by N. R. Larry
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Underground Magic © copyright 2017 N. R. Larry and Margo Bond Collins
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About UNDERGROUND MAGIC
UNDERGROUND MAGIC
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
About the Authors
N. R. Larry
Margo Bond Collins
About UNDERGROUND MAGIC
She’ll give in to the darkest power to gain their freedom.
Five years ago, Lawrence Kincade walked away from the underground resistance, having lost all she loved in the fight against the Party—her friends, her family, her freedom to use her magical ability. Everything.
Since then, she's been in hiding, trying to come to terms with living outside a society that now reviles everything she values. But when she learns the Party has reinstated the extermination policy in the Purity Camps, she realizes she can no longer remain apart from the fight.
As Lawrence attempts to rejoin and revitalize the resistance she abandoned, she must once again seek out allies, often in unexpected places. With the help of a surprisingly sexy shifter who prowls the streets of post-apocalyptic Birmingham, Alabama, she'll have to deal with the last place she ever wanted to end up, and the first on the Party's list to be eradicated: Purity Camp D.
With a little luck and a lot of work, maybe she can save the prisoners using her own brand of Underground Magic.
UNDERGROUND MAGIC
N. R. Larry and Margo Bond Collins
I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other.
~Harriet Tubman
Chapter 1
I had never been so afraid of approaching footsteps in my entire life. The fire in front of me cast a black shadow against the gray wall. Aubrey stopped, sighed, and then said, “We have to send in the Anchor.”
An echo of the scream I wanted to release in response to her words rattled around inside my skull. Screaming would do us no good. I pressed my hands against my lips as if in prayer, a ritual that stayed with me from the before times. Something else that would do me no good. Not down here in the Underground.
I sighed. “We’ve never sent in the Anchor. There has to be something else that can be done.”
Even though I wasn’t facing her, I could imagine her expression. Thin lips stretched tight. Eyes narrowed with impatience. “If there was something else that could be done, do you think I would have suggested it?”
I almost smiled, despite the fact that my heart was tightening in my chest, threatening to suffocate me. I half turned as I placed my hands behind my back and lowered my head. “Why is it that you never bring me good news, Aubrey?”
She tapped her foot against the stone floor. “I suppose that’s because of the role I play as your aide.”
This time I did smile. There was no argument to be made against that statement, but I would make an argument against sending in the Anchor, even though it would be a feeble one. “We still have more time.”
“It’s been a week. Three days longer than the mission requires. They’ve been kidnapped. There is no more time.” Her reply was so swift that it was almost like she knew I was going to argue and had a rebuttal at the ready.
I squeezed my eyes shut. “Sending in the Anchor…”
“Is a suicide mission,” Aubrey finished.
Her tone was so flat, so empty of emotion that I finally turned to face her straight on. It always threw me off, how efficient she could be. How easy it was for her to make the hard decisions. Then again, it was why I chose her.
It was always a shock to look at her. She was a beautiful mess, of sorts. As one of the few humans in the Underground, she was already unique, but when you added the artificial limbs and the fact that her right eye was made entirely of quartz crystal, she was one of a kind.
A sympathizer. She didn’t keep quiet when they started to round us up and force us into camps and into cages. She raged. They made her pay for it. I found her in a gutter of what used to be Birmingham, Alabama, broken and near death. It took me almost a year to restore her. Since then, she’s been my most trusted and loyal aide.
“You don’t seem to care,” I said in a low voice, squinting at her through the dim lighting.
She ran a robotic hand over her spiky, white hair. “A decision needs to be made, Lawrence. It needs to be made now.”
“I really wish you would start bringing me better news.”
She nodded. “I know.”
I closed my eyes for an instant. “There is another option.”
“No.”
I opened my eyes at the sudden rush of emotion in her voice. “I could go.”
“No.”
“As myself,” I went on. “And if things go bad. I’ll let out the Anchor.”
“If you don’t come back, all this goes to shit.” Her eyes flashed in anger now. “You need to grow up, Lawrence. This isn’t a game.”
I closed the space in between us and almost glared at her. “You don’t think I know that?” I said, my voice a near hiss. “Have you considered what a waste it would be if I send in the Anchor and they’re already dead?” I threw my hands up, the tension in my muscles threatening to snap. “We get one shot with her. One. We have to be absolutely certain.”
She blinked at me, and silence permeated my chambers. Unable to take the sound of it, I turned away from her and stared into the fire. The flames seemed as angry as I was.
“They aren’t dead.” Her voice was soft now. She had to be experiencing a rare moment of sympathy for me. “They are being kept alive. They are being tortured. The Party won’t kill them until they recover information of value to them. They may even use them to further secure the camp.”
I shuddered at the thought. “They abhor magic.”
“They are also p
ragmatic.” Her footsteps trailed toward me. She placed a hand, the one still made of flesh and bone, on my shoulder. It was warm in a moment that was so cold.
“I shouldn’t have sent them,” I said more to myself than to her.
“You had no choice.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. “There is always a choice.”
There was a beat of silence. “That there is. What’s yours?” Her hand was still on my shoulder and she gave it a comforting squeeze. At least, it was meant to be comforting.
“Will you support me, no matter my choice?”
She kind of snorted. “What do you think?”
I managed a smile, and after a few more seconds spent in my thoughts, I finally turned back to her. “Okay, then. I’m going in. As me.”
Her already pale skin blanched. “Will you at least take a team with you?”
I studied the telltale marks of fear in her expression—the slightly widened eyes, the tension around her mouth—and nodded. “If you insist on it, I’ll take Douglass with me.”
Her tense posture relaxed slightly. Not that Aubrey was ever really relaxed. “You should address them, before leaving.”
I nodded. “Of course. Have everyone gathered within the hour. I’ll tell them what’s going on, and then I’ll consult Mirror.”
She nodded again and then went to back out of the room. I turned back to the fire. “Aubrey?” I asked in a low voice.
Her footsteps stopped. She didn’t say anything, but I knew she was listening. Aubrey was always listening.
“Is this my fault?” I closed my eyes, still able to see the orange glow of the fire. “Did I risk their lives unnecessarily?”
For the longest while, she said nothing. Then, finally, “Nothing we do is unnecessary.”
I opened my eyes and glared at the fire as if it had offended me. “I’m not always so sure.” Again, I was talking more to myself than to her.
“There is always the other option.”
I stared at her.
“We left the resistance.”
I gritted my teeth as the old wound surfaced again. “The resistance failed.”
“Maybe it's time we bowed out completely.”
I shook my head. “No, as long as there are people that want to find a safe place, we can at least offer that.”
She stared at me in such a way that I knew she wanted to say more. Luckily, she spared me that old lecture, about how we should still be fighting. She knew the fight had gone out of me a long time ago.
“I’ll have everyone gathered.”
I nodded and she left me alone with my thoughts.
* * *
Alone time was a luxury I was rarely afforded anymore. When I did get it, I liked to spend it in the Tubman room, with the old histories and people that fought this same battle, both with and without magic. Still, even when I was alone, they were with me. My meeting with the citizens of the Underground had ended more than an hour ago, and yet, the buzz of their heated conversation seemed to be in the room with me. There was a lot of anger. A lot of fight. As always, I had to convince them that my way was what was best for all of them, even though I wasn’t sure. I had, after all, sent some of us to be killed by some of them.
How I tired of the jargon of us and them. Once upon a time, there was only an us, but history repeats itself much too often, and fear drove us underground for our own protection.
A knock on the door ended my musings.
“Come in,” I called out, rising from the makeshift table made of old packing boxes and plywood.
The door creaked open and Aubrey entered, followed by Douglass, a big brick of a man who happened to be a big gun of a wizard. He was so tall he always walked around bent over so that he wouldn’t hit his head on the low-lying ceilings. He was known in the Underground, though, for going around in only a pair of long, tattered shorts and for his weird, gray afro. Behind him, taking up as little space as possible, was my Mirror, a nickname I gave her because I didn’t know her actual name—she rarely spoke—but more so because of the nature of her power.
“Have a seat,” I said, gesturing toward the empty seats around the table.
Douglass gave me a nod and sat down. Mirror stood on bare feet, clutching the shard of a looking glass she always wore around her neck. I smiled at her and she waggled her fingers back at me in that shy way she had. Aubrey stood next to her and held her hand as I sat down. Mirror was one of the only children in the Underground, so Aubrey was fiercely protective of her.
I shifted my gaze to Douglass. “Are you sure you’re up to coming with me?”
He nodded. “I’m ready,” he told me in his raspy voice.
I smiled. “You always are.” I nodded at Aubrey, who squeezed Mirror’s hand and brought her to the table, where they sat on either side of me. I turned to Mirror, the smile still on my face. Without Aubrey holding her hand, her gaze darted around the room and she bit down on her lower lip. I reached out and touched her knee. She stopped moving and closed her eyes.
“Mirror, are you okay?” I asked in a gentle voice.
She took a deep breath and nodded so fast that I knew she was still a little nervous. “Are you sure you’re up to helping me today?”
Slowly, she opened her dark eyes and nodded.
“And you remember what it is I asked you to do last time?”
She looked past me to Aubrey and nodded again.
“Whenever you’re ready,” I said, sitting back.
For the longest time, she was completely still. Then she took the shard of glass and held it tight in her left hand. She started to shake, and then took a sharp breath. Her pupils turned from black as coal to ivory white and her irises began to swirl like the eye of a small storm.
The electric crackle of magic being used made the fine hairs on my arms stand up. Slowly, she held her right hand out to me. Swallowing, I gently placed a red handkerchief into her palm.
A bright, white orb enveloped the cloth. Mirror took a sharp, painful-sounding breath. Her hand closed into a fist around the handkerchief. I placed a hand over my heart and looked to Aubrey, as I often did for support. Her gaze was locked on Mirror. The room grew thick and tense.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, Mirror let out a harsh laugh. “Hey, you want to hear a knock, knock joke?” Her breathing was as harsh as her laugh and her limbs jerked this way and that as if she were trying to suppress pain.
My heart almost stopped beating in my chest.
Mirror’s head snapped to the side as if something invisible had hit her. She snarled and then clenched her jaw. Beside her, Aubrey placed a hand on her shoulder and held on tight.
Mirror laughed again. “Knock, knock.”
Her head jerked to the other side. Blood bubbled up on her lips. I opened my mouth to put a stop to this, but Aubrey held a finger up.
“Go,” Mirror said with a rebellious smirk. “Go, fuck yourself because I’m not telling you shit.”
Before I had time to react, Mirror crashed to the floor and began to thrash. I jumped to my feet and snatched the handkerchief from her hand. Just like that, her reaction stopped. She went still. Bruises were already starting to paint her lovely, dark skin a shade of pained purple. I dropped to my knees and started to wrap my arms around her. She jerked away, with tears in her eyes.
“I don’t like it there,” she cried, scrambling on her hands and knees toward Aubrey. She threw herself against Aubrey’s chest and muttered, “I don’t like it there.”
Douglass had fallen silent, staring at Mirror with an unusual tenderness in his eyes. I got to my feet and brushed my palms off on my jeans. “I’m sorry,” I muttered to Mirror, who was shaking with whatever psychic pain she had picked up on.
It broke my heart every time I asked Mirror to do what she did. She was powerful, but it was a more delicate power. The power of empathy, which depended on feelings and being able to lose yourself to the feelings of others.
<
br /> I stared at Aubrey again. She shook her head and whispered something into Mirror’s ear. Mirror nodded, wiped the tears from her eyes and turned and walked over to me. With her head still down, she whispered, “They are still in Camp C, being held in a containment room at basement level A.” Slowly, she peered up at me, her eyes wide as saucers. “That’s where they send them after they are certain they’ll get no useful information out of them.”
I swallowed a lump of fear. I didn’t want to ask any more of the girl, but I had to know. “Are they going to be executed?”
She shook her head. “Worse.”
I shifted my gaze to Aubrey. “They’re going to sell them,” I said, feeling faint.
“Sweet Gaia,” Aubrey said.
“We have to prep to leave now.”
Aubrey nodded and took Mirror into her arms. “I’m on it.” She started to leave but stopped at the door to turn to around and look at me. I spied a question in her eyes. I’d known her for so long, that I knew what she wanted to ask without her uttering a word.
I shook my head. “I need you here while I’m gone.”
I couldn’t gauge how she felt about that from her expression. She could have been one hell of a poker player. All she did was nod before she left the room, taking Mirror with her.
* * *
One reason I never went to the surface anymore was because of the preparation needed to safely get in and out. And even with everything we did to protect ourselves, there was no guarantee. The Party was constantly using technological advances and the few witches they let live freely in their society to take any weapons we still had away from us.
I sat next to Douglass in the Spell room, a space set deep inside of the Underground, before one of the few mirrors we still owned, when Danica West came sailing in, a huge smile planted on her perfectly made up face.
“Lawrence.” She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek, before turning to wink at Douglass. “Big fella.” She leaned over again, slowly this time, so that he could get a nice look at her cleavage. His eyes kind of popped out of his head as he appreciated the view.
I hid my mouth to cover my smile.
