Nemesis (24 page)

“Your name’s Ada, right?”

Oh, great. She was actually starting a conversation with me.

“Yes.” I gave her a sideways glance, unsure if she was going to opt to attack or insult me. Either way, I still had one shot left in the stunner.

“Aric said.”

“Uh-huh. Why so friendly all of a sudden?” I said.

Tara shrugged. “Guess we got off on the wrong foot. I was just pissed because Aric’s a lying dick. Not much of an excuse, I know.”

Wow. It really was a conversation.
Wonders will never cease.

Not that I’d be giving her gossip on Kay.

“I guess I’m sorry,” said Tara, after a short pause. “Especially when I got nailed to the ground by my supervisor for leaving West Office when I was supposed to be checking on the stores.”

“And you’re telling me this… why?”

“Didn’t you rob Central once?”

How the hell did she know?

“Hey, quit giving me that look. I’m pretty sure everyone in London’s Alliance knows.”

“Right,” I said. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Someone broke into our stores. My fault for forgetting to check, but I just wondered how you got in.”

“It’s classified,” I said, thinking of the Chameleons.
Someone stole bloodrock solution.

“Oh. All right. So… are you and Kay a thing?”

“That,” I said, “is none of your business.”

“Suppose not. I was just curious. He–”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“All right,” she said. “I suppose you know about the whole wyvern incident?”

“About Aric nearly killing him? Yeah.”

“Hey, I was there, I knew what happened. Aric and his sister–their family’s dodgy as hell, and I’m pretty sure some of them are magic-wielders, too. He’s in your office, right? You should avoid him.”

“Now you’re worried about my safety?” I said, incredulously. “Jesus. I’m seriously confused right now. Just so you know.”

“Hmm. I was curious. You’re a celebrity at West Office. You stopped the Earth from being destroyed.”

I shook my head quickly. “That’s… not how it happened.”

“Kay did, then?”

“Didn’t he already tell you it’s classified?” My patience was wearing thin.

“All right, chill out.”

“Well, it’s true.” Jesus, how had Kay put up with her? “If you’re gonna keep asking me questions, then why’d you tell me not to trust anything he said?”

That got her. She paused. “I didn’t mean it.”

I glanced at her. “So why say it?”

“I wanted to annoy him. He lies by omitting information, then acts like it’s no big deal.”

Huh?
“So you thought you’d wind
me
up? Thanks for that, by the way.”

She shrugged, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “Better you find out beforehand. Did you know he’s a magic-wielder?”

“Wait, that’s what he didn’t tell you?”

“Amongst other things. You might have better luck getting answers than I did. Sounds like you have a secret or two of your own.”

“Maybe I know it’s rude to go poking into people’s businesses,” I shot at her, my brief curiosity extinguished.

“All right,” she said, raising her hands. “So I might have overreacted a little when I found out he’d been arrested and used magic on Aric. What’s done is done. Don’t suppose you know what attacked us back there? They weren’t from Cethrax.”

I shook my head. “No clue.”

I had an idea, but I wasn’t about to say it in front of her. It had felt… like raw magic. Creatures made of pure magic. I’d never heard of anything like it. They hadn’t really been alive. But they’d acted like it.

And from the expression on Carl’s face, I had a feeling he knew, too.

KAY

So the Conners were involved. Damn. I knew Aric’s family were shady. He’d pulled strings to even get through the Academy, and land a job in the Alliance. He wouldn’t be the first, either, even if nobody particularly liked him. But this was something else.

The aftereffect of magic lingered after I’d fired the shot, tugging at me like the residual magic in the Passages, but I ignored it, my gaze following the two guys as they walked to the gate, still arguing quietly. My mind was racing.

What did Aric’s family want with the Campbells? Power, I thought. Political power, for sure. But maybe magic, too. Cethrax had worked with the Campbells and it didn’t take much for those treacherous vermin to switch allegiances. Anyone who hated the Alliance would probably find support there. True, Cethrax didn’t have magic, but it did have a seemingly-unending supply of foot-soldiers and other monsters and they didn’t know when to quit. Cethrax had used bloodrock solution stolen from the Alliance to create a diversion… so had these guys used it to get into the building?

Too many questions. It appeared to have nothing to do with the pressing problem of Aglaia… but maybe it was
all
interconnected. The person who’d killed the centaur king had used magi-tech. And the Campbells had specialised in that kind of technology. The Conners could have easily got hold of it. Why they’d want to start an offworld war, though, was a mystery.

I followed the two Conners out the gate, where they were swept up in the crowd heading for the city centre. Still invisible, I stuck close behind them. I could take them out, for sure, but unless I got a confession out of them, I’d be the one to fall under suspicion. And then no one would know about it at all.

The Conner family was spread across three universes. If they all came after me, I had no chance. And that wasn’t counting Cethrax, who everyone knew hated the Alliance. Hell, any of the monsters that had escaped into the Passages might have been a diversion. It would be the perfect cover-up. The obvious enemy was right in front of us.

But the Conners? How far was Aric involved? He’d certainly put his family’s reputation to good use at the Academy. I’d never had the pleasure of meeting the other Conners, but his sister worked at West Office and the two men I was following were his cousins. They worked in Valeria’s Alliance, like his father… Mr Conner, alongside his two brothers, ran a multi-universal technology company similar to the Campbells. They weren’t the only ones to cash in on trading technology between worlds before the Alliance had upped restrictions. I couldn’t say I paid too much attention to it, but the Campbells had been furious enough to attack the Alliance. Would Aric’s family do the same?

Aric was the youngest kid and although he might have been an entitled prick, he’d been packed off to the Academy most likely because his father wanted him out the way. At Central, I was pretty sure everyone knew he was a thick-headed idiot, but nobody knew that two years ago, he’d proven he was willing to kill innocent people who got in the way of a grudge. If his family asked him to kill someone…

Yeah. He’d do it. Just like Ada’s friend.

Lucky I was still invisible, really. I had to calm the hell down before I punched out the next person to get in my way. Trying to calm my breathing, I walked close enough to keep them in sight. I was unarmed, but invisible, I had the advantage.

I’d never be blindsided again.

They headed into an empty side road alongside a hover car station. Damn, the last thing I wanted was to cause another traffic accident. But this was one of the few uncrowded spots in the city. I sprinted after them, and tackled one of the guys from behind.

“What the hell?” he said, as he hit the ground, face-first. “Dude–something’s attacking me!”

“Damn ravegens,” said the second guy, looking madly around before the side of his face met my fist. “Shit!”

His reaction made the pain in my already-busted knuckles worth it. Pity I’d had to hold back, because if I did serious damage, I wouldn’t be able to question them.

The first guy got to his feet, gaping at his companion, who rubbed his bruising jaw.

“How many are there?” he asked. “Crap. I know we weren’t supposed to leave. Seriously, let’s just–” He cut off in a yell as I kicked him sharply in the back of the knee, and he rolled on the ground, howling. Then I kicked the second guy in the shins. Both were down.

Easy, and entirely too much fun. I almost laughed. But I had answers to get, and these bastards only answered to violent threats. I moved in and caught the first guy in a chokehold.

“If I were you,” I said in a low voice, “I’d stay put.”

He froze. So did the second guy, still sprawled on the ground.

“Who–what the hell are you?” the second guy asked, his face twisted in pain.

“When I let go of this son of a bitch, the pair of you are going to go to that police station and turn yourselves in for trespassing on private property,” I said. Quiet. But they caught every word. “Before that, you’re going to tell me,
quickly,
what you were doing at the Campbells’.”

The guy I held made choked noises, while the other went deathly pale.

“Shit,” he said.

“I’d hurry up.” I tightened my grip, pressing against his windpipe. “Talk.”

“We were searching, okay? For their weapon. There was a weapon.”

“Enlighten me.”

“It was meant to be a super-powered magic weapon, I don’t know! Just a rumour. My dad took it dead serious, though. We had to–to set up a base there.”

“With the ravegens’ help?”

“What? I thought
you
were–” His eyes widened as his companion fought for breath.

“Tell me how they became invisible. Did you give something to them?”

“I–it was bloodrock solution. Please…”

“Where from? Answer quickly.”

“West Branch. London.”

Crap, it made sense. Aric’s damned
sister
worked there.

“And why Cethrax? What’s your plan?”

“I don’t know the details, dammit! My father doesn’t trust us. Cethrax owed us a debt, they helped us. They hate the Alliance.”

My hostage’s face was turning blue. I let go, and he crumpled. “Take him to the police station. I’ll know if you don’t. And tell them.
Everything.
”

“Who… who are you?”

“Let’s just say the Campbells might not be as gone as you hoped.”

The guy swayed on the spot, mouth hanging open. I fought back a smirk. He made for the street again, dragging his semi-conscious brother. I tailed him the whole way to the nearest Enforcement Office. There was no shortage, given the sheer population of Neo Greyle. Inside, he started babbling about a ghost, confessing everything. I listened in a half detached way, making a mental note of everything he said. So Aric’s sister was in on their plan, meaning he must be, too. Conner Senior himself hadn’t told them exactly what they were looking for. Didn’t trust them, I guessed. He was based here on Valeria, but where exactly, I had no idea. They were a huge family, and in an overpopulated city like Neo Greyle, even the Enforcement Squads would have their work cut out tracking them all down. Here, it was easy to disappear with or without invisibility.

And the Conners had been after the
weapon
the Campbells had hidden. Except I had a horrible suspicion the weapon in question… was a person.

Ada.

ADA

I followed Carl to the guard office once the patrol had been dismissed. The room was bigger than I’d expected, though most of the space was given over to a huge cabinet. I caught the door as it was closing, almost impaling myself on the end of a giant wyvern claw someone had drilled a hole in and mounted on the inside of the door.

“Ada?” he asked, surprised. “Is there something wrong?”

“No,” I said, a little too quickly. “I just wondered if you could tell me about that magic-creature.” He didn’t respond, setting various devices down on the desk. Not just stunners, but an odd, rectangular metal object with flashing blue lights and a thin black rod with a gleaming sheen. I stared, unable to help it. That looked like…

“That kind are bad news.” Carl scratched the scar on his face. “They’re a rarity, usually formed of built-up residual magic if it gathers over a long period of time, or if there’s a mass use of high level magic that isn’t taken care of. In some worlds, the magic in the atmosphere is too dense for the backlash rule to properly work, so it builds up, resulting in those… monstrosities.”

I blinked. “Really?” I knew magic was drawn to itself, to high-magic worlds, but not that residual magic could form something
living.

“It isn’t common knowledge on Earth, obviously,” said Carl. “I can trust you won’t spread this information around, Ada? We don’t want mass panic. The guards are twitchy enough as it is, thanks to those invisible ravegens.”

“Yeah, of course,” I said. “What’s that?” I pointed at the glinting black rod.

“That isn’t something we usually show to guards.”

“I won’t say a word,” I said. “I just thought… it looks like adamantine.”