by Nichols, TJ
“You know Lizzie is here now?”
Angus nodded. He didn’t want to know what Terrance had told Cadmael to get that boon.
“Well… I just came to wish you luck, not that I think you’ll need it.”
“I do, and I appreciate it.” Had Terrance forgiven him? Or at least reconciled what had happened? He wasn’t sure if he should ask or wait.
Terrance scuffed the side of his sandal on the wood floor. “I shouldn’t have called you a warlock.”
“But I am.”
Terrance shook his head. His hair was growing back. The dark fuzz that covered his head was long enough to tickle his palm but not long enough to wind his fingers through. Would he get that chance again or would there always be distance? “They act for personal power. You don’t.” He lifted his gaze. “The college didn’t lie about what demons do, but they didn’t tell the whole truth either. The sacrifices are needed. I guess I wasn’t ready to see the reality.”
“If the worlds are in balance, then there would be fewer and death wouldn’t be necessary. Blood would suffice. There’s going to be another pitz game.” The priests were calling for volunteers, and they weren’t hiding how dire the situation was.
“I heard. More death matches. Too many people are dying to rebalance.”
“People are dying from the imbalance and from the cold and the lack of food. Without rain we’ll soon be out of water. Then it will be only days until the cities are filled with corpses. The warlocks are killing more in their quest to control all magic than the demons or the Mayans ever could.”
“You have no doubts?”
Angus drew in a breath, but there was no anger or shock left in Terrance. “I do, about everything. I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing. What is that anyway?”
“I meant about the cost to you. You are doing the right thing, but I see the changes. You aren’t who you were when I first met you.”
“No one had tried to kill me back then. I didn’t know what the rest of the world was like.” How ignorant he’d been, how trusting in his country and his father and even the college and the underground. Now he trusted so few. “You don’t like who I’ve become.”
Angus couldn’t go back. He wouldn’t.
“I’m getting used to it. Though I think I’ll be happy to leave you and Saka to do the magic.”
“All of it?” Angus lifted one eyebrow. “Magic can be fun. Rebalancing more so.” Or was he only remembering the release and not the agony of all-consuming lust? Pleasure had burned away any feelings of pain.
“For the moment.” Terrance held out his hand.
Angus closed his fingers around the offering. “I know you never wanted another demon. Thank you for being my anchor.”
“I couldn’t let anyone else do it. Saka would’ve killed me.” His eyes widened as he realized what he said.
Angus tightened his grip. Was Terrance afraid of what would happen in Demonside? “He only takes willing offerings. You have nothing to fear from him.” Angus stepped in closer. He wouldn’t let anything happen to Terrance. “I’ll see you when I get back?”
They hadn’t spent a night together since their trip to Demonside to cement the bond.
“I’d like that.” He kissed Angus’s cheek. His lips were warm, and for a moment, Angus could believe that everything was all right between them. It was a kiss to the cheek, as though Terrance weren’t ready for more, but Angus wouldn’t push. Perhaps they could talk about something other than magic, and slowly things would go back to the easy way they had been. That thin thread of hope was all he had to hold on to as he headed to the meeting with the people who could decide the fate of all demonology users.
There were five people in the room. A tall woman who represented the African Union of Demonology, a fair-haired man from New Holland, a woman in a bright pink-and-yellow striped suit from the Mayan Empire, and two men from places Angus wasn’t familiar with. From what had been already said, it seemed that their homes were surrounded by countries that had either banned or persecuted magic users, and they were being pressured to halt their use or face sanctions or war.
“We have to be seen to be taking positive steps, even if there is nothing we can do to stop Vinland.”
“No matter how careful we are to rebalance, any demon-driven workings are being viewed as problematic. The Union is in danger of disintegrating, and one member country’s recent election has swung toward those who want demonology banned,” the African woman said.
“As we’ve seen before, that leads to all magic being banned and the users persecuted.”
“Knowledge then goes underground or is suppressed, neither of which is beneficial.”
Angus tried to follow the conversation between the five. There were a few priests and government observers. Every so often someone would be invited to sit before the table, where they’d be questioned about politics and the use of magic and asked to offer a solution.
“Perhaps we should put a halt on demonology until Vinland is stabilized,” the man from New Holland said. “Not that I think that would stop the threat on our northern borders. The nonmagic users are being opportunistic, since we can’t effectively defend ourselves with magic.” His mouth turned down. The lines around his eyes made him look old, yet his hair wasn’t gray.
“Could Ma—” The African woman glanced at the paper in front of her again and frowned. “Mage Angus Donohue come forward.”
A few people glanced around to see who would get up. When Angus heard mage, he also wondered where the demon was. Then he realized they were calling on him. Cadmael must have listed that as his title, which meant Iktan must have told his priest. That conversation must have been interesting. The title didn’t sit well. It was too big for him, but what else could he be called? He wasn’t a warlock or a priest, but he didn’t feel like a mage either. He didn’t know enough.
With his heart beating hard, he stood and made his way to the chair, glad he couldn’t see the people behind him or hear them over the pounding of his pulse.
Breathe.
It was no worse than facing the college, and these people weren’t going to dig around in his head. He’d faced Miniti and lived, and he’d faced the council of mages. He would be fine. But they were all highly skilled magic users with years of experience who understood the way the world worked.
“A human mage,” the woman said as she studied him.
Angus nodded. He kept his fingers laced together in his lap to keep his hands still and tucked his legs under the chair so he wouldn’t fidget. He’d been called to the principal’s office once at school when he got a little payback on the school bully. The other boy never received a day of suspension, because his father was a well-connected warlock. But Angus had spent the last two weeks of the term with detention every afternoon. His father, despite also being a well-connected warlock, had thought Angus deserved the punishment. They hadn’t been speaking at the time, and detention hadn’t improved their relationship. Angus should’ve known then that nothing he did would make his father happy. Would it be any different at this meeting? Would they judge him and find him unworthy?
A bead of sweat rolled down his spine, and his stomach tied itself into ever-more-intricate knots.
“Tell us how you came to be a mage when you should’ve ended up a Vinnish warlock.”
He couldn’t explain that it was an accident, although that was the truth.
But mages should always tell the truth. If he was going to be called a mage, he needed to act like one. While it was never his plan, he couldn’t walk away now. If his story helped at all, it would be worthwhile.
Angus drew in a breath. “It was sort of an accident….”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Terrance went with Lizzie to a café that had become their place to get away from the Training Temple. She stirred her hot chocolate without much enthusiasm, and he couldn’t even be bothered to stir it or to drink it. He hadn’t gotten used to the heat from the chilis. He really wan
ted tea, but that was hard to find. Chocolate supplies were dwindling despite the priests’ efforts to protect the crops.
“What if this is it?” she asked as she stared at her spoon.
“What do you mean?”
“This is the end. There’s less than a month’s worth of drinking water. If the priests don’t magic some up, we’ll all be dead a few days after it runs out. Some people are saying we’ve already reached a tipping point with the ice and it’s too late. This meeting with the WCD isn’t about solutions, but about curtailing demon magic.” She looked up. “People are worried. Even here they’re starting to suggest that maybe it’s time to let magic go.”
“Magic is a part of the world. There will always be people—wizards—who can use it.”
“And maybe that’s fine.” She shrugged. “And we shouldn’t be tying ourselves to Demonside.”
“You worked with the mages and you still think we should walk away?” He might have done the wrong thing in taking the bond with Saka, but it had been for Angus, not the demon. Terrance wouldn’t be able to live with himself if Angus got stuck in Demonside. This way he could summon him back.
“I don’t know. I thought that maybe I should get a demon. Wek is supposed to get a priest even though she doesn’t want to. I understand her reluctance. I’m not ready for a demon.” She cupped her hands around her mug. “We’re ruining their world.”
“And ours.” He took a sip, but the chili and chocolate didn’t excite his taste buds. It was like mud, thick and cloying. “When Vinland has all the magic, I don’t think they’ll use it wisely.”
Lizzie lifted an eyebrow. “Really? What gives you that impression?” She rolled her eyes. “If you were in charge, what would you do with all that magic?”
The right answer was “return it to Demonside,” but the college warlocks wouldn’t do that. “I would make sure that there were no wizards left.”
“While no one knows for sure, I think we can assume those rumors are true.”
There had been reports that wizards were being rounded up and killed. He’d come to the conclusion years ago that his parents were dead. If he’d stayed in Vinland, he’d be dead too, as would all of the other trainees.
Terrance nodded. “Well, I’d want to make sure that other magic-using countries would either join me or be flattened. I’d want to be the single magic-using power.”
“So treaties?”
He shrugged. “Or threats. I mean some countries are already tearing down their magic users or passing laws or voting in antimagic governments. A world without magic.”
People like Lizzie and him would have nowhere to go. The Mayan Empire was strong, but could it fight a war against Vinland or would it fold? Without its temples it would be vulnerable, because much of its society revolved around the use of magic.
Without magic there would be no Empire. It would crumble, and Vinland would take over. Angus had already realized that. He’d saved them by taking them to Demonside, and he was speaking to the WCD to argue that they needed demon magic.
“I don’t want a world without magic.” Or Angus. Something inside of him squirmed and made his stomach roil as though the hot chocolate were poison. Angus would keep pushing until he died trying. Terrance had watched him learn new skills and had heard the stories from Saka. The more Angus learned, the harder he pushed.
It was his job to make sure Angus didn’t go too far. He wasn’t just Angus’s anchor to this world. He had to make sure Angus wasn’t consumed by magic.
Lizzie frowned. “What’s wrong? Would it really be that bad? Magic belongs in Demonside, not here.”
“And not in the hands of warlocks. It needs to be returned.”
“How?”
He had nothing. Not a clue. “We kill the warlocks?”
“The last Mayan strike team was tortured and killed by warlocks.”
The media had recounted the story with horror, but no one knew what to do.
A man walked toward their table, his blond hair bright in the sunlight. It took a moment for Terrance to recognize Reece, and he smiled. Lizzie and he had been asking around, searching for Emma and Reece. Word must have reached him.
Reece sat, his lips stretched into a painful smile. “Just act like we are having a nice chat.”
“What?” Terrance’s smile broke, and Lizzie closed her hand around her spoon like she planned to use it as a weapon.
“You have been asking about me, and word reached some other people—people who are interested in talking to Angus.”
“He’s rather busy today. I’ll let him know.” Terrance’s gaze flicked over the occupants of the café, but they all looked ordinary. “Which people?”
“People who will kill me tonight if Angus doesn’t come to the entertainment quarter.” Reece didn’t turn his head, but his eyes darted to his left.
Terrance didn’t look over until he lifted his cup. Then he risked a glance. The hot chocolate was cold and slithered down his throat. He saw man and a woman chatting as though they were eager to get to know each other better. They didn’t look Vinnish.
“I may not be able to drag him out.”
Reece’s forehead crumpled. “First me, then one of you will be next. They will get to him. Don’t fight it.”
Lizzie leaned forward. “Where’s Emma?”
“Demonside. She figured she was safer there.” He glanced down. “If you hadn’t looked for us, they might not have found us.”
“Angus was worried about you,” Terrance said.
“We didn’t want anything more to do with magic or Demonside. We nearly died out there. We were trying to be normal.” Reece’s voice broke. “We’d taken jobs at a farm and were making a new life. These people won’t stop. Angus has pissed off too many warlocks.”
That must mean he was doing something right. Terrance went to speak, but Reece shook his head.
Reece stood. “Bring him. If you tell anyone, they’ll make sure you don’t get to speak again.” He leaned closer. “Traitors get their tongues cut out.” He stepped back. “Bring him or there will be blood on your hands. I did tell them you’d be better bait.”
“How am I supposed to get him there?”
“Tell him I have news. I’m sorry.” Reece walked out of the café. He’d barely reached the door before the couple got up and followed.
If he did nothing, Reece was dead. And he’d be used as bait next. If he delivered Angus, then Angus would be dead.
Urgency prickled over his skin. He should do as they asked.
“We have to tell someone,” Lizzie said.
“I like having a tongue.” He wouldn’t be able to kiss without it, but he wouldn’t have anyone to kiss if he turned Angus over. “Maybe we shouldn’t have looked for them.”
“Too late now. If you take Angus out tonight, I will kill you.” She pointed the spoon at him. “I know enough blood magic to empty you out slowly.”
“So many offers of death today.” He finished his cold drink and finally enjoyed the afterburn of the chilis on his tongue. He couldn’t go to the Intelligence Temple. No doubt people would be watching. “I think we should get back to the Training Temple. I need to talk to Kabil about that telestone homework.”
“You still can’t use one?”
“No.” But that wasn’t why he wanted to talk to Kabil. Kabil could get word to Cadmael, and Cadmael wouldn’t want Angus snatched. “But Kabil is a very good tutor.”
He was sure doing the right thing wouldn’t go unpunished. But the punishment would be better than living with the knowledge that he’d destroyed the one chance they had of stopping Vinland.
“For the record, this is a bad idea.” Terrance didn’t like Cadmael’s plan. Too much could go wrong. Cadmael had come to the Training Temple, ostensibly to talk to a class of students who wanted to join. But that was for show.
Terrance pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth. He was going to miss it.
Angus was still at the meeting with the WCD. �
��Angus should know what’s going on.”
Cadmael shook his head. “No, because then he will act differently or want to do something reckless, like save Reece.”
Terrance winced. Cadmael was sure that Reece was dead no matter what. If he lived, it would be purely by chance. “And Lizzie?”
“The fewer who know the truth the better. We don’t know who the spies are. How well do you know her?”
Terrance opened his mouth to argue, but Cadmael had a point. “You thought I was the risk.”
“If you hadn’t come to me, I would’ve been proven right. I’m still surprised.” Cadmael scowled as though it weren’t a pleasant surprise.
Terrance still wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do. “You’d better protect him.”
“I will.”
“Why? Why do you care?” He needed a reason to trust Cadmael.
“Because he’s done things that no one else has managed. There hasn’t been a human mage in centuries. He survived a trek through Arlyxia and a clean sweep.”
“You want to know how.”
“I think it’s important to investigate.” Cadmael looked out the window. “Go and meet him. Tell him Reece contacted you and wants to meet up.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
The slanting evening sunlight was too bright for Angus after being shut in all day. Too much talking had made his throat rough, and too much listening and struggling to grasp the enormity of what was happening around the world had blossomed into a headache that made Angus long for silence.
He’d be quite happy to lie down and see no one for the rest of the day.
As he walked toward the tram, he unbuttoned his suit jacket and slung it over his arm. Terrance was waiting by the stop, and Angus’s steps faltered. How had he known where to come?
