by K. F. Breene
Bria drifted back in beside me. Kieran stepped in front. The guys fanned out around us.
“Don’t search for souls,” Bria murmured to me as Donovan grabbed the door handle and pulled it open.
“I just learned that lesson, yes,” I said dryly.
She didn’t seem to hear me. “Use the ol’ peepers. Unless someone corners you, in which case, search like hell for that soul. Real hard-like. Reach in and yank that motherfucker, got me?”
Kieran’s deep voice rumbled. “No one will be cornering her.”
“Clearly you’re used to things always going right.” Bria put her hand on my arm, staying close. “In my life, things going right is cause for alarm. Stay vigilant. We’re walking into enemy territory.”
14
Alexis
Right inside the door, large moveable walls draped with shadow sectioned off an entryway. The ceiling loomed high above, with industrial lights dangling down, most of them off. As Kieran had anticipated, the interior was murky and dim.
Donovan paused beside the shadowy entrance before melting into it. Thane scooted around Bria before doing the same. His upper body ducked back out into the dim light before disappearing for the second time.
Bria drifted forward, her hand still on my arm. I followed, but clearly not quickly enough. She yanked me behind her.
Hello pot, calling the micromanaging kettle black.
On the other side of the moveable wall, the space opened up with clusters of tables dotting the floor, many of the surfaces speckled with neat piles of papers or other items. None had chairs pushed up to their sides, and only one that I could see had a stool. Nothing marred the clean floor, allowing plenty of standing room around the tables, plus clear walkways for free movement.
Halfway through the warehouse, the landscape of tables shifted into rows of industrial shelving organized into cubes. The cubes were full of boxes, each box affixed with a white piece of paper. Thick shadow lined the ground and hung off of the shelves, most of the lights off in the back.
“This place is ripe for thievery,” I whispered, staying close to Bria. Kieran followed right behind me, reaching out more than once to touch the top of my shoulder. I had no idea why, because he didn’t do it to steer me. “All that shadow?”
“They have night-vision cameras,” Kieran said quietly.
Ah. That made more sense. And was one of the reasons why I was terrible at stealing—I tended to take things at face value.
Thane and Donovan peeled off to either side, glancing back at Bria. She nodded minutely before capturing my forearm.
“We’re up. I’m sensing for souls,” she said. “You just…look around.”
Miss Powerful over here, and all I could do to help was glance around a mostly empty warehouse.
“Isn’t anyone physically in here?” I asked.
“There probably was. That’s why we were waiting on Thane’s all clear.” Bria slowed before stopping, her head down. “They rely on cameras, but Kieran’s got that taken care of.”
There I went, taking things at face value again.
I didn’t want to look around. I wanted to help.
Bria had told me that my magic was nuanced, threading in between the planes. There had to be a way for me to feel it, to use it, without punching into everyone’s chests.
The buzzing from that ghost neighborhood tickled my memory. I remembered the vibration of the spells snaking along the walls. I’d automatically felt the magic when I was close enough. I hadn’t tried—it had just happened.
What if I did try? Would I be able to sense it from farther away?
Focusing on what I remembered from the ghost neighborhood, I let the world slide sideways. I felt the souls pulse from beyond the Line. I felt the Line itself, but didn’t see it. Didn’t feel its breeze. My soul was undisturbed.
My senses were not.
Almost immediately, that soft vibration I remembered lightly traced my left side. A tiny buzz drifted through my body, originating from the same direction.
I yanked my arm out of Bria’s grasp and turned toward the buzzing, eyes closed.
My feet moved of their own accord, just like they had in the ghost neighborhood. A large hand grasped my upper arm. Kieran’s. Pressure directed me left, probably around a table. There was a sea of them, after all.
When the vibration and buzzing reached a peak, I opened my eyes. And then blinked at the dark gray wall rising up in front of me. Hand held out, I felt the warning for souls to stay away. That must’ve meant there were specific souls barred in beyond it.
“Bria,” I whispered, registering the pulse of a soul beyond that wall. No, several pulses. A handful, at least, their movement jiggling my stomach uncomfortably.
Without warning, they all paused in whatever they were doing.
Became alert.
A shock of fear bled through me and I shut it all down. What if the souls I’d felt inside were living people, and I’d just grabbed someone by the middle? I might’ve alerted the masses to our presence.
“I feel it,” Bria said, hurrying over to me. “Oh yeah. I feel that. There is some serious power in there.” She unslung her backpack before looking from side to side. “How the hell do we get in?”
“Thane,” Kieran said, and though his voice was soft, his tone was a whipcrack of command.
Without further instruction, Thane moved along the wall, hands held out and eyes moving.
“They’re locked in,” I said, resting my palms against the wood. “I can’t tell much more from here. But I’d bet the Line is blocked off. I’d also bet…” I gritted my teeth, realizing the feeling of the magic had started seeping into me again. It had almost happened by accident, proof that I used my abilities without thinking about it. “Based on what I felt before, I’d bet these are healthy souls.”
“What does that mean?” Kieran asked.
“Valens isn’t trying to cut them down slowly, driving them to hysteria and madness.”
Bria elbowed me. It dawned on me what I was saying. Who Kieran would inevitably think about. I hadn’t intended on sharing that aspect of the haunted house with him.
“He is keeping them here, but not punishing them,” I said.
“You can punish souls?” he asked.
“It appears so.” I tried to keep my tone light as I tapped the wood with my fingers, impatient. I wanted to see what sort of setup Valens had going inside that wall.
Thane extracted a small bottle from one of his pockets before puffing powder into the air. An unseen current of air caught the white mist, diffusing it. He continued down the wall, puffing every so often.
“You can dissipate a soul, too,” Bria whispered. “Like acid. You can make sure it never comes back. I get called in to do that, occasionally. It keeps the real nasty bastards from being called back and stuffed into a body.”
Kieran shifted uncomfortably.
“He won’t do that to your mother,” I said, feeling the truth of those words as I said them. “He has her under his control. He’s using her sk…” I turned away from the wall, looking out over the tables without seeing them. “He’s using the thing connected with the sea to rule her,” I murmured. “Like how he ruled her in life. He kept her on a small island, surrounded by the sea.” I nodded, now gazing at the exit. “A cage by the sea. Or in the sea. That makes sense. That’s where he’d keep it.”
“None of the locations on my mother’s list were in the sea,” Kieran said. “One was near it, but on a cliff. High up.”
I shook my head. “No. That wouldn’t do. He’d need it in the tide. In the surging waters. Her sea-faring form would be in its natural habitat, but she wouldn’t be able use it. What a shitty bastard.”
“For the record, this is guesswork, right?” Bria asked quietly.
“It is guesswork, yes,” I answered. “Guesswork from years of sitting on a rickety chair in front of rug-covered TV trays, listening to people describe their interactions with ghosts and vice versa. Hear eno
ugh of those horror stories, and you get a sense for how people inflict hurt on one another. How they push their will on to spirits. I could be wrong, but man…I sure sound right.”
“The last time you definitely did. This time…mostly,” Bria said as Thane said, “Sir…”
He puffed the powder down the way, showing us what he’d found. The air current sucked it through the wall. The door.
“The cargo pants make sense.” I nodded, following the others. “I get it now. And someday, I’ll graduate to those instead of being offered spandex.”
“Why don’t you focus on graduating to some leggings that go all the way to your ankles?” Bria mumbled. “Baby steps.”
“Bria?” Kieran said, a command disguised as a question. I had no idea how everyone knew what the commands meant.
She put her palm to the hidden door. Even up close, I could barely see the cracks outlining it. Then again, shadow swathed the surface, hiding the details. Like how to open it.
“A handful of souls. Loose,” she said, her eyes closed. “No hosts. No people inside.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, gritting my teeth. I’d almost reached through again and checked it out for myself, but I couldn’t risk it if the souls I’d sensed were living people.
Her eyes drifted open. Her eyebrows rose and lines marred her forehead. “About which part?”
“That no one in there’s alive.”
“I see a latch,” Thane pointed. “Should I open it, sir?”
“Wait.” Kieran stared at Bria, awaiting her answer to my question.
“No people. I’m positive.”
At Kieran’s nod, Thane bent to the ground and his finger disappeared into a little hole in the wall by the floor. A click sounded, the cracks turned black, and the door popped open. Thane straightened up.
“He’s good,” I said, stepping back.
“That’s why he’s one of the Six. C’mon.” Bria pulled the door open slowly before peeking into the room beyond. Her body slowly disappeared from view. Thane followed her, ducked back out like he had upon entering the main body of the warehouse, and then disappeared a second time.
I took a step back.
“What’s the matter?” Kieran said, checking the sleek little watch at his wrist. I wondered if he knew my birthday was coming up…
“The souls in there are powerful. They felt me feel them out. I’m worried about what I’ll see.”
Kieran looked behind him. Zorn, Donovan, Jack, and Boman took off walking, their phones out, headed for the tables. He turned back to me. “I’ll be right beside you. Nothing will happen to you.”
“I know they won’t hurt me, but that doesn’t make what’s about to happen any more pleasant.”
15
Kieran
Kieran followed Alexis as she hesitantly stepped into the room. She’d sensed the souls, but hadn’t been able to discern if they were spirits or people. Nor could she sense a living person’s soul without plunging her mental grip into his or her chest. She was so far behind in her magic, even the most basic things were foreign to her.
If his father got his hands on her, she’d be entirely vulnerable. Putty in his father’s experienced fingers. He could ruin armies with her on his arm. Ruin cities. Alexis had the power. His father had the drive.
Kieran forced the thought away. That was never going to happen. He’d tear down the world before he’d let his father, or anyone, mistreat her. He protected what was his, with his life, if need be.
“That smell is…unpleasant.” A look of disgust crossed Alexis’s beautiful features as she edged farther into the room.
A musty, sickly sweet sort of funk accosted his senses. Bria identified the source immediately.
“Cadavers,” she said, cutting across the medium-sized room to two rows of what looked like raised flower beds.
“Cadavers. Like…there are dead bodies in here?” Alexis weaved after her, occasionally jerking away from something unseen. “No touching,” she mumbled.
“Preserved—wait.” Bria stopped beside one of the barren flower beds, and Kieran had to admit the shape did compare to a grave. “This is legit dirt. Are these bastards fresh? Let’s have a little lookie and find out, shall we?”
“Part of your job is digging up dead people,” Alexis muttered, picking at her thumbnail. “That didn’t really register until this exact moment. And here I thought seeing spirits was…unfortunate.” She rolled her eyes. “You know I can see you. I just walked around you after the other lady cut through. Use your head.”
Kieran caught Thane’s eye and received a jerk of the head. Two tables hugged the back corner. Various items were spread out along their surfaces, much messier than the highly organized tables in the main warehouse. Whoever labored in here didn’t have a direct working relationship with Kieran’s father. Valens subscribed to the theory that a messy workspace denoted a messy mind.
“Necromancer supplies,” Thane said as Kieran reached him.
“What’s that?” Bria called.
“Necromancer supplies,” Kieran answered, picking out the few things he could identify. “Two sets of bells with scrollwork along the side, candle stubs of various colors, packets of incense, some sort of…meditation tape, I think. A cassette tape player—”
“A cassette tape player?” Bria looked up. “We’re dealing with someone old and set in their ways. Probably highly experienced. Likely a real shithead.”
“He’ll be at the top of his trade,” Kieran said, thinking of the many ways he could find out who it was.
“Why he?” Bria asked.
Thane smiled and flicked a packet of Viagra resting at the corner of the table. “Either a guy, or a woman who dates guys with performance issues.” He scratched at a couple brown rings marring the surface of the table. “He doesn’t clean, and he’s been in this work station for a while. Ten to one, Valens keeps him hidden just like he does this warehouse.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Kieran said, turning away to survey the room. Barren white walls led up to an industrial ceiling, with beams and wires on full display, just like in the rest of the warehouse. Only one light of the dozen was on, casting the space in gloomy light. Shiny tile, clear of scuffs and not matching the desk, covered the whole of the floor. “Thanks to my mother, I’ve been able to glean a couple of new insights about the ways my father hides information. My father will have grouped him with this compound in his records. I’ll be able to figure out who he is.”
“Then what?” Thane asked quietly.
Kieran glanced at Alexis, her hands on her hips, staring hard at a fixed point in empty space. “We give the information to Alexis,” he replied in an undertone. “She might not be trained on most of the powerful facets of her magic, but she has excellent instincts. She’s goal orientated. Give her an end-game, and she’ll figure out the best way to get there.”
“But the end-game is freeing your mother. If this isn’t directly related…”
Kieran shook his head. “She’s got a big heart. The end-game was freeing my mother, but she can’t stand to see all of these trapped souls. I can hear it in her voice when she talks about it. In an effort to make the situation morally correct, she’ll release them all, if she can. She won’t be able to help it. And in the process, she’ll help my end-game.”
“Whatever’s going on in this warehouse is far from morally correct,” Thane murmured. “Valens has something wicked up his sleeve.”
“Yes, he does.” Kieran glanced at the door leading out into the larger portion of the warehouse. “Magically wicked. He’s prepared for war. Has been prepared for a good while, I’d guess. He’s ready to defend his territory against a hostile takeover.”
16
Alexis
“You and your derelicts aren’t supposed to be in here,” the man with the fierce gaze said, staring me down. “This is a government facility. Authorized personnel only.”
“Dude. You’re dead. You’re not supposed to be in here.” I pointed at t
he color-shifting wall blocking off the Line. “But they locked you in. Doesn’t that piss you off?”
The man puffed out his muscular chest. “I’m here because I want to be. I’m here for the greater good.”
“Were you this stupid in life?” I held up my hand. “I already know the answer. Clearly you didn’t grow out of the habit of blindly following authority. You’re the worst sort of soldier.”
“I’m the best soldier,” the man said, and his bushy mustache wiggled as if he were swishing his lips under it. The other hard-bodied, grim-faced men around us nodded in agreement. “Decorated on three different continents. Active duty for ten years. Retired to special forces.” He pointedly looked around.
“Retirement…as in death?” I asked incredulously. “You were so good they killed you when you hit middle age instead of letting you live out the rest of your life in peace, which you’d clearly earned?”
“We were retired to glory,” the mustachioed man said. The rest nodded.
“You gotta stop believing what people tell you.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I mean, it’s probably too late now, but I bet someone told you that mustaches looked good, right?” I put up a finger. “And maybe they do on some people. You, sir, are not one of those people.”
“How many are there?” Bria asked, still crouched by the graves masquerading as flower beds.
I counted them up really quickly, easy to do with such a small number. “Eight. All hard soldier types.”
“Magical?” she asked.
I lifted my eyebrows at Mustache. He stared back at me.
“Are you magical?” I relayed. “Honestly, I know you can hear her. Let’s move this along.”
“I don’t have to answer your questions,” Mustache said. His groupies shifted, advertising their confidence in him.
“Bria, can you make spirits answer questions?” I asked, not looking away from his defiant, annoyingly arrogant stare.
