by Brea Viragh
Bookshelves lined both walls to the left and right, packed with papers, knickknacks, and file cabinets on the lower shelves. Someone had taken the time to recreate with painstaking accuracy a model of da Vinci’s flying machine. It hung from a taut wire above the chairs. There was enough class to read professional and enough whimsy to scream Leo.
Astix let out a groan, more than halfway in love with him and falling fast. Not that she’d ever say it aloud. She appreciated the feel of the space. Like Leo, it married proficient and playful, accented by a few bold colors in the furniture.
She smacked herself on the forehead. She wasn’t there to admire his taste in décor.
Assuming her sisters would alert her to any disturbances, Astix went to work on the file cabinets first. She imagined the wealth of information kept there in an orderly fashion. She was wrong. The cabinets were in disarray, with names out of alphabetical order and comic books shoved between them. Careful to use her long sleeves to prevent fingerprints, she drew several open at random and perused the manila-colored depths for any interesting-looking contents.
There were notes on budget meetings. Scribbles on a ledger taken from a mandatory interoffice conference three years ago. She found a napkin stained with red lipstick and the drunken scrawl of a phone number. That one she took great pleasure in shoving to the bottom of a nearby wastebasket.
When the cabinets gave her nothing useful, Astix moved to the desk. Papers and maps littered the polished desktop surface and left little space for more. It was the definition of organized chaos.
Leo kept his desk drawers in a constant state of flux. In addition to candy bars, containers of rubber bands and staples, she found more comic books wedged between official documents and several newspaper clippings from bigwig magic users who went off the deep end. She shook her head at the odd joy he found in the graphic novels. It deepened her admiration of him.
Instead, she stared at the newspaper clippings, reading over the headlines:
Hurricane Irina Devastating Aftermath: Governor Declares State of Emergency in Southern Florida
Ten Dead in Salt Lake City Movie Theater Shooting
Arson Suspected in Church Fire Near Albany, New Jersey
Hostages Freed as Police Take Shooter into Custody
Weather patterns. An escalation in random acts of violence. It was Leo’s way of checking into the activities of the thinning veil. She’d read about all those happenings, thinking it more an observation on the state of the world than the result of rogue magic. Maybe she was wrong.
The newspaper articles she set aside. Nothing else caught her attention at first. She ransacked the drawers while keeping an ear tuned to her surroundings. Slowly she forgot all about her nerves as her idea of Leo sharpened. Condensed. The knowledge she already had grew and deepened as she explored his personal space. The contours of his life seemed richer than they had been before.
Until she found a folder with her name emblazoned at the top.
Cavaldi, Astix P.
Her breath caught. Well, of course, she thought, he would have a file on her. He’d told her since the first moment they’d met. The Claddium knew about her. Right?
She took the dossier in hand and willed her wildly beating heart to still, then sat on the edge of the desk. The first page took years off her life. There, in exquisite detail, lay the minutiae of her. Pages of facts—personal information and observations—spread out and covering a timeline stretching from birth to the present.
“Oh, God,” Astix murmured, turning the sheets of the binder and feeling a hole opening under her feet.
This was everything. The Claddium not only knew about her, but had explored. Run tests. It went beyond knowledge of her existence. They’d been watching her and learning her movements, her idiosyncrasies. It was all there in carefully typed boldface, beginning far before the day she was forced to leave home and including a strongly worded communication from her mother and father protesting the decision. They’d known of the Claddium’s involvement regarding her Awakening.
Dammit.
Rage battled with confusion as Astix skipped ahead to the last pages. Here Leo’s notes joined those before him.
I’ve been studying Miss Cavaldi for the past few months and noted several deviances from previous annotations. She is caring and considerate, in addition to carrying the heavy burden of her solitude. So far, my attempts to foster a relationship have come to little, though I strive to convince her of my good intentions. The fear in her eyes reminds me of an abused animal. I’ve made good contact although she did not trust me at first. She has seen too much, been through too much.
I want to know her better. I want to see what makes her tick beyond the observations and notes of my predecessors. I have a feeling there is more to her than meets the eye. My father has told me to keep close but avoid contact, and so I shall continue to try.
Today, I saw Miss Cavaldi rise from her bed at approximately six in the morning—
Too much. It was too much. Astix had to stop reading. Tears blurred her vision and she snapped the file folder closed. Their time together could not be a ploy set in motion by the Claddium. It wasn’t possible, not after their night of lovemaking, of deep conversations and secrets she’d shared with him.
She put her hand on the desk to brace herself against the sudden shock of pain.
It was there, laid out in Leo’s own handwriting. Astix could not deny what she saw with her own eyes.
Everything had been a lie.
**
“Try her again!” Karsia demanded.
“I’ve done all I can do,” Aisanna said, letting her head fall back on her shoulders. “She isn’t responding.”
“She has to.” Karsia pointed again toward the door. “Try again.”
“K, unless you’ve found a way to get this fucking thing off my wrist,” Aisanna held her arm aloft, “then I’ve got no more juice. Got it? This is what it must feel like to be mortal.”
They huddled together in the darkened hallway, listening to the sound of footsteps growing closer.
“She’s not coming out. Isn’t she supposed to come out?”
“Well, she’s not. We need to get out of here before we’re caught. I don’t plan on spending the rest of my life in the Vault.” Aisanna glanced over her shoulder and gestured for Karsia to follow. “Hurry.”
The girls scrammed, hurrying around a corner as the footsteps drew nearer.
“She is going to be so mad at us for leaving her again,” Karsia whispered under her breath. “We didn’t even get a chance to look for Zee.”
“Yeah, well, we didn’t have a choice. There’s got to be a better way.”
Aisanna led the way back down to the lobby, closing both of them in the small linen closet and feeling their way to the staircase. They kept their feet soft on the ground as they scurried away, hoping to put distance between them and whoever approached.
“And back out through the boiler room,” she muttered.
“This is a lot creepier without light.”
The girls made their way through the dank hallway and out the backdoor. Aisanna used her sleeve to push it closed, rewarded with a satisfying snick. Only when she stepped away from the building did she allow relief to course through her. “Holy crap, we made it.”
They turned the corner and ran smack into a man. Karsia bounced into Aisanna and knocked them both a few steps back.
“Hello there, ladies,” an oily voice greeted them. “Fancy meeting you here.”
Then the world winked out.
**
Astix ignored the rustling outside the door. How could she focus when betrayal flashed through her and cut pieces of her heart away? The first time in her life she’d chosen someone, shared her time, opened up to him…and for what? She’d been nothing more than a mission to him. A way to earn his paycheck and garner extra brownie points from Orestes. A duty detail.
Talk about deaf, dumb, and blind.
What was it Leo had w
ritten about her? The fear in her eyes made her look like an abused animal. Well, she had the means to prove him wrong. Power rose up, drawn from the gems at her ears, built and grew and threatened to destroy every inch of the room.
Then she released it, sank down into his chair clutching the portfolio to her chest. The edges of the room distorted and tears rushed up from her throat in a swift burn. How could she be so stupid! She’d been wrong to trust him. Wrong and senseless and every name she could call herself.
It was chance that had her glancing back into the wastebasket. A fluke of fate when she caught sight of a flash of red. Pure luck when she reached in and drew the worry doll out. The worry doll with her hair wrapped around its neck and a pin through the heart.
“Are you kidding me?”
Then the door opened.
CHAPTER 15
A rough baritone cut through the silence. “What the hell is going on?”
“Jesus!” Papers scattered as Astix jumped. She dove-slash-fell behind the desk and hastily stuck the folder and the doll down the back of her pants, covering both with her jacket.
“Astix? Is that you?”
Her name came as a shock, the voice behind it achingly familiar. “Leo?”
“What do you think you’re doing here?”
She stole a look above the desktop to see him there, moonlight and streetlight streaming in through the window to illuminate his body. Leo was dressed for a night on the town in a crisp white dress shirt, black vest, and neatly pressed slacks. A tan-colored raincoat and red scarf completed the ensemble. He looked strong, imposing.
And mad. So very mad.
“Would you believe I thought I saw the light on?” She stood, forcing a laugh to cover her nerves. “I was taking a walk. It never pays to waste electricity.” He continued to stare at her and she shuffled from foot to foot. “You scared me.”
His features were hard, taking her in. “You shouldn’t be here. How did you get inside?”
There would be no lying to him. She didn’t think it possible, given her newest revelation. It was all she could do to keep her thoughts to herself, urge her face to remain blank.
“They leave the back door open, so I came inside.
“Just you?”
“Yes.” The answer was confident, and she was surprised when her voice held. “Just me.”
“Would you care to explain this mess?” Leo gestured toward the state of the room. “I know I didn’t leave the room like this when I went home yesterday.”
She should have been better at covering her tracks. Sonofabitch. “Yeah, no. It was like this when I got here. You probably left the window open.” She folded her arms across her chest and aimed for a subtle show of impatience. The truth of the matter was, she was cold on the inside and found it difficult to look at him. “A good breeze would definitely scatter everything, you know—” She gestured limply. “Screw things up.”
Leo watched her make up an excuse on the spot. Guilt eked through her pores. No matter what she said, he knew it was a lie. He had a good idea of what she was after. He’d been stupid to keep the information in his desk. Stupider not to dispose of the worry doll. How much had she found? How much did she know?
“Come closer,” he demanded. He assessed her from head to toe without a blink, pushing down the hot sliver of desire. A kiss would have been less intimate between them. Although there was no warmth in those lips now.
Astix did as he asked, something in her demeanor giving him pause.
There was a glint in her eyes. Was she afraid of him? The small bit of nerves shone through even when she tried to bury it. It would have been easier to deal with her anger, a bit of cursing or physical violence. A wave of magic would be better than fear.
Then he noticed the redness around her eyes. Aw, damn, had she been crying?
“Let’s get you home.” Leo placed a hand on her shoulder to guide her toward the door. He shook off his coat and slung it over her shoulders, the garment hanging like a circus tent on her slight frame. The set of her body was rigid as they traversed the darkened hallways.
“If anyone sees you, there will be hell to pay. You know that, don’t you?”
She said nothing, lengthening her strides to keep up with him. The consequences had been clear the moment she’d decided to break into the building. There was nothing to say and a hush stretched between them.
As they went stealthily along, Astix glanced about in search of any sign of her sisters. Hopefully they had heard Leo’s approach and got out before being discovered.
At last they made it to the back door, pushing it open to the cold, cold night.
“I took care of things back there.”
“Oh?”
“No one will notice your magic if they try to tune in. I erased the memory from the walls in case my father pries. It wouldn’t be unlike him.”
This did help ease her mind a bit, especially where her sisters were concerned. It was one thing for her to be caught in the act, but her sisters needn’t share the culpability. She hoped they were well away from the area by now.
He maneuvered her like a sheep dog with its quarry. His car, parked nearby, waited with an open door. Astix wanted to ask how he always found her, how he always knew exactly where to be at the right time.
Those things took a backseat to her anger. That she embraced, the light of rage keeping her warm. It simmered beneath the surface and threatened to boil over each time she spared a glance at Leo. Better anger than sadness. He’d lied to her from the beginning. What right did he and his father have to pry into her business? Why did Leo have a voodoo doll of her in his office?
“You aren’t going to speak to me?” he asked.
“I have nothing to say.”
The ride seemed a stark contrast to the excitement of her first stint with breaking and entering. Both parties refused to engage first. He pulled the car into her driveway and killed the lights. Astix let herself out, moving around the hood to meet Leo halfway.
He pocketed the keys and joined her. “How about we take a walk to clear our heads. Maybe a little fresh air will do you good and you’ll be willing to talk—”
Her fist collided with his jaw before he had a chance to continue. The action required her to jump several inches into the air to reach him, but she did. She landed her punch with perfection.
“You bastard!” Spinning on her heel, Astix strode toward the house.
Leo stumbled after her, holding his jaw. “Wait.”
She had no desire to wait. “Leave me alone,” she called over her shoulder and kept walking. “Go away.”
“Now hold on.” He caught up to her in three steps and took hold of her elbow, spinning her around to face him. “Why the hell did you punch me?”
“You deserve castration. With a grapefruit spoon, Golden Boy!” Astix fought against his hands as his grip tightened, snagging her before she could escape. “You’re using me. This is not something a walk or a good night kiss will make better, Leo. You’re a fraud and a fucking liar.”
She’d found the file. “Give me a chance to explain?” He hung back when her nails clawed at his face.
Her gaze whipped him, all dark fierceness, her eyes damp. “No. I don’t want to hear a damn word out of your mouth.”
Leo let her fury wash over him. It took skill to whip around in time to grab her wrist before she punched him again. “We’re going to talk whether you like it or not.
He trekked toward the house, dragging her behind him. Her boots dug into the ground, cutting deep grooves in the dirt.
She growled in frustration. “Let go of me before I blast you to kingdom come. We both know I can do it.”
“We are going inside to talk about this rationally, like adults. I’ll make coffee and we can hash it out.” He wiggled his jaw and heard a click accompanied by a rush of pain. “Damn, woman, you pack a punch.”
“I’ll break the coffee pot over your head, you lying piece of crap,” Astix hissed, shoving at his hand th
ough he refused to release her. “You’ve been using me this whole time.”
“So you said before. You’ve made it abundantly clear how you feel, and you’re entitled to your opinion. What you are not entitled to, however, is talking to me like I’m the world’s biggest asshole when you’re the one who broke into my office.”
“I did it for a good reason. I know what you’re hiding from me.” She used her free hand to whip the voodoo doll out from the waistband of her jeans. “Care to explain?”
From bad to worse. Not only had she found the folder, she’d found the doll. How long had she been in his office before he’d gotten there? He should have told her the truth from the first minute. However, he’d been a typical man and tamped it down with more lies and subterfuge. All for a glimpse of her smile.
She sure as hell wasn’t smiling now.
“I have a good explanation for it,” he said.
“You’re trying to kill me! For all I know, you’re the one who planted the death runes on my family.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.” Leo made it to the entry and broke inside with a kick. The wood splintered under the heel of his shoe, the door swinging open to crack against the interior wall. He made to take a step forward and stopped against the frenzied buzz of crystals in reaction to her rage.
“Call them off,” he demanded. “Enough of these games.”
“Not on your life, pal!”
“Do you want to do this the hard way?”
She spat at him, the globule landing on the fringes of his scarf. “Be my guest.”
He raised an eyebrow before acquiescing. There was something about her in a fit, something potent and desirable when she finally put the helplessness away. He now saw it covered a solid core of stubbornness. Well, two could play.
“Fine.”
Keeping Astix firmly by his side with one hand, he used the opposite to disarm the magical security system. Every gemstone within a ten-foot radius dissolved in a hailstorm of powder, falling to the floor and covering it in sand.
