She quickly came to her own conclusion. “He did heal you.”

  “Oh my god.” Cassidy crammed her hand over her mouth and spoke between her fingers.

  “What? He said I didn’t deserve the injury. Said he needed me fighting fit for the job tonight.”

  Cassidy shot Alice a meaningful look. Then she leaned in. Somehow she managed to control her tone, even though she was usually as loud as a firecracker. “He’s never done that for one of us. You keep coming to his attention, ha?”

  Tingles escaped up my back. I tried to shrug off her comment, but with both of them seated around my desk staring at me, it was hard.

  “Anyway, you did good. Especially for your first job,” Alice conceded as she leaned back and crossed her arms. “But why the heck didn’t you call?”

  “I tried to. Oh crap! I left your phone in the taxi.”

  She snorted. “Doesn’t matter. It’s already back. Seriously, though. When we didn’t appear, you should have called. It would have saved you a broken nose.”

  “I had no idea how to call you. I didn’t recognize any of the symbols on your phone.”

  Cassidy made a face. “Really? You haven’t been inducted yet? Oh my god, you really are behind.”

  “Inducted?” I put a hand up and scratched my neck, that sick confusion returning. Hot on its heels was anxiety. It started as a hard knot deep in my gut then began to climb my spine one vertebrae at a time.

  Maybe Alice could tell that I was becoming undone, because she cleared her throat in a strong, officious move. “There’ll be time for that. Let Middle Manager Ben know – I mean Ben,” she corrected as she cleared her throat. With a surreptitious look around the office, she continued, “And he’ll find someone to take you through the ceremony. You’ll be able to read runes after that.”

  “Runes?”

  “The language we use when we work for Vali. It’s on all of our phones, on all the files, on everything – only those who have been inducted can read it. But go back to the bit about a warlock from the Chaplain gang hitting you. Did you get a good look at the guy?” Alice peered closely at me.

  I frowned. To be honest, I should have gotten a good look at the guy. He had been up in my face. Now I pressed my memory into the task, I realized I hadn’t been able to note anything defining. The guy had looked like a massive cookie-cutter version of a goon.

  Alice sighed when I didn’t answer. She ran a hand through her short hair. “It’s a pet project of mine.”

  “What?” I frowned.

  “Alice is out to get every mobster she can,” Cassidy said matter-of-factly as she pushed off my desk, skidding back in her chair. “It’s a personal project.”

  “You’re allowed personal projects?” I questioned.

  Alice let out a harsh chuckle. “Only when those personal projects are criminal bastards like the Chaplain gang. And only… when you lost as much to the mobsters of this city as I did.”

  Just as a commiserating smile spread across my face, she put up a stiff hand.

  “They bribed me, and I took the bribe – I’m not trying to apologize for that fact. I’m trying to make up for it. So are you sure you couldn’t remember what the guy looked like?”

  I offered her a rough description and promised to tell her if I remembered anything else.

  Like a dutiful detective, Alice brought out a pad of legal paper, produced a pen from somewhere, and scribbled down every word I said.

  It took until the end of the interaction to realize how easy it was. Just this morning these women had been nothing more than felons to me. Now they were my only friends.

  The rest of the afternoon passed easily. Cassidy took me under her wing, inducting me as Alice rumbled and quipped from beside us, commenting whenever she could.

  It was easy and weirdly normal. Sure, we were all magical sinners, but it was the friendliest interaction I’d had in days.

  It couldn’t take away from the fact that in several hours I’d be attending my first real job with Vali himself.

  I could still remember Megan’s expression as she’d stalked from the room – her cold cheeks, her pale eyes, the sweat slicking her brow.

  Cassidy had wandered off to rustle up some food, and Alice had gone back to writing fastidiously on her legal pad, her teeth clenched and her expression dark. She wrote with the same gritty determination she held her magical gun with.

  Though it looked suicidal to interrupt her, I cleared my throat.

  She flicked her gaze up to me. “What?”

  “I was just… I was just wondering… who Vali’s secretary is? Megan?”

  “Megan Ross,” Alice reeled off, “28, has been working for him for eight years. Solstice witch. One of the strongest in the city, if not the country. She’s Vali’s go-to witch for the tough jobs.”

  I blinked quickly.

  “That was a lot of information for you, wasn’t it? Let me break it down slowly.” Alice leaned back and tapped her finger against her pen. “A solstice witch is also known as an equilibrium witch. Her magic comes from balance. It’s kind of esoteric, and it will take you a while to wrap your head around. Basically, she can turn someone’s magic against them, tipping the balance, as it were. She can make water flow backward, make the wind suddenly change direction, make a fire burn back on itself.”

  I made a face.

  Alice snorted. “See, like I said – hard to understand. But trust me, she is powerful. That’s why Vali takes her on the big jobs.”

  “And what exactly is a big job?”

  “Simple sinners like you and me,” she shrugged as she indicated me with a flick of her pen, “we don’t really change much. I’m not using that as an excuse,” she brought her hands up in quick defense, “I’m just saying that in the grand scheme of things the sins we commit don’t affect too many people. But there are sinners out there,” her voice dropped low, “whose crimes affect us all. You’re talking mob kingpins, drug dealers, serial killers. The guys with truly evil hearts. The irredeemable, cold, and soulless. When Vali goes out to take one of these guys down, he requires backup.”

  My nose scrunched. “I don’t get it. He’s a god.”

  Alice shot me an even look. “Technically. But that doesn’t make him all-powerful, and it sure as hell doesn’t make him invulnerable.”

  I blinked in surprise. “It doesn’t?”

  Alice let out a rattling sigh. “Crap, you really need to learn this stuff; you’re walking blind here, kid. Saunders is an incredibly strong practitioner, but at the end of the day, he’s still mortal.”

  “I don’t get it. How can a god be mortal?”

  “Beats me. All I know is that Vali isn’t all-powerful. And when it comes to taking down the kingpins, he has to tread carefully. Especially in this city.”

  “Why? What’s so special about this city?”

  “Because there’s magic everywhere. Even before I… took the deal,” Alice punched her tongue against her lips in an obvious move of shame, “I started hearing about it. You’d see it on cases sometimes – things just wouldn’t add up. Rumors, legends – they’d fly around. After a few years on the force, I knew something was up.”

  “Are you saying there’s more magic in Saint Helios than elsewhere?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying. And I’m saying the city’s criminals – the big guys – they all know about it. That’s why Chaplain’s gang went after you today with a couple of warlocks.”

  I sucked in a calming breath and locked a hand over my stomach as nerves welled in my gut. This was too much. It was a hell of a revelation to be told that the city I’d grown up in was steeped in magic. And more than that, magical crime.

  “Anyhow. The really big guys, the guys who run the cartels, the trafficking rings, the drug dealers – they all invest in magical protection. Vali has to plan for months, sometimes years to take one of them down. When he does, he needs backup like Megan.”

  That cold sensation in my chest returned on overdrive. It felt like a blizzard started to swirl in my sternum. I tried to keep my emotions in check as I took a stuttering breath. “So… so these big jobs, they’re… important, right?”

  Alice nodded earnestly. “You bet. But don’t look so pale, kid. I doubt the function Vali is taking you tonight is a job. He’s not suicidal. You’re a newbie. My guess is he’s giving you an opportunity.”

  My stomach sank. “An opportunity?”

  “He gives them to us occasionally.” Her tone dropped. “I missed the last one.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “An opportunity to redeem yourself. Think of it this way – every time we successfully solve a case, we buy back some of our sins. But occasionally we come across a case so big, so pertinent, that it can reduce a sentence by half. Maybe he’s feeling sorry for you – and maybe you’ll get one of those opportunities tonight. My only advice to you is to take it.”

  I just sat there. When I didn’t react, she clapped me on the shoulder and offered me the Alice version of a commiserating smile. “You’ll be okay. Like I said, it won’t be a job. It’ll just be an opportunity.”

  There was a problem. It was a job. Vali had already admitted that to me right in front of Megan.

  But there was another problem, wasn’t there? What if this was also a so-called opportunity?

  I started to freak out. Who wouldn’t? As the enormity of the situation struck me, my breath became ragged.

  Alice returned to her work but soon crumpled her brow and ticked her gaze toward me. “Don’t freak out, Lilly. Take a deep breath. Even if you miss out on your opportunity, there’ll be others.”

  Sure. Others. “Um, Alice? What do you know about Hank Chaplain? I’m only asking because… because I think I heard one of the guys mention his name today.” I weaved together a pathetic lie. “Ah, he sent the warlocks,” I added weakly.

  Alice sat up straight. “Really? They mentioned Hank personally? He sent them? Not one of his lackeys? You sure? That’s a clue.”

  I nodded.

  Alice took several seconds to scribble something on her pad. She looked up. “He’s a bastard – that’s what I know about him.”

  There was such conviction behind her words, I almost didn’t want to press her for more information. But I had to. “Why? What’s he done?”

  “What did you do before you started working here?”

  “I was a waitress.” I shrugged.

  “Kept your head down, then? Didn’t go out much?”

  I agreed with a nod.

  “Hank Chaplain owns most of the strip joints in Saint Helios. He’s a real piece of work. Has his fingers in a lot of pies, and all of them are unsavory. Back when I was still working for the legitimate police force, we were trying to bring him in on trafficking charges.”

  “You mean drug trafficking?” I asked innocently.

  She shot me a grim look. “No, I mean human trafficking. Where do you think he got his strippers and prostitutes from?”

  I think I became as white as snow as I leaned back and pressed a hand over my mouth. “That’s awful.”

  “Which is why Hank Chaplain is a bastard. I didn’t realize he had any connection to Larry McGregor, though,” Alice said excitedly as she continued to scribble on her pad. “I would have thought Larry was too small a target for Chaplain. Something must be up.”

  “I think that’s what they said. Maybe Hank didn’t send them personally. Everything just happened too quickly,” I muttered.

  “Information is information.” She clicked the lid on her pen, pushed her pad away, tilted her head, and looked at me. “You’re kind of pale.”

  Kind of pale? It was a surprise I hadn’t blended in with the white wall behind me.

  I felt sick. Thoroughly, thoroughly sick.

  I hadn’t signed up for this. I hadn’t signed up for anything at all. I was being dragged into this world. And tonight? I’d be dragged into a far, far darker world.

  14

  I sat awkwardly, staring at Megan as she scowled at me from across the room.

  She stalked over, dumped a bag on the desk before me, and pulled a mirror from somewhere, resting it against the wall.

  God, this was going to take a long time if she was going to sneer at me for the next hour.

  She started to snatch things out of the bag and arrange them on the desk.

  Her lips were pulled tight, her expression dark.

  For several minutes as she busied herself, I kept the silence. Soon, I just couldn’t.

  I cleared my throat. “Look, I’m sorry—”

  “Just don’t stuff this up,” she snapped through a snarl.

  “I won’t,” I promised, though my voice was so soft it couldn’t convince a soul. “But… why is this so important to you?”

  Oh crap – it was the wrong question to ask. I instantly realized how inappropriately I’d phrased it.

  It was too late.

  “Because Hank Chaplain is relentless, uncaring, and willing to destroy everything I ever had. He killed my sister. Then, when he found out I was a witch, he went after me.”

  I crumpled my hand over my mouth. “I’m so sorry.”

  She turned from me sharply. “Don’t be sorry. Just catch that bastard.”

  Her fear and anger ignited something in me. The same feeling that had ignited when I’d chased John Lambert to the basement. I was now in the impossible position of saving people again.

  We sat in silence for several seconds until I couldn’t take it anymore. “I’m not ready to do this,” I muttered under my breath. “I don’t know enough about magic to go tonight.”

  She slammed her makeup bag down on the desk, locked a hand on the wood, and turned to me stiffly. “You have no option. Plus, Franklin wouldn’t be taking you along unless he was confident of your abilities.”

  “Of my abilities?” I said through a choked breath. “I don’t even know how to use my power.”

  She put a hand up. “Stop right there.”

  “Sorry?”

  “You aren’t allowed to tell me.”

  “I’m what?”

  “Franklin told me never to ask, and I will not pry.”

  “Wait, what do you mean? I’m not allowed to tell you what kind of magic I do?”

  “Yes,” she said through clenched teeth. “Now lean back so I can get your cheeks.”

  I shifted back without protest, my gut clenching. Why was Franklin so scared of my abilities that he wouldn’t even tell his trusted secretary? None of this made any sense. If he was vulnerable, and this job tonight was important, why the hell would he take me? I got lucky last night because I’d taken my bangles off. But I had absolutely no control whatsoever over my power. So if anything happened tonight, I would choke. And the consequences? I couldn’t face finishing that thought.

  I squeezed my eyes tightly closed. I heard Megan take a frustrated, angry breath. As I warily opened my eyes and waited for her to give me another serve, she stopped. She leaned back and locked a hand over her face. “Franklin’s right – I’m too close to this case. I wouldn’t be able to keep it together if I had to face Hank again. So you’re all he’s got,” she admitted. She jerked her hand back and faced me with such honesty, her expression so unguarded, I realized for the first time I was seeing the real Megan.

  I watched her shift away and carefully pick up a dress. “Look, I’ll be honest – I don’t like you. But right now, I need you to do me a favor: you have to do whatever you can to bring Hank in and keep Franklin safe.”

  I was in no position to make a promise, yet I still nodded. I couldn’t say anything, couldn’t break the tense silence that spread between us.

  “You won’t have to worry – Franklin will be there, and he won’t leave your side. When it comes to the fight, he’ll tell you exactly what to do. Don’t question – just follow his every order.”

  I nodded.

  Megan relaxed. Without another word, she continued to do my makeup. The entire time, I simply stared at my reflection. If you’d asked me several hours ago, I would’ve said Vali was a monster, that this entire operation was nothing more than vigilante justice. Now I had no idea what was going on.

  It didn’t take too much longer until Megan pronounced that I was ready. Though I took a fleeting glimpse in the mirror and realized I looked great, I didn’t care.

  She gestured toward the door. “Franklin will be waiting.”

  I took a hesitant step forward. I wanted to know more about what had happened to her – whatever the hell Hank Chaplain had done. I didn’t get the opportunity to ask. She faced me, her expression drawn yet a hard glint flickering deep in her gaze. “Just don’t let that bastard get away.”

  I nodded low. I turned and walked out of the room, strangely ready to face the greatest fight of my life.

  15

  So this was it, ha? Time for my first real job.

  It hadn’t sunk in yet. Nerves chased through my stomach, up my back, and hard into my jaw until my teeth chattered.

  “Just relax,” Vali said.

  Or maybe it wasn’t Vali. As I turned in my seat and surreptitiously shot him a look out of the corner of my eye, I realized his expression was too soft.

  It had to be Franklin.

  Not for the first time, I wondered how the hell this worked. How could a man be two different people? Okay, he wasn’t a man – he was technically a god. But seriously, how did it work? And what decided when he would switch? Did he get to decide? Or was it other people?

  The more I learned about Vali, the more intensely curious I became. As was always the case with me, that curiosity was the only thing that could fight against my nerves.

  “You will follow my lead,” he said for about the tenth time.

  With a hand flattened on my stomach so my gurgling, bubbling, nervous gut didn’t rumble too loudly, I managed a nod.

  “No matter what happens—” he began.

  “I won’t take off my bangles. Got it.”

  Well, at least I hope I had it. There was still so much I had to learn. I wasn’t exactly going to be offered the opportunity to calm down and figure this world out.