Forgotten Destiny 4

by Odette C. Bell

  Josh grabbed his jacket and tried to neaten it with a pat. He didn’t answer immediately, and as I looked over at him, I realized that was probably because he was desperately trying to come up with a plan. You see, he had to play this carefully. If he admitted to the fact that we’d been in the theater, and that we’d been chased away by a water elemental, that would lead to questions. At the same time, he had to explain why his portal spell had gone wrong.

  Josh settled for acting exactly like Josh. He shook his head, shifted his shoulders again, then reached forward and slapped the security guard on the back. “What happened, Barney, is this has been one hell of a night. Sometimes I wonder if Madison City is a city at all, and not the frigging gates of Hell. How are you going, anyway?”

  It was all in Josh’s smooth voice. His friendly smile. His affable nature. It seemed to calm Barney down, enough that he smiled and shrugged. “The city’s on high alert – I guess you know that.”

  Josh snorted. “Good guess. Now, can I access the magical court records?”

  Barney frowned. “It’s 9 o’clock at night.”

  “Sure is, Barney. And I’d really like to be in bed right now. It has been one hell of a frigging day. But it will be worse tomorrow if I don’t do this now. So can I get into see the court records?” Josh retorted smoothly.

  Barney frowned at him. “Does this have something to do with some kind of case?”

  “I don’t usually look at the court records for some light reading before bed. It sure is for a case,” Josh explained. “A big one. I’ve got to track this bounty down by the end of the night. And those records sure will help.”

  “Why don’t you just look at the digital files? You have access to the Justice Department system,” he pointed out.

  Josh looked right at Barney, and I fancied just a little of his calm act dropped. But while I picked that up because I was an emotion reader, Barney didn’t. Josh forced himself to shrug again, but I could easily see the tension now picking up and marching all the way across his shoulders. It made his back look as rigid as a pair of mountain caps.

  He kept that affable smile locked on his lips. “You know the deal, Barney. Digital records are never as faithful as the magical ones when a warlock is on trial. If it’s a good case record, it’ll include a scan of the witch during the trial, and that information can be invaluable in tracking them down.”

  Barney blinked. “Exactly what kind of case are you looking into?”

  I didn’t expect Josh to tell Barney the truth. But Josh looked right at the security guard. “It’s to do with the gangs,” he said simply.

  Barney didn’t bother to ask any more questions. He turned around, grabbed a massive ring of magical keys from his belt, and walked toward the main door. He flicked his gaze over to me a few times, but either he didn’t know who I was, or he was one of those rare people in Madison City who chose to respect my privacy.

  Once Barney got us through the main doors, I wanted to say I felt a sense of relief. I wanted to say that my opportunity magic finally told me I was safe. But it didn’t. Instead, a new and unique crackle of nerves escaped up my back.

  Maybe Josh could appreciate that something was going on with me, because he took a step back from Barney and frowned at me. “What is it?” he mouthed.

  I shook my head, not wanting to worry him, but he kept looking at me with concern flaring in his gaze.

  I eventually mouthed back, “I’m getting nervous. Something… doesn’t feel right.”

  I watched Josh’s shoulders deflate. “Nothing’s going right today,” he muttered under his breath.

  Barney turned. “Has it been that bad?”

  “And worse. But you could really help by showing us those files.”

  Barney smiled.

  … Was there something to that smile?

  Was there a strange edge?

  Or was that just my paranoia talking?

  Josh certainly seemed to know Barney, and the two of them obviously got on well enough. But….

  “Just this way,” Barney confirmed once more as he led us down an echoing set of stone steps. The courts were in one of the oldest buildings downtown. They were made of carved stone and wrought iron, and gave you exactly the kind of impression of gravitas you needed for a functioning courtroom.

  But with every echoing footstep we took down the stairs, my gut clenched more until it felt as if someone had tied a noose around it.

  I… felt like I was walking into some kind of trap.

  I closed my eyes, trying to settle my mind on the sensation, but then I almost overbalanced. Before I could fall, Josh shoved his arm out, grabbed my elbow, and frowned hard at me. “What are you doing?” he muttered as Barney marched ahead.

  I could easily chalk up my confusion and growing sense of paranoia to the fact it had been a hell of a hard day. Or I could go with the emotion, trusting it.

  I didn’t even pause. I chose the latter. I shook my head at Josh. “Something isn’t right here,” I muttered under my breath.

  Barney paused, and he looked around at us at just that moment.

  Josh started to stiffen, reacting to my words and tone.

  I caught just a slice of Barney’s gaze – was there suspicion playing in it?

  Josh suddenly reached forward and patted me on the head. “I know you’re tired, kid. But we’ve almost got this done. You’re a big bad finder, and you can afford to stay up for a couple more minutes. Come on,” he said. There was no indication in his tone whatsoever that he was suspicious of anything. His gaze was neutral, and as he shifted around and looked at Barney, he shot Barney another friendly smile. But inside? Josh’s suspicion ran wild.

  Then he appeared satisfied and turned around to continue to walk down the enormous set of steps that cut right through the building down to the basement far below.

  As soon as Barney had turned his back, Josh pointed at him. He turned to me and mouthed. “Emotion magic. Now.”

  I hadn’t even thought of that. But as soon as Josh pointed it out, I focused my attention, calmed my breath, and locked it on Barney.

  At first, I struggled to pick up anything. I was justifiably weak after that episode in the theater. That spell had pulled out everything from me. I felt gutted. But at the same time, adrenaline was pumping through me, giving me access to that last scrap of magic buried deep within me.

  I finally locked my attention on Barney with everything I had. I felt into his emotion. What I got back was a confusing mix. It took me a long time to sort through it. There was everything from fear, to hatred, to something else. That something else was the most important emotion by far. It was the emotion of a man who only had one option left.

  Barney reached the end of the stairs.

  Just as Josh did too, I reached forward and grabbed his arm. I pressed my fingers in with all my might.

  Josh stiffened.

  Barney turned to us.

  Josh yanked his arm forward until I fell against him. “Beth,” he commented. “Really? Are you that tired that you’re tumbling all over yourself like a two-year-old who’s only just learned how to walk?”

  He grabbed me by the shoulders and straightened me up. As he did, he looked right into my eyes and nodded, making it clear he understood my warning.

  Then Josh turned back to Barney and shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry about her. She’s not used to doing the long hours yet. Not like you and me, ha?” Josh managed with a friendly chuckle.

  Barney reacted to this statement. Even Josh would be able to see the reaction as Barney nodded hard. “Sometimes I think they’re killing me,” he said. “For little to no pay,” he added bitterly.

  “I hear you, buddy. I hear you,” Josh said as he reached forward and clamped a friendly hand on Barney’s shoulder.

  I felt just the faintest charge of magic. Josh was casting some kind of spell. Or was he looking for some kind of spell?

  Though I picked up his searching magic, hopefully that was only because I was a sor
cerer, and hopefully Josh was smart enough to keep the spell hidden from Barney. I didn’t know what kind of witch Barney was, but considering he had a magical gun and was a guard, he had to be some kind of warlock. I just hoped he was generalized and weak enough that he had no clue we were onto him.

  “Exactly what case are you looking into, anyway?” Barney said conversationally as he led us through the basement.

  Funnily enough, I’d never been to the basement of the courts. I’d never been to the courts full stop. Our cases never took us there. We were just the people who brought criminals in. The prosecutors and lawyers and judges and magistrates were the ones who charged them and did the rest.

  Josh had obviously been here before, though. He didn’t take one look at the imposing architecture.

  He kept all of his attention centered on Barney.

  “Tracking down a bounty for one of the kingpins,” Josh said without pause.

  I stiffened as I wondered if Josh was about to tell Barney the full truth, despite the fact the guy was clearly dodgy.

  Barney half turned, a weird kind of smile on his face. He probably didn’t think it was weird. He probably thought it was normal. But now I was onto him, I was reading each one of his expressions clearly, and his cheeks simply didn’t move right as his lips curled. “Who? I haven’t heard that any of the three kingpins have trouble,” he said, emphasizing the word three.

  A blast of recognition sailed through me. He was definitely onto us. Somehow he knew who we were tracking down.

  Weirdly, as the emotion reader, I was the one who was having the least success in controlling my emotions. Josh? He looked utterly composed. He shrugged. “There are new cases all the time. You think being a court bodyguard is boring and unrewarding? Try working as the only government sanctioned bounty hunter. You get pushed and pulled every single day.”

  Josh hadn’t answered Barney’s question, and I watched as Barney opened his mouth to repeat it.

  Josh leaned in again and clapped a hand on Barney’s shoulder. “How’s everything going with you, though? I haven’t seen you for a while. Everything okay with Sally?” he asked, his tone controlled.

  Barney stiffened slightly. “Everything with Sally is fine.”

  That was a lie. My emotion-sensing magic told me that.

  Maybe Josh didn’t need emotion reading magic, as I watched his gaze narrow ever so slightly. “That’s great to hear. How’s your contract going with this place, anyway? You were always threatening to go find better work elsewhere. Do you want me to keep an ear out for any bounty hunter work?”

  “No,” Barney scratched his neck. “I decided to stop looking. Happy here after all,” he muttered through a fake grin.

  Lie and lie.

  He’d obviously found work elsewhere, and he was far from happy.

  Josh glanced at me on the premise of shoving his hands into his pockets and cracking his shoulder. I shook my head, hoping he appreciated that meant Barney wasn’t telling the truth.

  Josh nodded his head slightly.

  “All right, we’re here,” Barney said as he stopped in front of a grand door. “… Or at least I assume we’re here. Only some of the magical records are kept here. What did you say the case number was again?”

  “It was a pretty ordinary case,” Josh shrugged. “Plus, I know where the other rooms are. You probably need to get back outside. Sorry for wasting your time like this, Barney. Especially at a time like this.”

  Barney’s face stiffened. “I can afford to stay with you guys.”

  “Barney, come on, I know who you work for. Antonia is a hard woman. You’ve done your duty. I can take it from here. Good to see you, though,” Josh said as he clapped a hand on Barney’s shoulder.

  I could practically see Barney trying to come to a decision. It wasn’t that there were cogs moving around in his eyes. It was that his stress was starting to turn into funnels, almost as if it was being pushed toward two points.

  Josh appeared to make Barney’s decision for him. Josh cracked his shoulders, and a charge of magic sparked off them. Before it could do any damage, Josh caught it and looked sheepishly at Barney. “Sorry about that. It might’ve been a hell of a night, but my body is still charged. That was my reputation in the Army,” Josh suddenly added conversationally. “It didn’t matter how many battles we went through, or how often I was forced to fight. The more I fought, the stronger I got, not weaker. Blame it on being a tenacious bastard. Anyhow, Barney, we’ve got this now.”

  Josh’s apparent accident appeared to make Barney’s mind up for him. His shoulders crumpled inward as he nodded his head. “Sure thing. See you on the way out,” he said.

  He walked away. Josh opened the door to the records room, clapped a hand on my shoulder, and guided me in. He closed the door and kept a hand on the handle.

  He turned to me, and he shook his head hard. “Jesus Christ, that was close.”

  “Close?” My voice shot up high. “It isn’t over yet. He is clearly working for someone. And you just gave him the opportunity to go and call them.”

  Josh shrugged without bringing his hand off the handle. “It was preferable to him hanging around. Our enemies were always going to catch up with us anyway. But at least now we have a window of opportunity.” He looked right at me, making it obvious that as the opportunity finder, the next stage would be up to me.

  I opened my mouth wide, then picked up the distinct charge of magic in the air suggesting Josh was casting a spell on the handle. I frowned at him. “What are you doing?”

  “Creating a sensor net and a barrier,” he answered smoothly.

  I frowned. “You do know who we’re up against, right? I mean, it’s just a guess – but it’s a pretty good one – I assume Barney works for the same bastard who’s been sending elementals after us all night.”

  Josh nodded. Though he usually was the one to pooh-pooh my guesses, from the hard angle to his jaw and the defiant look in his eyes, it was clear he agreed. “This will still give us time, though. And you’ve got to remember that you can’t portal into the courtrooms. Every single wall, floor, and goddamn doorway has been spelled to prevent portal magic from opening up.”

  I looked at him, my exasperation clear. “Which means we won’t be able to get out of here in a hurry. You’ve just hemmed us in.” I gestured sharply to the door.

  Josh shrugged. Though the move was tense, it was clear he thought he had a handle on the situation – literally. He finally allowed his hand to drop from the handle. As it did, I saw charges of blue magic escape over the doorway. They appeared to form some kind of sheet, kind of like a shield. It was one that rippled as it covered the entire wall.

  It started to spread across the floor, and I yelped quietly and jerked back.

  Josh sniggered at me and crossed his arms. “You still have a lot to learn about warlock spells.”

  “And you have a lot to learn about opportunity magic,” I countered with stiff lips.

  This comment actually got to Josh, and I watched him pale a little. He brought up a hand and thumbed his nose, his hand stiff, the knuckles white. “We still do have an opportunity, don’t we, Beth?”

  Though all I wanted to do was point out that Josh was taking unnecessary risks, I reminded myself that I’d been doing the same all night. I settled my hands beside my legs, ground my fingers into fists, and half closed my eyes. I forced my attention into my finding magic.

  I asked it one simple question – did we still have an opportunity?

  I got back half an answer. Yes and no.

  It was my turn to pale.

  Josh stood up straight, and for the first time that night, genuine alarm blasted through his gaze. “What is it? Are you seriously telling me our opportunities have dried up?”

  “Yes and no,” I whispered through a constricted breath.

  “What does that mean?” he demanded.

  “Time. It isn’t on our side.”

  Josh looked at me seriously. Then he shrugged for
ward. “Fine, let’s make it on our side. I was just going to look through the files logically, but you’re a finder – and it’s time to step up.” Josh started to make a specific set of movements with his fingers – and I recognized them from the theater. It was the same gestures he’d made when he’d taken a magical snapshot of the symbol and the letters that had appeared in midair.

  In three seconds, magic sprang from his fingers, and that string of symbols wrote itself before him.

  I took a tense breath and felt a few zaps of magic twist through my stomach.

  “Beth – though this is probably going to make your latent magical reaction start to itch like crazy, you’re still going to have to do it. I want you to grab hold of that spell,” he shrugged toward it, “and concentrate with all your might. You need to take us to the right case file now.”

  I took a step forward and did as he said. And he was right. Seriously right. Even as I approached the letters and numbers, my skin started to flare up. I had to grit my teeth and stiffen my fingers in case they suddenly flew to my neck and started scratching like crazy.

  “Just concentrate,” he said in a clear, commanding voice.

  I closed my eyes as I wrapped my hands around the letters. You might think that was stupid. After all, I needed to see them to get a sense of them. It was the same as looking at a picture of someone to try to track them down. But all looking at a picture did was give me an underlying vibrational sense of someone.

  I could get that same sense – in a much purer fashion – by holding onto this spell.

  I ignored the heat flushing through my skin.

  I even ignored Josh’s tense breath as he teetered back and forth on his feet, the sound of his leather boots squeaking softly through the room. “Come on, Beth, you can do this. I believe in you,” he muttered quietly.

  He’d come a long way from the bully who’d taken every single opportunity to put me down. He hadn’t threatened me with noncompliance in weeks. And he never would again. Josh wanted to hold onto me. He wanted to work with me. And if this case went wrong but we somehow survived it?