Carter saw it first, because I felt him grab my hand a fraction of a second before I realized what was happening. Ahead of us, where I hadn’t seen anything unusual before, a wall of water appeared, lunging towards us with momentous power.
My instincts were to freeze, the shock overtaking me. I’d have expected the same from Carter, but either I was wrong or he recovered faster, because he was pulling me behind him as he erupted into a dead sprint.
The flash flood at my back, Carter at my front, I pushed myself numbly forward. A rising panic threatened to overtake me as the danger of the moment truly began to set in. I had no idea where I was going, guided only by the tug on my arm, until I heard a voice.
“In here!” someone yelled.
And suddenly we were running through a door that slammed behind us. I took a few moments to catch my breath before I turned to see the person who’d closed it. A woman with dark hair and tan skin, not much older than us. She wore denim shorts and...flip flops? Seriously, who wore flip-flops? I couldn’t remember the last time I’d even seen a pair.
She pointed towards a flight of stairs, and we all silently ascended, the mood grave. Once we reached the roof, Carter headed straight to the edge to survey the area. With nothing better to do, I joined him. Giving myself a clear view of what was happening to Dr. Berti’s lovely vehicle.
The funnel of water bashing against the car shouldn’t have existed. It should have been spilling over onto the lower ground of the Circus Maximus, but instead, it was like an invisible barrier had been erected. Channeling the flow directly down the road Carter and I had been driving on. The shops we’d been heading to, on the other side of the field, remained completely untouched. A small gathering of people formed on that street, all of them staring at the unnatural disaster in awe.
I watched with a curious detachment as the water gushed past the sides of the car, spilling into it through the open doors. Garbage drifted past at alarming speeds. If we’d still been down there when the water had hit, I didn’t think we’d have gotten out of the car without being swept up ourselves.
A cold dread settled inside my bones. We wouldn’t keep getting lucky if something like this happened too many times. This had to stop. I had to make it stop.
All of us—me, Carter, the mystery woman, and the distant crowd outside the shops—waited for the flood to die down in shocked silence. I felt like I was in a trance. Nowhere to go, nothing to do, except wait for it to be safe.
The mystery woman came up beside us at some point, running her eyes over the scene with a disaffection I wished I could emulate. Just in time for the rise in water level to start physically pushing the car back, slowly sweeping it away.
“On the bright side,” she said. “The water isn’t crushing your car into a tin can. Hi, by the way. I’m Jessie. The Remus asked me to keep an eye on you.”
The House of Remus was keeping tabs on us? I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Actually, on second thought, I didn’t feel so bad about it, since I was still alive. “You made it just in time,” I told her, letting the relief seep into my voice.
A surprised chuckle escaped from her. “You have no idea how appropriate that is. I always make it just in time. It’s what I am.”
Carter and I exchanged a look, her statement actually managing to draw our attention away from the car we could have been trapped in. “It’s what you are?” I asked.
“Oh, that’s right,” she said. “You guys don’t know how that works. I don’t know what it’s like for other legends, but for the Roman ones—and the Greeks, too—our powers derive from something to do with the legend we’re descended from. As in, something from their abilities or adventures, as told in their stories, have passed on to us.”
I remembered Tony talking to that group of legends when we got the keys from him, the discussion they’d been having. “Like how the culture is derived from your ancestors’ personality?”
Shit, if she answered that question and Tony found out we’d had this conversation without him, he’d definitely kill me.
Jessie nodded, pleased. “Yeah. Our identity depends on that legend. So, here in the Aventine, we stay as true to the original Remus as we can. Some people even believe we’ll lose our power if we don’t.”
That was super weird. Having abilities that depended on holding to a certain lifestyle? That sounded ridiculous—
Well actually, now that I thought about it, that might not have been so different from being an athlete and having your strength depend on your workout schedule. Or being a scientist and having your knowledge depend on keeping up with the literature.
“So,” Carter said, with apparent interest. “You said you make it in time? What does that mean, and where does it come from?”
“When Remus and Romulus chose their hills, Remus was the first to see a sign from the gods. So one of the powers we gained from him is timing. I never miss out because someone beat me to it. I can’t.”
“What does that even mean?” I asked.
“It means I would always have gotten to you in time to usher you away from the flood. That wasn’t luck, it was destiny. It means if you ever get attacked again, I’ll be there in time. You can count on me, because so long as I’m looking out for you, I literally can’t not be there for you.”
“That sounds useful,” Carter said.
And completely nonsensical. How did something that happened once due to luck, or coincidence, get passed down to someone’s descendants? Maybe all of the Houses claiming this prestigious sort of ancestry really were frauds. Maybe they looked to those old stories, and drew connections that weren’t really there, because they wanted to believe in their illustrious lineage. But that wasn’t something I planned on mentioning, ever.
Jessie’s eyes fell on me with a strange intensity. “You’re from the American frontier,” she said.
I blinked at the non sequitur. “Yes?”
“The wild lands at the edge of civilization, on the verge of driving the humans out. Where local law rules, higher authority barely has a hold, and each community is alone against the world.”
Nobody liked to hear the disasters that shaped their lives outlined in such stark terms, and I wasn’t an exception. I narrowed my eyes at her. “What’s your point?”
“Tell me about your legends,” she said. “They don’t have Houses, do they? Tell me about them.”
My guard was up, and I already felt defensive about the questioning. But all three of my family members would have answered her, in my position. Dad, to rack up points for friendliness. Mom, because it cost nothing and might gain something. Tommy, because intellectual discussion and the sharing of knowledge...blah, blah, insert something abstract here.
“I don’t know about any all-human or all-legend communities on the frontier, though that doesn’t mean that they don’t exist,” I said carefully. We had legends everywhere, not just the frontier, mixed in with the general population. They would have immigrated in the same ways everyone else had, or been there already among the indigenous people.
“And they cooperate?” Jessie asked, a serious light in her eyes. “Do they really cooperate, those legends and those humans?”
“Within the same community, generally yes,” I told her, a little confused about why this mattered to her. “Though each one is different. I can’t speak for any communities except my own, and maybe some of our more steadfast allies.”
She turned away, her eyes clouding over as she retreated internally. Meanwhile, I looked back at the street to find the car completely gone. The current had actually swept it away. How did we miss that? On the plus side, the water was receding. I didn’t know what sort of damage the flood could do further along the road, but the source had probably been cut off. I tapped Carter on the shoulder and pointed out the missing vehicle.
“Whoa,” Carter said. “Now that’s a flood.”
Jessie craned her head, then laughed, the sound deep and rich. “They managed to destroy your car, but barely got
your feet wet.” Then suddenly, her smile turned into a grimace. “I’m going to have to assess the damage, aren’t I? Back to work, huh?”
She trudged towards the exit with a beleaguered sigh. Overly pointed questioning aside, I decided I kinda liked her. She’d fit right in with the rest of my team, sure enough. I would pay money to watch her interact with Hayley, though I imagined Tony might pay money for the opposite.
I turned to Carter. “You don’t think it’ll start again if we try to leave, do you?” They’d already tried to kill us twice. Why not once more?
“Well, we noticed it the first time,” he replied.
“Good point.” It had taken them too long to cause the flood, and if they could’ve done a better job of it, they would’ve. This was their second attempt, and we’d caught it in time even when we didn’t know what to look for. We headed out of the building.
“Looks like our ride’s missing, now.” Carter extended his arms in a stretch. “Can we still get coffee?”
He was pulling off the casual thing much better than I thought I was capable of at the moment, but I tried to match it anyway. “The shop looks okay, so why not? We’re here, anyway. And people are watching now. That was a pretty shoddy assassination attempt if it wasn’t supposed to attract attention.”
I winced when I realized that last sentence would have tipped my hand. Criticizing the attempt to murder me like it didn’t matter wasn’t going to fool anyone, least of all Carter. Mercifully, he chose not to comment.
At least it was less likely, now, that the Remus had anything to do with it. This wasn’t technically his territory, but his people owned shops here and he had an interest in keeping it safe. Even though no one got hurt, business would probably suffer for some time, and even the people working here might stay clear for a while. Until the Remus reassured them.
I took a moment to think things over, determine where we stood. “The thing to worry about is that they might still be around,” I said.
“We’ll have to walk back, but that could make it easier to hide. So we’ll take an obscure route, make sure we lose anyone trying to find us. No big.” He sounded like he was trying to reassure me. Well, it was working. The panic had passed, and the knowledge that Jessie was around—and literally couldn’t not make it in time—helped settle my nerves. In that moment, I really believed we’d make it back okay.
I was starting to get pissed off, though.
We headed to the crowd across the Circus Maximus, our shoes squishing along the way. I tried to ignore the weird, soggy feel against my feet. When we got close enough, people started approaching us, asking if we were all right. I recognized the owner of the shop we were headed to, pulling his wheelchair up to us so he could express his concern.
We barely had a chance to respond, before Jessie materialized again, practically out of nowhere. “They’re fine. They’re tough. Any chance we could get coffee?”
He didn’t even charge us.
Chapter Eight
LESS THAN TEN MINUTES after we left the coffee shop, I caught sight of the parking lot. The trip was shorter than I’d realized. We hadn’t really needed the car at all, though it had felt safer at the time.
Luckily, everyone except Pradip was scattered around the park. I started approaching Tony to gather us all together, when Dr. Berti’s eyes fell on me from her place on the balcony, the Remus leaning towards her and saying something I couldn’t hear. She tracked me and Carter as we assembled the team. By the time we moved to approach her, she and the Remus were both openly watching us—she with a slight frown, the Remus with curiosity.
“So what’s going on?” Tony asked. “Also, give me back the keys.” Talk about irony.
“About that,” Carter said, ensuring everyone’s attention zeroed in on him. “I can give you the keys, but they won’t be much good.”
“Why not?” Tony asked, with a resigned note to his voice that indicated he knew he wouldn’t like the answer.
Might as well tear off that band-aid. “Because the car got swept away in a flash flood,” I said.
Silence, as everyone else took a moment to stare at us.
Tony’s glance moved from the drinks in my hands to the brown bag in Carter’s, his eyes growing wider by the second. “And you decided to rescue the coffee?” he said, incredulous.
Hayley, ignoring Tony’s outburst, looked us over with concern. “You guys are okay, right?” I doubted anyone but me and Carter picked up on the fear hiding behind her eyes, the slight tremble in her fingers. Hayley was really good at covering up everything that mattered.
“We’re fine,” Carter said, shooting her a reassuring smile.
Then the Remus spoke, his voice tight. “Was this a natural event?” From the look in his eyes, I was pretty sure he already knew the answer.
I shook my head in response.
“Where did it happen?”
Knowing he wouldn’t like it, I hesitated before speaking. “By the Circus Maximus.”
“So, in my territory.” His eyes flickered closed for a moment, his form drooping slightly. I could sympathize. Before, this was someone else’s problem. He’d had to get involved because of his association with Dr. Berti, but nonetheless, it was happening to someone else. Now the problem had arrived on his doorstep.
“What were the two of you even doing out there, anyway?” Luca demanded, suddenly brimming with a tense anger that surprised me. “Why didn’t you guys bring me?”
Why on earth would we have done that? And what did he even have to be upset about? “I’m sorry, did you want to get caught out in a flood, too?”
The look in his eyes was hard and frustrated. “You know it’s dangerous out there right now,” he said. “And you two just went? For a beverage?” Well, that was hardly fair. The accusation raised my hackles, converting my confusion about his attitude into full-on indignation.
Carter put his hands out in the universal let’s-all-take-it-easy-here posture. “Hold on. We stayed near the Aventine—in the Remus’ territory—and we had each other as backup. We took all the reasonable precautions, and we’re fine.”
“We do have some idea of what we’re doing, Luca,” I added, pointedly.
The situation might be a little different from what we were used to, with legend threats instead of legimal ones. But I had some experience in working around magic—more than our attackers had in using that magic against humans, if I was any judge. And Carter was even more well-versed than I was on precautions outside of safety zones. I didn’t like having our competency questioned like this.
Judging by his scowl, which he distributed between Carter and me pretty equally, none of this was getting through to Luca. “Are you guys even taking this seriously? Your lives are on the line here.”
Okay, it wasn’t like we were running wild for the fun of it, or anything. I had responsibilities. We needed to know why we were being targeted and we needed to know who to trust. It wasn’t our fault we’d gotten attacked, and getting set upon by Luca wasn’t helping.
Seriously, Pradip had better appreciate this.
“Luca,” Dr. Berti interrupted. “Calm down. It is done and there’s no changing it. Jordan, Carter, tell us exactly what happened. No embellishments, Carter.”
He gave her an indignant look. “I can take things seriously.”
“Of course you can,” she replied dismissively. “Jordan, please?”
I tried to ignore the petulant glances Luca kept throwing our way, and thought about where to start. I didn’t want to tell Dr. Berti we were bribing her intern for information on her, but without that tidbit, it seemed like we really did just go out for coffee on a whim.
Well, why not? After all, like Carter said, the place was still in the Remus’ territory and we’d been cautious anyway. “Carter and I went out for coffee...”
I could already hear Tony groaning.
After we’d finished reciting what had happened, the others set about discussing it, going through several accounts that
I was unfamiliar with. An ache in my arm reminded me that I was still holding the damn coffee. The coffee, in turn, reminded me that there had been a point to all of this, that there was something that I could be doing. So I slipped out of the discussion, though I wasn’t completely unseen—I noticed Luca glaring at me.
Where had his attitude come from, anyway? He’d seemed pretty easygoing back when we weren’t talking to each other.
Shaking my head, I headed towards a nearby building where we’d all been given rooms. If Pradip wasn’t in the park with everyone else, that would be the next place to look for him. He didn’t usually have much free time to explore or whatever, with work keeping him busy.
“Hey!” Carter called from behind me. I stopped long enough for him to catch up. “Were you really going to leave me in the middle of that?”
“You look like you got away fine by yourself.”
“Yeah, well. After you left, I had to field the full force of Luca’s nasty looks alone. Normally, I wouldn’t mind. I get that from Tony a lot. But it’s kinda eerie when they come from a guy who’s not scared of a chimera.” I was pretty sure everyone was scared of a chimera, including Luca. But Carter still had stars in his eyes whenever he talked about that incident. He’d believe what he wanted to believe.
“Carter, you realize that I’m headed over to talk to Pradip about politics. Is that really something you want to be there for?”
He shrugged. “Beats being over there. Besides, I’ve got the baked goods, so you need me.” He held up the paper bag that I’d overlooked in my haste to get away.
“Fine,” I said. “Just don’t annoy Pradip.”
“We annoy him by breathing,” he pointed out. Hard to argue there.
“Well, don’t annoy him more.”
“Will not do,” he saluted.
With a sigh, I readied myself for what was coming. I was sure it would just be the highlight of my day.
Terrestrial Magic (Jordan Sanders, #1) Page 10
