Nemesis (31 page)

There was no sign of anyone. Of course not. But the door had been opened for a reason, and Aric and his family would be here somewhere. Nothing but trees all around. I guessed the Conners hadn’t known exactly where the source was. But I did recognise the area. This was the spot where the mage had caught Mr Conner escaping with the obsidiate. The trees bore the marks of the aftermath, and tiny fragments of gleaming black were scattered on the ground. Was that why the doorway had opened here? The two sources… I bent to pick up the pieces of metal, and dropped my hand as it burned. It was obsidiate, all right, though broken into too many fragments to be of much use to anyone. Maybe the Conners had intended to set up a doorway here all along, because even Tryfon hadn’t told them the exact location of their source.

Voices came from nearby, drifting through the trees. I was less than a hundred metres from the clearing, where that magic-sourced monster had been attacking the centaurs. They called it the kimaros, according to the files, a mythological monster predating the arrival of humans, though what exactly they were, no one knew. Fitting for a magic-fearing species like the centaurs. But the voices didn’t sound panicked from here. They must have got rid of the creature, somehow. At least, I hoped so.

I fired up the tracker, even though I knew it wouldn’t do any good here. As I predicted, the general buzz of magic in the air increased, making it impossible to distinguish an individual signal. I swore in a low voice, taking a few steps along the track. And then stopped as a figure appeared on the path ahead.

Aric.

“Yeah, real funny, Wynn,” he muttered. “Damn forest. Back where I bloody started.”

He stared around, then kicked a tree, viciously. Lost, I assumed. Typical of the idiot, really. At least he couldn’t see me.

It didn’t mean he wasn’t dangerous. And right now, he was the only person around who might give me answers about his family’s plan.

I switched off the invisibility. Aric started, gaping, steadying himself against a tree to keep from tripping over the tangled undergrowth.

“The hell?”

“Aric,” I said. “Fancy meeting you here.”

He shook his head, probably wondering if he was hallucinating.

I took a step towards him. “Don’t suppose you could tell me where your father’s holding Nell Fletcher?”

“Who? Where the hell did you come from, Walker?”

“That’s for me to know. Where’s your father?”

“I haven’t a fucking clue, have I?” His glare deepened. “You were invisible. You handed my cousins over to the police!”

“So you do have one more brain cell than I gave you credit for,” I said. “Now, tell me where Nell Fletcher is. You kidnapped her, didn’t you?”

“That Enzar woman?”

“That’s right, Aric. Now you’re going to tell me where she is, and I might just let you walk out of Aglaia alive.”

My hands shook with fury again. Conner gave the orders, and he obeyed. Without question. They all did. His mouth half opened, and he shook his head. I turned invisible again, leaving him blinking at the spot where I’d stood. I crossed the path swiftly, and swept behind him to close my hands around his throat.

Magic crashed into me like a wave, throwing me off my feet. I slammed into a tree, sliding to the ground, and then the backlash hit. The second level shock flared through every nerve in my body, and I was so shocked I let the invisibility drop. Aric turned around, teeth bared in a grin.

“Surprised?” he said. “Not all of us magic-wielders have a death wish, Walker.”

No freaking way.
I pushed away from the tree, ignoring the static after-shock, and faced him.
He’s a magic-wielder? How long?

“I never used it in the Passages,” he said. “But damn, it feels good.”

“You’re a moron,” I said idiotically.
Crap.
This was bad. Aglaia was second level, and weakened. Aside from turning invisible, I had no advantage. So we were evenly matched, magic-wise at least. I’d always been able to get the better of him on the rare occasions we’d been unwisely paired up in Academy combat training, but with magic thrown into the equation, all bets were off. Especially when he, of all people, needed a goddamn rulebook to keep him from doing something stupid.

“I can do whatever I like.” He held out a hand, magic crackling around his palm. I turned invisible again. It couldn’t block magic, but it was the one advantage I had left. The question was: was he a natural-born magic-wielder, or had something–had his father–?

I gave myself a mental shake. Now wasn’t the time to speculate. I had to attack first, but using magic would immediately give away my position.

Damn. I ran for the nearest tree, out of Aric’s sight. I climbed, letting magic flow towards one hand as I did, and before Aric could turn around and figure out where I was, I’d hit him in the back of the head with it. He stumbled right into the backlash, which I, aboveground, avoided, and fell flat on his face, twitching. The impact paralysed him long enough for me to jump out the tree and slam down on top of him. I shifted, hands around the back of his neck.

“I really wouldn’t.” I switched off the camouflage and zapped him with magic again.

Aric cursed, repeatedly. I kept firing first level shots, aware that if I hesitated for a second, he’d throw me off him. I couldn’t keep him pinned down for much longer.

“Tell me where Nell Fletcher is. No bullshit.”

“She’s in the council meeting place,” Aric spat into the ground. “They cleared the place out when that monster got loose.” He twisted his head, and I zapped him again. “Get the hell off me, you murdering bastard.”

“You’re shitting me, right?” I said. “You kidnapped and tortured two people.”

His head shifted. “No,” he rasped. “I didn’t. That was Wynn. My sister.”

“Your sister,” I repeated. “Is she here? With your father?”

The faintest nod.

“Anyone else in your family here? Your mother?”

“Dead,” he said. “Six years ago.”

I went still, as did Aric, though magic still buzzed through my veins.

“I’m telling the truth, Walker,” he choked into the dirt. “I knew you’d try to kill me again. You goddamned psycho.”

“Yeah, I got that part,” I said. “And what you did with that wyvern back at the Academy? You weren’t trying to kill us? Because it sure looked like it.”

“That was my sister’s idea,” he said. “A wyvern was attacking guards, and Wynn lured it to the Academy’s Passage.”

Shit.
Was he telling the truth? At the time, I hadn’t looked into it. I’d almost died, I hadn’t exactly been in any state to ask anyone if they knew who in his family worked at the Alliance. I’d wanted to put the whole thing behind me. But the quickest way to draw a wyvern’s attention was to use magic. Which meant…

“She’s a magic-wielder, too.”
Hell.
Like I needed any more enemies.

“Yeah. We both…” I gave him another sharp magic-shock before he could throw me off his back.

“Both what? You weren’t born a magic-wielder, were you?”

“What’s it to you? It’s normal on Klathica.” He moved one hand, to indicate the metal stud in his ear.

That
was the source? How in hell had he got away with it?

“We blindsided you,” said Aric. “It’s coated in adamantine, so it won’t set off the scanners at Central.”

Shit.
His father had thought of everything.

“What part of following your father and sister here doesn’t say you’re a psychotic bastard, too? I’m having a little difficulty understanding you, Aric. Perhaps your stupidity is rubbing off on me.”

“Real funny, Walker.”

“You haven’t answered my question. You wanted in on their plan? A bit of power of your own?”

“Who the hell wouldn’t? Our family lost everything when the Alliance stopped our trade. This source is worth more than money.”

“You don’t know what you’re doing with it,” I said. “If you use it, you’ll wipe Aglaia out of the Multiverse, and six million lives with it.”

“You lying bastard, Walker. My father said–”

“Say no more. He said you deserved to take what was rightfully yours? Something along those lines?”

A ringing silence. I’d got him. I figured he’d have heard that speech. I’d heard it half my life, back when my father’s insane conspiracy theories made any kind of sense. But then, Aric had actually volunteered to be ‘upgraded’ to a magic-wielder. Nobody had forced it on him.

“Did I get it right? Might have missed the part about the Multiverse not owing you a fucking thing, Aric. I don’t give a crap whose orders you were following. If you lived here on this world, you’d be executed for conspiracy and murder. As it is, the Alliance will be more than happy to give you whatever punishment befits the crime.”

Aric swore, over and over.
Enjoy your reality check.

One movement, one shot of magic would take his life. But as furious as I was, magic didn’t surge around me, didn’t pulse alongside the anger in my veins. I wasn’t in the Passages. I was in Aglaia, where magic was stable. For now.

“You’re gonna stay put, Aric,” I said. “If you want to live.”

He nodded.

“If you fight on your father’s side against me, don’t expect any mercy.” I jumped, sending another shot of magic behind me. Just enough to stop him firing an attack after me. But he didn’t move.

I hit the ground at a run, trees whipping past, without stopping for breath until I reached the clearing. People and centaurs moved around between the trees. Swearing, I went invisible again, and slipped around the outskirts of the clearing. Save Ada’s guardian first. Figure out what the hell was going on here later.

***

ADA

I watched Kay disappear through the door with a feeling of unreality. This was it. I’d put Nell’s life in his hands. After watching what he did to those two men…

Alber groaned. His face was bruised all over, and by the way his feet dragged, I could tell they’d really hurt him.

I wanted to hurt them back. But I had to take care of my brother. Propping him up, I began the slow task of getting both of us downstairs, while updating Jeth on the situation. Telling him Alber was hurt, to meet me outside the Passages if possible.

“Hey, Ada,” Alber said softly. “Did I mention you’re awesome?”

I blinked tears out of my eyes. “Alber… I’m so sorry.”

“Not your fault.” He coughed. “I kicked the bastard good. Took… the earpiece they stole from Central.”

“That’s… amazing, Al. I wouldn’t have thought of it.”

He half laughed, which turned into a coughing fit. “Think the buggers broke a rib or two,” he said between coughs. “Who knocked them out?”

“Kay did.” My heart lurched unpleasantly. I’d seen him fight before, of course, seen him slaughter monsters and kill both Janice and Skyla with magic, but that had been in self-defence. The man who’d stared at me with eyes like fathomless black pits, the blazing red magic sharply outlining his face… hadn’t looked like Kay at all.

Don’t think about that now.
I had to make sure Alber was safe first. The strong magic presence had faded with the door, and the tracker-sense had switched off now. And I wasn’t invisible anymore. Not that it mattered.

By the time we reached the ground floor, several people had run into the building’s lobby. Police force-types. They zeroed in on me immediately.

I didn’t have time for their probing questions. “Take me to the Alliance,” I said loudly. “A call should have gone out from Central, London. Earth.” Even through the panic, I managed to get into my pocket, get my Alliance ID. “For God’s sake, my brother’s been tortured!”

“Let her through!” a guard shouted from the entryway. Orders were barked, and I was hurried back through the streets, two guards on either side. The wail of sirens cut through the general background noise of Valeria’s capital, but I could only concentrate on helping Alber, averting my eyes from the bodies of fallen officers. People the Conners had killed on the way through, I guessed.

The way to the doorway to the Passages was guarded, but someone had already sent out an alert and Alber and I were allowed through. A path had been cleared through the blue-lit corridors.

“I’m at the entrance,” Jeth said through the communicator. “They won’t let me any closer, but hand him to the guards. He’ll be fine.”

As we reached Earth’s door, Carl, head guard, hurried to meet me. “I figured something was up with Aric,” he said, and took Alber from me, passing him on to two other guards. My brother groaned, and my chest tightened as they helped him cross the threshold to Earth, leaving Carl and me alone. “It’s why I suspended him. We’ve sent teams out to his family’s place. They didn’t cover their tracks well. But his sister got away.”

“They didn’t need to,” I said, urgency rising within me again. “Is Conner still on Aglaia? We didn’t have the chance to hand him over to the council. He had a magic source. Kay’s gone after them, but my guardian’s with them. I can’t let him go alone. Please believe me.”

“I do.” He steered me by the arm so we moved away from the door to Earth. “As it happens, we got a call from the West Branch not long ago, warning us that Wynn Conner had gone into the Passages unsupervised, and she’d been talking to her father on her communicator shortly before. Seems Kay asked someone to keep an eye on her. Tara Franklyn.”