Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The two combat alchemists were available, and Nick had spent an hour going over the spellwork necessary with them.
“Sure, you can do it on a moving target,” Corey had hedged. Nick remembered him as the taller of the two, the one more capable with his bridges between alchemy circles. “You can even do it at a slight distance.”
“A very slight distance,” his partner, Paul, said. “And only if you don’t have a choice.”
“But would it mask the life signs from even an internal scan?” Nick said. “Or at least confuse an internal scan.”
There was a pause on the other end of the phone.
“What exactly are you doing here, King?” Corey asked.
“I’m trying to hide someone’s life signs without actually doing anything to nullify them.” Nick looked over his notes.
“You said that. But why?” Paul asked. “Who are you hiding them from that has internal access to the client?”
“I’ll let you know when I figure it out myself.” Nick hoped the joke distracted them, and from the mirthless laughter on the other end, the two men were familiar with situations where important things like who the client was wasn’t immediately known.
“It’ll fool most scanners, that’s all I know,” Corey said. “But everything internal would be working, so I guess it depends on what kind of sensors are inside.”
Which was a… very good question. After thanking them and hanging up, Nick stared at the phone on the counter.
“What is it?” Parker asked from his elbow. He’d managed to stay quiet for most of the call, and Nick was grateful because he had enough to think about.
“We know that the virus—the parasite—the alchemy.” Nick struggled with how to name the creature that had taken over Gile and the escape room employee.
Parker waved a hand. “The sentient circle, yeah.”
“We thought it spread when someone is about to die or just died. But I think we’re wrong. What if Gile and Durkavic spread it before today, but the reason we haven’t seen it spread to more than those initial infections has to do with power?” Nick raised his eyebrows, and Parker didn’t let him down.
“Alchemy needs power to run,” Parker said slowly, working it out. “It needs lots of power, which is why most alchemists can’t light a candle. It’s why you and Zahide are unique. If this creature is alchemy, or alchemy derived, how is it powering itself?”
“Exactly,” Nick said. “And also, it’s custom, so that takes even more time and power. The reason we haven’t seen more of it is that it started as one powerful alchemy circle, and it’s less and less powerful as it divides.”
“Okay, that explains why the spellwork takes so long to spread, but it’s still spreading.
That’s where the ‘ten and ten more’ people are coming from.
The parasite seemed to think it would be able to spread further.
” Parker pointed at the map. “So, once it’s on someone, it needs to power up again?
To have enough power to spread to the next person. ”
“I think that power is coming from the people. It’s draining them somehow, like batteries to power itself.” Nick’s lips went tight. “So it can spread to the next people.”
“What does that mean for us?” Parker asked. “Is it worse or better?”
“I think it’s better,” Nick said. “Because that means that the magic isn’t monitoring blood flow or any external signs of life—breathing, heart rate, things like that. It’s monitoring something else. Something about the life force or the energy.”
“And that’s what these spells mask?” Parker asked, eyes wide.
Nick nodded. “The spell masks all that. It wouldn’t fool someone who actually has a hand on your chest and can feel you breathe. But it would fool a spell that was just looking for living things.”
“Great.” Parker grinned. “Let’s go.”
Nick looked doubtfully outside. “It’s dark. I need to… I want to practice it a few times, have the circles ready before I actually do the work.”
Parker blinked, his own eyes straying to the window. “Of course. I didn’t even… I just don’t want anyone else to die when we’re so close to the solution.”
“If they haven’t died yet, then I think we have time,” Nick said. “We have at least until the parasites come up with another plan.”
“Right.” Parker looked down. “Nick, I’m—”
“Parker, if you say you’re sorry, I will set Sugar on you and have her explain in detail all of the local ordinances involved in a succubae orgy.
” Nick smiled when Parker’s face twisted in horror.
“I had to help her with her proposal, and we spent a good two hours trying to figure out if it was part of chapter 10.32 - Social Host and Responsibility, or if it was covered by 10.34 - Art and Theatre.”
“I mean, that doesn’t seem bad,” Parker said. “And isn’t it clearly an educational event? That would be 10.35, right?”
When Nick looked over at him with narrowed eyes, it was Parker’s turn to laugh.
“Alright, alright.” Parker held up his hands. “But…”
Nick couldn’t help it. He kissed Parker, his lips sliding warm and familiar on Parker’s. “I know.”
The next morning, Nick didn’t go for a run, despite Prometheus jumping at his feet, begging with a helpless whine.
“I’ll walk him,” Bastian said. “School was canceled anyway. Local emergency. They’re making us do it online.”
Nick nodded. “Don’t let him chew on anything we’ll have to pay for.”
“I know, I know. Specialized diet and everything.” Bastian looked secretly pleased at Nick trusting him with the job.
After a quick breakfast of granola (Nick) and too-sugary cereal (Parker), they got in the car and headed to where Nick thought the next point on the spiral was.
“What if the person isn’t there?” Nick asked.
“I don’t think that will be a problem,” Parker said.
“Why not?” Nick asked.
“Because I remember Durkavic going here the day before he died.” Parker slumped down in his seat.
The coffee shop was filled with people, and when Parker and Nick got to the front of the long line, Nick realized it was going to be more trouble than he thought clearing the place.
“Hi,” Parker said before Nick could. “We’re investigating a murder, and we need to see any security cam footage you have from three days ago.”
The two employees gaped. The one behind the espresso machine let her hand drop, hissing when it touched a hot steam wand.
“We don’t have any security footage,” she said, shaking her hand.
Nick pointed up at the black domes positioned around the store. “We need to see it.”
“Those are fake,” the one at the counter said. She leaned in close. “The owner stopped paying to have them record months ago. What are you looking for? We were both here. Maybe we can tell you.”
Nick internally swore but kept his face neutral. He pulled up a pre-death photo of Durkavic that Parker had taken. “We need to know if this man talked to anyone when he was here.”
“Cayo?” The employee grinned. “Yeah, he talked to me and her. You had to remake his drink, right?”
“Yeah.” The barista lifted a lip. “He always orders the exact same thing. Black coffee, no sugar, with steamed oat milk. It’s not even on the menu.”
“But he tips us extra,” the cashier said. “So we do it.”
“And then a couple of days ago, he orders a caramel latte. Like, what? Who does that?” The barista rolled her eyes. “He at least could have warned me when he saw me making his regular drink.”
“But he didn’t,” Parker said. He glanced at Nick, and Nick knew exactly what he meant.
Durkavic didn’t because maybe he wasn’t the one in charge right then.
“Right,” the barista said.
“Did he touch either of you?” Nick asked. “Or linger?”
“Only to give me change, which was even weirder because he always paid with his phone.” The cashier shook her head. “Like, really weird experience overall.”
Nick swallowed, realizing this was the tricky part. He had no badge to make it official. He had no right to detain a random citizen on a hunch.
“Can we talk somewhere in private?” He kept his tone flat and calm. It was the voice he used with people who weren’t suspects yet, but didn’t they want to come with him to defend themselves?
Nervously, the cashier looked at the barista before nodding. “Okay.”
She gestured for them to follow her back into a store room. When the door swung closed behind them, Nick was about to suggest that they do the translucency spell first to make sure, but he didn’t have to.
The cashier’s eyes flared dark green. “You dare try to kill me? You killed my sister and brother. I know you, god killer. I know—”
Nick touched the four circles he’d already written in his notebook and dragged them loose, the magic framed perfectly between his fingers. He pressed them to her chest, and she gasped.
Nick could feel the magic necessary; he could feel how much it took to power the circles.
For a moment, his vision swam. Now he understood why both Corey and Paul advised powering the spells in advance and only doing it in the field if absolutely necessary.
Corey had claimed they spent two or three days prepping, and Nick realized how overconfident he’d been.
“You dare—” The green flickered in her eyes. “You would kill her. I will show you—”
Nick could see green seeping from the cashier’s pores as the magic tried to escape, the circles visible in their desperation. But it was custom spellwork, so it needed time to rewrite itself for Parker and Nick.
She thrashed. “You’d kill her. You’d kill her.”
Nick wasn’t listening, his attention focused on the fast beat of the cashier’s heart that he could see in her neck. She reached out, ready for him, the green circle flying at him, but Parker had already prepared both of them for this.
The circle shredded itself, the threads of Nick’s suit convinced they were silver knives only against spellwork and working better than Nick thought possible. The circle exploded harmlessly in the air, tatters of it melting away.
When the next circle flew to Parker’s shirt, it had the same effect.
“That’s right,” Parker coaxed. “She’s dying, but we aren’t. We are alive and healthy and ready to be your newest meal, ready to be the batteries that don’t need a wall recharge every now and then. Come on.”
Four more circles flew at them, each getting progressively smaller. The green light disappeared from the cashier’s eyes. She blinked.
“What…” Then she covered her face with her hand, her pink fingernails pressing into her leaking eyes as she began sobbing. “Oh my god, what was that?”
Parker stepped forward and jerked his head significantly at Nick. Quickly, Nick pressed the circle to her that would reveal her bones. As Parker comforted her and she slowly dragged control out of an unknown place of calm, Nick checked her bones.
The circles were gone. All of them.
It had worked.
He took a step back, the weight on his chest gone for the first time in hours. A hot and frustrated emotion pricked at his eyes. If only he’d thought of this earlier, if only he’d been faster and smarter.
“Nick?” Parker asked. His frown made Nick look around, unsure of how much time had passed. The cashier was crying, hugging the confused barista, who’d come in at some point.
Nick shook his head. He thought of the cold way Parker had asked which extremity they’d let the parasite blow up on Gile’s body. If he’d only been better, all of that could have been avoided.
“No,” Parker said sharply at whatever he’d seen in Nick’s face. “You did the absolute best you could, right? The absolute best you could with the information we had. That’s all anyone could ask of you.”
“You saved my life,” the cashier said, turning around, her eyes wide. “Oh my god, you saved my life.”
Nick shook his head, but she swallowed roughly. “I was going to die. I knew it—that thing knew it.”
She began crying again, but Nick had to know. “Did you see a spiral? Or any hint of what the creature was?”
The cashier nodded. “Yes. Yes. I saw a spiral. And I saw… other things. Terrible things.”
“Like what?” Nick asked gently.
“I saw a burned forest and a… a grave. I don’t think it was a real grave. It felt like smoke.” She swallowed. “I’m sorry I can’t help more. It knew you, though. Whatever it was, it knew you.”
“No, you did great.” Nick looked down. “Parker, we’re going to have to call Laurel. I don’t have enough magic to do this on my own.”