The Magic's in the Music (Magic Series Book 5) (35 page)

Was she crazy? They were hanging in a meat locker somewhere with who knew how many Clan members between them and freedom.

“Don’t look at me like that. Let’s assess our arsenal.”

Now he knew she was crazy. “What arsenal is that?” He couldn’t help his bitter tone.

Her doubt showed in her face now. “Powers?” she asked, tentatively. “Still not sure I believe all that. But if we don’t have powers, we got nothing. So I’ll go with powers.”

The Clan was probably listening to all of this. If there weren’t bugs, they probably had somebody who could hear through thick sealed freezer doors. He didn’t guess that would change the outcome much anyway. “Music isn’t going to do jack shit. And who knows what you have?”

“Music could be useful.” She bit her lip. “But you don’t look like you’re in any shape to wield powers, Lan.” She shrugged her shoulders. The chains clanked. “So let’s work on me.” She took a breath and let it out. “The problem with that is that I have no idea what my power is.”

Lan shook his head to clear it. They had no chance of getting out of here. But he couldn’t tell her that. He had to keep her hopes up at least until the Clan figured out there was no medallion at the center of the labyrinth in Grace Cathedral. That could take them a while. He tried to gather his faculties. The music in his head was starting to make a little more sense. It took on an edgy melody. “Okay. You love the stars. So it has something to do with that.”

“I can’t imagine what.”

“So, uh, what exactly about the stars attracts you? Just say anything that comes to mind.”

“I don’t know.” She sounded desperate.

“Close your eyes, try to relax and just start talking.”

“Oh, okay,” she said, exasperated. “Not sure what good this is going to do.”

“Where’s all that determination I saw a second ago?”

She looked at him, her big, blue eyes wide, her mouth rueful. And he saw that determination that must live in her core shine through again. She set her lips and nodded slowly, then closed her eyes and took two deep breaths. He could see her body relax. “I’ve always felt calmer out under the starlight. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because it makes me realize how immense the universe is and how ancient. The light that hits our retinas has been traveling for countless centuries. That light holds everything the universe is, back from before the Big Bang.” Her voice grew soft. “That includes purpose, maybe even God. It shines down like a message to us. The universe came from somewhere. It’s going somewhere. The secret is all in the starlight, and time, and movement. So whatever is going on in your life is an infinitesimal part of the whole billion, billion galaxies in the universe. That should make you feel helpless. But it doesn’t. It means that your life, and what it means, is up to you to decide, because the universe is so much bigger than we can comprehend that it isn’t going to notice you at all. You have to choose. Some people choose faith. Others choose proof and scientific principles. But I think they’re the same. They are just people making choices about how to live their lives in the face of such immensity of time and of space.”

She opened her eyes. “Stupid, really. But that’s what I feel about starlight.”

Lan was stunned. She was a marvel: an intelligent, beautiful, emotionally wise marvel. He remembered the adagio part of his symphony, the one he thought of as her song. He loved that song. “Shit.”

She looked apologetic. “Sorry.”

Lan’s brain gathered more neurons together. He frowned. “You…you didn’t say ‘stars’. You said ‘starlight’.”

She looked puzzled. “Yeah. So?”

Something was trying to get through the throbbing in his brain and the residual pain in his body. He swallowed and squinted, as if that would help it get through. “Maybe…maybe your power isn’t about stars. It’s about starlight. Or…just…light.”

“You mean like Jane’s power is darkness?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“I think darkness is probably a way better power than light. Unless the electricity goes off or something. Then it could be useful.”

“No, no. You’re not getting the whole potential of the thing.” Lan’s brain cells were waking up in earnest now. And they were excited. “Blinding light. Lightning. Light is heat, isn’t it? It creates energy? Electromagnetic radiation. I read that somewhere.”

“Yes.” She frowned. “I’m not sure where we go with that.”

“Well…?” Lan wasn’t sure either. But they could use all the powers they could figure out here. “From talking to my brothers and sisters, I think you’ve either got to be desperate, or you’ve got to kind of go to a Zen place to bring your power out.”

“I’m pretty desperate,” she said.

“Not desperate enough. Trust me. And we don’t want to have you blowing the place up or blinding everybody including yourself and me if you did get that desperate. So…uh…let’s go with Zen. Have you ever meditated?”

“I do yoga.”

He tried to push down images of her lithe body bending itself into suggestive poses. “That would do, I think. Just try to get into that frame of mind.”

“Here?” She gave a suggestive look around that included her manacles and the harsh light of the fluorescents bouncing off the metal walls. “Not exactly Zen.”

“Sorry conditions aren’t perfect, Miss Movie Star.”

“Not fair,” she protested. “Oh, okay.”

She closed her eyes and practiced breathing for a while. When her body had lost its tension again, Lan whispered, “Now think of starlight.” She got a soft smile. “Yeah. And how it makes you feel.” Her face got a dreamy expression. What next?
Shit.
He didn’t know how this stuff worked. How had he written that symphony? He wasn’t even sure he’d written it. It just sort of appeared and wrote itself. Okay. Okay. He’d go with that. “So, now you can just let the light be. Let it be real.” He held his breath, afraid to say more.

Nothing happened. But she didn’t open her eyes, either.

The glaring light in the fluorescents dimmed. Could fluorescent lights dim? These did. And instead, a glow began to emanate from Greta.

Shit.
It was strange to have this confirmation of their bond when, in his mind, he still wasn’t sure it was real. “Good,” he whispered. “That’s great.”

She opened her eyes, wide with shock. The glow faded. “Oh, my God,” she whispered.

“Yep. You got a power all right.”

“It’s all true,” she said, wondering more to herself than to him. “The Merlin gene, the powers, the…Destiny.”

“A real bitch, isn’t it?” He gave her a rueful smile. If he hadn’t been a hundred percent certain she was screwed before, he was now.

Now what could they do with the ability to project a soft glow? Whatever they could do, they’d better do it fast. Because they had to get out of here before Jason and Boris Karloff came back. Lan was no fool. He could stand all the torture they could dish out. But he had one Achilles heel. And she was hanging right next to him, glowing.

*

The unforgiving light
in the conference room of the office wing was giving Tris a headache, either that or the tension of inactivity. Michael was poring over the plans of the Luxor Resort and Casino, looking for the best way in. Drew sat at the far end of the big table, her gaze flickering as she looked for visions that might help them. Kemble was working on his laptop. Tris felt so God-damned helpless he wanted to put a fist through the wall.

“When can we go?” he asked no one in particular through gritted teeth.

Kemble swiveled to face them. “I’ll get us plane tickets. Who are we taking?”

Michael sat up. He looked tired. They all did. “No plane. We’re driving.”

“Driving?” Tris asked, incredulous. “That’ll add five hours at least. You said you know what they’re likely doing to Lan and Greta, but you’re not acting like it. Or is it not important?”

Michael’s eyes narrowed. “I seem to remember the last time the Clan showed up at The Breakers they had some big-ass guns. Powers or no powers, I don’t want to go in at a firepower disadvantage. And in case you hadn’t noticed, airlines don’t exactly welcome guns these days.”

Oh.
“I can melt their guns.” That was one of the good parts about being able to draw power from the earth and channel it to machines. A gun was a simple machine after all.

“But you can’t be everywhere, and we may need to split up.”

Or the Clan could target him and take him out first. They knew what Tris could do.

Tris saw Kemble’s face get even more grim, if possible. “He’s right, Tris. We’re driving. And we’re driving the speed limit, too. No use wasting time on tickets and concealed weapons charges.” Kemble took a breath. “How you doing, Michael? See any vulnerabilities?”

Michael ran a hand over his stubble. “We know they’re underground. The real question is, would they be in the hotel proper, with the whole casino circus of tourists and gamblers, or in the conference center? Conference center is underground, but the hotel probably has underground business offices and storage, and service functions.”

“I vote conference center,” Tris said, trying to move the whole thing along. “You could close it off from the casino, right?”

“I agree,” Kemble said.

“Okay. We assume they’re set up in the conference center and they’ve closed it off. The conference center has a loading dock. We could probably pull up in some kind of a food truck and not attract attention. Loading dock still has security, though. From these diagrams, they’re loaded for bear.” He gestured to the stack of drawings.

“I’ll take out the security system,” Kemble said, waving a hand dismissively.

“So what we need is to decide who’s going,” Michael said.

Kee came in with a big tray of sandwiches. Dev was right behind her with beer and sodas. “We’re going,” she announced, setting down the tray on the conference table.

“And Maggie’s not going this time,” Tris said. No way was he letting her in for the risks they’d be taking. If he got taken out, Jesse and Elizabeth would need one parent living.

“Whoa, little brother,” Kemble said. “Maggie’s power to calm might just get us past any guards they have posted.”

“You letting Jane go?” Tris challenged.

“Of course he’s letting me go.” Jane brought in a bowl of chips and a plate of cookies to go with the sandwiches. “You might need dark.” She looked up at Kemble, who was staring at her as though she’d grown horns or something.

“You’re pregnant,” Kemble said as though that decided everything. Kemble was newer at being a husband than Tris.

Jane pursed her lips. “Wasn’t I useful when the Clan attacked The Breakers?”

“You were crucial,” Drew said. Females. They always stuck together. “Just because you’re pregnant doesn’t mean you’re an invalid. And before my Neanderthal husband starts trying to keep me out of it, I’ll remind him that I was crucial in getting out of Pendragon’s castle up in Hollywood alive.” She smiled sweetly at Michael’s glowering countenance.

“As were we,” Kee and Dev said in unison. They’d always acted like twins. Getting married hadn’t changed that.

Tammy stuck her head into the office, looking glum.

“Don’t you start,” Tris warned. “You don’t have a power.”

“I can shoot,” she said quietly.

True. All the Tremaine women could shoot. Senior had given them lessons when this whole Clan thing started. They’d grown into crack shots.

Kemble went over and put his arm around her. “Tamsen, I know how you feel. But we need somebody to stay here with the Parents, and take care of Jesse and Elizabeth.”

“I think it would be safer to come along than to stay here without any of you to protect us.” Tammy jutted up her chin.

“Edwards and the guys will be here. And the security system I’ve got in place now is first rate.” He smiled down at her. “Better than first rate. Edwards will flip the switch as we leave and you’ll be protected by state of the art lasers and electrical barriers. Nobody can get in, not even the Clan.”

Tammy started to protest, and then shut her mouth, her lips a grim line. “Fine.”

“Okay then,” Michael said. “Let me get down to writing out everybody’s part. You’ll all have to memorize the building plans. I want everyone equipped with several exit strategies in case we get separated.”

“Where do you think they’re holding them?” Kemble asked.

Michael sighed. “I was afraid you’d ask that. No way of telling from the plans. I’m sure they’ve altered the original layout. We’re using these as ‘best guess’ frankly.”

Great.
“Well, we can just go in and cruise around until we find them,” Tris said.

“Cue me,” Drew said, her lips set. “I’ll try to get a vision of us finding them. That will tell us where to find them.”

“Isn’t that a little circular?” Kemble asked.

“That’s what visions of the future are, genius. Got any better ideas?” Drew waited. “I thought not.”

“What if we never find them?” Tammy asked quietly from the doorway.

“We’ll find them,” Michael said. “If we have to take apart that resort to do it. At the very least, we’ll probably come across someone who knows where they are. I can be very persuasive.”

Tris thought he wouldn’t want to cross Michael’s path when he was ‘on mission’.