by D. N. Hoxa
“But I don’t feel anything.” I felt normal, like I’d felt my entire life. Not a thing out of place.
Looking down at the ball of ice in his hands, Nash thought about it for a second, then without warning, threw it at me.
The ice hit me square on the forehead and the back of my head hit the tree.. Double the pain, and double the anger.
“What the hell did you do that for?” I hissed, rubbing my sore forehead.
“I wanted to see if you’d turn it into water or something,” he said, but he couldn’t hide the smile on his face.
“You’re an asshole.” Seriously, my forehead hurt badly.
“Just exploring all my options here,” Nash said with a shrug. “What we’re going to try today is to get you to feel the magic in you, and to try to reach it when you want to, not when you’re being attacked.”
“And how exactly am I going to do that?” I’d already told him I felt normal.
“Most mages, and salamanders, grow their powers through meditation. When your mind is clean, that’s when you really see what’s inside you.”
To my ears, that all sounded like a two loads of bull crap. “You want me to just sit down right here, close my eyes and think?” If he thought I’d waste time like that, he was in for a surprise.
“On the contrary. I want you to not think,” he said. He probably thought he was being a smartass, too.
“Forget it. I’ve never mediated in my life, and I’m not about to start now.”
“Nova, it’s the only wa—” Nash stopped speaking abruptly.
When I opened my mouth to ask him what was wrong, he put a finger to my lips and closed his eyes. Shit, this did not look good. I looked around to see if somebody was watching us, but nobody was out there. Maybe Nash was mistaken?
But he wasn’t, because a blink later, and I heard it, too.
Crack. Exactly the sound a foot makes when it steps on a dry leaf. Somebody was definitely out there.
Nash’s eyes opened and before I knew it, he was running to my left like his life depended on it. Without a clue of what to do, I took off running after him.
We’d made a mistake. We shouldn’t have gone out there to train. What if somebody saw us? The Senior Order guards, or even worse—devamp servants?
I could hardly see Nash’s green shirt as I followed him deeper and deeper into the woods. He blended perfectly with the trees around, not to mention he was a much faster runner.
Soon after, I realized he’d stopped running. He was standing in the middle of the woods, hands pulled in fists, flames burning around them, his head moving fast from one side to the other, but it didn’t look like he found what he was looking for.
Trying to catch my breath, I held myself on my knees and breathed deeply. It was like the last four days of training had done nothing to up my stamina. Three minutes running, and I was ready to die, thank you very much.
When Nash came to get me, he looked more dangerous than I’d ever seen him before, even though the fire had stopped burning around his hands. He grabbed me by the arm and, still looking around us, he pulled me back where we’d come from.
“What’s wrong?” I asked in a whisper.
“Someone saw us,” he said. I’d suspected this myself, but when he said it, that made it real.
“Oh, no,” I whispered, unsure of which was worse: the Order knowing about me or the devamp servants knowing about me.
“Let’s just get back to the car,” Nash said. “And don’t worry. Whoever it was, they’ll come back. When they do, I’ll be ready.”
I chose to trust in his words simply because I had no other choice. The alternative was to let myself get sick with worry, and not do anything at all. When we got to the car and found it as we’d left it, with nobody else around, I took that as a good sign. For now, all I needed to do was calm down and get my head together while Nash drove. When we returned to the station, I could allow myself the chance to think about magic and devamps and guards again.
Chapter Twenty-one
The car ride lasted forty minutes. Neither of us said a single word.
I tried not to worry, I really did, but in the end, my mind kept replaying that sound I’d heard in the woods, over and over again until it was all I could hear. Even the music on the radio couldn’t drown it out.
We were in a town called Helix I never even knew existed before. It was a nice place—a nice change from the inside walls of the Senior Order station. The main road was wide and full of nice buildings, almost all of them painted dark red. It gave the place a warm feeling. The sun falling on the windows of the many shops on both sides hurt my eyes, but it felt like it had been so long since I’d seen other people that I didn’t allow myself to even squint my eyes.
There were more than a few fast food places and I couldn't wait to get done with Nash’s friend so we could get to eating. I’d skipped breakfast for this reason alone.
We left the car at the corner of the street and took off on foot. The people around us looked so normal, but then again, they’d looked that way all my life, so now I wondered what exactly they hid behind their appearances. Especially a woman crossing the road who looked exactly like Naomi Cruz.
Shivers washed down my back as I remembered her. And it occurred to me…
“Naomi Cruz, a woman who interrogated me with Ross. And also, one of the Scientia conductors—Penelope Dixon. What are they?” I asked Nash.
“Sirens,” he whispered in a heartbeat.
“What do sirens do?” When I’d read the list of impari that Ross had given me in the interrogation room, I thought siren would be like a mermaid or something.
“Their power is illusion,” Nash said reluctantly. He’d gone awfully quiet ever since we’d gotten in the car and now, it felt like he hated to have to answer me, but he did anyway. “They’re the best at getting people to tell the truth, and the more powerful ones can get you to do pretty much anything they want.”
It actually made sense. “When Naomi Cruz tried to get me to tell her something, twice, it backfired.” She’d spoken to me, then suddenly, she’d told me about how beautiful my eyes were. Awkward, yeah, but could it be that whatever I was doing turned her power against her, too?
“Could be. Sirens use active magic, too,” Nash simply said. “We’re here.”
He nodded at a tattoo parlor. I raised my brows in questions. “Don’t tell me you want to get inked up.” Now that I was thinking about it, he did look like the kind of guy to have a few tattoos hidden under his clothes.
“Nova, I…” but his voice trailed off. Suddenly, Nash looked like he was going to be sick. It scared me a bit, but then he sighed. “Let’s go.”
It was obvious that he’d wanted to tell me something, but he thought better of it at the last second. Before I could ask, he walked over to the tattoo shop, and went in. Having no other choice, I followed.
The shop’s reception area was small, barely able to fit three people at once. Behind the blue counter, the room opened wide and two tattoo chairs were in the middle of it. The young man sitting on one of them with his phone in his hands looked up when he heard the door.
I thought he was going to welcome us, but instead, he became really pale. Before I knew it, he jumped to his feet and ran to his right to where I couldn’t see because of the separation wall.
“Hey!” Nash called, and rushed around the counter, and to where the young man had run.
“Nash, what the hell is going on?” I called as I followed him, but he didn’t even turn his head to look at me.
The separation wall hid a white door that blended perfectly into the background. Nash ran to it and pulled it open so hard, it slammed onto the wall behind it. Something was telling me not to go in there, to stop following Nash and just wait for him outside, but I couldn’t. What if he needed my help?
No, I had to go with him. With a deep breath, I ran forward.
The door led to a very steep stairway. Steep and dark. I could hear Nash’s foo
tsteps going down, so without allowing myself a second though, I ran forward.
The stairway was a spiral one, and soon, I could see the light at the end of it. I could see Nash’s head below me, but before I made it to him, my body froze at the sight in front of me.
The room was large and with a very high ceiling, but that wasn’t what took my breath away. It was the money folded perfectly on top of seven tables in the middle of the room.
Holy cow, all that money! No way in hell that was a good thing.
There were three people in there, one of them the young man from the reception area. He stood behind another man, this one much older, with a black hat and aviator sunglasses on, though we were obviously inside. Slowly, I walked down to Nash, who had his shoulders rigid and his hands in fists. He looked even worse than he had in the woods.
“Nash, my sweet, sweet boy,” the man with the black hat said. Even from twenty feet away, I could tell his smile was fake. “What brings you here? Again?”
Nash looked at me as if he wanted to tell me something again, but he couldn’t. Not now. The man took a step forward and rested his hand on top of a stack of money on one of the tables. The young man still stood behind him, looking even more scared than before, while the third stood by the third table in the row, counting or folding dollar bills. Even the smell in there was that of money. Money and gas.
“Hello, Clearwater,” Nash said. Even his voice was different.
“Hello, Clearwater?” the man mocked, then began to laugh. “You surprise me, each and every time. Remind me again, because I keep forgetting, didn’t I tell you the last time that I would kill you if you ever showed your face here again?”
A lump formed in my throat. What the hell was happening? Hadn’t Nash said he was going to meet a friend? Because Mr. Clearwater here was not friendly. Not at all.
“And I told you that I’d come back anyway,” Nash said. “You have information I want and I’m not going to stop until I get it.”
Suddenly, it occurred to me how very stupid I’d been. I’d trusted Nash, a man I didn’t even know, blindly, and now I was stuck in some underground room with a man who obviously did bad things—who else would have tables full of money in their basement—and who was threatening to kill Nash. What the hell was I going to do if he did try it?
“Unless I stop you, of course,” Clearwater said, and he took another few steps toward us. My heart almost broke out of my ribcage. I wanted to grab Nash and get the hell out of there, but I already knew he wouldn’t move. No, he’d known this would happen.
And yet, he’d brought me in here.
…
Holy shit, he’d brought me in here!
“You can certainly try,” Nash said with a cold smile.
“Have you forgotten the last time you were here? You are no match for me, low blood. I’d suggest you go back where you came from, but I already did that last time.” Clearwater smiled, and it reminded me of a wolf coming for its prey. The hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention when I looked up at Nash.
He’d done this on purpose. He’d brought me here for this.
“Last time was last time, Clearwater. I suggest you tell me what you know, or this isn’t going to end well for you,” Nash said through gritted teeth, which only caused the man to laugh dryly.
“You certainly entertain me, my sweet boy,” Clearwater said with a sigh. “Believe it or not, I’m not going to enjoy killing you—or your friend that you so kindly brought with you.”
When he looked at me, I wanted to step behind Nash so badly, but I held myself. Instead, I watched him raise his left hand, and I saw the second white light began to gather, almost as if his hand was sucking it from the lightbulbs on the ceiling.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I begged myself to just breathe deeply. It doesn’t matter. Soon, this will all be over. Better to know his true face now than later.
But no amount of thinking this could take away the sour taste of disappointment in my mouth, which was just ridiculous, because I’d known Nash for less than a week! I didn’t even know his last name, for fuck’s sake. Why had I ever thought he was a good guy, one that wouldn’t take advantage of me?
“Last chance to beg, my sweet boy,” Clearwater said, and Nash’s arms caught fire.
“Last chance to speak,” he spat.
Tears gathered in my eyes. I knew exactly where this was going, but I couldn’t stop it. I could only watch as the white light in Clearwater’s hand grew brighter, and the fire on Nash’s arms reached all the way to his shoulder.
“Silly low blood,” Clearwater said with a laugh before he took one step back and swung his arm.
This was it. This was the reason why Nash had even spoken to me in the first place. It made me feel sick to work against my own body and mind, and move forward, just as Clearwater threw his ball of white light at Nash.
At me.
I was in front of Nash, looking at the light coming at me in slow motion, not allowing myself to even put my arms in front of my face. No, I needed to see this. All of this. I needed to remember the details.
Fear shook me to my core. My knees buckled and I almost fell to the floor when the ball of light stopped in front of me, just like it had with the devamp servants.
My stomach rolled. It rolled and it growled as if some beast that resided in there had been forced to wake up against its will. A wave of strong vibrations spread through my body, and then I began to see the red coming up the light, enveloping it fast, creating a net all around its core.
A tear escaped my eye. I held my breath as I waited for what I knew came next.
The white light, now glowing pink because of the red net around it, began to back away from me, slowly at first. But when it reached the middle of the room, it picked up speed. I could see Clearwater’s face, although I knew he was on the receiving end of the white light, and when it hit him, all I saw was his body flying backward.
When the white light disappeared, Clearwater was on the ground on his back, motionless, and hundred dollar bills floated on the air and fell to the floor all around the room.
“Nova,” Nash whispered, as if he had any right to even speak my name. Darkness took over the view in front of me. I saw nothing for a second as I begged myself to just breathe. Breathe and get the hell out of here.
I couldn’t stand to turn around to look at Nash, or to see if Clearwater was still alive. Instead, I kept my eyes on the ground and ran back up the stairs before he could stop me.
***
Where the hell am I going to go now?
I was outside on the street, in front of the tattoo parlor, shocked at how calm the world was. At how clueless the people walking down the street were. If they’d seen what I just saw, would they run and scream and hide?
I’d have gotten a cab back to Luke—or even a bus—but I didn’t have any money. Like a naive little fool, I’d left myself in Nash’s hands completely, not even considering that something like this could happen. Never imagining that there was a different reason why he’d volunteered to help me, why he treated me the way he did. Why he was so excited about the concept of my magic.
It was all because he wanted to use it. How pathetic was it that I didn’t even see it coming?
“Nova, you waited,” Nash said from behind me. Shivers washed down my back and I cringed at the sound of his voice.
Of course I waited! Where the hell else was I going to go?
Furious, I turned around to face him with a mind to slap him seven ways to Sunday. Yet, when I looked into his wide eyes, I realized, it wasn’t even worth it.
“You used me,” I said, against my better judgment. I didn’t want to sound weak, not in front of him, but sometimes, my tongue had a mind of its own.
“Nova, I can explain.” He stepped closer to me, but then thought better about it and moved right back.
“So, explain,” I said, and holding with my hands on my hips, I waited for what he was going to say. I was very curious to see how
all of this had worked out in his mind.
“I just…I…” Great. He couldn’t even lie.
“Give me the car keys.” I’d come unprepared, but he probably had money and means to get back to the station. It was more than fair for me to get the car.
“Nova, this guy is a criminal. A murderer. I swear to you, if I had any other choice, I’d have taken it, but I couldn’t beat him on my own. I made countless requests to the Order to help me go after him, but they wanted proof. You don’t just get proof with a guy like Clearwater,” Nash said in a rush, and sighed as if he were the one exhausted. “I really had no other choice.”
It was impossible that I laughed at the situation, but it couldn’t be helped. “You could have asked me!”
He stepped back as if I’d attacked him, looking completely stunned. Was it so hard to believe that I’d have helped him if he’d asked me to? Because I would have. I definitely would have.
“I’m sorry,” he ended up saying, but he didn’t sound sorry. Not really.
I couldn’t even look at him anymore. “Give me the keys, Nash.”
This time, he didn’t hesitate. He put them in my hand and didn’t follow me when I turned around and ran to the car without looking back.
Chapter Twenty-two
I found the way back to the station with only two wrong turns. Not surprising, since I was so pissed off, I hardly saw the road through the anger and the disappointment. Admitting that it hurt to have been used—and by Nash specifically—was not something I planned to do, ever, but the pain did give me a false sense of confidence, which enabled me to ignore the guards when I parked the car in the parking lot of the station and walked out all by myself. Maybe they thought I killed Nash. Maybe they didn’t. They sure as hell looked very alert and followed my every movement with their eyes, but all I could feel was a bit of relief at having found the building there.
Might sound crazy, but when you’ve seen the shit I’ve seen, you apparently start to worry about buildings disappearing.
