Hunted by Magic (25 page)

C
onsidering
what had happened the last time Iannis had travelled on a dirigible, plus the fact that the Resistance was probably even more focused on eliminating us, I should have been a bundle of nerves during the flight home. But I was so tired from this long-ass ordeal that not long after we left Dara I conked out, sleeping like the dead for most of the flight.

“Miss Baine.” Iannis gently shook me awake. “We’re here.”

I cracked open my eyelids and looked out the window just as we passed over Solantha Bay. Despite the fact that I was dreading what I’d find on the ground, I couldn’t help but grin as I watched the morning sun crest over the horizon, pink and gold flames rippling across the water and making the Firegate Bridge glow. I couldn’t even explain how relieved I was to see the bridge still standing there in all its fiery glory – the Resistance had already tried to destroy it once, and I’d half expected to find it blown to smithereens. If it was standing strong, I hoped that meant Solantha was too.

But as we drew closer to the Palace, I saw groups of humans crowded outside the property just beyond the protective wards, and my sharp eyes picked out picket signs that many of them waved. I couldn’t make out what they said, but I imagined the words were angry, if the number of guards trying to corral the protesters were any indication.

“By Magorah,” I whispered as horror creeped up my chest. “Just what is going on down there?”

Rather than landing at the airport, which would force us to brave the angry mob to gain entrance to the Palace, Iannis ordered the pilot to land us in the middle of the palace gardens, well within the protective wards and away from the angry protesters. A light breeze tugged at my hair as I disembarked from the dirigible, bringing the kiss of the ocean with it, and for a moment I forgot about the protestors on the ground. But then I caught sight of Director Chen and Fenris waiting for us, and their grim faces reminded me all over again.

“Welcome back, everyone,” Director Chen said, her voice solemn. “I am glad to see you have all arrived safely.”

“You sure don’t look glad,” I pointed out. “Is there something going on we should know about? Such as why there’s an angry mob trying to storm the Palace downstairs?”

“Many things, and none of them good,” Fenris confirmed. He forced a smile, no doubt noticing the worried look on my face. “But we’re hoping that now that you are back, Iannis, things can be settled.”

“What things?” Iannis demanded, looking between Chen and Fenris. “What more has happened in my absence?”

Director Chen sucked in a deep breath before she spoke. “Because my appointment was never formally ratified, the Council decided to rule in your stead and completely shut me out while I was leading the search. They called for the arrest of anyone who has known or suspected ties to the Resistance, which in their very broad definition is half the city.”

“
What
?” Iannis’s voice sizzled with fury.

“It’s true, Iannis.” Fenris’s voice was heavy with sorrow. “Not only that, but they’ve arrested the families of all these ‘suspects’ as well. Prominent business owners, Enforcers, media employees, and many, many others have been taken, including Inspector Lakin and most of the Baine Clan. If not for the fact that I returned aboard Director Chen’s dirigible with Resistance prisoners in tow, I suspect I would be sharing their fate.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I shouted, furious at the idea that Lakin, who when last I’d talked to him had been working hard to protect shifters from the fallout, had been swept up by the Mages Guild’s misguided attempts at seeking justice. “Iannis, we have to fix this.” I nearly grabbed his sleeve before I caught myself.

“Set up a meeting with the Council in thirty minutes,” Iannis said between gritted teeth. “I want to get to the bottom of this, and I mean to do it
now.
”

T
he meeting was a bloody affair
, and I got to watch from the sidelines as Iannis ripped each and every one of the Council members a new hole. Omonas tried to fight back, pointing out that it was Iannis’s fault that he hadn’t made sure to ratify Chen’s appointment, and in response Iannis set his robes aflame. It would have been gratifying to watch the fat bastard shriek and scream if he hadn’t also decided to rip off his robes, but apparently the fire Iannis had used couldn’t be put out by normal means, and it consumed the robe to ashes before winking itself out.

After that, none of the other councilmen dared to raise a voice against Iannis, and he told them in no uncertain terms that they were never to pull a stunt like that again, and that as of today he would be ratifying Chen’s appointment. He also told them that they needed to immediately release any citizens they’d imprisoned that they didn’t have
hard
evidence against, and that if it wasn’t done by the end of today he would see them all removed from their positions and new Council members appointed.

Seeing that he had matters well in hand, I slipped out of the Palace in disguise, briefly integrating myself into the mob outside as a human so I could get into the city itself. Now that I was on the ground, I could read the picket fences clearly, and they said things like “FREE MY FAMILY” and “DEATH TO ALL MAGES” and “GIVE THE POWER TO THE PEOPLE.” A huge part of me wanted to tell these people to stand down, that it was okay now, that Iannis was back and their loved ones would be returned to them, but there was no reason they would believe me, and in any case I needed to check on my friends.

Wishing for my steambike, I considered changing into beast form and running down to the Port. But running around as a jaguar after my entire clan had been arrested was probably a bad idea, so I decided against it and hoofed it down to Witches’ End instead. The five-mile walk was even more depressing than the mob outside the Palace – the once-clean streets were now strewn with refuse from the piles of uncollected garbage bags rotting on the sidewalks, storefronts were smashed in or boarded up, and the few people out on the streets walked quickly, eyes darting around nervously as though expecting someone to jump at them from the shadows or through a broken window. The streets stank of garbage, grief, and fear, and it made my heart hurt.

Worse, though, was the fact that Comenius’s glass storefront was now covered in plywood, battened down and closed to the public. For a heart-stopping moment I feared that he’d skipped town, but when I ran up the side entrance and pounded on the second level door, he answered.

“Oh, Naya.” He threw his arms around me, and we both squeezed each other so tightly I wondered which of us would bust a rib first. “I am so glad to see you’ve come back safely.”

“I thought you’d left,” I told him as he let me into the apartment, my legs shaky with relief. Elania was just inside, and I embraced her too, soaking in her exotic scent. “So many shops are closed, and when I saw yours was boarded up, I feared the worst.”

“We’re still here, and we’re alive and well,” Comenius said gently. “Elania and I decided it would be best to close up our shops until this disaster blows over.”

The sound of a toilet flushing caught my attention, and I turned to see Annia walk out of the bathroom. Her eyes were unusually dull, her shoulders slumped, and she barely managed a smile when she saw me.

“Hey.” I rushed over to her, my heart sinking faster than a downed ship as I embraced her. “What’s going on?”

“Noria’s gone,” Annia muttered as she hugged me back. “When I came home, Mom was crying in the living room and clutching an old photograph of her. She told me that Noria had left the day before to join the Resistance.”

“No.” I felt the bottom drop out of my stomach, and I pulled back to stare at Annia. She only gazed back at me woodenly, no sign in her face that this was a joke or prank. “Fuck,” I exhaled.

“Yeah, fuck.” Annia let out a bitter laugh as she threw herself onto Comenius’s sofa. “Here I was, rushing off with you to save the Chief Mage so I could cash in on that huge bounty, when what I really should have been doing was sticking to my sister’s ass like glue and making sure she didn’t do anything stupid.”

I let out a sigh as I sat down next to Annia on the couch. “It’s not your fault,” I told her. “She was going to do it anyway –”

“No.”
Annia sat up straight, tears thickening her voice as she glared at me. “Don’t you fucking dare say that. That’s like saying it was inevitable, that there was no fucking choice, no fucking
chance
for me to change her mind.” Her voice shook as she balled her hand into a fist. “That’s like saying it’s
fate
, and I don’t believe in that shit.” Her dark eyes burned, as if daring me to challenge her so she could plow her fist into my face.

“You’re right.” I dropped my gaze, partly because I didn’t want to fight one of my best friends, and partly because she
was
right. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Here,” Comenius said gently, placing two cups of tea down on the coffee table in front of us. “Drink this.”

“I need whiskey, not tea,” Annia muttered, glaring at the cup as though it were personally responsible for all her woes.

“It’ll help soothe your nerves.” Comenius lifted the teacup and offered it to her. “Come on, Annia. You can’t keep going on like this.”

Annia didn’t say anything to that, but she did take the teacup. I took a sip from mine, and sighed as the hot, soothing blend slid down my throat and warmed my stomach. Comenius’s tea wouldn’t solve my problems, but it would make me feel better, and right now I needed all the pick-me-ups I could get. “Thanks, Com.”

“You’re quite welcome.” Comenius sat down heavily in the wicker chair and regarded me with a troubled look. “I hope your return means that the Chief Mage is going to do something about this catastrophe. The humans and shifters who haven’t run off are targeting anything connected with magic, which is why I’ve had to close down my shop. With the constant riots and lack of authority to get the population under control, the streets aren’t safe. Just the other day, the fortuneteller who works next door was beaten and raped in the street on her way home. Elania and I spent all night healing her, and now she won’t leave her apartment.”

“By Magorah.” I dug the heels of my hands into my eyes, unable to cope. “That’s fucking awful. Iannis has yanked the Council back into line, and he’s working on getting all the wrongfully imprisoned citizens freed, but I don’t know how long it’ll take to bring the city back under control.”

“I’m afraid it will take much more than that to get Solantha back to normal,” Elania said sadly. “The Mages Guild has broken the trust of the people, what little there was of it, and they will not easily be reined in again.”

“Which I’m sure is exactly what the Resistance wanted,” I said bitterly.

“That wouldn’t surprise me at all,” Comenius commented. “Many of the humans and shifters who’ve fled the city have run right into the arms of the Resistance. Including Noria,” he added softly with a glance at Annia.

I visited with Comenius for a little longer, but there wasn’t much more to say, so in the end I decided to head back to Rowanville and see how my apartment had fared. As I’d expected, my section of town had not been spared by the vitriol rolling through Solantha. Anti-mage graffiti covered once-pristine boutiques and storefronts, windows were either boarded up or shuttered, and the only signs of life were the occasional set of eyes that peeked through window curtains as I passed.

But the worst thing by far was the envelope stuck to my front door with a knife, both blade and paper crusted with dried blood. There was no name on it, but since it was stuck to my door I had to assume it was for me. I carefully removed the knife and envelope, then eased into my apartment.

I’d half expected the place to be trashed and graffitied, so I was relieved to see that it was exactly the way I’d left it, dirty dishes on the counter included. I tossed the knife and letter onto the coffee table, then went through the coming-home ritual of hanging up my coat and shoes, washing the dishes on the counter, and cleaning any blood or grime off my weapons. It might sound silly, but after all I’d been through, I craved a slice of normality before I tackled the bloody letter.

Eventually I ran out of things to do, and with my kitchen cleaned, my couch cushions plumped, and my surfaces dusted, I sank down onto the couch with the letter in my hand. I used the bloody knife to slit the envelope open – because hey, I might as well – and with a shaking hand unfolded the single page inside.

S
unaya Baine
,

Despite multiple attempts to plant your feet onto the correct path, you have chosen the wrong side. Your efforts to thwart our plans have been noted, and retribution will be swift.

T
he note was typed
and unsigned, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out who’d sent it. With a sigh, I ripped it up, then tossed the pieces into the air. The Resistance might think they were my biggest problem, but they were just one more big bad bully trying to stomp me into the ground because I didn’t fit their mold. But if they thought they were going to get away with this, they were just as wrong as everyone else who’d tried to break me.