Chapter 9
My footfalls were nearly silent on the stairs despite my entire right leg being numb with cold.
Pluck hung so tight I was almost walking inside him.
I couldn’t tell if he was worried about Thoth or simply trying to give Marty space.
The young woman was to my other side, silent as she took in the building’s elaborately tiled floor as I led the way to my apartment.
The corridor was dusty, but not a hint of dross marred it, and I could tell Marty noticed.
“Is that your Hummer in the lot?” Marty asked as we reached the second-floor landing.
“It’s Lev’s. He’s across the hall.”
The plastic bag with her new toiletries rattled.
“Everyone else working?” Marty pressed against the wall as Pluck ghosted past us, dissolving to a ribbon of black to slip into our apartment.
He was shedding wisps of energy even in this dim light, and I didn’t like it.
“There aren’t any other cars out there.”
“Oh.” I propped my long-stick against the wall to fumble for my key.
The door squeaked open after I unlocked it, and I squinted at the last sliver of light coming in through the balcony.
“No.” I moved my stick to the other side of the wall and went in, leaving Marty to close the door.
“Lev and I are the only two in the building at the moment,” I added, embarrassed.
Marty pushed the door shut, then scuffed to a halt between the modern, open-concept kitchen and living room as I went to shut the blinds on the sliding glass doors. Immediately it felt cooler, and my shoulders eased. “There are a lot of mailboxes in the hall…” she prompted.
“Yep.” I glanced over the quiet corner apartment, not surprised Pluck was hiding. He could tolerate the sun when he bothered to make a skin, but he didn’t enjoy it. He was either sulking under my bed or, more likely, under the couch. “No one wants to live next to a shadow.”
I set the bags on the low coffee table, then went to do a quick visual inspection of the bathroom. Clean enough. Marty was peeking past the blinds at the town houses across the street, and I took a moment to shoot off a text to Herm before I forgot.
Found a weaver. The shadow following her busted the new vault. Could use your help before Lev and Benny complicate it. Done, I shoved my phone in a back pocket.
“Ah, you want something to drink?” I said, wincing when I looked into the empty fridge. “I really need a coffee, but I’ve got fizzy water or a beer if you’d rather.”
“After this morning I could use a beer, but I’d better stick to coffee.”
“Coffee it is.”
The sudden knock on the door pulled my attention up as Lev’s voice came faintly from behind it. “Hey, Grady! You got a sec?”
“She’s not military fodder,” I whispered as I went to the door. Ryan had probably called him. Still, I found myself glad to see him as I opened the door. He was a good guy. “Hi, Lev. What you need?”
Lev came in, the lean man confidently shutting the door with his foot. “Oh, hey,” he said when he saw Marty. “I didn’t know you had company.”
It was an outright lie, and I eyed him as Marty smiled uncertainly.
His narrow face still held a morning stubble and his long, dark hair was in disarray.
’Course, it was always in disarray, and I stifled the urge to smooth it.
His faded jeans and soft pullover shirt made him appear harmless, but his sharp blue eyes took in everything, and his easy self-assurance said military even if his casual dress and stubbly chin didn’t.
His earring lodestone was the only shine to him, but he counted on people misjudging him.
Which is why I’m not kicking him out, I thought. If he was here, he was here, and his opinion on Marty would be helpful. Not her skill level—which I could measure for myself—but what he thought about her.
“I’m Lev,” he said as he went to Marty, hand extended.
“Marty,” she answered as she took it, clearly immune to his charms.
“She’s staying with me until Herm shows up,” I added. “What can I do for you, Lev?”
“You’re the new weaver!” Lev beamed, his guile absolute and convincing as he came deeper into the room.
“The entire campus is talking about you. Smart of you to find Petra. There are too many people who don’t understand what you represent, and Petra knows what she’s doing. She’ll get you situated in no time.”
“Ah, we’re still working on that,” I said quickly. “Marty is keeping her options open.”
“Oh.” Lev eyed her unease and gave her a wink. “Got it.”
“Nice to meet you,” she said, clearly distracted. “Petra says you’re across the hall?”
“Yep.” An easy expression found him as he plunked his ass into a chair with his back to the gas fireplace where he could see both the door to the hall and the balcony’s sliders. “Petra, I will take your recycling to the curb next week for a cup of that coffee. I had an extremely late night.”
Coffee? He’d been listening at the door. Sighing, I went to check the pot, glad I’d cleaned it before I left. “Deal,” I said as Marty dropped her bag of toiletries beside the chair directly opposite Lev and gingerly sat down.
“Hey, Pluck.” Lev perked up as the shadow oozed out from under the chair, startling Marty as he hazed into a dog and trotted into the kitchen. “How’s it holding together, old man?”
Pace steady, Pluck flicked an ear to send a splat of dark matter to hiss against the floor beside Lev’s foot. An oily film drifted up from it…and then it was gone. Sure, he couldn’t talk as a dog, but he usually got his point across.
“Guess it’s holding together okay,” Lev said, unfazed.
“Ryan sent him,” I whispered, annoyed as an icy tendril coiled about my ankle. I shouldn’t have told him we were a target. This wasn’t a mistake, was it? Asking her to stay with us?
A calculated risk, Pluck fizzed. Thoth strove to destroy weavers because only weavers are immune to his possession. Ryan was wise to alert your support.
Lev isn’t my support, I grumbled, but concern laced Pluck’s thoughts. A drift of dross had come in with Lev. I’d hardly noticed the little heat shimmer before, but with Pluck’s grip on my ankle, it glowed like a living sunbeam, hot enough to burn.
“So, Marty-of-many-options. What do you want to do if university life isn’t a good fit?” Lev asked.
“Lev, put your militia pamphlet back in your pocket,” I said over the chatter of water as I filled the coffeepot. “She’s staying with me until we talk to Herm.”
“Just asking questions.” His eyes closed as if tired. “No harm in asking questions.”
Marty’s brow furrowed in worry. “You’re in the militia?”
Lev opened his eyes and sat up. “Lev Evander, Master Ranger, at your service, ma’am,” he said. “But I don’t bother with the ‘Master Ranger’ part unless I’m wearing a hat and am in the field.”
I filled the filter with grounds and set it back in the coffeemaker. “He’s my babysitter when I leave St. Unoc.”
Marty stared at me, horrified. “You need a guard?”
Yes, Pluck fizzed, his cold amusement obvious as he drifted about my ankles like a cat wanting his supper.
“Oh, if only it were that simple,” Lev said. “I’m her babysitter while she’s on campus, too. If not for Pluck, I’d be tailing her twenty-four/seven to make sure those nasty separatist mages keep their ugly spells off her.”
I scowled at him as Marty lost her smile. Way to go, Lev. “Don’t listen to him,” I said, arms over my middle as I leaned against the counter. “He’s a spy, not a guard. A weaver protects his or her shadow, and their shadow protects them. End of story.”
“True, so don’t tell my superiors, okay?
” Lev leaned to look into the kitchen as if waiting for coffee.
“He thinks I’m driving away separatist mages twice a week.
Keeps me out of the barracks. Petra needs me like a hole in the head.
So, Marty.” Lev eased deeper into his chair.
“Everyone at St. Unoc is from somewhere else. Where are you from?”
I would have told him to stop, but I was interested, too.
“Everywhere.” Marty shrugged. “We moved a lot when I was growing up because my mom is a visiting nurse. Mage, specializing in clearing plaque from circulatory systems with a combination heat and gravity spell.”
“Damn.” Lev blinked, impressed. “That’s a heavy hitter.”
Marty nodded. “My dad could do his job anywhere. He was a sweeper, though he didn’t use it much. Or so my aunt says.”
Could, I mused silently. Was he retired, out of the picture, or dead? Interesting that her parents were not both mage or sweeper, but one of each. Not unusual, but telling, maybe.
“My mom doesn’t talk about him much,” she continued, but the way her gaze wandered over my bookshelf made me think he was dead. “I guess that’s why I’m not very good at fields. A little of everything, and not enough of anything.” She laughed, but it sounded tired.
The coffee was beginning to brew, and I went to get the mugs.
“Not everyone uses their magic skills in their everyday work.” I took three, shoving the white one with my name on it in silver foil to the side.
Someone had found it in the rubble at the Surran building and given it to me.
I hadn’t been able to bring myself to use it.
“I can’t imagine doing my job without magic,” Lev said, grilling her softly. “What do you do when you’re not avoiding rogue shadows?”
Marty shrugged. “I’ve been working as a mechanic in Florida for about a year lifting dross out from under the carriage, wiring, et cetera. It gives me a chance to work on my fields.” Her gaze flicked to me. “I had to quit when—that shadow showed up.”
“A mechanic! Very cool.” Lev nodded encouragingly. “Your fields can’t be that bad. Let’s see ’em.”
The last mug hit the tray with a warning clatter. “Lev, give her a break.”
I want to see them, too, fizzed coldly through me, and I started, having forgotten Pluck was there. The worse her fields, the safer she is, and she didn’t do a thing at the viaduct.