Airborne (16 page)

“So guess what I found out. Apparently this girl here attacked a marshal. He put two and two together. She has magic in her body and she knows you. The police now know that Prince Jericho’s Willow amulet runs in the form of a human girl. Do you know what that means?” She didn’t wait for them to ask. “That means they’re going to think the problem is out of your hands and take it into theirs. Do you know what they would do with a human girl that attacks police? Especially considering she might be working for the Band of Thieves? Whatever they decide, it won’t be good.”

“It was on the...” She slowed, knowing she had to start from the beginning. “Your sister picked me up and brought me to this place called Hatcher Pass. Her boss-- or some higher up, I’m not sure-- wanted to see if he could use the magic. It’s hard to explain but he almost showed me how to manifest it. I could actually use it.”

She thought it was amazing but Mason’s scowl indicated he did not. He let her keep talking.

“Anyways, then a bunch of police showed up to get the Band. I used the opportunity to run and then one of the police grabbed me. I didn’t want to hurt him, I just wanted to leave. So I kind of...well I guess I did attack him with the magic. But just so he could let me go. I didn’t know that he was hurt.”

Mason took awhile to answer, clearly thinking it over.

“I know you didn’t try to hurt him Avery.” He said at first, at least making her feel better. “But the more you use the magic, the more danger you put yourself in. The last thing we need anyone to think is that you can be a weapon.”

“Yea, but the Band thought it was useless when they saw what I could do. It’s just been growing stronger recently. And the mark is getting worse.” To prove her point, Avery slid off her jacket. In the bright sunlight, the contrast against her pale white skin stuck out even more than usual. “It’s not just my arm anymore. It’s my entire right torso. It keeps growing and getting darker.”

“This is bad. We need to find a solution quickly. If it’s growing this fast, we may not be able to stop it and take it out.” Mason hissed.

Avery already knew that but hearing it sent chills down her spine.

“Mason, we have to leave soon. We can’t deal with this right now, remember? We know where she is so we can come back later when you actually have answers.” Adalyn said, apparently choosing that moment to remind him of some apparent undisclosed appointment. Mason grimaced but agreed quietly.

“Wait!” Avery shouted, instantly worried they’d leave so suddenly. “Uh, what do I do if they find me before then?”

“Worst case scenario, I guess you can fight them without using the magic.” Mason finally offered.

Adalyn snorted, rocketing forward in her seat to sit at the very edge. She was obviously expecting a show and based on her smile, a humorous one at that. Avery backed off and hovered, uncertain.

“What do you mean fight them without magic?” She inquired partially dreading his answer.

Mason dropped into a fighting crouch to demonstrate something but all it did was make attention come their way. Avery tried to ignore it, hoping that a six-foot-something guy wearing a trench coat wouldn’t warrant anyone calling the police. Mason didn’t care.

“Look, there are two things you have to remember. Harpies’ biggest weakness is their wings. The wings are both easily accessible and easily injured. If you take their wings out, they can’t fly and that puts you on a more even playing field.”

“She doesn’t have any talons, Mason.” Adalyn prompted and Mason shook her comment off.

“It’s not that hard. You can do it with a harpoon, a knife, a stick-- just get creative.”

Avery was horrified to hear it. She pictured Mason’s injured wing, a harsh bloody red, that barely healed over in a few days time. She couldn’t grab a knife and do that to somebody else. Avery was human, lacked the viciousness of harpies, and the violent images just didn’t sit well with her. If Mason noticed her face turning green, he didn’t comment.

“So, otherwise you have to remember that harpies don’t weigh much. We have a lighter bone density than humans to help compensate for flying. So when it comes right down to it, brute force is a good way to go. Just hit them.”

“No way, I’m not good at that either.” She curled her fists and raised them to make a point. Bone density or not, Avery would more likely break her fists than use them right.

Mason gave her a smile and Avery’s heart fluttered. Alarmed, Avery squashed the feeling immediately. He hadn’t been hitting on her, just teaching her how to fight, and her heart was over reacting. At least Avery tried to convince herself of that. Feeling guilty, Avery refused to look back at Mason’s fiancé for fear of giving her thoughts away.

“Take this.” Mason came forward and pressed something warm and rock hard into her hand. Barely glimpsing, she recognized it as a sapphire blue amulet.

Fifteen

The suffocating scent of must and mold exploded in the air as she flipped the flimsy browned pages. The heavy text remained legible even though the binding of the book fell apart in her hands. She carefully shut the book and looked over the faceless tarnished cover again.

“Is this all you have?” She peered across the long reference table to where the Emo librarian dabbled on the computer. Headphones wrapped over his ears, Avery was surprised when he could even hear her.

He glanced up at her through the glare on his heavy glasses and shrugged.

“Sorry, but harpies aren’t a hot topic outside of Greek mythology and I already showed you those.”

His attention drifting away instantaneously, Avery cut her losses and gave up. She glanced at the digital clock above his head. A quarter till one meant Chase would get out of class soon. Her brother let her tag along to his school and she’d figured she’d poked around at the university’s library a bit. Shelves packed to the brim made up every layer of the four story building. And even with a whiny helper, the library produced virtually nothing, legend or reality alike, on harpies.

Cradling the book the librarian gave her, she maneuvered past the chattering crowds of students and towards her spot. She’d picked a desk near the back, buried behind the stacks, so she’d have the table with three wooden walls on either side. Initially, she’d thought doing harpie research would be easy, but thus far Avery hadn’t had much luck. The original mention of harpies came from Greek allusions to the subject. And all those books mentioned them as no more than tiny feathered bird creatures.

The only two viable mentions from the first book were about vicious temperament and sharp claws. Maybe she’d have more luck surfing the web for strange encounters and paranormal babble. Angels could have been another subject line she could have followed up. Flipping the new book open, she scanned the tiny text for any hint of something familiar. A single word caught her eyes.

“Magic.”

Excited, she fumbled with her pen cap and readied her yellow note pad.

“Magic had long since been affiliated with creatures such as harpies… the lore gave way to modern thought that theorized that a potential concentration of energy could be used to manifest different phenomenon… in simple terms, a concentration of energy could create magic.” Heart pounding, she couldn’t write quick enough and her shaking hand made her shoddy print more like shoddy cursive.

This was it. They were talking about amulets. Even with the technical jumble, the text gave hint to the real world. Maybe the author had actually known a few harpies.

“Research considers the ability to concentrate energy and contain it within an object. This is a different sort of science-- not physics and chemistry. Instead of creating energy, the energy will have already have existed but expounded and stuck inside a containment device. The best example is a lithium battery. The battery holds energy but not energy comparable to the ones described from mythology. The science behind the mythology holds that this energy, derived from nature and magnetic waves, has the ability to manifest different abilities to its holder. Because of its bizarre and typically unproven nature, this subject of thought is often referred to as magic and the containment devices are referred to as magical charms and amulets. ”

She began to paraphrase on the paper. Containment of energy into amulets, containing living energy, creatures. Scratching arrows and stars, she copied the connection and importance. The yellow page actually began to fill and she scribbled smaller to fit in more text.

“This mythology is scribed in multiple areas of the world and exists in oral tradition that stretches as far back as Mesopotamia. These charms are supposed to endear attributes such as power, agility, strength, and intelligence… the most coveted charms of all is allure. Allure begs compulsion and is the most influential of all.”

She stared at the page. An instant image reached her mind. Back in the top of Hatcher Pass, she pictured Mikhail. Even though the harpie carried himself with a stature of confidence and ease, something wasn’t quite right. She could still feel the black eyes wash over her and the odd sensation of closeness that wrapped her body with warmth. Her whole mind had threatened to go blank when he touched her. Mikhail had a glowing orange charm strung around his neck. She hadn’t given it much thought at the time, but now she was certain of it. He was playing with an advantage most didn’t have.

Tense, Avery nearly ripped the pages up as she flipped them. Through the jumble, she picked out sentences.

“These charms can be in direct contact to endear ability but some may be used without contact.” She’d underlined it.

The book was nearing the end as she kept flying through the pages. Nerves riding high now, she desperately searched for one more detail.

“Energy is highly volatile and nearly impossible to contain...damaged containment devices will allow energy to escape.”

Letting out a tortured breath, Avery stared at the last blank page. Not a single thing about it bonding with humans. Not a single thing about the magic that practically lived in her body. Squeezing her eyes shut, she pushed the book away. The amulet’s energy in her arm kept spreading and her time was running out to figure a solution. Hysteria threatened to follow and trying her best relaxation breathing, she pushed it back.

Reopening her eyes, she stared at the tattered cover and the aging pages. In her dream, Jericho had a similar book. One that detailed everything Jericho knew about the Willow amulet.

A buzz made her snap out of her heavy muse. Flinching, it took her a few seconds to dig the source free out of her pocket. After her beautiful phone threw in the towel, she’d borrowed one of Chase’s junkers. Heavy as hell, it only had one siren ring and a bruising vibration setting. She looked at the screen and recognized the number.

It didn’t take much. People began giving her dark looks anyways, even those who probably just surfed the web. The other line answered with white noise. She looked over the phone again. The four story library probably cut down her signal but Seward was notorious for signal problems too.

She hurried to gather her books before the signal was lost and she’d have to redial. Stuffing the papers into a haphazard bundle in her arms, she headed for the exit and the open blue sky. Emo boy at the reference desk lapsed into a heavy cough before she went through the set of sensor detectors. Fidgeting with impatience, she struggled to free the book from the bundle of papers it’d been pinched between.

The static on the other line continued.

“Thirty seconds, thirty seconds please!” She pleaded on the line.

Jogging back, she tossed the library book at him with barely enough time to see if he’d even caught it. Whirling, she plugged a finger in her ear and listened hard. She’d just stepped outside when the signal cleared enough to hear the female’s voice on the other side.