by Sam Cheever
Martin made the dismissive gesture again. It was apparently his, you’re too simple to understand, signal. “Just a proud brother’s fond ramblings, I assure you.” He fixed a speculative gaze on me.
My palms started to sweat.
I wasn’t sure what to say. I’d barely spoken to Art for two years. When we’d parted last, it hadn’t been under the best terms. He’d tried to get me to abandon the portal and come to Indy with him. That had been the last thing I’d wanted. But Art was looking at me with a plea in his brown eyes. I didn’t know what he wanted me to say. I decided on the simple truth.
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen him. I was glad he could come for a visit.”
The Magistrate inclined his head. “I’m sure.” He plucked at something on his slacks. “It’s a shame you must be separated, given that he’s the only family you have.”
I tensed. That was a dangerous subject. I had no idea what Art had told him about our situation, so I said nothing.
Martin seemed to take my silence as a sign to stick his nose deeper into my business. “I understand you’re sensitive about not sharing your brother’s prodigious magic…”
I blinked, keeping my gaze on the magistrate by sheer force of will. I wanted to glare at Art for spreading lies about me. But then, I realized he’d done me a favor. If the Body believed I was magically useless, they’d probably leave me alone.
“I don’t know if you’re aware, Glynn, but there are many things a nonproficient can do in Indy. You could create a very nice life for yourself there.”
“Nonproficient?” I tasted the word, swallowing the insult framed within it.
“Yes, you know, the non-magic. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, dear. We all have our strengths. Magic isn’t the only important thing.”
“No?” My smile was strained. “What other important things are there?” I asked with forced pleasantness. Hawk’s terrible story about how “nonproficient” people were treated in the magical city danced through my mind.
Hawk! If the Magistrate became aware that his magic sniffer was across the street, what would happen to him?
“…shops and restaurants…” Martin was saying. “Magical Indianapolis is just like any other city, dear. Everyone needs to eat and shop, no matter how magically inclined they are.”
I finally turned to Art. He sat mutely, staring at me. I couldn’t read the emotion in his expression.
I nodded, smiling as I stood. “I’ll certainly keep that in mind,” I told Martin, my gaze locked on Art’s.
“Please do, dear,” the man said in a cool but pleasant tone. “I’m sure Artur would appreciate having you there with him.”
I made my escape upstairs as quickly as I could, my mind spinning. Why had the man really shown up at Victoria? Why had he been badgering me to move to Indy? If he truly had no idea of my magic or my role in Render, why would he lobby for me to return with my brother?
And what was Art’s culpability in the visit?
With a start, I realized Artur had not looked the least bit surprised when Martin appeared at my door. Had the magistrate’s arrival been planned? And, if so, why?
Then I thought of Art’s seemingly unaware visits to the portal. My pulse sped and a deep cold moved into my bones. Was Martin the reason Art had tried to open the portal?
It would make sense. I detected powerful magic within the Magistrate. Which, of course, made sense. He was one of only thirteen ruling members at the Body. Only the most powerful sat on the Regnant Bench, the ruling elites of the city.
So, what would one of the city’s elites want with me?
Then it hit me. It wasn’t me they wanted.
They were after the portal and its almost infinite power.
And I suddenly found it hard to breathe.
22
I hovered in the shadows at the top of the stairs, trying to hear what Art and the Magistrate were discussing. The conversation seemed fairly mundane, focused on people and things I didn’t know. None of it seemed imperative. But there was an undercurrent in their voices that told me there was more to the conversation than it appeared.
The front door flew open and Hawk strode in, his face dark with rage. Hawk’s gaze was locked on the Magistrate, and he looked ready to bite nails. “What are you doing here?”
Martin tensed briefly, his cool gaze heating with sudden pique. Then the anger melted away and he gave Hawk a smile. “Well, look what the universe dragged in.” He clasped his hands around his crossed knees, sparks all but flashing from the stormy ocean of his blue gaze. “I could ask you the same question, dog.” He laughed when Hawk tensed, fists clenching at his sides. “Although I shouldn’t be surprised, I guess, that you’d come sniffing around here. Miss Glynn is a very pretty young woman.”
Ice formed on my spine at his words, and Hawk’s expression turned hard.
“You have no business in this place,” Hawk growled out.
Martin stared at his hands as if they’d touched something filthy. “I’ll give you a pass this time, Hunter. But do not presume to speak to me like that again.”
Hawk’s chest heaved with what looked very much like rage. “I wasn’t told you’d be arriving….sir.” He ground the last word out through his teeth as if it cost him something to say.
“Funny, Hunter, the last time I checked, I wasn’t obligated to keep you apprised of my daily activities.”
“Of course not. But if you want me to do my job…”
Icy fingers of dread danced along my nerve endings. His job? What exactly did that mean?
“Your job doesn’t revolve around my comings and goings.” Martin’s gaze hardened. “But, since we’re on the subject, I believe a report was due to me last week on your findings. I’ll expect that in my hands within twenty-four hours. Now leave.”
“No.”
Martin stiffened. “Excuse me?”
“No…sir. I require a moment of your time.” Hawk bent such a tiny amount the bow was really more of a twitch. “If you please.”
Martin sighed. He pushed to his feet. “Very well. I believe my business here is finished.” He slid an oily smile over Art, whose skin tone had turned slightly green since Hawk had arrived. “Artur, I’ll expect you in Indy in the morning.”
Art’s eyes went wide. “Sir?”
Martin laughed. “You need to finish what you’re doing here tonight and report in at ten sharp.” He held Art’s stare for a long moment, something dark throbbing through the stormy gaze, and then turned toward Hawk. “Walk me out, Hunter.”
I watched Martin leave with mixed emotions. Relief warred with worry and fear.
Hawk’s gaze rose unerringly to where I stood in the shadows, and I barely bit back a gasp of surprise. The gaze lingered for a moment and then slid away as he followed the older man outside. There’d been a message in that stare, but I couldn’t read it. My mind was too busy dealing with the disappointment of learning that he’d been in Render on the Body’s business all along.
Everything he’d told me had been a lie.
All of it.
And I’d believed him, despite my better instincts.
I was such a sap.
The door closed, and Art jumped to his feet, hands twining nervously as he paced.
I hurried down the stairs. “What’s going on, Art?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I wish I knew.” His head came up as if he could hear my disbelief. “I promise, I don’t. I didn’t come here with any plans except to rest and think.”
“And yet, you’ve spent a good part of the time down in the basement, trying to open the portal,” I said, my voice filled with the suspicion I couldn’t help feeling.
Was there nobody I could trust?
Art stopped pacing. His face paled as if he’d had a sudden thought. “Glynn, I swear on Grams’ grave I didn’t come to Render to cause trouble. I don’t know why Martin showed up here. He usually doesn’t pay any attention to me. I’m just an assistant…one of five. I’ve m
ade it a practice to keep a low profile at the Body for just this very reason. I didn’t want Martin sniffing around the family business.”
I watched him carefully and couldn’t help feeling like he was telling me the truth. “You didn’t know he was going to come?” I asked my brother.
“I swear I didn’t.”
“Why do you think he did?”
Art turned away, his shoulders going stiff.
“Art?”
He shook his head. “There’s only one reason I can think of.” He turned back to me, his face tight with pain. “He knows about the portal. Someone had to have told him.”
Yeah, someone, I thought. Someone like a hunter sent from Magical Indy. Someone who’d done his best to insert himself into the goings-on in Render, pretending to be a friend.
My legs gave out and I dropped into the nearest chair.
Someone who knew every secret I’d been trying to guard my whole life.
It had to be Hawk.
“Oh goddess,” I whispered, dropping my head into my hands. “We’re all in danger.”
“You’re right,” Art said, lowering into a crouch in front of me. “Martin is dangerous. He’s evil to the core. But nobody in the Body will believe it. He’s hurting people, Glynn. Killing them. But he’s able to skate from all of it because he has the connections to keep his activities secret. He’s a snake with enough charm to lure people into his evil.” Art collapsed onto the carpet as if his legs had given out on him. “And I brought him here.”
“Yes,” I told him, anger making my voice hard. “You did. But I’ve made some mistakes too. Big ones.” My voice trailed away as I considered how dire our situation was. I scrubbed my hands over my face, jerking them away and fixing Art with an angry look. “But it’s too late to worry about any of that.” I grabbed his hand. “Could the Magistrate be somehow manipulating you to open the portal?”
He turned white. “What? No!”
“Think about it,” I told him. “You claim you don’t remember going into the basement. And, after seeing your face…your mannerisms…I believe you. But, unless you’re walking in your sleep…”
He emphatically shook his head. “If I was a sleepwalker, I’d have known by now.”
“Maybe not,” I started to say.
But Art’s face hardened. “Yes. I would, Glynn. I spent the first year at the Body in a dormitory with ten other low-level assistants. They were my friends. And something like sleep-walking will get you killed at the Body. It could be used against you and would be a potential tool for someone else to utilize. The Body is a place that respects power and abhors weakness. If they thought I had a weakness that could be leveraged against them...” He shook his head again. “No. The other guys would have told me if I was a sleepwalker. We protected each other.”
“If someone craved influence they didn’t have, it might seem to them like selling your secret would be lucrative.”
But he shook his head again. “I just don’t believe one of my friends would betray me like that.”
“Why?”
“Because we had each other’s backs through all the evil crap the Body tried against us.”
I thought about that for a minute, not fully convinced. Someone in that position might be really motivated to do whatever was necessary to get out of it.
Art must have seen the doubt in my expression because he went on. “And because they had secrets too. It would have been really risky for any of them to open that can of worms.”
“Okay. Then we have to consider that someone is manipulating you.”
“Like Hawk?” He frowned.
My own feelings about the hunter might have been influencing me, but I didn’t think Art looked like he believed it.
“Maybe. Have you ever met Hawk before coming home?”
“Not that I remember.”
“Who would benefit from getting hold of the portal?” I asked, knowing the answer already. I needed Art to verify it for me.
“Who wouldn’t? It’s a passage into another dimension, Glynn, with the potential for untold power.”
What we’d been told from a very early age, was that there were creatures in the dimension at the other end of the portal that contained strange powers not found on Earth. Some of those creatures were dangerous, but others were benign. Anyone looking to gain power from other magic users would quickly recognize the opportunities presented there.
My family had once come from that other dimension. Outvald, they called it. Other world. We knew the damage the Body or someone who was equally unscrupulous could do there. It was our job to keep that from happening.
“Yes, but only for someone who knows how to handle it,” I said, my chest tightening with fear.
Artur laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. “The powerful elites in MI all think they can do anything. The only thing more potent than their magic is their egos. Any of them would believe they could handle the portal. It would never occur to them that they couldn’t.”
I sighed. “That doesn’t narrow it down much.”
“I know.”
“What is the Magistrate’s magic?”
Art frowned. “As the title implies, he runs the prisons. Indy has one for magical humans and one for non-magical humans. But that’s just his job. His power is in finding weaknesses and exploiting them. He reads the energy signatures in reactions, identifying what they mean. For example, if he suggested to Hawk that he might be interested in you, romantically, Martin would read Hawk’s energy and realize he’d guessed correctly.” Art’s eyes narrowed slightly, his gaze a question. “He’d use that against Hawk, Glynn. Which would put you in Martin’s crosshairs.”
Goddess’s Galoshes! Trying to cultivate a carefree expression, I shook my head. “Hawk isn’t interested in me.” The very thought made my stomach twist into a painful coil. And sent heat flooding through me.
“It was just an example, Glynn.”
So he said. But his face told me he’d believed it.
A quick change of subject was in order. “And Hawk?”
“What about him?”
“What does he do, exactly?”
Art’s gaze slid to the door. “Hunters sniff out magic and bring in anyone who hasn’t been registered by the Body. The Body used to just manage those of us who lived inside the city, but recently they’ve been sending the dogs…” he flushed. “That’s what they call the hunters.”
And I’d seen how much Hawk loved that nickname. “Because they smell magic?”
He nodded. “They’ve been sending them out to scour the countryside looking for unregistered victims.”
“Why?” I asked. “Why drag more people into the city?”
“Power. They know there’s magic out here that they don’t control. Their egos won’t allow them to let that situation stand. Besides, the cities have been competing lately. Magical Chicago has been claiming more power than MI, and the Body can’t stand it.”
I let myself consider that for a moment. The thought that powerful magical humans might try to wrest my independence away from me just because they could, filled me with fear and rage. I shook my head. “Hawk lied to me. He said he’d brought people out of Indy so they could disappear into the countryside.”
Art went very still, lines forming between his brows.
I looked at him. “What?”
His gaze slid to the door again, and something flared in it. Something that looked like excitement. “No. It couldn’t be.”
“Art? What couldn’t be?”
He looked at me. “I’ve heard rumors. But nobody believed them.”
“What rumors. Come on, Art, tell me. Hawk might be back any minute.”
Art stood up and hurried over to the window, peering through the glass and watching with a narrowed gaze. “The lowest level of magic users in the city are treated worse than dogs,” he said, his muscles taut. “Many of them are imprisoned. Those are the lucky ones.”
I could have sworn I saw my brother
shudder. “Why?”
He finally turned back. “Because they won’t submit to having their magic scraped from them. Even the lowest level of user has some magic. It isn’t much when taken individually, but culled from a hundred, five hundred, a thousand…”
I felt all the blood leave my face. “They’re scraping people’s magic from them?” Outrage pulsed through me.
“Yes. If they can’t make themselves useful to the Body in some other way.”
“Goddess,” I murmured, horrified.
I thought of Mitch and my stomach twisted. “Will they scrape Mitch?”
The horror throbbing in my voice pulled Art away from the window. He crouched in front of me. “No, Glynnie. I doubt it. He’s too valuable. The Body values Seers. There aren’t many of them.”
I relaxed, but only slightly. “Mitch won’t give in to them. He won’t help them against his will.”
“Then they’ll imprison him,” Art said.
Something in his face told me that wouldn’t be a good outcome. I scrubbed a hand over my face and stood up to pace the room. “We have to get him back.”
Art shook his head. “No, Glynn. We have to keep them from getting the portal. That’s the real danger here. If we don’t stop the Magistrate and the Body from getting the portal, there’s no telling how much damage they can do.”
He was right. I knew it. Our first priority was the portal.
But I made a silent promise to myself that, as soon as the portal was secure, I was going after my friend.
23
The floor shivered beneath my feet. Panic turned my breath to knives in my chest. Without thinking, I pulled magic from the air and formed it into twin blades that fit my hands like they’d been made for me.
Power shivered along the twelve-inch blades like silvery light and snapped the air at the tips.
Art circled his hand and energy roiled around his fingertips, unfocused but just as deadly for its ability to wash the air with pain and death.
