Phoenix (14 page)

He's so matter-of-fact and cold that I can't speak. I literally can't form sounds. Like both Henry and Ryker said, Beck is acting more erratic and out-of-control.

But only with me.

Only around me.
 

We climb the marble steps to the giant building. Once inside, the normal hustle of Statesmen and women pulls us deeper into the heart of the action until we arrive at the internal staircase. Every so often I catch a whisper or a look, but mostly the crowd around us seems pleasantly surprised to see Beck and me out together.

"Are you ready for work?" Beck says, as if nothing has happened. It's like he flipped a switch back to calm and mellow.

My mind is racing, and Beck wants to know about my day. I feel like I'm going crazy.
 

At the top of the staircase, I turn toward Beck and dip my head politely. His office is in the left wing, mine is in the right. For security reasons, we need to keep our distance while at work.

 
"What time are you leaving today?" It can't be soon enough. He needs to be away from me.

"After the Council meeting." He smiles, a bright gleaming white grin. "To my surprise, Callum actually has good ideas. We've already begun initial conversations with their Head of State, and I'm allowing him to oversee that. He seems happy."

I suck on my lip. All these years, my brother was relegated to Mother's errand boy because of his Light magic, and I assumed, his incompetence. But Beck is saying Callum is up for the task of helping lead this mission.

Did Mother really hate the Light witches so much she punished her son for being born that way?
 

"See you in twenty minutes for our briefing?" he asks.

"Of course," I say before turning and walking down the hallway toward my office. The plush carpet stifles my frantic footfall, but I'm hurrying – running really – away from Beck. The farther away from me he is, the better.

My office feels empty and cold. Once, before they were killed, Dawson and Oliver would spend most of their days here with me. Teaching me about magic and other vital facts about our Society. But now, I'm alone. Landon and my other guards stay stationed outside my door and down the hallway.

Still, there is work to be done, starting with how to grow more food, faster to prevent another uprising like the one last month. I don't have time to worry about Beck right now.

With my hand, I draw a circle in the air and a large map appears on the far wall. All the Ag Centers are located along what we call The Fertile River. Once it had a longer name, one almost unpronounceable - the Mississippi, but that was before the Long Winter. Now, our centers are strategically arranged along the Southern half of this mighty river where the sun is stronger, and the snow less frequent.

Putting all of our crops in one area seems risky to me. I wonder why Mother did it. The first rule of agriculture is to maximize space and replenish the soil. If we keep growing in the same spots, the fields may very well under-produce or produce nothing at all.

I study the map. There's another river, The Colorado, which also flows into the Southlands. Perhaps we should set-up a center there too. Just one at first, as a test. I make a note on my tablet to bring it up during the Council meeting.

The popping noise of a transporting witch catches my attention. Since my office is secure and only a handful of witches can transport in, I'm not completely surprised find Annalise staring back at me.

"I thought you were off today," I say.

She shakes her head. "Since when do I have days off? I'm not Kyra."

I have to smile at that. For as much as my friend loves her job, she loves her days off even more.
 

Annalise hands me my tablet. "You should be up-to-date before the Council meeting."

I quickly scan the reports of uprisings and food riots that fill my tablet. Annalise leans over my shoulder and reads.
 

"What are you going to do?" she asks.

"Get them food. It's our best weapon. Whoever can feed the people, holds the State."

Annalise turns my chair around. Her tiny, rounded stomach is at my face level. "Lark," she says, leaning her dark head close to mine. "Before the Council meeting, I need to tell you something." She pushes the button behind her ear, shutting down her wristlet feed. I take this as a cue to cover up my wristlet with my dress sleeve.

"What is it?"

Annalise touches her stomach. "I'm pregnant, Lark."

"How? I thought you and Callum--"

"It's Oliver's." Melancholy fills her voice, and my heart breaks.
 

A pause. Then another. A blush colors my cheeks. "I didn't know...ummm...congratulations...you'll be a great mother." The words tumble out of me nonsensically.

"When Callum finds out-"

"He'll punish you." I finish her sentence. Knowing my brother all to well, he won't take kindly to Annalise's news. "Do you feel you need my protection?"

Tears well in my sister-in-laws eyes. "Yes. For the baby. I'm strong, I can protect myself, but the baby..."

Poor Annalise. This baby is the last piece of Oliver she has left. "Do you want to move into my home?" I say this more as a last favor to Oliver than out of love for Annalise. After all, I'm the reason he's no longer with us.
 

Annalise nods. "I think it will be for the best."

"How do you plan on telling Callum? What if he wants to pass the baby off as his own?"

My sister-in-law chokes back a sob. "He'll never do that. He hates me."
 

A damp mist settles over us, and I pull my wrap tighter around my neck. "He hates everyone."

"No, really, Callum despises me. For years I've bared his wrath." She drops her voice. "He was jealous of Oliver and me."

"Because Oliver loved you?"

"No, because Callum loved Oliver." She sighs and stares out into the distance. "He's gay."

I choke back my surprise. "Are you sure?"

"Positive, but Malin insisted on binding us. She wanted an heir - even if it came through Callum's line and not yours."

"Did Mother not know?"

Annalise shakes her head. "She knew. She told me to try harder and ordered Callum to bed me, but we've only slept together once, on our binding night."
 

"How do you plan on telling him?"

"Eloise suggested having a group around. Perhaps later tonight?"

I squeeze her hand. "If that's what you need, then that is what you shall have."

"Thank you, but there's one more issue: The Light witches." Annalise grimaces. "Don't play nice, Lark. Round up a few hundred of them and enslave them. It's the price they have to pay for us to protect them from the humans."

Her words are bitter.
 

"Surely cooperation is a better route. Forcing them will only make them resent us more."

Annalise shakes her head. "No. If the Splinter group wins, I have intelligence they plan to out us to the humans. No one will be safe. We can't afford to lose control of the State. We can't risk our unprotected children."

"I want to try diplomacy first."

"It's getting us nowhere. Eloise can't find any Light volunteers. Everyone she's called has sided with the Splinter group. She couldn't even entice them with Council seats."

I sigh. "Perhaps the Channings can. Patrick is still technically in charge." I toss my tablet aside and it lands with a loud thunk on my desk. "I'd also like to wait for Beck and see what kind of treaty he can negotiate with the Eastern Society."

She blanches. "I'm telling you, there will be hunting for witches soon. It's already starting. Just last week a hungry mob attacked a home outside Vancouver claiming the occupants were witches and responsible for food shortages."

"Why am I just now hearing about this?"

"You've been busy with Beck. Among other things."

My wristlet chirps reminding me that the Council meeting starts soon.

With a wave of my hand, I flick the map image away.

"We'll continue this later?"

"Of course."

With a sigh, I grab my tablet. Time for my least favorite part of the day.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

"Here, here, and here." Minister Sun-Wei points at the conflict map, and three different spots illuminate. "Overnight, all three cities experienced witch hunts." He gestures to the smallest of the three tiny towns. "Only in Riverview did the family escape harm."

"What of the other two?" I ask leaning forward in my chair. Next to me, Beck's assumed much of a similar position.
 

"Dead." Sorrow and anger dance in Sun-Wei's voice.

"Even the children?" I ask.

His silent bob of the head fills my throat with bile. I swallow hard. "Were they witches?"

"Only the escaped family from Riverview."

"Light or Dark?" I ask.

"Light," the Minister responds.
 

I settle back into my chair, staring at the map. Nausea continues to wreck havoc on my stomach. "Where are they now?"

"In a house on Brodrick. They're staying with family."

I glance around the room, and everyone is staring at me, waiting for me. Beck shifts in his seat and places his hand over mine. My racing heart slows, and my mind focuses.

"Bring them here. I want to hear first hand what happened."

Sun-Wei croaks, "Right away."
 

#

The woman's hair is matted and dirty. Her eyes are heavy with dark circles. Stains and tears cover her pink dress.

But still, she looks better than the girl.

She's about fourteen, thin - too thin -- and taller than me. Her golden blonde hair is a rat's nest of knots with an odd stick poking out here and there. Her legs are covered in scrapes and scratches, most likely from when they dragged her through the streets, screaming and crying.

The boy, he's younger, maybe six, and sits quietly in the corner as if shocked into silence.

"They came when we were out walking," the man says. His voice is hoarse but deep. "At first, I thought nothing of them other than they were a rowdy group of young people out having fun." He stops and looks to his wife. With damp eyes, he studies her. She nods her head, encouraging him to continue. "We tried walking around them, but they blocked us. Spread out across the entire street. That's when I saw the red wristlets."

"Sensitives?" I ask.

The girl flinches when I say that word and reaches for her mother's hand.

"Branded by the State, yet walking freely," the man retorts. He doesn't seem to care that he's speaking to
me
.
 

Next to me, Beck bristles. I reach for his hand, before jerking away. He's burning red-hot to the touch.
 

Are you okay?
I ask

I'm fine.

I'm not going to push him any farther. We don't need another Beck explosion.

"Landon, prepare a team. We're going to Riverview."

My guard eyes me carefully. "How would you like to travel?"

"Transporting, and as soon as possible."
 

#

We land in the secure zone next to the frozen river, and Annalise and Landon immediately begin running through our arrival procedures - scanning wristlets, securing the outside area, and assigning details. When Annalise is positive the area is safe, she pings the gate open, and we exit onto an empty street. It's eerily similar to the empty streets I once skipped down near the Ag Centers.
 

"Where is everyone?" I ask.

Beck shrugs. "In hiding?"

Landon studies his wristlet and points us in a new direction. "According to the report, the Jenkins family was attacked near the town center, which is this way." He takes the lead position, with Annalise at my side and Kyra next to Beck. The rest of the guard surrounds us and takes the flank. Eight guards in all. If I had ten more, I would have brought them, too.

From the Jenkins family, we learned that there are three other Light witch families living in Riverview. Our objective, in addition to finding the Sensitives who attacked the Jenkins, is to get the other families out and back to San Francisco, unharmed.

Each step we take brings us closer to the heart of the city. I know I'm safe, surrounded by the best guards in the world, but the hairs on my neck prick up.
 

Our first stop is a low-slung red brick house with black shutters. Snow covers the front yard and icicles drip from the awnings. It's a tiny house, smaller than Lena's, but well-kept.

"Who lives here?" I ask.

Annalise checks her wristlet. "The Lewises - husband, wife, and a three-year-old boy." She presses the feed behind her ear, "Luca, approach the house and make contact with the occupants."

A guard I barely know, rushes past me and lands on the front porch. The rest of us hang back, waiting for the door to open.

A minute.

Another doorbell ring.

Another minute.

Finally, Annalise says, "Break the door down."

Luca turns sideways, and with a swift movement, kicks his leg at the door. It bursts open.

The inside is a war zone with overturned furniture and broken glasses and dishes everywhere. Luca and another guard enter the house. Outside, the rest of us wait, our breath hanging heavy in the freezing air.
 

"There's no one here," comes a call from inside. Luca reappears on the porch. "Wherever they are, they either went fast or were forced out."

Something seems wrong. I tilt my head and catch a glimmer, just a small one, of magic surrounding the house. "Beck," I say. "Do you see that?" I point to a corner of the house where I saw the glimmer.
 

Beck narrows his eyes and studies the spot. "Yes, it's like when you put a shield around us with Maz."

Annalise is already on top of it, scanning the house, checking it for charms and wards. Her eyebrows squish together. "There's nothing there, but I see it too. How can that be?"

"Maybe it's residual magic?" I ask. "Leftovers from a battle perhaps?"

My sister-in-law nods slowly. "That could be it, but it could be something more." She walks to where the glimmer is and moves her hands through it.