Nemesis (22 page)

He could become invisible. He hadn’t denied his abilities out of fear like I had, even after he’d apparently lost control of it and almost killed Aric. And he’d killed Skyla, and Janice. I hadn’t seen how he’d learned to use it so quickly. He’d been a magic-wielder the whole time, though.

I’m not at all interested in magic-wielders,
he’d said to me once. At the time, I hadn’t known he was one himself. And now he appeared to actually be embracing it. But then, you couldn’t change what you were. Even with bloodrock solution. Under the surface, you were the same.

Magic-wielder. Adamantine.

KAY

Lustre. That was what I’d seen on Aglaia.

I hadn’t said the word in front of Ada. I knew it for what it was immediately, because I’d been looking at pictures of it when researching the Alliance’s most up-to-date information via communicator. Sure, it looked like adamantine, but it
felt
different. Like it made the magic living under my skin even more intense. As Amanda had said: only magic-wielders could feel the difference between sources. And according to the notes I’d read, only lustre grew in those particular formations.

There was a whole magic source right there, and the humans didn’t know anything about it. They’d never been that far onto the mainland, because the centaurs had been there before they’d even come to the continent, nigh on a thousand years before.

Not a word from Markos had come through on the earpiece. It was possible he’d forgotten he was even wearing it–hell, I’d forgotten about the damn thing myself. And so had Ada.

What a blasted mess. So that was why the centaurs were so uptight about humans impinging on their territory. If the Alliance found out, a dozen or more worlds would want to cash in on it. Maybe they already had, if there really was someone offworld working against the centaurs. With the rebels.

It seemed too big a coincidence that we’d seen them so close to the source. It was near the royal grounds, so those rebel centaurs shouldn’t have even been there. Did anyone outside Markos’s family even know about it? Usually, the important people had the information, while the others were left in the dark to avoid potential conflict.

Ms Weston had given me the option to come into Central or not the following day. I still wasn’t allowed into council meetings, and the blasted Aglaian fiasco was postponed until the next morning, so technically, I didn’t have anywhere I was supposed to be.

So I didn’t particularly appreciate being woken at five in the morning by a message reminding me–again–that I was expressly forbidden from interfering in Aglaia today. Nights where I actually managed to get a decent amount of sleep were rarer than a sunny day in Cethrax, so the interruption put me in a raging bad mood. I took my new motorcycle out for a ride, winding up at the training complex. But even beating the crap out of virtual monsters became dull after a while, even if it took the edge off my frustration about not being able to do a thing about Aglaia. I’d tried contacting Markos a couple of times through the earpiece, only to be greeted with static. I didn’t know if that meant he’d taken it off, or if it wasn’t safe to talk without antagonising the centaurs.

I’d never been able to deal with boredom. Especially when I was irritated as hell that Ms Weston had once again put a wrench in my plan to talk to Ada, who would be at Central right now with the boss hovering over her shoulder. I didn’t especially want to head back to my apartment–I barely lived in the place anyway. I wanted to do something useful.

After picking up coffee and food from a local cafe and checking I had my offworld credit card on me, I made up my mind. I had my Ambassador’s pass, and my first payment in offworld credits had come through.

I knew exactly what I planned to do with
that.

London’s main Passage was now open again following the fiasco at Central, and more crowded than the tube at rush hour, with people from a hundred or more universes traversing from one gleaming metal door to another. Each door led to a different part of a different world–Earth’s West Branch’s main door was two rows down–and even the presence of countless guards wasn’t enough to deter some people from trying to sneak a free pass. My Ambassador’s coat ensured I got through the crowd easily, and I found Raj by the public entrance to Neo Greyle, in conversation with the Valerian guards.

“Everything all right?” I asked. “Not been any trouble, has there?”

The guard shook his head. “Nothing new. Just had to restrict access to non-Ambassadors. You two are fine to go through.”

“Any reason you’re here?” Raj asked me as we passed by the guards. This doorway led to one of Neo Greyle’s endless main roads, this one alongside the main Alliance branch. The building was virtually a twin of Central in London, the black adamantine covering standing out amongst the other skyscrapers.

“I’m gonna apply for a license for a hover bike.”

“And a crash helmet?”

I rolled my eyes. “I did check their manuals first. What’re you doing here?”

“Meeting people in the offworld district, seeing as we’re off-duty.”

“If we don’t run into any more goblins.”

“I’m holding you responsible if we do.”

Judging by the number of guards patrolling outside the Alliance building, they were on the alert for trouble. But even ravegens wouldn’t dare use the main entrance. For one thing, they’d probably get trampled in the rush, invisible or not.

Speaking of which… I had the Chameleon with me for a reason, clipped to my sleeve. Even with the battery dead, I could still turn invisible just by touching it. When I was using the lustre’s amplifying effect, it was like being tuned into a low-frequency radio only I could pick up on. Once I’d found the signal, I could control whether it was switched on or off in the same way I could pull on magic or release it. Like a sixth sense impossible to explain to anyone who wasn’t a magic-wielder.

As for what else I could do with it… I planned to find out.

“I’m going to put a deposit on one of those bikes,” I said, at the street corner near the hover-depot. “Don’t suppose you want to join me?”

“I’d prefer to stay in one piece, thanks,” said Raj.

While he went in the direction of offworld district, I picked out a sleek silver hover bike and put down a deposit. One provisional license application later and I was at the racecourse, in a fierce one-on-one race with an overeager Valerian kid who could barely steer in a straight line. They were insanely lax with who was allowed to drive–everyone over the age of thirteen. Only their hover-transport’s built-in collision shields stopped the number of accidents getting out of hand.

“Not fair!” he wailed, as I cut across him and managed to steer the bike to a stop at the finish line without tipping over this time.

“Bad luck, kid,” I said. Out the corner of my eye, I saw cash exchange hands, and a blond woman–couldn’t tell if she was Earth or Valerian–gave me a
come over here
smile from behind the bordering fence.

Ordinarily, I’d have taken her up on it. But my thoughts strayed to Ada before I could stop them. Irritated at myself, I parked the bike properly in the hover-port. Better to leave it there, where no one would be able to steal it when I wasn’t here. My communicator started buzzing as I left.

“Simon?” I flicked the touch screen. Thanks to time zone differences between Aglaia, the UK and New York, where Simon worked at the main US Alliance branch, I hadn’t heard from him in a while. “What’s the deal? I was buying a hover bike.”

“You’re joking.”

“Nope. I’m in Neo Greyle right now.”

“Tell me exactly where so I can come and kill you. Can you even drive one of those things yet?”

I glanced back at the gleaming rows of bikes in the depot. “On automatic, yeah. I’ll figure it out.”

Simon snorted. “Of course. Don’t go causing any more traffic accidents.”

“You heard about that?”

“One of our Ambassadors was in the city at the time. I knew it was you he was talking about.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know I caught the criminals. Both times.”

“Both…? Jesus Christ, Kay. What are you even doing there? On a mission, or what?”

“No. I’m dealing with crap on Aglaia, but that’s on hold until tomorrow. So I decided…”

“…to buy a hover bike. Of course.” I heard Simon’s exasperated sigh through the phone. “Dammit. Why do we mere mortals have to go through admin before we can make Ambassador? I’m dying here.”

“What, no monsters yet?”

“A few dreyverns. Got some of those invisible what-d’you-call-its, ravegens, too. Near another Valeria door on this side.”

“Damn,” I said. “They sure are persistent. That’s kind of why I’m here, to keep an eye on things. Plus, there’s the hover bikes, of course.”

“I get why so many Earth Ambassadors transfer over there. Epic, Kay. You’re living the dream.”

Yeah. Except for the slight issue of a potential war on another world, and no word from Markos yet.

“Guess so. How’s New York?”

“Same as ever. Which is to say, awesome, if I could get the hell out of this office. Still, can’t complain. Everyone knows I helped set up those Passages to Enzar. Dunno how it got out, but I’m drowning in female attention.”

“Not a terrible way to die,” I said.

“Ha. I suppose it isn’t. How’s Ada, anyway?”

Dammit. “Okay, I guess. I’ve been offworld most of the past week.”

“That’s not good. I thought you two were, like…”

“Tara showed up at Central.”

Simon swore. “What? Seriously?”

“She’s at London’s West Branch, and that bastard Aric decided to go over there and tell her stories about me–of course Ada had to show up when she was causing a scene.”

It was as much my fault as hers. I should have just told Tara to back the hell off, or talked to her somewhere else. I didn’t even want to get into what Ada’s brother had said.

“Damn, Kay. No offence, man, but Tara’s kind of a bitch.”

“Yes, I think I realised that a while ago,” I muttered. “Ada has enough crap to deal with.”

“Like what?”

“Working at Central with Ms Weston breathing down her neck, for a start. And you know what the Campbells did to her.” I’d only told Simon the basics–it was Ada’s business, after all–but I reckoned he’d figured part of it out.

“You’ve heard of, I don’t know, talking to her about it? Seeing as you were there?”

“She won’t talk to me about it. Can’t say I blame her.”

“Damn,” said Simon. “Guess being kidnapped would screw a person up. She seemed okay when…”

“Yeah. Seemed.” I stifled a sigh. “She has her family, anyway, and God knows they have enough to deal with, the way the Alliance upended their lives.”

“I guess so. Still. You’re an idiot.”

“Cheers.”

“I gotta go, anyway. I’m on the next patrol and I’m thinking of checking up on the Enzar Passage–you’ve been there recently?”

“Over the weekend. I’ve been kind of occupied by this offworld assassination,” I said. “You must have heard about Aglaia by now. It’s not classified.”

“Wait, you’re involved in that? Bloody hell, Kay. No wonder.
And
the ravegens? No world is safe from you.”

“Yeah, thanks, Simon,” I said. “I should get away from this place. They’ll start trying to sell me hover boots next. Not that I’d refuse, but…”

“Ha. Got it. You stay out of trouble… I don’t know why I bother saying that anymore. Just don’t crash that bike.”

“I won’t make any promises.” I clicked off the phone.

No hover boots this time. But I did have an idea. First, I headed into an alleyway between two buildings to make sure no one saw me. Then I tapped into the magic ever-present in Valeria, and disappeared.

The invisibility-effect could last as long as I wanted it to. The lustre in my blood amplified the magic that was already there. And I had the Chameleon clipped to the inside of my sleeve at the moment. Even on Earth, I could tap into it. The magic inside
me
responded to external sources. It must depend on skin contact, because I’d never got the same reaction from any other magic-powered object I’d been near. That explanation made sense, given that the Chameleon only worked if you were touching it. And so did bloodrock.

I’d checked the laws on human enhancement. The Alliance had updated them twelve years ago, to rule out any kind of experimentation involving pure magic sources. I was fairly sure Klathica frequently flaunted those rules, but it didn’t sound like I’d run into anyone with the same ability as me anytime soon. Because the other three were dead.

Maybe others had died in the process.

Restlessness burned in my blood. It wasn’t worth my while to try and track down who, exactly, had been the one to inject me with magic. Their trail would be covered up like everything else. Besides, they weren’t the perpetrator. No, he was on a world beyond reach.

Stop it. Don’t bother looking for answers where they don’t exist.
Whatever my father’s intentions had been, he’d handed me a weapon I’d be an idiot to ignore. Maybe I’d been able to control it all along. Magic responded to the wielder’s intent. The Academy had decided that I’d used it against Aric in self-defence. I hadn’t contradicted them, because it was partially true. But now, I had to wonder.