10
A BAD FEELING followed me back to my apartment that night, making me grateful that I picked up a few items from my secret hoard in the parlor’s basement. Along with my wand, I grabbed some colored chalk, a couple crystals, and a handful of various herbs. I didn’t know when Sofie was getting to my apartment and I definitely didn’t know if or when Gideon was going to show up. In the meantime, I needed to be protected.
It didn’t help that the number of people who knew my dirty little secret was growing due to my recent association with Reave. I couldn’t trust his flunkies to keep their mouths shut. While the unwashed masses might not know where to find the Towers, my aging apartment building, less than twenty minutes from my tattoo parlor, wasn’t difficult to locate.
Before reaching my place, I stopped at a gas station and bought a small bag of sunflower seeds. Breaking open the bag, I scattered the seeds outside my front door. My landlady wasn’t going to be pleased if I didn’t vacuum up the mess the next morning, but at least I was protected against a bunch of OCD vampires for the night.
My stomach twisted as I discovered that my apartment was empty. There was no note and no text telling me when Robert had left, where he’d gone, or when he’d get back. A*shole. How the hell was I supposed to protect him if I couldn’t f*cking find him? He’d mentioned something about getting clothes from his place, but I’d expected him to have done it in the afternoon. Unfortunately, I couldn’t wait. I needed to protect the apartment.
As soon as the dead bolt slid home, I grabbed a piece of chalk out of my pocket and drew a series of symbols on the plain wood door and along the doorjamb. Each symbol briefly flared to life and then faded again as the protective wards were locked into place. When I was finished with the door, I pocketed the chalk and hurried to my bathroom, grabbing a bar of soap. Going through the apartment, I drew symbols with the soap on each window and on the sliding-glass doors that led to the balcony. I hesitated, looking at the balcony. I thought about scratching a few symbols on the concrete floor, but decided against it. If someone went to the trouble of climbing to my balcony, the wards on the sliding-glass door would stop them. This would give me a glimpse of my would-be attacker before I sent the bastard packing.
Dropping the soap and chalk on the coffee table in the center of the living room, I bent and pulled my wand out from where I had shoved it into my sock before collapsing on the sunken sofa. With my wand tightly clenched in my right hand, I lay back and draped my left arm over my eyes while kicking off my sneakers. It was only now that I was alone in the suffocating silence of the apartment that I realized how exhausted I was as well as sore.
Business at the parlor had been steady, but not hectic. While the little adventure at the garden hadn’t been particularly clean, it had been successful. At some point tomorrow, I’d have to divvy up the flower and call my buyers, but for now, it was safe in the shop in its little brown paper bag.
It was the chaos that was brewing with Reave and the Towers that felt like a f*cking gorilla sitting on my chest. I hadn’t talked to my brother since leaving the apartment that afternoon and it hadn’t been the happiest of partings. But then anything that had to do with the Towers was a big downer.
I felt bad for my brother. Not only had my being born a warlock f*cked up his life, but I knew that when he looked at me, he saw someone damaged, broken beyond repair. Who wanted that in the family? I didn’t know what happened to the families of warlocks and witches. Never thought about it. I knew the families were instructed to tell the world that the kids had died, because they never expected to see them again. But what if the world found out they gave birth to a great killer? I can’t imagine there are that many support groups out there for them. Were grieving women sneaking off to Mothers of Warlocks/Witches Anonymous?
Sleep settled over me for a short time, so that my mind wasn’t churning about in useless circles. My thoughts slipped away and a blissful blankness cradled me, but it didn’t last long. At least, it didn’t feel like I’d slept long.
An intense buzzing ran over my arms, as if electricity had jumped from the nearest outlet and was trying to burrow into my flesh. My hand reflexively tightened on my wand, but I didn’t lower my arm from my eyes as I continued to lie on the sofa. I strained with all my senses, trying to place the feeling that had jolted me awake. Someone was using magic very close to me. I guess that answered the million-dollar question as to who was going to arrive at my apartment first.
There were no sounds beyond my own uneven breathing and the distant hum of the refrigerator. Whoever was using the magic had yet to enter my apartment. I lowered my arm from my eyes and looked around the living room. Only the light in the kitchen was on, spilling through the rest of the apartment. Thick shadows crowded around the living room, but I was alone.
As I sat up, the buzzing feeling that I had felt upon waking returned. A second later, the front door exploded inward as it was blown off its hinges. The warped plank of wood hit the opposite wall and was left partially blocking the hallway to the bedroom and bathroom. A woman with a wand clutched in one hand lunged into the room and screamed, her body instantly wrapped in a white net of energy. She shrieked and writhed where she stood, unable to move her arms so she could use her wand. Her mind was locked in a fog of pain, leaving her powerless to remove the spell that held her.
I couldn’t stop the smile that rose to my mouth as I stood. I loved it when those arrogant pricks underestimated me. Gideon didn’t, but then Gideon was smart enough to watch me; smart enough to know that if I survived several encounters with my former mentor, then I obviously knew how to weave a spell or two. This bitch assumed that since I left the Towers when I was a teenager, I didn’t know shit about protecting myself. She easily blew through the first ward guarding the door, but didn’t bother to check for anything else before entering my apartment.
Raising my wand to banish her from my place, I shouted when the sliding doors exploded, covering me in glass. I didn’t risk looking around to see who else was knocking on my door. Diving forward past the witch, I rolled until I hit the cracked and stained linoleum of the kitchen. My heart was pounding loud enough in my ears that I could barely hear anything else. There were now two magic users in my apartment. I was in serious shit.
When I had battled to leave the Tower, I had faced only Simon. Of course, Simon was a master warlock of considerable power, so beating the bastard had been no easy task and I had no illusions about the fact that luck had played a large part in my final victory. But now I was faced with two and I was beginning to have some serious doubts about the likelihood of my survival.
With my back pressed against the cabinets, I peered around the edge of the wall to see a warlock with bright blond hair taking a slow step across the balcony toward the glassless doors. Yeah, warding the balcony was starting to look like a good idea. I quickly waved my wand and lifted my empty left hand. The glass shards that littered my living room rose up into the air and turned toward my newest guest like thousands of little daggers. With a whispered command, the shards shot through the opening at the warlock, attacking him again and again. They wouldn’t kill him, just buy me some time.
Turning my attention to the witch, I frowned, struggling to think of something that would be effective in getting her out of my hair without killing her. Of course, even if I managed to send her away, there was still a good chance that she would only return at a later date. If the inhabitants of the Towers were anything, they were definitely single-minded. With a grunt, I gave my wand a short wave in the air, wrapping the energy net tighter around her so that it sizzled as it bit into her skin, sending her screams even higher in pitch and volume. A second later, she disappeared from sight and I gave a quick sigh of relief. If the spell I had woven was correct, she was now sinking to the ocean floor near a reef off the North Shore of Oahu.
Could this kill her? Sure. If she was stupid enough to come after me without knowing some basic escape and underwater breathing spells, of course she could die. Was she going to die? Most likely not. Warlocks and witches were harder to kill than that. The only plus in all this was that if she did die, I wasn’t going to get dinged again. If she died, it would be because she drowned, not because of magic. It might seem coldhearted, but the witch bitch had been here to kill me first and I wasn’t about to owe Lilith a second year.
The air crackled again with pent-up energy. I jerked my head back, pressing against the cabinets as a bolt of magic shot through the entrance into the kitchen and slammed into the wall, leaving behind a black scorch mark. Apparently the warlock had gotten free of my little glass entanglement.
“What the f*ck do you want?” I shouted from the kitchen. I stayed back, unwilling to stick my head out and give the a*shole a target. I could hear the muffled crunch of glass underfoot as he stepped onto the living room carpet.
“Your head for treason,” snarled the warlock.
Before I could stop myself, I leaned around the doorway so I could look at him. “What?”
He didn’t speak but snapped his wand in my direction, sending yet another blast of green energy in my direction. I raised my left hand before my face, calling up the appropriate countercurse to shield myself. A grunt escaped me when the energy pummeled my shield, knocking me back. Cracking sounds filled the air, sending my heart pumping in fear. The energy stopped for a second only to be followed by another blast. My defensive shield splintered and I was thrown to the back of the narrow kitchen.
Pain exploded down my spine and radiated through my ribs as I slid down the wall and fell on my ass. F*ck. This bastard was strong. He would have given Simon a run for his money. Were the witch and warlock the next in line for the open seat on the council and they thought killing me would give them a leg up?
Breathing in short, ragged gasps, I couldn’t get a lungful of air. I was also having trouble clenching my wand in my hand as my fingers had started to tingle.
With a wave of my left hand, all the drawers in the kitchen slid open. A second later, the utensils hovered in the air, and more knives jumped from the butcher block on the counter. I smiled. This would keep the bastard busy for a bit. With a nod, all the objects hovering in the air flew through the doorway into the living room, seeking out the only other living creature in the apartment.
I pushed to my feet with a groan and grabbed the handled knife sharpener out of the butcher block. It was little more than a dull silver rod about the diameter of a Magic Marker that came to a sharp point. I could barely grasp my wand in my right hand, but this weapon was held firmly in my left hand.
Charging from the kitchen, I dodged a wicked steak knife that was slashing at the warlock and used my wand to knock aside his wand as he attempted to focus on me while ducking the downward blow of a stainless-steel ladle. I plunged the knife sharpener into his chest just below his heart. He stiffened, his eyes going wide with pain and surprise. At the same time several knives hit home, burying themselves in his arms, legs, and stomach. As he crumpled to the ground, I waved off the spell that was controlling the silverware, allowing the utensils to fall harmlessly to the ground.
The warlock gasped, blood gurgling up his throat and spilling out the side of his mouth. On shaky legs, I kicked his wand away from his reach. I hadn’t killed him, but he was dying. He could heal himself without the wand, but he could use the wand to kill me. My stomach clenched to look at him. I needed to finish him off, put him out of his misery. Right now he was in so much pain that he couldn’t concentrate enough to use magic to heal himself or even take himself back to the Towers. I could pull the silver rod out of his chest, heal him, save him. But wouldn’t he come after me again?
“What the hell?” thundered a deep voice.
Spinning toward the front door, I raised my wand but stopped myself before I let loose the bolt of energy I had summoned. Gideon stood in the open doorway, his hair mussed and shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows. It was the most unkempt I had ever seen him. Yet it was the sight of Sofie bloody and limp in his hands that nearly stopped my heart.
“Sofie! What happened?” I cried, lowering my wand.
Gideon walked into the living room, his sharp gaze taking in and assessing the damage. “I found her on the landing of the stairs as I came up. She must have been caught on her way back.” The warlock’s frown deepened as he looked down at the mortally wounded warlock. “Why isn’t he dead yet?”
“I hadn’t . . . decided . . .”
“Damn it, Gage! You have to kill them!” he shouted, losing his temper. With a growl, he shoved Sofie at me. “Heal her. I will take care of him.”
I didn’t question it. As I was kneeling down to gently lay Sofie on the floor, I saw Gideon pick up a long boning knife from the carpet. He knelt beside the warlock and stabbed him straight through the heart, ending his pain and the threat he presented.
“Holy shit!” Robert cried from the open doorway, popping my head up again. My older brother stood white-faced and frozen on the threshold, a pizza box in one hand and a six-pack of beer in the other. This was not the side of my life my brother needed to see—a warlock kneeling over a dead body, me kneeling over a nearly dead cat, and my apartment trashed from a magic fight. Perfect!
Gideon raised his wand, his body twisted toward my brother as he prepared to sling whatever attack that had come to mind.
“No! Don’t! He’s with me!” I screamed while throwing a protective shield in front my Robert with my free hand.
The warlock’s wand halted, but I could see the thick muscles in his forearm tensed and ready to strike.
“Please, he’s my brother,” I said.
Gideon’s gray eyes jumped to my face, filled with shock. He knew I wasn’t in contact with my family. It wasn’t safe, as evidenced by my thoroughly trashed apartment.
“Please,” I repeated, a little firmer and a little calmer.
With a frown, Gideon lowered his wand and looked back at my brother, waiting. I dropped my shield and waved my brother into my apartment. Damn, I needed to get that front door back in place before a neighbor wandered by.
“What can I do to help?” Robert asked, his voice a little wobbly as he gave Gideon a wide berth as he approached me.
“Nothing.”
“Gage, it looks like you’re in pretty deep shit here. I can help.”
I smiled at Robert, touched more than I wanted to admit that my brother, who was obviously scared shitless, was ready to wade in and watch his little brother’s back. A part of me wished I could let him help, but this was a mess best handled with magic. Lots of magic. “Just go hang out in my bedroom while we clean this up. And save me a couple beers.”
Robert frowned as he looked at Gideon and then nodded. “Got it.” He stared down at me for a few seconds and I don’t know what was passing through his mind, but it didn’t seem to be abject horror, which was surprising. “You need anything, you shout. Anything at all.” And then he shimmied past the broken door into the hall to my bedroom. Under his breath, I could hear him muttering that he should have bought a f*cking case of beer.
Turning my full attention on Sofie, I found that her lovely bluish-gray fur was now dark and matted with her blood. There was a large wound in her abdomen and her breathing was shallow. She was fading fast. With a deep breath, I drew in as much energy as I could hold. As I exhaled, I sent that energy streaking through her body. It was a similar spell to what I had used on Bronx nights ago, but stronger. I was afraid of her dying before I could heal her. This spell tied her soul to the energy in her body. As long as I maintained the spell, her soul was trapped.
Despite the smallness of her frame in comparison to Bronx, it still took several minutes for the worst of her wounds to heal. I was vaguely aware of Gideon using magic around me. I could hear the tinkle of broken glass and the clink of silverware while a heavy breeze swept by me as the door flew to its place at the front of the apartment and the lights clicked on. I kept my eyes closed, straining to keep as much of my focus on Sofie as I could.
When the beat of her heart was strong beneath my fingers and her breathing was even, I started to unravel the healing spell, pulling the energy out of her body. Sofie shifted and I thought I could feel her purring. I opened my eyes and took a deep breath, relief making my hands shake as I pulled them away from her. Sofie was an annoying, meddlesome old witch, but she was my annoying, meddlesome old witch and I’d be damned if I was going to let some f*cking witch or warlock kill her because I had been stupid enough to send her into danger.
I sat on the carpet, leaning against the nearest wall, and dropped my head until my chin nearly hit my chest. Both Sofie and I had nearly been killed by a witch and a warlock. I was exhausted down to my soul and my body hurt in more places than I wanted to think about. I didn’t want to move, didn’t want to breathe, didn’t want to think, but I still had to do all of the above because Gideon was here and was going to want some answers. He also had some answers that I desperately needed.
Something nudged my elbow. I looked down, lifting my hand. Sofie crawled into my lap and curled up. She didn’t speak, only purred as she snuggled close. I gently ran my fingers over her wet, sticky fur, soothing away the last of the trembling and terror that had gripped us both. I had almost lost her. A lump grew in my throat and my chest ached with a pain that had nothing to do with physical injuries. The Towers were picking apart my life no matter how hard I tried to escape. I’d left my family to keep them safe from the Towers and now the bastards were trying to claim the lives of my friends. There had to be another way.
“You’re better than I am at that particular healing spell,” Gideon said. “I think I would have been able to save her, but she wouldn’t be as strong as she is now.”
I wanted to smile, but I was too tired. As I looked up at him, I found that my apartment was back to its prebattle state with both doors fixed. The dead warlock was gone along with the bloodstain in the carpet. All that was left were a few stray pieces of chalk and my own bloodstained hands.
“Good to know I’ve got at least one skill,” I said, scratching Sofie on the top of the head and behind her ears.
“If you’re fishing for more compliments, I’d stop.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it. Why don’t you tell me what the f*ck is going on? And by that question, I mean for you to start with Indianapolis, cover Sofie’s injuries, and finish with the two f*cknuts who popped by to rearrange my apartment.”
“I’ll start with the easiest and the rest should fall into place,” Gideon said on a sigh as he sat heavily on my couch. He looked as exhausted and as rough as I felt, but without the bruised and cracked ribs. “I didn’t get to talk to Sofie, but I did see her briefly in Dresden. I assumed that you sent her in hopes of drawing me back to Low Town.”
I stared down at Sofie in my lap. “You went all the way to the Tower?”
Sofie gave a wide yawn. “You aren’t the only one who wants answers. And it was the only place I was guaranteed to get them.”
I suppressed a shudder at the thought. She had walked into the lion’s den. The European Ivory Tower wasn’t in Dresden, Germany, but more to the north of the city in some forestland called Der Loben near a series of lakes. Everyone referred to it as Dresden because that was the closest big city. And for roughly nine years, the Dresden Tower had been my home.
“As I was saying,” Gideon continued a bit irritably. “When the meeting broke up, I had already lost sight of Sofie, but I gather someone else was following her. They took care of her once they were sure they had your location.”
Sofie rubbed her head against my hand. “Sorry, Gage. I didn’t mean to lead anyone back to you.”
“As long as they didn’t tell anyone else where they had found me, it doesn’t matter. Any idea who they were?”
Resting his right elbow on his knee, Gideon leaned his forehead against his right hand, scratching his scalp in thought. “The warlock on your floor was Neil Wilson. If there was a witch with him, it was most likely his apprentice. I think her name is Leanne, or maybe Lenore. He usually called her Useless Clod. Did you at least finish her?”
I looked away from the warlock, unable to meet his gaze. “Don’t know. Sent her fishing off the North Shore. She might have escaped.” Gideon remained silent so long that I had to look back. He frowned at me and I could feel his disappointment. For the first time, my claim that I wasn’t a killer like him sounded weak and pathetic. An excuse rather than a principle.
“I get that they were here to kill me,” I said, breaking the silence. “But do they have a new reason to be here?”
“For both our sakes, I f*cking hope not,” the warlock snapped, surprising me with his choice of language. He flopped back against the couch and dropped one foot on the top of my coffee table.
“You want a drink? My brother’s got some beers,” I said with a smirk.
Gideon hated me most days and the feeling was more than mutual. He was a pompous, arrogant, controlling a*shole who liked to make my life hell, but I had to stop there because I also knew that he had done a lot to protect my life. Regardless, he had never looked quite so human as he did slouched on my couch with hair standing on end and shirt wrinkled. If his state didn’t scare the shit out of me, I would have laughed.
“God, that would be nice.” He sighed and shook his head. “No, Ellen will worry.”
“You go home every night?”
“I try, but it’s not always possible. After Indianapolis, I have to.”
Yeah, the whole world was in a state of shock and terror. His wife would definitely need a little reassurance tonight from her warlock husband. While the news reports were offering little information beyond horror, a warlock could provide a better view of why the world was close to burning.
“Speaking of which, what happened with Indianapolis? Is the renewed attack on me tied to it?”
“Yes.”
My head dropped back against the wall and I closed my eyes. Fear coiled in my stomach and that drink was starting to sound better by the second.
“Things have been bad in the Towers for a couple of years now. Between Peter’s death, Simon’s death, and the runaways, everyone has been on edge. It all exploded this afternoon when rumors hit New York that someone managed to get exact Tower locations.”
My heart stopped and my breath froze in my chest. I could even feel Sofie stiffen in my lap at this news. Apparently she hadn’t heard this bit yet despite her quick trip to Germany. The world was teetering on the brink of destruction and I now had a hand in it. To make matters worse, a key figure in this growing debacle was sitting in the next room eating pizza and drinking beer. May whatever forces there were in the cosmos please take pity on me and let my brother stay in my bedroom with his mouth shut.
“All locations?” I asked, struggling to keep my tone steady.
“We don’t know. I’m not even sure how true the rumor is, but it doesn’t seem like most are concerned about the truth of it any longer. What I’ve heard is that two to three locations have been discovered. The ones that keep coming up are New York, Dresden, and Canberra.”
“Where’d the information come from?”
“We are aware of several small resistance groups that have been working on trying to find the locations for the past few decades. It’s been largely humans with a few ogres, trolls, and others thrown into the mix. No one strong in magic, particularly glamour, so we’ve left them alone. The guardians gleaned word a few months ago that they made a new contact and were excited. We watched but this person was very smooth. We never saw him or her, but when a couple representatives struck the enclave they were watching, nearly all were found dead.”
“Their contact killed them?”
Gideon nodded. “One person was found clinging to life. He was squeezed, but we got only one last fleeting thought. Elf.”
“F*ck,” I whispered. This was a disaster.
“Yes, the one race that we’ve feared from the beginning. Those bastards know more about glamour than anyone else. We always worried they would crack the protective spells. The Towers hoped that the elves had been broken, that they wouldn’t try to fight back, but apparently not.”
“Stop. You don’t know this is the elves. It could be one rogue elf acting alone. You also don’t know if this is the elves or the Svartálfar. There is a difference.”
Gideon arched one eyebrow at me. “Afraid for your girlfriend?”
“Don’t push me, warlock,” I said in a low growl.
Gideon’s expression hardened, but he let the comment pass. Picking a fight now wasn’t going to help anyone. “The guardians searched their headquarters and found stacks of maps. Only the ones for upstate New York and Germany held markings, but another for Australia had been pulled aside.”
“I’m guessing their headquarters was in Indianapolis,” I said mostly to myself.
“No, that was in Oklahoma City. Their contact had nearly cleaned them out, so the Towers didn’t feel the need to raze the city. Unfortunately, the witch and the warlocks caught the scent of one other person who had escaped. He slipped into Indianapolis. They were afraid he would have a chance to talk to someone if they waited to ferret him out, so they leveled the city.”
“They killed thousands to silence one person?”
“They were protecting our secret,” Gideon said evenly.
“No!” I roughly lifted Sofie off my lap and placed her on the floor so I could push to my feet. I couldn’t sit still any longer. The worst of the pains in my body had subsided, but there was a growing pain in my head as if it was going to split in two in anger and frustration. “Don’t tell me you side with them. That you agree with what they did.”
“Of course not! And neither does the council.” Gideon sat up, sliding to the edge of the sofa cushion.
His comment stopped me short, snapping my gaze back to his haggard face. “They were executed?”
He snorted. “Barely even a slap on the wrist. The council members, for the most part, cursed and shouted, but in the end, the attackers walked out of the hall with a pat on the back for doing what they had to in order to protect the Towers.”
I shoved my hands through my hair, clenching my fingers around the short strands. Muscles clenched and unclenched throughout my body as I struggled to keep my temper under control. The Ivory Towers were locked into the same mentality that had persisted for centuries. They had to be the top dog. They slaughtered countless innocents to maintain that position. There was no talking. No negotiating. No looking for other options. For them, the best defense was a crushing offense.
“We’re trapped, aren’t we?” I asked, unable to raise my voice over a whisper. I turned back to Gideon, who had dropped his head into his hands. “The Towers, the witches and the warlocks, they’ve been like this for so long that they can’t back down even if they wanted to. They’re so locked into this sense of entitlement that they can’t walk down the street like normal beings. Can’t stand in line at the grocery.”
“All were taken before the age of twelve and most by seven. I doubt there’s one who remembers what it was like to be human, let alone wait in line.”
“So I’m right. There’s no escape. They’re everywhere, suffocating the world with their hate until we all roll over and die.”
Gideon lifted his head to look at me. “We’re trying. We’ve found a few places around the world where the watchful eye of the Towers is . . . somewhat blind. It’s a place where we can live in relative peace with others.”
“It’s a pretty idea, Gideon, but what about the rest of the world?”
“You want to save the world now?”
“F*ck!” I shouted. Balling up my fist, I slammed it into the wall, denting the drywall enough to create a small hole. “No! I don’t want to save the world, but I don’t want to watch it burn either. I don’t want to see that look of terror in Trixie’s eyes because she’s afraid that the Towers are going to hit her town or attack her people again on a goddamn whim.”
“I want a better life for our loved ones as well, but railing at the fates and punching holes in the wall aren’t going to fix anything.” Gideon’s voice was calm, but there was a light in his eyes. I think he wanted to punch a wall or two as well, but he was holding himself in check. He was right. My temper tantrum was helping no one, but damn it, venting at least kept me from using magic to blow holes in things.
“Then where does that leave us? What do we do?” I snapped, struggling to rein in my anger.
“Survive,” Sofie said.
I had honestly forgotten that she was even in the room. Had I said anything that I shouldn’t have? I froze, my mind scrambling to replay my tirade. I trusted Sofie with my life. She was my friend, but I wasn’t willing to trust her with the lives of Gideon’s family. That was his choice.
The large cat made a sound of disgust in the back of her throat before she jumped up on the coffee table in front of Gideon. “You two think you’re so smart and sneaky, but you’re both babies,” she said. “The softer edge movement started well before Gideon arrived in the Towers. I wasn’t a part of it, but I kept an eye on it.”
“Why? To crush it?” Gideon demanded, sitting up straight. His voice hardened. I had a feeling that if Sofie gave the wrong answer, he wouldn’t hesitate to skin the cat right there. And of course, Sofie wasn’t the type to back down from anything.
She laughed at Gideon. “No. I guess I was curious. At my age, I don’t get curious about the actions of people much. I feel like I’ve seen it all. I might not have been at Gage’s trial, but when I heard that Peter had assigned you to watch over him, I knew that you had found your way into the movement. I always knew your visits were a way of safely transmitting information to Gage. I might be stuck as a cat and out of the Towers, but I’m no fool.”
The warlock frowned at the mention of Peter’s name. I hadn’t known him personally, and I had only seen him the one time when I stood before the council for my trial. He had been the one to cast the deciding vote to let me live. He had been the one to advise me to hide. Apparently, he had also been a part of the movement among the witches and the warlocks who wanted to live in peace with the rest of the world. It had been his recent death that created the opening on the council.
“I’m sorry if you feel that you were used,” Gideon said stiffly. “We were never sure where your interests lie. I mentioned to Gage that you were in the area, and was pleased when he gravitated toward you on occasion as it gave me a chance to keep him abreast of changes.”
Sofie gave a shrug of her small shoulders. “I didn’t mind. I appreciated the visits from both of you and the information. I doubt that I’d agree with everything that your group believes, but I do agree with Gage’s sentiment. Things need to change. I watched the Great War and the growing pile of dead bodies. I haven’t the stomach to do it again.” She looked up at me. Her expression was unreadable as a cat’s, but I had a feeling that she was sad. “But for anything to change, the first thing you have to do is survive.”
I waved one hand at her and paced a small distance away. I was getting tired of this you-have-to-stay-alive mentality. I had to do more, but I didn’t know what. As it was, I had to find a way to help Trixie settle things with the Summer Court, get Bronx free of Reave, and extricate Robert from the mess he was tangled in before the damn dark elf got us all killed. There was no time to lead a f*cking revolution against the Towers . . . and maybe that was the point.
“Fine. I stay alive,” I said under my breath. “I’ve got enough to keep me busy for now. I’ll leave the rest of the world to you.”
“Staying alive is going to be harder than you might think,” Gideon warned, drawing my gaze back to him. He drew in a heavy breath and stared at the table in front of him.
“What? You’ve been removed as my guardian? A new warden has been assigned?”
“Not yet. During the last meeting, your name came up a few times. There are some who are afraid that you could prove to be a source of information since you’ve defected.”
I threw my hands up in disbelief. “They’re thinking of this now? I’ve been out for roughly ten years.”
“Some have voiced it before but I think they had trouble accepting the idea that you’d be disloyal to your own people. I guess some believed that you only wanted to get away from Simon, not the Towers. They thought you were still one of us.”
A horrible sinking feeling filled my body so that it was like my heart was pumping sludge through my veins. “Someone thinks I have something to do with the information leak?”
“No, not this one. The spotlight is firmly on the elves. But I think they are now realizing that you’re a risk. You and the other runaways.”
“That was the reason for the hit squad on my doorstep?” I shook my head and then paced back to where he sat. “Someone found out that I was in contact with Sofie. I’m sure she never particularly hid where she was, so when she was located, they followed in hopes of locating me.”
“Gage—” Sofie started, but I held up my hand.
“Don’t, Sof. You didn’t know and it doesn’t matter. If they want to find me, they will. I’m sorry that you got hurt in the process.”
“Speaking of that, unless Gideon has something else to reveal, I’m going to jump into your shower. I never was a fan of the taste of my own blood.”
I kept my mouth shut on that one. It sounded too much like she might not mind the taste of someone else’s blood. Sofie might be a nice witch, but she was still a witch and that left the door open for all kinds of weird shit.
“Nothing much else.” Gideon sighed as he relaxed slightly on the sofa. “They’re searching for a sign of the elf that helped this resistance group. Their search is staying close to Oklahoma City, but it’s branching out. No other cities are on the chopping block, but that could change in an instant. For now, they’ve decided to take out the Internet.”
“For Oklahoma?”
“For the world.”
“What?” I cried. “That’s going to—”
“People will survive,” Gideon said a bit irritably. “They lived centuries without it. They can go a little while without checking e-mail. We can’t track digital transmissions with magic as easily as we can trace paper and analog trails. Taking down the Internet won’t cover everything, but it gives us a hand in tracking down this bastard.”
“Good luck with that,” Sofie said before jumping down from the table and walking through the hall to my bathroom. She sounded less than confident about the Towers’ chances of success. I wasn’t feeling so good about them myself. Losing Internet was going to create a lot of angry and scared people.
“Are the Towers going to at least tell the world why they’re doing this?”
Gideon shook his head. “Not yet. They seem to think that it will give them an edge. If people realize that someone knows the location of one or more Towers, they may decide to help him rather than help us.”
“You think whoever has this information doesn’t know you’re looking for him? The whole Indianapolis thing is a pretty good indication, you know.”
“I’m not saying I agree with it. It’s how they’re handling it.”
I bit my tongue, keeping my grumbling to myself as I walked around the table so I could flop on the couch next to Gideon. Leaning back, I stared up at the hole in the ceiling I had yet to repair. During the summer, I had hanged myself to gain access to the underworld. It had all worked out, sort of, but Trixie didn’t appreciate the constant reminder that she had been the one to find my dead body.
We sat in silence for several minutes, listening to the water falling in the bathroom. Sofie had managed to get the shower going, which wasn’t a surprise since she had managed to get to and from Germany with no problem. Good thing, too, since I had absolutely no desire to give a witch-turned-cat a bath.
There was also a low murmur of noise coming from the bedroom. Robert was watching something on my laptop. The Internet wasn’t down yet.
When Gideon spoke again, there was a wariness in his voice to match his obvious fatigue. “Gage, I’m not going to ask if you know anything about who has the locations. Well, I’m not going to ask you yet.” I tensed next to him, but said nothing. “I don’t want to risk having you lie to me. Just think about it. You know I’m not one of them, but I think we both agree that the best way to protect this world is to keep that information out of the hands of the other races.”
“I know,” I said, closing my eyes. The knowledge hurt. I felt like a traitor to Trixie, Bronx, my family, and everyone who had suffered under the control of the Towers. I could rant and rave all I wanted about how the world had to escape the tight grasp of the Towers, but when the opportunity came, I turned my back on the world in the name of protecting it.
“Then I’m sure that you also know that if the shit hits the fan, I’m going to protect my family first. I’ll try to get word to you, but Ellen and my daughter have to come first.”
“I would expect nothing less.” I opened my eyes and looked over at him. “You have to protect what’s important to you.”
“It’s interesting that you say that since you’re struggling with the idea yourself.”
I sat up, staring over at the warlock who had hounded me for nearly ten years. There were moments when I felt like I knew him, and then there were others when I was sure I was looking at a total stranger. His expression was closed, but I could feel a warning in his words.
“What are you talking about?”
“If Neil had escaped and found out about Trixie or Bronx or your brother, there is no doubt that he would be striking at them next in an effort to get at you. That could still happen if his apprentice survived.”
Frowning, I fell back against the sofa and glared out the repaired sliding-glass door. The sky was black and I had no idea what time it was. It felt like I should be seeing the sun rise, so much had happened.
“I’m not a killer. It’s why I left the Towers. I’m not like them,” I said, even as Bryce’s battered face surfaced before my mind’s eye. I was starting to sound like a broken record. On and on again, I was telling everyone around me, even myself, that I wasn’t a killer. I wanted to think that maybe I wasn’t very convincing, but I was beginning to wonder if maybe they all knew something that I didn’t.
“No, you’re not like them, but I’m not talking about being a heartless killer like Simon.” Gideon paused and I looked back at him. “I’m talking about protecting the people that matter to you. The warlocks and the witches coming after you can’t be reasoned with. They can’t be convinced that they are in the wrong. If you let them live, they will keep coming after you and along the way they are going to kill that elf of yours, Bronx, Sofie, and your family.”
I pushed to my feet and walked around the table to put some space between us. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gideon rise as well. “You don’t understand.”
“You’re the one who doesn’t understand,” Gideon snapped. He grabbed my shoulder and spun me around so that I was forced to look at him. He leaned close, his sharp features becoming harsh in his anger as he slipped back into his role as my main tormentor. “It’s time to stop clinging to these childish notions that you’re above them, that you’re better than them because you won’t stoop to kill another person. You can’t afford that luxury any longer.”
“Easy for you. You—”
“It’s not easy for me!” Gideon cut me off, giving me a hard shove, so that I was pressed against the wall. “When I am faced with someone, I ask one thing: is this person a threat to my family? If the answer is no, then they walk away. If it’s yes, then I finish it quickly. And a threat to me is a threat to my family because it means I won’t be around to keep them safe. It’s time for you to get off your high horse and take a hard look at what’s really important to you. This pretty idea you’re clutching or that woman on your arm, because in this world, you can’t have both.”
Gideon turned away from me and started to walk back toward the couch, running one hand through his dark hair to push it away from his face. His shoulders slumped under his fatigue and probably from the weight of the life he was trying to lead.
“I’m done cleaning up for you,” he said in a low voice. “Next time you handle it.”
“Got it.”
Gideon’s head snapped up and he looked over his shoulder at me. I thought I could see regret in his eyes for a second, but it was gone before I could be sure. He made it sound like he killed with such cold, heartless ease, but it took its toll on him all the same. There was something about the hardness in his eyes, the stiffness in his shoulders, that made me think this life wore on him. I don’t think he wanted me to have to live with the toll as well, but as he said, we didn’t have that luxury in this world.
“I’ve got to go. I need to check on Ellen and Bridgette.”
“I’m sure they’re anxious to see you.”
He nodded and started for the door.
“Did you talk to Sofie?” I said as he reached for the doorknob.
Gideon half turned back toward me. “No.”
“She wouldn’t tell me any details, but she said that Victoria Tremaine cursed her.”
The warlock frowned, staring blindly at the floor as if lost in thought. “It’s good to know. There’s too much going on right now to worry about it, though, and Victoria’s tricky enough that I’ll need to be focused on the problem when I attack it.”
“Good luck.”
Gideon shook his head, a little half smile on his face. “Yeah. Don’t forget to handle your brother.”
I frowned at the weary warlock. He was talking about wiping Robert’s memory of what he saw. “There isn’t enough bleach in the world to scrub his mind clean.”
Gideon gave me a little smirk I had never seen on his face before. “Run in the family?”
I rolled my eyes at him, fighting the urge to flip him the bird. We were having a good laugh. I didn’t want to piss Gideon off, which would only push him into taking care of Robert himself.
“At least bury the memory a little. We don’t need him accidentally mentioning the dead warlock on your floor to someone.”
“Got it,” I said on a sigh. I watched as Gideon started for the door again, a little amazed that I found myself in this moment with the man I had been sure was my greatest living enemy. “How old are you?”
He was stunned by the question, enough that he turned the rest of the way around to look at me. “I’m thirty-one.”
Only five years older than me. “You seem . . . older.”
Gideon nodded, not showing any surprise at my comment. “It might not show in our appearance, but this life ages you.” He turned back toward the door and left without another word.
I leaned my head against the wall and tried to breathe. This life torn apart by the Towers was aging us all ahead of our time, and it was a crime. But whining about our fate wasn’t going to change a f*cking thing and neither was my reluctance to accept what was in front of me. It was time to grow up. If not for myself, then I had to do it for those who were depending on me.