said. “A combination of your conscious and subcon
scious expectations interpreted through our computer’s dream engine.”

  Victor grimaced. He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth and slowly stood up, shamefully glancing down at the mess he’d made.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll give one of my employees a bonus to come down here and clean it up,” said Annette, with a smile. “Do you want to come back upstairs to the mansion and lie down for a bit?”

  Victor rubbed his forehead. He felt as though he was coming off a bad flu, and his movements were sluggish.

  “Does this mean I passed the test?” he asked. Annette’s smile spread even further across her face, and she nodded.

  The sky was dark when he emerged from the cellar, which caught him off guard. He looked over at Annette, who shrugged her shoulders slightly.

  “Time doesn’t work the same in our simulations as it does in the outside world,” she said. “It’s still the same day, but probably hours later than you were expecting.”

  “What time is it?” asked Victor.

  “Close to 10 PM.” Annette frowned. “I spent most of the day checking in on you and making sure that the simulation was running properly.”

  Victor shook his head slowly and ran a hand through his curly hair.

  “Why don’t we pick up where we left off tomorrow morning?” said Annette. “You could use your sleep.”

  Victor felt his sluggish mind taking longer to process her words than it should have.

  “Uh, right,” he said. “I’ll… see you tomorrow.”

  He took a step away from Annette, preparing to use his diamond aura to take off. She grabbed his arm before he could.

  “I don’t think you’re in the right state of mind for air travel,” she said. “Please, let me have my driver take you home.”

  “…Okay,” he said. It seemed like the better option to him. The idea of crash landing on his front lawn was unappealing enough to make it a no brainer.

  A limo pulled out of the mansion’s gigantic garage a few minutes later and stopped in front of Victor. He nodded to Annette, who waved to him from outside the front doors, and then climbed in. Wordlessly, the driver pulled out through the gate and onto the street.