Magic in my Bones (Lesser Magicks Book 1) Page 15

  She was with me. But so was Ethan, Meg, and almost everyone else. We probably looked quite the sight, more than two-dozen people moving down the busiest street in the city, and clearly in a hurry. No one was running, which was probably for the best since we'd risk becoming a stampede, but we had to look like the most frantic guided tour group to ever come to the city.

  The internet café Taya led us too was almost smack dab in the center of the street, prime real estate. Which also meant the already small building was already half-full. There was no way we'd all be able to fit inside, which suited me fine. There was only so much of an audience I'd be able to handle before performance anxiety started to get to me.

  "This is where the show ends," I said, stopping in my tracks and turning to face my new entourage. "I need Nina, and that's it. Everyone else should really get going. Go home. Like, far, far away home, please and thank you."

  Nobody moved, because of course they didn't.

  "Seriously," I continued. "I've got this." I hoped. "Whatever Aoife has been working on, I'll dig it out and let everyone know if there's something else they should be doing."

  "That's not how this works. You don't call the shots. The factions do, and you aren't a part of that. None of you are. We're in charge here," Meg said as she gestured beside her to either Ethan or her fellow witches, I couldn't tell.

  "This isn't your city. You're nothing here. And at this point, you're really just slowing me down."

  I looked to Ethan, waiting to see if he was going to try and make the same argument. He only shrugged casually, in a way that promised he had no problem with any of this. "No one goes in without Melanie's go ahead," he said, moving to stand by the door to the café, just as two teenaged girls pushed the door open to step back outside. As one, they gave a nervous little squeak at the large man who was suddenly towering over them before taking off down the street.

  "Ethan," Meg said, stepping past me. "You and I have been allies for a long time."

  I took the moment and slipped inside.

  The internet café was brightly lit, and vibrantly colored.

  When the door closed behind me, the young guy at the desk looked up with a forced smile. "Welcome to Pete's. How can I help you?

  "Uh, I just needed to get online for a few minutes. Do I pay now?"

  "Just pick a computer, then settle up your bill at the end. There will be a menu beside your stations. Although, if you all want to sit together, you'll probably need to wait a bit."

  All? I looked behind me to find not only Nina but Taya had come inside with me. "Uh, Tay," I said, trying to sound casual. "Why don't you go wait outside with everyone else. This won't take long."

  "I helped you find this place."

  "Yes. And you're the absolute best," I made my voice as sickly sweet as I could. "But I have a surprise for you, and I don't want you to see yet." It was the best excuse I could come up with that wouldn't raise any eyebrows.

  "Mel ..."

  "Seriously," I said, lowering my voice and stepping in toward her. "I won't be able to concentrate if I know you're standing right behind me, reading to report back to your new BFFs."

  "It's not like that."

  "I. Don't. Care."

  Taya left with only one last glance behind her. Nina and I grabbed the closest computers to the back of the building. It took far too long to make an account and sign in, but at last, we were there.

  "I need you to log into your email, find something from Aoife."

  "She doesn't have her real name on the account, is that going to matter?" Nina asked.

  "Not at all. I just need to find something that will let me make a connection to her, to her devices, any networks she's on, all of it."

  Nina did as I asked her to then moved out of the seat so I could take her place.

  "This might take a few minutes," I said. "if I look too zoned out, just try to ... I don't know, figure something out. Everything just figure it out."

  And then I went in.

  Working spells on small devices like a phone or a security system always leaves my body tingling. Deep diving into the internet is an entirely different experience. Lightheadedness overcame my body right away, leaving my skin tingling and my heart singing. I had been made for this.

  For the span of a few heartbeats, I let myself get lost in the power of modern technology. If I went far enough, absolutely everything was at my fingertips—private information for almost anyone alive, the extent of human knowledge, Farmville. It was all there with me, close and far at once, the reach of the internet seemingly far bigger than the world itself. Just by touching a computer I'd opened an endless expanse inside my head, black at its core but with shocks of bright-blue energy filling nearly every space.

  But I had a job to do, and a leprechaun to find. And my powers let me do things that hackers could only dream of. Despite Aoife's attempts to hide her online signature, her latest email to Nina let me make the first connection I needed. It would be enough to find more.

  I was surprised that the first message in what had turned into an email chain with Nina had been sent not to dozens, but thousands. People all over the world had gotten the call to come to Galway and help derail the summit. Aoife had promised that she had a way to finally shift the tide of power, and perhaps even get the summit itself cancelled, but they would need to act quickly while there was an opportunity to strike out at a small group of greater magicks rather than the entire European leadership.

  I was inside Aoife's inbox in seconds. From the looks of it, she only used this one for a particular type of correspondence. She had messages going farther back than the last few weeks. She'd been making plans for months, but I didn't have time to even skim everything.

  I could come back for it later.

  First, I needed to move from one mail service, hosted by a public and popular company to every device Aoife had ever used to access this account.

  I found two computers and a cell phone, currently active. Mostly to be annoying, I cut all power to the cell phone first. I wouldn't be able to access it, but neither would Aoife. Wherever she was, the device had become nothing more than a brick of dead technology in her hands.

  Which left the computer.

  I started with the most recent files. One had just been transferred in.

  The video file started immediately at the lightest touch of my thoughts. I pushed the images out to the computer I was sitting at so I could show Aoife what I was seeing.

  And watched in horror.

  I recognized the fae girl at once. I could only watch for a few moments before she started to scream and I had to shut off the feed. I didn't need to see anything more. I knew what that video would show.

  On a sickening hunch, I backtracked to Aoife's inbox, looking for signs of more files of a similar size.

  There were nineteen of them. Each seemed more horrible than the last. Vampires, werewolves, witches, and fae, all being tortured. Most displayed their power before the video cut out. Not all surviving until the end.

  This had been happening all over Europe, for months. It was sickening.

  Flipping through emails as fast as my mind could handle the influx of information, I tried to dig out exactly what the plan had been, while also trying to commit as much to memory as I could. But there were no names, only cities, videos, and references to earlier conversations that I couldn't find. Either all this had begun in person somewhere along the line, or these people knew how to hide at least some of their tracks.

  But whether they'd been hoping to use the videos for blackmail or to show the world, it didn't matter. I wasn't about to let them profit from what they'd done.

  One by one the videos were deleted from not only the internet, but from the devices they'd come from and any computers they'd ever reached.

  Bing, bang, boom. All gone. Or at least whatever I could find.

  But even when I had finished, it didn't feel like enough. I erased every account that had ever been sent or had sent one of tho
se sickening files, severing every connection. Even if they'd memorized one another's addresses, it wouldn't help. Those accounts didn't exist anymore.

  Unfortunately, the people attached to them still did. But there wasn't anything I could do about that for now.

  More, more, more. I took as much as I could, deleting without looking, destroying. Until something outside my realm of concentration began to shake.

  With a start, I realized it was me. I was shaking, or being shaken.

  I'd gone so far from my own body that it had become hard to tell.

  I'd long since learned that the deeper I go into the internet, the harder it is to get out.

  By the time I managed to break the connection, I was about ready to hurl.

  "Melanie!" Nina's frantic voice was the first thing I heard.

  I looked up to find everyone in the café watching us with horrified interest.

  "I'm okay," I said, trying to steady the shaking in my hands with no luck. Most people around me went back to what they'd been doing, but a few gazes lingered.

  "How long was I out?" I asked.

  "Only a few minutes. But your breathing almost stopped about halfway through. When you started shaking, I had to try and get you out again."

  "Thanks," I said, still feeling weak. "Things got a little intense there. You saved my ass."

  "Happy to help. Can I get you anything? Water maybe?"

  "That would be perfect. Thank you!"

  And it was. Even knowing how many people were outside waiting, I took my time to refuel and just breathe while Nina paid our bill, having to stop a few times to assure people that I really was okay.

  And physically, I was. Tired, but okay. Mentally was a whole different story. I'd seen things I'd never be able to unsee. And from the looks of things, that was only the beginning. Aoife and the people she'd been speaking to were scared. Of change. Of being stepped on.

  Of war.

  I'd done everything I could to slow them down, but as I finished my water, letting the last few drops slide down my throat, I had to wonder ... had I done enough to stop them, or had I merely slowed them down, giving them time to regroup while also destroying all the evidence against them?

  But once I got started, I hadn't been able to stop myself. The combination of rage and power had been too much. All I'd wanted to do was destroy, so that was what I'd done.

  I could have lost myself inside the internet, and I knew it. If I'd stayed much longer, my body would have started to shut down, leaving everything that mattered behind while I existed like a virus, corrupting everything I touched. Making things worse. Just like I'd been doing for days now.

  But it was far too late now to just take a step back and excuse myself from this mess. Because like it or not, I was a part of it, on both sides. I was lesser, and greater, and something else entirely.

  I was in this. And whether anyone else was willing to help, I was determined to make things right. Or die trying.

  Chapter 20

  When I left the café and stepped back into the street, Ethan was the first person by my side. "What happened to you?" His head immediately snapped up, shifting his gaze from me to Nina.

  Okay, so I must have looked pretty rough.

  "It's a long story," I said, "but Nina had my back in there."

  "Then what happened?" Meg asked, not bothering to pretend like she hadn't been eavesdropping. Taya stood nearby, and two other witches that had showed up at the park, but it looked like about half of their group had already left. I chose to take that as a damn good sign.

  "It's a long story," I said. "And I'm not sure I really owe you much of an explanation." Not if that explanation stood a chance of tipping the factions off that those with lesser magick had long been working behind their back.

  If I told her or anyone else what I'd seen, there had to be at least a chance of inciting a massacre, where those with lesser magicks who weren't deemed useful could be killed without warning, or as a warning.

  Ethan's low and rumbling voice overtook whatever complaint Meg had been on the verge of making next. "I think we can all agree that Ireland is in trouble. We're only weeks away from welcoming faction leaders from all over to our tiny island, and from the looks of it, we're all going to kill one another before that happens. We need to find a way to be allies instead of adversaries. Why don't we all go get something to eat, and then actually talk to one another for a change?"

  "Rich talk coming from a werewolf," Sebastián muttered behind me. "Since when is your answer to anything not to slaughter first and ask questions later?" Sebastián took a step forward, bumping up slightly against my shoulder until he was face-to-face with Ethan.

  A rumbling growl escaped from the Alpha wolf's mouth, and I would have sworn I saw a flash of something primal in his eyes. Something none of us could risk escaping while we were this exposed in the middle of the street, with no witch magick to protect us from human eyes.

  "Food sounds good," I said, turning my body so I was between the two men, but meaning every word. My body was still shaky, and something to eat sounded basically perfect. I didn't love the idea of breaking bread with the witches, or with any of Aoife's people who may have stayed behind, but I did love the idea of eating something. Anything really.

  Facing Sebastián, it was easy to read the distrust in his eyes. He hadn't said anything, but I would've guessed that someone he loved had been hurt by the wolves in the past.

  I could relate. "Look," I said, my voice low even though I knew Ethan would be able to hear me anyway. "I get where you're coming from, I do. But everyone still here, everyone left standing ... they haven't done anything wrong. The wolves and witches came here to broker some sort of peace. Isn't that what we all want?"

  "What we want is not to be sacrificed at the summit," Sebastián retorted, a few people nodded behind him.

  "Fair enough. But either way, talking has to be the first step. Unless you think Aoife had the right idea and we should be fighting first ... and asking questions later." I let the accusation hang in the air until I was sure Sebastián didn't have a comeback. If he wanted to fight, it wouldn't be here. "And if we're going to do that, we might as well get some food at the same time. Yeah?"

  The question stayed between us until Tate finally nudged the other man in the ribs. "Yeah, alright. Food sounds good. And I wouldn't say no to a beer."

  Eventually, the rest agreed that sitting down was the best plan, and for the first time in a while, I felt myself relax, just a little, but enough to ease some of the weight on my heart.

  "Can I talk to you for a second?" Ethan said as the others began to cross the street toward the nearest open pub, the look in his eye implying that he wanted a chance for some privacy.

  "Sure." I did my best to sound as casual as possible in spite of the nice fresh kick to my heart rate. So much for relaxing for a bit. But at least this wasn't the kind of stress that came from fearing for your life. No, this was that delicious kind of stress that came from a strong, protective man wanting to speak to you. The topic could have been laundry day or the cost of a bottle of water and I suspect the idea still would have had my insides fluttering.

  Ethan waited until everyone else had gone inside before speaking. "All good?"

  "Sure. What did you want to talk about?"

  A slow smile crept onto Ethan's face. "Nothing really. I just thought maybe you could use a minute by yourself."

  "By myself with you?"

  Ethan frowned, the humor flickering out of his eyes. "I didn't think that through. Do you want me to go?"

  "No, no, stay. A distraction is good right now. I'm not sure I'm quite ready to be alone with my thoughts you. I still have a lot of things I need to figure out."

  "Like?"

  "What I'm supposed to do with myself now. If there's actually an impending threat from the factions that could cost anyone with lesser magick everything. How to deal with the fact that there's a fae body that's been unglamoured sitting in the morgue somewhere i
n this city."

  "That's quite the list. I believe I can help with at least one of those problems."

  "Oh?"

  "The fae took care of the body. I didn't ask questions, but I doubt you have to worry. This kind of thing does happen. It will be taken care of."

  "Well that's good I guess. Because I forgot the question of what I'm supposed to do about my roommate situation. I'm not sure how well I'll be able to sleep knowing Taya is just on the other side of the flat."

  "If you decide not to stay in Galway, the pack does own some empty flats in and around Dublin. You'd be welcome to any one of them, at least until you figured things out. I know your connection to shifter magick is unconventional, but you could be one of us. We could protect you." Ethan looked away for a moment before his eyes flicked back to mine. "As a thank you."

  "I'm not really sure what you have to thank me for. But no thanks. I mean, I appreciate it. But I've got to figure this out on my own, you know? And I'm not one of you. I'm not really one of anything. Which I guess means that for all of my powers, it’s the one I inherited that defines me. Having lesser magick means being alone. But for the first time I'm starting to appreciate just how many of us there are with lesser magick. Because our powers aren’t the same, there's a divide. But maybe in that at least, Aoife has the right idea. We're stronger together."

  "But you aren't just lesser," Ethan pointed out. "You're as connected to each of the factions as you are to any kind of lesser magick. Don't forget that. When it comes time for the summit, you could have a real voice, and make a difference. You could be powerful."

  "I am already powerful," I answered. And to my surprise, I meant it. What I'd done earlier, chasing down files in an online web of information, there wasn't anyone else who could have done that. It was the same with glamouring the fae girl after she'd died, to shield her form from the humans, or healing myself after the van crash. This week alone I'd done so many things that shouldn't have been possible. "I have every intention of using my abilities, but not to help the factions. They don't need me. You all have one another to lean on, like you've been doing for centuries. The people here, they could use my help. And after a lifetime of running from the factions, I can do more good this way."