by Sadie Moss
His words cracked my heart, but the pain felt good. Like a broken limb being reset so it could heal properly.
“I just don’t want you to get hurt.” My words were muffled against his chest.
“Then stop fucking running off on me,” Corin shot back with a slight chuckle before lifting my chin. “I don’t want to see you get hurt either. None of us do. That’s why we’ve gotta stick together, right? So we can protect each other.”
I nodded, wiping my cheeks with the back of my hand as I pulled away. I hadn’t felt this girly in a long time, but strangely, I wasn’t embarrassed about it in the presence of these four.
My ghost roommate still watched us intently, her brown doe eyes wide. The light from the abandoned TV flickered over the faces of the men in front of me, highlighting their features in blues and grays.
I shot a glance at Akio.
“Sorry about the….” I picked up the dagger, gesturing to it limply before setting it on the little table by the door.
He rolled his eyes. “I’m growing used to it.”
I guessed his half acceptance of my half apology was about as good as we were going to get. I felt connected to Akio as strongly as to the others, but a wall still existed between us that I wasn’t sure how to break through.
“I’m with Corin, killer.” Fenris pulled me into his arms, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. His body was firm and warm, and I let my hands skate over the strong muscles of his back before pulling away awkwardly. “Don’t ever scare us like that again. I thought I’d go out of my mind when we came back and you were gone. Akio was so worked up he practically yanked all his hair out, and nobody needs a bald incubus.”
Akio snorted, but he wouldn’t meet my gaze when I looked over at him. Had he really been that worried about me? Something in my chest felt warm and gooey at the thought.
I drew back suddenly, taking in the four of them. “Wait. How the hell did you find me, anyway?”
Jae’s lips tilted in his calm smile. “That was Fenris’s doing.”
“Yup. You told me all about where you live, remember? Including that creepy-as-fuck clown mural on the front of the building. We asked around, and one of the Resistance members used to rent a place around here. He knew what I was talking about as soon as I said ‘magic clown’ and told us how to get here.”
“I drove your car here. We thought you might need it,” Jae added, then his face darkened. “That thing is truly….” He shook his head, looking pained.
I knew it. This quiet, contemplative mage was a total car nerd. Then again, someone didn’t have to be that into cars to recognize that mine was a wretched specimen.
Ivy cleared her throat loudly, drawing my attention. “Hello! Aren’t you going to introduce me?”
“Oh, sorry! Ivy, meet Corin, Jae, Akio, and Fenris. Guys, this is Ivy. She, uh, lives here too.”
The ghost beamed and waved at the four men, who hesitantly waved back. Corin shot me a curious glance, and I just shrugged. He grinned.
My heart swelled. Godsdamn it, that was one of the most beautiful sights in the world.
I’d missed his lopsided grin, and the way his clear blue eyes danced with humor, as if the two of us were in on a joke the rest of the world didn’t get. I knew it would probably be a while before the mess of emotions between us finally resolved itself, but for now, I vowed to earn his trust back by proving I wouldn’t disappear ever again.
“Do you want to watch TV with me?” Ivy asked eagerly. “This is a really good show!”
Deciding not to ask what made one infomercial better than another, I shook my head. “Sorry, Ivy. We’ve got some important business to discuss.”
“Suit yourself.”
She turned around and plopped back on the sofa, instantly absorbed again by the bright images flickering on the screen. The rest of us gathered around my beat-up table, Akio leaning against the half wall separating my kitchen and living room while everyone else pulled out chairs. I still wasn’t sure what time it was. Late, I knew that, but now that the guys were here, I was suddenly wide-awake.
“I’m…” I cleared my throat. “I can’t say I’m sorry you all found me, but the fact remains: as long as I’m carrying this tracking spell, it’s not safe for anyone to be near me.”
“That’s why we need to break the spell,” Fenris said, as the rickety chair he settled into creaked ominously. He was carrying too many pounds of sculpted muscle for my shitty-ass furniture to handle.
“Yeah, but how? I have no idea who created it or who put it on me. It could—” I broke off, my brow furrowing. “Godsdamn it. Son of a bitch!”
“What?” Jae leaned forward.
“Rat!”
“Excuse me?”
“Rat. The go-between connecting me and my employers. He was the last person I saw before I went to Akio’s house for the job. And when he touched my hand, it felt like a shock went up my arm. I didn’t think anything of it then, figured it was just because he was so fucking cold. It must have been him. I can’t believe he sold me out! I thought he hated the Gifted as much as I did.”
“He very well may, but that makes no difference. Money and power can bend morals—or break them entirely.” Jae’s green eyes clouded over. It was a look I was beginning to recognize, some remembered pain pulling his attention inward. I slid my hand across the table to cover his, and his expression cleared as he met my eyes. Shaking his head slightly, he continued, “But if you think it was him, that’s a good thing. It gives us a place to start in the hunt for the mage who created the tracking spell.”
“I know where he usually hangs out,” I said, thinking of the seedy bar where I’d first met Rat. He was well under the drinking age, but in that place, a four-year-old could toddle in and order two fingers of whiskey.
“Good.” Jae ran a long finger over his chin. “We need to find him quickly. The concealment spell on the Resistance headquarters is strong, so searching for it is as difficult as trying to crack a complex code—unless you have a key. The tracking spell is the key. As long as our enemy has that, they will manage to break the code and see through the concealment spell. We need to destroy the tracker at its source before that happens. I’ll put a masking spell on you as well, which should slow them down a bit.”
I picked viciously at a chip in the wood veneer of the table. Every time we discussed the tracking spell I carried, my skin crawled. It felt like I was host to some kind of magical parasite. I was half tempted to run across the room, grab my dagger, and try to dig the thing out of my flesh.
But hell, if Rat was the one who had sold me out and stuck me with this fucking spell, I was more than happy to use my blade on him instead. In fact, nothing sounded better at the moment.
“What time is it, anyway?” I asked, glancing around the table.
Corin pulled what must’ve been a new burner phone from the Resistance out of his pocket, pressing a button on the side. “Just after midnight.”
A smile split my face.
Perfect.
Chapter 20
The Crow’s Nest thumped with a loud beat I felt in my bones as much as heard with my ears. During the day, this place looked like any other abandoned building on the block, with one small window at the front so covered in grime you couldn’t even see inside. But at night, the flickering green neon sign of a crow and the heavy pulse of music called to the disenfranchised denizens of the Outskirts looking to drink or fuck their troubles away.
I’d come here the first time simply because of the name, and I kept coming back because the drinks were decent and cheap. Mostly cheap.
When we walked in, every head in the place snapped up and then immediately ducked back down again. It wasn’t surprising. The five of us must pack a pretty big wallop of power. It was extremely rare for the Gifted to go slumming in the Outskirts, and when they did venture out this far from the city center, it was never for anything good. The general approach most Blighted took if they encountered a magic user outside the Capita
l was to shut the hell up and look the other way.
Trying not to be hurt that people who had once been my confederates would no longer even look me in the eye, I led the men through the long, narrow room, past the bar running down one side of it to the back, where the space opened up into a larger area with booths, a few tables, and a pool table that never had all its balls.
Scanning the space, I spotted Rat in a dark booth tucked into a corner.
He had his arm wrapped around a thin woman with black hair and big eyes. She clutched her glass tightly and seemed far more enthralled by its contents than by whatever Rat was whispering in her ear. It was obvious even from where I stood that she wasn’t interested in the scrawny young man, but she’d probably stick around as long as he was buying.
I tugged on Jae’s arm and jerked my head toward the couple, then veered in their direction, my four right behind me. A path cleared for us, and as we approached Rat’s table, he glanced up. His eyes bugged out when he caught sight of me, and he scrambled to rise. Before he could escape, I slid into the booth beside him, boxing him in between me and the dark-haired girl on his other side.
“Gee, Rat, are you two-timing me? I really thought we had something.” I let the threat hang heavy in my voice.
The girl’s terrified eyes met mine for a brief moment before she slipped out of the booth and hustled away through the crowd, leaving her drink behind. I hated that we were taking advantage of the fear the Blighted had of the Gifted, but it was better for everyone that she left. Akio slid in to take her place, Jae beside him. Fenris and Corin stationed themselves in front of the booth, blocking any attempted escape.
“Lana?” Rat stammered. “Oh, hey, doll. What are you—I was just—”
He cleared his throat, grabbed his erstwhile date’s abandoned drink, and tossed it back in one gulp. Any doubts I’d had that this skinny little dick was the one who betrayed me were quickly evaporating.
“Thirsty?” I arched an eyebrow.
He laughed, a thin, high-pitched noise. “Well, you know how it is. Just having a few drinks to unwind. We work hard. We deserve a little—”
“What you deserve—” I interrupted, digging the dagger I’d been hiding into the soft flesh between his ribs, pressing just hard enough to let him know I was serious “—is to be gutted like a rabbit for selling me out to the fucking Gifted.”
He winced, holding his breath, and I eased off the pressure a little bit so he could draw in air.
“I don’t… I don’t know what you’re talking about, doll.”
“Really? Should I see if my friends here can jog your memory? It might not be pleasant, but I’m sure they can help you figure out what you did.”
As I spoke, Jae casually turned his hand over, and a small ball of blue flame burst from it, hovering over his palm. Akio’s dark eyes glittered in the blue light, mesmerizing as twin galaxies. He could probably charm Rat into telling us everything, but I wanted to exhaust every other option first. Akio’s powers still scared the fuck out of me—probably because I feared how easily he could use them on me.
Rat jerked back like he’d been shocked, almost impaling himself on my blade with the sudden move. “Oh fuck! No, no! I remember. I know! You don’t have to—”
I poked him with the dagger again, pulling his focus back to me as Jae snuffed the magical flame. “So it was you? You put a tracking spell on me?”
He gulped, his big Adam’s apple bobbing in his skinny neck.
“Yeah, I did. I’m sorry, doll. I didn’t know you were… one of them.” His eyes darted nervously around the booth, taking in each of my companions.
“So if you’d known I was Gifted, you wouldn’t have fucked me over, but when you thought I was just another Blighted, it was perfectly fine? You know that’s fucked up, right? What about solidarity? This is how the Gifted keep us down. They get us to sell each other out as we fight over the little scraps they throw us.”
I knew it wasn’t technically correct anymore to count myself as part of that “us,” but I didn’t feel comfortable lumping myself in with the Gifted either.
“Right. Exactly! They—they keep us down.” Rat’s bulbous nose and gaunt cheeks were red, and a thin veneer of sweat made his forehead glisten in the dim light. He was babbling now, agreeing with whatever I said to try to save his own skin.
“Forget it, Rat. Just tell me what you know about this spell and who made it.”
“I—” He broke off, beady eyes darting around the bar nervously.
Keeping the pressed knife firmly against him, I raised my other hand. A flash of orange fire burst from it, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jae smile proudly. Rat, on the other hand, shrieked like a pre-pubescent girl and scrambled backward, pressing his gangly body into the back of the booth seat so hard it was like he was hoping the cracked vinyl would absorb him.
I moved my hand closer to his face, letting him feel the heat of the fire dancing above my palm. A feeling of power shot through me, followed quickly by a roiling wave of nausea.
Don’t become like them, Lana. Don’t let magic corrupt you.
“Okay, okay! I’ll tell you.” Rat’s voice was a high-pitched whisper.
Closing my hand into a fist, I snuffed the flame, satisfaction at my victory dampened by self-disgust. “Good. Then talk.”
He ducked his head and spoke so low I had to lean closer to hear him over the music. “I don’t know who made the tracking spell. But it came from someone in the government. There’s a guy who always meets me in the tunnels under the People’s Palace. He gave it to me. It’s nothing special!” he added hastily. “They put trackers on a lot of the mercenaries they hire… so they can keep an eye on where they go. He called it a ‘precaution.’ In case the merc betrays them or leads them to a bigger target.”
My skin chilled. Well, fuck. That was exactly what I’d done.
“Where is the receiver kept?” I pressed.
“I don’t know. I never—” Rat stopped. “Wait, wait. I had to meet him inside the palace once.” His eyes darted back and forth, and he licked his lips. “He came out of a room that had a bunch of maps on the walls. A guard hustled me away right quick, but I got a little peek inside. Something was glowing in the corner.”
Trying to contain my excitement, I shot a look at Jae.
The mage nodded thoughtfully, his green eyes considering Rat. “Yes, that could be where the tracking receivers are. But the People’s Palace is enormous. You’re going to have to give us more than ‘a room with maps’ for us to find it.”
Rat gulped, bobbing his head. “Right. It was, um, in the south wing. On the fifth floor.” He looked around the group, trying to gauge whether the information he’d provided was enough. At our stony faces, he continued spewing words. “It was at the end of a hall. With a big door. There were portraits on the walls. The carpet was green!”
Jae tapped his long fingers on the table. “Now, that might help.”
My brow furrowed. “Green carpet?”
“Yes. The floors in the grand ballroom and other large spaces are marble, and most of the hallways are carpeted in red. Green narrows it down.”
“It was green! Definitely green.” Rat’s eagerness to please made me feel a little sick. If I’d believed for one second that he was helping us to right the wrong he’d done, I’d be proud of him. But I knew he was just doing it because right now we were a bigger threat to his life than the Gifted official who’d hired him. The worst part was, I couldn’t even blame him. I’d spent the past eight years doing pretty much what he was doing now, working as a lackey for the Gifted and convincing myself that my motivations weren’t entirely selfish.
Rat’s sweaty face shone in the flickering red and blue lights of the bar. Stubble grew in little patches on his chin and jawline. For fuck’s sake, the kid couldn’t even grow a full beard. He shouldn’t be sitting in a seedy bar at one in the morning having covert talks about government tracking spells. I didn’t particularly like Rat, but I wanted
a better life for him than this.
“That’s it?” I asked. “Anything else you can tell us?”
He ran a rand through his damp mop of hair. “Nothing. I swear. I don’t know the guy’s name. He’s older. Tallish, with brown hair.”
I pulled my dagger away from his ribs, and his shoulders drooped with relief, making him look like a deflating balloon.
“Thanks, Rat. Take care of yourself, okay? Maybe look into a new line of work?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I will. Thanks, doll.”
His confidence seemed to be returning now that he was no longer at knifepoint, and I could take a guess at the thoughts floating through his head. He was probably trying to figure out a way to trade news of my visit for protection from the Gifted government. There was no loyalty among the desperate.
I switched the grip on my knife and angled back toward him, but Akio held up a hand. “I’ll take care of this.”
He inclined his head, speaking low in Rat’s ear as Jae stood up, tugging me out of the booth with him. I couldn’t tear my gaze away from Rat’s face. His jaw went slack, his eyes fell out of focus, and a look of pure bliss crossed his features. He nodded slowly, agreeing with whatever the incubus murmured.
After a few moments, Akio leaned back and slid out of the booth, leaving the gangly teen staring off into space.
“What did you do?” I stopped myself from waving a hand in front of Rat’s face, but I was pretty sure he wouldn’t have noticed if I had.
“I told him to forget we were here. He did.”
Akio’s face was unreadable, but the colored lights of the bar illuminating his chiseled features made him look like a painting of a god. It was probably because he was still giving off echoes of the charm he’d used on Rat, but I had the strongest urge to trace the line of his cheekbone, to caress the soft skin of his lips with my thumb… or my lips.
His dark eyes met mine, burning with heat, and I stepped back unconsciously. How did he always manage to put me so off balance? I hated never knowing if the reaction I had to him was genuine, or if he was luring me in with his incubus powers.
