23 #2
“I wouldn’t try anything stupid.” Mandy’s gaze drifted across the room.
“You’re surrounded by a dozen Syndicate members in this room alone.
Not to mention, this place is heavily warded.
You’d never make it out alive, and we really do need you alive.
What a pity it would be to have someone pluck your magic from your freshly made corpse, especially since we don’t know if anyone else can even wield it. Now sit down.”
Magic radiated through her command, and my ass hit the seat.
“Good. Now, I’m sure you have many questions. What would you like to ask?” That gentle tone and saccharine smile returned.
“Anything?” I quirked an eyebrow.
“Anything, Theo. We want you to feel comfortable here.”
I thought about this for a minute. Mandy clearly thought she could convince me to join the dark side if she played nice. Otherwise, she’d know the second I busted out of here, I’d use every piece of this information against the Syndicate.
“Are my friends really okay?” I asked, starting with an easy question. “What happened to the veil?”
Mandy huffed softly, almost amused. “Always putting others before you. Admirable. When you lost control of your magic, you knocked everyone out. But they’re not dead.”
I narrowed my gaze on her.
“The veil hasn’t been fixed, but it’s been temporarily stabilized. We have a group of witches specialized in barriers holding it together, but they can’t repair it. How long do you think they’ll last before it rips open again?”
I thought about Alex. He could barely stabilize the array once the magic surged. The tear was even larger now. He wouldn’t have been able to stabilize it on his own, especially without my help. I had to get out of here and get to him.
“I know that look,” she continued, calm as ever.
“You’re either hoping your friends will come and save you or that you’ll be able to escape here.
I’m afraid to inform you, you’ll be waiting a long time.
When you lost control of your magic, you absorbed all of theirs and redirected it toward the veil.
It’ll be at least a week or two before they can even conjure a spark of magic. ”
She folded her hands on the table. “And let’s not forget this facility is shielded. Layered. Your magical signature can’t be traced in here, and even if it could, we’d see them coming from a mile away.”
Her eyes softened, just a touch. “You’re safe, Theo. There’s no one here hunting you.”
“That’s funny,” I muttered. “Because it feels a lot like I’m being treated like an animal trapped in a cage.”
Mandy didn’t bristle. If anything, she seemed to expect that. “I know it does. But what you call being trapped, we call intervention.”
She leaned back in her chair, studying me. “People hear ‘Syndicate’ and assume we’re monsters dragging innocents into labs to experiment on their magic. Yes, sometimes there are sacrifices that have to be made,” There was a faint shake of her head, “but it’s all for the greater good.”
Bile churned in my stomach. Mandy’s gaze drifted briefly to the others in the room.
They were laughing, eating, and living. “We exist because magic doesn’t wait for permission to become dangerous.
Some abilities are misunderstood. Others are inherently volatile.
And some”—her eyes returned to me—“are both.”
I stiffened. “And what right do you have to decide who becomes a threat?”
“We decide who needs guidance,” she corrected. “Before fear, grief, or desperation twists their power into something irreversible.”
“And Alex?” My chest tightened. “Alex is just a kid. You tried to rip his magic out of him. To control it yourselves. And … and there were others. Jordan and Marin. Your experiments actually destroyed her magic.”
“Alex had no control over his magic! He was tearing holes in reality without meaning to!” Mandy shot back, still composed but firmer now. “Do you know how many cities have been lost, how many civilizations destroyed because someone said ‘Let’s wait and see if they figure it out’?”
She inhaled slowly. “We didn’t hurt him to punish him. We pushed him because every day his magic was left unchecked, a part of him would be destroyed. And that kind of magic doesn’t just ruin its host, it takes everyone nearby with it.”
My hands curled into fists. “You threaten people. You manipulate them.”
“Yes,” she admitted. “Because choice becomes a luxury when lives are at stake.”
I stared at her, disbelief churning. “And the black market? Selling stolen magic? Selling people?”
Her expression didn’t change, but something sharpened behind her eyes.
“Containment,” she said. “Reallocation. Dangerous magic doesn’t vanish just because we confiscate it.
If it’s bound to objects, monitored, tracked …
we know how it’s being used. And if someone insists on using power that will destroy them and others?
” A pause. “Then yes. We will go after that person and neutralize the threat.”
“You mean kill them,” I snapped. “How does that make the situation any better? The Syndicate has created a world where society scorns those with misunderstood magic. Yet you claim you’re helping those same people? The logic doesn’t make sense.”
“I could see how you think that,” Mandy said quietly. “But you're looking at the symptom, not the problem.”
I stared at her.