17th December (Wednesday), Late evening
I’d already talked with Sophie about leaving Liora with her on Earth. About how to care for him and what he really needed. And all three of us had agreed it’d be better to let him roam my or Peter’s Domain most of the ti, spending ti with Soph whenever I was around. As much as she adored him, his needs were bigger than what our apartnt could offer. Sophie, my girl, took it like a champ.
Lio, on the other hand, dimd his scales as decisions settled, the vibrant sharpness of his colors fading into soft pastels. I wished he’d react the sa way whenever I left him.
Today however, since I was staying on Earth, they were together. Nick was visiting Sophie at our apartnt, and she was buried in research, rummaging through the internet to prepare for the tasks she’d set herself as my new right hand and Liora stayed to keep her company.
I, on the other hand, had a different mission. I’d procured leftovers of so of Lebens’ magical energy crackers, and now I waited outside the main entrance of Edge of Tomorrow, pretending to be cold so as not to stick out. I’d texted Zoe a few minutes earlier and sat at the bench in their little plaza, reminiscing about the short ti I’d spent here as Elle.
Beneath my feet, an entire lab filled with monstrous shadows. Creatures I now realized weren’t just mindless manifestations of dreams, myths, or legends. They were alive, aware, and caged. Experinted on. Tortured. The thought left a bitter taste in my mouth. Should I try to get them out? Or was it a fool’s errand, one that would only get dragged under with them?
I had been taught to be ruthless when it was needed, and I could still be that. I didn’t mind. As Peter had helped realize, not everything Penrose had drilled into was wrong. Yet it wasn’t entirely in my nature to just walk away from those in need when I knew I could help.
I’d done it before. For the policen chasing a car on the bridge, back when I tried my body-painting for the first ti. For the mory boy threatened by Red in the Castle on that sa bridge. For Malik, more than once, even when I thought it foolish. I’d run across the world after Jason. And I’d chosen to help the Shattered despite the obvious, glaring differences between us.
Had I always been like this?
Phillip would tell I’m soft. That compassion is a weight that drags the great down to diocrity. But truthfully, each ti I stepped between the unfortunate and the forces trying to end them, I got hurt, yet I also felt whole. I felt good about myself.
Maybe that’s what my way really is. Not ruthlessness for its own sake, but stepping in, even when it costs .
Acting would require a plan. Charging into that laboratory in a blaze of heroics would end fast, so for now the cruelty had to continue. I’d have to wait until I had both the ti and the capacity to do sothing about it.
Such a cruel world, I thought, just as Zoe Harper appeared, breaking free from the spiral of my own thoughts.
She’d dressed down for work, as if trying to disappear into the crowd: plain blue jeans tucked into high boots, a long brown coat cinched at the waist, and a bright red scarf under a winter hat. She looked like a typical New York woman on a winter stroll and yet, as always, people’s eyes slid toward her the mont she erged. Confidence like hers bent the air around it. That constant attention must be exhausting, but she moved as if she didn’t even notice.
I stood as she approached and hugged her. She returned it, warmth radiating off her like a charge, and so of my own energy flowed back into . I half-feared she’d hold Peter’s arrest against .
“Hi, girl,” I whispered in her ear as we parted.
“It’s good to see you whole, Lex,” she murmured back. “I left you on… uncertain terms, back where… you know.”
“I’m sorry for not calling. I knew Peter had it covered, and my head’s been… full. I’m trying to do better now.”
“I can see that.” She sat with on the bench. “I don’t have much ti. Work’s been swallowing whole. Which was a blessing—I didn’t have to think about what happened—but it’s wearing down now.”
“That’s actually why I ca here today. Shocker, I know.”
Her eyes flicked to mine. “What do you an?”
“I an, I usually ca to you when I wanted sothing.”
“That can’t be true.” A faint smile. “I never felt it that way.”
“Good to know. I have crackers for you.”
I handed her a small lunch box. She accepted it, setting it on her lap, then leveled her icy gaze back at .
“They’re made by Nick’s mother,” I said. “Eat one when you go back to work. They’ll wash away exhaustion better than coffee.”
“Seriously?” Her eyes widened.
“Yes. And that’s all. I just wanted to see you and give them to you. I’m looking forward to Friday night with you.”
“Movie night, right?”
“Mhm.”
“Not my favorite thing, but with the right crowd it could work.” She winked. “Thank you for the gift, Alexa. And for coming just because. It ans a lot.”
“You’re welco. I’ve neglected my friends long enough.”
She laughed—a lodic little ripple—and then said, deadpan: “That’d be true if you had any.”
I laughed in turn. “True.”
But her expression stayed serious, eyes narrowing slightly. “Listen. I wanted to check that thing you gave , but I couldn’t. It had a tracker inside. Would’ve switched on the mont I plugged it in or turned it on.”
“Oh. I forgot about that. What did you do with it?”
“I still have it at ho, buried deep. You want it back?”
“Yeah. Maybe I can try it sowhere else, out there. Think the signal would still work?”
“Phones don’t, so maybe not. But on the other hand, that’s the tech they’re working on… so maybe?”
“I’ll ask Pete to get it for next ti he’s at yours, okay?”
“Sure. Sorry for chickening out.”
“No, that’s good. That’s smart. I’d hate to be the cause of another batch of trouble.”
“Alexa, I’ll say this only once, and I hope it’s the last ti. I’m not a sagely type of person, and I hate to preach.” Zoe’s eyes locked on mine, sharp but not unkind. “Get over yourself, girl. Just because you’re part of people’s problems doesn’t an you’re the cause. Jason’s disappearance? That’s on him. He’s been uneven for a while, and they took him. Peter’s arrest? On him too, he decided to protect Jason. Malik’s got his own issues, from what I’ve heard. So far, it looks to like you’re not the root of anyone’s problems, but a solution to a lot of them.”
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“But—” I tried.
“No buts, girl.” She cut off with a flick of her hand. “I told you I’d only say it once. I know your people skills. I saw you use them in the Castle. Consider yourself one of the people and figure out what makes you tick.”
She stood up.
“It’s not as easy when I’m the target,” I muttered, following her with my eyes.
“Life’s hard. I know.” She gave a small, devastatingly pretty smile over her shoulder and waved. It was almost impossible not to feel better about yourself when Zoe Harper gave you a smile like that.
Only when she vanished into the building, I drifted toward the island’s train station at a slow, deliberate pace. My boots scraped through the thin skin of snow clinging stubbornly to the concrete, tiny remnants of winter lting over this monstrous testant to human engineering and ingenuity.
I thumbed Thomas’s contact on my phone and listened to the beeps echo softly against the cavernous station. Night already. If not now, I might miss my chance, and sothing in said this couldn’t wait.
The beeping cut off, and his voice filled the hollow space it left behind.
“Alexa?”
“Yes. Could I co now?” I asked, stepping into the underground station and angling toward the restrooms.
“To the car?” he responded. “Yeah, now would be great actually. Give a few minutes, I’ll park sowhere.”
“You’re driving it?”
“Yes.”
“I can co anyway. You don’t have to park.”
“True. Forgot about it. Co in.”
I slipped into a public restroom stall. With one thought, I summoned my spellbook; with another, I steadied myself, focusing on the painted interior of the camper as my anchor.
The world lurched. Montum twisted inside out. My boots hit the RV’s floor and, for a second, gravity tried to throw forward. My new reflexes—mobility sharpened by shadowlight, agility tuned tighter than before—let reposition mid-step. I stayed upright without having to grab anything.
The camper, though, had changed. The cozy suburban vibe I rembered was gone. In its place: racks of pistols and assault rifles, boxes of ammunition, matte armor plates stacked like grim puzzle pieces. It was a mobile armory now, slling of iron, oil, and scorched tal instead of coffee and upholstery.
Up front, Thomas drove steadily down a highway, headlights slicing through the dark as he slipped past slower cars. I thumbed the button to end our call, my mind flicking briefly to the cell towers—how did they even register my jump across space?
“You there?” Thomas asked as I moved toward the passenger seat.
“Were you expecting another mage?” I slid in, fastening my seatbelt.
“To be honest, Alexa, lately I’m expecting the unexpected.” His tone was tight, brittle, like soone waiting for a blow.
“What do you an?” I kept my eyes on the road ahead, the highway a sar of lights and shadows.
“That’s why I wanted to talk to you.” He exhaled hard, knuckles white on the wheel. “Since Penrose got in bed with this arcane fuckery, he’s changed. Considerably.”
“I know.”
“No, fuck, you don’t.” He barely took a breath between words. “Excuse my language, but that’s the truth. You’ve got it easy, you can ghost away. I’m stuck with him. It used to be simple, Alexa. A job, a trade, maybe so extortion. Sotis I took care of the dirtier business, but at least I knew the man above had principles. Values. As long as I did what was expected, I’d be a wealthy, happy man. Now? Now I don’t know what’s expected anymore. These past few days have been a rollercoaster. We kidnapped so old woman, gave her away to a corporate bitch. Penrose killed his seer. He sent to this artificial island to speak with the woman who took the old lady. She tells we’ve got nothing she wants. Penrose gets mad. Fucking mad, Alexa. Have you ever seen him furious?”
“No. He’s almost always composed, even when he’s angry. How did it look?”
“You rember Norah?”
“She worked with you during that bank job?”
“Yeah. I took her to the eting on the island and later back to Penrose to report. He asked a question, she answered.”
“Oh no.”
“Yeah. Normally he’d tear her apart with words, make her feel small, teach her a lesson. But this ti? He got angry. So fucking angry he shouted.”
“He killed her?”
“Yeah. Beheaded her with a note.”
“A note?”
“He turned a hundred-dollar bill into a guillotine. Long, wide, sharp as hell. Beheaded her with Benjamin Franklin.”
“Oh. Wow.”
“Wow indeed.”
“Sorry, bad choice of words.”
“No, I get it. It’s incredible. But it’s unnerving, Alexa, when you know one mistake can get you killed. And he’s always playing with a coin or a stack of bills now. His account’s so full he’s already elevated himself above fucking 1%. I can’t keep working for him. I’m looking for an out like you did.”
“Where are you going right now?”
“Boston.”
“You’re disappearing?”
“What? Are you crazy?” Thomas gave a humorless laugh, eyes locked on the road. “There’s no place on Earth I can hide from a man with all the money in the world and then so. If I ditched him, he’d find and make an example out of . I’d rather be killed quietly than turned into a spectacle.”
“You’re running an errand for him, then?”
“Yes. USG’s headquarters are in Boston. I’m supposed to et an archmage there and hand over Penrose’s proposal. They don’t want to talk on the phone. Apparently there’s so rogue archmage on the loose, killing others through his Domain of Calls or sothing, so they’re going old-school for now.”
“I could get you into Ideworld, Thomas,” I said quietly. “He’d have a much harder ti finding you there. It would be more dangerous, though.”
Thomas’s grip on the wheel tightened. “I don’t think anything is scarier to than that man,” he admitted. “But I need to do this delivery first. If I’m about to disappear, I don’t want any debts or extra reasons for him to hunt down. I’ll arrange a fake death and vanish after.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I murmured.
We drove in silence for a while. He never asked to stay, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave him like that. Not when he had never left . I should have seen this, whatever it was, as another ruse of Penrose’s, so subtle trap ant to cage . But I trusted Thomas to be his own man, despite the unwavering loyalty to Phillip he had shown before. I had been like that too, only weeks ago.
My mind drifted toward my own plans, as the highway lights flickered past, one after another, casting us in their brief, passing glow.
“I gotta tell you, man,” I started, leaning back against the armrest, “I’m a little insane in the mbrane.”
Thomas flicked a sideways glance and nodded. That confirmation made chuckle.
“As soon as you said ‘Guild headquarters,’ I wanted to be there with you. Check them out. Why mingle with New York’s branch when I can go to the source? Mad, right?”
“Why would you want to do anything with them anyway?”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” I said. “And you know what? I want power and knowledge. I want to learn the deepest secrets of the world. No, scratch that, of the both worlds.”
“You think they’ll share with you?”
I arched a brow. “Are you kidding?”
“You want to steal it.” His tone had no question in it.
“Of course.”
He snorted. “How do you even steal soone else’s magic?”
“I’ve learned there are a lot of pieces to making a Domain powerful,” I said. “Most of those pieces are tangible. Movable. And I bet that’s just the tip of what people in these generational organizations hoard for themselves.”
Thomas’s mouth twitched. “Maybe your impulse isn’t that insane. But on the other hand, those people are probably deadly as hell if they’re at the top.”
“You think I should go or pass, then?”
“You?”
“Not as ,” I said. “I’ve decided to dust off Jess Hare as my proxy for dealing with those witches.”
“Good choice. She’s hot as hell.”
I tilted my head. “Are you hitting on now?” Would I mind it?
“That was just an observation. Based on her hair color and deanor.”
“You’re not attracted to ?” I asked quickly, but even before all of the words left my mouth I already knew the answer.
“Alexa,” he said, with a small laugh. “You’re a beautiful young woman, but you’re not my demographic.”
The realization clicked into place, fully confird. “You’re gay.”
“Yeah. Gay as fuck.” He laughed outright now.
“I can’t believe I never noticed before.”
“I have another confession to make on the subject of noticing. I have a hard ti seeing it’s you when you switch personas,” no shit Tommy.
I smirked. “We both have blind spots for each other.”
“That we do.”
“You have anyone special in your life, Thomas?”
“I’ve had a few flings. Mostly sex. No one I’d drag into my ss.”
“Makes dying easier,” I murmured.
“Yes. But will Penrose believe it?”
“He could, if we make it right.”
Thomas looked at then, eyes dark and tired. “So you’ll help disappear?”
“From him,” I said.
“What do you an by that?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.
“I don’t want you completely gone. I like you. I like working with you. You’d waste yourself hiding in so hole Reality only knows how long. Besides…” he glanced at , “you didn’t really answer my question. Should I go et those assholes in wizard hats at headquarters?”
“You planned to et them in New York anyway. If you want, you can co with .”
“Our city’s branch wants to keep on indefinite hold, show who’s boss before they’ll let et the big hats. Skipping that step probably won’t end well for .”
“I don’t see it that way.” he leaned back, “If you get leverage at headquarters, they’ll have to bend. They’re hostile from the start anyway, so you’ve only got upside.”
“If only it were as simple as ga theory,” I muttered. “It can go wrong on so many levels it’s hard to predict. And I know nothing about those people yet.”
Thomas smirked faintly. “We’ll see then whose people skills are better, then.”
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