The Magic Read online

  Even if Zarrod had taken a shot in the dark, once the guy at the gate had taken that letter and agreed to give it to me, it was as good as admitting I was here.

  If I didn’t agree, there wasn’t a doubt that they’d show up here. All of the Newco forces and Dark Walkers, since this Zarrod person obviously had a lot of pull in the government. But I’d known the Dark Walkers had. So where did that leave me?

  I could run. I could be gone by this afternoon while everyone was busy doing their own things. I was getting good at running. Really good…maybe even embarrassingly good. I’d already done it a couple of times.

  The bag I’d been dragging around with me for weeks was sitting in the corner, still packed with everything I had in it the night I’d left with everyone to go to the Rock, and then when I’d run to the pirates. I hadn’t unpacked it yet, not sure how long I’d be staying. It would be so easy to grab it and go.

  And so damn hard it felt like reaching for that bag was like lifting two tons of bricks.

  I didn’t want to run, but what if I didn’t have a choice? Was it too late? Or would I doom the people here if I ran and Zarrod was left with nothing? Would he take out his rage on the ones left behind this time? Would the Newco army run right through this place, destroying everything they saw?

  There was only one option for me, and it had nothing to do with running.

  I was still staring at that bag when the door creaked open. I didn’t need to look up to know it was Dax. I could feel his energy wash over me in a way I was all too familiar with. He filled the room with so much energy that it was making it near impossible for me to shut my own down.

  A month ago, I would’ve popped my head up quickly and tried to hide the turmoil that was coursing through every confused inch of me. When I leaned back and looked at him now, something raw leaked out before I could plug the wound.

  I didn’t know what had happened to me, but something soft and gushy sort of bloomed in my chest when I saw him. Those weren’t the most romantic terms in the world, but about as accurate as I could get. I’d spent so many years trying to become as tough as I could, trying to build armor so that I could protect myself and everyone else around me. Then I’d look at him and something would come undone, and all sorts of things I tried to keep buried would spring to the surface.

  His eyes narrowed on the letter sitting beside me. He walked over and held out his hand.

  I handed it to him, realizing he could’ve reached down and taken it himself, but he was trying to give me the opportunity to invite him in.

  “The great and infamous Zarrod, the head honcho of the Dark Walkers and the one we thought we’d have to track down? Seems he’d like to meet up in a couple of days.”

  Yeah, maybe I still joked and wasn’t sobbing, but my insides weren’t that soft and mushy. It wasn’t like I was a different person or something.

  I saw his jaw clench as he read over the letter, and I wondered if he was mad he wasn’t the one that had received the invite. We’d both lost lives to the Dark Walkers, and I didn’t know which one of us wanted their blood more…if only I didn’t care about the people Zarrod might hurt in our war.

  Dax dropped the letter on the bed beside me again. I waited until he looked back to me, as I thought of Fudge and Tiffy, Bookie, and even Lucy, this place that held almost a magical appeal to me. I knew I’d sacrifice anything I had to. I also knew Dax was going to hate my decision. I’d like to think it was because he cared for me. It might’ve been because he wanted to be the one to go? He wasn’t the bystander type. Either way, he wasn’t going to like this, but he wasn’t going to have a choice, and that was going to grate on him even worse. I knew that like I knew myself.

  “I’ve got to go. And I’ve got to go without you.” It was my best chance at succeeding. If I walked in with Dax, if they’d even let him come, they’d be waiting for it.

  His frame tensed, almost as if I’d said I was going right then and there.

  “Not acceptable. There’s no way you’re going alone.”

  Yep, I’d hoped this was going to be a mere skirmish, but it looked like it might be a full-on battle. Time to hit him with the cannons before he got some momentum. “You are my lifeline. You are the person who will keep me alive if things go to shit.”

  “Alive and possibly trapped.”

  “He said he’ll give us Croq. After that thing Croq did, sharing some of his magic with me, he can’t hurt me.”

  “You don’t know if that wears off. You’re gambling your life on it.”

  “I can test it before we swap.”

  “We don’t know if Croq is there,” Dax said. “The whole think could be a setup.”

  My fingers worked at a frayed piece of coverlet as I spoke. “He’s there. He’s back in the fold.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  I got up from the bed and walked over to the bureau, wanting space from the letter that had damned me. My fingers tapping on the wood, I thought back to the other day. It was strange, but I’d been thinking about Croq, wondering what he might’ve done after he left us. Then I realized I knew exactly what he’d do. “He’s healthy. He got a fresh start and he’s going to want to live it to the most. He’s going to go back to his people.” It was what I would’ve done when I got out of the Cement Giant if I’d had people to go back to.

  You didn’t get a new lease on life and then curl up in some corner and hide. Went against everything I knew about Croq. He’d fought for life the way I once had, and still would. “I’ll test him before we swap. When he shared his magic with me, it rendered us both incapable of putting each other in harm’s way. If I can’t hurt him, he won’t hurt me. That’s why Zarrod offered him. As long as he agrees to swap, I know I’ll be okay. He’ll be there and he’ll be the canary in my coal mine.”

  “Not good enough,” Dax said, standing still as he shot out his verdict as if I had no choice in the matter.

  “It has to be, because I’ve got to get in there,” I said, letting his bossy ways get under my skin. Then I had to back-pedal. “I need to know what they want from me finally. And we need time to figure out what to do.” They were perfectly good reasons why I had to do this, even if they weren’t my reasons.

  “You think you’ll get in there and be able to kill him.”

  I tapped a couple more times as I stalled for time. He never believed me when I lied. It was so very frustrating at times like this. “Yes.”

  That finally got him moving, even if it was only so he could walk a couple of steps while muttering about me being naïve. “You aren’t going to be able to walk in, kill him, and stroll out,” he said after he was done talking to himself.

  “I know the possibilities.” I’d only been pondering the worst of them before he walked in. “If things go poorly, you’ll have to break me out again, is all.”

  “What if I can’t?”

  I stood and patted him on the shoulder. “You’ve done it twice already. I trust you’ll be able to do it again.”

  “What if you’re dead?” he continued in a tone that I didn’t think was conducive to discussion. “Bitters’ spell might’ve saved you from a bullet, but that doesn’t mean it’s foolproof. Nothing is.”

  He looked at me as if he knew I wasn’t stupid enough to be that confident in my plan. I held the act together in spite of him. Not because I wanted to, but the way things were looking, I had to. If I gave up believing this had a shot of working, we were really screwed.

  “Dax, this might be the only chance we’re going to have to rid the world of a creature that might be killing what’s left of humanity. You know I have to take the chance.” No matter how slim it might be, but I wasn’t going to acknowledge that.

  He turned and headed to the door.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Going to try and salvage some of this half-assed plan you’ve got.”

  “I’m glad you’re on board,” I said.

  He didn’t acknowledge me as he walked to the door
and would’ve left if I hadn’t called his name before he walked out.

  He turned back to me, and I said, “Don’t tell Bookie. I don’t want him involved in this.”

  “Bookie isn’t the one you should be worried about.”

  He shut the door behind him.

  Chapter 8

  Dax was waiting for me in front of the house as the sun began to rise two days later, and Bookie was still sound asleep. Tank, Lucy, and a handful of the best guards on the farm, all ones that tended to keep to themselves and mind their own business, were also waiting there on bikes.

  It was a good crew backing me up, but the steps toward Dax’s bike were the hardest I’d taken in a long time. I placed a hand on his shoulder to steady myself as I climbed onto the back and then looped my arms around his waist tighter than necessary.

  The engines roared to life, one by one, until the sound was near deafening. Dax and I pulled forward and everyone fell into a line behind us as we left the farm.

  The rest of the ride passed in a blur, as I was stuck in my own head. I didn’t focus on where we were until I felt the bike slow to a stop sooner than I’d expected. I looked ahead through a break in the trees and saw a twenty-foot-high metal fence looming ahead.

  “That’s the spot,” he said.

  “What the hell?” I asked. “Why is the fence this far south?” I’d expected more time.

  “They’ve been taking advantage of the outbreaks to expand their borders. I’d heard they’ve been creeping south, but I hadn’t realized they’d claimed this far south.”

  Dax gave a signal and the others broke off from us and moved into staggered positions. He drove us forward until we were out in the open and pulling up twenty feet short of the fence.

  I climbed off the bike, and then he did as well. Dax’s hand gripped mine. “Don’t do it unless you’re sure you can do it clean.”

  “I know.”

  “I’ve got ears in there. I’ll get you out.”

  I only managed a step before I turned back to him. I wanted to grab him in a hug and beg him to promise me he wouldn’t leave me there, but I kept the smile in place.

  “You don’t have to do this,” he said. I hated when he read me so well.

  “Of course I do,” I said, letting him read the commitment in my tone instead. It didn’t matter what I wanted. I had to do this. We needed answers and we needed time, and if I could finish this now, I would.

  I heard the tires and glanced over my shoulder as a black car pulled up on the opposite side of the fence. I didn’t move forward, but waited as a driver got out of the car, walked around to the back, and opened the door. Croq got out.

  It was still shocking to see how different he looked now compared to when I’d first met him in the cave. His raw flesh appeared tanned, as if he’d been spending plenty of time outdoors and enjoying it.

  “Showtime,” I said to Dax.

  “I won’t leave you there.”

  “How do I…” I shook off the question, gave him a smile that I knew must be awkward, since it so wasn’t my style, and turned to walk toward the fence.

  “Because I’m alive,” he said, as I stepped away, answering my unasked question.

  And those three words were all I needed to reassure me that if my plan backfired, he’d get me out like he always did.

  As I approached the gates that would take me back into Newco, a place I’d never wanted to set foot in again, the guards rolled the chain link gates open for me.

  As we walked forward, the gap between a Dark Walker and a Plaguer narrowing, a strange camaraderie seemed to be born between us. Neither of us knew if the path we were taking might lead us to our death, but we were both determined to stay the course.

  We stopped in front of each other, my feet still planted on free land, him on the ground that was as far from free as my mind could wrap itself around, a place I’d never thought I’d come back to willingly.

  “And here we are,” Croq said, not sounding any happier than I felt.

  I nodded. I wasn’t sure why we had both stopped, as if prearranged. Or why the dream the other day came to mind as we did. But there seemed to be something he wanted to say to me. I had questions myself, but I knew they wouldn’t be answered.

  I asked the only one I knew he had to answer, and the most important at the moment. I looked past him to the car that would drive me to my next location. “Is this a trap?”

  “He won’t kill you. He wants to use you, and that entails you being in one piece.” His eyes shot over my shoulder, and I knew he was looking straight at Dax. “How’s it looking for me?”

  “Good, as I long as I return alive.”

  Words were fine, but I’d learned enough in my life to know they might be worthless. I eyed up a soft spot on his neck, picking my target. I tried to stir the heat in my chest, but nothing warmed. My fingers grazed the knife at my hip but wouldn’t find purchase.

  Croq saw my hand hovering near the blade. “You going to test it?”

  “Already did.”

  “Then I guess I’ll be seeing you.”

  He took a step around me and headed toward where Dax waited. Head up, I proceeded past the soldiers who manned the gate, holding their rifles shoulder high, pointed straight at my chest. Some aimed behind me. I kept walking until I reached the car.

  The door to the sedan that had delivered Croq remained open, and I climbed into the back without any prompting. The door was shut and the driver got back behind the wheel. I stared out the window as we drove farther away from the border, and tried to commit each part of the way to memory until it got too dark for me to see. If I succeeded tonight, I wouldn’t have a ride home.

  It was just under two hours before we pulled up to one of the largest houses I’d ever seen. Light spilled out from every window, as if no one cared how much gas they used. The driver came around and opened my door, and I stepped out onto a cobbled driveway, staring at two immense wooden double doors, a light hanging from a long chain right above it.

  The doors opened with two servants in suits on either side. A beautiful blonde woman stepped in the entrance, the only one of the three who was a Dark Walker. A slight dark mist hung around her, but not much, and I wondered if she’d gotten a new set of skin recently. If she was taking my measure in return, she hid it well.

  I didn’t realize I’d hesitated so much until the driver whispered, “Don’t worry, I’ll be keeping an eye out,” as he shut the door to the car and was returning to the driver’s seat.

  I’d known Dax had some connections in Newco, but I never imagined he’d get someone this close in such a short time.

  I didn’t turn to look at him, keeping my eyes forward and my expression frozen as I took a step toward the house.

  The blonde was waiting for me as I neared the door. “I’m Loretta, Zarrod’s personal assistant. Follow me. He’s waiting for you.” She turned and walked away, her heels echoing as she did.

  I paused inside the door, but no one checked me for weapons or requested that I hand over the knife that was visible at my hip. The two servants only stepped forward to shut the doors behind me.

  The entranceway had dual curving stairwells that led to the same point, and I wondered if the person who’d built the house had been bored that week.

  Loretta continued walking as if I were still following her. By time she paused at the edge of the hall, I’d started to move again.

  The marble floors reflected the crystal lights as we walked down the hallway, and I found myself trying to straighten my hair and brush the dust from the road off my pants. I forced my hands back to my sides. I wasn’t the dirty one here.

  I also wasn’t a helpless little girl abandoned to the monsters anymore. I could survive a gunshot to the heart. I could take on four or five Dark Walkers single-handedly and come out the victor. I was a woman who could kick ass and was feared by many. But still, as we took a right turn down another hallway, I was plagued with other memories of long walks down endless corrid
ors when I had been helpless. By time we stopped in front of the door that she knocked on, I’d had to wipe my palms on my pants several times.

  “Come in,” I heard from the other side. Loretta reached down, opened the door, then stood back to allow me to enter first.

  I stepped inside, and a man rose from his seat in front of a blazing wood fire.

  He wasn’t what I’d expected. For some reason, I’d imagined someone older, someone around fifty or sixty, with greying hair and a couple of extra pounds.

  He was young, or that was how he appeared, taller than me but not overwhelmingly so. He didn’t have the dark mist around him, but there was that something extra I’d sensed in Croq, a shimmer that only a Plaguer could see.

  He had thick ash-brown hair, a smugness to his smile, and a certain glow to his dark eyes. As he walked across the room to greet me, I could smell Dark Walker on him, and his index finger on his left hand was an inch shorter than it should’ve been. This thing, this creature, was responsible for at least one of the largest outbreaks of the Bloody Death the world had seen. How many people had he killed? How many Plaguers had he managed to ferret out to steal the skin off their back?

  “Dahlia,” he said, and walked toward me.

  “Zarrod.”

  His eyes made a very obvious scan of me. “You look different than your pictures. Older, maybe.”

  He waved his hand toward the chairs near the fireplace, the crackling of wood the only noise in the room. “Please, be seated. Do you like my new house?”

  Luckily, I’d missed having manners drilled into me as a child, and I found it easy to ignore his question as I made myself comfortable.

  “We took it over last month,” he continued, as if I’d said I loved the place.

  I didn’t care about the house. I was thinking of all the things I’d imagined saying to him. Cursing him for the years I spent in that prison. For all the people I’d lost. Things I might say tonight if I had the chance. But I didn’t say anything, not yet. I’d wait until we were alone, and then those would be the last things he’d hear.