Page 41 of Adepts and Alchemists

Which was why I’d harbored suspicions about Lydia for so long. My senses hadn’t betrayed me. I’d known there was more to Lydia than she was letting on. I hadn’t trusted myself, convinced that I was letting grief whisper comforting lies into my ears. It still hurt that Indigo hadn’t trusted me, but I could understand her logic if I tilted my head and squinted. If I was allowed to grieve her, I would move on. If I knew she lay in purgatory, I’d try to save her, possibly at Lydia’s detriment. It wasn’t fair.

None of this was fair.

“Why didn’t she tell me this?” Taliyah said, words coming out on labored gasps. It didn’t bode well that the most powerfulbeing for miles was struggling under the brunt of Murrain’s spell.

“Because if Mom can pass me off as a mediocre magical son, I’m not considered a threat. And when you aren’t considered to be a threat, you can get closer to the bad guys, which means you can testify in court. Thus why I was in hell when Lydia passed through.”

“You were investigating,” Taliyah worked out.

“Yes. And now I’m here. It’s a compliment if you look at it that way. My mother isn’t a woman who is easily impressed but you earned her respect, Chief Morgan. She believes you can bring these bastards to justice.”

“What happened to no compliments?” Roland echoed with a soft, mirthless laugh.

I shot him a dirty look over my shoulder but continued to talk to Taliyah. Her shoulders were bowed forward, a visible tremor running through her arms every few seconds. One of the wards flickered dangerously for a second before going up in a cloud of sparks. It blew icy shrapnel across the room, opening stinging cuts on my face and arms.

“Shit!” Taliyah hissed.

“What do you need from me?” I asked.

“More,” she grunted. “Anything you have.”

I didn’t argue. I slipped and slid across the floor until I reached her. Pressing my palms flat between her shoulder blades felt like leaning into a frigid stone pillar, but I did it. I didn’t have a deep reservoir to draw from, but I gave her what I had willingly. That was the difference between what a magic user could do naturally and what Indigo and her people had done. They’d stripped power from the unwilling, stealing their dignity and power alongside their lives. It was one thing to lay down your life and power for others. Quite another to have your very being plundered for someone else’s gain.

To my surprise, Roland joined me, placing gentle hands on the small of Taliyah’s back. I couldn’t sense any magic from him, but absolute faith in her jolted through the contact. The man was probably more psychic than he believed, if he could project the feeling so clearly. Some kind of mild empath. Nothing to what Lydia could do, but definitely magically sensitive, if not magical himself. In that instant, he let Taliyah feel his absolute confidence in her strength and abilities. He respected her. Not only that, hebelievedin her.

I thought it was that boost, more than my magic, that gave her the strength to send Winter howling through the wards, adding another few feet of ice to our barricade. The remaining wards glowed even more boldly than before, strobing through the police interior like some kind of twisted rave. The shaking and roar of sound in my ears dulled enough to let me hear Darla murmuring under her breath. I wasn’t sure what she was saying, but I could feel cold power building around her. The tinkle of broken glass could only mean one thing, but I twisted in place, just to be sure.

I found Darla rising to her feet, limbs moving awkwardly, as though she were a glove that Lydia didn’t quite fit. She took Kelley’s offered hand with a nod of thanks.

“Lydia?” I asked.

She nodded. When she spoke, it was Darla’s voice, but not her inflection. “Yeah, it’s me. Not for long, though. I feel... I think Indigo is trying to call me back. I don’t know what happens if I go.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know either. That kind of thing is beyond my paygrade. You might end up in Indigo’s spot, in the back of your head. You might get lost on the other side. Or cease to be. It might be easier to stay a ghost.”

“No, it wouldn’t be,” she said with a soft, sad smile. “The chance at life is better than a parody of one.”

“So you’re going?” I asked.

I wanted to tell her to stay here. To let Indigo have her shot. If Indigo was trapped behind Lydia once more, I wasn’t sure what I’d do. I couldn’t go on ignoring them both if I knew Indigo was in there but unable to talk to me. But that wasn’t fair. It was Lydia’s body. She deserved to live in it.

“Soon,” she said. “Just one thing.”

She moved Darla across the room on wobbly legs, leaning on Kelley most of the way. When she laid a hand on Taliyah’s outstretched arm, fresh power jolted through the contact. The wards glowed so brightly that an afterimage burned itself onto my eyelids. The energy Taliyah had channeled in the spell propelled it outward, sending an icy shard of Winter at the caster. It was swift and sudden, arcing like a javelin. I didn’t have to feel the foul miasma of pain from the town to know Murrain had been hit, but it was nice to know anyway.

He wasn’t dead, but he was hurt. Good.

Then, with another flash of light, Darla collapsed. Kelley had to lunge forward to catch her, and mostly ended up cushioning her fall. She laid on top of him, dazed and a little frightened as Lydia’s certainty fled her face.

“Is it over?” she finally managed.

“Yeah,” I said softly. “I think it is.”

Chapter Twenty

Indigo

Shock cushioned the blow for only a fraction of a second, and I was intensely grateful for the time to brace.