Chapter 42

Loki.

Asire’s eyes flipped up and locked with mine. Just as quickly, they skittered away. I wasn’t sure what was going through her head, but I felt like reality had just crashed down on me. It was too private, up in her room. When it was just her and me, it felt like everything was all right and it was too easy to buy into the lie.

All those things I had told her, all those things that no one else knew…those things that she had told me. It had been disconcertingly comfortable, laying myself bare to her. It had made me feel trusted when she had done the same for me. We barely knew each other, but the girl was proving to be dangerous for me.

Then we had no more secrets. She had made motions to retreat after words had dried up and I couldn’t help but see her. Everything about her. She was so strong and vulnerable. Whole but damaged. Beautiful and deadly. It hadn’t taken thought for me to get off her bed and approach her. It hadn’t been a decision to lay my mouth on hers. I simply did it because in that moment, there had been no other options for me. I couldn’t stop myself.

I didn’t want to stop myself.

She had responded. That was nearly my undoing. Her mouth had moved against mine and her body had been pressed against mine. If I had gotten her onto her bed? We’d still be up there. The consequences be damned. So my insides were all twisted up right now with too many different feelings. Sorrow for Ella because I knew exactly what she was going through. Anger toward Lixa for screaming when she did. Gratitude for Lixa for screaming when she did. Concern that this whole endeavor was dissolving around us and we couldn’t stop the dissolution. Mostly, though. I was just guilty. I couldn’t believe that had happened. Worse, part of me wanted to finish it.

A big part of me wanted to finish it.

The smarter part of me was telling me that I was being stupid. None of this was real. I was in a stressful situation that was getting worse by the day, I had been alone for four years and this was the perfect cocktail for my undoing. Asire was gorgeous, she was unpredictable, she was competent and she easily captured my attention not because of any of those things in particular. She was too complex a puzzle to walk away from. So I had poked and prodded until I had a few more pieces.

Everything I’d done since agreeing to accompany Billy here had been a mistake. I’d listened to Billy talk about her cousin for years. I’d overheard some of the conversations from back when Billy was still living in my house. How had I not realized the perfect storm that that girl would be for me? Billy was secretive about their past, because Asire’s pain wasn’t hers to tell. But she’d told us what Asire was like a thousand times.

Not once did she get it accurate. All the separate details were right, sure. But the overall girl? She was completely different from what Billy had described. She walked into a room and you knew she was in charge. Reggie may take the reins and she may give the orders, but Asire was the one that could make things happen.

Was it any wonder that I got sucked in?

Asire shook off whatever she was thinking. It wasn’t any actual motion, but the way her face changed slightly. Becoming calmer. More in control. I could practically feel her shoving aside what happened up in her room and focusing on the task at hand. She and Henrik discussed what to do with Ella and Lixa. Asire grabbed the smaller girl while Henrik got Ella off the floor.

“I’ll get Michael and Brandt up to her room,” Henrik was saying. “They can keep an eye on her. You get Lixa up to our room and hopefully she’ll wake up soon and give Ella a tongue lashing.”

Asire smiled and hauled the girl out of the kitchen. Most would think it looked strange, Asire carrying someone, but me, having been right up against her, I knew that she was mostly muscle. That combined with the strength all legions have? She was probably stronger than most men.

Henrik shuffled out after her, leaving me in the kitchen with Reggie and the spectators that had gathered. Reggie put the pot in the sink, like she needed something to do, but there was nothing. Her eyes went out the window over the sink. She watched the snow falling lazily for a second or two before glancing at me. “How’s your boy doing with breaking that spell?”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I haven’t talked to him in a couple of hours. I’ll go check.” Any excuse to get Asire out of my head. She’d taken up a great deal of headspace recently and seemed to be consuming more as time went by.

I peeled myself off the wall and left the kitchen. I had to slide through the crowd, but people had a tendency to get out of my way. It came with the territory when you were as big as I was. The relief of escaping up the stairs was immense. It had felt like all their eyes had been on me, even though that was ridiculous. I wasn’t the most interesting thing in this house. There was no way I even ranked top five.

Wynn shared a room with Billy and Regory at the end of a hallway. I glanced at them until I found the right one and then knocked on their door. Billy popped it open and looked up at me over her glasses. Her brow pinched and she kept staring at me funny. It was surprisingly uncomfortable. Like she could see right through me.

Worse, I had just learned exactly how bad she and Asire had it growing up and felt like the knowledge was written all over my face. So I stared down at her and lifted an eyebrow, challenging her to say anything. She cocked her head and smiled slightly. “Here for Wynn?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said dryly.

She stepped aside and waved her arm toward the center of the room. “Well come on,” she said. Yet, that spark was still in her eye and I was starting to find it more and more worrisome. If Billy got up to something… I didn’t think I could stop her. I might be able to get out of her way in time. Might.

She closed the door and left the room while doing so.

Wynn sat on the twin bed. He had his phone on one knee and a notebook on the other. His brown hair covered his face, but I could see his hand darting across the notebook as Jarret spoke through the speaker. “…more luck talking with Dria or Moth. Legion magic isn’t my expertise.”

“They haven’t picked up yet,” Wynn said.

There was a pause over the phone and then I heard Jarret’s footsteps. “We went home early because there wasn’t a lot of work this morning,” he explained, and then the footsteps stopped. Another pause. Then, as he walked away, “Yeah, they’re screwing right now. I’m sure if you wait twenty minutes or so one of them will pick up.”

Wynn rolled his eyes.

I shook my head. Jarret lived with Moth, Dria, and Dovie. When my family had split up, the only ones who didn’t move in with others were Billy and Regory. I don’t think it had anything to do with how we all got along so much as space. They could have stayed with Monday, Wynn and I, but that would have put five people in my house. It was big enough to hold my entire Family, but it was smaller than the one I had before Eve died.

“Anyway, without knowing what kind of spell it is,” Jarret continued in his calm way. His voice almost inflectionless. “I can’t help too much. Breaking spells long distance is difficult. Is there no way for Loki to get in range and block it?”

“Not at the moment,” I said.

There was a beat of silence as they both realized I was in the room. Then the conversation picked up. “I might have one spell that’ll work…” Jarret said. “But it isn’t one I’ve mastered yet, so I’d be very cautious if I were you”

I was tempted to veto the option outright, but held my tongue. Wynn wouldn’t appreciate me acting like his father when I was only four and a half years older than him. But…old habits and all. So I did cut in before Wynn agreed, “Is this a spell that I could break if something went wrong?”

A beat of silence that I appreciated. It meant Jarret was thinking it through. Of course, Jarret usually thought everything through. With very little emotion involved. It was why Eve was so terrified of him. The kind of man he was with the kind of power he had? If you aim him right, then you’re fine. If you’re the target you're screwed.

“I think you could,” Jarret finally said. “It might not be easy, due to the nature of the spell, but it’s possible.”

“What’s the spell?” I asked.

“It’s a little like astral projection, but I hate that term so wipe it from your mind,” Jarret said flatly. “It’s literally for finding other magic users. Technically it’s just spell-casters, but I don’t see why it can’t be tweaked to find a legion who is working magic. There aren’t a lot of you right?”

“Nope,” I said.

“So how do I do it?” Wynn asked.

Jarret started talking and there wasn’t a word I understood. There were some herbs that were familiar to me, but in this context? Nothing. Spell-caster magic was more complex than the other two and I knew nothing about all three except how to block them. Somehow, I didn’t think that counted.

“Okay,” Wynn said. “Then what?”

“The light spell?” Jarret asked. “You remember that one right?”

“Duh,” Wynn said.

“You make that ball of light and slip part of your consciousness into it,” Jarret explained. “Essentially, just a thread of your magic.”

“Okay…” Wynn said again, looking a little unsure of himself for the first time.

“After that, you send the spell out. You won’t be able to, so someone else will have to. It’d be better if another magic user was there with you. Do you guys have anyone like that there?”

Wynn looked at me.

I shrugged. “I can ask—” I cut myself off before saying Asire. “—Reggie.” I finished hoping neither of them noticed the hiccup. “I’m not sure any of the legions known magic, but I’m sure there’s an Orphaned spell-caster they’re on the same side as.”

Jarret made a noncommittal sound.

“Will that work?” I asked.

“It will. It’d be better if you had a legion who could do it,” he said. “But if any of this was easy, you’d be home already. Anyway, so you have the other spell-caster take that ball of thought and magic and fling it using their own magic. Since you don’t have a legion who can use magic, you’ll have to make sure the spell-caster has a focal point.”

“Got it,” Wynn said. “What about when I find the spell?”

“If you find the spell,” Jarret corrected. “The chances of this working are very slim at this point in time. Don’t get anyone’s hopes up.”

Wynn grunted an affirmative.

“At that point, you break it like you would any spell,” Jarret said. “Find the point of weakness and slap it down.”

Wynn and Jarret started discussing the finer details of this bit of magic, so I left. I couldn’t understand a single thing they were saying anyway. Jarret had taught Wynn how to use magic and Dria how to use her spell-caster magic. She had all three forms, so she had to wing it with the other two. Moth could do legion magic, but had been left out to dry just like Dria had.

Once downstairs, I found Reggie in the living room. There were no windows in the living room, so she was staring into space. She had crossed her arms over her chest and was looking at the carpet, but seeing something very different.

I cleared my throat to get her attention.

Her brown eyes shot up, surprised to be caught doing nothing. She straightened immediately and fixed the jacket of her suit. “So?” she asked. It was effortless, the way she shoved aside all the emotions I had seen in her face. It explained why she was in charge of the city’s legions.

“Wynn’s good to go. He’s ironing out some details, but I think in another hour or two, he’ll be willing to try breaking the concealment spell. We need another spell-caster to help him work the magic.”

Reggie’s shoulders relaxed. “Good,” she said. “There has to be someone who owes me a favor that I can rope in to help him. I’ll tell the other Orphans. They’re starting to trickle in from work, anyway. They need something to occupy their time.” She marched off, her heels clicking studiously on the floor as she moved.

When she was out of sight, my shoulders slumped. I had nothing left to do anymore except wait like the rest of them. And without anything to do, my mind immediately drifted to Asire. I really managed to paint myself into a corner. What was she thinking right now? What’s up with the freak who made out with me after I told him a terrible story? Or, and possibly worse, I wonder if I could get him alone again…

How the hell did I manage to do all this damage in about a week’s time? Never before have I so succinctly screwed myself over.

“Loki?”

I turned around and looked at Dovie. She was coming down the stairs at an efficient clip. She had changed into jeans and a sweater, appropriate battle gear for Seattle at the beginning of the year. It looked odd on her, though. She liked to dress…well, it was an odd day where one didn’t see her legs and/or cleavage. Her red hair was also tied back. None of that was what worried me. It was the look in her green eyes. The serious, this is gonna hurt expression she had as she came up to me.