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Even if I found another Prime immune to my magic the way he was, even if that Prime agreed to abandon his House—which would never happen—that Prime would not be Alessandro.
My life was over. In fifty years, I might end up just like her, alone, abandoned by everyone because of the things I had to do to keep them alive. If I somehow managed to have a child, would my grandchild stand before me fifty years from now and pass judgment on my life? Would he or she think I was horrible and didn’t understand what it meant to be young and in love?
This was the first step onto the path of my new life. There would always be hard choices, hard decisions to make, but none would be harder than this.
My future versus Alessandro’s life. Halle’s life.
I had to look my reflection in the eye at the end of the day.
“We have a deal,” I said.
“Ten years ago, another House attacked House Montgomery and murdered Augustine’s father and his younger sister.”
I knew everything there was publicly to know about House Montgomery. There was no record of that attack anywhere. Public record said Augustine’s father died after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
“The attackers were killed, but the identity of their employer was never discovered. The hit was arranged through a middleman, Melvin Rider. Before the attack he disappeared. Hand me your phone.”
I unlocked my phone and passed it to her. She grimaced and showed me the crack in the screen. She typed exactly the same way my mom did, holding the phone in her left hand and pecking at the letters with her right index finger. Grandma Victoria handed the phone back to me.
“This is Melvin Rider’s new name and his current address. Make sure Augustine gives you the information first. Always make it seem like you are negotiating from a position of strength. Remember, you are my granddaughter. Chin up, shoulders back. Look them in the eye and make them cower.”
I walked back to reception. Arabella saw me and hurried over.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“You’re crying.”
I swiped at my eyes. My cheeks were wet. Weird. I hadn’t even noticed.
“I’ve got what I need,” I told her. “Let’s go.”
Montgomery International Investigations owned an entire building downtown. An asymmetric structure of blue glass and steel, it rose above its neighbors like a shark fin whose owner was about to surface.
Augustine’s office took up an entire corner of the seventeenth floor. I had walked on my own power across the lobby to the elevators and now to the office. I had fallen asleep again in the car. When I reached for my magic, I no longer felt a void. I wouldn’t be at full strength for another forty-eight hours or so, but it was coming back slowly. Sleep helped.
Augustine’s receptionist, a young woman with pale brown skin and lavender hair, saw us and picked up the phone.
“He’ll see you now, Ms. Baylor.”
“Thank you.”
I headed toward Augustine’s desk behind a wall of frosted glass. Behind me, Arabella chirped, “I love your makeup.”
“Thank you!” The receptionist’s voice warmed by at least ten degrees. “It’s the new Oksana palette.”
“The limited edition one?”
A section of the frosted glass slid aside with a soft whisper and I walked into Augustine’s office. He sat at a modern white desk in an ergonomic chair. Behind him two walls of cobalt glass met at a sharp angle, presenting a panorama of the city below.
Augustine looked up from his computer, a god in his palace of crystal and ice. The door slid shut behind me.
“Do you have anything for me?”
He knew I did. “Yes. Before we trade, I need to know if you have the information I require. The matter is urgent. A yes or no answer will be fine.”
“Please sit.”
I sat. “I need to know the location of the lab Cristal Ferrer uses to produce warped mages for Diatheke.”
Augustine’s eyebrows rose. “I have it.”
Of course he did.
“How good is your information?” he asked.
“It comes courtesy of my grandmother. She sends her regards.” I had weighed this answer very carefully. I could have taken credit for the information or left him wondering where I got it, but I couldn’t give him any reason to doubt its authenticity. Victoria’s name was an iron-clad guarantee.
He considered it. “Very well, I’ll play.”
He took a pad of paper from his desk, wrote on it, tore off a page, and slid it across the desk to me. I picked it up. An address northeast of Houston, in Williams, a small town along I-69. I could be there in less than two hours. He could’ve texted it to me, but then I would have proof it came from him.
Hold on, Alessandro. I’m coming. I would get him and Halle out of there, if they were alive.
“Thank you.” I took a picture of the page with my phone and sent it to Bern. “You may want to write this down. Bradley Lynton, 12703 Mistie Valle Drive, Houston, Texas 77066.”
Augustine wrote it down. “And why is this important?”
“Because Bradley Lynton is his new name. He was previously known as Melvin Rider.”
All the color bled from Augustine’s face. The illusion fractured for a moment and I saw his real eyes, shocked and triumphant. His face snapped back into perfection. “Thank you, Ms. Baylor. I look forward to our cooperation in the future. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have someplace to be.”
So did I. I rose. “Good luck.”
“You too. You’re going to need it.”
Arabella shook me. “We’re here.”
I opened my eyes. The inside of Brick was surprisingly comfortable and the narrow side windows let in just enough light to make it cozy. Across from me, Runa grinned from the bench. Arabella slid back into her seat to her right.
Next to me, Leon was checking two P320-M17 Sig Sauers. Same model as the official sidearm of the US Army, they were his favorites. Each came with a seventeen-round magazine, which meant he could fire thirty-four 9mm rounds before he had to reload. He rarely had to reload. Leon was a one-shot, one-kill shooter.
In the front passenger seat Mom patted the rifle case resting against her shoulder. Her Barrett sniper rifle was inside. She’d also taken her favorite.
Grandma Frida brought Brick to a stop. I peered through the windshield. We had left the road behind and parked on top of a low hill. Below, sheltered by a concrete wall topped by razor wire, sat a fourteen-story tower. Unlike most modern buildings of glass and steel, this structure looked older, made of rings of concrete interrupted by rows of narrow, dark windows.
I unbuckled my harness and opened the back hatch. We filed out. I checked my face in the side mirror.
If I’d had an extra day, I would have spent it in a charging circle trying to regain my magic. But I had no time, and you couldn’t draw a circle on the floor of Brick. There wasn’t enough space. So, instead, I drew the glyphs on myself. My face, my neck and most of my body where I could reach it were covered with arcane patterns in henna. I’d turned myself into a walking arcane circle absorbing magic at an accelerated rate. It would give me back my power, but in another hour, maybe two, I would collapse.
Had anybody in my family known how dangerous this was, they would have never let me do it. I was lucky Nevada was in Spain.
The lab building rose, so close. Somewhere in that tower Alessandro and Halle waited, hopefully still alive. I checked the Beretta on my hip and the gladius in its sheath on the other hip.
“Are you sure about this?” Mom asked.
“Yes.”
“You will have to tell Duncan,” she said.
I took out my phone.
Linus picked up on the second ring.
When in trouble, go for the good news first. “I have learned the location of Cristal’s lab,” I said.
“Delightful.” He did not sound delighted. “Where are you right now?”
“May I have authorization to assault the lab?”
“Are you at the lab?”
“Technically, no. But I’m looking at it.”
The steady rumble of a helicopter echoed from above. A large chopper passed overhead, carrying a container on steel cables. The cables snapped free, and the container plummeted to the ground and landed in the field with a loud thud.
“Oh,” Grandma Frida said. “A present.”
The sides of the container collapsed outward, revealing a strange-looking block of metal parts. With a loud metal clang, the block rose, unfolding into a nine-foot-tall exosuit on two sturdy legs. Massive turrets protruded from its arms. Its shoulders bristled with weapons.
Great.
The exosuit turned, zeroed in on us, and stomped in our direction. Runa raised her hand, aiming for it.
“No,” I told her.
The exosuit treaded over, each step of the heavy metal legs like a blow of a giant hammer, and towered over me. Its facial shield turned clear, and Linus stared down at me from the inside.
Perfect. Just perfect.
Linus’ voice spilled out of the loudspeaker. “When this is over, you and I are going to have a long conversation about the nature of orders and the meaning of the word wait.”
I winced.
Grandma Frida wiggled her fingers at him. “Hello, Linus.”
Mom put her hand over her face.
“I promise to sit through the entire lecture quietly,” I said. “May I please have authorization to rescue Alessandro and Halle Etterson?”
