Magic on the Hunt (7 page)

The oldest Georgia sister, Augusta, got up and walked out of the room. Carl followed her.

Victor, as cold as steel, picked up the questioning again.

“I fail to see how Mikhail can give Jingo further opportunity to harm children,” he said.

“Mikhail gives Jingo the promise of power. When Mikhail rises again, Jingo Jingo’s sins will be pardoned. He will not be Closed, jailed, killed. Jingo is just working his bets to stay alive. Or so I assume.”

“And do you have a theory on how Mikhail intends to rise?” Victor asked.

“No.”

“Did Dane kill you?”

With that change of subject came a flash of anger that was not my own. “A man stood in front of me. Greyson. He cast magic. A man stood behind me; I didn’t know who that was until this morning. Dane. He held a gun to my head. A
gun
.” He was quiet a moment. “I am unable to remember if it was the gun or magic that killed me.”

It came out pretty calmly. Which emphasized his anger all the more.

“Not a way any of us should leave this world,” Victor said.

I felt my head nod. Dad and Victor really had been friends once. And though my dad would never acknowledge it, that token of compassion from Victor meant a lot to him.

It was confusing sharing your mind with someone else.

“I want you to help us find Sedra,” Victor said. What do you know? He hadn’t forgotten why we were there. “We will not abandon one of our own. You will show Allie where the location device is and how to use it.”

Dad did not want to do that. At all. But he said, “My pleasure.”

And then he pulled back into the cottony corner of my mind so quickly, I inhaled a sharp breath to fill up the space he had emptied.

“It’s me,” I said. “Just me now.”

Shame was done pacing and had poured another shot of whiskey, which he handed to me.

“Thought you might want to wash the taste of him out of your mouth.”

I took the whiskey. Got down half the shot. It burned and made my eyes water. I didn’t care.

“So we get the locator,” Terric said, “and then follow it to wherever Jingo Jingo is? Remind me why we’ve spent weeks combing the city for him.”

Hayden finally spoke. “We didn’t have the speaker of the dead over there giving us the inside information.”

“If someone would have believed he was in my head, which I’ve been saying for months,” I said, “we could have done this sooner.”

“What has happened,” Victor said, taking over the discussion, “is not what matters now. I do want to apologize for doubting you, Allie. You have not come to us in our brightest hour. Your father’s death, the increase in gates, the unrest, the disks, Greyson’s becoming a Necromorph—and now so much more. The storm. The betrayals. The kidnapping. Your possession.” He nodded.

“Portland has always been more active due to the four wells, but these . . . crises are unprecedented. The best we can do is follow the rules and tenets of the Authority and pray that those rules will be enough to guide us.

“And now that we have a modicum of control over your father, there is, at least, some relief for you. If what he says is true, we’ll soon be able to find Sedra and deal with Jingo Jingo.

“I want you, Zayvion, and Shame to find the locator. Call as soon as you have it, and we will meet you before setting out to find Jingo. Everyone else, I’d like a moment with you to make sure we’re all up to date on everything that’s happened today.”

“Let’s go,” Zay said to me quietly.

“Wait,” I said. “Victor, I have a suggestion.”

“Yes?”

“I think we should utilize the Hounds.”

Zay’s breath caught on the exhale, like he couldn’t believe I was bringing this up.

“Really?” Victor said, not sounding at all interested in the idea. “How?”

“To hunt. The Hounds could be looking for Dane. Could have been looking for Sedra and Jingo Jingo all this time. That’s what Hounds do. We hunt. We track. And we stay out of trouble and keep our mouths shut. I don’t trust every Hound in this city, but there’s a good handful that I believe would do the job and keep it quiet.”

“We’ll discuss it,” he said.

And that was a
no
in
maybe
clothing.

“Come on,” Zay said.

I stood and walked out with Zay, Shame behind us.

Once we were through the door, I spoke. “I do not understand the unwillingness to get the Hounds involved in this. It doesn’t make any sense to be secretive just for the sake of being secretive. Hiring the Hounds would give the Authority twice the number of hands working to keep the city safe.”

“Well, when you are the Head of the Authority,” Shame said, “you can try to convince all the long-timers that getting more civilians involved in things that are way over their heads and way too dangerous is a good idea.”

“It shouldn’t take someone being the Head of the Authority to make people see logic.”

“It’s an old business, magic,” Shame said again. “It’s all about who’s above whom.”

“Is Sedra still the Head of the Authority?” I asked.

“Right now she is,” Zay answered. “And will continue to be unless she is unable to pick up the responsibilities again.”

“What if she can’t take on the responsibilities?” I asked. “Who steps up next?”

We’d made it to the door, and Zay pressed his thumb against the pad and pushed it open. More hallway.

Zay glanced at Shame. Shame shrugged. “Maybe my mum,” Shame said. “Maybe Victor. Makes sense to be someone from this area. Since we haven’t fucked it up completely yet, no one’s wiping the board clean, as it were.”

“You mean someone can come from outside the area and take over?”

“Sure,” Shame said. “But it’s a mix of things that would make that happen. See, Mikhail used Death magic when he was Head. Then Sedra took over Head, which was good because she used Life magic and we needed a change, right? Chances are Head will next go to either Blood or Faith—Mum or Victor—or maybe Flux, though I don’t think there’s been a Head who specializes in that discipline.”

“Joe in San Fran,” Zay said.

“Huh, that’s right. Okay, so there’s one Head who uses Flux. So it’s possible, though I don’t know the top Flux user in the area.”

We were almost at the outer door. “How does the change of leadership work?” I asked. “Election or something?”

“No. One of the Watch or Ward appoints someone.”

“I know I’ve missed out on some of the history classes and gone to self-defense and fighting studies instead, but I don’t remember hearing anything about Watch and Ward. Are they spells?”

Zay took that up. “They’re titles. We’re the local Authority of Portland. Every city with a well has at least a handful of Authority members living there to keep track of the well and magic being used. One of those people will be the Head of the Authority of their area. Portland has four wells and covers Battleground to Woodburn and the Coast Range to the Cascade Range. Over the Coast Range are other wells, other Authority members. Same with the rest of Oregon, the states, and the world. Every region has two overseers, a Watch and a Ward. The Northwest’s Watch is Bartholomew Wray, and his boss is the Ward Sam Arch.

“If they decided we weren’t doing our job, not only could either one of them replace Sedra as the Head of the Authority, but they could fire us all.”

“Fire? You mean Close?”

“Play with the bigs,” Shame said, “you gotta take the hits.”

“Yes,” Zay said. “I mean Closed. Though that would be a drastic move and would take a lot of manpower.”

“Not to mention grave diggers,” Shame said.

“What?”

We were at the door. Zay pressed his thumb into it.

Shame grinned at me. “Let’s just say that the day some out-of-town magic user decides I can’t use magic anymore, there’s only going to be one of us left standing at the end of the handshake.”

“I thought those were the rules,” I said. “Agree with the Authority, or lose your memories.”

“Sure those are the rules. No rule against me fighting them.”

“Actually,” Zay said, opening the door, “there is. Not that you’d pay any attention to it.”

“Tell me you wouldn’t fight it if they told you to step down, Jones,” he said.

Zay didn’t say anything, and Shame laughed. “That’s what I love most about you, my friend. That wee bit of larceny in your heart.”

Shame stepped through the door, and I followed.

It didn’t take us long to get through the parking area. “My car,” Shame said.

“I’ll drive,” Zay said.

“Not with those ribs. I haven’t had the shit kicked out of me today.”

“And I haven’t fought Allie’s father.”

“For five minutes,” Shame said. “Barely broke a sweat. I drive.”

Zay shook his head. “Fine.” We followed Shame to his car, and Zay reached out and caught up my right hand. I could tell he hurt, but it was tolerable pain. Moving, and having a goal in mind, seemed to help. It helped me too, just so long as I didn’t bump my shoulder or do any deep knee bends. The pain of what they had done to bind my dad hadn’t done anything more than make me feel like I’d been running hard.

We got into Shame’s car. I was surprised Zay took the backseat. I sat up front with Shame.

“So do you have keys to your dad’s condo?” Shame asked.

“No. And I think Violet changed all the locks. Let me give her a call and see if she’ll let me in.”

“Or we could ask Kevin,” Zay said.

“Why not Violet?” I asked.

“It would keep her one step removed from what we are doing. You know her. She’ll ask questions. I’d rather not risk having to give her the answers.”

I thought about it. It felt like I was breaking into my friend’s house. But since it was really Dad going back to his house, or me going back to my childhood home, I wondered if it qualified as breaking in.

Yes. Yes, it really did. If I had to choose between satisfying my moral conscience and keeping Violet and the baby she carried safe, I’d throw my morals under a bus.

“Okay,” I said. “Kevin.” I dug out my phone and dialed his number.

“Cooper,” Kevin’s voice said.

“Kevin, this is Allie. I need a key to the condo.”

He paused. “Why?”

“Victor wants me to retrieve one of my father’s possessions he left there, and I don’t want to get Violet mixed up in it.”

“Is there anyone with you who can confirm that?”

Wow, talk about suspicious. I handed the phone to Shame. “He wants someone to confirm I’m telling the truth.”

Shame grinned. “Don’t take it so personally, lass. He won’t believe me either.” He took the phone. “Kevin, my man, this is Shame. Victor sent me and Zay with her to get into the place. Really and truly. A key would be nice, but we’ll pick the lock if we have to.” He paused. “Fine. Here’s Zay.”

I couldn’t hear what Kevin said. Shame handed the phone back to Zayvion.

“We need it to find Sedra,” Zay said. “Good. We’ll see you then.”

“Sweet hells. How come out of the three of us, he believes you?” I asked.

“I have a solid reputation.”

“Mr. Goodie Good back there.” Shame rolled his eyes. “Angel in dark clothing. Has the rules written on the inside of his eyelids and palms of his hands, just in case.”

I turned, glanced back at Zay.

With one arm stretched out over the back of the seat, he was watching the city go by. He had the look of a storm building in his eyes, but his lips were quirked up in a slight smile. He was used to Shame’s mouth. He radiated the extreme confidence of a man who didn’t care what other people thought about him. I’d seen the man kill. Goodie Good was one thing he was not.

“How’s Terric?” Zay said. “You two kiss and make up yet?”

Shame shut up.

Zayvion laughed. “Come on, Flynn. It’s a joke.”

“Fuck you, Jones.”

“Touchy. Something wrong I don’t know about?”

“Other than everyone thinks my Soul Complement is Terric and I have a freaking crystal stuck in my chest that makes it feel like he’s in the back of my head every damn second of the day? No, everything’s just rosy, thank you. Ass.”

“Does distance matter?” Zay asked.

“No. If I think about him, I know what he’s doing and what he’s feeling. It’s . . . wrong. That’s all.”

“Why?” Zay asked. “You’re friends. Let’s say you aren’t Soul Complements. Fine. You use magic and hunt like you’ve been doing it for years—which you have. Back before the attack—”

“Not listening,” Shame said.

“—you and he got along fine,” Zay said louder. “And now you can’t wait to be rid of him. You are missing out on an opportunity to work with someone who is a hell of a magic user and a decent person. He saved your life, Shame.”

“You weren’t there.”

“Allie was there. I know what she said is true. He saved your life. We’ve all been there, been the one to save the other. You and he and Allie saved my life; I’ve saved your life at least a dozen times—from your mother alone—and you’ve been there for Terric when he needed it. There is no score card. Let it go. Yesterday’s gone. We got today to worry about.”

“We got every damn thing to worry about,” Shame grumbled.

Zay shifted in the backseat. “That too.” He was still smiling, though. “And we aren’t going to have to worry about it for long. Kevin said he’d meet us in the parking garage under the condo.”

Shame got us there in short time, and then turned into the garage.

It had been a while since I’d been here. I knew Violet was having the place upgraded for security, both physical and magical, but the concrete garage looked just like it had always looked.

Shame parked and got out of the car to smoke. Zay and I stayed in the car. Before Shame took even two drags on his cigarette, Kevin was pulling up.

Shame held a hand up in greeting. Kevin parked. I don’t know what took him so long before getting out of the car.

“Kevin’s a good guy, right?” I asked Zay.

He glanced out the window. “Yes. Why?”

“He’s been really angry since the disks were stolen, and I just don’t want to be stupid and trust Violet’s safety with someone I shouldn’t. After Dane, and Jingo Jingo and Liddy, I’m a little jumpy.”

Zay inhaled, caught his breath when his ribs couldn’t take that much air, and exhaled. “I’ll talk to him.”