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  “Don’t drug dealers usually pay in cash?” I asked no one in particular. Not that I had any related experience myself, but I’d seen enough crime shows to know that drug dealers didn’t wire money into bank accounts.

  “Smith—” I began.

  “Yeah, yeah,” the Techie said from behind his screens. “I’m working on it.” He was muttering and swearing as his computer screens blinked and flashed.

  “Interesting,” Smith said a few moments later.

  “What?” Six voices asked at once.

  “I can’t see where the money came from, but I can see that an additional $250,000 was wired into the account yesterday morning at 8:00am.”

  “So?” Yutika prompted.

  “So, the other Alchemist, Jonas Meddlesworth, was found dead at 8:02am. Don’t tell me you think this is just some kind of coincidence.”

  I turned to Nancy. “Did your husband know a man by the name of Jonas Meddlesworth?” I asked.

  Nancy’s lower lip trembled. “He’s the one who’s been on the news because he got murdered.”

  We all nodded.

  “Did your husband know him?” Michael asked.

  Nancy shook her head. “I’d never heard that name or seen his face before the news started covering his murder.”

  “That doesn’t mean our two Alchemists weren’t acquainted,” A.J. pointed out.

  “Bobby and Jonas had to have been part of the same organization,” Kaira said. “There’s no other explanation.”

  But there was still the matter of Penelope. What could she possibly have to do with two Alchemists involved in drug production?

  “Nancy, what do you know about your husband calling in to report a murder at the BSMU?” I asked.

  Nancy’s eyes widened with terror as she glanced from my face to my right hand, where I’d held the knife before tossing it into the bushes. She gave a little yelp of fear and scooted away from me and closer to Michael.

  I shoved my guilt to a dark corner of my mind where I’d come back for it later, once I had the information I needed.

  “No one’s going to hurt you, Nancy,” Michael said in a soothing voice. “Can you please answer his question?”

  Refusing to look at me, Nancy said in a tremulous voice, “I didn’t know Bobby did that.”

  My heart sank a little.

  “One more question,” I said. “What did you mean when you said Bobby was wrong about me?”

  She looked at Michael, who nodded at her.

  Nancy swallowed. “Well, we were watching the news a few nights ago, and they were doing that story on you and Penelope graduating at the top of your class at the BSMU. Bobby turned off the TV, and I swear, his face had turned green. He said something like, ‘Poor things, they both seem like such nice kids.’”

  She glared at me. “But nice boys don’t threaten people with knives.”

  I wanted to apologize and ask for her forgiveness. Instead, I asked, “Did Bobby say anything else? Did he mention any names of anyone who might have been involved with Penelope’s murder?”

  Nancy looked at Michael. “I’m sorry, but that’s all I know.”

  “You did great,” he told her.

  “Stop the van,” Kaira told Yutika.

  I crashed against my seatbelt as the van came to a stop.

  Kaira leaned forward in her seat. “I want Nancy in her right mind for this conversation. No manipulation.”

  Michael Whispered in her ear. Immediately, her tension returned and she scooted as far away from me as she could, giving me a death stare.

  “Nancy,” Kaira said in a commanding voice. “We believe you’re in danger. My friends and I can keep you safe. We can help you find a new place to live where you’ll be able to start over. You’ll have money, a new file, somewhere to live, and anything else you need. Will you let us help you?”

  “You kidnapped me.” She pointed an accusing finger at me. “He—he threatened me.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, feeling awful.

  “You’ll have to forgive the Nat,” A.J. said. “He’s having a tough week.”

  “We can protect you from whoever your husband’s mixed up with,” Kaira told Nancy. “Six of us are unMarked, so we have a lot of experience at this.”

  “I just want to go home,” Nancy said, her chin trembling.

  “Your home might not be safe,” Kaira said.

  “Honey, let us help you,” A.J. chimed in.

  A tear slid down Nancy’s face. “Please, just let me go.”

  “Can we at least drive you home?” Kaira asked.

  Nancy shook her head and motioned for Michael to open the door. He did, and she jumped out.

  We all watched as Nancy stumbled down the street, turning back to give us a frightened stare, before turning a corner.

  “Want me to keep an eye on her tonight?” Bri asked.

  Kaira nodded. “Someone might come after her.”

  “I’ll go with Bri in case anyone shows up who’s worth talking to,” Michael said.

  “My fists can be pretty persuasive, you know,” Bri told him as they got out of the van.

  “Call me if you need anything,” Kaira told them.

  Once they were gone and we were on our way back to Kaira’s, A.J. said, “Okay, so what do we know?”

  “Bobby Axelrod and Jonas Meddlesworth were definitely working for the same people,” Kaira said.

  “And now Jonas is dead and Bobby is missing,” A.J. said.

  “And Bobby knew about Penelope’s murder before it happened,” I added.

  Everyone was silent for a moment as we tried to find the missing connections.

  “My vote is that they’re working for a secret Alliance department that doesn’t officially exist,” Smith said, his voice rising in excitement. “I read a blog post the other day by a lady who swears the Alliance is nabbing Mags off the street, preserving their bodies, and shipping them off to China for Mengele-like experiments.”

  “You need therapy, Smith,” A.J. said, scowling at the Techie. “You know that, right?”

  “Even if any of what you just said was possible, the Alliance is a government organization,” I said. “It has a budget just like any other government, and it certainly doesn’t have spare millions sitting around to fund these supposed secret departments.”

  Smith huffed.

  “Bobby Axelrod, Jonas Meddlesworth, and Penelope are all somehow connected,” I said. “We just have to figure out how.”

  “Gotcha.”

  We turned to look at Smith, who brushed back the greasy strands of his hair to reveal a victorious expression.

  “What’ve you got?” Kaira asked.

  “Bobby Axelrod used his credit card an hour ago at the Watertown Motel.”

  “That’s not far from here,” I said, looking at Kaira. “If Bobby is still there—”

  “Directions,” Yutika demanded.

  “Turn around,” Smith said.

  I clung to the edge of the seat as the van U-turned and barreled back in the other direction.

  “Oh Lordy,” A.J. complained.

  “If you don’t like my driving, then one of you can be the getaway driver,” Yutika grumbled. “NYC girl here, remember? What am I supposed to know about driving, anyway?”

  “Well then, get around to making driver’s licenses for the rest of us,” A.J. retorted.

  Yutika’s comeback was drowned out by the simultaneous chime of several cell phones. A.J. and Kaira pulled their phones out of their pockets, while Yutika took both hands off the wheel to look at hers. Kaira snatched Yutika’s phone away before we all died.

  There was a chorus of curses from everyone except me.

  “What?” I asked, craning to see the bedazzled screen of A.J.’s phone. “What happened?”

  A.J.’s phone floated in the air and hovered in front of my face.

  The bolded headline read, Chief Justice Alina Freeman found murdered in Boston hotel room.

  CHAPTER 16

 
My whole body went numb.

  Alina Freeman was the first Natural judge to rule that Magics were officially humans, and thus, deserving of all the rights and protections as Naturals. The effects of her death would be…incalculable.

  I snatched the phone out of the air and scrolled through the news article.

  …stabbed brutally seven times. A Magic whose identity has not yet been released has been arrested for the murder. He is being held at the Federal Correction Institute of Boston while he awaits trial. If convicted, his execution will be held early Monday morning.

  Valencia Stark, head of the UnAllied, will be holding a rally this Saturday to protest the execution. Magics nation-wide are outraged that Graysen Galder, the chief suspect in two Magic murders earlier this week, has yet to be apprehended.

  It would seem Galder started a trend of prejudice and violence, which other disturbed people—both Naturals and Magics—are eager to perpetuate….

  My stomach turned over.

  Before I could even begin to process what Chief Justice Freeman’s murder would mean for the Alliance and the ever-more fragile bonds of peace between Naturals and Magics, everyone’s phones started dinging and buzzing at once.

  “How many times do I need to tell you to get rid of those things?” Smith grumbled. “Do you know how easy cell phones are to track? Bloggers are saying—”

  “Someone tell me what the hell is going on,” Yutika demanded.

  “Mags,” Kaira and A.J. said at the same time.

  “People are panicking,” Kaira clarified. “We’re getting inundated with Mags who want to disappear.”

  “At least trade out your SIM cards once in a while,” Smith persisted.

  “If it were up to you, there’d be no way to get in touch with any of us,” A.J. said.

  “Um, yeah,” Smith replied.

  “Right. Because that’d be great for business,” A.J. retorted. “We’ll help you, but only if you can crack through ten firewalls to get our phone number.”

  “That’s not how firewalls work,” Smith said.

  “What do we do now?” Yutika asked before A.J. could continue the argument.

  Kaira rubbed her neck. “Okay. Smith, I need you to find out everything you can about the Mag they’ve convicted. Find out if he’s actually the guy, or if he’s another scapegoat. Text me if we need to do anything about him.”

  Kaira turned in her seat.

  “A.J. and Yutika, you both go back to the house and start sorting through all these Mags. Figure out which ones we can help and get the process rolling. And Gray and I will need a car.”

  Yutika was drawing before we had come to a full stop, and she didn’t seem to notice when the van lurched over the curb. She flicked her pen across the sheet of paper.

  “Done,” she announced a minute later. She rolled down her window and tossed the paper out.

  I followed Kaira out of the van and stepped closer to get a better look at the drawing. Yutika was the first Creator I’d ever met, and I was fascinated.

  The drawing lay on the pavement for several seconds. Then, the image of the car lifted itself right up. It left behind a hole in the sheet of paper as the 2D drawing of the car stood on its flimsy wheels.

  As I watched, the flat image began to expand. I heard the sound of crinkling paper, and it was as though the sketch’s fibers were somehow multiplying. The flat paper car became a 3D paper car. It looked like something out of a pop-up book for kids.

  The soft, papery exterior hardened into a metal shell. It reminded me of a toy car. At least, it did, until it started to get bigger.

  There was the groan and creak of metal shifting into alignment. Small rubber tires and plastic hubcaps sprung from the remaining paper.

  “You better back up,” Kaira said, observing my fascination with an amused look on her face.

  I did, going to stand on the curb next to her without taking my eyes off the tiny car. It was wobbling back and forth on its new wheels. It started to grow. Fast.

  One second, it was the size of a toy. The next, a real-life black sedan was parked next to us. If I was still standing where I’d been a few seconds ago, I would have been crushed underneath the car.

  The windows rolled down all by themselves, and I caught the hint of new car smell. Eye of the Tiger was playing on the radio.

  “That is so damn cool,” I said. “Will it…drive?”

  “Nope. I just thought you and Kaira would like somewhere to sit and relax while the rest of us get shit done.” Yutika grinned at me. “Of course, it drives.”

  I would have come up with a snappy retort if my mind wasn’t on overload. Instead, I went over to the sedan…equal parts awed and skeptical.

  “Room 211!” Smith called out of the van’s cracked window.

  Kaira waved a hand to let Smith know we’d heard and then got into the passenger side of the car. I opened the driver’s door. The car was already running. There was no key in the ignition, but other than that, it seemed like a normal car.

  Weird.

  There was even a hula girl stuck to the dash, which wiggled along with the engine’s vibrations. I glanced into the rearview mirror. That’s when I saw the stick figure decals on the back windshield. There were seven of them…and they bore more than a passing resemblance to each of us.

  That’s just showing off, I thought with an amused chuckle.

  Kaira, who seemed used to this sort of thing, pulled on her seatbelt and adjusted her head rest.

  “Don’t get pulled over,” she warned me. “I don’t want to have to deal with you not having a driver’s license.”

  I pressed on the gas, and to my surprise and relief, the car accelerated. We pulled onto Storrow Drive along with all the other cars. It was a mark of my current situation that I wasn’t more thrilled by the fact that I was fully illusioned and driving a car that had just been brought into existence by a Creator. I was surrounded by more magic at this moment than some people got to experience in their entire lives. And I was with Kaira.

  But then I remembered I was being framed for two murders, and I was no closer to answers than I’d been when I got arrested. And now someone else was dead.

  “What a disaster,” I groaned.

  “This isn’t your fault,” Kaira said. “You’re the victim here.”

  “Maybe if I turn myself in—”

  “Then what?” she demanded. “You think the murders will stop?”

  I didn’t know. I just knew I had to do something—something more than chasing after the barest hope of learning something useful. I felt complicit in the murders because I was out here and free, and some madman was using me as a cover for committing all these atrocities.

  “So, how do you want to do this?” Kaira asked.

  I almost smiled. She knew me so well…she knew the best way to get me out of the black place my thoughts had gone was to give me a logical problem I could solve. I took the bait.

  “Bobby Axelrod sounds pretty dumb for checking into a motel with his own credit card, but it also sounds like he’s scared.” I rubbed a hand along my stubbled jaw. “I doubt he’ll just let us in to chat.”

  “I could call Bri to come break down the door.”

  “That’ll just terrify him even more and we’ll never get anything out of him,” I said. My male pride required me to add, “Besides, I could break open the door if it came down to it.”

  Kaira grinned.

  “I’d rather not call Michael unless we have to,” Kaira said. “That way, if anyone shows up at Nancy’s, he’ll be there to find out what they know.”

  I agreed. Kaira and I would find out everything we could from Bobby Axelrod, one way or another.

  “I’m thinking cop illusions would be best,” I told her.

  Kaira nodded. “That’ll work. You want to be good cop or bad?”

  That coaxed a small smile out of me. “Bad, obviously.”

  She grinned back. For a while, we drove in easy silence. It felt so strangely…normal.


  I glanced at her, but she was staring out her window at something. Her whole body had gone rigid. That’s when I saw the giant, lit billboard that had commanded her attention.

  There was an image of a chubby, smiling infant. The huge text beneath the baby read, “The greatest gift to mankind. The greatest gift to your country.”

  I gripped the steering wheel.

  The billboard was one of many efforts to get couples to start having more children. Ever since the Slaughters, the world population had been plummeting, and governments were desperate to replenish the deficit. People saw it as their national duty to choose a partner with whom they could produce viable children. It was one of the reasons why there had been an increase in violence toward homosexuals, and why couples who decided not to have children were social lepers.

  Still, even that wasn’t as bad as earning the brand of baby killer by breaking the third high law.

  In any society, doing something that could kill hundreds of infants would be abhorrent. But particularly in a time when children were scarcer and more precious than ever before, even the possibility of producing a DAMND child, the infected offspring from a Natural and Magic couple, was unthinkable.

  I understood people’s fear and the real danger that Nat-Mag couples posed to others around them. It was why Kaira and I had been obsessive about birth control.

  I had never cared much about having kids. I liked them enough, but it wasn’t possible with Kaira, and I didn’t want to be with anyone except her.

  I believed there had been a time when Kaira wanted me enough to give up her chances of marriage and having a big family like the one she’d grown up with. But I hadn’t missed the longing in her gaze whenever we had been watching TV and a happy couple with a baby was on the screen, and I’d seen the way she flipped too quickly through the wedding section of her magazines. Even if she wouldn’t admit it, Kaira wanted those things. And I’d never be able to give them to her.

  Now, though, she could marry a Magic and have it all.

  The thought curdled in my stomach like sour milk.