Chapter 2

            I approached the Administrative Building with an extra share of trepidation. I’d taken an indirect route through Fort Flamel’s rows of plain cement bunkers to put it off. I didn’t see where anyone could blame me, though. Rose had gotten the attention of the Smiths, and I very much wanted to avoid it.

            Then why was I there? It wasn’t my fight, after all. If they wanted to interrogate Rose morning after morning, then what business of it was mine? A devil knows Our Father Below’s great truth: others do not matter, insofar as they are not you.

            Yet, something about the humans I’d come to know made it hard to practice what I preached. So, I waited outside of the admin building at what I thought was a safe distance. It was a pleasant enough day, and there was a stone bench where I could keep an eye on the main entrance.

            “What brings you around here?” came the unrecognizable voice from behind.

            I reluctantly turned around to face… well, I couldn’t rightly say who. I could tell that the man speaking to me was in possession of two eyes, a nose, a mouth, and some manner of hair. I was sure he wore clothing, though I wasn’t sure what it was. The powerful disguise fabricata he and his blank friends wore were expertly tuned to scramble the part of the brain that identified faces. Perfect for Wizard Corps intelligence officers, but it didn’t do anything for my nerves.

            I gulped, trying not to appear too put off by the blank person looming behind me. “I’m waiting for Cadet Cooper.”

            He nodded. “She’s a tough nut to crack.”

            “You can’t really think that she’s a Holy Sister, can you?” I really shouldn’t have called any attention to myself. I don’t know what gets into me sometimes

            “That’s to be determined,” he replied. “You’re Cadet Marlowe, yes? You seem to keep running into the Holy Brotherhood at inopportune times, don’t you? As if they’re seeking you out. Or, is it the other way around?”

            “Trust me—”

            “Son, I’m not in the business of trust,” he said, cutting me off.

            “Then why bother asking? Regardless, I’d think that saving the Nagoya Tower and killing half their attack squad would put me above suspicion.”

            “Nobody’s above suspicion,” he replied. “Not even me.”

            “Well, if anybody should be, it’s Cadet Cooper,” I said. “Trust… I mean, she isn’t the best at keeping secrets. If she was hiding anything, you’d already know about it.”

I couldn’t read his expression, and I was sure it wasn’t just the magic preventing me from reading his face. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead as his nondescript eyes bored into me. Finally, he spoke. “You shouldn’t have much longer to wait, then. Good day to you.” He left without another word, and I felt like a scuba diver after a near miss with a great white shark.

Once I was by myself, though, I wasn’t entirely sure how to amuse myself. Back home, I probably would have had a yellowed paperback in my back pocket. Showing how much I’d acclimated to human culture, I instead pulled out my phone and scrolled through SatoNews to kill some time. When I’d arrived, I wouldn’t have even known how to turn the silly thing on, but by then I felt naked without it. Funny how quickly addiction sets in.

One story did stand out, which I wasn’t sure how to feel about: an unidentified refugee had gotten across the Irish Sea in a rowboat, which I had heard of. Everyone had been talking about it, especially Rose. The only humans left in England by that point were slaves of the Horde, so she had been celebrated when she’d first arrived. However, she’d died of a mysterious ailment the previous night.

I’d never seen the woman, yet I couldn’t escape the thought that I was complicit in her death. I had helped with the invasion, after all. There was a level I shouldn’t have cared at all. Unfortunately, I did. That weakness was so tiresome; life was much more enjoyable when I didn’t give a damn about anybody but myself.

As I sorted out my feelings about the article, I nearly missed when Rose emerged from the front doors, dark circles under her eyes, and her freckled cheeks pale.

“Good morning, Rose,” I called out, quickly hiding my phone. The Englishwoman would certainly have a strong take on that news story, and she had enough to worry about.

Some of the color returned to the blonde woman’s face when she heard my voice. She jogged over. “Magpie!” She flopped down next to me on the bench, letting out a groan. “How are you doing?”

“A fair bit better than you, if I don’t miss my guess,” I said. “What are they even asking you at this point?”

She groaned again and rubbed her tired eyes. “The same questions phrased every which way. What I knew about the Tower Attack, if I was an associate of the Holy Brotherhood of Mankind, how I felt like the fall of England, and if that made me think those extremists might have a point. You know, all of my favorite things to discuss.”

“Sarcasm isn’t becoming,” I said in a playful tone.

“After three hours in there, I’ll speak how I want.” The glare I earned from her told me to work on my comedic timing. A stiff breeze emerged from nowhere at the bidding of Rose’s weather magic, underscoring the point further. “It isn’t easy lying for you all the time, Brother Mockingbird.” She dropped her voice at my former sobriquet, and it took an act of will not to visibly react.

“Your point is well taken,” I said.

The wind ceased. I wondered if she was even aware of the little weather event. “The good news is, this’ll be the last day of it,” she said.

“Oh? Did they say something?” I asked.

She bit her lip a moment, deep in thought. “I’d better not. It’s all very hush hush.”

“I hate dealing with spooks,” I said.

“I’d drink to that, if this wasn’t a dry base,” she said.

“How about we go do something to take your mind off it?”

Her expression softened. “What do you have in mind?”

“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “This doesn’t offer as many diversions as the school. It really makes me miss the Tower.”

“Well, whose fault is…” She trailed off with a sigh. “I’m sorry, I’ll stop being short. You found the light and saved us, after all. I still don’t get why Kiyo didn’t forgive you. I know I have.”

I winced at the mention of Ms. Jones. “I think I understand her outlook.” I’d lied to her quite a bit more than Rose, after all.

“You always were soft on her,” she replied. “Have you spoken with her since you got here?” I shook my head. “Do you want to hear how she is?”

“Yes,” I said without hesitation. “I’m quite in the dark about her.”

“I think she’s doing alright, though you know how hard it is to read Kiyo. I’ll send her a long text about everything that’s going on, and all I’ll get is an ‘okay’.”

“That does sound like her,” I said, my voice catching. I hadn’t dared, after she’s told me off in that hospital room. What if she ignored me? What if she didn’t ignore me? I wasn’t sure which prospect was more horrifying. Either way, she’d never be my Angel again, and I didn’t know if I could keep it together if spoke with her.

I stood silently, helping Rose to her feet. “I still have a deck of cards,” I said, thinking that the safest response. “We could play some poker again.”

“It’s not much fun with just two of us,” she said.

“Because I always win?”

“Because you always cheat,” she said, checking her watch. “This time of day, Junko and the rest of my old club will be jogging around the wall. We could join them.”

“No, we already did our jog today,” I said.

“Fine. Where’s Yukiko at?”

“Off training Kowalski in his magic,” I said. “Lucky we ran into him; it got me out of Japanese lessons with Yukiko, which is a heck of a relief.”

She cocked her head at me. “Hm? Why wouldn’t you want to learn that?”

“There’s only so much I can absorb all at once,” I said.

Rose replied in a string of syllables, of which I understood ‘we should’, and nothing else. She grinned at me playfully. “If you didn’t understand that, you should still be with her.”

“I don’t see what’s so bloody great about learning the language,” I said. “We’re Englishmen! They should be speaking our tongue.”

“You’re lucky your friends can,” she said. “And that’s a very old-fashioned way of thinking. A bit racist, honestly.”

“A bit,” I conceded. Of course, I didn’t see the problem with that. After all, back home everything was based on your species, and we did just fine. At least it was mostly fine for me, as a half-devil. I’m sure the goblins and orcs didn’t see it quite the same way, but nobody cared about their opinion. It was the beauty of the whole system.

Still, I’d long since learned that such sensible prejudice wasn’t exactly a popular opinion with humans. “Yukiko’s lessons are difficult, and her ‘bedside manner’ could use some work.”

“Sure, but you’re not a quitter, Soren,” she chided.

“Sure I am,” I said. “I gave up back in the Tower, didn’t I?”

Rose looked scandalized, but giggled at my gallows humor despite herself. “Even after all this time, you’re still awful.”

“Yet you associate with me,” I replied.

She shrugged. “I never said I wasn’t awful, too. You just don’t hide it as well.”

Our path took as towards the shooting range, which was only distinguishable from the other concrete buildings by a sign with a picture of a target. Well, I suppose there was also some Japanese writing next to it, but I’ve hopefully established just how useful that was to me. “We could see if Kowalski and Yukiko want to join in. Plus, we could see exactly what Yukiko is trying to teach him.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Rose as she walked through the door I held open for her. That was an old demonic habit, rather than a sign of my current softness. Devilmaids are very demanding about how their suitors cater to them. At least that bit of reflex wasn’t bound to get me in trouble.

            A bored looking orderly checked our identification with a minimum of interest. “Guns or spells?”

“Spells,” said Rose.

He nodded before waving us through, telling us that Bay Fourteen was occupied, but the rest were open. “Hold on a sec, almost forgot. Take these,” he said, holding up two sets of plastic safety goggles.

            “I hate these things,” said Rose, fussing with her long hair and tying it up in a ponytail. “They always pinch.”

            “You’ll like it better than wearing an eyepatch,” said the orderly.

            “Really? We’ll be throwing around high grade magic,” I countered. “What do you think these are going to do?”

            “You’d be surprised,” he said. “Either way, it’s policy.”

            I grudgingly put mine on, and we made our way past a hallway of identical doors until we arrived where Yukiko and Kowalski were presumably practicing. A sign in Japanese over a red lightbulb informed Rose that that active spellcasting was going on inside, and the door would be locked while it was lit. She was good enough to translate it for me.

            “Another reason you need to learn,” she said.

            My response was cut off by a muffled, feminine shriek from inside.

            “Yukiko!” Rose tried for the door, but the sign hadn’t been lying.

            “Step aside,” I said. I ran through my human spells, considering which could down the steel door quickly, but without sending a magical bolt slamming right into somebody. There were a few demonic options that Rose and Yukiko both might know I had, but I wasn’t keen to let Kowalski in on any of my secrets.

I settled on one of my old standbys. “Svalinn’s Wrath!” Magical runes whirled about my hands, dispersing as a blackened blade formed in my hand. I shoved the dagger into the seam between the wall and door, cutting through the lock in a single slice. I kicked the door in, holding the knife at the ready. “Alright, what’s going on in—”

The words died on my lips, not so much out of shock, but because the answer was so apparent. The square booth was wide enough for three people to stand side by side, opening up into a straight shot at a ballistics gel dummy that some prankster had attached a set of horns to. Unless those were standard issue? Knowing what the League thought of my race, I could see it going either way. The target was completely untouched, though.

Instead, an inky, ape-like specter flowing from Kowalski’s shadow had Yukiko pinned to the wall. The liquid beast’s right arm enveloped her from the neck down to the hip, ensuring she couldn’t cast any spells.

“Kowalski, you need to get some control,” Yukiko grunted, managing to sound in command despite it all.

“C’mon, Buddy, calm down!” cried Kowalski.

Buddy twisted its neck in what would have been an impossible motion if he’d been made of flesh and bone instead of magical shadows. The blond man flinched at its hateful gaze.

Every combat instinct in me said to hold back and let Rose take point. I hadn’t survived two wars in my nineteen years by charging right into action.

My damn conscience wouldn’t hear of it, though, and somewhere along the line it had come to rule me. “Do what he says,” I said, leveling my enchanted dagger at the beast.

            Buddy’s head swiveled my way, casting his soulless, white orbs right at me. He never made any noise, but I swore I could hear a hiss as its fanged maw opened wide.

            “He wants you to stay back,” said Kowalski. “He still doesn’t like you after the War Game.”

            “Oh, you remember me, do you?” I ventured. “Kowalski, do kindly tell your affinity to heel, please?”

            “If I could, I would,” he said, his voice cracking. “Y-you all need to get out of here. You’re just making him madder.”

            “Not an option while he has Yukiko.” I scanned the room. “Rose, do you see something familiar in the corner?” I chose to be vague; Buddy seemed like a mindless beast, but he was an extension of Kowalski’s magic, and the boy wasn’t a complete dullard. No sense telling him the plan.

            She followed my gaze, nodding in understanding. “On three?”

            “Just go!” I let fly with the magic dagger, aiming for where Buddy’s head. The amorphous creature was vulnerable to magic, as I recalled, and an injury would hit Kowalski with psychic feedback. The same spell had once defeated it in one shot at the War Games, though it had been weakened at the time.

            Proving my point about his intelligence, Buddy anticipated the attack, opening up a perfect hole through its head, and the blade passed through without leaving so much as a nick. It shifted mass away from the captured Sato heiress, bulking up its free arm for an attack.

            Rose sprang into action, carrying out her part of the unspoken plan. She dove forward, grabbing Kowalski’s abandoned disruptor.

            Kowalski cried out in surprise, taking a step back before a red aura surrounded him. A quick glance showed that Yukiko’s hands were partially free. Perhaps not enough to cast a spell, but her Gravity Shift affinity had Kowalski rooted in place as she doubled his already considerable weight.

            Buddy wasn’t about to be deterred from his preferred target, though. He thrust his hand forward, sending a spiked tendril right at my face. There wasn’t anywhere to dodge in the confined space; I ducked, but Buddy’s appendage curved to follow me.

            A black shape filled my vision, and a loud crack reverberated through the room. An instant later, a man’s shriek of pain followed it up, and my vision returned.

            “Sorry, Rafal,” said Rose, firmly locking the magical disruptor in place around his ankle. Arcs of electricity flowed up and down his leg, the runes of the fabricata glowing a menacing red as they turned Kowalski’s out of control magic into fuel for their attack. “I know how much those hurt.”

            A limp Yukiko slumped to the ground as Kowalski’s shadow melted back into its proper place beneath him. The right side of my vision was covered in spiderweb cracks, but I wasn’t any worse for wear.

            “I suppose I owe that man an apology about the safety goggles,” I said.

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