Chapter Nine
Jingo Jingo should have been unconscious in
a hospital, or at the very least, in a wheelchair. He’d barely
survived Sedra’s attack when she’d broken out of the cage he’d
stuffed her in. I didn’t know how he was even walking. He shuffled
in slowly, the cane he gripped in one hand looking like a toothpick
beneath his huge bulk.
Half his face was bruised and so swollen he
couldn’t open one eye. He had a bandage across the bridge of his
nose, a line of stitches tracking across his shaved skull, and a
brace on his neck. His hands were wrapped in bandages, and he wore
loose pants and a long coat with only one arm through the sleeve.
The other arm was in a sling.
And each of the things holding him
together—bandages, stitches, brace, and sling—had the very subtle
signature of Dr. Fisher’s handiwork.
No wonder she didn’t have any time for Davy. She’d
been trying to stitch this monster back together.
I glanced over at her. She was staring straight
ahead, making no eye contact.
Jingo Jingo was followed by two goons who helped
him ease down into a chair set to the side at the back of the stage
in shadows.
Screw this.
Terric tugged on my wrist again, but I pulled my
hand away from him and stood. “Jingo Jingo betrayed the Authority,
was part of the mechanism that kidnapped Sedra, and made treasonous
deals with Mikhail and my father.”
“Sit down,” Bartholomew commanded. “This is not
open for discussion.”
“I don’t care.” I walked down the empty line of
chairs and started toward him. “Jingo Jingo is a child molester and
should be locked up.”
“Can you prove that accusation?”
No, I couldn’t. All I had was my dad’s word on it
and the ghosts of dead children I always saw around him when he
cast magic.
“Yes,” I bluffed.
Bartholomew narrowed his eyes. “In times of great
need, a person’s past cannot be seen as more important than his
present. You have no proof of a crime being committed. Jingo Jingo
is the best Death magic user in Portland.”
“You’re wrong. Shamus Flynn is the best Death magic
user in Portland.”
He blinked once slowly, then sat back in the chair,
a look of complete dismissal on his face. “I disagree. Shamus Flynn
had uneven talent and a poor attitude.”
“Did you Close him?” I was below the stage, looking
up at him, but close enough I could smell his cologne. Something
with heavy spice overtones. It mixed with his sweat and turned
sour.
“That hasn’t been necessary. Yet. If you continue
to disrupt this proceeding, Allison Beckstrom, we will, however,
consider Closing you.”
“Allie.” Terric stepped up behind me and took my
arm. “Sit down. You’re embarrassing yourself.”
I turned to tell him exactly how much I cared if I
was embarrassing myself.
Listen to him, Dad said. You need
information right now. Getting thrown out of this meeting won’t
help you, and it won’t help Shame or Victor or Maeve.
Terric’s face was schooled in a calm, pleasant
mask. But I could see the fire in his eyes. Looked like he was
thinking along the same lines as my dad.
The goons left Jingo Jingo and walked over to me.
They stank of him—formaldehyde and licorice.
One of the goons motioned to the audience. The
other just waited to see if I’d go back to my seat or stay and
cause more trouble. His fingers were spread to cast a spell,
probably something that would knock me out.
Hells.
I turned and walked with Terric back to my seat,
every eye in the room on me.
Bartholomew waited until both Terric and I were
seated. I noted one of the goons made his way up past Terric and me
and stood at the back of the room.
“There is one last position open,” Bartholomew
continued. “The Voice of Flux magic. This is a very new discipline.
It has been proposed that blending magic with technology is not a
true discipline. Furthermore, it has been argued that joining magic
with technology is a violation of the true purpose of magic, and
possibly creates more problems with magic than using it in its
natural state.”
Lies, Dad said. Misdirections. Ever since
man discovered magic, he’s been finding new and better ways to use
it. Our adaptation is our strength.
I got the feeling Dad didn’t think Bartholomew
would grant a person the position of Voice of Flux magic. I got the
feeling Dad thought Bartholomew wanted to end any mention or
legitimacy of the Flux discipline.
He would. If it suited his purpose.
What’s his purpose? I asked. To piss us
all off?
I don’t know yet.
It was kind of strange. I’d gotten used to my dad
having a handle on everything that was happening inside the
Authority. Even though I hated him in my mind using my body like
some kind of parasite, I had to admit his information—what he would
share—had come in handy.
Yes, I knew he was playing his own angles, just
like Bartholomew. He wanted magic in the right hands, and dark and
light magic joined together. He’d told me that often enough.
It bothered me that he didn’t know what Bartholomew
might be planning.
I have been dead for several months, my dad
said in a droll tone. I am a little out of touch with certain
details.
Bartholomew was talking again. “But I am willing to
give this discipline another chance. Now that it is no longer under
the stranglehold of Daniel Beckstrom, I believe Flux magic can take
magic to new and useful horizons. And the Voice of Flux magic will
help us to solve our current unrest and recover those things which
have fallen into the wrong hands.
“I grant the position of the Voice of Flux magic to
Violet Beckstrom.”
I felt the shock and anger roll through my body
like a wave of heat. Some of that emotion was mine. I liked Violet.
She was nice, smart, and had just had my one and only sibling. I
did not want to see her mixed up in the Authority, especially not
when this ass was running the show.
And the rest of the anger, well, that was my dad.
He went white-hot in the middle of my head. Supernova. I literally
had to close my eyes and take in a deep breath to cool my brain,
then exhale to keep control. If he’d had his own body, I was pretty
sure he’d be yelling. I’d only ever seen my dad yell once. That
hadn’t gone well for the target of his scorn.
When I opened my eyes again, Bartholomew was still
onstage, papers neatly stacked between his fingers, staring at me.
Daring me to stand up and tell him to shove it. Daring me to make a
commotion so he could Close me.
I refused to let him play me.
So I smiled.
It took everything I had, but I did it.
He frowned. That, apparently, was not the reaction
he was looking for.
The door opened and Violet walked in. She wore a
nice jacket and blouse and slacks, her red hair pulled back in a
chignon. Her ruby wire glasses seemed to set her eyes on fire. She
looked professional, put together, and ready to take charge.
Only she had no idea what she was walking
into.
Kevin Cooper, her bodyguard, who was very much a
part of the Authority, walked behind her, just as he was always
behind her. He scanned the room. He did not look pleased. No, he
looked tense.
Kevin knew exactly what they were walking
into.
Bartholomew glanced over at Violet and smiled and
nodded to her. Dad, in my head, went very, very still. My head
turned—but not of my own volition—to stare at Bartholomew. Only it
wasn’t me who was looking at him, it was Dad.
And then the white-hot anger in my mind snuffed
out. Leaving behind a cold, hard, dark resolve.
What? I thought to Dad.
He had let go of my head, had stopped looking
through my eyes, had retreated back to the cocoon place Victor and
Shame had made in my mind to help control him. And then he pulled
away even further, digging in deeper, fading until I couldn’t even
sense a trace of him.
What the hell? One, I didn’t like that he could
hide in my own head that well, and two, I didn’t like that he had
suddenly decided to do it.
Bartholomew watched me, and could not hide his
flicker of interest, of hunger, as he watched what I would do now
that Violet was walking into the room.
What I did was sit back and give him a fuck-you
glare.
Violet chose a chair on the outer edge of a row,
and Kevin sat in the row behind her. She must not have spotted me
in the crowd.
“These appointments begin immediately,” Bartholomew
said. “I will meet with the Voices in my chamber in a half hour.
Thank you all for your time. The Authority is grateful for your
service.”
He stood and, taking the papers, walked down off
the stage and out of the room through the door at that end. I was
pretty sure it didn’t lead back out into the hall, but into a
second room—the one Jingo Jingo had come out of. The one in which
he and Melissa had worked the Truth on me.
Two goons took their places on either side of the
door.
He’d need more than a few goons to keep himself
safe.
I turned to Terric. “Did you know about this? Any
of this?”
He shook his head. “I’m just as surprised as you
are.”
“He can’t do this, Terric. I won’t let him do
this.”
People were getting up, talking, excited. Several
were headed our way to talk to Terric.
He leaned toward me, a smile on his face, and gave
me a hug, like I’d just congratulated him. “Don’t talk like that.
He’ll have you Closed. We’ll talk later. Find Shame.”
And that was all the time he had because then
people were there, patting him on the back, excited, smiling. He
stood and shook hands, and looked every inch the happy, surprised,
humble recipient of a great new position.
I knew that wasn’t how he felt about it. I’d felt
his fury. But he knew how to put on the act, put on the face. He
stepped out away from his chair, and a small, congratulatory crowd
gathered around him.
There was no way he was breaking free from them
anytime soon. So I got up and walked over to Violet. She was still
sitting and talking to a woman in the chair beside her, but she
hadn’t drawn the crowd of fans that Terric had pulled in. Violet
was only tangentially involved with the Authority. Dad had worked
hard to keep it that way, and to make sure she could develop her
technologies, which eventually became his technologies, without the
Authority’s oversight.
It had worked well for her. She’d developed the
disks that could carry magic in them and gave the user the access
to that magic cost- and pain-free. She had been working on
developing other technologies before Dad was murdered.
I wasn’t sure what she was currently working
on.
It must be something Bartholomew thought was very
valuable, if he wanted to keep her under the Authority’s
thumb.
Kevin looked up as I came over, and the cool
disinterest on his face faded for a moment to reveal a spark of
anger before he coughed politely into his fist and put his
don’t-give-a-damn back into place.
This was the first time I’d seen Kevin at any of
the Authority’s meetings, fights, or get-togethers. He hadn’t even
been at Chase’s graveside memorial, come to think of it. Kevin had
been flying pretty low, staying under the radar, not taking sides,
instead putting his bodyguarding duties for Violet as his top
priority. Even over the Authority’s wishes.
I was pretty sure he was in love with Violet. I
still didn’t think she knew.
“Hi, Violet,” I said in my best chipper
voice.
“Allie, it’s good to see you.” She stood and I gave
her a hug, and the woman next to us got up and found someone more
interesting to talk to. I had the distinct feeling people were
going out of their way not to be seen near me.
Smart of them.
“It’s good to see you too,” I said. “Can we talk?
About the business?”
“Sure.” She started toward the door, and Kevin fell
into place behind her. “Is something wrong?”
“No, I just have a couple questions.”
We made it to the door and into the hall, Kevin
following at a polite distance. I was right. People moved aside as
we approached.
I strolled the opposite way of Bartholomew’s
retreat. I figured the place was littered with spy spells, and
actual people spying on us. Throwing a Mute wouldn’t do much good.
It’d just look even more suspicious and gather even more attention.
So instead, I just walked a little way, then asked, “Do you
understand what position they are giving you?”
“Kevin and I have had long talks. I have a fair
understanding of what will be required from me. And,” she added,
“the costs involved if I don’t meet those requirements.”
“It’s dangerous,” I said.
“Your father held this position for years.”
“And then it got him killed.”
She stopped walking and turned toward me. “What do
you know about his death?”
“Not enough to take it to the police, but enough
that I am sure the motives point back to people involved in the
Authority.”
“James Hoskil was convicted of killing him,” she
said.
“Won’t be the first time the courts have gotten it
wrong.”
She frowned.
“Especially if there is a powerful organization, or
people, or person who want the courts to get it wrong,” I
added.
“Is this accusation enough for me to turn down the
position? You have no proof, Allie, and if I align my work more
firmly with the Authority, I will have more access to the other
disciplines of magic use. Think of what that will mean for
developing new technologies. And you’ll benefit from it as well.
Beckstrom Enterprises has invested in several of the patents I’m
developing to bring to market.”
“I don’t care about the money.” A man walked
brusquely past us and headed down the stairs. I waited until he was
gone before continuing. “I don’t care about it. What I care about
is you and my baby brother. I’ve just watched the Authority make
two of my friends pay the price for failing to meet Bartholomew’s
requirements.”
She was quiet a moment. “I understand you’re
worried,” she said evenly. “And I really appreciate your talking to
me about it. But the access to their magical knowledge, new magical
knowledge that might be the key for me pressing forward with my
designs—” She shook her head.
“I can’t turn it down, Allie. I can’t walk away
from that kind of knowledge. But Kevin had his concerns too and
I’ve written up a contract that Mr. Wray signed. It specifies what
information they can remove if I am ever to be Closed. My memories
of working with the Authority and the people of the Authority will
be taken, but my research with magic and technology integration
will not be. It’s the chance of a lifetime.”
I couldn’t believe that she was calmly weighing the
risks and then writing up contracts to outline how exactly someone
should give her a lobotomy. That kind of practical, logical,
unemotional decision making was beyond me.
“There’s nothing I can say to change your mind?” I
asked.
“I can’t see how the risk outweighs the benefits of
knowledge.” She took my hand. “And I might just step down after a
month or two. But I am going to do this, Allie. Even if it’s just
for a short time. I want to.”
“Things weren’t as bad before Bartholomew came into
town,” I said trying to give her something. And while that was
true, it was also true that things hadn’t been good for the
Authority for as long as I’d been involved. “I do not agree with
his methods or his decisions. I don’t trust him. At all.”
I wanted to say more, to tell her everything that
had happened, that had been happening. But some of what had
happened involved my dead dad’s support and help. Violet was a very
smart woman. It wouldn’t take her long to start asking me
questions, poking holes in the sequence of events. It wouldn’t take
her long to begin wondering if my dad was still alive.
And I did not want to put her through that pain
again. He was dead-ish. But she had loved him very much. If she
knew his soul or whatever, still resided in my head, would she
start developing tech to try to house the undead? And what would
the Authority do with that kind of technology?
“I will proceed as cautiously as I can.” She
smiled. “And really? I don’t think my life will be that much
different. I’ll go down to the lab during the day, and spend the
rest of my time raising little Daniel.” She started walking.
“That’s pretty much how it would be even if I weren’t working with
the Authority. It’s all good.”
“I hope it will be,” I said as we walked back
toward the meeting room. But I knew, with every stitch of my being,
that it wouldn’t.
Violet strolled into the room. I paused in the
doorway. As Kevin walked past me, he whispered, “I’ll watch her.
You and I need to talk.”
He didn’t pause, just kept walking. I was pretty
sure no one would have seen him speaking to me.
A few people headed over to talk with Violet.
Terric was still surrounded by a crowd, as was Melissa Whit. Jingo
Jingo wasn’t there. I wondered if I could look up where he was
staying. Maybe I could go solve the problem that was Jingo Jingo on
my own.
I turned and started down the stairs. Maybe Violet
and Terric were handling this the right way. Staying calm, being
logical. Playing the game Bartholomew wanted to play.
Bartholomew wasn’t a permanent fixture in Portland.
He was the Watch for the entire region, so it made sense that
someone somewhere would need his attention soon. It was possible
Violet was right to think of this as a one- or two-month gig.
My gut told me different. My gut told me this was
just the beginning of a very bad thing.