Fracture (The Machinists) (5 page)

Jaxon dove behind a parked car, narrowly escaping the inferno. The smoking bottoms of his boots filled the air with the scent of burnt rubber.

The man turned from Jaxon, his eyes flashing to Allyn.

“Go!” Jaxon shouted from behind the car. “Leira, go!”

“Move!” Leira ordered, pushing Allyn away from the melee.

“What about Jaxon?”

“He can take care of himself.”

Allyn disagreed. Jaxon looked outmatched. As he emerged from behind the car, his forearms were scraped and bloodied. But what could Allyn do to help? He couldn’t compete with that display of… He didn’t even know what to call it.

Leira pulled him away from the fray. Allyn turned to follow, and together, they ran for several blocks before turning down an alleyway. Cars parked in front of fences and backyards lined both sides of the narrow alley. Allyn bent over and put his head between his knees, struggling to catch his breath.

“We told you that you were in danger,” Leira said. She wasn’t even winded. “We told you they would come after you again. You could have gotten yourself killed!”

He couldn’t run from it anymore. He couldn’t blame head trauma, an unreliable memory, or some sort of trick. These people weren’t
normal
. “Who are you?” he asked between breaths. “
What
are you?”

Her mouth opened, but nothing came out.

“I saw…”
What did I see? Fire exploding out of a man’s hands? Water? Magic?
He rubbed his eyes. “I’m going crazy.”

“You’re not going crazy.”

“They have my sister,” he said quietly. The words hung in the air. He couldn’t escape them.

“Who has your sister?” she asked, suddenly alert. “Lukas?”

“What does he want with us?”

“I don’t know.”

“You were following me. You knew they’d come back for me.”

Leira nodded.

“You should have followed my sister.”

“We didn’t know about her.” The words cut deep.

“Who is Lukas? How do you know him?”

Leira winced. “He’s… family.”

“Family?” He wasn’t completely surprised. He had seen dozens of families torn apart by legal litigation. Money was generally the dividing factor. Who deserved what was always in dispute, but he doubted money was the root of this feud. Her story made sense, too. They had to be family. Their abilities would be hereditary, passed down through generations like heart disease or diabetes.

“We need to get back to the car. This changes everything.”

Allyn reluctantly agreed. The police couldn’t help, but Graeme and his family might be able to. He just worried about what kind of deal he would have to make with them.

Jaxon was already waiting for them by the time Allyn and Leira made it back to the car. It was parked in a similar alley a couple blocks away. He was leaning against the black sedan, wrapping his arm in gauze. The reds, oranges, and blacks of his charred flesh screamed painfully even if Jaxon did not.

Leira strode forward, reaching for Jaxon’s arm. “We should do something about that.”

“It’s fine.” Jaxon pulled away.

Leira recoiled. She obviously wasn’t used to being rebuffed. “Where’s Reyland?”

“Gone.”

“You killed him?” Allyn asked. He couldn’t believe how nonchalant Jaxon was about it.

Jaxon finished wrapping his arm and tossed the roll of gauze into the car. “He got away.”

Leira stiffened and scanned their surroundings uneasily. She had seemed almost relieved by the idea that the man was dead. But now she was on the alert again. “We should go.”

“One minute,” Jaxon said, pulling away from the car and stepping toward Allyn.

Leira grabbed Jaxon’s good arm, stopping him. “It’s taken care of.”

“I need to know he understands what happened tonight.” He turned to Allyn, ready to say more.

“Lukas has his sister,” Leira said.

Jaxon turned to Leira. “Sister?”

“He’s not the only one in the dark.”

“No, he’s not.” Jaxon rubbed the back of his head irritably. “Get in.”

Leira nodded, and Allyn climbed into the back of the car. The black-leather interior was accented with wood-grained panels in the armrests and center console and was as large as it was comfortable. It was the kind of car an old man drove, the kind of car that wouldn’t stand out.

Red and blue flashing lights bathed the parking lot of Kendyl’s apartment complex as they rode by. What had probably started out as a single police officer responding to a domestic disturbance had grown into a possible robbery and missing persons case. Multiple police officers were on scene, and the local news stations would arrive soon, too, if they weren’t there already.

Some of the neighbors had gone back inside, while others had been pulled aside to give statements to police officers. One of them was Rebecca, Kendyl’s neighbor. Allyn wondered how soon he would receive a call from the police. He may not be a suspect, but he would certainly be a person of interest.

The lights vanished behind them as Jaxon turned onto Burnside. A mile down the road, he merged onto the interstate and drove toward the west hills overlooking the city. Driving toward help. Headed toward answers.

Chapter 4

G
raeme’s phone vibrated. He hated the thing, or more specifically, he hated his dependence on it. Technology was the greatest scam of the modern era. It had killed his ancestors and sent the rest into hiding. And tonight it brought another end.

The message used a predetermined cypher, but its meaning was clear: Allyn was safe and was returning with Jaxon and Leira.
Why does even good news have to be peppered with bad these days?
Allyn was coming. He was out of Lukas’s reach, but he was coming
here.

The quiet night was a welcome retreat. It left Graeme alone with his thoughts as he wandered the forest that surrounded the manor. Oh, Graeme supposed it wasn’t quiet in the traditional sense; it was alive with the sounds of crickets and owls and the soft trickle of water coming from the creek at the bottom of the shallow valley to the north, but it was probably the last quiet night he would enjoy for a long time. Jaxon, Leira, and Allyn had brought something else with them. Something unavoidable. Change.

For the first time since the Fracture, a person from outside the Families was entering their realm. A silent man was entering their world. And he was coming to the manor. It was unprecedented. It was dangerous. It was exactly what Lukas wanted. Even in this victory, there was defeat.

We can’t keep going on like this
, Graeme thought. The world was a large place, but when the silent men began to look again, Graeme and his family would quickly run out of places to hide. They couldn’t let that happen. Lukas had to be stopped, and the first step to doing that was discovering what Lukas wanted with Allyn. Graeme had his ideas, but they were little more than guesses, nothing he could go to the Families with or use to build a Grand Coalition.

Leira said Allyn had volunteered his help. That was important. It meant he would be cooperative, but Allyn would have his own questions, too. He’d seen Jaxon in action, he’d felt Nyla’s touch, and he would want answers of his own.
So what do I tell him?

Graeme couldn’t tell him everything. That much was clear. It was as reckless as it was impossible. How could he compress thousands of years of history into a single conversation? It couldn’t be done. He would have to give him the basics as a foundation to build on. But what were the basics?
It would be easier if he were a child
. Children are naturally curious. They ask questions and shape their own lessons. Could he expect Allyn to do the same?
Maybe.
Allyn had a thirst for knowledge, which was a necessity in his profession. Allyn
would
ask questions. Graeme didn’t need to worry about what to say; he needed to worry about what
not
to say. Everyone was entitled to their own secrets.

They arrived an hour later. Graeme waited outside the manor at the bottom of the main outdoor staircase, where the concrete stairs behind him rose to the manor’s double-door entrance. He waited alone. Too many people would be a show of force, which would intimidate Allyn, put him on edge, and make him less likely to answer Graeme’s questions. A single man was a show of respect.

The car circled the stone fountain and came to a stop facing the direction it had entered. Graeme couldn’t see inside the tinted windows. The door opened, and Allyn stepped out. This was the man Graeme expected to change the magical world. Or end it.

Graeme had aged since the last time Allyn had seen him. His face, clean-shaven before, was covered with the beginnings of a white-and-black-peppered beard. The creases in the corners of his eyes seemed deeper and were bracketed by dark circles. Standing with a slight hunch, he looked how Allyn felt—exhausted.

The manor grounds were enormous, spanning acres. The manor itself—a stone fortress two stories high—looked like something out of a seventeenth-century European countryside. It sat atop a slight hill with cultivated green grass stretching out in every direction around it, disappearing into forest. They had passed through a ten-foot-tall iron security gate half a mile back, and it was obscured by tall, centuries-old evergreens.

Graeme stood silently with his hands clasped behind his back, looking like the embodiment of the manor—secure and imposing—not the type of man Allyn should aggravate. Allyn would have to be patient, let Graeme lead the conversation, and then try to massage it in the direction he wanted it to go.

Graeme’s eyes opened wide when Jaxon stepped out of the car. “You’re hurt.”

“It’s nothing,” Jaxon said. “Barely tingles.”

“That’s because there’s extensive nerve damage.” Graeme gently took Jaxon’s arm in his hands and scowled at Leira. “Why wasn’t this treated?”

“We didn’t have time,” Jaxon said, cutting in before Leira could speak. She didn’t look grateful for his defense. “Reyland was waiting.”

Graeme’s eyes darted to Allyn. The piercing gaze made him uncomfortable.

“Get that treated,” Graeme said. “It needs to be addressed before the nerves die. It’ll scar, but that’s a good thing—it’ll pose as a reminder that you need to be more careful.”

Jaxon’s face became hard, his eyes narrowing slightly. “It was luck. A trick. An inferno mine—”

“Which is only dangerous when you’re not paying attention,” Graeme said. “You were reckless. Get that arm fixed.”

Jaxon stormed past him up the stairs into the manor.

Leira started after him, but Graeme caught her by the arm and whispered something into her ear. She nodded and then chased after Jaxon.

“Walk with me,” Graeme said, turning down a stone pathway.

Allyn obliged, taking up position beside him. They walked in silence. Only the soft sounds of their feet clapping against the stones interrupted the night. The path led them through a sparse forested area that had been cleaned of fallen limbs and dead foliage. The trees were groomed, and the bushes had been trimmed. The moon, shining brightly in the clear winter night, was visible through the tangle of naked branches.

Allyn struggled to remain silent and not hit Graeme with a barrage of questions. Waiting for the answers to come to him went against everything he was. His job was to seek truth, not wait for it.

Graeme looked at him from the corner of his eye, opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again.

Nervous people either closed up or rambled on incoherently. Something told him that Graeme was probably the former. “Jaxon probably saved my life tonight.”

“And nearly died in the process,” Graeme said. “You may not understand the dangers of this world, but he does. Or at least, he should.”

“What world is that exactly?” Allyn winced at being so direct.

Graeme sighed. “I asked you before for your help, and you said no. Now Lukas has your sister, and I don’t know what he wants with her or if he’ll stop his pursuit of you now that he has her.”

Leira said they didn’t know about Kendyl
. Either Graeme hadn’t been entirely truthful with her and Jaxon, or they’d told him on their way back.

“But I do know, Allyn,” Graeme continued, “that if you help me answer those questions, I’ll do everything in my power to get her back. So I ask you again, will you help me?”

Graeme was playing a game—give me something, and I’ll give you something. He was waiting for Allyn to blink first because he knew he had the advantage. Allyn was negotiating from a place of weakness, out of desperation. He had no leverage.

“Yes,” Allyn said. “I’ll help you.”

Graeme’s shoulders dipped in apparent relief. He even gave Allyn a small, toothless smile.

They entered a small circular clearing that reminded Allyn of an outdoor study. Tall, solar-powered lamps had been placed evenly around the edge of the clearing, providing soft light. Two seats carved from old tree trunks waited for them in the center, and a stump, which had been cut smooth on top, acted as a table. Graeme took a seat and motioned for Allyn to do the same.

“Then there are a few things we need to discuss first,” Graeme said. His voice became quiet, as though he were telling Allyn a secret. “For as long as there have been people like you, there have been people like me. We’ve been called many things. Mages, wizards, witches, even gods—and, most recently, demons. In the beginning, we worked and lived with non-magic people in a symbiotic relationship. Although greatly outnumbered, we provided the necessities of life, from the warmth of fire to healing and protection. But as men learned to create fire, developed medicine, and built weapons for protection, our relationship began to collapse. So, unneeded and useless to humankind, the ancient magi turned to each other for support, and our first Families were formed.”