13 | Fabian
“—they’re taking me somewhere now.” Silver’s voice sounds in my ear and I’m up and springing away from my desk the very next moment, sending papers scattering everywhere.
You’d think a job this close to being the head of a mostly criminal enterprise would be more glamorous. More suits and sunglasses, fewer meetings and less paperwork. But after that mess of a visit to the district earlier, I’m now drowning in paper.
I’m supposed to be meeting my father to talk things through. When I tried to catch him a few hours ago, he was ‘otherwise occupied’ once again with his girlfriend slash assistant. Cue another vat of brain bleach. No one needs to see their father naked as often as I have recently. Or ever.
I guess, at least it seems like Felix’s death hasn’t dampened his libido.
I’ve been sitting tearing my hair out, and I can’t seem to see a way through the weeds at the moment. Having a flaming pile of dogshit passed down to me as my responsibility feels like even more of a tainted chalice than ever before. It seems like Felix has done his best to undercut and bankrupt the district by spending money like it had a limited shelf-life. He’s fucked over the entire district for decades.
And I’m the idiot stuck here trying to pick up the pieces.
In between bashing my head against the wall, I’ve also been kicking myself over what happened earlier. I should never have taken Silver with me without checking the lay of the land first. And now she’s in trouble again. This time with the Archarcans focusing their attention on her.
We knew it was only a matter of time, but I’m still surprised at their speed in reacting. I spoke to our Archarcan contact just last night, and she had no interest in anything I had to say, or in trying to make a pre-emptive strike against the Bad Vamps.
I’m out the door and on my way to find Silver in moments, texting Z to meet me in the foyer of The Spire as I go. I also send a few messages to our contacts for information on where they might be holding Silver or what they plan to do with her.
Stepping out of the elevator, I run right into Hanna and Rook, who have clearly just returned inside from the cold. Hanna’s face is red and her eyes look strangely puffy.
My stomach drops.
... oh shit. Has she been crying?
I’m not sure I’m equipped to deal with tears. Especially when it’s Silver’s sister.
“You heard about Silver?” I ask. I mean, what else am I supposed to think? We hear that Silver’s been taken somewhere by the judiciary and then I come across her sister crying.
Too bad that apparently isn’t the thing she’s upset about.
“Wh-what?” She looks up at me and sniffles, and I realize I just fucked up. Glancing at Rook, who has his enormous paw on Hanna’s shoulder, I check to see whether he’s going to steer this interaction.
He just glares at me without speaking. Very helpful.
“Uh, you were outside?” I ask awkwardly. My brain is tumbling over itself, unsure of what to do right now. We need to get to Silver, but she wouldn’t forgive me if I just left her sister while she was all teary like this without at least finding out what was wrong.
But I don’t know how to do that. Do I ask outright? Hand her a tissue? I am way out of my depth here.
Then something twigs in my brain. “Oh shit, did you go to the cafe?”
That would explain this rare display from Hanna. Their workplace and their apartment were both burned and trashed.
Hanna’s lower lip trembles and she bites it, shifting from foot to foot. “It wasn’t me,” she blurts out. “I didn’t do it.”
“Oh, okay.” I nod a few times and clear my throat, trying for a brotherly pat on the shoulder, but quickly withdrawing my hand when Rook growls at me.
“Didn’t do what?” I figure it’s probably better to check since I’m not sure what she’s talking about.
“The cafe,” she explains. “It had... burned down.”
“Oh, yeah.” I nod again. “It seems like arson was the popular choice last night.”
Finally, finally, at least two minutes too late, I get what she’s so upset about.
“You didn’t think we were going to blame you or think you did it, did you?”
After all, Hanna has fire magic, and I’m pretty sure she got kicked out of school for it. I wonder if there’s history there of people thinking she was to blame for stuff that wasn’t her fault.
“I was down there after midnight when I picked up Luna and the twins,” I explain. “Someone must have done it after that. Sorry, but I reckon you’re going to need all new stuff. I doubt anything survived it.”
“Y-you believe it wasn’t me?” She sniffles.
“Why would you burn your own apartment down? Plus, you were here last night.”
“See? Told you they’re not total dicks,” Rook mutters.
“Uh, thanks. I guess.” High praise from the man with twenty words a day as a speaking limit.
“They kicked me out of school for it,” Hanna explains. “Said I had dangerous magic that couldn’t be controlled. My mom was embarrassed as hell, thought I was a failure for not being able to control myself.”
“Oh.” I consider patting her again, but give her a tight smile instead. “None of us are going to think that. You’re Silver’s family.”
She snorts. “Doesn’t exactly mean we’re trustworthy, though, does it? Especially now one of us has proven to be a traitorous traitor.”
I nod, eyeing the foyer behind them. I don’t have time for this. Zeph is prowling by the door, shooting murderous glances outside for some reason, and we really, really need to get a move on.
“Got somewhere to be?” Rook rasps.
I nod and sidestep them, making my way toward the doors. “Two judiciary guards stopped Silver on the street. They’ve taken her somewhere,” I explain. “They’re questioning her about last night.”
“Where?”
I relay as much of Silver’s words as I can. By the time I’m done, we’re at the doors where Zeph is waiting. From this position, I can also see who he was glaring at. Dante is wearing a path in the snow as he paces with swift movements, clearly waiting for the rest of us. I don’t know how he got here so fast, but I can’t say I’m not happy to see him, despite the tensions between us.
Good. This is good. We need as many people as we can get to track her down.
“She says her mother’s there,” I say, causing Rook to clench his hands into fists.
“We gonna head to the point she was taken from and go from there?” Rook asks.
“That, uh, sounds like a good plan,” I say.
“What’s he doing here?” Zeph spits as we step outside in the wintry air, jerking his head in Dante’s direction.
The vamp raises his head and stares at each of us impassively.
“I’d guess the same thing we are,” I reply.
“I should have an easier time tracking Silver down than any of you,” Dante replies smoothly. “You just focus on retrieving her once we’ve found her.”
“What do you think they’re planning to do?” Hanna asks.
I shake my head as we make our way through the slush and glance at the state of the roads. Judging by the sea of brake lights on the main roads snaking through Nexus, we’ll have an easier job heading to where Silver was taken on foot.
“I wouldn’t have thought the Archarcans would risk having Ember reveal all their secrets, not so soon after he made the threat,” I say.
“That’s if it is the Archarcans,” Rook replies darkly.
“Silver said it was her mother.”
“Exactly.”
My mind takes a minute to comprehend what he’s saying. After a mostly sleepless night and hours of paperwork, my brain is fried, and it’s difficult to parse through Rook’s limited words.
“You mean... her mother might be acting alone?” I ask.
Her mother... whose biggest secret is likely to be Silver’s own continued existence.
It would make sense if she wanted to eliminate that threat.
“Shit.”
We all speed up, hurrying along the mostly deserted streets. Seems like after yesterday, people aren’t keen to get back to their usual business. Judging by the state of the district, they might not have business to get back to.
Once we reach the street where Silver was taken, Dante is quick to sniff the air and point us in the direction they headed. It’s around fifteen minutes later when we reach a nondescript office building with its doors ajar, despite the stiff wind blowing. By this point, it’s been over forty minutes since any of us last heard from her.
All the lights are out and the building seems to be deserted.
“Power cut.”
Dante leads us to a room toward the other end of the building. He’s frowning though and his expression deepens into a scowl once we reach the room where Silver’s scent is strongest.
“It’s difficult,” he says. “She was easier to track last night because she was bleeding. But it’s like she got here and then her scent completely disappears.”
Rook is searching vents and checking windows while the rest of us go from room to room, searching for any signs that Silver has been here.
“I’m struggling to trace her,” Dante says.
I check my cell phone to see if any of our contacts have replied with information, but there’s nothing.
So much for the cavalry coming to Silver’s rescue.
“Ah, such a shame, it looks like we lost her,” Anna, Councillor Clement’s laptop wielding assistant says in a dry tone as the screen blanks out.
I stare at her through the dim light. I’m unsure what to do next. Should I use this to make my escape or would that send even more attention my way? Not to mention there are two guards stationed right outside. I don’t want to fight them and then get into even deeper shit.
“You know,” Anna continues conversationally. “All traces of the video from the Solstice Ball have been deleted. It wasn’t enough for them to still be on people’s phones, so Councillor Clements asked me to wipe them from everywhere.”
“Is that, er, something you can do?”
She nods, then leans back in her seat. “For me, it’s easy enough. I’m a techno mage. I’m good with any technology. I could do anything with a computer. But you wouldn’t believe the shit the council has me doing most of the time. For a bunch of powerful witches, the council sure is hopeless with emails.”
“Right.” Once again, I’m feeling pretty clueless about what is going on right now. I don’t know why she’s telling me this. Does she think she’s done me a favor by removing all evidence of the video footage where I’m clearly engaging in illegal magic?
On the one hand, sure, it’s a big favor. But on the other, it’ll just make it even easier for the Archarcans to sweep everything that happened under the rug.
And I can’t imagine that’ll go down well with Simpson and his cronies. They wanted to cause a big stink, and if people ignore them, they’re bound to just try to cause an even bigger one.
“The council is in total chaos right now,” Anna says, getting to her feet. She then strides to the door and barks some orders at the guards. By the sounds of things, she’s trying to get them to go and check on what caused the power outage, but they don’t seem all that willing to leave their post.
After another minute or two where I’m scouting the room for windows that I somehow had missed until now, or maybe a handy air vent I could climb up into, Anna scuppers my poorly laid plans of escape by turning back to me.
“The strangest thing, though,” she continues, like she never stopped speaking. “Councillor Clements was the one to order the video to be destroyed. Removed from all devices. But then a few hours later, she asked for me to show it to her.”
“So... she’d forgotten she asked for it to be destroyed?” Huh, I wonder if she’s taken up drinking in the past decade. Not that she’d ever allow herself to lose control by getting drunk.
“I don’t know. It’s not the first time she’s asked for something that directly contradicted something else she’d asked for, but it’s been worse recently. The minutes from most council meetings are a mess.”
I stare at her. I have no fucking clue what is happening or why she’s telling me this. Something that must be clear from my face as she scoffs.
“Just thought I’d mention it. Anyway, the guards should be busy with the fuse box for a while. You should probably go now while they’re distracted.”
“Am I going to get picked up again like this? Dragged from the street for an impromptu interrogation?”
She rolls her eyes. “Wow, you’re pretty dramatic. I’d guess they have better things to do than try to talk to you again, especially if I forget to mark it down the next time she asks me to set up accosting you on the street as a calendar item.”
I... can’t tell if she’s being entirely sarcastic or not. Either way, I’m fairly sure she’s doing me a favor right now and I’m won’t throw that back in her face.
Giving her a quick nod of thanks, I hightail it out of the building. For once, my naturally terrible sense of direction sends me the right way and I manage to avoid coming across the guards before I’ve made my escape.
Once I’m outside, I find myself in a part of the city I’ve not been to in a long time. Sending a quick mental message to my mages to let them know that I’ve escaped the judiciary unharmed. I let them know I’ll be home in a couple of hours. Right now, I need some time to myself, to get my head around what just happened.
What I need is time to think freely without the threat of Ember listening in on my internal conversation hanging over me.
And it strikes me that I know exactly the place.