Chapter 12
The following morning, Katie tugged at the sleeves of her hoodie like it might hide her from her past, her future, and the new barista at her old job.
“I know this is all critical life-or-death stuff,” she muttered to Rayna, “but I also left my entire life in this café, meaning my coat and purse, and my dignity.”
Rayna held the door and ushered Katie in with a sweeping motion, like she was ushering a queen. “You can retrieve the first two. The other thing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”
Katie made her way to the counter, where her boss Larry, middle-aged, constantly sweaty, and permanently overwhelmed, spotted her with a mix of shock and annoyed relief.
“Katie! You’re alive! Where the hell have you been? You ran out mid-shift, and we had a line out the door!”
Katie winced. “Yeah, sorry about that. There was a… spiritual emergency?”
Larry squinted at her. “Is that like food poisoning?”
“Kind of. But for your soul.”
He sighed and waved toward the back. “Your purse is in the office. However, I should mention that I had to replace you. Can’t have disappearing baristas, even in Brooklyn.”
Katie blinked. “You replaced me?”
Larry gestured to the young man now manning the espresso machine.
He was maybe twenty, average height, neatly dressed.
But there was something off. Not bad. Just eerie.
His smile was too fake. His posture was too perfect.
And when he turned to glance at Katie, his eyes lingered half a beat too long, like he was waiting for a cue he hadn’t learned yet.
Katie stared. “When did he start?”
“Yesterday afternoon, right after you ghosted. Super polite. Said he was looking to learn how to ‘perform humanity.’ I thought it must be theater slang.”
Rayna, behind her, leaned in. “That’s not theater slang.”
Katie whispered back, “That’s not even subtle.”
The not-quite-human barista gave them a practiced, dazzling smile. “Hi there. Can I get you ladies anything?”
Rayna pulled Katie gently back by the shoulder. “No thanks. Just admiring your technique.”
“Thanks!” he said, a little too enthusiastically. “I’m new at this, but I’m a quick study.”
Katie’s blood ran cold. “Rayna…”
“Yup,” Rayna murmured. “That’s our faceless friend. Almost fully loaded now. Body file complete. Still working on the casual banter module.”
Major Payne entered then, boots quiet for once. He glanced at the barista, then at Katie and Rayna. “Target?”
“Confirmed,” Rayna said.
The barista, Gray 2.0, froze for a fraction of a second, then smiled again. “Excuse me, I need to refill the napkin dispenser.”
He walked away, gait just a little too mechanical.
Payne turned to Rayna. “Approach?”
Rayna shook her head. “Not yet. He doesn’t know we know. Let’s keep it that way.”
Katie was still staring at the counter. “That thing took my job.”
“On the bright side,” Rayna said, “you’re officially freed up to help save the world.”
Payne added dryly, “Cheer up, kid. He probably doesn’t even know how to steam milk yet.”
Katie narrowed her eyes. “I hope he burns himself on the espresso wand.”
Rayna patted her on the shoulder. “Go get your purse.”
When she was out of sight, Rayna whispered to Payne. “Let’s run a scan on this place before Gray 2.0 decides to download sarcasm.”
Payne pulled a discreet device from his jacket. It was a sleek black rectangle with glowing runes etched along the edges. He flipped it open, and a soft hum vibrated through the air as the device swept a nearly invisible ripple across the café.
Rayna whispered a spell under her breath, fingers splayed as she tuned her senses to the ambient magic in the room. Her fingers didn’t even tingle. She scanned again. Nothing.
“No residual magic,” Payne said after a beat. “Nothing left behind.”
Rayna frowned. “Yeah, I didn’t feel anything either. He’s learning. Cleaning up after himself.”
“Or someone else taught him to.”
Rayna’s stomach sank. “Great. So, we’re not just dealing with instinct. We’re dealing with training.”
The new barista was at the counter again, stacking stir sticks with mechanical precision. His eyes flicked toward them once, curious, but he said nothing.
Rayna leaned closer to Payne. “If he’s already figured out how to hide magical signatures, we need to assume this thing’s either smarter than we thought, or it’s not working alone.”
Payne’s eyes narrowed. “You think he’s calling for backup?”
“I don’t know what he’s up to. He could be casing the area for Goddess knows what or watching people for weaknesses.”
Katie reemerged with her purse, still fuming. “Well, good news: I got my stuff. Bad news: I’m replaceable by a sentient knockoff.”
Rayna gave her a quick once-over. “You feel anything? Pull? Static? Spooky déjà vu?”
Katie hesitated. “Maybe? It’s like my skin knows he’s wrong, even if my eyes don’t.”
Rayna nodded. “Good. Hold onto that. Instinct’s your best shield right now.”
Payne shut down the scanner. “We’re done here. No use provoking it. Let’s move.”
As they stepped out onto the street, Katie glanced back at the café window. The not-quite-human barista waved cheerfully at her, then turned back to wiping the counter, as if he belonged there.
She shivered. “Okay, but seriously. I hope he burns himself.”
The other two smiled sympathetically. “Uh, Rayna. Can I speak to you privately for a minute?” Payne asked.
“Sure. Wait over by that bench, Katie.” She indicated something that looked like a long, wrought iron perch for pigeons.
Katie strolled over to it but didn’t sit.
“What’s up, Payne?”
“I was wondering if you’re busy tonight.”
“Why?”
“I’d like to take you out to dinner.”
“Again? So soon?”
“I enjoyed our first date. Didn’t you?”
“Well, yeah. But aren’t you supposed to wait a minute before a second date?”
“My battle experience has taught me not to wait for what I want.”
“And you want me? But I’m bossy!”
“I’m used to bossy women. My C.O. is a woman. Besides, I don’t think there’s any etiquette about the timing of first and second dates.”
“Hmmm…”
“Any moment could be our last on Earth.”
Rayna’s brows rose. “Well, I suppose if you put it that way… Are you picking me up at the mansion or should I meet you somewhere?”
“I’ll pick you up at six.” He started to saunter off while Rayna rejoined Katie, then he turned and called out, “Unless you want to ride your broom.”
Rayna elbowed Katie and whispered, “He thinks he’s joking.”
Katie made a face. “You’re going on a date? With Major Spartacus?”
Rayna smirked. “Apparently. He asked, and I said yes. Unlike most men in tactical gear, he actually listens when I talk. Also, he doesn’t flinch when I say things like ‘demon mucus.’”
Katie snorted. “Great. You’re into emotionally available death machines. Duly noted.”
They turned the corner toward Rayna’s car. The back window had a faint scorch mark. No one had explained it, and Katie was afraid to ask.
As they climbed in, Joell’s face appeared on the dashboard screen. “Update?” she asked, not even bothering with hello.
Rayna gave her the quick version. “Gray 2.0 has fully integrated into human society. Or at least, he’s faking it better than a C-list actor at a Comic Con panel. No residual energy, no magic trail. He’s learning fast.”
Joell’s expression tightened. “We were hoping he’d be feral longer. This means he’s either evolving or being trained.”
“That’s what we said,” Katie piped up. “Also, he stole my job. So, I’m declaring war.”
Joell didn’t even blink. “Suck it up, Cupcake. We’ve got a new priority. Something weird is pinging near the Atlantic Terminal.”
Rayna frowned. “Weird how?”
Joell tapped something off-screen. “Magnetic anomalies. Small-scale dimensional fluctuations. Possibly a breach site, possibly just bad luck.”
“Bad luck doesn’t usually distort GPS signals or fry the A-train timetable,” Rayna muttered.
Joell continued. “I need you three to check it out.”
“You mean two? Payne’s already on his way back to his basement lair at Ft. Hamilton.”
“Damn. Well, just do a drive-by. Don’t engage unless it’s active. And for Goddess’s sake, don’t blow anything up this time.”
“That was one time,” Rayna muttered.
“It was the Library of Congress.”
Rayna scowled. “They were coming through an interdimensional portal. What was I supposed to do?”
“Not throw fireballs in a paper palace.”
“Fine.”
Joell signed off. The screen blinked back to neutral.
Atlantic Terminal was buzzing, but not in a fun, urban-vibe kind of way. More like someone had sprinkled it with static. Katie’s teeth buzzed before she even stepped onto the platform.
“Do you feel that?” she asked, rubbing her arms.
Rayna had her hand discreetly tucked into her coat pocket. “Yeah. The air’s too thin. Like someone’s borrowing atoms and not putting them back.”
“Can they do that?”
“Not legally.”
Rayna flicked her fingers and murmured a detection spell. A soft shimmer pulsed outward like a dropped pebble in a magic pond. There was a flicker near the stairwell.
Katie gasped. “Did you see that?”
“Something shimmered,” Rayna confirmed. “A cloaking field, maybe.” Rayna was already moving fast, yet stealthily. She crouched near the source, then reached forward and yanked something invisible into view.
A kid, a little younger than Katie, stumbled out of the air like he’d been tripped by an invisible foot. He was covered in graffiti ink, wearing an old hoodie, and a look of pure terror. His eyes glowed faintly gray.
Rayna raised her hand. “Hey. It’s okay. You’re not in trouble.”
The kid bolted.
Katie shouted, “Wait!” and tore after him.
He ducked through a service gate like he’d done it a thousand times. Even though it looked like it was padlocked, it popped open for him with a whisper of light.
Rayna followed, but Katie was in the lead. She had a weird sense again. Her skin felt stretched, and her vision was too clear. She knew where he’d turn before he did. She didn’t question it. She just ran.
They finally caught up to him in an abandoned tunnel, sealed off in the 1980s, which was possibly haunted.
Katie skidded to a stop, panting. “Hey! I don’t want to hurt you!”
The kid spun around. “You’re not supposed to be able to see me.”
Rayna caught up, eyes glowing slightly from a half-finished spell. “Oh, honey. We’re way past ‘supposed to.’”
The kid backed up. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone! I was just trying to get out!”
“Out of where?” Katie asked.
The kid hesitated. “The Between. That place where time forgets you. Where you’re stuck in half a dream.”
Katie’s stomach dropped. “I’ve seen that place in my dreams. With the graffiti that moves.”
The kid looked at her like she was the last honest word in a poem. “Then you’re marked too.”
Rayna’s voice dropped. “Marked for what?”
The tunnel shuddered. Something is coming.
Not a train. Not a person. Something else. Something… other.
The air around the boy rippled, like a heatwave of distortion. Gray light bled from his skin like mist.
He clutched his head. “It followed me! I didn’t mean to lead it here!”
Rayna barked, “Everyone, shield up! Katie, behind me!”
But Katie didn’t move. She stared at the graffiti curling along the tunnel wall as if it were whispering to her. And then she whispered back.
“Not this time.”
The symbols on the wall ignited. And the tunnel exploded with light.