April—wielding a halberd which she rested, butt down, on the sidewalk—twitched at the insult on her House, but her professional expression held.
“What’s going on?” Gideon shoved his hands into the pockets of his House Tellier Jacket, briefly turning around and looking back when the front door opened again and a couple more wizards shuffled out.
“We’re being unrightfully attacked,” Adept Tellier snarled. “Because Hazel Medeis is a tyrant who will never stop abusing her power!”
Brody turned up the street, his eyes nearly glowing in the sputtering streetlights. “We’ve got incoming—humans, regular humans. No magic.” His nostrils flared as he scented the breeze.
I leaned back so I could look up our line in the direction he was pointed. Sure enough, I could see a trio of humans strolling down the sidewalk and slowing when they noticed our standoff.
“You aren’t being formally charged yet. This is just for questioning. The Adepts of House Tellier, along with the Heir and the top five wizards, are to present themselves for questioning over the illegal use of magic and endangering humans.” Sarge’s voice echoed across the front lawn.
“Impossible! We’ve never messed with humans!” Gideon Tellier declared, his face turning red like his father’s.
Adept Tellier elbowed him and not so subtly nodded to the humans, who were now close enough that they could hear some of the shouted conversation.
“We, we love humans!” Gideon belatedly added.
“You have endangered humans, actually, on four separate occasions.” Captain Reese’s eyes gleamed in the dimness of the streetlights. “The fireworks at the fall festival, the storm in October, the fire at the library, and most recently the black ice on the bridge in a human neighborhood.”
“We helped on those occasions!” Adept Tellier said. “You’re hauling us into the Cloisters for using our magic to save humans?” His voice was so loud it bounced off the surrounding houses.
I was pretty sure that was done by design and not just from raw emotions based on the way he glanced at the cluster of humans.
“You used your magic to design those dangerous situations,” Captain Reese said. “Recklessly endangering humans and destroying public property so you could swoop in as the hero of the day.”
“You’ve no proof!” A woman, her bleach blonde hair so perfectly coiffed it didn’t move when she stalked down the pathway, howled. She shared a few facial features with Gideon, so I was willing to bet she was Mrs. Tellier, the other Adept of House Tellier.
The Adept turned around and hissed at the woman “Careful!” he tipped his head towards the humans.
The woman darkly glared at the humans, then pointedly looked away from them. “Regardless, we will not be coming to the Cloisters.”
“If you resist, we’ll be forced to enter House Tellier,” Captain Reese warned.
Interestingly, that threat made Adept Tellier turn sheet white.
“Just you try!” Gideon puffed up, his anger twisting his face. “House Tellier will protect us!”
“Gideon,” the Adept warned his son before he turned back to my boss. “You do not have permission to enter our domain.”
“We don’t need your permission,” Captain Reese gave a throaty chuckle. “We’re not the human police force, Adept. We’re the Magical Response Task Force.”
A sheen of sweat covered Adept Tellier’s forehead as he glanced from Captain Reese to the small crowd of humans, before he turned to look back at his House.
He really doesn’t want us to enter House Tellier, but why?
There was a panicked energy to him that reeked of desperation. Was it just because House Tellier’s abuse of magic was on the cusp of being revealed or was there something more?
My hand strayed to the pouch that contained the crowd control potion Grove had handed me.
“Make up your mind, Adepts,” Captain Reese said. “This is your final chance to submit willingly.”
“We will not,” Mrs. Tellier snarled.
“We will wait until the Wizard Council has been informed of this vicious attack before we agree to go to the Cloisters,” Adept Tellier butted in.
Of course, they’ll try to hide behind the Wizard Council.
Sarge lowered his chin. “Blood.”
I straightened, my fingers hovering over the pouch as I waited for the orders.
“Go,” Sarge said.
Go was an attack order, so instead of grabbing the potion I pulled a dagger from my thigh bandolier and a set of cuffs from my belt—I would have gone for the gun, but that undoubtedly would have freaked out the humans and probably the House.
Internally bracing, I stepped onto the first paver that marked House Tellier’s property line and walked towards the Adepts and their son without hesitation, even as I waited for retaliation.
“House Tellier!” Gideon shouted. “Stop her!”
The House was still.
“Gideon, stop,” his father said.
“We’ve got nothing to worry about—you know we don’t, or we would have been warned!” Gideon shouted back to his father before puffing up in anger. “House Tellier, didn’t you hear me—stop her!”
A board on the porch creaked, but that was it.
I was curious why Gideon was so confident they had nothing to worry about, but it was even more interesting that the House still wasn’t listening to him.
That’s not good for the Telliers.
Gideon growled. Orange flames erupted around his fist and his spikey wizard tattoo emerged on his cheek as magic flowed through him.
I dodged when he flung the ball of flames at me, side stepping it and simultaneously moving closer to him.
I slapped one of the cuffs on his outstretched hand, which immediately snuffed out the flames that crackled on his palms.
“How dare you—” Gideon started.
A knee to his gut and he folded in half with a wheeze. Needing both hands for the task, I had to toss my dagger into the air with my free hand so I could grab his other hand and yank it up behind his back. I had just enough time to slap the other cuff on him, completely cutting off his contact with magic, before catching my dagger.
Gideon sucked more air in. His tattoo was gone, but his face was red with rage. “You can’t treat me like this!”
“You’re being taken in for questioning,” I said. “I can do whatever is necessary to get you there.”
“I’m a wizard—and an Heir!”
Gideon tried to stagger away, so I applied a kick to the back of his knees to make him faceplant. “Humans have been harmed.”
“So?” Gideon peeled his head off the ground—a wet, yellow leaf was stuck to his cheek.
“Heir!” His father roared. “Shut your mouth!”
“Gideon!” His mother shrieked, her voice so high pitched it made Brody and Binx flinch. She was markedly more upset about my handling of Gideon than his father, which was interesting. “You’ll pay for that!” Her wizard tattoo surfaced on her cheek as she gathered sizzling orange electricity in her hands.
I pivoted to face her, calculating how to limit potential magical damage.
“No—no!” Adept Tellier shouted, waving his hands in the air. “Stop it!”
“Group up!” The other House Tellier wizards who had been dawdling on the porch ran down the steps, hustling in our direction.