Phoenix Born

by Sean Stone

  ‘You’re late,’ the Prime Wizard barked at me from his throne. The others all looked down on me with disapproval. All except Jeremy, the Keeper, he looked more sympathetic.

  I took a deep breath and put on my diplomatic head just like Drew had advised. ‘I offer my most sincere apologies, Prime Artemis, I was detained by the mayor. He wished to ask me some questions about last night’s events,’ I explained. I even bowed my head a little in respect.

  Artemis was about to reply and by the snarl on his face it wasn’t going to be a nice reply, but Potions Mistress Agatha cut in before he could. ‘A valid reason if ever I heard one.’

  ‘The mayor could have coordinated with us on this. We are supposed to be allies,’ grumbled Marcus, the Spells Master.

  Artemis glared him into silence and the Spells Master turned a shade of crimson that matched his robes. Were the Elders the mysterious backers Harper had been talking about? He couldn’t seriously think that they would be able to overthrow Dorian Gray. A previous iteration of Elders had tried it and achieved dire results. That was the reason the Hall had such little power these days.

  ‘Jacob can you please give us an accounting of what happened at your venue, Monkeys, last night?’ Mistress Agatha asked kindly, eager to move on with the proceedings. I imagined that they all had a lot of pretending to be important to get on with today.

  ‘Absolutely,’ I said cooperatively and then told them everything that had happened from the moment I heard the first scream. Obviously I didn’t tell them that I knew anything about Kagen. I couldn’t risk them finding out about my secret life. As far as they were concerned I was simply Jacob Graves, wizard, club owner, and good citizen. ‘It is the general consensus that it was an attack on the mayor’s plans. The people of the Dregs don’t want their community being disturbed.’

  There was a moment of silence whilst the Elders absorbed my story and processed the information I’d given them.

  Finally, Marcus spoke up. ‘What a crock of shit.’

  ‘Marcus!’ Jeremy said in shock.

  ‘No, I won’t sit here and listen to this nonsense. This was no attack from the Dregs. Do you think we would be unaware of a Phoenix-Born living right here in the city, let alone in the poorest part of the city?’ Marcus demanded.

  Shit. They knew Kagen was a Phoenix-Born. My expression must have given my thoughts away because Artemis nodded smugly.

  ‘Oh yes, we know all about the Phoenix-Born, Graves. A member of this council helped you research them. Did you seriously think we wouldn’t put the pieces together?’

  ‘Did you seriously think we wouldn’t recognise phoenix fire?’ Marcus added.

  ‘So, I’ll ask you again. Why did the Phoenix-Born attack you last night?’ said Artemis.

  I drew in a deep breath and reached for the glass of water which was on the podium before me. I needed time to construct a convincing lie. Clearly the mayor’s theory was not going to wash with these guys. They were smarter than I’d expected. I heard Drew’s voice in my head reprimanding me for underestimating yet more people. Maybe he had a point.

  ‘The Phoenix-Born is called Kagen Payne,’ I said honestly. The best lies contain nuggets of truth. ‘He visited one of my other clubs a couple of nights ago and I had to kick him out because he was being aggressive towards my staff. He took it very personally and challenged me to a duel. I won the duel and he… well he overreacted. Apparently, he thought that was an appropriate response to being humiliated.’

  The Elders whispered among themselves for a few minutes before turning back to me.

  ‘You seem to make enemies wherever you go,’ Artemis said waspishly. ‘Did you sleep with this man’s fiancée as well?’ he said, referencing my affair with Ruby. I chose to ignore the comment. It wouldn’t end well if I took his bait.

  ‘Are we done here?’ I asked.

  ‘We’ll be done when I say we are done. You said you have the remains of this Phoenix-Born in two lead containers?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Obviously the remains of such a creature are too dangerous to be kept unguarded in the city. You will deliver them to us.’

  ‘No,’ I said firmly. There was no way I was going to let those remains out of my possession. I wanted Kagen dead and I would never achieve that if I gave his ashes to Artemis.

  ‘I didn’t ask you a question!’ Artemis roared. Agatha placed a hand on his forearm and he eased back into his chair though his face did not lose any of its redness.

  ‘I came here this morning as a courtesy to you but let me remind you that you have no real authority over anything. You have no right to take the ashes from me.’

  ‘We are the Elders of the Hall of Wizardry. We govern the wizards of this city,’ Marcus told me in a hushed voice. His eyes were bulging out of his head in anger and shock at how blatantly disrespectful I was being. To hell with diplomacy, I wasn’t going to be bossed around by a bunch of old wizards who were full of hot air.

  ‘There is only one person who governs this city and I don’t see him sitting up there with you lot.’ I caught sight of Jeremy who was shaking his head in despair.

  ‘So, you’ve made your loyalties known,’ Artemis said, his lips curling into a sneer.

  ‘I am loyal to myself,’ I told him.

  ‘Perhaps we can come to a compromise,’ Agatha said quickly before the argument descended into an even worse state. By the looks of how angry some of the Elders were I’d say spells were about to be loosed.

  ‘I’m listening,’ I replied.

  ‘You said the ashes are in two boxes. Give us one of the boxes for safe keeping and you can keep the other. Does that seem fair to you?’

  It did not seem fair at all, they had no right to have any part of the ashes. Before I could reply Jeremy spoke up. ‘We are only concerned with the safety of the city, Jacob. If the ashes are in two different locations and under two different guardianships then this Phoenix-Born will definitely never rise again.’

  I couldn’t argue with his logic. And to be honest, I doubted I was going to be allowed to leave if I didn’t give them something. I was hardly able to fight the five most powerful wizards in the city.

  A young man entered the room and hurried up to the big table, his face flushed with embarrassment. He approached Artemis and whispered in his ear. Unfortunately the room seemed to be built with acoustics in mind and the whisper carried across the silence to my own ears.

  ’Magraval is here for you, Prime Artemis.’

  I’d heard that name before but I couldn’t remember when. Clearly he was important because Artemis nodded and then brought the hearing to a close. ‘Very well. Graves, you will deliver half of the ashes to us. Yes?’ I nodded reluctantly. ‘Then this hearing is concluded. Keeper Jeremy will accompany you to retrieve the ashes immediately.’

  Before I could argue the Elders were on the move and I was left alone in the room with Jeremy.

  ‘You don’t help yourself in these matters you know,’ he said, as we made our way outside. ‘Everybody knows this place doesn’t have any real power over the city but if you just pretended otherwise it would get you a bit further.’

  ‘I’m not interested in stroking Artemis’ ego,’ I muttered.

  ‘Then he will always be out to get you.’

  ‘Who is Magraval?’ I asked suddenly. Maybe Magraval was the mysterious backer. If the Elders and the mayor were allies then maybe they were both meeting with the same backer. The puzzle pieces clicked together in my mind. Dorian had told me that somebody called Magraval was making moves behind the scenes. He was the backer. That meant that the Elders and the mayor were actually plotting against Dorian. I stopped walking as the realisation dawned on me. Things were going to get very messy in Sangford very soon and there was no doubt in my mind that Dorian would come out on top. That meant that I wouldn’t have to worry about Artemis or Harper for much longer. They’d be dead.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Jeremy said, shaking his head at me. ‘Artemis doesn’t incl
ude me in his meetings. I’m just the librarian.’

  I believed him. It was obvious that Jeremy was not in any way valued otherwise he wouldn’t have been given the task of getting the ashes from me. It was a job for a lackey, not an Elder.

  ‘Listen, you’ve always been good to me and Drew so I’ll give you a heads up. Artemis and Harper are planning a take-over and it won’t end well. If I were you I’d distance myself from them. Maybe take a holiday or something.’

  Jeremy chewed on his bottom lip as he processed my warning. ‘Let’s get those ashes,’ he said. I hoped that he would heed my warning but there was no way of knowing. Not until the time came.

  I took Jeremy back to my apartment and handed him one of the boxes. It did pain me to hand it over to him. It was a big risk letting even a part of Kagen out of my possession. But as long as I had the other half I was safe. Which was more than I could say for the Elders and the mayor after I told Dorian what they were up to.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  I couldn’t get hold of Dorian. I didn’t have a direct number for him. I wasn’t that important, so I had to go through several different people none of whom I trusted with the information. I was told to wait until Dorian was ready to reach out to me. In the meantime, I finally had the time to deal with Ethan. First, I needed to get my car back.

  It was still in the car park behind Monkeys. I got a taxi over there and was greeted by the horrifying husk of my former entertainment venue. The roof had completely collapsed and most of the walls at the front of the building had fallen down too. Charred bricks stood in jagged formations out of the ground like broken teeth stretching up above me. Yellow cord had been placed around the building to stop pedestrians from getting too close. I could see people in high-vis jackets and hard hats inspecting the site.

  Monkeys had been my second favourite venue after Alibi. It saddened me to see it in such a sorry state. I walked around to the back of the building with my head hanging low. The back didn’t look nearly as bad as the front. The fire hadn’t reached this far back so from a distance it almost looked normal. Knowing it was burned and ruined on the inside made it all the more surreal when the back door swung open and Leah came out with a stack of files clutched in her slender arms. I hadn’t noticed her car even though it was parked literally right next to my own. She had an orange VW beetle. I was paying her enough that she could afford a much better car. It was almost embarrassing to see her driving around in such an abysmal vehicle.

  She noticed me standing there and her already grim expression turned even more sour. I had some grovelling to do.

  ‘They’ll have the inspection finished by the end of the day but it doesn’t look good. They think the whole place will need demolishing before we can rebuild,’ she said. She pulled open her car and flung the files onto the back seats. A few papers flew loose over the floor of her beetle. ‘It might be easier to find a new building if you’re thinking of reopening.’ I didn’t really want to move to a new building, but that wasn’t what was important right now. I had a mood to dispel.

  ‘Leah, about last night…’ I started.

  ‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ she said in a quieter voice. She was clearly pretty bothered about it. ‘I’ve found a few alternative venues in the area.’

  ‘I know you’re upset, Leah,’ I tried again.

  ‘There’s quite a nice one that’s adjacent to the river. Pricey though.’

  ‘I really think that we should talk about what’s upsetting you,’ I said to her back.

  She whirled around, her face twisted into a mask of living rage. I actually took a step back. I’d never seen her like that before.

  ‘I’m a grown woman, Jacob!’ she snapped. ‘I am more than capable of looking after myself and making my own decisions. If I say I want to stay and help then I want to stay and help. I did more to fight that fire than anybody else did and you decided I was a silly little girl who needed to be protected. It wasn’t your call to make. I decide what I do and do not do. Not my sister. And certainly not you.’ She let out an angry exhale to signify that she’d concluded her rant.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I said sheepishly. I couldn’t even meet her eyes. I felt like a little boy being told off for stealing cookies. ‘It won’t happen again.’

  ‘It had better not.’

  ‘I mean, you are my employee and you were at work at the time…’ I said in a poor attempt at humour.

  ‘If you ever treat me like that again then I won’t be,’ she warned me. I knew she wasn’t bluffing and there was no way I could afford to lose her.

  ‘I won’t,’ I assured her.

  ‘Good.’ She ran a hand through her dark hair and then her expression softened. ‘I’ve made sure the media stick with the ridiculous theory the mayor put out there. Everybody thinks the attack was on him which means our reputation is untainted. As long as you don’t have anything more to do with him or his campaigns.’

  ‘There’s no chance of that,’ I told her, thinking back to my meeting with the mayor earlier.

  She started to climb into her horrible little car. ‘Oh, and I expect a very generous bonus after last night,’ she said.

  I was already walking to my own car when I heard what she said and smiled. ‘Don’t worry, you’ll get it. Maybe you should use it to invest in a decent set of wheels,’ I threw over my shoulder.

  ‘Fuck you,’ she said and slammed her door shut.

  I drove away feeling relieved that I’d smoothed things over with Leah. Having her angry at me was the last thing I wanted. Making up with her had been pretty easy too. An apology and a bonus was all it had taken. Kagen was dead and I was back in Leah’s good books — things were starting to look better. Now all I had to do was nail Ethan’s coffin shut. Metaphorically. For now.

  I drove over to the address I had for Oscar Stillwell, one of the people who’d been in the meeting with Ethan on the night of Ruby’s murder. It was a Saturday so the office was closed. I was hoping he hadn’t gone out anywhere. My wish came true when I rang the doorbell and he answered. His hair was full of curlers so I assumed he wasn’t planning on going anywhere any time soon. I thought that these days they had machines that curled hair making the little curlers null and void. Either I was wrong or Stillwell hadn’t heard of them. Either way it was unusual to see a man curling his hair, even in these modern times.

  ‘Hello, Mr. Stillwell, my name is Desmond Smith. I work for the HR department at Spark Electronics. I was hoping to ask you some questions about a meeting you attended not so long ago?’ I said, putting on my formal business voice. I’d deliberately not dressed in too fancy a suit otherwise he’d know that I didn’t work for any HR department.

  ‘On a Saturday?’ he said in suspicion. He poked his head through the doorway and looked about as if I might have people waiting in the bushes to jump out at him.

  ‘Yes, well we prefer to do these things at the weekend so they don’t interrupt the workday,’ I lied. It wasn’t one of my more convincing lies, but it did the job.

  He invited me in, and I asked him a multitude of questions about the night but everything he said only confirmed what I’d seen on the footage. Ethan had obviously paid him off or blackmailed him. One way or another he had got Oscar to lie for him.

  I left Oscar’s place and went to see the other two members of the meeting. They both corroborated Ethan’s alibi too. The worse part was there was no inconsistency in their stories. No loose threads to pull on. His alibi was ironclad. He really had been in that meeting. Which meant that the time of death was incorrect. I’d seen enough movies to know that the tests the police used to figure out the time of death could be fooled. I just had to figure out how Ethan had done it. And there was only one way I was going to be able to do that.

  I’d stalk Ethan every day. I’d learn his routes, his haunts, his habits and patterns. I’d find the ideal time and then I’d snatch him. I’d take him to one of my interrogation locations and I would force the truth from him using whate
ver methods I had to. Obviously, nothing he said would be admissible in court which was fine. It just meant I would have to bring him to justice myself. Once he confessed I could kill him.

  I drove to one of the three safe houses I had in the city. I had houses where I kept all the equipment I’d need for a job. It was obviously too risky to keep any of it in my apartment. As I parked my car around the corner (for good measure) I saw a curvy young lady go strolling past with her dog. Lustful feelings stirred inside me. I still hadn’t sorted myself out after my arrest had interrupted my original plans the other night. The longer I left it the worse it would get and soon it would start to become distracting. A healthy sex life equals a healthy mind. But now was not the time for a romp.

  I allowed myself one more look at the pretty lady before I took myself around the corner and into the bungalow. I passed easily through all of the magical protection spells on the property. Too easily. I didn’t feel a thing but I should have felt at least the smallest tug of magic.

  I cast my eyes across the darkened living room. I used blackout blinds to keep the place free from prying eyes whilst I was away, and whilst I was there for that matter. As the front door clicked shut behind me the lamp in the corner of the living room flicked on to reveal Monroe sitting spookily in the armchair next to it. I’d instinctively began gathering magic inside myself but upon seeing Monroe I released it. Attacking Dorian’s lieutenant was basically the same as committing suicide.