Chapter 26

Jordan and I climbed into Dalton’s Suburban. Before we had our seatbelts buckled, she was already pulling out into traffic and moving down the road.

“In a hurry?” I asked.

“I just got a call from Lawson,” she said. “He’s back from Navarro County and says he has news from Austin about our case.”

“He wouldn’t tell you what it was over the phone?” I asked.

Dalton shook her head and said, “Phones are never secure.”

I looked from her to Jordan and remembered there was something they wanted to tell me. “Jordan said you were already at her apartment when Erica arrived. Why?”

Dalton glanced at me and said, “You hadn’t shown up yet this morning, so I thought I would check in on her.”

I blinked in mild surprise and glanced back at Jordan. “Thank you.”

Dalton nodded. “You’re welcome.”

“So, what happened?” I asked.

Dalton glanced in her rear-view mirror and said, “She was already up and angry. I didn’t know when you’d finally get home and take care of her, so I thought I’d lend a hand. I tried to pump some Magic into her.”

“Wait, I thought you said I had to do that?” I asked.

She nodded. “You’re responsible for her, but any Magus can help with the symptoms.”

“Okay, you said you tried to pump Magic into her,” I said. “I’m guessing that the Lockdown stopped you?”

“No,” Jordan said. “I felt it. I felt her Magic flow into me. It was different from yours, but I felt it.”

I looked at her. “Then why were you still angry when you got to the store?”

“Because something sucked her Magic right back out of me,” she said. “It had to be the Lockdown, Seth. We were alone in the apartment. No one was even in the parking lot of the complex. No one was there to take it.”

I looked between the two women. “What does that mean?”

“It means that the Lockdown doesn’t block spells,” Dalton said. “It sucks the Magical energy out of spells. It’s a siphoning-type spell.”

I remembered what we talked about last night with Linda. I also remembered Valory, the Magus who found me using the Magic detection spell at the model ceremony. I remembered what she said about being my older sister. I didn’t want to believe she was the one responsible for the Lockdown, not if she could tell me about my family. There had to be another theory that fit the facts.

“That doesn’t help much,” Jordan said. “Seth doesn’t have any brothers or sisters, not by birth.”

I was thankful for Jordan so much at that moment. “Turns out my two sisters, Faith and Alyssa, are my step-sisters. My dad and their mom got married after we were all born.”

“A Sibling Magus could be anyone you’re related to by blood, but not more than two generations before or after you,” Dalton said and looked at me. “In other words, related by your Grandparents before you or your grandchildren after you. This could include uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews, and nieces.”

“Great,” I said. “More people I don’t know.” Then I remembered what she said about rumors about me. “Hang on. You said there were rumors out there about me, or about someone who wasn’t affected by the Lockdown. Is it possible the person responsible for the Lockdown could know about me by now?”

“I’m sure they’ve heard the same rumors,” Dalton said. “It took the last Sheriff a while to narrow down who could be that person, but she didn’t have a name. Lawson and I took her list and narrowed it down further. We quickly crossed off names until we got to you.”

“So, if this person puts as much effort into finding me as you did,” I said.

“Well, we have lists of House members to go through,” Dalton said. “This person might be able to get the list from one or two Houses but not all of the ones in this area.”

“So, it would take them longer to find me,” I said with a sigh of partial relief.

“Not unless they get lucky and overhear something,” Dalton said with a glance at Jordan in the mirror. “As Emma did.”

“Yes, okay,” Jordan said. “Telling Joyce about Seth was a bad move in the end, but there was no way to know Emma was right there listening in.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Dalton said. “You can’t talk about him to anyone from now on.”

Jordan sighed and shook her head.

“And as for his training,” Dalton said. “While I have no doubt he’d be able to get away from another male Magus trying to seduce him, getting a woman to test him was a good idea.” She chuckled and looked at me. “Tanner would do anything to train and test you, but not that.”

I tried to imagine Tanner coming on to me, but that only made me shiver in revulsion. To get back on a topic I was willing to talk about, I asked, “So, how do we dispel a siphoning spell?”

Dalton sighed. “We can’t. The Magus would have worked out a method to shut it off and that’ll be the only way. We have to figure out who did this, find them, and force them to shut it down.”

“Not trying to put any more of a damper on the subject, but what if that person is dead?” I asked.

“What makes you think they’re dead?” Dalton asked.

I shrugged and said, “Just covering all possibilities.”

Dalton barked a short, humorless laugh. “If that’s the case, we’re sunk.”

“So, find the person who cast it and don’t kill them,” I said.

Dalton grunted.

We passed through campus and I remembered the Model, how it glowed when I looked at it and the coincidence that its southern border was Interstate Twenty – same as the Lockdown. I wanted to ask Dalton about it, how that would work, but thought it would be a better question for Tanner. Besides, Dalton would want to see the Model for herself and that wouldn’t happen because the auditorium where it was being kept was locked on Sundays.

My stomach, however, wasn’t quiet when it came to announcing what it wanted. We pulled through the drive-through of a small restaurant the girls all liked, Chalupa’s, and then made our way to my apartment.

Another black Suburban was parked in front of my apartment, next to Tanner’s motorcycle. Across from them was Faith’s car.

Deputy Lawson climbed out of the Suburban, but Tanner was nowhere to be seen.

All concerns over hunger suddenly left me. As soon as we stopped, I hopped out and made a beeline for my apartment.

The door was unlocked and I walked in to find Tanner and Faith talking. Tanner sat on one of the stools at the bar that separated the kitchen from the living room with had a cup in hand. Faith was in the kitchen, leaning on the bar directly across from Tanner, giving him a perfect view of her cleavage.

Anger burned through me in a quick flash. What was worse, I didn’t know whether I was mad at Faith for acting like that in front of Tanner or at Tanner for enjoying it.

I stomped past them and went to the bathroom. It was the only thing I could think of to get away from them and cool down.

I took a deep breath and paced the length of the bathroom. Really and truly, there was nothing wrong with those two flirting. It really wasn’t any of my business. Faith was going to date ... guys. Tanner was a Magus and had to take care of his power. There was nothing wrong with Faith helping him out.

I stopped pacing. My whole body shook with anger. Why the hell was I so upset about this?

I went to the sink and only just realized that I had been carrying the Chalupa’s bag all this time. I set it aside and turned on the cold water to splash in my face.

Someone knocked on the door. “Seth? You okay?”

It was Faith.

I gripped the edge of the counter and could have sworn it cracked under my grip. “I’ll be out in a minute,” I said with the strain.

I didn’t understand this. Why was I so angry? They were both adults. They were allowed to do whatever they wanted together.

Then an image flashed through my mind. They were wrapped up together with Tanner bent over Faith’s shorter frame, kissing and groping at each other in sexual frenzy to get undressed.