sorcery and science 04.5 - masquerade (14 page)

“Leo,” she whispered.

He didn’t care that they’d been fighting since they could walk. He didn’t care that she’d been his friend’s awkward little sister. Marin was intelligent and even beautiful. Not in an explicit, obvious sort of way, but in a classy, sophisticated way. Maybe that’s why he’d spent so many years not noticing it. Young boys could be particularly crude in their affections.

“Marin,” he replied, just as softly. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to kiss her, but he still wasn’t sure how she’d take it.

“I can’t move,” she said.

“Do you want me to let go?”

“I…” As her voice trailed, she lifted her hand and tentatively traced it down his cheek.

It was the closest thing to an invitation he was going to get. Leonidas pulled her in and kissed her. He moved slowly at first, but as her lips began to sync to his, he kissed her faster. Her mouth parted. He slipped his tongue inside for a taste of her—and tasted acid. It shot across his tongue. He tried to pull back, but he couldn’t move. Hands closed around his shoulders, shoving him back onto the sofa. His eyes paralyzed open, his heart frozen with the shock of betrayal, he looked up at Marin.

Except it wasn’t Marin. A bright light shone out from behind her brown eyes, slowly transforming them crystal blue. The smooth lines of her round face elongated, stretching into more of a diamond shape. At the same time, her body was shifting, growing taller even as her clothes morphed. Silk became leather, pastels and creams faded to black. Beneath skin-tight leather, muscles bloomed, more masculine than feminine. Her complexion paled, losing its rosy undertone, and her skin took on a distinctive sparkle, as though she’d been lightly dusted with silver glitter. Auburn hair retracted from her shoulders, darkening to indigo as it shortened to a slanted jaw-length cut.

When the shift was complete—a process that didn’t take more than five seconds—an Elition woman stood where Marin had. Leonidas had known the Elitions had some strange abilities, but he’d never dreamed they could do something like that. The Elition woman and Marin could not have been more different, and yet Leonidas hadn’t suspected a thing. If he could have slapped himself in the face right now, he would have.

Someone knocked on the door, and Pretend Marin strode over to it as though she’d been expecting it. Leonidas couldn’t see the door from where he was, and whatever poison she’d slipped him hadn’t worn off yet. Assuming it would
ever
wear off. He stopped that thought right in its tracks. That way lay only madness.

“So, that’s your date?” a man’s voice boomed. There was something very Elition about his voice. Perhaps it was the way the walls shook as he spoke.

Two pairs of boots tapped across the living room. Elitions were known to be accomplished shadow stalkers, silent and deadly, so the taps were clearly intentional. A means of intimidation. It was overkill. Leonidas was paralyzed on his own sofa while two Elitions walked through his apartment as though they owned the place. Further intimidation was unnecessary.

“He seems like a nice guy,” Pretend Marin said as they stopped beside the sofa.

Her companion sighed, and some piece of silverware—probably a fork—hit the kitchen’s tiled floor. “I’ve been in his head, remember?”

There was only one person Leonidas recalled ever digging around in his head, and this man wasn’t it. While he was tall, he wasn’t Silas Thorn tall. And while his muscles certainly were impressive, comparing him to Silas was like sitting a pussycat next to a lion. He also didn’t have flames shooting out of his head, though he had perfected the demonic stare.

“You piggybacked your Extraction off of Wrest’s. And that juggernaut is not exactly known for being gentle. The spy’s mind got so fried this morning that it’s a wonder he was walking again so soon. You shouldn’t judge him so harshly. He loves her,” she finished, shifting into Marin again.

Pussycat frowned at her until she put her own face back on. “Who cares? A lot of truly awful people are in love. That doesn’t make them good,” he replied. “He’s no different than the rest of them. Surely, a few minutes of flirting with him wasn’t enough to make you lose your head.”

“Are you jealous?” she asked with a delighted smirk.

She wrapped her arms around him and stepped forward, pressing her chest against him as she nipped his lip. Leonidas hoped they didn’t decide to have sex on his living room floor as he lay there paralyzed. Rumor had it Elitions were supposed to be rather loose, even by his standards. Though none of the Elition women he’d met had ever tried to proposition him. Perhaps they’d all been too busy acting unnecessarily cryptic to throw their panties at his head.

“Jealous of him? Sure.” Pussycat expelled a short, derisive laugh. His bronze eyes narrowed as they fell on Leonidas. “What did you do to him, anyway? It’s kind of creepy the way he’s just staring at us.”

Pretend Marin squeezed her fingers around his chin, turning his head toward her. “Just a touch of Ice Root powder.” She kissed his jaw. “He’ll be paralyzed for at least the next hour, then he’ll be back to normal.”

Pussycat pressed his finger against her lips, stopping her advance. “You kissed him, didn’t you?”

Leonidas had never before seen a shrug that could be called seductive, but Pretend Marin made a solid attempt.

“Why do you
always
have to kiss them?” Pussycat demanded. “You could have just taken the package from him on the street. You didn’t even need to come back here with him.”

“Phantoms,” she replied, clicking her tongue. “Always going for the brute force approach. I’m not going to leave bodies on the street. Discretion, my love. We’re not the only ones after the package. But with my methods, we’ll be long gone before anyone knows we were here.” She smiled at him. “You know I’m right.”

Pussycat leaned back, countering her lean forward. “The Ice Root might not affect you, but it will slow me down.”

“Don’t worry.” She kissed him lightly on the lips. “It’s only on my tongue.”

He jerked away. “Thank you. I really needed to know that my wife slipped a Selpe spy her tongue.”

“Sure, you needed to know. For your own protection. You should know precisely where the Ice Root is.” She smirked. “You know, just in case you get frisky later in the woods.”

His bronze eyes glimmered to gold, and he hit her with a stare that was both predatory and aroused. “So, where is the package?”

“He put it in the safe next to the ice box,” she told him. “The code is 13-1-18-9-14.”

As Pussycat cut across the living room toward the safe, Leonidas was trapped inside his own mind. And right now his mind was screaming at him for being such an idiot.

You know better than to access the safe with anyone around
, his mind chastised him.

How was I supposed to know that she wasn’t Marin?

See, that’s exactly why there are procedures for these sorts of things. Doofus
, his mind added.
You should have stayed on task. Delivered the package to the drop box. You could have flirted with Marin later.

Except that she wasn’t even Marin.

Precisely.

Do you think they’re right? Do I really love Marin?
he asked his mind.

Why are you asking me?

Because you’re me.

His mind was silent for a few seconds, then replied,
Maybe you do. These Elitions sure think you do, and they used whatever information they scraped out of you to plan their theft. And that’s what you should be worrying about right now. Not the way you act like an idiot around Marin, but the fact that they are robbing you as we speak.

“Got it,” Pussycat said.

His declaration brought Leonidas out of his own mind. It was right. He should be doing something to stop the Elitions. He tried to move his hand. And failed spectacularly. After several attempts, he gave up and moved on to his head, which he did manage to turn—just enough to see the Elitions walk out his door.

Fantastic.

Leonidas felt the urge to slap himself in the face. He was pretty surprised when his hand chose that moment to start working again. One piece at a time, the rest of his body slowly recovered from the paralysis. When the feeling in his legs returned, he stumbled toward the kitchen. A hint of acid lingered on his tongue, so he poured himself a glass of water. He drained it in one gulp, then kicked the safe door shut that stood mockingly ajar.

“Mr. Chase.”

Gritting his teeth, Leonidas swiveled around to face Silas Thorn.

“You’ve had guests.” Silas inhaled deeply. “Two Elitions. One a Phantom.” He turned and took another sniff. “And the other a Chameleon.” He turned his pale blue eyes back on Leonidas. “I do not recognize their resonances. Nor their scents.”

“You can smell them?”

“Yes.”

That was apparently all Leonidas was going to get. “Right.” He set his glass down on the counter. “So, is there any point in asking what you’re doing here?”

“Tell me about the Avans.”

Broken flashes of Silas’s Extraction ripped through Leonidas’s mind, and he stumbled back, bracing his hands back against the counter to catch himself. “When I woke up alive, I thought you’d deemed me innocent of those accusations.” 

“I had.” Silas’s eyes flashed white. “But then I saw you with the Avan spy.”

“Corse? I had the oaf drugged, then stole something off of him.”

Silas’s orange eyebrows drew together. “And where is this ‘something’?”

“The Elitions you smelled stole it from me.”

“I see.” Silas looked him over carefully. “You’re not a very good spy, are you?”

It was the first question Silas had posed to him, and it wasn’t so much a question as a value judgement. Leonidas allowed more of his weight to fall back against the counter.

“They didn’t exactly play fair,” he said. “And apparently you helped them.”

Silas’s eyes remained pinned on him. “I do not know them.”

“That Phantom said he piggybacked his Extraction off of yours.”

“I see. I shall be more diligent in the future.” His muscles bulged as he crossed his arms. “We all use the talents and tools at our disposal. Everyone. Including you, Mr. Chase.” Silas stepped forward. “As do I.”

Leonidas wasn’t keen for another Extraction, which was where this was heading. And fast.

“It really would be easier just to kill you,” Silas said, catching him by the collar as he tried to run. “But Ambrose doesn’t approve of that. He wants to be certain someone is actually guilty before I kill them.”

As Silas tossed him over his own balcony for the second time in one day, Leonidas wondered if death wouldn’t have been preferable.

STORY SIX

Trial by Bombing

~ 1 ~

526AX May 15, Orion

ORION WAS KNOWN for its springtime showers, but this year had been beyond ridiculous. There hadn’t been a dry day since the first rain washed the last remnants of snow down into the sewer drains. Marin had spent the past three months inside, hiding from the cold, windy, wet weather. She hadn’t even gone out for a run—besides the twice daily mad dash from her apartment building’s door to the Orion Explosives laboratory across the street. Instead, she’d used the company’s gym on the basement level. A large facility of super sophisticated exercise machines, it was supposed to be one of the best in Orion, second only to the Diamond Edges’ facility beside the imperial palace. Second in terms of facilities, but not even close when it came to eye candy.

Not that Marin
ever
liked to watch fit men flex their muscles again and again…and again. She shook the thought from her head. It was distracting. She closed her eyes and pictured the Solstice Games, the endpoint of a journey along a bumpy road. To make it to the Solstice Games, she needed the Orion Incendiaries. And if she had any hope of making it onto the team, she had to stay focused.

Walking with her eyes open would have been a good first step.

Her foot caught on a crack in the pavement, and she stumbled forward, bumping smack into something hard. Then she looked up into the eyes of someone unexpected.

“Marin?” Leonidas said, as though he didn’t believe it.

“Uh, hi, Leo.” She took an awkward step back, just managing not to stumble over her own feet. “Nice to see you again. Sorry about that. I was lost in thought.”

“As always.”

Marin wasn’t sure whether it was meant as a compliment or a critique. From the way Leonidas’s eyes wavered, he didn’t seem to know either.

“So, what are you doing here?” she asked.

Leonidas tapped the tip of his closed umbrella against the ground. It wasn’t exactly raining, but a thick mist still hung in the air. Water droplets were beading up all across the fuzzy surface of his black coat. He didn’t seem to care enough to notice.

“Just here for a little time off.” His eyes narrowed. “What are you doing here?”

“I work here remember.”

His face was blank.

“At Orion Explosives. Just two blocks back.”

Marin wasn’t sure he was even listening. His eyes looked right past her, and he didn’t say a word.

“Surely, you remember. You were the one to suggest I take the job.”

“I remember.”

Ok, then.
“So, maybe you’d like to do something while you’re here? There’s a neat exhibit of Xenen artifacts at the Technology Museum. They have this small cylinder there, about the size of a pack of gum. They think it’s a super-mega-crazy power source. Or at least it used to be. It doesn’t work anymore. Just imagine it! No larger than a pack of gum, and packing more energy than one of our latest and greatest fusion generators can produce in a whole day. And the Xenens were making them seven hundred years ago.”

Leonidas stared at her. It was then that she realized she’d been talking with her ‘conductor arms’ again. She pressed her hands together.

“Marin, how does an airplane wing work?”