“Why are you holding your stomach like that? I already fed you plenty. Don’t you dare tell him I haven’t fed you plenty,” Josh suddenly said as he waggled a finger at me in the elevator.
I frowned at him, my hand locked hard on my belly. “I’ve eaten fine,” I managed.
“Then why are you holding your stomach?” he demanded, a frown marking his lips.
“I—” I began, about to tell him the truth.
Then I reminded myself who I was speaking with. Though Josh sometimes appeared to be a friend, he very much wasn’t. He wasn’t Susan, and there was no way I could confide in him now and let him know what was happening to me.
And what was happening to me?
Max.
Even though my feelings for his brother had become as complicated as all hell, my feelings for Max hadn’t exactly disappeared. They’d just shifted. Shifted until I had two brothers in my heart at the same time.
While I hadn’t seen Jason for the past two weeks, I’d seen Max fleetingly. And every time, he’d been… God, I couldn’t put my finger on it. I wanted to say that he’d been searching – almost as if he’d been searching for an opportunity with me – but… dammit, I didn’t know.
“You don’t need to use the bathroom, do you?” Josh asked as he made a face. “You do know who we’re going to see, don’t you? I don’t need any rumors going around town if you go mess up Madison City’s number one venture capitalist’s bathroom.”
“Do you mind?” I asked.
“Yes. And so will Max. He seems to like you, but if you—”
“I don’t need to use the bathroom. I’m just… feeling a little off,” I managed.
“You don’t look off.”
“Can you just leave it?”
“No, as your employer, I cannot. Max has called us in to find someone. Max,” he emphasized. “I shouldn’t need to remind you that I have an exceedingly complicated history with Max.”
I frowned and looked up at Josh. “You hate talking about your history. Why are you—”
“I am trying to distract you from throwing up all over the elevator. Is it working?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Are you finally going to tell me—”
He snorted, the move so hard, his shoulders shook. “Of course I’m not going to tell you about my history with Max – or anyone else, for that matter. But your hand has dropped,” he said as he nodded at my hand, which had dropped to my side, “so my mission here is done. Now,” he pointed at the lift doors just as there was a ping and they opened, “forward, trusty steed.”
I made a suitable face at that. “I am not your trusty steed. Nor am I your sidekick. Nor,” I said, voice dropping down low, “am I your secretary.”
Josh laughed at that, clapping his hands hard as we strode out of the elevator. “Secretary. I really like the ring of that. I feel like if you were my secretary, I’d have to feed you less. Maybe I can look into changing the terms of your contract,” he said as he continued to waggle a finger in the air.
Now I was onto his game – specifically, distracting me – I ignored him. I tilted my head up, stared at the perfect ceiling, and shoved my hands into my pockets. I was still wearing my leather jacket – though thankfully I’d washed it carefully last night – and it was large enough that as I shoved my hands into my pockets as far as they would go, I managed to press my fists against my stomach. It wasn’t exactly the same as collapsing my palms against my belly, but it was close. It reminded me I had to anchor myself.
“Do you have any questions, anyway? This is usually the point in the game where you snap at me for not telling you more about the bounty we’re going to go pick up.”
“Do you know who Max wants us to track down?” I asked.
“I don’t, actually. He just told me he has a witch who’s gone missing. Unusual, considering he’s not allowed to contract anymore.”
I stopped, my shoes actually skidding against the polished marble. “Sorry, what? Max isn’t allowed to contract people? I thought—”
Josh paled and straightened. “That’s not what I meant—”
“I’m an emotion reader, Josh,” I pointed out quietly. “That’s exactly what you meant. Max isn’t allowed to contract witches? That’s not what you told me. You told me he doesn’t usually contract witches because he doesn’t need any magical help. What does that mean—”
Josh brought his hands up, and he was no longer playing at distracting me. His expression was serious, and he also ticked his gaze from left to right. “Look, can we not discuss this here? That’s a significant secret I just shared with you involuntarily. You’re going to need to keep it quiet,” he added as he demonstrated his urgency by letting his voice drop to a whisper.
I could not drop this, and I took a tight step toward him. Fortunately there were no offices this close to the elevator, and there wasn’t a reception desk, either. It was just a long, uninterrupted corridor, almost as if it was a tunnel leading to a lair. Well, a tunnel that had great views of Madison City from a penthouse level of one of the highest office blocks in the city, that was.
Josh swallowed hard until his Adam’s apple pushed against his collar. “Beth, you’re going to need to drop this. We’re already late, and… you just don’t want to know, okay?”
My eyes widened.
“Shit, I shouldn’t have said you don’t want to know. That’s only going to make you want to find out the truth more, isn’t it?”
I nodded. “Now, just cut to the chase – why isn’t he allowed to contract witches? What happened?”
Josh took a step back. He shot me a look that said the conversation was over. “I’m not going to tell you—”
“Then I’ll just find another way to find out,” I said, emphasizing the word find as I looked at him seriously. “You can make this easy, or you can make this hard. I’m a sorcerer—”
“Are you about to threaten me?” Josh asked, and though there was a playful edge to his tone, it was hard at the same time.
“No, I’m just about to tell you that I’m a finder, and there’s nothing I can’t find,” I said.
There were soft footsteps from behind us.
I jolted hard to the side to see Max walking out of the elevator.
I hadn’t heard it arrive, and I hadn’t heard the doors ping as they’d opened.
There were two elevators side-by-side, and he’d exited from the one we hadn’t used. So technically, he could have been standing there the entire time.
Josh looked, quite rightly, as if he’d just been sprung.
Me?
Though I briefly felt embarrassed, as soon as I looked at Max, I….
He had his hands in his pockets, and he took a quiet step toward us. “The reason I’m not allowed to contract witches is that the last contract I had, I lost,” he said. He didn’t look at me, and he didn’t look at Josh. He looked at his feet, his eyes wide, his emotion real.
My emotion-reading magic told me that. Then again, you wouldn’t need emotion-reading magic to figure that out, anyway. Just looking at his expression would do it. The way his shoulders were hunched, the way his gaze was fixed.
This was a hell of a wound for him.
But it wasn’t just a wound for him.
Josh straightened, and I felt emotion washing off him too. I turned to him in time to see his cheeks pale. He cleared his throat. “Let’s just get to the matter at hand,” he said.
“You don’t want her to know?” Max asked.
“… Don’t want me to know what?”
“Let’s just get to the matter at hand,” Josh said. With every word he said, his emotions became more turgid, flowing through him like a storm. I even saw him shift a hand behind his back and tightly clench it into a fist.
Whatever they were talking about, it had to be a significant wound for both men. And there was only one wound I knew that had cut Josh this deeply.
“Your sister,” I said. “Max… lost your sister?” I managed.
Josh ticked his head hard to the side. “Sometimes I wish you wouldn’t do that,” he said harshly. “You don’t need to find everything,” he added.
I blinked hard at his biting remark. He had been the one to let slip that Max had been banned from having witch contracts, and at the time, I hadn’t read emotion like this coming off him.
But that was Josh. He was a man used to hiding his true feelings and pretending everything was a game until it became clear to everyone that it wasn’t.
I took a step toward him.
He took a step back.
Max looked between us. “I—” he began.
“She doesn’t need to know,” Josh said, his voice hard – perhaps the hardest I’d ever heard him use on Max.
I should drop this. I should clearly drop it. Josh was pulling in on himself, not just emotionally, but physically. His shoulders were hunched, his hands were clasped, and his head was tilted down as his blazing gaze was locked on the floor.
But… there was an opportunity here, wasn’t there?
Max looked at me sharply, and I wondered if it was because he could sense that I had just used my finding magic.
I had made a promise to Josh that I would help find out who’d murdered his sister. But to do that, I needed to know more about his sister in the first place. Yet every time I broached the subject, he’d always do this.
Why?
When I’d offered it, he’d wanted my help. But something had changed. What?
I took a step forward, deciding to go with the opportunity I could sense. Before I could open my mouth, Max shook his head and looked right at me.
I was now certain Max could sense the same opportunity I was sensing, so why was he telling me to drop it?
I opened my mouth wider—
Max cleared his throat and nodded forward. “I’m afraid we don’t have much time on this case.”
“But—” I began.
“I’m going to have to request you both use your full skills,” Max continued, talking right over the top of me.
What was he doing? Why wasn’t he allowing me to ask what needed to be asked?
Josh turned hard, shoved his hands into his pockets, and walked ahead. I caught a glimpse of his expression, and it was… crushed. The kind of crushed expression that gave you the impression it didn’t matter how many times the owner of said expression had been stepped on, he’d still find a way to walk forward carrying all that emotional baggage with him.
I felt sick as I used my emotion-sensing abilities to gauge the depths of Josh’s sorrow.
He continued to stride ahead until he’d left Max and me far behind.
I turned to Max, intending to ask one thing – but as soon as I looked at him, he shook his head hard.
“What may be an opportunity for you may not be an opportunity for others,” he said quietly.
… His comment struck me like a battering ram to the chest. I honestly felt as if someone had pried open my rib cage and shoved a hand into my heart.
I blinked hard. “What?”
“Maybe that was the first lesson I should’ve taught you about opportunity magic. An opportunity for you may not be an opportunity for others.” He had a seriously hardened look about him as he revealed that.
It made me sick. “I just want to help,” I tried.
“What may be an opportunity for you, may not be an opportunity for others,” Max defaulted to saying. Then he shot me one last look – one last unreadable look – and strode off.
We reached his office, though I remained several steps behind both men.
I shoved my hands into my pockets, and my head was directed at the ground as I stared at the marble with wide eyes.
What the hell was going on here?
And why did it feel as if Max wasn’t just talking about this situation?
Max opened the door and held it wide as we walked in.
He shot Josh a pressed-lipped smile as Josh walked past him, but Max appeared to ignore me completely.
There were two expensive chairs in front of Max’s equally expensive desk, and Josh flopped down in one.
At first I didn’t want to sit, but then Max shot me another look. It was so damn complicated – and came along with so much frigging emotion – that I couldn’t help but take a seat. I thumped into it as Max walked around and fell into his own seat. He smoothed down his tie, briefly looked at some papers on the table, then straight over at me. “I need you to find an informant for Internal Affairs.”
“What?” I asked, nose scrunching up high. “But you don’t work for Internal Affairs.”
Though Max had been a river of emotion before, he was back to being the man I knew so well. Somebody who was controlled down to their last fiber. “I need you to find an informant,” he defaulted to saying without explaining anything at all.
Josh was slumped in his chair, his gaze elsewhere as he appeared to be trapped in his thoughts. This was where he should jump to my defense and point out that Max couldn’t exactly give us a contract for someone else.
I sat straighter as I realized I was on my own here. I began to shake my head, but then I stopped. “Why should we find this person for you? You have no ability to contract us.” Hello, I knew this was Max, and equally hello, I knew I owed him so much. He’d come to my defense so many times, and if he was asking for a favor, I should do it. But at the same time, we were on taxpayer dollars, and I was a stickler for doing the right thing.
Maybe Max could appreciate this, because the smallest smile marked his lips. “You are correct – I have no ability to contract you,” he said, and he emphasized the word you. “But I was hoping—”
“We’ll do it,” Josh said. “Of course we’ll do it. Who do you want us to track down?”
I spluttered, but I didn’t say anything. While Max had gone back to being completely controlled, Josh was still practically crumbling underneath the surface. If I pushed him, God knows what he would do.
“Aren’t you interested in who I want you to track down first?” Max asked.
Josh wouldn’t even look at Max. “You know I owe you – so just lay it on the table. Who do you want us to find?”
“What—” I began.
Max looked at me sharply, obviously knowing that I’d been about to ask what the hell was going on. But once more, everyone appeared to want to keep me in the dark.
I thought back to the way Max had looked at me when he’d told me that an opportunity for me might not be an opportunity for other people. What the hell did that mean?
Was he accusing me of being self-serving? Thus far, I’d pretty much only used my powers in order to save others. From Max himself, to the freaking city.
And yet, though I was happy enough to rant about that in my head, I didn’t dare push.
I just wondered what the hell had happened between these two that Max had seemingly lost Josh’s sister, and yet Josh owed Max.
… Had Josh crumpled? Fallen apart after the murder of his sister? Had he done something that only Max had been able to erase?
My mind ticked back to when Josh and I had been kneeling on the bathroom floor of Isabella’s apartment. The way he’d looked at me as he’d told me he’d been there, and there was no point in me doing drugs just to increase my power.
… Could this have something to do with that?
Max looked at me sharply once more, and I wondered if he could tell I was using my powers again. But if I was using finding magic to find out the truth of this situation, it was only subtle – most of this was pure deduction.
“I need to find Olivia,” Max said plainly.
Though Josh had been slumping for most of the conversation, as if he were some surly teenager who’d shut down, he suddenly straightened and frowned. “Your ex-fiancé?”
… Max had an ex-fiancé?
That fact… shouldn’t have surprised me. It really shouldn’t. I’d only known Max for a little under two months. Before that, he’d been one of the city’s most successful businessmen. Of course he’d had an ex-fiancé. But there was a hell of a lot of emotional subtext behind what Josh was saying, suggesting there was something else going on here.
“Yes,” Max said as he tipped his head back, breathed, and placed his hands on the desk. Even though the move looked calm, it wasn’t. The way his hands were clutched might have looked easy, but I could tell there was underlying tension playing up into his wrists and into his elbows and arms. A tension that played specifically around his jaw as he parted his lips once more. “She’s gone missing.”
“She’s an informant for Internal Affairs?” Josh frowned hard. “I thought she’d been so determined never to help them?”
“She became one nonetheless,” Max said. He was now supremely controlled. Maybe he knew how to hide his emotions from an emotion reader, or maybe Max had simply shut down, and the emotional side of him had been buried underneath his reason.
“Why do you want us to look into this? I mean, why won’t Internal Affairs look for her?” I asked.
Max looked as if he wanted to ignore me – and Josh switched his gaze to the table.
I could deal with a lot of things, but the silent treatment was not one of them.
“I’m not sure where her last whereabouts were—” Max began.
Screw this. I’d been through way too much over the past two months to put up with this kind of crap. I stood abruptly and walked out.
“Where are you going? Do you need to—” Josh began.
“No, Josh, I don’t need to use the bathroom. This is me storming out. And this is me storming out because you’re doing it again. You’re telling me half-truths, playing with me, and deciding how much I need to know even though keeping secrets will invariably get me in trouble down the line. I’m not a toy, and neither am I a tool.”
“No one—” Josh began.
I opened the door, walked out, and shut it.
A part of me realized I was being completely irrational. I was being a bit of a bitch, too. I knew that Josh was processing the murder of his sister, and he was emotionally fragile.
But there was no reason for Max to be treating me like this.
I lingered behind the door, not knowing if I should actually storm off and leave the building, or hang around considering I was technically under a protection order.
I couldn’t decide, so I went with my gut instinct and veered to the left. Though the elevators were back to the right, something told me to walk this way.
I turned around a corner before I heard Max’s door open.
I walked for a few more meters and then saw a door. Judging by the sign, it led out onto the roof.
I didn’t even hesitate.
I walked out.
There was a quaint courtyard. It was built right into the side of the tower, and from the street below, you wouldn’t have been able to see it.
As soon as I walked out, the wind met me, buffeting my hair over my shoulders as I tilted my head up and looked at a few clouds being chased across the sky.
I felt exactly like those clouds. The wind was confused and was pushing the clouds in every which direction as if they didn’t have any say in the matter.
I shoved my hands into my pockets, closed my eyes, and walked over to the railing that led around the side of the courtyard. I sat down, pushed my feet through, and pressed my face against the metal palings.
“You’re an idiot. Go back and find Josh before you create an incident,” I spat to myself. “Stop being so emotional, too,” I added through clenched teeth.
All of it was sound advice, but the only problem was I couldn’t follow it.
My emotions were warring in my stomach, climbing up my chest, pounding into the back of my head. They were making me feel justified and completely irrational at the same time.
I squeezed my eyes closed.
What was the point of me if I could only find what other people wanted me to find?
Sure, maybe I could only find opportunities for myself, and maybe those opportunities didn’t always benefit other people. But Max was forgetting something, wasn’t he?
I’d been contracted to the government. I didn’t have a say in where I worked. He, on the other hand, got to work for himself.
Me? I had to track down bounties with Josh McIntosh. Even if I didn’t want to track down Max’s ex-fiancé, as long as Josh agreed, I had to.
As for finding who’d murdered Josh’s sister? Why wouldn’t that benefit other people? And even if it did hurt Josh in some way, presumably there was a murderer out there still at large, and I had a duty as a frigging bounty hunter to track him down.
That last part really got to me, so I opened my eyes.
I took a hard breath as I stared at the city, letting my gaze flick this way and that.
Out there was someone who’d torn Josh apart. Out there was someone who’d committed murder.
And I was going to find them.
I latched my hands around the railing and stood, the wind now grabbing my hair and sending it slapping around my face and arms.
I leaned forward as I closed my eyes. I wasn’t about to jump or anything – I was just concentrating on the city, centering my breath, and more than anything, trying to find what I was looking for.
I heard the faintest sound of shoes from behind me, and the next thing I knew, there was a hand on my shoulder as someone pulled me back.
I spluttered in surprise, turned, and almost slipped. Before I could fall back against the railing and jam my hip hard into it, somebody grabbed my arm, their grip firm.
Firm enough, in fact, that it reminded me of my vision of the past.
I blinked in surprise as I looked up into Max’s face.
Though he had short hair, it too was being whipped around by the wind, as were the tails of his jacket.
I expected him to ask something – demand why I’d run from the room and hidden out here in his courtyard. He didn’t. He just looked at me, his grip never shifting.
I swallowed. “I was just looking at the view,” I managed. “I wasn’t going to jump or anything,” I added.
“I know. But sometimes accidents happen. Sometimes when we have the best intentions, it doesn’t lead to the best outcome for everyone.”
Really? He was back on this?
I yanked my arm back from him, stood on my own two feet, and shook my head. “Is there something you actually want to say to me, Max?” My voice was as hard and sharp as a sword.
He ticked his gaze over to the view briefly, then locked it back on me. “There’s no reason to be like this.”
“I guess I’m an irrational idiot, then. Glad we got that sorted. Goodbye, Max.” I turned to walk away.
“Is there some reason you’re being like this today? You’re usually more controlled than this.”
I took another step then came to a skidding stop. I pressed my lips hard into my teeth. It was either to stop myself from crying or screaming at him. “Why am I not being more controlled, Max? Why should I have to? Me being controlled only benefits other people,” I emphasized that. “And then you can get to do whatever the hell you want with me without telling me a thing, because I’m nice and compliant and never react. Don’t worry, I’ll help Josh track down your ex-girlfriend, because I won’t have any option but to. Funny thing about being a contracted witch, that.”
“Is that what this is about?” He emphasized the word that.
Though Max had been controlling his emotion up until now, I sensed a surge of something. It felt twisted and reminded me of jealousy. That couldn’t be right, because what on earth did Max have to be jealous of?
Though I wanted to keep my back to him, I couldn’t. Not at that comment. I turned to him. “Yeah, sure, Max – you found the truth. It’s about me tracking down your ex-girlfriend. I’m jealous,” I said as I patted my chest. “Well done – you’ve become a truth finder as well.” I turned to walk out once more.
“There are paths you don’t want to go down, okay? People are trying to protect you, even if you can’t see that,” he said, his words bitter now.
I took another step then stopped. I stared dead-eyed at the closed door. “Firstly, does Josh know I’m out here? Or is he running around trying to find his protection order?”
“He’s aware you’re here. I told him I knew where you were going.”
“Congratulations – did you use your opportunity magic to find me?”
Max remained silent.
“Tell me, was finding me an opportunity for you, or me?”
“You don’t need to be like this,” he repeated once more, voice becoming even quieter.
“Then you tell me how I should be instead? Put yourself in my shoes, Max. If you can imagine that. Someone who found out they were one of the rarest breeds of witches two months ago, only to realize that they are now turning into a sorcerer. Put yourself in my shoes, Max,” I repeated. “Imagine you don’t have any control over your life anymore, because, despite your powers, you’ve been promised to somebody else through some prophecy. Put yourself in my shoes, Max,” I repeated once more, tears starting to pick up in the corners of my eyes, “imagine you can’t control your life anymore, because it’s being pulled back into some stupid vision. Put yourself—”
“What? What do you mean vision?” He took a snapped step toward me.
I stiffened as I realized I’d mentioned that. I hadn’t meant to – it had just slipped out.
“Never mind,” I said as I tried to shrug the comment off.
“Beth,” his entire demeanor changed as he strode around me and put himself between the door and me, “it’s important you tell me.”
“For who?” I demanded.
That statement settled between us like a wall.
“Tell me, Max, how is it an opportunity for me to find the person who murdered Josh’s sister, but it’s not an opportunity for him? Tell me, how exactly can you put that kind of moral shit on me when I have an obligation as a bounty hunter to uphold justice? Presumably there is a murderer out there still at large, maybe even murdering other people, and you want to pretend I’m being selfish if I want to track him down?” Once the tidal wave started, it could not be brought back. Words spilled from my mouth like shots from a machine gun.
Max paled. “There’s more—”
“To this situation?” I threw my hands up wide. “There always is. But I don’t know it. All I know is the plain, cold, hard facts of this case. For you to tell me I’m being selfish for wanting to track down a murderer isn’t fair.”
This comment finally struck Max, and I could feel his fine control of his emotions starting to erode. He looked sharply to the side and took a hard breath. “I… understand that,” he conceded.
I didn’t expect him to concede – I thought he’d keep fighting. It threw me off my game. “… You do?”
“You have a natural sense of justice, Beth, and I… like that about you. But,” he emphasized that word with a harsh breath of air, “there are still people trying to protect you here. Some things… some things shouldn’t be found.”
“Tell me,” I said as I swallowed. “Tell me what you’re trying to protect me from. Help me understand.” It was an olive leaf of sorts.
Though it would’ve been easy to keep shouting at Max, from his expression and his body language, I… wanted to give him another chance.
He shook his head and shoved that olive leaf back at me. “I’ve told you as much as I’m going to tell you. You… can believe that people are trying to protect you, or you can choose not to.”
I nodded. It was a slow move. It had the kind of shaky control someone uses when they’re just on the edge of cracking. “How convenient. I get to pick what I want to believe? Wow, I’m so free. If you’re done here, I better go track down your ex-girlfriend. I guess I’m allowed to track her down, right? I don’t need to be protected from her? She’s a case we can solve?”
“Beth, please,” Max said, and again he lost more of his control as his words whipped out of his lips.
“Please? You want me to be reasonable, then tell me why I should be reasonable. Give me something.” My voice was high. “If you can’t tell me why I can’t track down Josh’s sister’s murderer – even though he wanted me to do that only two weeks ago – then tell me this. Why are you suspicious of Internal Affairs? Is this something I need to know?”
Max straightened, looking uncomfortable as he pressed his tongue hard against his teeth.
I took a stiff step toward him. “You’re the one who told me to track down my future husband,” I spat. “You’re the one who didn’t tell me about the prophecy. You do know who your brother works for, right? Internal Affairs. Now, if you’ve got some reason to suspect him of something, don’t you think I deserve to know?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Gosh, really? More complicated than my life? Well then, I guess you’d better just give up. You can stand there, holding onto your secrets, and I can wait around in the dark, making mistakes and almost getting killed. Thanks for protecting me, Max,” I said as I whirled around and headed back to the view. He may be blocking off the door with the bulk of his form, but that didn’t mean I had to face him.
I heard Max take a breath. I imagined it would be pushing against his chest almost as if it were trying to break it.
Seconds passed, almost crossing into a minute until he took several steps toward me. “Internal Affairs have been gathering power for years. They have a number of Hidden Grimoires. They… there’s no reason for them to stockpile them like that. Unless they have some kind of plan.”
I turned, the wind chasing my hair over my shoulders, framing my face as I looked at Max. I let my anger drop. Not all of it, but enough that I no longer looked like I wanted to throw him off the roof. “They now have six sets of Hidden Grimoires,” I said.
Max looked taken aback. “What?” His voice became fragile. “How do you know that?”
“Because I obviously know more about this situation than you think I do. If you were just open, I could share. We could both share,” I said, voice becoming so constricted on the word both. “But to answer your question, Jeopardy told me. He knew for a fact that Internal Affairs had five, and it makes it six considering the set Jason found in the infinity tunnels.”
“Then it’s all over – they have—”
“There’s a seventh,” I said plainly.
“What?” Max’s voice became so twisted now, I could barely make it out.
“There’s a seventh. That’s what Hayden said. He said his family had been researching the Hidden Grimoires for years, and he was convinced that when the six were brought together, you could find the seventh.”
“… Why didn’t I—”
“Know? Because sometimes you have to volunteer information to get it.”
“Beth—”
At the disappointed quality of his tone, I could have given into my anger again, but you know what? There was something much bigger going on here. The end of the frigging world, to be exact. “You’re not the only person who thought Internal Affairs has some kind of plan,” I volunteered.
Max stopped. “What do you mean?”
“Jeopardy thought that, too. That was the reason he attacked the police force – to find out their plan. And it was the reason he wanted me,” I added, back chilling. “He wanted me to figure out what their plan was. So what do you think their plan is?” I asked point-blank.
It was a test.
And I waited to see if Max would pass or fail.
He closed his eyes and shook his head. “All we know is that they’ve been holding onto power in Madison City for years.”
“Why? And how exactly are they doing that? I mean, all Internal Affairs are meant to do is watch the police force. Who exactly has allowed them to become this way?”
Max shrugged. “Think about it. Madison City is one of the most magic rich places in the country, if not the world. A lot of powerful witches and warlocks come here because of its location on the shipping routes down the coast. The city also has a very rich magical history,” he emphasized. “For that reason, gangs have always been prolific here. There’s always been a lot of magical crime. So that means that not only does Madison City Police Force have one of the most powerful Warlock Divisions in the country to keep up with all that crime, but they come across a lot of banned goods. Even though you just broke apart the Cruze Gang, gangs just like it have been operating in Madison City for years. They’ve been bringing in countless illegal weapons and spells,” he emphasized. “The police force weren’t always capable of shutting these gangs down, but they still fought them, and they still stockpiled what they found.”
“And what they found was given to Internal Affairs?” I frowned.
“I think the correct word there is taken. The old director of Internal Affairs had the attitude that it was unsafe for the police to hold onto that much force. The Army agreed. So Internal Affairs became the force that not just investigated the police for corruption, but also stockpiled the most powerful goods they found.”
I swallowed. “I don’t get it – why weren’t these magical weapons and spell books just destroyed?”
“Some were. Others couldn’t be destroyed.”
“You’re talking about the Hidden Grimoires, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am. Due to the prolific activities of the gangs of Madison City, two were found about a decade ago. It was then that Internal Affairs began to change.”
“But why didn’t the government step in? I mean, why does the Internal Affairs unit that looks after Madison City have so much frigging power?”
“Because they consolidated it. Because politicians always looked favorably on them, changing the laws to accommodate their newfound power.”
“That still doesn’t explain anything. Presumably Internal Affairs is still answerable to the Federal Justice Department. And if they have six freaking sets of Hidden Grimoires, then the federal government should be pretty keen to take them off them.”
“You’re forgetting one thing,” Max said.
Was it just me, or was there a defeated edge in his tone?
I frowned at him. “What am I forgetting?”
“You,” he said plainly.
“What have I got to do with this?”
He looked away, casting his gaze to the view. “The prophecy.”
That goddamn prophecy. Every time I heard about it, I hated it more. “What does the prophecy have to do with Internal Affairs?”
“It’s not Internal Affairs – it’s the location of the city. The prophecy speaks specifically of Madison City.”
“So what? That led the powers-that-be to allow Internal Affairs to stockpile Hidden Grimoires in Madison City?”
“That led them to be prepared,” he said opaquely.
I sighed. I’d gone from being emotional and angry to being defeated. “I don’t need this right now.”
“None of us do. But you need to tell me what you meant earlier.”
I frowned, having no idea what he was talking about. “What—”
He looked right at me, and I swore I got that faint impression of a hand pressing into my shoulder. I took a breath. “You mean the comment about the visions?”
“Yes,” he said, and he sounded as if he was out of breath. “What kinds of visions were you talking about? What—”
“I haven’t told anyone else yet,” I said. “Even Jason,” I added. I don’t know why I said that – if I was trying to emphasize to Max that this was a secret that he shouldn’t share, or if… what? I wanted to point out that I still trusted him more than his brother?
Max looked at me evenly, though there was a worried edge to his gaze. “What did you see? And where and how did you see it?”
“I’ll answer the where and how first. It was when we were in that room, tracking down the Hidden Grimoires set in the infinity tunnels. It was when Jason was finding it, to be specific. He opened some kind of… God, I don’t know, magical circle? I’d never seen anything like it,” I said as I shivered.
“And you’d never felt anything like it too, ha?” Max asked perceptively.
I nodded. I brought my hands up, locked them on my arms, and began to brush my fingers up and down the tingly flesh. “So much magic poured off that circle… it did something to me. Though Jason had asked Hayden to take me far enough back that the magic wouldn’t affect me, it didn’t work. And I… I guess I reacted to it.”
“And what did it do, exactly?” Max had the tone of a worried doctor. No, sorry, that wasn’t right. He had the tone of a worried friend. One who cared for you about as much as it was possible to care for someone.
I took a breath. I couldn’t believe I was actually sharing this. But I couldn’t exactly back out now. “I think… I know this sounds utterly crazy – but go with me. I think I went back to the past. I had this… vision. I was standing on the top of a castle, and there was a storm pressing in from above. It wasn’t a normal storm. It was…” I shivered again, but this time it was a strong move that threatened to shake me off my feet, “otherworldly. As if it was coming… from some other place. Someplace of chaos,” I added.
Max didn’t say a word. I wouldn’t look at him, either, but out of the corner of my eye, I could tell that his expression was one of terrified captivation.
I took a deep breath, trying to grab hold of my nerve. “There was… somebody else in my vision,” I managed. When it came to sharing this particular detail, I suddenly became clammy.
“… Who?”
“I don’t really know,” I said. “No… that’s a lie. I….”
“… It was Jason, wasn’t it?”
“I think so.”
“… I see.”
“Do you? Because I don’t.” I stared at the view glumly.
Max appeared to take several seconds to compose himself. Which of course led to the question of why he had to compose himself at all. “And what did Jason tell you in your vision?”
“That we had to run away. The time would come in another lifetime. Or something like that.”
“Do you remember his exact words?”
I shook my head. “The gist of it was that we were fighting something, and we couldn’t fight it in that lifetime. We had to wait for another.”
“I see,” Max said again.
This time I didn’t bother asking him if he did see, because I was starting to question if he really could see something different from me. As I looked at his eyes, his attention was… elsewhere.
“You know something about this vision, don’t you?” I suddenly asked. There was no reason to suspect Max did – but the question popped into my head, and I went with it.
Max looked at me sharply. Then he let out a soft chuckle. “You’re becoming too good at finding hidden truths, Bethany Samson.”
“I’m right? You know something about this vision?”
“I suspect I may. Is that the same?”
“With you, your suspicions usually turn out to be right. So what is it?”
“Jason and I are only half-brothers,” he suddenly revealed.
“What?”
“We share the same father. And our father… is a sorcerer. He’s the man I spoke of before.”
“What man?” My mind raced as it tried to fill in the gaps. “Wait – the only people we talked about recently were your ex-girlfriend and the director of Internal Affairs.”
“That’s right, he was the old director of Internal Affairs,” Max said quietly.
“Your father was a sorcerer? And wait – he was the director of Internal Affairs? Then—”
“Why didn’t I tell you this earlier?”
“Why don’t you know more about Internal Affairs?” I questioned instead. “Why are you pretending that most of your suspicions are just that – suspicions? They must be founded if your dad was the old director,” I pressed.
Max smiled. If you could call it a smile. His lips were a little too twisted. “A good comment.”
“It wasn’t a comment, Max—”
“It was a question. Yes.”
“Yes to it being a question, or yes to your suspicions being more than simple hunches?”
He looked away sharply and breathed hard. “You’re not going to let this go, are you, Bethany Samson?”
I looked right into his gaze, and I shook my head. “I can’t, Max. You were right about me. I suppose I do have an internal sense of justice, and right now—”
“It won’t let you back down. I understand. Though you may not want to hear this, the prophecy seemed to be right about you, after all.”
That comment derailed me, and I paled. “What are you talking about? What exactly does this prophecy say, anyway? I’ve never seen it—”
Max put up a hand, obviously realizing that another one of my tirades was about to spill forth and presumably drown us both. “It spoke of a sorcerer and a finder who weren’t willing to let go of the truth, and would track it down, no matter which dark corners it took them to.”
I frowned. For some reason a chill raced up my back, one that told me I was missing something here. But right now, I had bigger fish to fry. “So why didn’t you tell me that your dad was the old director of Internal Affairs? And why didn’t you mention that he was a sorcerer? And what exactly—”
“Does this have to do with your vision? I’m afraid it has quite a lot to do with your vision. Because… I might’ve read it in a diary before.”
I shook my head, the move so jarring, I swore I felt a crick develop in my neck. “I’m sorry? You’ve read about my vision before? In a diary? What—”
“Before you suggest some time traveling magic is going on here, the answer is simple.”
“It is? Are you somehow suggesting that Jason was one of your forebears? But how the hell does that make sense? I thought my vision was just some kind of past life? I mean, if one of Jason’s past lives was one of his own forebears – God, that’s kind of creepy. That makes him his own great great great—” I gave up and shook my head.
“I didn’t say one of my forebears was the man in your vision,” he corrected. “I simply meant that one of my ancestors had acquired that diary.”
I frowned. “What does that mean? And who was the man if he wasn’t Jason? And how can you trust this diary? Where did you get it? What—”
Max brought up a hand, obviously indicating that I needed to take a breath so he could answer. “I actually don’t know the story of how we acquired the diary. As for whether we can trust it?” He cast his gaze up and appeared to lock it on the clouds rushing across the horizon. They were still being chased by the wind, and I still sympathized with them. Maybe Max did too as his features slackened. He looked back down at me. “We can trust the diary. It’s one of the most ancient, rarest books my family has.”
My nose scrunched up until it was a surprise I didn’t force the damn thing back into my skull. “Sorry – ancient? I don’t understand. How can it be ancient? Surely, it’s only,” I ticked my gaze to the side and tried to figure out from what time my vision was. “A couple of hundred years old?” I hazarded.
“You’re assuming that was the only lifetime in which you tried to defeat the chaos,” he said simply.
“Chaos?” I asked as a thrill chased down my back. “I only referred to it as chaos by accident. You seem—”
“To know what I’m talking about? I do. Or at least the diary does. It refers to the force – the storm you saw – as the chaos. It is… hard to explain.”
I didn’t press Max. I just shot him the kind of look that told him even if it was frigging impossible to explain, he needed to try.
He obviously picked up on that, and he nodded. “How much do you know about the dynamics of magic?”
“Only what Hayden taught me. But he was a pretty good teacher, and he seemed to understand the more esoteric side of magical physics. So just try to explain, and I’ll ask questions if I have to.”
Max conceded my point with a hard nod. “Very well. You understand what the Hidden Grimoires do, right? They allow a practitioner of magic to rewrite the natural laws around them, enabling them to access more magical forces. In theory, if someone were to bring all six—”
“Seven,” I corrected immediately.
“Very well – seven – grimoire sets together, then they would become the most powerful sorcerer there has ever been. They would also be able to take magic from some and give it to others.”
Though Hayden had already pointed this out, I shivered. “That sounds terrifying.”
“Indeed, it does. There is, however, a consequence of their actions.”
I looked up at him sharply, the corners of my lips turning down hard into my chin. “… The chaos?”
He nodded. “The chaos. Call it the dimension from which magic comes. Every time somebody uses the Hidden Grimoires to rewrite the natural laws to allow themselves to gain more magic, the chaos surges. It is the source of all power, and yet, it is the source of all destruction, too.”
“What does this have to do with my vision, though? And… why are you implying that I’ve spent… God, I don’t know how many lifetimes trying to combat the chaos?” Though I was technically capable of forcing those words out of my mouth, I felt goddamn foolish. Because none of this made sense. Or at least it wouldn’t have made sense to the old Bethany Samson. The new Bethany Samson had gone through a heck of a lot because of these damn Hidden Grimoires – enough to understand how powerful and dangerous they were.
“Yes. The short answer is yes. You and your partner have spent many, many lifetimes attempting to draw the chaos under control. And to do that, you must find the Hidden Grimoires and finally destroy them.”
I blanched. “Destroy them? Nobody mentioned anything about destroying them. Why are you telling me this now?”
“Because you only convinced me to be honest several minutes ago. Until then I… foolishly thought I was protecting you by hiding this fact. But if you’ve already started to have visions, I suppose there’s no point. You’re remembering your past lives, and you’re being drawn back into the battle now.”
I shook my head. It wasn’t that I didn’t agree with what Max was saying. It was that this entire situation was goddamn crazy. I brought up a hand and pressed it into my brow, pushing my fringe back as I let out a tense sigh. “This is insane. I still don’t know if I want to believe any of this. But I guess I don’t have any choice, do I?”
Max didn’t appear to know what to do with that comment, so he simply kept his gaze locked on me. “The important thing to realize, Bethany, is that you are not alone.” His voice shook.
“… You mean Jason will be with me?” I asked. Even as I asked it, I realized it was a mistake. From the sheer emotion rushing through his tone, it was damn clear that what Max meant was that he wouldn’t leave me alone.
At my comment, he stiffened. Then he shrugged. “Indeed, my brother won’t leave you alone. But I… I’ll be here too. I may not have that much knowledge or power compared to my brother,” he conceded with an empty shrug, “but what I have I will use.”
I stared at Max. 1001 things rushed through my head, but I couldn’t find the breath to say any of them. This was insane on every level. And yet… I wasn’t freaking out as much as I should be. And the reason was that Max’s steady gaze was almost as good as a steady grip on my hand.
I tilted my head back and sighed. “Can I ask what happens next? Or is it just going to be more of the same? More frigging danger, more uncertainty, and more of me being pulled around like a puppet on strings?
“Though it is sometimes tempting to believe that the future has already been decided, there is choice, Beth. There is always an element of chance.”
I thought that was rich considering I apparently had a destiny I couldn’t get out of, but I managed a smile. Then I arched an eyebrow. “You’re telling me there’s still hope yet?”
“I suppose I am.”
I sighed. “I suppose it’s time to get to work. Who is your ex?” I asked, changing the conversation as quickly as somebody doing a bootlegger turn.
Max stiffened a little. He also got a prying look in his gaze, almost as if he was searching me to see if I was jealous in any way. “I have included a short biographical with several photos in the file I have given Josh. He’s waiting for you in my office.”
I sighed, shrugged my shoulders, and scratched my neck. “I guess it’s time to go and apologize to him for being a diva. It’s that, or he’ll try to label me as noncompliant.”
Max got a funny look. “What does that mean?”
“That Josh’s sense of humor is pretty much all he’s got right now,” I said quietly.
I walked away.
Had all my questions been answered?
No. If anything, the little that Max had revealed had only left more questions burrowing into my mind like parasites. The point was, however, that I’d sensed a change in opportunities. It was time to head out there, find what needed to be found, and, most importantly, try to remember the destiny that haunted me.
For it would be key.