The Elementals

Evia had checked many houses, and an antique shop. She now had a communication mirror locket of her own, not that it would do her much good. Signing with one hand would limit her more than two hands already did.

Though the giant was long gone—never even existed in the first place—she searched the street where it had appeared. There had to be information here, though maybe Skylar had burned it all away.

If there was anything to be found, maybe Skylar wouldn’t be so mad at her.

She started where the giant had landed, trying to remember its height. Fog had hidden the top of many of the buildings, so maybe the kidnappers hid up there, where Skylar wouldn’t have bothered.

Her boots made the familiar sounds of stepping into isolated sludge. There shouldn’t have been sludge if the giant was all illusion. If there was sludge, then there had been real ice. She grabbed at it, forming a ball of mostly mud.

She wasn’t a wizard by any means, but she was a mage, and a skilled one.

She focused on the sludge, trying to find a source. Maybe it had come from one of her walls, but her walls didn’t usually leave anything behind aside from vapor.

She gently blew on it, creating a small amount of snow, and a recognizable face.

Evia hadn’t seen her cousin in well over a year, but his face was hard to forget.

Singe was in worse trouble than they’d thought.

“It appears I’m causing strife among your band,” the ice mage said in Diamond’s doorway as she rested between manipulations.

She’d have to remind the other suits not to complain in earshot of their client.

“Everything causes strife between us,” she rubbed her temples as she tried to remember his name, “Arcade, was it?”

“Arkodes,” he corrected, “Though I doubt you actually care, since you should just know.”

An understandable assumption. Diamond wasn’t the best at getting information from the conscious though, and she wasn’t interested in invading someone’s privacy if there wasn’t money in it.

“That’s not how telepathy works, necessarily. I’d actually have to be in your head to know, and it’s never as pleasant as it sounds.” she moved over to offer him room on the edge of the bed. Information was useful, and his company wasn’t disgusting.

“I thought Empowereds couldn’t control themselves, so you would be in my mind anyways.” he took the offered seat, looking straight out so she couldn’t make eye contact without being awkward.

“Though I am loathe to admit it,” she said, “I had a good teacher. I decide what my mind does, not the other way around.”

He nodded.

“And what teacher do you loathe so?”

She wasn’t learning much from him, was she? But her genuine answer was likely to produce results.

“My mother,” she admitted, “As you would expect from a master of illusion, she hid a lot from us.”

“Us?”

“I don’t just call Spade my brother for show.”

He nodded.

“My father was a fool, bitter about what he lost for himself, but his is the only legacy I have to follow.”

And he lost her.

“Why do you need a legacy?” she asked, “Why do you need something to follow?”

“I have nothing else to do with myself, and I certainly won’t be let back home after my actions beside him.”

“What did you do?” she cringed at the question, unable to stop herself.

He finally looked at her, almost smiling.

“The creature you currently have imprisoned killed my father.”

“He what?” Diamond asked, “Is this some kind of vengeance quest?” She was fine with vengeance if it paid, but she preferred the info upfront.

“No,” he shook his head, “My father’s death was sanctioned, so to speak. This is an… audition.”

“For what?”

“For legacy. My father left a seat open, which is mine if I impress them enough.”

“So we’re your minions in this operation?”

“You came recommended,” he said, lifting her chin with a finger. The contact was surprisingly warm, “And I haven’t been disappointed yet. We work well together, if that ice giant is any example.”

The white hair and blue eyes were very compelling for a moment. Diamond gently pushed his hand off.

“I should get back to our murderer, make sure your audition goes well.”

Skylar checked her section of the map again. None of the places panned out.

“Maybe it’s an illusion again,” she muttered, “Maybe I can clean it out.”

Phoenix flame purified, healed. Apparently it did the same with false images.

She returned to her last location, carefully holding a flame in her hand.

“What are you doing?” someone accused. She turned to them, a middle-aged man on the paler end.

“I’m looking for—” she started.

“Are you going to set that house on fire?” he asked.

“No, I—”

“I’m calling the police.”

The fire burned harder as he dialed. Skylar grabbed the phone before he could call.

“That’s my—”

“A friend of mine has been kidnapped,” she explained in deadly tone, “This was a possible location, but the kidnappers used illusions when they grabbed him. I was going to use this,” she lifted up the fire hand, “To dispel them. Maybe I should check if you’re an illusion sent to distract me.”

The bystander shook his head silently, and Skylar returned his phone. She turned back to the house with flame extinguished, and knocked on it.

The woman who answered had a locket on.

“That locket wouldn’t happen to have a communication mirror inside, would it?”

“Do you need to call a friend?” the woman asked, “Because I also have a phone inside if that will work just as well. I mostly use this to talk to my wife while she’s visiting family.” she clicked open the locket to reveal an image of herself with another woman both smiling joyfully, with a mirror on the other side.

“No,” Skylar said, “I’m looking for a friend, but tracking spells aren’t working, so we tried to track his locket, but there’s a surprising amount in the area. Do you mind if I check for illusions, just in case?”

“Go right ahead,” the woman said.

Skylar produced another flame, holding it close to the locket, but nothing changed.

“What does fire do against illusions?” the woman asked, “If you don’t mind me asking?”

“It’s not just any fire,” Skylar said, stepping away before producing wings and taking off. She checked the place off again, and headed toward the previous location.

Every minute made Spade more uncomfortable with what they were doing.

“When did we agree to kidnapping?” he asked the other two suits in range. Diamond was busy brainwashing their prisoner, and their employer was nowhere to be found, luckily.

“Don’t think too hard about it,” Heart recommended.

“Too bad,” Spade said, “I’m thinking about it. I was neutral about stealing things, but people…”

“We’re giving him back,” Heart said.

“And we’re being paid,” Club said, “Which is what matters here, or do you want our debt collectors to demand something worse?”

Club was right. She was always right. Sometimes Spade missed when it was just him and Diamond instead of a whole deck.

“Complaining about me, are we?” the obnoxious voice asked. Their employer was a Mage, and an aristocratic one by the sound of it. It got on Spade’s nerves.

“What about it?” Spade asked.

“What did I do wrong?” their employer returned, the area around him turning colder.

“Kidnapping’s a start.”

He had a very fake laugh.

“I didn’t ask you to kidnap anyone. That was your sister’s doing.”

That made Spade pause.

“What did you ask us to do?”

“That’s between me and your leader.”

Spade could stay and glare, or he could confront Diamond.

He used telekinesis to make their employer’s chair fall over as he left.

Diamond was with the prisoner, eyes glowing red as she toyed with his mind.

“What the hell?” Spade asked, grabbing her by the shoulder so her eyes turned normal.

“What are you doing?” Diamond asked.

“That’s exactly what I was going to ask you,” Spade said, “Or was the kidnapping not your idea?”

Diamond crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

“Are you getting squeamish now?”

“Yes,” Spade said, “Of course I’m getting squeamish at kidnapping a person and messing with their brain.”

“We were told to ruin their reputation. I went in their heads to find the best way.”

“There had to have been a better way than kidnapping. What about messing with their heads until someone explodes?”

“They do this weird thing called communication,” Diamond said, “And they have safe places to blow up. If we want it done right, we have to get our hands dirty.”

Diamond seemed unaffected by the morals of the situation. Spade knew there was no way to persuade his sister.

“I’m out.”

“No you’re not.”

“Yes,” he said, “I am.”

“If you’re out, then your debt’s on your own head, and we might get worse at covering our own.”

The prisoner stirred. Spade thought the threat through, and he knew what was necessary. He couldn’t leave Diamond to handle the burden alone. They couldn’t let the dragon see anyone except Diamond.

“I don’t want anything more to do with this job, but I’ll be there for the next one.”

“That’s all I ask,” Diamond lied.

“And I don’t want anything else to do with this asshole. I don’t trust him.”

“That’s not your call, but I’ll remember it.”

Lotus sat awkwardly in the sitting room of Sebastien Tyrain’s house. They’d interacted with the man of course, eaten food that he’d purchased, but there wasn’t really a a connection there. Skylar had known him before, Evia had gone to his home once or twice apparently, and Singe was obviously related to him as his nephew, but Lotus never really bothered.

The fact was the locket angle had been a dead end. Evia was pursuing a hunch at least. Skylar was off making sure none of the locations were hidden by illusion, which at least kept her from panicking. Lotus was asking for help.

“Thanks for your patience,” Sebastien said, “I had to send some photos off before a deadline, and they needed editing.”

“Singe has been kidnapped,” Lotus blurted out, their anxiety overtaking any sense of manners.

“And you waited for me to finish my work?”

They nodded.

Sebastien let out a scream.

“Where is he? Who has him? Are you handling it?”

“We don’t know, we don’t know, and obviously not.”

“You can’t track him, can you?” he asked.

“We can’t track him, and we tried to track communication mirror lockets since we know he keeps his on him, but they were all dead ends.”

“That’s because it’s not a mirror,” Sebastien said.

“Excuse me?” Lotus asked.

“It’s feyrie glass,” he explained, “It’s an heirloom for a reason.”

Feyrie glass was what communication mirrors were poor imitations of. They were the real inspiration for the magic mirrors of mortal legend.

“And he just wears it?”

“He refused to wear it when he first got it until we lost him for several hours. The only way I wouldn’t kill him for leaving it off is if he was putting it on a partner.”

This was exactly what they needed, except for the fact it was feyrie glass.

“Feyrie glass isn’t trackable in the first place.”

“I have a mirror. You could call him.”

They had already tried, but there was no response.

“I encourage the attempt, but it has consistently failed on our side.”

Sebastien looked around.

“I’ll try. The worst that happens is he doesn’t respond until you guys save him.”

“That’s not the worst that could happen.”

“Don’t test me, your highness.”

The ice mage looked smug. Spade’s scowl had warded away his fellow suits, and his glare was well directed.

“What happens when we get the wrath from our prisoner’s girlfriend instead of you?” he asked.

“You don’t worry about his wrath once The Ember Phoenix frees him?”

“You’re the one who said she was the most dangerous. Personally I’d rather not get on a goddess’ bad side.”

“What a mortal way of seeing things,” Arkodes said, “A phoenix is powerful, like the creature they’re named for, but hardly divine.”

There was that word again: Mortal. He talked like they were bugs under his heel, already cracking under the pressure.

“Well, she’s stronger than you are, and you call us mortals, though I guess that applies to all of them. You were sweating with the ice monster, but Snow Siren walled us in no problem. Not to mention dragon-boy almost caught us before we were ready.”

That seemed to get under Arkodes’ skin. His face lost just a hint of confidence, keeping a believable mask for someone who hadn’t grown up around psychics.

“I take it you enjoy being a nuisance.”

“Sure do,” Spade said, “Needed some defense in high school.”

“And your sister?”

“Is none of your business. Once this job is done, stay the fuck away.”

Arkodes was again unaffected.

“That is your sister’s decision, isn’t it?”

Spade piled layers of kinetic energy, focusing his shot.

“Our problem’s ready,” Diamond said, “Load up.”