Magic Without Mercy (27 page)

I swallowed. What I didn’t say, what I couldn’t bring myself to tell her, was that it had failed because of Bartholomew Wray.

Whom I’d shot and killed.

“Allie?”

“Sorry,” I said, pulling myself away from grim memories. “Since we didn’t know where the poison was coming from, we had to tap the wells.”

“What wells?”

“That’s another secret. There are four wells beneath the Portland area. Ancient natural wells of magic. No one knows about them except a certain group of people who keep a lot of magical secrets. The amount of magic in those wells is immense and each well is glyphed so if you wanted to access the magic, you’d have to use a certain discipline of magic.”

“Why? I’m not following.”

It was hard to explain the subtleties of magic to someone who never used it. “Think of magic as music. Everyone’s using the same notes, but how you put them together works better for a rock song, or classical piece, or jazz.

“To try to find out how magic has been poisoned, we had to get a sample of magic from each well and combine them in Stone, because we thought he’d have a way to contain magic and maybe even filter it. When we did that, it made Stone lock down. He’s out in the middle of Cathedral Park, unable to move. He’s nothing but a statue now, but he’s holding the one thing that might help us figure out how to cure magic.”

“Do we have to cure magic?” she asked. “Are you sure it isn’t something that can naturally purify itself if
we give it some time? Like a muddy river getting back into shape after a hard rain?”

“We don’t have time to find out,” I said. “The flu epidemic isn’t a flu. It’s caused by poisoned magic and it’s making people sick. Nola, if we don’t find an antidote, if we don’t use the magic in Stone to cleanse magic, a lot of people are going to die.”

She shook her head, and I could tell I’d crossed the line and just told her more than she wanted to believe.

“I don’t understand why we have to do anything,” she said. “There are police, doctors, scientists, who know more about magic than we do. They should be working on this. I’m sure they
are
working on it. None of us is an expert at magic. I think you’re overreacting, Allie.”

“I’m not an expert. But these people, well, everyone except Mama and her Boys, are.”

She didn’t glance around the room, which would have been my first instinct. She just stared straight at me.

“You want Cody to use magic, don’t you?”

That was the rub. Part of why Nola had taken Cody in was to protect him from people trying to make him use magic for them. Even broken-minded and broken-souled, Cody was a hell of a magic user.

“Yes, I do. But that’s not the biggest problem.” I took a breath, trying to figure out how to tell her about Cody’s ghost. If she didn’t want to believe things about magic, was she going to believe I could see the dead?

“Remember a long time ago when you told me I was a savant with magic?”

She nodded.

“I’m not. But Cody was. And he used his outrageous skills to get in with the wrong crowd. He owed people favors, and money, and probably much more. He was using magic to do a lot of illegal things. So the people who know all the secret things about magic decided to take
away his memories. They cast a spell so they could get in his head with magic, and take away his memories of how to use it.”

“But he remembers magic.”

“Sure. They didn’t take away his memories of magic, just of how to use it. He was good, Nola. Amazingly good. And they thought it was kinder to take away his memories than to have him turn into a criminal or something worse.”

“Is that why he’s… Did someone hurt him to make him the way he is?”

I didn’t think telling her it had been his own mother, Sedra, who had been possessed by Isabelle, a dead magic user, would be a good idea. So I kept it simple.

“Yes. Someone hurt him and broke him mentally. That someone is dead, but they are the reason why he is mentally challenged.”

Tears welled up in her eyes and she shook her head. “Allie. I don’t think I can believe you. I think… I think you’ve been listening to people, and they’ve told you things that seem real, but they aren’t. You’ve been so different lately, and I heard about the money you stole from your company. Paul is looking for you. He’s going to arrest you.”

Well, she’d been keeping up with the headlines. “I can prove that I’m innocent. And I can prove all the things I just said are true. But we need Cody to unlock the spell on Stone.”

She shook her head again and wiped at one eye. “I called him,” she said.

“Called who?”

“Paul. Before I left with Sid, I sent him a text. He knows I’m here. He knows I’m meeting you. He should be here any minute. With the police.”

“That’s fine. We’ll deal with them when he shows up. But I’m not done telling you what we need to do.”

“I can’t,” she said. “Allie, I can’t listen to all this. I can’t believe you believe what you’re telling me. You’ve always asked me to look after you—to look after your memories and to tell you if you’re not acting like yourself. Have you looked in the mirror?” Her gaze searched my face.

“You aren’t acting like yourself. You don’t even look like yourself. What did you do to your hair? And your clothes? I’m going to get you help. Help you’ve relied on me to give you, even if you didn’t know you needed it.”

“Please, Nola.” I closed my eyes for a second, trying to think of what would make her believe, what would turn her around.

“You’re right. You are my best friend. You have always been my best friend. And you’ve helped me so many times. But in all the times I’ve come to you, licking my wounds, not even remembering who I was, you never once told me I was crazy. I’m still not crazy. I need you to trust me just a little longer. Please do me just one favor.”

“What favor?” she asked quietly.

“Cody’s mind was broken—that wasn’t supposed to happen—but when I say he was good at magic, I mean it. He found a way to hold on to the part of himself that broke. Found a way to hold on to his mind, his soul, the personality that he used to be. And he found a way to keep his higher-reasoning skills viable. That part of him, his soul, mind, self, is here, in this room with us.”

“What does that even mean?” She didn’t believe me. But at least she wasn’t walking away. Yet.

“I know you can’t use magic,” I said. “Right now, I can’t either—it’s making me sick. So I’m going to ask
someone to draw a Sight spell for you. You should be able to see Cody’s ghost—the part of him that was broken when his memories were taken away. And Cody should be able to see him too.

“I want you to talk to Cody. If he wants to help us unlock Stone, or not, I’ll stand by your decision of what you think is right.”

“Just a Sight spell?”

“Just a Sight spell.”

She hesitated, then nodded. “I’ll look through a Sight spell.”

“Who do you trust to cast it for you?”

She didn’t know any of us here very well. Maybe she knew Zayvion the best, since he’d stayed a while with her at the farm when I was in a coma.

“Zayvion,” she said.

I walked over to where he was standing, holding back part of the blind so he could see the city beyond.

“She doesn’t believe me,” I said.

“I know.”

“She called Stotts. She says he’ll be here soon and she needs someone she trusts to draw Sight so she can see Cody’s ghost.”

“I can do that.”

I nodded. I hadn’t told him that I talked to Cody and that he wanted to be Unclosed. I needed to take this fire one frying pan at a time.

He walked over to Nola.

“How are you?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” she said. “A little worried about… well, everything.”

Somehow, Zayvion pulled out a smile and a calm tone. “It’s going to work out. We just need Cody’s help to unlock a spell. That’s all.” He wasn’t using Influence,
which got me thinking. We probably could cast Influence on Nola and force her to let us do this with Cody.

Except I hated Influence and would never let anyone use it on my best friend.

“That’s what you said last time,” she said.

Zay nodded. “We needed his help with the medical equipment. He didn’t do any magic at all then. But this time we are asking him to use magic.”

“Magic?” Cody said. He got up and walked over to us, his hand out to the side, as if he were dragging a suitcase or wagon behind him. Only it wasn’t either of those things. He was holding hands with his ghost self, who floated behind him.

“Where do you want us to stand?” Nola asked.

Zay looked at me. “Can you see him?”

“He’s next to Cody.”

“I’ll stand over here,” ghost Cody said to alive Cody. “And you can stand next to Nola, okay?”

“Okay.” Cody walked over to Nola, a smile on his face. “He said stand here with you.”

He did just that, and took Nola’s hand.

Zayvion stood between the ghost of Cody and Nola. He set a Disbursement, something that came out black and slick like a snake and burrowed into his gut.

I winced, but he didn’t even flinch. He calmly drew a wall-sized Sight.

Nola gasped.

I didn’t have to look through Zay’s Sight spell to see ghost Cody wave to Nola. “Hi,” he said.

“Can you hear him?” I asked.

She shook her head.

“He said hi,” Cody said helpfully. “That’s me. Hi, me!”

Ghost Cody smiled. “Hi, Cody,” he said. “Hi, Nola.” He looked at me. “Can you tell her thank you for me?”

“He wants me to tell you thank you,” I said.

“What for?” she asked a little breathlessly.

He looked at her. “For giving me such a great life.” He pointed at Cody.

“He said for giving him such a great life.”

“Oh. You’re welcome. Allie”—she glanced at me—“could you tell him that for me?”

“He can hear you,” I said. “But I’m the only one besides Cody who can hear him. I think.” I looked around the room. Davy raised a finger.

“You can hear him too?” I asked.

He nodded. “I didn’t realize he was a ghost.”

Well, that meant he could also see him.

“So, Nola, would it be okay if Zay dropped the Sight?” I asked.

“Wait.” She looked at ghost Cody. “Do you want this? Do you want to unlock the spell Allie was talking about?”

“Yes,” he said. And for good measure, he nodded.

“Cody,” she said to alive Cody. “Do you want to help with magic? Help Allie unlock something with your… with him?” She pointed at ghost Cody.

“Uh-huh. I like us.”

“Okay,” she said. “Wave good-bye for now.”

“Bye, me.” He waved. “I like me. Older me is smart.”

“Older you,” Nola echoed. “So that’s who you’ve been talking to?”

“Yes. He’s been away for a long time. Monster too.”

Ghost Cody waved back and then Zayvion canceled the spell. There was the slightest scent of pear blossoms, and then the room was just a room again.

Zayvion, however, was sweating pretty hard. He wiped his forehead on the shoulder of his shirt. It took a lot of concentration and effort to pull magic all the way into St. Johns. There were no networks, storm rods, or
natural wells out here, which meant pulling on magic was like hauling in a barge by hand.

That little spell had been a hell of a lot harder than it looked.

Everyone was quiet for a moment. Then Nola turned to me. “Tell me exactly what you want to do with Cody.”

Shame strode into the room. “Yes, do. And tell her damn fast. The cops are coming.”

“H
ow many, and from where?” I asked.

“Don’t know, and everywhere,” Shame said. “Time to be moving, people.”

The front door opened. And Detective Paul Stotts stepped into the room, gun drawn.

Six Boys pulled guns, and every magic user in the joint drew a glyph while pulling weapons.

No. This was crazy. I was not going to get into a shoot-out with my best friend’s boyfriend.

“Stop it,” I said. “All of you. Boys, Paul, put your guns down. No one is shooting anyone. Got that?”

Since no one put their guns, or for that matter spells, down, apparently the answer to that was no.

“Nola, Cody,” Paul said. “I want you both to come with me.”

Nola looked at me, then at Paul. “I’m not going anywhere with anyone until everyone puts down their guns and spells,” she said.

“Detective Stotts,” I said, walking toward him.

“Allie,” Zay warned. “Don’t.”

“You might not want to come any closer, Ms. Beckstrom,” Paul said.

I just kept walking. “Did you get my note?”

Paul’s gaze flicked from Zayvion to me. “Yes. Jack Quinn brought me here.”

“Did Jack tell you why we’re here?”

“No.”

“We’re trying to find a way to filter the poison out of magic. Shooting us isn’t going to help matters any.”

“What will help matters?” he asked. “Taking away people’s memories?”

“No,” I said, ignoring the look Hayden shot my way. “That’s a problem. The thing that helps is giving memories back. Just like we gave your memories back. So you could make a choice. An informed choice about what we’re doing.”

“I’m not sure I see it that way,” he said. “And I see no reason to involve Nola or Cody in this.”

“There is a reason,” I said. “Nola is my best friend and we stick together. She’s looking after Cody right now and we need Cody to unlock a spell so we can hopefully come up with an antidote to the poison that’s spreading through this city and killing people.”

“Cody?” he asked. “Why do you need him to cast magic?”

“Because he’s a savant with magic.”

“Magic is pretty,” Cody added.

So not helping.

“Cody can do things with magic none of the rest of us can do,” I said. “Like create Stone. And like putting a Lock spell on Stone that we can’t undo. Stone might help us find a cure to the epidemic.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Not in the least,” I said honestly. “But it’s the best chance we’ve got and we need Cody to unlock him for us so we can find out if we’re right or not.”

Paul considered me and the other people in the room.
Sure, no one had put their weapons down, but no one had cast any of those spells they were holding either.