Collision: The Alliance Series Book Three (4 page)

Brilliant.
“Okay. We’ll sort it.” Turning my back and heading that way, I pulled out my stunner, which had three shots, more than enough to disable a magic-using creature. Or anyone, really. The stunner acted as a less-harmful version of a Taser, using second level magic instead of electricity. Ada hesitantly reached for hers.

“Does this not count as animal cruelty?” she asked, turning the rectangular device over in her hands.

“If it’s as much trouble as Ms Weston said, then no,” I said.

A scream echoed across the river. A wooden bridge crossed it and on the other side, two small children ran in and out of the trees, pursued by…

Well, shit. It really was a pure-white, storybook-style unicorn. Then I saw its face, and all storybook resemblance faded. Mad, red eyes, drool dripping from pointed teeth, and a gold spiralling horn the length of an Alliance dagger.

“I’m pretty sure it’s rabid,” I said. “Just brilliant.” Stunner in hand, I crossed the bridge.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Ada muttered.

At another scream, I sprinted after the unicorn. Sparks shot out from the stunner even though I hadn’t pressed the button.
Damn.
I hoped those kids were out of the way. At least the trees slowed the unicorn down, enough for me to catch up and see the two kids, boy and girl, had managed to climb a tree. The unicorn circled below, hissing and tossing its head.

This is ridiculous.
I approached it as quietly as possible, stunner at the ready.

“Who are you?” shouted the boy. He must have been around eight years old or so.

The unicorn turned to face us, mad eyes rolling in its head.

“Thanks for that,” I muttered, backing up. Ada reached my side, her own stunner aimed forward.

“Don’t hurt my horse!” the girl screamed.

“That,” I said, “is not a horse.” And if those kids didn’t shut up, we’d all be impaled. I didn’t like the odds.

The unicorn charged, and I threw myself aside, aiming the stunner at its flank. I hit it with a spark of level two magic that made my own skin tingle, but the unicorn whinnied in pain, its entire body shuddering.

“Stop it!” The girl jumped to the ground, running at us. “Let him go! He
is
a horse.”

“You do realise ‘he’
was going to stab you?” I said, approaching the unicorn warily and going for the leather harness over its head–seriously, who the hell had put a harness on? I tugged on the leather reins, and Ada hesitantly grabbed one, too.

“This is officially the weirdest thing I’ve ever done,” she said. “And I’ve never been near a horse in my life. Or unicorn, come to that.”

“Yeah, well, me neither,” I said. “Unless you count centaurs. Which I wouldn’t, in front of Markos.”

“Let him
go!”
The girl tugged at my arm.

“I really wouldn’t,” I said. The unicorn shifted again, its hoof kicking in a remarkably centaur-like way, and I prepared to give it another zap.

“Your parents shouldn’t have let you run around in here,” said Ada. “Did they have no idea it isn’t a horse?”

“He
is
a horse,” snapped the girl.

The ‘horse’ snorted and bucked to the side, and I gave a sharp tug on the reins. Letting go with one hand, I moved the stunner, before it swung its horn around and knocked someone out.

“Stop!” The girl grabbed at the stunner, and jumped back with a yelp as sparks flew from the end. I hadn’t pressed the button, but the magic level surged up again.

The unicorn roared, more like a lion than a horse, and charged, hoofs pounding against the forest floor. It was all I could do to hang onto the reins, trying to get my stunner close to its skin. Ada and I were forced to half-run alongside it, without colliding with trees.

“I am never getting a horse!” gasped Ada. “I think I prefer centaurs!”

“That’s debatable,” I said, as magic shot from my stunner, missing the unicorn but creating a starburst of red sparks. The second time, I managed to hit the unicorn, which collapsed to its knees at the forest’s edge.

“Yeah, I take it back,” said Ada. “
This
is the weirdest thing I’ve ever done.”

By some miracle–and not at all helped by the two children getting under our feet and the occasional random spark of magic–we hauled the unicorn over the bridge and locked it up in the stables. Mr and Mrs Anderson looked on, unimpressed. They hadn’t even moved from the doorstep once we’d got the unicorn under control, watching us as though we’d invaded their house.

“Someone will be along to take it away shortly,” I said, going over to them.

“You can’t take him away!” wailed the girl from behind her father in the hallway.

“Tough,” I said.

“Don’t you speak to my daughter that way,” snarled Mr Anderson.

“It would help,” I said, irritated, “if you kept track of your obnoxious offspring.”

Ada made a noise of choked-off laughter. I thought the old dude might explode with rage. Instead, he slammed the door in our faces.

“You’re welcome,” I said, and turned to leave. I pulled my communicator to send a message asking for some mode of transporting the bloody unicorn out of here, and back to whichever world it came from. It’d be useful if the Alliance
did
have a pest control department.

“God, Kay,” said Ada. “I can’t believe you said that.” She pressed a hand over her mouth, shaking with laughter.

“What? That kid was a brat, and her parents were worse.”

“True. But come on, how could they not know it was a unicorn?”

“I have no idea,” I said. “Idiots who don’t know anything about offworld, I’d guess. Maybe there’s a scammer going around hoaxing people. I’ll call up Ms Weston, anyway.”

One conversation later had me even more nettled than before. “It’s not the only one,” I said, as we went back to my motorcycle. “Things like that are happening all over the country. Apparently the unicorn went crazy because of the magic level. I thought I felt something before.”

“What, there’s unicorns all over the country?” said Ada, sceptically. “I’d never even seen one until now.”

“Nah, not just unicorns. Anything magic-related seems to be acting up.” And that meant bad news for the Alliance. What could cause a shift in Earth’s magic levels? “There have been a few flying cars, apparently. People who added offworld tech to make their engines run faster, I guess.”

“Seriously?” Ada laughed. “I bet I know where they got that idea.”

“Huh?”

Ada fixed me with a glare. “If you tell me you haven’t read the
Harry Potter
books, we’re no longer friends.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, of course I have.”

“Good.”

My communicator buzzed. Message from Simon: “Dude, there’s a GRIFFIN on the Statue of Liberty!”

“Seriously?” I said. “Just how many people own offworld species? It’s barely legal as it is.”

“No clue,” said Ada. “What happened?”

“Griffin on the Statue of Liberty,” I said. “Yes, a griffin. I’d blame Alvienne for that one.” On that particular world, griffins were as common as house cats, only more feathery and less well-trained.

“Wow,” said Ada. “Is the magic level off all over the world?”

“Sounds like it.” I shook my head. “Jesus. I don’t think this has ever happened before.” I didn’t know for certain, of course, but definitely not in the Alliance’s recorded history. And definitely not on Earth.

“Wow. Maybe that’s what messed up Jeth’s computer. He put offworld tech in there.”

“Could be,” I said. “Which world?”

“No clue. He used to buy spare parts of tech from the market…” She cut herself off, guilt flashing across her expression.

“You mean, illegally,” I said. “Come on, Ada, I’m not going to arrest any of you now.”

“I know. Old habits die hard, I guess.” She gave me a smile, which made me forget my plan for a moment.
Focus.

“Right. I’d say we head back to Central once the Alliance picks up that unicorn. I want to know if it’s just Earth, for a start. This kind of disturbance doesn’t come out of nowhere. Either something magic-related’s going on somewhere here on Earth, or a bigger upheaval offworld had a ripple effect.”

That was the most likely option. A big disturbance on one world could affect the Balance across the Multiverse. A very good reason to keep magic on a tight leash. When the Campbells had tried to use Ada as a weapon, Earth’s magic levels had spiralled, and I’d only found out much later it had been global, not just in London, and it had spread into other worlds, too. Magic-wielders here on Earth could do things they wouldn’t normally be able to–even use third level. Sounded like something similar was happening now, but not on the same scale.

We’d sure as hell know about it if it was.

Ms Weston called me when we were halfway back, forcing me to pull over and answer my communicator. Apparently, half Central were being sent out to investigate these incidents. The Council was up in arms. And she wanted all magic-wielders to come to her office,
now.
Didn’t take a genius to figure out we’d be dealing with most of the trouble ourselves.

As it turned out, seven magic-wielders were present at Central. Out of two hundred, this seemed an absurdly small number, especially as two were technically from offworld and two worked in other departments. None of the Council members were magic-wielders.
Interesting.
Though it made sense in the interests of staying unbiased. Earth’s Alliance had a history of magic-averse leadership, probably because it had remained secret for so long. Until my grandfather made a public speech about the Multiverse’s existence in 1988. Right now, it looked like we’d reach that level of worldwide panic by the end of the week.

Ada and I were joined by Carl, head of the Alliance guards, and two Ambassadors, Raj and Iriel. I’d worked with both of them on investigating an illegal trade operation between Klathica and Earth last week. Iriel was originally from Klathica, but her blue skin and webbed hands made me pretty certain she had Zanthan blood somewhere. She’d transferred from Klathica to Earth a few years ago.

“Right,” said Ms Weston, regarding the group with her steely gaze. “As I’m sure you’re aware of by now, Earth’s magic level is inexplicably fluctuating, resulting in anything originating from offworld with links to magic reacting to it–technology, mostly, but also offworld and cross-world specie. We’re headline news, actually.” She held up her communicator screen to demonstrate, switched to a sensationalist online newspaper topped with photos from all over the world. Some showed people who appeared to have lightning coming out of their hands. A griffin lay in the middle of a busy road. Two people appeared to be flying around a city in a minivan. Wait, that was Piccadilly Circus here in London. Despite myself, I turned to look out the window. Nothing odd appeared over the river. We must have missed it when Ada and I were chasing the unicorn.

“Well, damn,” I muttered. “Someone’s gonna have points on their licence.”

Raj laughed. “Yeah, tell me about it. The guards didn’t catch them till the engine gave out near Westminster. Nearly crashed into Big Ben.”

“Whoa,” said Ada, and then everyone took a step back as Ms Weston slammed the communicator onto the desk with such force, a sheaf of papers fell. She caught them one-handed with a surprising reflex.

“That is
enough,”
she said. “This is no joke. The Alliance is at the centre of attention across Earth, and we seem like imbeciles who don’t know how to handle our own technology. News like this could result in mass panic.”

So could her temper. Raj stood as close to the door as possible without walking into it, while even Carl looked cowed. Ms Weston had that effect on the unprepared.

“Naturally,” said Ms Weston, her voice a touch calmer, “where offworld is concerned, it’s our problem. But there are so few magic-wielders amongst us, few qualified to deal with any threats, and we have not yet established whether the same problem is affecting other worlds. And, of course, we don’t know
why
this is happening, on Earth or otherwise. Either a magic-wielder or magic-based operation has caused a severe disturbance on Earth–unlikely, as the Alliance would have heard about it by now–or the reason lies offworld, and with whichever world is responsible.”

Silence fell over the room. If she was right, and we didn’t find out which world was responsible, things could get
really
tricky in worlds which relied on magic remaining at a stable level. Valeria would be okay, because using magic outside of technology was mostly illegal. But worlds where it was legal to fire a magic-shot at someone… We’d need to figure this one out quickly.

“So,” said Ms Weston, “I’m going to need you Ambassadors to go and speak to the guards for as many worlds as possible. Go to the main Passage. Carl, I’m asking you to go into the Passages, too. Take Ada with you, and call a patrol, but warn them about the magic levels first. I have asked the two other magic-wielders in the Offworld Defence Division to inform the other Alliances on Earth and keep the newsfeeds up to date. Any questions?”