Magic Heist

by Mary Karlik

  Ian had heard similar sob stories. It was always the same. “Let me guess. You tried to change your life, but the world wouldn’t let you. It’s everybody else’s fault.”

  “It’s my fault to be sure. I knew something was off when Fauth approached me. But, as happens here, my magic was fading, and he offered me a better job. I knew he was magical, and I was curious. To be honest, I missed being around magic. So I followed him to the shop. I thought it’d be grand to work in a place surrounded by so much magic. But the Dark Harvester was waiting.”

  Ian wrinkled his brow. “The Dark Harvester stole your magic, and you survived?”

  “Make no mistake, I suffered. I wanted to die. But Fauth had other plans for me. He left me with enough magic to heal. And I had enough to protect my flat. Then you lot came along, and I was punished. He took the rest of my power and left me to die.” Sweat beaded on the troll’s face. “When you killed him, I recovered.” He wiped trembling fingers across his forehead. “I don't know if I can get my magic back, but I’d give anything to have a go at that stick.”

  Layla popped her wings wide. “Do you realize how dangerous that thing is?”

  Ian cut his eyes to Layla. “Wings.” It was dark, and the street was empty, but Ian didn’t like having Layla’s nature exposed.

  She folded them against her back. “Just don’t be taken in by him. There’s more to the story. I guarantee it.”

  “Aye.” Ian placed a hand on Hamish’s shoulder. “And we’re going to have a wee chat at my flat.”

  Layla stepped away from the troll. “Can I have a word?”

  Ian released Hamish’s shoulder and followed her across the lane.

  “I didn’t want to say anything in front of Hamish, but I found out a gang called the Trident Elves have the wand.”

  Anticipation, excitement, a wee bit of fear filled Ian. “Good work. And who are these elves?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe Finn has—Down!” Layla fairy-sized. An arrow whizzed by Ian’s right ear and crashed into the stone building behind Layla.

  Ian ducked and turned to look for the shooter. “Where did that come from?”

  Layla flew to the top of the bridge. Ian caught sight of a dark figure nocking another arrow. “Take cover.”

  Everyone scrambled under the bridge support while Ian prepared to take his dragon form. But before he shifted, Layla called from the top of the bridge. “He’s gone.” She fluttered down to Ian and shifted. “He must have had a traveler’s coin. As soon as I got close, he disappeared.”

  Ian looked around. “We need to get to safety.”

  Hamish’s eyes bugged. “Keep me with you. They’ll kill me.”

  “Who are they?” Ian asked.

  “The Trident Elves.” The troll looked around. “We need to get out of here.”

  “Aye. And when we get back to my flat, you have some talking to do.” Ian was tempted to bring out the dragon. But even if Layla weren’t a factor in figuring the risk of shifting, his dragon form wasn’t exactly small, and he didn’t want to expose it to the non-magical world unless he had to. “Keep an eye out. At the first sign of trouble, I go dragon.”

  Layla flew above them. “I’ll cover you with a protection spell. Stay together. If you scatter, it will break apart.”

  Ian felt a tingle wash over him as the magic hit him. “Let’s go.”

  They made their way through darkened lanes and closes to Ian’s flat without incident. Layla flew ahead and waited for them at the door in her human-size. She glared at the troll. “We will keep you safe as long as you’re honest with us. The minute you turn troll, I turn you out. Do you understand?”

  Hamish narrowed his eyes and flicked his head. “Turn troll? You’re just like the rest.”

  Buzzard stood behind the troll. “I think he understands. Open the door.”

  As they entered, Theo looked up from his laptop. “Hey, boss. CCTV is clean—including the arrow that nearly hit Layla.”

  Jack went to the kitchen. “I could use a drink. Anybody else?”

  Hamish licked his lips. “I could use a wee dram.”

  Layla’s wings stiffened, and Ian felt anger radiating from her. He nodded to Jack. “I think we could all use a wee dram.”

  Jack brought glasses to the table and a bottle of single malt.

  Ian watched Layla check the wards. Something was up. It wasn’t like her to be so angry, so unsympathetic. He needed to talk to her but singling her out now would probably just make things worse.

  When she finished, Layla dropped onto the chair across from Ian with a huff. She was carrying a major chip on her wing, and he sensed it was directed at him.

  Finn heaved himself from the sofa and made his way to the table. He sat next to Layla. “You okay?”

  “Fine.” The word was flat, without emotion.

  Finn raised his brows to Ian as if to ask what was going on.

  Ian returned the look with a micro shrug and scanned the team. “First things first.” With his glass raised, Ian pointed his index finger toward the troll. “This is Hamish. Hamish the team.” He introduced Finn and each of the men on his team and what their skills were. When he got to Layla, he stopped.

  If he could say what he felt, he’d tell the troll that if he could look past her current attitude, he’d see that she was selfless, caring, loyal, powerful, brave, and simply amazing. But those thoughts were Ian’s, and he wasn’t ready to share them with anybody—not even Layla.

  And then that amazing fairy slammed her fist on the table. “And I’m the fairy, Layla, and you need to tell me who the Trident Elves are.”

  Buzzard snapped a look at Ian as if to ask who the team leader was.

  True, Ian was the leader of his Specialist Crime Division team, but when it came to matters of the magical kind, he was more than willing to concede to Layla. After all, he’d only been a magical creature for less than a fortnight.

  Hamish swallowed his whisky and looked around the table. “The Trident Elves are a bad lot. They were sent here as punishment.”

  Buzzard stopped with his glass raised to his lips. “Wait a minute. The magic world sent an elf mob to our world?”

  “Aye.” The troll continued. “It was a common practice. The Fairy Council oversees the criminal courts. Which is, as you know, how Fauth landed here.”

  Theo wrapped his hands around his glass. “But their magic is stripped, right? Isn’t that the rule?”

  “Stripped.” The troll gave a disgusted cluck. “Not likely. It was that way in the beginning, but in the years before the portal closed, they just dumped them here, alerted the gatekeepers to not let them return, and that was that.”

  Ian’s heart rate upped a notch. “What happened to the gatekeepers when the portals were closed?”

  Hamish shrugged. “I don’t rightly know. I supposed they got on with life like the rest of us.”

  Ian connected with Layla’s gaze. The concern in her eyes told him she’d come to the same conclusion he had. They hadn’t let them get on with life. They’d sent assassins. And that thought opened a whole new flurry of worries. Where were the assassins now? Would they know about Amelia?

  Finn turned to the troll. “What did the Tridents want with Layla?”

  “Pick a reason. Maybe to kill her for freeing the fairies. Maybe to capture her and exploit those harvesting powers.” He cut his gaze to Layla. “Maybe they know you have the scepter.” He blew out a long breath. “It has to do with this whole fairy trafficking scheme.”

  “But Fauth’s dead.” Jack rolled his glass between his palms.

  “Aye. But he’s just one of the many heads of the Hydra. The fairy trade barely slowed.”

  Ian expected Layla’s wings to snap open or her face to redden, but none of those things happened. Her expression was so stoic it was as if she hadn’t heard the troll’s words—except for the droop in her wings.

  Ian looked around the table. “We knew this wasn’t over. Fauth’s dying words told us as much. So we pl
an, and we continue our mission.” He looked at Layla. “We’ll keep going until we stop every trafficker. We’ll end this. But first, we have to get that wand.”

  Layla closed her eyes for a couple of breaths. When she opened them, Ian saw defeat. He saw pain. He saw hopelessness.

  She shook her head at the men gathered around the table. “It’s impossible. It’s like using a twig to dam a river. For every creature we take down, the Hydra will find more.”

  Hamish half-raised his hand. “It’s not an actual Hydra. It was a figure of speech.”

  “Whatever,” Layla snapped. “The point is, we have to stop it at the source.”

  Ian narrowed his gaze at Hamish. “How much do the black market dealers know about Fauth’s takedown?”

  “Some believe it was a fuman.” He caught himself and cringed. “Begging your pardon. The prevailing theory is that it was an ambitious dragon-shifter.”

  Ian looked at the troll. “And do you know who or what the source of the trafficking is?”

  “No. But I know Fauth was afraid of it.”

  Buzzard stood. “I hate magic.”

  Layla stood, too. “Then leave. Go back to arresting thugs and leave us to it.”

  Buzzard puffed his chest. “I’m not saying that.”

  Layla fluttered her wings and started toward Buzzard.

  Time to deescalate the situation. Ian stood in front of Layla. “A word.” She moved to sidestep him. He moved in front of her. “Now.”

  She folded her arms across her chest defiantly but followed him to her room on the opposite end of the flat.

  Usually, the pale-yellow walls and bright colors of the flower print curtains and bedspread improved the fairy’s mood. But as they walked into his old flatmate’s room, her bad mood seemed to worsen.

  She sat on the end of the bed with a huff. “What?”

  Ian closed the door and leaned against it. “Exactly. What’s going on?”

  “I’m so angry. There is a whole magical world right here in your own world.”

  “And that makes you angry?”

  “I watched that special telly in Hamish’s flat. All I had to do was focus on one area or thing, and it came into focus like a camera moved to it. And do you know what I saw? Families. Not the odd magical creature that had been exiled here. I saw whole families who were trapped here.”

  “The portal was closed what … fifteen years ago? It’s natural that the magicals would find each other and … have a family.”

  “Maybe some. But I saw the sadness in their eyes. The longing for home. It’s the same look all those fairies at your sister’s farm have. The Fairy Council closed the portals without warning.” She stood and ran her fingers through her mass of white curls. “What kind of cruel punishment is it to toss criminals into this world?”

  Trying to lighten the mood, Ian smiled. “We’re not so bad, are we?”

  “It’s cruel to the humans. Magical creatures sent here, to a world of unprotected creatures. And now I learn that the dregs of society were sent here with their magic intact. What’s happened to my race?”

  Ian moved close to Layla and, ignoring the stir of the spirit, took her hands. “I only know a few hundred fairies, but the ones I know are kind and wonderful and would never do such a thing. I have to think that whoever did this did so without the knowledge of the council. Hamish said it started a few years before the portals closed. That’s suspicious. Don’t you think?”

  She blew out a sigh. “Aye.” And then she lifted her gaze to his. “The gatekeepers. What if the assassins are still out there? Your sister is defenseless against a red cap.”

  Ian nodded. “I need to warn her.”

  “This is all connected, Ian. You. Me. We’re being played.” She flopped back on the bed. “And I’m so tired. It seems we can barely hold on to the victory before the next crisis begins. It’s impossible.”

  He laid next to her. “We’ve faced impossible before, and we’ve won.”

  A tear slipped from her eye and down her temple to the covers, and Ian’s heart squeezed. He brushed his thumb along the path on her cheek. “Hey, everything seems hopeless when you’re tired and hungry. It’s the middle of the night. Let’s get some food and rest. The morning will bring a clearer picture.”

  She looked him in the eyes and laid her palm on his cheek. His heart thudded so loud in his chest he wondered if her supersonic fairy ears could hear it.

  Whether she heard or not, her soft lips formed a sweet smile, and another tear slipped from her eyes. “Can’t we just stay here like this?”

  “Maybe for a bit.” He brushed her hair away from her face. “At least until the dragon gets restless.”

  But as if the universe wouldn’t allow them a second of peace, the floor rumbled beneath them. They both knew what was coming.

  Ian’s muscles tensed as he grabbed for Layla’s shoulders, but she’d already fey-sized. He relaxed a notch. She would be safer fairy-sized.

  Then the world turned counter-clockwise. The desk and chair that were once settled beneath the window chased the bed halfway across the floor before falling over. The bed continued to slide across the room until it tipped on its side and crashed mattress-first against the wall. And it all happened so fast that Ian hadn’t had the chance to escape the bed before being body-slammed against the wall beneath the mattress.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Layla’s heart pounded as panic raced through her. She tried to fly to Ian, but currents created by the world shift were too strong.

  Ian crawled from beneath the mattress and stared up at her, and she saw the same fear in his eyes that ran through her body as she waited for what part of her world would materialize in the room.

  A dragon’s screech pierced the air, and blue sky opened into the room. Her pulse thundered as she saw the red dragon in the distance, flying straight for her. It roared and bellowed a ball of flames. Fire flared from the center of the ball like a serpent’s tongue darting into the room.

  Layla flattened her back against the ceiling to avoid the flames. But black, eye-burning, throat-choking smoke blanketed her. She covered her nose and mouth with her hands and forced her eyes open to search for Ian.

  He lay flat on what was now the floor. “The magic is holding me here. I can’t shift.”

  Layla tried to answer him, but her lungs burned, and her throat felt like an internal razor had been drawn from neck to chin. She tried to fly to Ian but was as pinned in place as he was. Stuck on the ceiling, unable to move, and barely able to breathe, her pulse raged through her body as she watched the red dragon close in on the barrier.

  It released another volley of fire, but before the flames reached the room, the scene disappeared, and the world righted.

  Buzzard banged on the bedroom door. “Are you alright?”

  Layla landed and human-sized.

  Ian ran to her and, with his arms wrapped around her back beneath her wings, pulled her against him. “Are you hurt?”

  “I’m fine.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his chest. She wanted to melt into him. To feel his hands caress her back and wings.

  He squeezed her tighter, and they hung onto each other as if the world depended on it.

  Buzzard pushed through the door. “What happened?” When he saw them, he averted his eyes.

  Ian relaxed his hold on Layla, but he didn’t release her. “A world shift. You didn’t feel it?”

  “No.” Buzzard looked at them again and pink filled his cheeks. “We heard the sound of the furniture moving but nothing changed here.”

  “It was a warning.” Layla pulled from Ian’s hold. “The troll.” She knew they shouldn’t have trusted him. She pushed past Buzzard and into the lounge.

  Hamish jumped up from his chair and backed away as soon as he saw her coming. It could have been because her wings were open wide in full combat mode, or it could have been because he sensed her fury. Regardless, he squealed and ran for the door.

 
Fortunately, Jack was close enough to grab the wee man by the back of his shirt. He pulled him away from the door and turned him to face Layla.

  Layla stretched her arms out to her sides. Her bow shot to the palm of one hand and an arrow to the other. She nocked it and aimed it at Hamish. “Full disclosure or I’ll skewer you like an eel on a spit.”

  The troll practically crawled up Jack’s arm. “She’s crazy.”

  Layla pulled back on the bowstring. “Yeah. I am. So you’d better talk.”

  The troll looked at Jack. “You’re supposed to protect me.”

  Jack held the troll against the door. “I never made that agreement. This is your fight.”

  Layla released the arrow, and it thunked into the wall above the troll’s head. “That was a warning.”

  Finn spoke from behind her. “Believe me, mate, if she’d have wanted to, she would have hit you.”

  Layla stretched her hand out and another arrow flew to it. “Start talking.”

  Ian came to her side. “Layla, what are you doing?”

  “Back out.” Her words were angry as she narrowed her focus on the troll.

  Hamish held his hands up. “Okay. I’ll answer your questions. But I don’t know everything.”

  Ian placed his hand atop hers. “Lower your bow.”

  Layla lowered her bow but kept the arrow nocked. “You’d better start talking.”

  Jack released Hamish. The troll smoothed his clothes as if he were brushing dust from them. He took his seat at the table and looked up at Ian. “That lass has anger issues.”

  Ian folded his arms and said, “Aye. I suggest you don’t mess with her.”

  With her bow still in her hands, Layla stood behind her chair. “Talk about these clashes between our worlds.”

  The troll pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his brow. “Nobody knows what causes them. There’s talk that it’s something from the magic side.” He folded the cloth and stuffed it in his pocket. “I can tell you they frighten everybody. Even Fauth was unsettled by them.”

  “You need to do better than that,” Ian said. “The one we just experienced was a message.”

  Theo cradled his whisky glass. “So was the one we experienced before we lost poor Miranda.”