Burned (31 page)

Rain and I watched him go. ‘Some history?’ Rain asked.

‘Actually it’s pretty recent,’ I said. As I watched, Maradok disappeared through the door. I got one last look at the dull metal box before it vanished. I wondered exactly what was in it, and whether it really had been a bound jinn, and decided I didn’t care. The Council would lock it up in a storage facility somewhere, and as far as I was concerned, it could stay there. It wasn’t my problem any more.

‘Come on,’ Rain said, patting my arm. ‘Let’s get you to debriefing.’

‘Joy,’ I said with a sigh. ‘Couldn’t I deal with some more Dark mages instead?’

Rain snorted and we turned away, moving to join Caldera and Landis. A few more hours, then I was going home.

Once we were done at Keeper HQ, I went back to Anne’s. My burns weren’t serious, but they did need attention – I asked Anne if she was still too badly hurt to do any healing, but she was insistent on helping. She was as good as her word, and by the time she was done, I was too tired to want to leave. Luna and Variam arrived shortly afterwards, and of course, all of them wanted to hear the story. It took a long time, especially with the interruptions.

‘I can’t believe you did that,’ Luna said once I was finally done. ‘I wish I’d been there.’

‘I don’t,’ I said. ‘I want you alive and in one piece for your journeyman test.’

‘Is he okay?’ Luna asked Anne.

‘Hey,’ I said. ‘I’m right here.’

‘You’d just say you were fine.’

‘He
is
fine,’ Anne said with a smile. ‘All he needs is a little rest.’

‘So what about the arsehole that tried to burn your face off?’ Variam said. ‘What are we going to do about him?’

‘Nothing.’

‘He fried Anne and burned down your house and you’re doing
nothing
?’

‘Correct,’ I said. ‘Because right now, he’s not a threat. He was acting on orders. Now that the Council have got their gizmo, Sal Sarque and Maradok haven’t got a reason to try any more assassination attempts. Especially given how their last ones turned out.’

Variam gave Anne a disbelieving look. ‘You’re actually okay with this?’

‘I’m more than okay with it,’ Anne said in her quiet voice. ‘I don’t care if he burned me. I’ve had worse.’

‘But what if he comes after us again?’ Luna said. ‘He already tried to kill you twice.’

‘With a reason, and with orders,’ I said. ‘Ares isn’t Deleo. He’s not going to try to kill me just for the hell of it. Anyway, what’s the alternative? Go to war with Maradok’s faction? We’ve got enough enemies already.’ I shook my head. ‘No. I can get a new home, and Anne can heal anything that can be healed. What I can’t replace are the three of you. I’m not putting you at risk for some payback.’

‘I hate letting people like him get away with this shit,’ Variam said.

‘At some point a conflict has to stop,’ I said. ‘This is an opportunity for this particular one to stop. I don’t want to keep it going unless we have to.’

Neither Luna nor Variam looked happy, but they didn’t argue. ‘Okay, more cheerful stuff,’ I said. ‘How’d the training go?’

Luna and Variam looked at each other. ‘Good,’ Luna said after a slight pause.

‘No problems?’

Luna shook her head. ‘Not really.’

‘So I guess tomorrow’s your last training day before the test,’ I said. ‘You going to be practising all the way through?’

‘No,’ Variam said. ‘Chalice said she’d train Luna up until early afternoon. After that she’s supposed to go relax.’

‘She said I could go do what I want,’ Luna said. ‘That’s not the same thing.’

‘She told you to go take a break.’

Luna didn’t answer. There was an awkward silence. I looked between Luna and Variam.

‘Okay,’ Anne said when nobody spoke. ‘I need to go and get some food for dinner. Vari, could you come along?’

Vari looked up. ‘You’ve seen anyone watching?’

Anne shook her head. ‘No, but better safe than sorry.’

Variam nodded. ‘I’m ready to go.’

Variam waited by the door as Anne put on a cardigan and a coat. Anne was moving comfortably again, and the skin on her hands was smooth and unbroken – as far as I could tell, she was back to perfect health. It was hard to believe that only yesterday she’d been so hideously burned. The door clicked shut behind the two of them and Luna and I were left alone.

‘So did you ask her to get Vari out of the way, or what?’ Luna asked.

‘You really think Anne needed me to tell her?’ I said. ‘Luna, there are a lot of things you’re good at. Hiding your feelings is not one of them.’

Luna didn’t meet my eyes.

‘Okay,’ I said. ‘It’s been obvious for a while that something’s on with you and Vari. I haven’t been saying anything, but if there’s a problem, it might be a good idea to talk about it.’

‘There isn’t a problem.’

I didn’t say anything.

‘Fine, I’m lying.’ Luna sighed. ‘Why does this stuff have to be so complicated?’

‘What’s wrong?’

‘There’s nothing wrong,’ Luna said. ‘It’s like Vari said. Chalice told me to train tomorrow morning, then take the rest of the day off. She says I’ll perform better if I relax for the last half-day.’

‘Makes sense. So …?’

‘So tomorrow’s Christmas Day.’

‘Okay.’

‘Vari invited me to his family’s place.’

‘Okay…’

‘His mother’s going to be there. And his cousins.’

‘So what’s the problem?’

Luna slumped back in her chair. ‘I don’t
know
. Vari wanted to know if I could come and we had this stupid fight. He asked if I was busy with anything else and I had to say no, and then he asked why I didn’t want to come and I couldn’t come up with a reason.’

‘Hmm,’ I said. There had been something between Luna and Variam for a while. I’d never pressed her on it, but I’d been wondering if things were ever going to come to a head. ‘Sounds like there was a reason, just not one you wanted to tell him.’

Luna didn’t answer.

‘You should probably at least be straight about it with yourself.’

‘It’s going to sound stupid.’

‘Doesn’t matter if you sound stupid, so long as you don’t do something that
is
stupid.’

‘All right,’ Luna said. ‘It’s like … Okay. Say I go along. Then what?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘As in, what’s it going to turn into? He’s going to be a Keeper some day. He probably could take the tests any time he wanted to. And there’s no way in hell I’d ever fit in with his family. I don’t fit in with his magical life
or
with his family life. It’s just setting myself up for trouble. Isn’t it?’

‘Which bit are you worried about?’ I said. ‘You think his family is going to have an issue with you not being Sikh?’

‘Well, they will, won’t they?’

‘Don’t really know,’ I said. ‘I’ve never met them. But I’ve seen what Vari’s like. It’s hard for me to believe he could be as close as he is to Anne and to you if he came from a family with really serious issues that way. Anyway, won’t know unless you try.’

‘It’s still horrible timing,’ Luna said. ‘That was one of the reasons I was pissed off with him. We shouldn’t be doing this stuff now. I mean, it already slowed us down: we could have been there to help you and Anne on Monday night if we hadn’t…’ She trailed off.

I waited for Luna to carry on but she didn’t. I didn’t ask exactly what she was referring to – it was their business, and besides, I had a pretty good idea. ‘Look, don’t get me wrong. It really does mean a lot to me that you wanted to be there to help. But you aren’t responsible for protecting me every minute of the day.’

‘But it’s not even over! We still don’t know if this thing with Levistus is going to work out. And I have to worry about my tests on Friday. This is like, the worst
possible
time to be getting distracted with this stuff.’

‘Maybe that’s
why
he’s doing it now.’

‘That doesn’t make sense.’

‘Think of it this way. If this thing with Levistus and your tests doesn’t work out, one or all of us could be dead by next week. In which case this is all the time you’re going to get.’

‘Great,’ Luna said, rolling her eyes. ‘I feel so much better.’

‘We aren’t exactly living normal lives,’ I said. ‘Regular people get to say things like, “Oh, I’ll finish university and then get a job and then in a few years I’ll start thinking about stuff like that.” They don’t have to worry about getting assassinated in their sleep. But for us … let’s just say that I doubt anyone who knows my history is going to be selling me life insurance. And you don’t exactly go out of your way to be safe.’

Luna shrugged. ‘I’d rather run the risks.’

‘So why don’t you want to run this one?’

Luna was silent. ‘I don’t know,’ she said at last.

I looked at Luna. ‘Do you want my advice?’

‘I guess.’

‘You said you’re worried about getting distracted,’ I said. ‘Seems to me as though you’re
already
distracted. Yes, if you go meet Vari’s family and things go badly, then it’ll throw you off your game. But going into your journeyman tests with it hanging over your head is probably going to be just as bad. I don’t know exactly what the state of play is between you and Vari, but I do know you. You always feel better when you face something head-on than when you put it off.’

‘Mm.’

‘One other thing,’ I said. ‘These things have their own momentum. If you put them on pause for long enough, it can be hard to get them back. You might be willing to put things off for weeks or months or years, but I don’t think Vari would be. He’s kind of the type who likes straight answers. And he’s got his pride. I don’t think he’ll put up with being left hanging for ever.’

‘He’s a pain in the arse,’ Luna muttered.

‘He can be,’ I said with a grin, then looked at Luna seriously. ‘But you could do a lot worse. And you have, in the past.’

‘Don’t remind me.’ Luna buried her head in her arms. ‘Ugh. Why is this stuff so difficult? It was so much easier when all I had to worry about was getting to classes on time.’

‘You might have to get used to that,’ I said with a smile. ‘Once you pass those tests, you’ll be a full mage. You won’t have me telling you what to do any more. All the decisions are going to be up to you.’

‘I’m not sure I
want
to make all the decisions.’

‘Can’t stay an apprentice for ever,’ I said. ‘You’re going to be a pretty powerful mage someday. When that happens, people are going to be looking to you to lead them.’

Luna made a face and I had to laugh. ‘Okay,’ I said. ‘For now? Just talk to Vari. Let him know what you’re worried about, and listen to what he has to say. Then see how things go from there.’

‘Yeah, okay.’ Luna paused. ‘Thanks.’

Anne and Variam came back shortly afterwards, carrying shopping bags. Anne made a late dinner, and we relaxed as we ate. By the time we were done it was midnight and everyone was yawning. Luna and Vari left; I was about to head back to Wales but somehow or other Anne persuaded me to stay over. I used a sleeping bag and was out like a light within minutes of lying down.

Christmas Day dawned bright and clear. Two days left.

Noon found me in Islington outside the gym, where I’d found a place with a view of the front and side entrances. I watched the cars go by, soaked up what I could of the weak sunlight and walked up and down periodically to try to stop myself from freezing. Eventually I saw Luna appear from the side doors. Variam was with her, and the two of them were talking to each other as they came out on to the street and turned towards the station. Maybe it was my imagination, but Luna’s body language looked a little more relaxed than yesterday. I watched them go, smiled slightly, then headed into the gym.

Chalice was on the upper floor, packing away her gear. ‘Oh, hello, Verus,’ she said. ‘I was wondering if you’d show up.’

‘I did promise. Want some lunch?’

‘That’d be lovely.’

We walked to the same café where Luna and I had spoken to Chalice on Sunday, and ordered. Chalice had the sports bag that she’d used to pack away her training gear under the table, and I couldn’t help but wonder what the other customers would think about the contents. Knowing Chalice, she could probably arrange it so that no one would happen to look.

‘Well, the test’s tomorrow,’ I said once the waiter had gone. ‘Are you going to go see the results of your handiwork?’

‘Tempting, but I’ll pass,’ Chalice said. ‘I don’t think it would do Luna any favours to have a Dark mage as her guest.’

‘Same could be said for me,’ I said dryly. ‘But I think that ship’s sailed. Thank you for doing this on such short notice, by the way.’

‘These inconveniences happen,’ Chalice said. ‘Besides, I’ve become fond of the girl. I’d like to see her succeed.’

I glanced at Chalice.

Chalice gave me an amused look. ‘Dark mages do have feelings, you know.’

‘Well,’ I said, ‘you’ve held up your part of the deal. Ready to hear what I’ve learned?’

‘That would be nice.’

I told Chalice the story. I left out some of the more personal details – I didn’t really see the need to give Chalice a rundown on exactly which groups were trying to kill me, and why – but I did tell her what I knew and suspected about that relic. It took a while.

‘Do you have any definite proof that the item inside that box held a bound jinn?’ Chalice asked when I was done. ‘Or any other kind of magical creature?’

‘No,’ I said. ‘It’s speculation only. Though it does fit with what else we’ve learned.’

‘What about the motive?’

‘That’s the weak link,’ I said. ‘I know you asked about that specifically. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what
we
want to know, too, and without that, it’s pretty hard to make sense of what he’s after.’

Chalice stared down at the table, obviously thinking. The waiter had brought our order while I’d been talking, but the cup of tea in front of Chalice was untouched. ‘Do you think Richard was hoping to make use of that thing?’ I asked.

‘Yes,’ Chalice said. ‘Morden wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t critical in some way. The question is how.’

‘One of the questions. Okay, Chalice, cards on the table. You probably now know as much about that operation as anyone on the Council. I think it’s time you told me why you’re so interested.’