The Protection of Ren Crown Read online

  “Yes, we all know my magic is weird and wrong. It's noticeable to everyone when I'm not surrounded by thousands of other magical weirdos, like at Excelsine.” Or in Alexandria's library. Or the Depot, or Ganymede—all places with so much pulsing magic that I was rendered normal inside.

  “Your magic is beautiful,” Neph said, her voice sharper than I had heard before.

  “Her magic is dangerous and she doesn't know how to stay unnoticed,” Olivia said, more pointedly. “Which is—”

  Neph's graceful body lines grew taut. “How dare you s—”

  Olivia cut her hand through the air, her expression fierce. “The denial of facts is ignorant. Ren will constantly be a danger or in danger for the entirety of her life. She needs to stay unnoticed. And who here thinks that is going to happen?”

  “I can see the Layers sometimes,” I blurted. “Visibly.”

  No one looked surprised.

  Will rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah. Ren, Leandred couldn't have messed with the Layer system without being an Origin Mage or connecting through someone who could understand and wield Origin Magic.”

  I looked quickly at my fingernails, at the charcoal that ghosted underneath. My heart thumped painfully in my chest.

  The Layers had been created by three Origin Mages working together. Origin Magic held the entire Layer system together and, as one of the hardest magics to wield, was the only magic that could change it. Which was part of the reason Origin Mages were so feared. The ability to tear through the very fabric of the world was not an ability governments wanted mages running around with.

  Will cautiously continued, as if my growing silence was a barrier he needed to carefully surmount. “I've crossed paths with Leandred in classes and on the club's circuit.”

  The informal delinquent's club...of which I too was a member.

  “He is extremely powerful,” Will said slowly. “With the kind of intelligence that leads to terminal, dangerous boredom. But even as one of the most powerful mages on campus, he doesn't use magic or see the world the way a mage has to in order to wield Origin Magic. Most people can't actually visualize and manipulate outside of three dimensions.”

  I cringed and my vision flipped to black-and-white patterns overlaying everything—swirling into each other, one encapsulating another pattern one moment, then being encapsulated the next—then flipped back to stark color. The patterns that had covered my closet door, that had accompanied my Awakening sketch, and that had emerged from the box Raphael Verisetti had taken from that sketch—the same designs that always lurked in my mind when I looked at something for too long—swirled just out of view.

  Olivia looked coldly at Will. “I didn't realize you were friends with Leandred.”

  Will shook his head. “I'm not. We've crossed paths. It's not hard to deduce power levels and intellectual abilities, especially at Excelsine.”

  “His intentions?” Neph asked.

  “Bad?” Will shrugged helplessly. “It's not like his reputation is unearned. But even Delia, who can ferret information out of anyone, says that speaking with Leandred is an exercise in learning nothing of importance. He keeps what he cares about close to his chest while being an open book about everything inconsequential to him. No one ever knows what he is planning or thinking—even on the club circuit, which is a true feat.”

  Will's attention focused on me.

  “I don't know of a single person he calls a friend. Except maybe you, Ren. He gave you that item last term to help us downgrade our offense level when we were going to do the secret ritual—and you hadn’t even asked for his help. That was insanely unusual.”

  Everyone was looking at me, and I could feel Olivia's pointed thoughts about my stupidity in trusting Constantine with anything like friendship. “He felt he owed me. Constantine is very business oriented. He pays debts promptly.”

  Will's gaze was piercing. “And coming to the non-magical layer to give you a present on your birthday?”

  “Hubris?”

  Will grinned.

  “Stop.” I could hear Olivia's teeth grinding together. “I can't stand any more of this. She is not his friend. He plans to use her. That fact is as obvious as the reason why.” The pencil in her hand broke in two. “He is giving her things and tending to her like he has never done for anyone else in this world because he knows what she is.”

  A spark of magic burst from Olivia's fist, a loss of control I had rarely seen from her before.

  Will lost his grin, his expression uncomfortable in the extreme. “Which brings us back to the crux of the matter, Ren,” he said as my heart thumped in triple time. “There is no way he could have manipulated the Layer System without a seriously rare device or a person at his disposal that had the capability to gain the designation of Origin Mage.”

  “Okay.” My throat closed up and my vision went a little fuzzy around the edges. It was one thing to think about something in the abstract, and another to full out admit I was the monster-in-training of the bedtime stories that mages told their children. “Okay. Yeah. I...I know.” No one said anything as they all watched me wrestle with words.

  Olivia sat stone-faced in her chair. While we were in the car she had wrestled a vow from me against saying anything to anyone about our trip through Kinsky's painting.

  It wasn't like Will or Neph needed another point of data to conclude the matter—I could see from their expressions that both already believed I was on the path to being an Origin Mage—and they were still sitting in my room. But if Neph and Will knew everything—would that make them finally look at me in fear?

  I should say nothing more. I should stay absolutely silent.

  “Raphael Verisetti stole some of my magic when I Awakened, and he has been using it to do horrible things,” I blurted out.

  I couldn't take it. Couldn't hold the secrets in any longer. If they were going to leave me, I needed it to be now, not later.

  Will was already aware of Raphael's presence at my Awakening—he had been stuck in the man eating sketch Raphael and I had created together, after all. But his eyes went wide at the “still using my magic” part.

  Neph's pupils dilated as well, making her soft brown eyes darker. “I...see.” She said it calmly, as if I hadn't just told her that I knew the man who was in the top ten most wanted on every Second Layer government list. A man I had seen do terrible things...both physically and emotionally to people.

  “He taught my high school art class for six weeks. Before…” I arced a finger helplessly, as if over an invisible timeline in the air.

  My once mentor, who had kept me together after my brother died...waiting for my magic to show. Awakenings were powerful magic events, and I still couldn't recreate a fraction of what I had effortlessly created under Raphael's coaxing that one day.

  On that day, I could have brought Christian fully back to life, even with him six week's dead. I would have too, even at the high personal cost it would have required. But unbeknownst to me, Raphael had already resurrected Christian to a half-life—a cursed life. After grueling weeks of trying to resurrect him, I had needed to...take care of making sure Christian rested in peace instead.

  I ran shaking fingers through my hair and gained strength from the fact that no one had stood up and walked away.

  “Have you had other contact with Raphael Verisetti, Ren?” Neph was watching me closely.

  I deliberately didn't look at Olivia or Will. “Yes, in Ganymede Circus, during the destruction of the town. And he visited me on campus after the...incident with the bone monster.” Incident was a nice way of framing my last necromancy experiment, which had created a monster that had temporarily destroyed a good amount of the mountain near the dormitories.

  Olivia made a noise, disapproval of my need to share heavy in her gaze. She thought information should be kept locked tightly and firmly within as few minds as possible. Mostly, just hers.

  “He visited? Campus?” Will asked, eyes wide, gaze pulled automatically to Christian'
s burial sketch which, as always, was situated near my pillow. I would never tell Will why his gaze was always drawn to it. I would let him think it was because of the grand adventure he had had inside its lines.

  “He came to our room. Just taunted me a bit.” I waved my hand, unwilling to talk about the content of Raphael's taunting—the threats, the stolen research, what he had done to Christian, or the offer he had made. “You know how it goes.”

  “No, I really don't,” Will said frankly. “How could he get on campus? There should be wards against him. Did you tell Dean Marsgrove?” Will's expression was as serious as I had ever seen on his normally mischievous face.

  “He knows. He said he would take care of it.”

  I would say anything more about the incident—especially not how I could have sacrificed Will to get Christian back. It was bad enough that Olivia had been witness to the conversation with Raphael, but Olivia had needed to blackmail Marsgrove into letting me stay at school for the next term as well. I'd leave that tale to Olivia.

  Olivia and Neph weren't paying attention to us, though.

  “Are we going to have a problem, Bau?” Olivia said, and with her use of Neph's last name, the tension in the room increased by an entire magnitude.

  Neph's warm eyes gathered a layer of frost. “No, we are not, Price.”

  Will looked between them, biting his lip.

  “Who is Ahmed Bau?” I asked, wanting to understand the strained glances and surname references. Olivia had deliberately dropped the name earlier.

  “My uncle,” Neph said hesitantly. Tension stole into her shoulders. “He has advocated particular plans for forwarding muse rights. I do not share many of my uncle's aims, but I am still part of his commune.”

  Ah, that kind of issue. “You don't have to agree with your family,” I said, giving her an encouraging look. “To still love them and help them.”

  My Mom and I had disagreed on everything for the last four years.

  Neph smiled brightly, and the tension in her body blew free like sand in the final gust of a storm.

  Olivia, on the other hand, paused the belligerent note she was writing, and peered up at me with an unreadable expression on her face.

  “I've missed you, Ren,” Neph said, affection in every syllable. “Even though it has only been three days.”

  I smiled back, warmth enveloping me. They weren't leaving me.

  I thought of six things I could make for Neph to ease her stress or that we could do together when we returned to campus. I started constructing a model for one such project in the back of my mind.

  Olivia made a tapping noise on my desk with her pen.

  “Do not be concerned, Ren.” Neph didn't look at Olivia, she just continued to smile at me in a reassuring way. “Olivia and I are done with our argument.”

  A ringing noise jolted us from our positions. Will checked a device at his belt. “News reader,” he said for my benefit. “On a passive feed. Works like radio in the First Layer.”

  “Red Re-cap Bravo: Four attacks are currently taking place across the Second Layer. Buda, Pest, Thaican, and Siberiat are all under martial law. All citizens are advised to seek safe lodgings immediately. Any information that could lead to the apprehension of any mages involved should be reported to—”

  “Seriously not good. Not counting the libraries and museums today, we've been without a direct attack since Jauvine,” Will said while the voice issued standard emergency directions.

  Jauvine had been the second town Raphael had destroyed last term using my magic. Using my magic to attack and destroy.

  “And it just occurred to me...um, Ren?” Will said.

  “Yes?”

  Will was examining the walls of my room as if a fully drawn poisonous serpent might leap out at any moment. “Your wards...” He licked his lips nervously. “Who...? I mean, I know you've been working on wards at the library, but who put up the, um, base wards?”

  I jolted to my feet, panic running through me, and yanked open the door. “Go. Now. You are in danger here. You need to go.”

  When no one moved, I strode over and pulled Will upright and tucked a hand underneath Neph's elbow, lifting her to her feet as well, adrenaline giving me strength. “You need to leave for your own safety. Now. Olivia, start packing.” I gave Will and Neph a firm push toward the doorway.

  Will threw his hands out against the frame of the door, like a cat being forced where it didn't want to go. “What? No. All of us need to go. This is no time to be stubborn. This is not magic we know how to defend against.”

  My magic.

  “I can't leave,” I responded. I planted a foot and leaned my shoulder into Neph's back, pushing her against Will and trying to force them through. “Stop catting against the doorframe, Will.”

  Will gurgled out a few choice expletives. Neph's inarticulate sounds were way more exasperated.

  Concentrated on jamming them through the opening, I threw an order over my shoulder, “Olivia, pack.”

  “No,” came the instant reply.

  “Ren, you have to come too,” Will said, still swearing as I put myself in a less steady, but far stronger, diagonal position that Christian and the football team had used on the practice equipment on the field. I pressed harder, sandwiching the three of us together.

  “I can't. Let go, Will. Olivia said I couldn't return to the Second Layer until I 'dimmed' or fixed whatever broke free on me.” My wild hand motions were wasted on him as he was entirely focused on setting his feet against the doorframe.

  And Olivia never joked.

  “You can't stay here,” he argued, huffing as he lost an inch of ground and had to lock his elbows again.

  “I can. I have enough wards up now to give anyone a nasty surprise, but the ones in place only protect Crowns. And I need to make sure. I have to protect my parents until I fix this. I'll be back soon. Olivia, pack.” I attempted to corral her into our shoving sandwich solely through harsh glares over my shoulder.

  Olivia's expression was blank and unresponsive to my glowering. “No.”

  “I need you safe. It's not safe here.” I'm not safe.

  “No.” Her tone brooked no argument.

  “Olivia—”

  “No.” Her gaze was immovable and held mine.

  “You know better than anyone what I've been trying to do with the wards.” I grunted as Will got a foot in place and started exerting pressure backward. “Raphael placed the original ones. He placed them over a period of a month, and probably while slowly sucking away any pre-Awakening magic that I leaked. He never let me paint before my Awakening but he was always encouraging me to draw totems and other weird things.”

  Like abstract concept assignments on drawing invisibility. My mouth tightened. I could hear his silky words in my memory: ‘Concentrate on making that which is visible invisible. Project the suggestion of invisibility. Of the eye sliding right by.’

  God, it sucked. He always knew exactly what to say to get me to create. And how to betray me when I needed help. At the reiterated thought of how his actions had stopped me from resurrecting my brother, I couldn't stop a half-sob from emerging.

  Olivia abruptly stood and strode toward us. Finally. I ruthlessly shoved thoughts of Raphael's betrayal and losing my brother into the background. I would never fail again in protecting my loved ones. I could get Olivia to go with Will and Neph back to safety.

  Olivia strode up to Will and gave a sideways karate chop against the inside of his elbow. He squawked and his arm buckled, breaking his position. The suddenly unchecked momentum in his direction thrust the three of us through the doorway and into an ungainly sprawled pile in the hall. I blinked at the cream carpeting an inch away from my face. Blood flow slowly made its way down my neck and into my hanging head.

  “Ugh. Olivia, why? And Ren, why do I always end up beaten on the floor when I come to your house?” Will's glasses were skewed diagonally across his face, his gaze hampered by the trim board near his nose.


  Between us, Neph was pliant, and where the bare skin of our wrists met I could almost feel the calming and healing spirit that always hovered around her. I could almost sense that spirit flowing through Will too. Like we were a sandwich full of homemade ingredients. Already off-center on the pile, I reluctantly pushed myself free of them, making sure not to step on any limbs.

  I collapsed against the nearest wall and let my head drop into my hands. “I'm sorry.”

  Neph's fingers were around my wrist almost immediately, her touch creating warmth that seeped into my skin. I gave her a watery smile. Will was sitting with his knees drawn up on the other side of the hallway, sheepishly running his hand up the back of his head.

  “I'm sorry too,” Will said. “The first thing is to figure out how to dim you—or whatever.” He waved his hand in a vague circling motion toward my head.

  His gaze went back to my room and to the devices that he had been playing with earlier. “And with some advanced preparation...there is nothing stopping us from coming back tomorrow with better personal defenses, more information, and a plan. I...I have some thoughts. Let me research some things tonight.”

  Will was sporting the glint in his eyes that meant serious illegal business would be forthcoming.

  Neph cocked her head. “Based on what you've said, you shouldn't leave the wards at all, Ren, if you can help it.”

  “Can do. Olivia,”—I made a shooing motion at her—“pack.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you going to eject me from your house and protection, Ren?” She looked at me coldly. “Because I'm not leaving otherwise.” She shoved Will's and Neph's things into their hands, addressing them. “The taxi will be here in five minutes to take you to the coffee shop.”

  I hadn't even heard her calling one.

  “Olivia—”

  “You don't understand, Ren, I know,” she said, her voice was cold, but her body language indicated that she was hanging by a thread. “We discussed this in the car already. And I don't need you to understand anything other than I'm not going.”