PHENOMENAL GIRL 5 (21 page)

Mayhew looked me over as he poured the coffee. “You’re looking more like yourself today, Miss Lainey.”

The truth was, I
felt
more like myself. The haze of depression hadn’t dissipated completely, but I had decided to fake it until I felt better. Robert would have said something sarcastic about my black mood matching my clothes, and Wesley had been put off by my angst, so I was going to try to force myself back into my usual spirits.

“Well, who else would I be besides myself? I’m the one constant.” That last bit didn’t come out as bitter as it once would have. I took a bite. “Excellent waffles.”

“The secret is to put just a bit of vanilla in the batter.”

“You’ll have to teach me to cook sometime. I’m hopeless in the kitchen.”

He smiled. “That can be arranged.”

Well, it looked like I was mending my relationship with Mayhew as well. “How’s Wesley today?”

He looked surprised at the question. “He is doing better.

Things are more familiar today. He is concentrating on your training now, but after that he may decide to work full-time for the Elite Hands of Justice, or perhaps he will pursue more education or work with some of his business ventures.”

“So he’s putting his life on hold for me?”

“Yes. So I would suggest being a bit nicer to him in the future.”

I frowned. “We buried the hatchet, so to speak, yesterday. We’re going to try to rebuild our friendship.” I tried to stress the word
friendship
to Mayhew. “And by the way, did you know about the giving me a part of his soul thing?”

Mayhew nodded. “Of course, Miss Lainey. He told me.”

“Why didn’t he tell me?”

“He believed it might frighten you. You were pretty shaken up about the whole incident.”

“True. But he said I would have been fine without that bit of soul. Was that a lie? Is that why the resurrection spell…did what it did to him?”

“Well, that spell would kill anyone, usually without bringing back the recipient of the magic. From what he told me, the hole in your soul would have weakened it. Made it more susceptible to darken, less pure. He wasn’t worried about the toll it would take on him; he knew he could handle it. But you are such a rarity, he wanted to preserve you.” The butler cleared his throat. “And he was quite taken with you already.”

“He had known me—
truly
known me—for only a couple of hours! No matter if he knew me at school.”

“Miss Lainey, you treated him differently than anyone else ever has. You didn’t fawn all over him and you didn’t disrespect him. You didn’t sit there and take his barbs, and you didn’t agree with everything he said.”

“That’s just me.”

“He appreciated ‘just you.’ ”

I gave a half-smile and pressed a hand to my chest, trying
to feel the part of me that used to be him. “It’s nice that

someone did.”

“I think he might well again, if you give him the chance.”

I sighed and got up. “Alright. I’m off to make friends with the new boss-man.”

I headed downstairs with my coffee still in hand, ready to put my best face forward.

I was thrown by the music that could be heard in the hallway to the lair. Instead of the classical or jazz I was used to, it was rock music. What was next? Rap?

I entered the room and, at the other end, sitting in front of the monitors, was Wesley. I had a flashback to how I first met Robert and shivered.

“Damn it!” he growled. Clicking on the keyboard could be heard, then, “Damn it!”

I got closer and saw the password screen on the monitor. He typed some more keys and got the
Password invalid
message again. “Damn it!”

“Problems?” I asked, coming to stand behind him.

He glanced back at me. “Yes. Don’t feel bad, my memory loss of you is in good company, along with the password to my entire network.”

I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing.

“Yes, because mocking my misfortune is so helpful,” he said, a slight smile on his face at my mirth.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “But you’ve got to see the humor in the situation. Didn’t you write it down in your diary?”

“Obviously not.”

“Well, what have you tried?” I asked, taking a sip of coffee, trying to remember if I’d ever seen Robert type in the password. I had my own password, but it had limited access.

“Oh, the usual and the obvious. Reincarnist, Elite Hands of Justice, EHJ, address, pet’s name, password, 1234, God…”

“God?” I raised an eyebrow.

“For some reason, God is a lot of people’s passwords.”

“Religious reasons or ego trip?”

He laughed. “What do you think?”

“I’m not saying.” I took a sip of coffee to further illustrate that point.

He smiled. “By the way, since we’re starting over…Hello. I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Wesley Charles.” He held out a hand.

I rolled my eyes. “Cute. Hi, Wesley, I’m Lainey Livingston.” I shook his hand. “And I didn’t know you liked rock music.”

“Everyone likes rock music.”

“I’m just amazed at the non-instrumental music choice. Songs with lyrics. How progressive of you.”

“I am twenty, you know.”

“So, what’s next? Rap? Death metal? Emo?”

“What is emo?”

“Never mind. What else can we try to get your computer working again?” I set down my coffee cup and leaned forward, reaching across him to try typing in a couple of things I could think of. Nothing worked.

“Why do you have to make everything so difficult?” I groused. “I use the same computer password for everything.” I glanced back at him, and realized how much of his space I had invaded—not something you usually do with someone you’re not close to. My shirt had ridden up, showing a bit of midriff, and his gaze was fixed on that patch of bare skin.

My body warmed and I straightened, pulling my shirt back into place.
Guys will stare at any woman showing the least amount of skin
, I reminded myself. Wesley himself didn’t act like anything was amiss.

“Some people use their kids’ names, pets’ names, or even an old nickname for their password,” I said, trying to get back to work.

“Hmm…” He typed something into the computer and P
assword accepted
came up on the screen.

“What was it?” I asked.

“Benji,” he replied, typing more, pulling up files. Most were of at-large villains.

It sounded like a pet’s name. I shrugged. “So, are we going to get back to work on the Syn case?”

“Of course. Mayhew reminded me that we have a meeting with Fantazia. It got bumped back on account of what happened. I already spoke with Ben about the Jihad incident, and he may do a phone interview with you. Speaking of, I’d like for you tell me everything that happened, in as much detail as you can.”

“He posed as a civilian. I tried to rescue him, he put a dagger in my heart.” Harsh but simple.

“Anything unusual about the dagger?”

“The handle was shaped like a dragon.”

Wesley put a finger to his lips. “Like the dragon we saw on Syn?”

“Reminiscent of, I guess. But he had a marking too, just like Syn’s. Oh, and the guy the police had, Talon, had the same marking. And he mentioned working with his ‘brothers,’ specifically Jihad.”

Wesley nodded. “So it’s a team-up situation. Or a cult.”

“Considering the weird branding, I’m thinking cult.”

“So am I. Good to know we’re on the same page.” He gave me a slight smile, an echo back to whenever Robert was pleased with my work, and my heart skipped a beat at the memory.

Back to business. “Jihad mentioned a dragon,” I said. “He said the dragon sent his regards. So I’m guessing we can assume that’s his name. And Talon kept referring to his ‘master.’ ”

Wesley scribbled this down into a notebook. “We’ll have to ask Fantazia if she knows of a Dragon, or cult of the dragon. Did either of them mention anything specific about spells?”

I frowned in concentration. “Jihad said the heart’s blood
of a pure soul spilled in combat was what he needed for a spell.”

“His spell or the Dragon’s spell?”

“He didn’t specify.”

“What about Talon?”

“That what ever they were doing was part of something bigger.”

Wesley frowned. “Bigger, eh?”

I shivered as we came to the final piece of the puzzle. “Jihad and Talon both referenced one of the capes helping to arrange the distraction. That ties back to what we suspected when Syn knew the EHJ were off-planet.”

Wesley looked disturbed by that. “That’s something I’ll need to speak to Ben about. They ran background checks on all of the employees at the buildings, but…”

“Maybe it’s not a building employee,” I finished. “It still could be one of them.”

“I don’t want to think that, but I agree.”

We were silent for a moment.

“Is there anything I can do right now?” I asked.

“I’m going to talk to Ben. He’s the only one there I trust without a doubt. In the meantime, I want to look through these files, refresh my memory. I don’t know if anything will come of it, but you might look through the Sngetra Codex, see if you can find anything about the Dragon. Otherwise, we’re free until patrol tonight—which I thought we’d do
together
for a fun change.” He gave me a sideways glance.

I ignored the jab. “Well, I think I’ll do a quick centering, and then I’ll hit the books. I don’t know how much help I’ll be, considering most of them are in some ancient language, but I’ll do my best.”

“Alright,” he said. “Get me for lunch.”

“Okay.” I turned and went into the workout room, having decided to do some magic alignment, as Robert had taught me.

I kicked off my heels and closed my eyes, taking deep
breaths and then beginning to run through the motions. I had barely run through half of the kata when I heard, “A rejuvenation spell, eh?”

My eyes flew open. Wesley stood at the back of the room, watching.

“What is?”

“What you’re doing. It’s a rejuvenation spell.”

I shrugged. “It’s just what R…you taught me.”

“Did you ever try to cast any spells?”

“A few. I’ve gotten really good at getting a book to hover in the air. I can make a candle flame grow bigger or snuff out. I’ve been practicing the teleportation spell a lot lately. I’m not that powerful, and just started learning.”

“Go through the kata again. Pretend I’m not here.”

Like that was so easy. I closed my eyes and started going through the motions again, trying to forget there was a handsome, familiar stranger watching me. I sensed his approach. I tensed, feeling his body heat against me. I opened my eyes and glanced over my shoulder.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m just trying to get a sense of your power. Keep doing what you’re doing.” I felt his hands skim my body without touching me, like Robert had done before, causing a phantom tingle. It bothered me that he was standing so close, invading my personal space. I took a deep breath and almost whimpered. His scent reminded me of Robert, but probably because he used the same soap.

“Can I try something?”

“What did you have in mind?” I turned to face him.

“A spell. It’s a two-person one. It would be helpful in combat situations.”

“I can only cast low-level spells.”

“Well, there’s no harm in trying.”

“Okay.” I took a deep breath. “What do you want me to do?”

“Hang on just a second,” he said, then turned and left the
room. He was gone just a few minutes, and then came back holding a vial. He sat down on the floor, cross-legged. “Sit down across from me, like this.”

I did so. “Now what?”

He held his hands out, palms up. “Join hands.”

I hesitated. I didn’t know if I wanted to touch him yet.

He stared at me. “Is there a problem?”

“No, it’s just…not going to work,” I finished lamely.

“Don’t worry about whether or not it’s going to work. Just try it.”

I nodded and joined hands with him. It felt strange to touch him. His hands were smaller than before and, unwillingly, my mind flashed onto a different set of hands running all over my body.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine!” I yelped, feeling my face flame.

He gave me a funny look, then closed his eyes. “Repeat after me.
Mia mente ad il vostro
.”

“I’m not sure what you just said.”

“It doesn’t matter, just repeat it. We should really get you some Italian lessons.”

“I’ve been working on it. Or you could start translating it into English for me.”

He gave me an expectant look.

I sighed. “
Mia mente ad il vostro
.”

He let go of one of my hands, picking up the vial and letting a bit of its contents run onto his index finger, and then traced a circle on my forehead. “
Mia mente ad il vostro
. Do the same thing.”

I took the vial from him and let its contents run onto my finger. It was very cool. “
Mia mente ad il vostro
.” I traced a small circle on his forehead.

Our eyes locked.

The heat of his gaze made me slightly dizzy. Or maybe it was the spell. I sat back, needing distance.

Can you hear me?

I blinked. He hadn’t said anything, and yet I heard…

Lainey, can you hear me? If you can, think yes.

Are you in my mind?

Yes, that’s what the spell does. And it worked! See? You can do more than just simple parlor tricks.

Get out of my mind, Wesley!
“Get out!” I yelled, flying to my feet.

He got up. “Sorry, I didn’t think you’d react like that. I just thought it’d be handy in combat situations.”

My head pounded. “I don’t want you rummaging around in my thoughts.”

“I can’t do that. It’s only what you think to me. I can only know what you tell me, and vice versa.”

“Oh.” I pinched my forehead. “I’ve got a migraine now. Thanks a lot.”

“It’s because you broke contact like that. It caused a bit of a backlash to both of us.”

“Oh. Sorry. But are all spells designed to make you feel miserable after?”

He laughed. “They do take their toll.”

“I can see why you chose this lifestyle,” I muttered, rubbing my head. “You’re not still in there, are you?”