Chapter 13

Lienna handed me a tall, steaming cup of fragrant anti-fatigue. "A Sleepy Kit Special."

I wrapped both hands around it, inhaling the aroma as I warmed my hands. It was eight in the morning, and despite the seven or so hours since my escape, my every muscle and bone still ached.

Kade, as I'd expected, had vanished along with the alchemist and the beefcake. The Crow and Hammer team had transported me to the precinct, where Scooter had declared I was exhausted, bruised, and in need of serious rest. He'd given me some painkillers and a salve for the rope burns on my wrists and ankles, then sent me home to recuperate.

Being the rebellious rapscallion I am, I'd defied the healer's orders and reunited with Lienna and Blythe instead, hopeful they'd been able to squeeze some critical insight out of the two goons my partner had gravity bombed damn near into the afterlife. What I'd learned, however, was that when Lienna had seen our nemesis dragging me away, she'd pursued the van on foot for several blocks. By the time she'd returned to the square, there'd been no sign of either goon or their vehicle.

Our only chance of gaining anything useful from this entire shitshow rested on my severely sore shoulders. So I'd spilled my guts, telling them everything.

Okay, not everything. I'd glossed over a few details, like Kade's comments about my mutating abilities, the reality-warped handcuffs, and my newfound telekinesis. Blythe didn't have a clue that I was anything but a hallucination magician, and I wasn't planning on enlightening her—not yet.

Thus, the only real takeaway for Blythe was that Kade had abducted me on behalf of his superiors—a revelation she was less than thrilled about.

"How are you feeling?" Lienna asked softly as she sat on the chair beside me. We were camped out in the glass-walled conference room on the fifth floor, where Blythe had often skulked during S?ze's tenure as interloper extraordinaire.

I gingerly touched the rope burns on my wrists. "Like an exhausted, traumatized rodeo calf."

She smiled at my attempted humor, but it didn't reach her eyes. She was tired too. We'd both tried to catch a few hours of sleep in the infirmary beds, but the cardboard-esque mattresses and antiseptic décor had made getting some much-needed shut-eye all but impossible. On the plus side, it had given me a chance to fill Lienna in on all the details I'd kept from Blythe.

"It's a mess," I muttered, taking a sip of the life-giving java juice my partner had provided. "Kade and the Consilium know about the reality warping—and my new telekinesis. Even before he witnessed me tossing gym equipment around with my mind, he knew. He could sense that my powers had changed."

Okay, so maybe "tossing gym equipment" was hyperbolic—haphazardly repositioning a barbell was more accurate—but my point stood, nonetheless.

I raised my eyes to hers. "Not that I'm complaining about the sudden boost in brain power, but why? Why is this happening to me?"

She shifted her weight. "Your abilities have been evolving since we started working together. Remember how you could only really do sight and sound with your warps at first? Now you can disable an entire room full of people with just a thought."

I frowned. "That's still just a psycho warp. Bigger and better, but not different."

"It looks really different to me." She gave a small shrug. "When you changed the handcuffs, that was the first time you reality warped on purpose, right? Maybe that unlocked something for you."

I rubbed my eyes, wishing I could massage the freshly imbibed caffeine straight into my frontal lobe to help me figure out what the hell was going on. "So you're saying I've been a psycho warping telepathic telekinetic who can also break the immutable laws of physics all along and I just didn't realize it?"

"I don't know, Kit. I'm just guessing."

"Kade knows something," I muttered. "He also said I was an aberration that shouldn't exist. He must've been referring to my magic."

Lienna pressed her lips into an anxious line, but before she could respond, the conference room's glass door opened. Captain Blythe entered, along with Vinny, Vigneault, and Tim. Last in line was Agent Jack Cutter, a bearded telethesian who perpetually wore plaid and failed to understand why I made so many lumberjack jokes at his expense.

The other agents took spots at the table with me and Lienna, while Blythe moved to the front of the room.

"You all know why you're here," she began, her blue eyes steely. "Agent Morris has already involved most of you in our investigation into the IA, and now that Kade is back and moving against us, it's time to reveal the rest."

The surrounding agents all sat up straighter, their gazes intent despite the early morning.

"S?ze, Kade, and their subordinates are part of a corrupt faction within the IA—a faction that likely extends beyond the IA and into the rest of the MPD."

"Hold on," Tim said skeptically. "Isn't that a big leap? What about all the reports and testimonies we submitted about S?ze's illegal actions?"

"The IA has already dismissed the investigation," Blythe stated simply.

"What?" Vigneault barked. "But S?ze was clearly abusing his power and?—"

"It doesn't matter," the captain interrupted. "It isn't surprising that the IA chose not to investigate itself. Our task—the case Kit and I have been working on for five months—is to uncover the depths of the corruption. It doesn't end with S?ze and Kade."

Vinny glanced at me. "Is that why you had me looking into Kade's history with DRAFT?"

"Bingo," I said with a nod. "The cap and I are trying to map the web of influence that connects Kade, S?ze, the Internal Affairs Commissioner, and anyone else involved in their scheming."

I knew a whole helluva lot more about that scheming than I was letting on, but everything Darius had revealed about the Consilium and its history was for my ears alone—and Lienna's.

"On that note," I said to my former cubicle-mate, "have you learned anything?"

Vinny nodded. "I convinced a couple of DRAFT guys who worked with Kade to send me classified reports, but they were pretty standard. Nothing in particular about Kade. Just that he was present for the missions."

I crumpled my empty coffee cup in my fist. "Damn it."

"That wasn't all they gave me." The mohawked kryomage paused for dramatic effect. "According to my DRAFT contacts, Kade was often assigned to reconnaissance. On more than one mission, he provided detailed information on the targets—locations, numbers, stuff like that. But when the team got to the site, it was obvious he couldn't have known those details without touring the entire building first, which should have been impossible."

Tim swore so suddenly and creatively that everyone turned to look at him.

"That slimy bastard is a clairsentient," the telepath snarled. "How did I miss that?"

"A di-mythic?" Jack Cutter asked in surprise. "Arcana and Psychica?"

"Or the whole Arcana thing is bullshit," I suggested. "Anyone can use artifacts. Unless he's been doing public array-building demonstrations, how would anyone know whether he's a genuine sorcerer?"

"Clairsentient," Vigneault mused darkly. "What does that ability involve, exactly?"

"He can perceive the psychic energy of anyone close to him," Tim confirmed. "It overlaps telethesian and empath abilities to a degree, but clairsentience is its own beast. He can sense minds more clearly, accurately, and at greater distances than a telethesian, but he can't track people once they're out of his range. And he can't affect emotions, but he can get a feel for someone's mental state, mood, or even strong intentions—like, say, if they're about to attack."

That made more sense than a wishing well outside a penny factory. Clairsentience explained the bald bastard's slipperiness to an absolute tee—how he could see me coming, how he could pinpoint Darius amidst his lumina-driven invisibility, and how he'd murdered Georgia Johannsen and Anson Goodman while they were alone and with zero witnesses.

"And the stronger the clairsentient is," Tim added, "the more they can perceive. There have been a few famous clairsentients who could even determine someone's mythic class."

Well, shit. If Kade could sense the shift in my powers, then he had to be a virtuoso-level clairsentient. Because of course he was. Why couldn't I, just for once, make enemies with an evil idiot who was mediocre at magic?

"What about hearing Kade's voice in your head?" Blythe asked me. "That doesn't fit clairsentience."

"Oh, that." I scrambled for an explanation. "That was my bad. Psycho warping paranoia playing tricks on me. He's definitely a clairsentient."

Blythe gave me a hard squint rife with skepticism, and I hastily turned to Lienna and changed the subject.

"Is there any way to defend against clairsentience?" I asked her. "An artifact we can use to keep us off his radar?"

"There are potions that can mask your psychic trail," she mused. "I'll look into it and see what I can find."

If anyone could break Kade's magic or shield us from his prying mind, it was the Abjuration Queen Supreme, Lienna Shen.

"Okay," I said with an exhale, turning to Agent Vigneault. "Any luck on your front, Clarice?"

"I think so," she answered. "The only ‘Peter' I could find in connection with Kade that seemed at all relevant was a document from the former head of the IA back in 2011, when Kade first applied for a job with Internal Affairs."

"He applied more than once?" Blythe asked.

Vigneault nodded. "Twice. He was rejected in 2011 because of ‘a conflict of interest.' It didn't specify what conflict, so I kept digging. That's when I discovered that the IA was investigating the Obscura Influentia department at that time, and its commissioner happens to be a Peter."

"Peter Druthers," Blythe hissed.

"Peter Druthers," Vigneault confirmed. "He's the right age to be Kade's father."

Oh shit. I hadn't considered that Kade and his father might not share a surname. I was even less excited at the prospect of Daddy Kade controlling an international MPD department—and not just any department. Obscura Influentia literally meant "secret influence," and its main purpose was manipulating and controlling human governments and organizations for the benefit of mythics.

"If the IA was investigating Obscura Influentia," Blythe said, "the director's son joining the IA and having access to the investigation files would be a glaring conflict of interest."

"Yep," Vigneault agreed. "But less than six months later, while Obscura Influentia was still under investigation, the IA commissioner abruptly retired, and Commissioner Sparks got the job. Kade reapplied to the IA and got in."

"So Commissioner Sparks didn't care that Kade could be reporting to his pop?" I asked.

"Apparently not." Vigneault arched her eyebrows. "To add some extra spice to the stew, within a few months of Sparks and Kade entering the IA, the investigation into Peter Druthers's department was all buttoned up. I can't access the IA's reports, but I didn't find anything that suggested the IA acted against Obscura Influentia. The investigation simply ended."

I caught Blythe's eye. She was frowning, and assuming we were on the same mental page, she was also thinking that Peter Druthers was eyeballs-deep in corruption alongside his son and Commissioner Sparks—which made for not one but two Consilium-affiliated department heads.

I needed to tell Darius about this.

"Vincent," Vigneault said, swiveling her chair to face the kryomage, "have you still got those DRAFT reports handy? We should compare notes."

Vinny straightened. "Of course."

"I'd like to see them too," Tim added. "If Kade is coming after us, we need to strategize. Whatever defense Shen comes up with is a good first step, but we should have a real tactical plan in place."

Blythe nodded in approval. "Make that your priority. That goes for everyone in this room."

"I'd like to pick up Kade's trail," Cutter said, running his fingers through his rugged face fuzz.

Blythe shook her head. "The guilds are already handling that."

"They're tracking where he went," Cutter said. "I want to find out where he's been. I'll start with the location where he took Kit, then follow his path in reverse. Maybe I can determine what he's been up to in between abduction attempts."

The captain considered this. "Given the circumstances, I don't want you out there on your own. Take Agent Wolfe with you."

Wolfe was a senior agent and a formidable terramage, but I'd also noticed his conspicuous absence from our secretive soiree. "Are we bringing Wolfe in on the investigation?"

"He's a good agent, but it's too risky," Blythe replied. "Cutter, tell him you're following a lead, but don't say a word about Kade, S?ze, or any of what we've discussed here today."

Cutter frowned. "What kind of lead?"

"Make something up."

The telethesian's brows furrowed so deep they formed an uppercase V on his forehead. Clearly, his beard-enshrouded brain was more in tune with chopping wood than concocting believable fabrications.

"I heard there's a rogue tempemage named Faustus Trivium on the loose in that area," I offered. "You'll recognize him by his triangular smile and penchant for screeching when provoked."

Cutter gave a slow, slightly confused nod. "I guess that will work."

Lienna rolled her eyes at me. Hey, it was a plausible story that would hold up if Wolfe took the initiative to type their target's name into the MPD database. And if they coincidentally stumbled across my former foe and made his day a little extra miserable, I wouldn't complain.

After everyone else had filed out of the meeting room to commence their respective assignments, leaving only Lienna, the cap, and me, I sprawled out on one of the chairs and prayed for a refill of my Sleepy Kit Special.

"What about me?" I asked. "What's my assignment?"

"You got your assignment from Scooter," Blythe replied. "Rest, and lots of it."

I straightened out of my sprawl. "Rest? While everyone else is?—"

"You need to recover physically and mentally from Kade's abduction," she said implacably. "Apparently, you're so stressed you've been hearing voices."

Touché. I wanted to explain that I wasn't really hearing voices, but I also wasn't keen on explaining my burgeoning psychic capabilities. But I also also wasn't interested in sitting on my ass doing desk work for the next week.

Reading the mutiny in my expression, Blythe crossed her arms. "Kade is out to get you, and you'll be of absolutely no use to me or this investigation if you get yourself kidnapped again—or killed."

"At least give me something to do while I sit around," I grumbled.

"Have you forgotten you're supposed to be investigating the people around Commissioner Sparks? Or is memory loss another of your symptoms?"

I chose not to comment.

Blythe snapped her glare to Lienna. "Keep him under control, Agent Shen."

She nodded, and I felt a quiet flicker of betrayal that disappeared the moment she caught my gaze—and I saw the conspiratorial gleam in her eyes.