We didn’t waste any time. We didn’t have any to waste, you see. I’d already calculated how long it would take me to walk from here to the town hall. If only Max’s house had been a little further into the city, it would have given me more time. As it was, I had an hour.
Frank stood at the kitchen table, poring over a blueprint of the power company. I’d snuck into Josh’s office and used his printer to print one out. Frank had managed to get the blueprint – and don’t ask me how.
Now he stood there, his hands on his hips as his gaze kept ticking methodically from left to right.
I don’t think I’d ever felt like this – like I was preparing to go out to war.
I was surprising myself by how even my mood was. Though occasionally a blast or two of fear sailed through my gut, all too soon, I would regain control and continue to pour over some documents. While Frank was trying to plan our incursion, I was doing something else.
Once we eliminated the illusionists at the power plant, that would only be the first stage of this plan. If we really wanted to have a chance against the Cruze Gang, then we had to pull their competition into this fight.
Frank had given me a list of the opposing gangs in Madison City. There were the Arvaks and the Xs.
The Arvaks were relative newcomers. They’d been a successful warlock and witch gang from the eastern states. They’d only recently pushed into Madison’s city, considering it was a distribution point for D 20. They obviously had enough ambition and sheer firepower to think they could take on the Cruze Gang and start attacking their supply chains.
The Xs were another matter. They were one of the city’s oldest gangs. They’d been here long before the Cruze Gang. They weren’t into drugs. They focused on the distribution of illegal magical goods. And reading between the lines, it sounded as if they hated the Cruze Gang for bringing more heat to Madison City. Before the Cruzes had moved in, the police had largely ignored the X gang. Now, if it weren’t for the fact the police were studded with Cruze plants, the gangs of Madison City would be inundated by the Law.
I kept swiveling my gaze between the information on the Arvak Gang in the X Gang. I was trying to figure out which one was a better pick. You see, we needed to pretend to be one of them when we assaulted the power plant.
But it didn’t matter how many times I ticked my head between the gangs – I couldn’t figure out which was a better option.
I sighed, the sound echoing out as I brought a hand up and locked it over my face.
Frank had found a cache of weapons in Josh’s office. He was currently checking the butt of a magical gun, cleaning it or something. He looked up. “If it’s not working, I suggest you take it back to something you’re familiar with.”
I leaned back in my chair, allowing my arms to fall by my sides as I faced him with a defeated expression. “What do you mean?”
“I think you’re trying too hard to locate opportunities. That’s not how your magic works. Bring it back to what you know, and see what you can do.”
Frank had been the one to suggest that I could locate opportunities in the first place – and now he seemed to be suggesting I should give up. But what he was really saying was that I should return to the original premise behind my power. Again I remembered the advice Max had given me in the VIP lounge. Follow my feelings. Sink myself into them until they taught me where to go.
Leaning forward, I clamped my tensed fingers on my brow, closed my eyes, and centered my awareness. I plunged it deep into my stomach as I waited for it to tell me what to do next. I was keenly aware of the fact that Max was a fully-fledged opportunity finder, and yet even he had his limitations. Here I was – a new found locator – and surely I would have no chance of matching his skill.
Just before I could sense defeat creeping through my chest and sinking into my stomach as if I’d swallowed ice melt, I frowned.
I reminded myself of what Frank had just suggested – it was time to take things back to basics, ha?
I closed my eyes and concentrated on the first time I’d found anything – Stanley, the testing officer who’d been the one to tell me I was a finder.
When I’d discovered Stanley, I’d done so simply by following where my feet had wanted to take me. I hadn’t made a specific decision. All I’d done was follow my feelings.
As I concentrated on that memory, my hand darted out of its own free will, and the next thing I knew as I opened my eyes, I’d selected one of the piles of paper.
Frank stared at me with keen attention. “Have you picked one?”
I grabbed the papers and nodded. As soon as my fingers settled around them, I realized I was onto something. “The Xs,” I said.
He took a moment to nod, and the movement was strong with confidence. “Makes sense. They may not be as new and ambitious as the Arvaks – and they may not have attacked the Cruze Gang as much, but if there’s one gang in town that harbors hatred toward the Cruze – it’s the Xs.”
“Do you think you know enough about them to make it seem as if the attack comes from them?”
He didn’t hesitate and nodded immediately. “Definitely. The Xs have a specific calling card. Whenever they attack, they mark the walls of an establishment with their tag – a box with two lines struck through it.”
“Sounds easy enough. So….”
He kept checking his gun until, with a click, he was obviously satisfied that it was ready to go. “Yeah. Are you ready for this?” There was a specific look in his eye, and it was a question. The same question rang hard through his tone.
I answered by standing up. “I’ve never been on an operation like this before, but I’m sure we’ll adapt.”
If this was Josh, he would snort in my face and tell me I was an idiot. Frank simply nodded in agreement.
The next thing I knew, Frank was drawing a magical circle on the floor of the kitchen. Fortunately he was using chalk and not a permanent marker. Even though all of this was ultimately in aid of saving Josh and Max, if we permanently marked the old heritage tiles of Max’s kitchen, I’m sure he’d be none too pleased.
I stood back as I watched Frank get to work. He was efficient and quick. He didn’t waste a single movement of his body – and nor did he seem to waste any magic.
A lot of magical practitioners practice with unnecessary flare. Frank was efficient and didn’t waste a scrap of magic or a single second. He was done casting the spell in under two minutes.
Magic started to charge through the room. I could taste it on the tip of my tongue and hear it sizzling like chicken thrown in a pan of hot oil.
Frank turned to me, but he didn’t bother to ask if I was ready. He arched his neck toward the circle. “It’ll be ready to go in 30 seconds. Be prepared. I set the circle to reopen right in the middle of the power station. Our only opportunity is to take them by surprise. I’ll be relying on you.”
I nodded hard.
I’d never been the kind of person who liked all those war bravado films and games. And honest to God, I would’ve thought I would crumble in a situation like this, but I kept my head up and my back straight.
The magic continued to build. There was a pressure in the air as if the room was about to get struck by lightning.
Though not all transport spells took this much energy, most transport spells didn’t have to travel as far as this. The distance from Max’s townhouse to the middle of the power station was a good 30 kilometers. That would tax any warlock’s magic. Plus, Frank had cast this spell so it would take longer to produce on this side but would be practically instantaneous when we arrived.
The seconds ticked by until with one direct move, Frank pointed forward.
We both jumped into the magical circle.
It was the first time I’d transported, and it was an experience I would never forget. As we sank through the portal, I felt myself being pulled apart. Though you’d think that would be a terrifying experience, at the same time, a sense of utter exhilaration filled me until I thought I would pop.
While my body reacted to the magic pulling me apart, the magic within me sung at the same time.
The time between being broken apart and reappearing in the center of the power station was negligible.
It was easily the most confusing experience of my life. I went from sinking down through the floor in the kitchen to standing in a hail of sparks in the middle of a drab, concrete and steel room.
The room we arrived in had to be some kind of central storage room. There were great massive rounds of wire on huge wooden spools. There were massive old contraptions which I couldn’t even begin to guess the purpose of, and there was old computing equipment from the seventies.
There were also two warlocks.
Illusionists.
I didn’t need to guess that – I figured it out. Because as soon as we arrived, they split.
I was ready for it, and I pointed out the closest illusionist before he could attack Frank.
Frank was absolutely charged with magic. He was a deep, deep green – the color of moss growing over a forest log.
He didn’t hesitate, and he didn’t question. He sent a powerful kick charging toward the direction I pointed out. His kick landed hard against an invisible illusionist’s jaw. There was the sound of bone clicking, and the guy reappeared, instantly tumbling backward and slamming hard against the old concrete floor.
I spun to the side, falling to my knees just as I jerked a hand up. “A meter that way,” I screamed.
Frank spun, easily looking like Chuck Norris as he did a roundhouse kick to the side.
This illusionist was a little trickier, and just before Frank’s kick could land home, the guy dodged back.
“To the left,” I screamed.
The illusionist dodged once more. He also kept splitting himself off. He was easily one of the most powerful I’d ever faced. Not, of course, that I’d faced that many. But I was starting to get a feel for how they used their magic. If I concentrated on their bodies and the distinct feel of their illusion spell, it was easy as pie to track them through the room. And this was no different. “A meter to my right – he’s ducking down,” I bellowed.
This time Frank acted with all his force. He jumped up and launched forward, his magic seeing him sail toward the ground like he was a character out of a video game. He brought his fist around and slammed it into the exact position where I knew the illusionist was.
His fist struck muscle with an almighty whack, and the illusionist appeared as his head jerked to the side. The guy tumbled backward several meters until he fell against the concrete, unconscious.
Frank didn’t need to order me. I knew what to do next. I pitched forward, reaching the closed door. I placed a hand on it, half closed my eyes, and concentrated on my ability to find.
I still wasn’t 100 percent convinced that I had the added skill of being able to find opportunities. But Frank was right. My ability to find objects and more abstract things like safe havens was starting to blur. So as I placed my hand flat on the door, I asked myself a simple question. Was it safe beyond? Would I find enemies, or would I find nothing?
The answer was nothing. Or at least, for now.
“Let’s go,” I said as I brought a hand forward and pointed at the door. I opened it.
Frank’s heavy footfall was right behind me. “They’re coming.” He jerked his head to the side.
Frank obviously had the same ability as Josh – though perhaps not as well developed. He could use his magic to bolster his body. And right now I had to assume that he was using his power to increase his ability to hear. I couldn’t pick up footsteps, but about 10 seconds later, I saw the door on the opposite side of the room explode in a hail of sparks.
We made a gamble in coming here. The gamble had been that there wouldn’t be any ordinary warlocks amongst the illusionists. That gamble quickly failed. Three men walked into the room. Two were obviously illusionists, because as soon as they saw us, they split themselves off and made their real forms invisible. The other guy? He just charged with magic.
I didn’t have the breath to warn Frank, but he obviously didn’t need that warning, either. He jerked back, his lips spreading wide in a hard swear word that echoed through the room.
I didn’t know where we were – I hadn’t studied the blueprints as well as Frank had before we’d come here. But we seemed to be close to the power distribution center. If I had to guess, it was right through the thick concrete wall to our side.
It was huge and obviously well-insulated. But that wasn’t the point. The point was that the standard warlock suddenly used it as a weapon. He sent his hand jerking toward it, and five sparks erupted from his five fingers. They shot across the room, sank into the concrete wall, and started wriggling their way through it as if they were the mechanical equivalent of worms.
“Down,” Frank spat, his voice punching through the room and echoing off the high ceiling above.
I didn’t need to be told twice. I flattened myself. It was just in time. Concrete sparks erupted through the room, racing toward us. There was nothing I could do, and my heart pounded with the fear that I was about to be torn in half.
But Frank obviously had other ideas. “Don’t move,” he bellowed as his magic sprang up over his form and covered mine, too. It was just in time as those concrete sparks reached us.
Something else reached us, too. “Just above you. Just above you!” I shrieked.
Frank punched a hand forward. It was covered with so much magic that the damn power leaped off his body in bright lines of flame. He didn’t manage to strike the illusionist who I knew was just above him – but instead managed to punch a hail of those concrete sparks. Either he managed to take control of the magic that was being used to move them – or he simply brute forced them. The point was, he made them slam out in every direction.
It caught the illusionist who was seconds from attacking Frank. It sent the man jerking backward. He became visible just as concrete embedded in his chest. It wasn’t deep enough to kill him, just to draw a few splatters of blood as he was thrown backward several meters.
That left one more illusionist and the angry warlock.
This was mad. Totally and utterly mad. Or maybe I was the mad person for thinking it would be anything different. We were assaulting a contingent of the Cruze Gang’s illusionists.
But there was no going back, was there?
I pushed to my feet, all the time concentrating on the remaining illusionist. He was holding back, keeping to the safety of the general warlock. The general warlock wasn’t attacking, either. He stood there, his hands curled, his head held down, his eyes blazing with green power.
I wanted to ask why they weren’t attacking, considering they’d been frenzied until now, but I could tell why not. They’d obviously figured out that I was the finder their entire gang was after, and they were holding back to regroup.
Frank didn’t let them do that, though. He leaned toward me just as he formed a fist. I could practically hear his fingers curling in. The sound of them crunching was like listening to trees being crushed by a meteorite. “Tell me what to attack.”
There was a difference between me finding an object – whether it be a testing officer or a safe path – and me being able to figure out what the best angle of attack was. Or at least, there should be a difference between the two. But right now my ability to reason – and most importantly, my ability to doubt myself – had been completely shut down. Fear and the knowledge I had to get through this were the only two emotions controlling me. Before I knew what I was doing, I pointed up.
To the ceiling.
So Frank attacked. Again, he didn’t question me. I fancied I could tell him to kill himself, and he probably would – that was just how far his trust went for me.
But I hadn’t told him to kill himself, and as Frank’s magic sailed toward the ceiling, my plan paid off.
I could find the illusionists when they split themselves off, because I was looking for them. One limitation of my power was I couldn’t find what I wasn’t looking for.
There would be no serendipity around me. And yet, that’s precisely what happened as Frank’s magic sailed upward. It didn’t end up striking the ceiling and rather slammed against some invisible object held against it.
Sparks and flames spewed out in every direction, sailing down and crackling through the air until it was like we’d walked into a bonfire.
I jerked my head up just in time to see what the object was.
A hidden case of weapons.
Frank’s spell hadn’t just been enough to disrupt the invisibility charm – it’d been enough to dislodge whatever was attaching them to the ceiling.
They started to hail down all around us.
The general warlock attacked.
No more holding back, obviously.
The illusionist sprinted forward, too – splitting off into two men as he cast his real body under an invisibility spell.
With weapons hailing down all around me – some of them live – it was almost too much for me to follow. And I imagined that was precisely what the illusionist was going for. But just at the last moment when the illusionist’s real form came perilously close to me, it was my turn to throw out a punch. It connected with the guy’s jaw, but almost immediately, he brought up his hand and grabbed hold of my wrist.
Alarm spiked through me. Frank was busy with the general warlock as he threw spell after spell at him.
So, in other words, there was no one to save me.
But I didn’t need anyone to save me.
Just at the right moment, I opened my hand, and a freaking gun fell into it.
I twisted around and fired just as the illusionist tried to wrap a hand around my throat.
The gun was no ordinary gun – it was magical. And though I didn’t know that much about magical weaponry, Josh had forced me to brush up ever since, you know, I’d joined him as a bounty hunter. After all, he always emphasized that the creeps we brought in had no trouble getting their hands on illegal magical weaponry, and even less trouble using it.
So I knew what the gun was as I twisted around and fired at the illusionist. It was something called a bubble gun. Sounds cute, right? Sounds like the kind of thing you would buy your kid so they could enjoy the whole day blowing bubbles around the park.
Yeah, not that kind of gun. A blistering blue bolt of light erupted from the muzzle. As soon as it hit the illusionist, he became visible. Massive cascading jets of sparks blasted around him. It sounded like I’d just walked in on a parade. The guy jerked back, and the next thing he knew, he was lifted off his feet and into the air. The magic that was spinning around him started to form a bubble. His body dropped and became limp as that bubble rose toward the ceiling.
It wouldn’t kill him. It wasn’t designed to kill him. It was the kind of weapon you used to incapacitate your enemies for hours at a time.
Frank was still fighting the general warlock. I spun around. I didn’t shoot him with a bubble gun. I wasn’t that stupid. It wasn’t just that the bubble gun had its own magic and could react to the generalized magic the warlock was casting – it was that the sense inside me that kept looking for opportunities told me not to bother.
So rather than shoot the warlock, my eyes chanced upon another gun several feet away. Before I could question what was going on in my head, I shifted forward and kicked it toward Frank.
Possibly it was a stupid move. After all, what was to stop the general warlock from dashing forward and grabbing the gun?
It paid off.
Frank seemed to be waiting for it. He shifted to the floor, dropped to a knee, rolled, grabbed up the gun, and fired.
I didn’t know what kind of gun it was. Unlike the bubble gun – I’d never brushed up on it.
I got my answer, however, when a wave of silence shot through the room. You’d think silence couldn’t shoot anywhere, but you’d be wrong. It absorbed all sound as it blasted out. I went from listening to the crackling residual sparks of the bubble spell above me, to hearing nothing, not even an echoing or ringing in my head.
But if it was bad for me, it was worse for the general warlock. He dropped down to his knees and clasped his hands over his ears as he screamed. Or at least, he tried to scream. No words appeared to come out of his mouth.
Frank put him out of his misery, shunting forward and punching the guy right across the jaw with the kind of blow that would work on a frigging elephant, let alone a warlock.
There was a thump as his body hit the ground, and that was over.
Frank turned to me as he took a heavy breath. Sweat lined his brow and dripped down his temples. His hair was messy, and his shirt was torn.
I didn’t even bother to look at myself. Who frigging cared what I looked like? I smiled. “I can’t believe we just did that. Do you think there are more illusionists?”
“I’d ask you that question, but it’s important for you to save your magic. Let’s go. The only way to find out if there’s more is to find out the good old hard way.”
I followed after Frank as he ran toward the door that had been blasted off its hinges.
As I followed, what he’d said struck me.
It was something I’d been playing with ever since I’d found out I was only the second finder in Madison City. Everybody kept telling me that I was almost endlessly powerful, but at the same time, I knew that magic cost. All magic cost. Even sorcerers couldn’t endlessly cast spells. If you thought of magic a little like a body process, it required energy. And when you ran out, the magic ran out.
So Frank was right. We were technically riding high right now, blasting through the illusionists, but I had to keep my finding magic in reserve.
What happened next happened smoothly. Between the two of us, we managed to clear out all of the illusionists and warlocks in the power station. Don’t frigging ask me how we managed it. Okay – do. It seemed that we were perfectly matched to work together. With my finding abilities and my skills at locating the illusionists, and Frank’s raw power, we were a match made in heaven. If your heaven included the ability to clean the city of scum.
By the end of it, once Frank had done several sweeps through the power plant to ensure that no one was left, we stood in the main operating room.
The power plant itself seemed to be largely automated, and the Cruze Gang warlocks had obviously been smart enough not to meddle with those processes. Do that, and the local authorities would be alerted to the fact that somebody was messing around in one of their plants. Now we both stood in front of the old, blinking consoles.
I leaned against one, my arms crossed as I supported my body against the bench behind me. Though Frank had ostensibly been the one to do all the fighting, I was bone weary.
He was covered in marks, grime, sweat, and the occasional cut. And yet, he was standing as tall as ever. I fancied that while he was tired – that fight had given him something he’d needed for ages: revenge against the gang that had ruined his life.
He appeared to let me catch my breath, then he nodded hard. “I’ve marked the walls with the tags of the Xs. So I guess it’s time to go.” He looked at me without asking the obvious question.
It was time for me to figure out where to head next. To be honest, my mind was still reeling from the fact we’d managed to do this at all. I, the mild-mannered waitress, had managed to take on a frigging drug gang made up exclusively of ex-army warlocks.
It would probably take a few hours – if not years – for that fact to sink in.
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and tilted even further back onto the bench behind me. “I think we’re running out of time,” I said, not needing to access my powers to know that.
“You mean it’s time to go try to bust Josh and Max out? Should we do a little bit more damage to the gang before then?” Frank’s eyes flashed as if the prospect of doing more damage to the gang was one of the most welcome in his life.
I brought up a hand and pressed my fingers into my brow as if I was attempting to push all thoughts of weariness aside to get to the grain of magic still left within.
Again Frank didn’t push me. He stood there in the middle of the room, his arms crossed, his biceps bulging, and his mere presence reassuring.
Finally I started to pick up a few scant, scattering charges of magic within me. I followed them. They seemed to… lead me down. Though I hadn’t asked a specific question in my mind, I suddenly got a flash of the sewers.
I frowned.
“What is it? Are you picking something up?”
“Just a memory. I must be fixated on it since this morning. After all – I guess it was kind of traumatic.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Never mind. I’ll try to push past it.”
“I don’t recommend that. Like I’ve said a few times now, I don’t know how your power works, but from experience, you must follow in order to find.”
I blinked one eye open. It was a hell of a wise statement, after all.
Follow to find?
All right. I pushed myself into the images of the sewers that kept flickering through my mind.
They told me… that there was something down there. Something more. Something that would help the situation and enable me to save Max and Josh.
“Frank, how much do you know about the city sewers?”
“I take it this is a question relevant to our situation, and you’re not just randomly interested in the old architecture of Madison city?”
“They are old, aren’t they? And they go everywhere, don’t they?” I found my voice quickening.
It was Frank’s turn to frown as he obviously picked up on my excitement. “You’re right – they are old. And yeah, they do go everywhere. What’s your point?”
“Do you think… do you think they could connect to the City Hall? Do you think,” my voice dropped, “that they could give us an alternate entrance? One the gang might not know about?”
Frank didn’t answer. He looked right at me. “What do you think?”
I opened my mouth. I didn’t honestly know. I had a pulsing headache, and I was dead tired. But at Frank’s question, I sunk myself into the images still flickering through my mind. “I think I’m onto something. I think those sewers could help. I think… I think they’ll help us find an alternate entrance.”
“Then that’s good enough for me,” Frank said as he nodded hard.
“But what if I’m wrong?”
“What if you’re wrong?” he said as he chuckled hard. He also shrugged behind him, indicating the power plant as a whole. “You’re the only finder I’ve ever fought with, but after your display back there, I realize why your powers are legendary. I trust you, Bethany. So let’s do it. Let’s head to the sewers.”
“Don’t we need more of a plan?” I protested as if I hadn’t been the one who’d suggested this in the first place.
“You are our plan. Plus, hopefully we’ve done enough damage to the Cruze Gang to get something rolling here.” He shrugged behind and indicated one of the numerous Xs tags he’d painted on the walls of the power station. “My guess is it will take five minutes or so until the rest of the Cruzes realize something’s up. Speaking of which – we should probably leave,” he commented.
“But you think you’ve done enough damage?” I asked, repeating his question. I probably sounded pathetic and nothing at all like a powerful finder who was meant to be in control.
Frank looked thoughtful this time as he cast his gaze up and to the left. “We went through about 25 illusionists and warlocks there – more than I thought would be stashed here. That’s a hell of a chunk of the Cruze Gang’s illusionist contingent. And considering the illusionists are what make the Cruze Gang so capable of hiding their tracks and bringing in shipments under the police’s noses – then yeah, we’ve done them considerable damage. It’ll be enough to do what we need, anyway – to offer one hell of a distraction while we go in and save Josh and Max.”
My shoulders dropped. “I guess you’re right.”
“You don’t guess – you know,” he said with some authority. “Now,” he brought his hands up, slapped them together, and started rubbing them back and forth, “I don’t have enough magic to waste transporting us into the sewers beneath the City Hall – but I can get us vaguely close. That being said – it’s not a good idea to transport into the sewers. I’m unfamiliar with them, and if I get the location of the exit spell wrong—”
He didn’t have to finish. I made a face.
“Yeah, you understand. So okay, let’s do this.” He got down on his knee and started tracing patterns onto the concrete floor with his fingers. I stood and watched as he muttered spells under his breath. Magic began to fill the room, crackling and buzzing as if we’d walked into a static storm. The next thing I knew, marks appeared underneath Frank’s tracing fingers – enduring little crackles of flame that sank into the concrete.
A circle appeared and began to charge with flame. Frank took a step back and waved me forward.
“Dump your guns,” he said as he nodded at my bubble gun. “They’ll be trackable. The Cruze Gang always use magical biomarkers on all of their stuff, even if it is stolen in the first place.”
I threw my gun to the side.
He brought a hand up and started to count down on his fingers.
He pointed forward.
We both jumped in.
Another chapter was over, and another was about to begin.