Divided: The Alliance Series Book Four (9 page)

“Trace?” asked Alber, blankly.

“When a person uses magic, they leave a kind of echo. I can pick up on it and follow it, using a tracker. If I found her signal and I had a key that opened any world, then in theory, I could find her.” I couldn’t tell them that if I’d lost her signal for good, that was it. Not to mention the sheer unlikelihood of opening a door to the exact right place. I didn’t know nearly enough about the source the world-keys were made of. The source I’d tapped into on Vey-Xanetha.

“That’s… not right.” Jeth shook his head, frowning. “Trackers can’t trace a person offworld. They usually only work on low-magic worlds where there isn’t as much interference. Ada told me that’s how she found Al, when…”

“When those asshat Conners took me prisoner,” said Alber, his jaw clenching. “They didn’t have anything to do with this, did they?”

“No, they’re dead,” I said. “Did Ada not tell you…?” It didn’t matter if her family knew now, anyway. Somehow, saying the words aloud was nothing compared to the shit I’d been through already. “The experiment. I was a part of it. I have… lustre in my blood. I’m an amplifier.”

I paused. The Fletcher family gaped at me like I’d declared I could teleport between universes.

Jeth was first to speak. “You… you were part of it?” He turned to Nell. “Did you know?”

“I suspected,” she said, “but I’ve never heard of
lustre.”

“You haven’t?” So Enzar didn’t have access to amplifying sources. I stored that information away. Right now, all that mattered was finding Ada. “I can only amplify certain magic-fuelled devices, like the Chameleon—or bloodrock, I guess.”

Jeth shook his head. “That’s… insane. Ada didn’t tell us.” A note of suspicion crept into his voice.

“It’s not like I’ve been telling everyone across the Multiverse,” I said. “Even my boss doesn’t know.”

“That so?” Jeth looked at me with definite suspicion. “Wasn’t your father the one who spearheaded the whole thing? Skyla said, right?”

For God’s sake.
“That’s irrelevant,” I said tightly. “I didn’t volunteer to get shot up with an unknown magic source.” I looked away from their stares, fists clenching. “If I knew how to find Ada, I would. But I don’t.”

“You can turn invisible,” said Nell. “You can go anywhere, unseen. Why not use it to go after these creatures?”

“I need to be touching a Chameleon,” I said. “We handed them in at Central because the batteries had run out. I don’t need it to actually be switched on, though. I can draw on the source even if it’s dormant. Chameleons are made out of bloodrock, right?” I directed the question at Jeth.

“The coating’s bloodrock,” he said. “The inside is a mixture of Valerian and Klathican tech—you know their enhancement drugs? They give people a temporary boost. I figured I could create a one-use only device that did the same. Most didn’t work, but for some reason, bloodrock did. It’s more efficient than bloodrock solution because it doesn’t rely on being constantly applied. But I’d never—I’d never have thought of injecting it inside a person.” He cleared his throat, not looking me in the eyes. “If you found Ada, you’d have to hand her the device, and make sure the battery was charged.”

“I can transfer my abilities to her,” I said. “She has an absorbent in her blood.”

“She does?” Jeth glanced at Nell.

“Don’t you claim to know more about my daughter than I do,” said Nell, her lips white with anger. “You’ve done nothing but stir up trouble.”

“Nell,” said Alber, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Right now, he’s our only chance to find her. I can do magic, but she was always a million times better at it than me.” His eyes glittered.

Jeth sighed. “The Chameleons are charging at Central. There are two left, under lock and key at the moment.”

“There were three,” I said.

“Yeah, I gave one to someone who wanted to have a look at it. Ms Weston.”

Great. What did my boss want with the Chameleon? She distrusted most offworld tech, and camouflage tech was tricky at best, blowing up even if you knew what you were doing. I’d surmised that was why no one in the Alliance had made them until Ada’s family had come along.

“Okay. Aside from those, I can also amplify the tracker,” I said. “That means I can up the effect and follow the trace wherever it leads. I can use it to locate Ada, but I’ll need to be able to open a doorway. I tried it before and the trace had just vanished. I don’t think she’s in a world linked to the Passages.”

Jeth’s eyes widened. “Is that even possible?”

“God knows,” I said. “Maybe I can only track places directly behind the doorways. It’s not exactly practical to search every inch of the Passages, especially with Cethrax’s monsters using it as a stomping-ground—not to mention those kimaros. Magic-creatures,” I added in explanation. “They’re like living magical energy. Veyak, the living god on Vey-Xanetha, was like a supercharged version.”

“That’s what took my daughter?” asked Nell.

I shook my head. “No. Something worse. Whatever they are, they’re powerful enough to control a sentient magic force and Cethrax. But my supervisor told me the council won’t listen. Vey-Xanetha has caused enough trouble already.”

“They won’t search for her,” said Nell, in a low, cold voice. “They abandoned her.”

“They’re putting out a search warrant,” I said ineffectually. “I know it’s not enough. They don’t have the resources we do.”

I hadn’t known how completely I’d been sliding away from the Alliance’s rules. Before, I couldn’t to afford to second-guess the system, not when it had been all I’d had. But now Ada had gone, I’d turn my back on the Alliance to save her.

“I’m going after her,” said Alber, his jaw set. “No matter what.”

“It’ll be dangerous,” I said. “Even if I get hold of a working world-key, we’d have to shortcut through Cethrax. You can fight?”

“We can all fight,” said Jeth. “But if she has a communicator, I can send out a message across the Multiverse. I can write it in a code we made up when we were kids so only she’ll understand. She’d have to be within range, but I can keep doing it while you work on your plan—the thing is, the Alliance communication signals only go so far.” He looked directly at me. “We need a source.”

CHAPTER FIVE

KAY

If ever anything proved the break of my faith in Central, it was sneaking into the storerooms, invisible, to raid their supplies of dangerous offworld substances.

It was early evening when I left the Fletcher family’s house. Alber wanted to come with me, and only his older brother’s warnings kept him at home. Jeth and I both had plausible alibis for being at Central, though mine was precarious at best.

The problem, of course, was they’d reinforced the back windows after Ada had broken in to steal bloodrock, so long ago. But I didn’t have to worry about a time-limit on invisibility. Once I had a Chameleon, I was set. Except I needed to get hold of one in the first place. Two were in the tech department, locked up and charging after the batteries had been drained… and the third was in Office Fifteen. To be precise, in Ms Weston’s office.

Thanks, universe.
I walked casually towards Central. I’d left my Ambassador’s jacket at my apartment, switching to my regular guard coat. Less conspicuous if anyone saw me from a distance. There were few people around Central at this time, anyway. I also needed to get hold of a new communicator, but that could wait. If I was seen here now, I’d bring more suspicion down on myself.

Once I had the Chameleon, I’d have the run of the Multiverse. I’d be able to get anywhere, unseen. I’d be able to find Ada.

I hid outside until the latest patrol came back from the Passages, and I managed to slip in through the front doors alongside another group of guards. The doors had been enhanced so magic-based effects like bloodrock solution didn’t work anymore. I wasn’t sure if the same applied to invisibility, but I’d think about it later.

A couple of heads turned in my direction, but I’d already strode off. Now I wasn’t covered in blood, I could blend in with other people easily if I wanted to, especially here, where all the guards wore the same uniform and most of the new novices didn’t know me.

I headed for the first floor. Office Fifteen was a ghost town, as per usual. But I had no doubt Ms Weston was around somewhere. She practically lived here.

Her office was empty. I paused outside the door for an instant, checking for intruders. No signs. Not so much as the faint sound of a footstep. Even the open booths where the staff usually worked were empty, but there hadn’t been many people around since the murders—only Markos had stuck around in Office Fifteen, and Evan the wannabe-assistant. No way he’d be here after hours. Everyone else thought it was haunted. Still, paranoia sat on my shoulder as I eased the door to the boss’s office open, careful not to leave fresh fingerprints in case she went to extreme measures to catch the intruder. I wouldn’t put it past her, considering we’d had a traitor in the office before.

Technically,
I
was a traitor, but I pushed that thought to the back of my mind as I scanned the room for likely hiding places. All the filing cabinets were closed, but they contained only papers—I’d seen them open when I’d been in her office earlier. But I’d never seen her open the desk drawer on the left.

I manoeuvred it open with my jacket sleeve pulled over my hand, and sure enough, there were several pieces of magi-tech in there. I picked up the Chameleon—and stopped short as I read the name on the file underneath it.
Adamantine.

I froze.
Don’t touch it
.
Don’t leave evidence.

I couldn’t move.

Slam.
I jumped at the sound of footsteps. I slid the drawer closed but knew it was too late to move.

An ear-splitting crash rang through the empty office. I remained frozen in a crouch, convinced I’d be caught any second.

“Oh, for crying out loud, Markos!” shouted Ms Weston.

Holy shit.
The centaur had distracted the dragon. I grabbed the Chameleon and turned invisible, cursing myself for not doing so the instant I’d picked it up. I really was losing it, forgetting something so bloody simple.

As I slipped through the partly-opened office door and closed it quietly, I caught sight of Markos standing near a row of toppled filing cabinets, and an absurd smile on his face. Maybe there was one person left here who didn’t think I was crazy, after all.

Still invisible, I went back downstairs. Next stop: the storerooms.

Of course, the door was locked and guarded by two senior guards—no novices would be entrusted with that job after both Central
and
West Office had been robbed recently. The last thing I wanted was to raise suspicion any further, so I went down the corridor to the back door and paused, checking for any extra security measures I’d forgotten. I tapped the earpiece I’d clipped on.

Jeth had gone to the second floor tech office, “borrowed” the store-room key and taken one of the other Chameleons. As only he knew how to fix them when they broke, no one would get suspicious. He’d also stolen spare batteries from the stores, but no magi-tech lasted long on Earth unless it was hooked up to an offworld-based energy source. It had taken more nerve than I’d have expected of him, creating those Chameleon devices while running the risk of the offworld tech severely backfiring—but there was no denying they were bloody useful.

“Okay, I’m ready,” Jeth’s voice said in my ear. A moment’s pause, then a
crash
made the earpiece vibrate so hard, I ducked around a corner in case someone heard. Except it was masked by the real noise coming from the second floor, which sounded like steel dominoes toppling over.

The guards ran forward, alarmed, and I took my chance. I’d already swiped the spare key from Carl’s office, and it took all of five seconds to unlock the door and slip into the dark crate-filled room.

I’d never been in here before, but I’d seen Carl setting up magic-based tripwires at certain corners. The cameras would be no problem, of course. But I wouldn’t have long before the guards came back. The crates were organised according to world of origin, but in no particular order. I walked as fast as I dared, searching for something familiar.

Bloodrock.
I picked the lock on the crate, and found a heap of small canvas bags. They wouldn’t miss one, and only a small amount would be needed for Nell to use.

The samples were from Enzar, so the contents of the nearby crates must be, too. I opened them one at a time, checking for anything with the properties I needed.

There it was. Adamantine. Central would have some spare in storage, because it was what they made the entire facade of the building out of. In its pure form, it was glossy black, like coal coated in plastic. Most magic sources looked the same, including lustre—only magic-wielders could tell the difference, close up. But there were files with their properties listed, and Amanda had sent me an image of the source Klathica used in their super-strength implants. Not adamantine, but something called sciras—adamantine with its antimagic properties stripped away. It was used to reinforce buildings but didn’t react to magic. And of course, someone had had the bright idea of turning it into a super-strength booster.