Institute of Magic

by Linsey Hall

  “They have an identifying mark,” Lachlan said.

  “And since they’re naked, we should be able to see it.” At least stripping down would have a greater purpose.

  10

  Since we were going to be spying at the baths, we needed listening devices. I called Jude on my comms charm and explained what the situation was. Within thirty minutes, Hedy arrived, using a transportation stone and apparently charming her way through the gate.

  She arrived at Fabio’s house dressed in one of her usual long, flowing silver dresses and met us in the room with all the low couches.

  She took in the scene, her eyes wide. “This place is amazing. Like I’ve stepped back in time.”

  “Isn’t it?” I said. I really liked being in a place where the past had come back to life.

  “I’m definitely coming back for vacation.” Her gaze turned serious. “But I hear you have a lead?”

  “We do.”

  “Good. I’ve brought two hearing charms.” She held out her hand, and two earrings sat there. A glittering gold one and a shiny one that looked like titanium or something. “Hopefully they’ll pass as jewelry.”

  I glanced at Lachlan. He really didn’t look like the jewelry type, but he didn’t hesitate to clip the charm onto his ear. “Thank you, Hedy.”

  “Absolutely. Best of luck.”

  I took the golden charm and clipped it on, saying goodbye to the witch. Then I turned to Lachlan. “Ready?”

  He nodded.

  Our guide, Kyle, was a slender man in his late twenties. He didn’t speak much as he led us through the bustling streets of Pompeii, but I was so busy looking around that I didn’t mind the silence.

  We passed by numerous bakeries, each of which had its own collection of large hourglass-shaped millstones. They were cranking away even at this hour, grinding the flour for the bread that would bake early in the morning.

  On the less savory side of things, there were a lot of people loitering outside the bars, drinking and smoking and having a good time. I was on the receiving end of more leers than normal, which meant that my stink eye got a good workout.

  “Busy place at night,” Lachlan murmured.

  “Seriously. All the life takes place out in the streets.”

  “Or in the baths.”

  “So we’ll split up? You check out the dude’s side; I’ll check out the gal’s side. And we can meet back at your friend’s place once we find something?”

  “Good plan.”

  Our guide stopped in front of an ornately decorated building and swept out his arms. “Here we are.”

  “Thank you, Kyle,” Lachlan said.

  We left Kyle and climbed the wide stairs to the entrance. A woman with long black hair and wide dark eyes waited in the entry foyer, which was bigger than my apartment back home.

  We stopped in front of her, and Lachlan took over. “We’re guests of Fabio Laretti.”

  She smiled. “Welcome. We’re so glad you could come. Would you like the separated baths, or the joined one?”

  Separated or joined?

  Understanding dawned, and my cheeks heated.

  There was a joined one for the people who were modern or brave enough to not mind wandering around naked in mixed company.

  I glanced quickly at Lachlan.

  I was so not ready to see him naked. Not that I wasn’t curious—real curious—but it would completely fog my mind. I’d be in no state to hunt bad guys.

  “We’ll start with the separated baths,” Lachlan said.

  The rest was clear. If we couldn’t find our target there, then we’d worry about getting naked together and hunting in the joined section.

  I really didn’t think I could handle the stress of that. Not gracefully, at least. I would definitely fall flat on my ass while naked. I could already see it.

  The woman gave us a few directions—all of which went over my head as I was imagining falling on my ass, naked—then we were off.

  Lachlan and I traded one last look, then went through the separate doors that the woman had mentioned. A sign above my doors that was done in a mosaic pattern made of tiny stones read Apodyterium.

  I had to guess it was the changing room. It turned out that I was right.

  And boy, was it fancy.

  It was laid out roughly like a locker room at a modern gym, but it was built of stone with beautiful frescoes on the walls. Nymphs and animals frolicked all around as women stripped out of their clothes and stacked them in little cubbies. There were people dressed in all manner of clothes, from ancient Roman to modern.

  I found a cubby near the entrance to the baths and stripped quickly.

  Muffin appeared in front of me, peering around.

  This is what humans do for fun?

  “I feel you,” I muttered. “I’m not so sure myself. But shouldn’t you be on the boys’ side?”

  He gave me a look that said I was an idiot. I’m a cat.

  “Right, of course.” A pile of fluffy towels sat nearby, and I grabbed one and wrapped it quickly around myself. I definitely wasn’t used to wandering around naked in front of a whole lot of people. They might not have been looking, but I still liked my security blanket of a towel.

  How had the ancient Romans done it?

  Then I remembered their public toilets—long benches with holes cut in them. If they could manage that side by side, then they definitely could handle a little public nudity.

  As I headed into the first bathing chamber, Muffin trotted alongside me. No one complained, and he was a great bodyguard once the claws started flying.

  I tried to surreptitiously check out the backs of the other women’s necks. Hopefully no one labeled me a creeper, but at least I was keeping my gaze above the shoulders.

  A woman walked by us wearing a bikini. Swimsuits were allowed?!

  Damn. Would have been nice to know that.

  Muffin huffed. Look at her. She shouldn’t be out in a bikini.

  I glanced down at the judgmental little cat. “She looks like an actual supermodel. Her legs went up to her neck, and her boobs totally defied gravity. Like spaceships.”

  Exactly! Bad for my self-esteem. He wiggled so his little belly jiggled. I laughed, then turned my attention back to the hallway. We were almost to the first room.

  I stepped through a doorway into a room that had a huge, round pool. Steps surrounded it on all sides, and women lounged around, talking and resting. A few swam in the middle, but most floated toward the edges, their arms resting on the side of the pool. The ceiling was domed overhead and painted with a beautiful forest scene.

  I gripped my towel to my chest and sucked in a deep breath.

  Funny how I could fight a dozen demons, but this had me nervous.

  Culture was a weird thing, but hard to escape.

  Have fun. I’m going to go lick my butt. Muffin trotted off.

  I took off the towel and hung it up, then stepped toward the pool.

  Hey, this wasn’t so bad.

  Kinda freeing, actually.

  I dipped my toe in and shivered.

  The cold bath.

  There was no way to avoid it, though. There were so many women in here. Over a hundred, at least. Their voices filtered through the charm at my ear, and I had to focus to separate them out.

  Like Fabio had said, most of them were gathered in small groups, talking. I resisted touching the little charm that allowed me to hear them. Hopefully it would pass as an earring and not a listening device.

  I submerged fully, then floated around the pool, trying to be sneaky about checking out the backs of other women’s necks. With my listening device, I caught snippets of conversation—gossip, lectures, and a few business transactions that sounded like they were worth a lot of money.

  They sounded legal, though. Or at least not dangerous. The selling of massive quantities of a fish sauce called garum and a silver trade. There were a few neck tattoos, but they were the normal sort made of black or colored ink. No silver cir
cles.

  Shivering, I climbed out of the cold bath and grabbed my towel, then headed to the next archway. A mosaic sign above read Tepidarium.

  Muffin trotted over to join me. I hope this one is warmer.

  “Don’t get in,” I muttered. I could only imagine the response if the little gremlin jumped into the pool and started swimming around.

  I do what I want. And I am a lovely swimmer. He twitched his tail.

  This room had a rectangular pool, and most bathers were standing in the middle. On the left side of the room, a band was stationed. It was made up of all women, and they played a variety of instruments, many of which I didn’t recognize. The music was unfamiliar, too, but it sounded old. Roman, probably, led by the two ghostly members who had probably played this same music two thousand years ago. The floor was warm underfoot, like they had some kind of heating mechanism down there. I wiggled my toes, starting to enjoy this.

  Man, the Romans knew how to party.

  It was easier to ditch my towel this time, and the water turned out to be slightly warmer. Tepid.

  Unfortunately, my hunt didn’t reveal any women with silver circle tattoos who were talking about dangerous business. At one point, I thought I caught sight of a pair of gleaming green eyes in the darkened shadows underneath a marble bench. Muffin was stalking around, hopefully hunting silver circles like I was.

  He was helpful, but I prayed Bojangles wasn’t here.

  I could just imagine him taking a flying leap into the bath.

  As I climbed out of the water, I wondered if Lachlan was having any luck on his side. If our criminals were men, I’d never find them.

  Unless they were in the joined section.

  I pushed that thought away and picked up my towel. Muffin trotted out to join me. “I can’t believe no one minds you being here.”

  I’m very charming.

  I wasn’t sure I’d go that far, but I agreed. It wasn’t smart to insult a creature who could rub his butt over all of your belongings.

  The next room had a round bath. The air and floor were much warmer, and there were nooks cut into the stone walls where one could sit and chat. There were at least one hundred people, and all of the nooks were full.

  This looked promising.

  I hung up my towel and got in, used to the drill by now. This water was much hotter—like a Jacuzzi. I swam aimlessly, which was kind of weird in the hot water. Almost no one else was swimming, but I had to make the rounds.

  As I swam, my hearing charm picked up snippets of conversation, but it was all boring stuff. Love lives, jobs, crappy bosses, a few business transactions.

  Then it wasn’t so boring at all. I stiffened.

  “Where is the drop-off point?” a voice said.

  Drop-off point?

  Now that was interesting.

  Slowly, I spun in the water, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from.

  In one of the nooks, two women sat. One with dark hair, one with light. Both were leanly muscular, with hard eyes and stern mouths. They looked like they knew how to commit some crimes. One had a bruise all along her jaw, and the other had one on her shoulder.

  From fighting?

  They were both covered with faded knife scars, many of which looked like my own scars.

  Yeah, these ladies knew their way around a demon fight.

  Unfortunately, both had long hair that covered the backs of their necks.

  But the demons in the Paris sewers had been talking about delivering the spell to a woman.

  As subtly as possible, I tried to swim closer. I needed to get a peek at their necks.

  “The sorcerer is nearly finished, and he wants the spell soon, so I’ve scheduled the drop,” the blonde one said. “It’s been hard to evade Lachlan and his goons.”

  Jackpot!

  But goons?

  I was no one’s goon.

  I tried to suppress the scowl and spun in the warm water, trying to act like I was just chilling.

  But this water was damned hot. Sweat poured down my temples. I swam toward the side wall of the large pool and climbed up to sit on the submerged bench.

  I’d found a lead.

  Could I fight them? Should I fight them?

  No. Though I had weapons in the ether, it’d be better if I didn’t alert Lachlan’s enemy that we were onto them. They didn’t have the spell with them, at least not now, so there was nothing to be gained.

  I listened intently.

  “My mages are ready to meet at the port tomorrow night,” the blonde woman said. “Is your side ready for the drop?”

  “They are,” the dark-haired one said. “We’ll meet at the assigned spot. But he really wants to pick up the spell here?”

  “The port is one of the only places where the portal can appear. We have no other choice.”

  The port.

  I stifled a smile. I was onto something here.

  Surreptitiously, I peeked at the women, waiting to see if they would say anything else.

  The dark-haired woman was staring right at me, eyes curious. When her gaze landed on my ear and narrowed, my heart rate spiked.

  Shit.

  Time to go.

  As casually as I could, I climbed out of the pool, not bothering to go to the official stairs.

  “You!” the woman shouted.

  “Me?” I tried to look confused. “I sorry—no English.”

  I prayed she bought my broken accent.

  “What the hell is on your ear?”

  “I no—” I shook my head, my mind racing.

  She climbed out of the water, looking angry as a bull.

  “You crazy!” I spun around and walked quickly toward my towel. A shout and a splash sounded, and I glanced behind. The other one had climbed out of the water. A third woman had gotten in their way, it looked like, and they’d shoved her right into the pool.

  Holy fates.

  I started running. I didn’t want to blow my cover and have the drop-off not take place. But how the heck would I do that? Would they even believe that I was just a frightened woman running from them because they were crazy threatening?

  How the hell did I preserve the drop-off and not die at the same time?

  I sprinted around the pool, naked as a jaybird and way too close to getting hit in the face with my own boobs. I dodged another woman, darting around a group of naked grandmothers, then leapt over a bench.

  Muffin was nowhere to be seen.

  Could I get them alone and capture them? Force them to do my bidding?

  I glanced back. They neared me. There was a green glow around the dark-haired one’s hand. That looked bad.

  It smelled like death, and probably would go a long way toward delivering it.

  Ah, shit.

  Add running for my life, naked to my list of problems. I darted behind a column, panting.

  To the left, a blast of green light plowed into the tiled wall. Shards exploded outward. I ducked, covered my face. The tiny ceramic slivers sliced my arms and legs, but I barely felt it. When the worst was over, I peeked. A hole had appeared in the wall, about three feet deep.

  Shit.

  That woman had some serious magic.

  Could my weakened shield stand up to that?

  No.

  And I definitely couldn’t capture them. I was way overpowered.

  A shriek rent the air, sounding like the depths of hell had made a baby with a cat.

  I peered around the column.

  The place had exploded in chaos. All three of the Cats of Catastrophe had arrived. Bojangles was rampaging, his crossed eyes wild as he stirred the patrons into a frantic race. Princess Snowflake III had leapt on the dark-haired woman and was going for the throat.

  Don’t kill her!

  I didn’t dare scream it—I didn’t want them associating me with these insane beasts, though that may have been a vain hope.

  Princess pulled back, her fangs glinting.

  It was as if she heard me.


  Thank fates.

  Muffin hurtled along the ground, then leapt into the air and plowed into the other woman’s belly. She crashed backward, arms flailing.

  I had an advantage now. Should I try to capture them?

  Oh fates, I had no idea.

  A dozen burly women rushed into the room, each one wearing a uniform that looked like an ancient Roman version of the police. Their hard eyes swept the room.

  My dark-haired nemesis spotted them, her eyes flaring wide. She looked at her friend, who was fighting off Princess Snowflake III, red scratches covering most of her upper body. “Chloe! We have to split!”

  They didn’t want to get caught by the police.

  Which meant I probably didn’t want to either.

  Chloe threw off Princess Snowflake III and ran for it, darting toward the far exit. The other woman followed.

  If I went after them, I’d have to run right by the guards.

  Too risky, especially since I didn’t know what I’d do when I caught them.

  So I slipped out the side entrance, my heart pounding. I couldn’t go to the dressing room—that was way too far away, and the guards stood between me and it. Magic sparked around them—no way I could get past all twelve.

  Cover me! I asked the cats, hoping they could somehow read my mind. Or read the situation, at least.

  Bojangles was still going wild, tearing down every towel and knocking every bottle of lotion off the shelves. Normal cat stuff, basically. It was highly effective.

  I found a spare towel and wrapped it around myself, then tried to find my way out.

  The baths were a maze, and I slipped through a garden and past a public restroom. It was in the ancient Roman style—just one long bench with multiple holes. There were a couple ghosts inside, each sitting on their throne, but no living humans. A ghostly quartet was in the middle of the bathroom, playing a cacophonous melody.

  So weird.

  “You! Stop!” The voice sounded from behind me.

  I glanced back. Guard.

  I picked up the pace, racing through the rest of the baths, darting into the men’s by accident, then veering out just as quickly. By the time I lost the guards and found a side exit, I was sweating and panting.

  So much for getting clean at the baths.

  The alley was dark and quiet, and I leaned against the wall, desperately trying to catch my breath.