“Put your hands in the air, or I’ll blow out your brains,” the robot’s mechanical voice declared cheerfully.
He raised his hands. The bounty hunter in the stylish outfit of dusk pink and light beige ran forward, whisking the little girl away. The bounty hunter in black tackled the man. She pulled his arms behind his back, slamming him to the ground when he struggled against her hold. And she wasn’t too gentle about it either. I didn’t blame her.
Her knee pressed to his back, she cuffed him. Then she slid up her goggles and pushed the scarf away from her face, revealing my foster mother Calli.
“Hi, Leda,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at me. “You’re late. You missed all the fun.”
Fun was tackling criminals to the ground. What could I say? That was my family.
2
Jinx
Calli grinned at me. “So the Legion of Angels hotshot finally came back down to Earth for a visit.”
It was a joke, but Calli’s prisoner wasn’t laughing. He paled at the mention of the Legion.
“What did he do?” I asked Calli.
“Magitech Leech,” she said darkly.
Magitech Leech was the term for people who snuck into Magitech plants and bottled a little extra power off the top, hoping no one would ever notice. They’d then peddle the magic on the black market. They’d get rich, and the rest of the world would have a little less magic to power important things like the walls that kept the monsters out. These kind of selfish people just pissed me off.
The machine-wielding bounty hunter joined us, her robot hovering behind her. She pulled off her blue scarf and goggles to reveal my sister Gin.
“When did you get in?”
My sister Tessa, the pink and beige bounty hunter, was right behind her. “You didn’t tell us you were coming!”
“Just now. And it was supposed to be a surprise,” I answered my sisters in turn.
Tessa sighed. “How are we supposed to throw you a proper homecoming party with zero notice?”
“You don’t have to throw me a party.”
“Leda, please don’t talk about things you don’t understand,” Tessa said with agitated patience.
“Then I suppose I shouldn’t mention that Bella is coming too.”
Bella was my third sister, and my best friend. She’d just completed the first of two years at the New York University of Witchcraft.
Delight sparkled in Tessa’s eyes, even as she threw her hands up in the air. “Honestly, it almost feels like you two don’t want parades and parties in your honor.”
I would have told her we didn’t need any of that, but it wouldn’t have changed a thing. Tessa already knew it. The party was more for her than for us, a way for her to show how much she’d missed us. I was torn between being glad I wouldn’t have to be the center of attention for once, and feeling guilty for unwittingly thwarting my little sister’s plans.
As I stood there, watching Calli pull the prisoner off the ground, Gin do a check of her robot, and Tessa try to recruit them both into helping her pull off an impromptu celebration, my heart clenched up. Yes, I’d missed my family, but it wasn’t until this moment that I realized just how homesick I was.
Gin gave her robot a final pat. “How’s your life of dancing with angels?”
“Busy.” I sighed. “Exhausting.”
Gin’s grin lit up her whole face. “And you love it.”
“I must be crazy,” I admitted.
“But we all already knew that, Leda,” Gin chuckled.
Tessa’s finger slid at top speed across her phone. “Flowers, a cake…two dozen doves,” she muttered.
“Whose wedding are you planning?” I teased her.
Tessa glanced up from her screen, meeting my eyes. “Yours, smart ass.” Then she returned her attention to her list. “…silk runners, acrobats…”
“She’s not serious, is she?” I asked Gin.
“About the acrobats? I wouldn’t put it past her. She’s always wanted to plan an angel wedding with acrobats.” Mischief twinkled in her eyes.
“Haha, very funny.”
They were just messing with me. I hoped. A change of subject was desperately in order.
As though on cue, Calli said, “When’s Bella arriving?”
Thank you, Calli.
“She’s arriving on the next train,” I told her.
To keep up with all the festival traffic, for the next few days, the trains were running every hour between here and New York. I was really looking forward to seeing Bella again. We both lived in the city, but I hadn’t seen her in such a long time. We were both too busy—I working day and night to be ready for the upcoming Crystal Falls training, she taking her end-of-year exams at the New York University of Witchcraft. We hadn’t had lunch together in ages.
“Bella says she has some news,” I told my family.
Tessa perked up from her list-making. “What is it?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
“But you and Bella tell each other everything,” Tessa pressed me.
I shrugged. “She’s been acting strangely lately. Distant.”
“Whatever she’s hiding, it must be big,” Tessa said, her gaze drifting up in thought.
A loud crash and a series of booms roared over the constant churn of the carnival tunes. A putrid green smoke filled the air. My lungs burning, my eyes watering, I coughed. I waved my hand, air magic crackling off my fingers. A breeze formed around us, carrying the smoke away.
The prisoner was on the move and running fast.
“He’s got magic?” I asked Calli.
“He’s not supposed to.”
She was already running after him, and she was gaining on him fast. If the man was an elemental, he wasn’t any stronger or faster than a human. Elementals fought with the magic of nature, not with their fists. Calli was almost upon him, getting ready for the tackle.
Then the man just froze and let out a startled breath. A second later, he shot backwards like some spell had just sucked him in.
At second glance, I realized it wasn’t magic. A transparent rope was looped around his waist like a lasso. And at the end of that lasso was a very smug face framed by a dark goatee. Jinx, another bounty hunter. The bastard always used to trail me on my jobs. He’d make me do all the work, then he’d steal my mark out from under me. And now he was leeching off my family’s hard work, stealing food out of their mouths.
Tessa and Gin burst forward, looping off into side alleys as Calli sprinted after Jinx. The slippery bastard hopped on a motorcycle, tossed the prisoner in the side car, and then zoomed away, his laughter ringing over the roar of the engine. He was getting away.
As he threw a smirk back at Calli and my sisters, my knuckles cracked under the pressure of my clenched fists. Securing my backpack into place, I lowered into my knees for the sprint. I didn’t care if he was in a motorcycle. I had the magic of the gods’ gifts burning in my blood. I could outrun him. I would outrun him. He’d stolen my mark for the last time.
I paused, reminding myself that the Leech wasn’t my mark—and that I wasn’t a bounty hunter anymore. I was a soldier in the Legion of Angels. Funny how easy it was to forget that when coming home. And how easily I fell into my old patterns.
I wasn’t supposed to interfere. But there were always ways around the rules while still following them to the letter. I’d learned that well in my time at the Legion.
I ran up the brick wall of the nearest building and swung onto the roof. Dashing over the rooftops, leaping between buildings, I tracked the motorcycle down on the ground. I passed it, then continued for a block before jumping down to the street. I tucked myself right behind the next curve he’d have to take.
Just three seconds to go.
The motorcycle roared closer. I flipped up the hood of my sporty halter top, covering my face.
One second.
I stepped onto the road as the motorcycle came around the corner. Jinx’s eyes flickering in alarm, he swerved to avoid me. I gave the motorcycle a little extra nudge with my wind magic, and it tipped over. It slid across the street, skidded through a pile of garbage cans, and slammed against a brick wall.