Nemesis (25 page)

“Similar, but not quite,” said Carl. “Most magic-based substances look similar, which doesn’t help with identifying them. Adamantine looks the same as the material used in stunners for instance, but it’s used for something quite different.”

I hadn’t known that. “So, what’s in that…?” I indicated the gleaming rod-like device.

“World-key,” said Carl. “To use the simple term. It can be used as a shortcut from the Passages to anywhere. Like any magic-charged device, it isn’t effective on Earth, but it works in the Passages. The world-key only links to one world at a time.”

“World-key.” My hands itched to touch it, just to see if it felt as icy-cold as the Passages. “Wow. Is it made of the same stuff as the Passages?”

“Talk to an offworld physicist if you’re interested in the substances that make up the Multiverse,” said Carl, looking amused. I guessed it was pretty obvious I wanted to get my hands on the thing.

“Makes my head spin just thinking about it,” I admitted. “What do you have to do to get authorised to use that?”

“It’s for emergencies only,” said Carl. “West Branch has another for long-term use. Ambassadors rely on it for access to precarious worlds over a long period of time. I believe someone recently tried to steal theirs.”

“They were robbed,” I said slowly. “Um. Someone said.” Tara did. So she was telling the truth.

“Yes,” said Carl, his expression darkening. “It was… audacious. Rather similar to something that happened here at Central.”

Yeah. Me.
I was willing to bet bloodrock solution had been involved. But who would do that on Earth? Was there another traitor?

Carl tapped his communicator screen. “Trouble all around. Have you seen Aric, by the way?”

I shook my head. “No… should I have?”

“He didn’t react well when I restricted his patrols,” said Carl. “Damned idiot. I think he’s skiving off somewhere.”

“He’s not in the office?”

“Not when Danica last checked. Ms Weston,” he added, in response to my puzzled look. “She expects me to keep an eye on all the novices. If we hadn’t lost Alan and Linda in the attack…”

Twenty guards died,
I remembered, with a flash of guilt for forgetting. No wonder everyone here seemed so highly strung. “Anything you need my help with?”

“Don’t worry yourself about us, Ada,” he said. “You’re a damn good fighter, but I can tell your heart’s set on offworld, right? You don’t want to join us boring senior guards.”

I smiled at that. “Boring?” I jerked my head in the direction of the wyvern claw mounted on the door.

“Compared to offworld, most people would say so. This is hardly a treasure trove.” He indicated the cabinet. My gaze drifted to the familiar cuffs hanging on a hook inside it. I remembered too well the shock of having my magic cut off when the Alliance had arrested me.

“Those cuffs,” I said. “Are they antimagic?”

He picked up some keys from the desk. “They’re double-sided. Magic on one side, antimagic on the other. They blocked your magic, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Non-magic-wielders wouldn’t be affected by the antimagic, but if things got violent, these cuffs also have obsidiate on the outside. Just enough that the antimagic doesn’t stop it working.”

“Like a stunner?”

“Exactly like a stunner. It’s a precautionary measure, though we’ve never had a prisoner give us half as much trouble as you did.”

“Do I get a medal?” I said, but smiled. “I get why you need that rule. Are there any prisoners in here now?”

“Actually, no,” said Carl. “Like I said at the induction, it’s rare that we have to apprehend anyone for a serious offence here on Earth. Most trespassers in the Passages tend to make for the high-magic worlds.” He closed the cabinet door. “But as I said, we try to prepare for any eventuality.”

“Even hiring a criminal?”

Carl paused in the act of locking the cabinet. “Are the other guards giving you trouble?”

“Nah,” I said. It seemed petty and stupid to confess my worries that I’d never fit in here. I was no stranger to being an outsider. “Except Aric, but he’s a shit to everyone. Though I could do without the stares.”

“It’ll die down,” said Carl. “On my first mission, I fell down a hidden staircase and woke a sleeping chalder vox. I reckon I’d rather be remembered for being an infamous criminal.”

I smiled. “Those hidden staircases are hard to spot if you aren’t looking for them.”

He turned the key in the lock. “True. I have to explain that to some of the novices at least one a week. I reckon you know the Passages better than most of them.”

“Not as well as Kay does,” I said, wondering what he was doing right now. Sneaking around the Passages scaring the crap out of novices, maybe. “Doesn’t look like he minds the attention.”

Carl’s expression was a little too assessing. “I imagine he’s used to it by now. I admit, I’m not overly fond of the other guards following his example. I meet a lot of Academy graduates, and in general, their sense of danger is a little skewed. They tend to run into dangerous situations without thinking. But Kay tends to consider the danger and then do it anyway.”

I shifted, not sure what to say to that. Of course he’d always get attention, because he had a name everyone knew. I was lucky
my
real name hadn’t got around. Adamantine…

“Can I ask you a question about magic?”

Carl nodded.

“Uh. Well, I know our uniform’s magicproof. But we can still use magic, right? How does that work?”

“There are different levels of antimagic, too,” said Carl. “I’ve often wondered about that. It does depend on skin contact to some extent. The uniform’s laced with pure adamantine, as much as it’s possible to weave into fabric, anyway. It won’t protect you against a higher level of magic, and it isn’t as potent as the stuff this building’s made out of. That’s seven layers of antimagic, enough to absorb even a magical assault.”

“Damn.” I glanced at the ceiling as if I expected it to reveal hidden powers. “It isn’t magicproof on the inside though, right?” I recalled the double assault on Central. Skyla had used magic in here and it had rebounded off the walls and floor.

“No. There’s a certain amount of adamantine built into the walls, but it does tend to wear off over time. Same with your uniform.”

I turned this over in my head. “So… that’s why third level magic can get through.”

Carl’s expression darkened. “Yes. It’s impossible to block. This building could probably take it, but I can’t speak for the collateral damage. If the Campbells’ machine had gone off…”

Then we’d all be dead. Even I might not have made it through that one alive. Because if it was true, if there were different levels of antimagic, then mine had to end somewhere. The amount of energy I’d channelled during the fight with the Campbells had sent me into a coma.

“It won’t happen again,” said Carl, with unexpected sharpness. “Maybe we got complacent about our safety before the attack, but with our new precautions, this is the safest building in London. It’s unbreakable.”

I swallowed at the unfortunate choice of words.
I
wasn’t unbreakable, not really. And the adamantine in my blood didn’t mean I couldn’t be harmed. In fact, that definition wasn’t right, at all, because if it was, I wouldn’t be able to use magic at all.

Right?

“You should go home, anyway,” said Carl. “Let me know if I need to yell at anyone.”

I grinned. “Will do.”

After checking out, I headed to the tech labs, where I found two of the tech team in conversation by the doors. Andy and Vic.

“What the bloody hell is his problem?” Vic was saying to Andy. “I thought he was going to hit me.”

“You’re lucky he didn’t,” said Andy. “I still have the scars from where he beat the crap out of me one time at the Academy–hey, it’s the prisoner.”

“Um,” I said, guilty at being caught eavesdropping. “Is Jeth in there?”

“Should be on his way out soon,” said Vic. “Jesus. This big scary guy–what’s his name? He came and threatened us.”

“Aric Conner,” said Andy.

“Oh. He threatened me the other day, too,” I added.
And told me Kay was a criminal.
“He beat you up?” I asked Andy.

“Four years ago,” said Andy, looking annoyed. “He started on everyone at one point or other, was always picking fights. What issue did he have with you? Aren’t you in the same department?”

“Yeah. What did he want?” I asked.

“Wanted in on our Chameleons,” said Vic. “Said he had authorisation, but I checked and that was a blatant lie. We can’t go handing out classified tech.”

My heart dipped uneasily. “Seriously?”

“Yeah,” said Andy, “but we only have one left, don’t we?”

“Keep it down, he might still be out there,” said Vic.

I’d handed that Chameleon in. What did Aric want with it?

“Is that Ada?” asked Jeth, coming out of the office.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hey. You didn’t run into the crazy guy, did you?”

“He cleared off,” said Vic. “Good riddance.”

“I don’t trust him,” said Andy. “You did lock the back room, right?” He made for another door.

“Of course,” said Vic. “Come on. He wouldn’t break in.”

“If he wanted to…” Andy looked up and down the corridor, clearly rattled. “Thought I was well shot of the bastard.”

“I’ll double-lock it, then, if you’re paranoid,” said Vic, pulling a key from his pocket. “He’s an employee, for God’s sake. You don’t honestly think he’d break Alliance code?”

“He would,” said Andy. “Seriously. I’m not being paranoid. He’s capable of murder, that guy.”

“What?” said Jeth. “You’re joking.”

Vic’s expression said the same.

“Stop looking at me like that.” Andy hitched his bag onto his shoulder. “No one talks about it because we can’t prove it was him, but you can ask anyone from our class at the Academy in confidence and they’d tell you. There was this… incident in our third year. It’s kind of a long story, but some of us were in the Passages–we shouldn’t even have been in there, but that’s beside the point–and a wyvern attacked us. We couldn’t prove Aric was behind it because wyverns are usually drawn to magic, and there wasn’t any evidence someone had lured it out. But it’s true, and I almost fucking died. Don’t try to tell me that guy isn’t capable of murder.”

Everyone stared, open-mouthed. I shivered. The wyvern incident. I’d learned more about it from Simon than Kay. He’d nearly died. So Andy must have been the other person who’d been with them.

“Jesus Christ,” said Vic. “How the
hell
did he get away with something like that?”

“Effing family connections,” said Andy. “I’m off. For the love of God, don’t go spreading that story around!”

And he took off. Jeth shook his head.

“Damn,” said Vic. “Okay, that’s some scary shit. I’ll see you tomorrow, all right, Jeth? And you, Ada.”

“Bye,” I said awkwardly, as he headed down the corridor.

“Yeah,” said Jeth. “We better go, Ada.”

We came out onto the second floor corridor and headed for the lifts. I still felt completely shaken up by what Andy had said. Simon had told me Aric must have lured the wyvern from Cethrax somehow, but it had slipped my mind until now. What did he want with a Chameleon?

“Uh,” I said to Jeth, belatedly remembering why I’d gone to the second floor. “I was going to tell you, I wanted to head for the training complex for a bit. I want to get in some practise. I’ll only be like an hour or so. You can go home if you want.”

“Nah, I’ll hang about in a coffee shop or something.”

“You sure?”

“Ada, you forget I’m your bodyguard now.”

I narrowed my eyes.

“I’m joking, sis, chill out. Or better, go and blow off steam hitting virtual dreyverns.”

“That’s the plan.” I smiled. “You sure you don’t want to come and try it out?”

“Hmm. Maybe another time.”

You’re in control of the environment,
I told myself, waving to Amanda as I entered. She gave me kind of an odd look, like… worry? Oh, God, she must know about the way I’d screwed up the other day. “Hi, Ada,” she said, coming over to me.

“Hey,” I said. “Thought I’d try simulation for a bit.” I’d had the presence of mind to bring my guard uniform and a change of clothes just in case I got called out last-minute on patrol.

“Sure thing,” said Amanda. “You go change, I’ll find a free room for you.”

“Thanks.”

Maybe I could learn to fit in at the Alliance, after all. Admin was kind of dull, but then, all the action was offworld right now. Kay had escaped admin pretty fast, though I was told that wasn’t the norm. I expected to wait several months before I had the chance to go offworld… unless they needed my help for anything else on Aglaia.

Damn. What a week. And it wasn’t even over yet.

The nerves kicked in again as I found myself alone in a cubicle with a virtual helmet in hand.
Come on, Ada, get hold of yourself,
I thought, putting on the helmet. The world blanked to the cliff scene again, before the menu screen unfolded. I needed to face dreyverns, because they were what had kicked it all off.