Collision: The Alliance Series Book Three (20 page)

“Were they definitely carved by a sentient species?” I asked, realising I hadn’t been able to tell.

“That’s another thing,” said Iriel. “They weren’t carved with any tool I’m familiar with, but it’s possible the ancient civilisation’s technology was lost in that–cataclysm, whatever it was.”

“Hmm.” It seemed unlikely that every single piece of evidence had been wiped out–apart from those carvings and spheres, of course. And the entire world had rearranged itself. As though a sentient force controlled it…

Quit it.
If I entertained the possibility of magic
living,
I’d never get anywhere. And like hell would I bring it up in here, with half the tech department listening in.

The others apparently didn’t share my wariness.

“Something
did
happen a thousand years ago,” said Iriel. “That was before the Passages were properly logged, so it
might
have been possible for a civilisation to cross from one world to another.”

“Kevar said they walked across the chasm,” said Raj. “See, that doesn’t seem right, either. It might just be a story, but they came from
somewhere.
Then they adapted to the world’s rules. Those gods… they can’t possibly be living. They follow rules, so does nature. Natural laws aren’t exactly human-friendly. You play with fire, you get burned.”

“I was thinking artificial intelligence,” said Iriel, bringing up another screen on her communicator. “The computer makes the rules, and the pattern repeats itself. Maybe they’re like codes… but that suggests someone put them there. I don’t think a
person
could have done it, but there are certainly other sentient species with the ability to use magic, and you can’t always control the consequences. Look at the backlash rule.”

Yeah. Use magic and the exact equal force would hit back. If humans had tried to control nature on a massive scale, maybe Vey-Xanetha’s system wasn’t
that
far out there, after all. But what was the nature of the catastrophe that drove the former inhabitants to leave? Cataclysms didn’t happen for no reason. Every war or disaster in the history of the Multiverse had a cause, whether natural or unnatural.

Or both.

“I think we need to have another look at what, exactly, these deities are supposed to do,” said Iriel.

“I think we should discuss it when we’re back at the base,” I said, with a meaningful glance over at the other computer desks.

“Relax, no one’s going to go out and try and create living magical deities,” said Iriel.

“Not even me,” added Ada’s brother.

“You’d better not,” said Ada. “It’s bad enough that your computers sometimes talk when you’re not in the house.”

I wasn’t in the mood to argue the point. I didn’t think any of the tech team would set out deliberately to pass that information around, but the more people knew, the more opportunity for error. It took one slip, one misguided comment to spark rumours, and considering Central sat on the brink of the Multiverse, those rumours could reach far. After Aglaia, anything that involved the words “magic” and “source” was a cause for suspicion. And to think in my first week at the Alliance, I’d left that bloodrock file lying around. Now I’d probably have padlocked it in a secure cabinet.

My communicator buzzed in my pocket.

“Looks like Carl’s sent a call to the guards.” Ada took out her own communicator.

“Why?” I flicked the touch screen. Blasted thing wouldn’t sync into Earth’s network after I’d repeatedly taken it out of range. “A monster. Just what we need.”

“Rather you than me,” said Raj.

“Great,” I said. “Don’t tell me Cethrax is pissed off again.”

We don’t have time to deal with this.

“Whatever it is, it’s got away from the guards three times in the last hour,” said Ada. “We have time before we have to go back. I’m going after it.”

“I’ll keep working on this,” said Iriel, over her shoulder.

“Wonder what it is this time?” said Ada, as we hurried downstairs. “I got the Chameleon earpieces, by the way.”

“Good,” I said. “We’ll need weapons, too.” We’d handed them in when we’d come back to Central, for obvious reasons. Given there were dubious offworld creatures flying around the entrance hall and two lifts were out of order, this irritated me to no end.

“Yeah. I only got two earpieces, though. The other burnt out when the magic level went up.”

I swore. “All right. We’ll have to leave one behind if we want to contact Central. I’ll hang onto the other. If I need to turn invisible for whatever reason, it might save our lives.”

“The others don’t know,” said Ada, nodding, but some uncertainty remained in her expression. “All right. But I don’t want you throwing yourself into danger.”

“Considering we’re working with a hostile world, I think it’s safe to say the usual rules don’t apply.”

She half-laughed. “Yeah. Usual rules with you aren’t the same as normal people’s. When you opened that doorway, I thought…”

Ah, crap. “Yeah… I’m sorry. I didn’t know it would be that bad.” A lie. I always mentally prepared for the worst, even if it never took away the shock. There was nothing I could say to her, because if she wanted to be an Ambassador, she’d have to accept situations like that were sometimes unavoidable. Ambassadors saw the best and worst of humanity in all its forms. But did
she
know it? I didn’t want to push her, far from it, but now we were at the centre of this, and she was still getting over the horror of what the Campbells did to her–not to mention the Conners kidnapping her family.

She shuddered. “It was just a shock. What could have killed people like that?”

“Let’s hope we never meet it,” I said grimly.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

ADA

We met Carl in the entrance hall.

“I’ve just had a call from the guards in the Passages,” he said, as we walked to the front doors. “Apparently some magic-creature’s giving them trouble again. They’re worried it might get through one of the doors. We’ve had fifteen magic burn injuries today already.”

I fought back a flinch at the memory. I wasn’t about to underestimate a magic-creature again.

“Whereabouts exactly is it?” asked Kay.

“That’s the problem. It’s incorporeal, like the other one.”

Great—it might be anywhere. “We’ve fought those things before,” I said.

“Weapons?” said Kay, and Carl handed us each two stunners. I pocketed them, and Carl hit the button to open Central’s doors. “It’s not on
Alliance
territory, is it?”

“Nah, we’ve got people at the gate.”

Two guards waved us over. “It disappeared again. Must have got through the Passage door during patrol changeover.

Carl swore. “Crafty bastard. Okay, we’ll have to split up.”

“This way?” Kay said to me, pointing.

“Sure.” My pulse started racing. Earth’s magic level was higher than it should be. I knew how to control magic now, and I wasn’t about to let a magic-creature run amok around London.

We headed out the back gate, past the wrecked houses from the wyvern attack. I felt
something,
but it might have been the residual disturbance from the magic levels going crazy. If there was one thing I hated, it was not being able to
see
the enemy.

A jolt of magic made every hair on my body stand on end. I spun on the spot, stunner ready, and sparks flew even though I didn’t press the button.

And a shape materialised in the middle of the road. Shadows swirled, turning purple-red, and my mind struggled to comprehend the shape–vaguely defined, bear-sized, and spitting sparks from its fanged mouth.

Carl approached it warily, stunner at the ready, and Kay and I did likewise, so we surrounded it on three sides. I readied my finger over the stunner’s switch.

As the creature solidified, growing at least a foot in height, I aimed the stunner and hit the button. A fork of reddish lightning speared the creature through the middle and it growled, writhing, its form becoming indistinct. Carl fired his own shot, the crackling lightning striking the monster, rising higher as the magic level heightened again. The air around us darkened, tinted reddish purple, the broken-down houses obscured. I couldn’t even see Kay or Carl.

Sparks flared from the smoke. I leaped out of range, heart beating wildly.
It’s not dead?
I ducked more sparks, backing away, not daring to fire my stunner in case I hit one of the others.

The smoke cleared, revealing… two monsters.

Oh, crap.
It had split down the middle, but divided, two halves becoming separate creatures entirely. Identical fanged, smoky monsters bore down on us, two pairs of eyes flaring. The flash of a stunner, and a clawed hand swiped at me. I jumped back, acutely aware we had a limited number of stunner shots–what if it kept multiplying?

One way to find out. I fired my stunner first, and it had the exact effect I dreaded. Now there were
three
monsters–no, four. Kay had hit another of them with his own stunner.

“Fool me twice, shame on me,” I muttered, my heart racing. How could we beat a monster that kept multiplying? And it was so close to Central. Like we needed over-curious tourists wandering over.

Carl swore under his breath, putting his stunner away and raising his hand. Magic sparked from his fingertips, and for an instant, I stared, mesmerised by how controlled the magic stream appeared to be compared to my own out-of-control magic. Kay stared for an instant, too, and then fired a bolt of magic at the ground beneath the monster. It shot upwards, and the beast reeled back.

I reached for the magic, wild and uncontained, and let it flow through my fingertips. The pavement shuddered as Carl’s backlash hit it, and I released the charge. Second level, blazing bright as fire, not like lightning this time. The beast hissed, thrown back, only for the second one to jump forward at me, sparks flaring from its smoky red skin.

Stunners weren’t strong enough, but with the higher magic level,
we
were stronger. But one wrong move and we’d cause more damage than the monsters.

The backlash of my attack ricocheted off the pavement and shot at the nearest house, burning a hole right through the brick.
No one lives there. You’re all right.
But guilt stopped my hand all the same.

I dodged another swiping claw. The monster must have been stronger than the last one, because the magic raging in the air didn’t show any signs of burning out.

“Use the daggers!” said Carl, who used his as a shield to block the sparks flying from the monsters.
Good idea.
The adamantine blade absorbed magic.

Another monster faced me down, a shuddering mass of reddish smoke, clawed and menacing. I fired magic at it and didn’t miss this time. Its face twisted in pain, and for a heart-stopping moment, it looked… human.

Two faces in a warehouse.

I froze.

No!
I pulled on the magic, a cry building in my throat, and tugged, hard. The creature staggered, and I recalled the way magic had responded to me in Aglaia, when I’d worked with the council and mages alike to push the magic-creature through the doorway. I pushed against the creature, and Kay caught my eye, nodding. He’d worked out my plan.

My heart lifted, then slammed into my ribs just as swiftly when the creatures both divided again. I was forced to back into the wall, alongside Carl. But Kay ran at the creatures from behind, surrounded by a haze of magic. Splaying his palms, he shot pure energy at the monsters, sending them careening into one another in a bizarre domino effect.
How did he do that?
I copied him, and immediately felt the difference. Rather than a wild arc of lightning, magic was more of a pulse, a wave-motion that I could push on. Like on Aglaia, the bolstering sensation grew as my magic joined with Kay’s.

“Do what I’m doing!” I said to Carl. “If you can, push it back!”

Carl nodded and did as I said.

Magic flooded my veins and I gasped, eyes burning as the power demanded to be released. Sweat dripped down my forehead.
Concentrate. Stay in control.
I pushed again, and Carl did likewise. The two enemies facing him collapsed into one another, becoming a single swirl of smoke, and I shuddered as the energy streamed into me, leached away from the monster. Another claw lashed out at Kay, but he’d already moved with a striking motion, using his dagger to block the magic strike as Carl did.

Carl himself said, “Keep doing that. I’ll finish it!”

Sparks flew overhead as another two creatures collided. I held the magic, and gave it another push. The level surged higher, and a clap of thunder sounded, magic sparking off the house walls.

The remaining creatures slammed into one, shrinking. Carl marched over to it with his stunner in hand and levelled one final stunner-strike at it. A blue pulse blazed against my eyelids, and the creature was gone.